Saganite

I agree .....and I am not crazy about the colour !

The seeing tonight was, I reckon, Pickering7 , excellent, but the Moon washed out just about everything. I am not complaining because I love Lunar first and foremost, but I had another agenda. The latest Firmware update from Rowan Astronomy allowed me another session controlling the Az from my mobile phone and I am very happy with it, it is so simple to use and very accurate. I was using the Vixen ED103 only with my 7.7mm to 15.4mm zoom and a Celestron Ultima 2x barlow. This gave circa 220x max and the result with Izar was two perfect little orbs of deep blue and golden yellow, each with one/ two diffraction rings, just beautiful. Equally good splits of Algieba, Porrima, Albireo, Epsilon Lyrae, Mizar, and Polaris. I had attempted Zeta Herculis the previous night with the 6", but the seeing was not as good. At 400x on 29th May though I did split it with the 6". Apart from M13 and M92 which I could see moderately well, I could not extract any of the six or seven Messier object I tried from the bright sky, including M101, M81 , M82, and M51, other than with averted vision, in some cases, but really last evening was about selecting objects to GOTO with my AZ100 system and it worked flawlessly and accurately.

Superb Dave. I remember how much you thought of this zoom when you had one before, so I am happy for you that you now have another..👍..

Though I have a dome observatory with a steel pier, I really miss having the open sky to look at whilst observing, so I have kept my tripod and use it still for the odd session in the garden. When I first got the Obsy I was determined to sell the tripod thinking it would have no use, but was talked out of it by a friend, fortunately.

Brilliant Mike, well deserved and long overdue !....... Your dog is beautiful BTW.

I was at the factory today and I think it has become available very recently. I should think its availability is imminent

Hi John, In image 2 tap the DB box as shown and it opens up. Scroll the bottom bar to the right and tap Config. Any problems, I will contact you by pm. Steve

I have been aligning by pointing South and leveling the scope with a small spirit level since fitting the motors last October and that works very well. Once done the one star or two star alignment is carried out and away you go. The Nexus or the App can be used independently.

I cannot answer your questions yet, It is all new to me. The Nexus I have had for two years anyway, but operation from a mobile phone is definitely the way forward for me. As for SkySafari, I have never used it. Hopefully Derek will answer your question on the joystick.pad.

I now have the Firmware installed on my AZ100 and all works well with the Nexus DSC and the Rowan App.... After 5 nights of good observing recently it is now going to be cloud cover for some time which is irritating, but hey ho...

The Duplex Moon Atlas is pretty useful and on sale with FLO.

Great job Mike !

I have about 12 to 13 kg either side of my AZ, which admittedly is fixed to a solid pier, without the slightest effect on mount or motors.

The APM 152 ED came with a 3" FT and from that time I became acquainted with the superb quality of such focusers, so when the chance came to fit a 2.5" FT to my Vixen at 50% of the new price, it was a no-brainer.

Or maybe not Dave, the LZOS is already up for sale..

Hi Neil, I use Baader fluid to clean my Objectives and pretty much do as Nik suggests, and It works well.

Superb image, just beautiful. The tiniest Galaxy ( bottom right corner , I think ) to the ones in the foreground bring out, for me, the bitter sweet feelings for the immense Cosmos.

Is that a pale blue orb I can see just below ? Out of focus Albireo ?

My wife and I have separate bank accounts from which we feed the joint account, so the questions never arise. I culled my telescope collection last summer, from five down to two by choice, and I feel much happier about it. Both scopes are now permanently mounted so I no longer need to agonise over which to use....🙂

Anything on my list that you're selling by any chance ??......

Thanks for the reminder Piero ...How could I possibly forget that I sold my pair of Nagler 13 T6 eyepieces to fund something. I always intended to to replace them though ,which I have done. Not so bad when you know that they have not been discontinued....

I too enjoy buying, trying, and selling eyepieces, often just to see If I am missing anything. I have tried the LVW's and the Pentax XW's and sold them on without regret, many TV models also ,including the Ethos 13mm, which didn't work for me. My love for binoviewing took over, almost a decade ago, and meant I needed a little more thought since buying two of everything made things more expensive, and though I have tried and sold many ,many different pairs, I still have no regrets except for two eyepieces. I had a pair of 18mm BGOs , utterly superb in Andromeda, but sold circa 2016 to fund the upgrade from WO to Denkmeier. It was the right thing to do at the time, but I didn't realize how coveted BGO's would become and hence their scarcity. I do now have one thanks to my friend Dave ( F15 Rules ), and the relentless pursuit of a second is on. I also had a pair of Vixen HR 3.4s. I found binoviewing with these ,hard work, but instead of keeping one, I sold them both, probably my dumbest decision. Oddly, I had not even considered double star observing/splitting until I joined SGL in 2013 and started reading various threads on the subject. It is now , of course, a major part of my enjoyment with my telescopes and so I would certainly grab one of these should they reappear. There is one eyepiece that I could have sold but didn't because I was determined to find a second one day, the Celestron Ultima 24mm. These are quite rare over here, and were very sought after at one time in the USA. Quite by accident, yesterday, I spotted one for sale on EBAY and it will be arriving later today. I have had one of these since 2019, so it has taken a while, but if the rest of the Ultima range is anything to go by, this pair will not be the third eyepiece type in my short list of regrets.

Great job Mike, but a pity you had to do it. I am of the same tolerance as you with most all forms of on line contact. It often seems to me to be done in such a way as to be a deterrent. Luckily for me my dear wife is blessed with the knowledge and patience required in this area, as to put me to shame, as well as an uncanny ability to detect when I am about to go Supernova.......

Hi Mark, The FT 3" is on the 6" APM at the back. The Vixen has the 2.5" FT 2525 HD focuser. This can be bought with the adapter ring shown. The problem is it has an 88.5mm x 1.0mm pitch thread. It was this adapter that I sent to Mark along with the Vixen focuser shown. The Vixen tube is threaded 88 mm x1mm pitch, so it would not fit, but I knew that a competent machinist could 'chase ' the thread and make it fit, which is what Mark did, superbly well.

The Jury is still out on the need for a dehumidifier in my Pulsar dome. I constructed an octagonal marine plywood base with fine mesh air vents on every side, and left one third of the 400mm hole in the centre ,around the pier, open. Add to this the open air gap between the walls and the rotating dome, and there seems to be more than enough air flow to keep the inside dry. In six months of use I have had moisture on the AZ100 and scopes on just a few occasions, so I am not sure yet. Like Jeremy, I have kept dew heaters on permanently set low through this winter.