Saganite

Wow , I would love to be under that sky with any scope John !.... Nice set up.

Hi Linton, It looks like a Columbus Ultra Wide, as sold by 365 Astronomy. Cheers

Same stupendous seeing from my part of the country John. I am using my f15 tonight and loving the views as it tracks superbly over the Hyginus Rille showing the collapse craters remarkably at 439 X. Unbelievably steady !!

Hi Harry, I had the 18mm , 12mm & 8mm starguiders and used them for probably 18 months. They are very nice sharp 60 deg AFOV eyepieces at a very good price, and I would recommend them . I have used one or two of the X -Cel eyepieces and found them to be less well constructed, in short, I much preferred the BST units.

What is there not to love about M13, just glorious isn't it, and that's a lovely image.

Uni 18 tripod and Berlebach Castor Alt/az mount. The Tak is rock steady on this set up.

Great result Paul..

Hi Linton, Dave (f15 Rules) had a 40mm Kellner almost identical and he posted it on the forum some time ago. Somebody replied that it is threaded to screw into a turret, but that is all I remember. I will have a look and see if I can find the thread. Steve

That is looking great Al, well done !

I have had a few nights of really steady seeing in the last week or so. Incredibly, I have never seen Mercury and I set up last night for a rehearsal for 21/22 . I got the beautiful calm crescent of Venus but by the time it was dark enough there were too many obstacles, houses fences etc to see Mercury and I could not find it in the fading evening sky though I tried, but had superb views of Venus. I will take my FC100 across to the playing fields I think, as I don't want to miss the conjunction.

Welcome to SGL Oli....

Same as Dave, almost in the same order, and the seeing was very good here also...

I was out last evening with my FC100 this time, looking at all the usual targets, and the seeing was very good until 12.30 am when clouds rolled in.

Good luck for tonight Mark. Not looking good here unfortunately.

Just looking through my logs and I made a note on or around 11th February 2019 ; MUST split Antares ( John 130mm LZOS 300 x Antares) I think you also mentioned Zeta Herculis in the same report because I have written that one down as a must do......

The joy and satisfaction following that session , comes through loud and clear Mark. A lovely report and some fine results, well done. I have never seen Antares either, so I must try harder !......

Likewise Ade. I have used the Mey observing chair for a few years, and I can't fault it.

The R&P focuser on my FC100DC has exhibited this side play from brand new. I spoke to Ian King about it shortly after receiving it, when I met him at an Astro show somewhere, and he told me the same thing, ie, it is inherent in the design. It does not trouble me in use, but you would be forgiven for expecting better from Takahashi. I had my Denk bino mounted on it for a while, but that, plus eyepieces ,exacerbated the problem, so I now use a smaller lighter bino on this scope. I also tend to nip the focuser lock down and then back it off which does stop the sideways 'slop' but is not ideal.

It took me 4 years Al so I would not worry....

That is not good Alan. I would have expected it to be powder coated, so, hard and durable !

Hi Baz, The seeing last night here was really very good. I split Xi Bootes and Epsilon Bootes at 476X with lovely diffraction patterns ,in my 5" f15 refractor. They did split beautifully at 200X but with the seeing so good I thought I would push it and see.

Lovely Mike. I tried Venus last evening but caught it fairly low above a row of houses and it was not good, very turbulent. But, later I did get a 476x lovely split of Epsilon Bootes, with excellent diffraction patterns, using my 5" f15.

Tonight and tomorrow night are looking promising, so good luck Dave.

Hi Baz, I was just finishing my session at 2.45 am after a night of double stars and I looked up at Ursa Major and thought I will just see if I can spot M81 & 82, but I was tired and decided against it, just as well I did not bother. Earlier, just after Moonrise I looked at M13 & M92 and of course they were pretty washed out already.

Hi Dave, It is a beautiful scope and superb at star splitting which is what I am now doing since the Moon is well up. Very good diffraction patterns ! The objective in this telescope is a real beauty, quite superb on the Moon and planets as you would expect, and a view through this and a binoviewer, about three years back, took my breath away. Are you out tonight ?