paulastro

What a bargain, the 'L' bracket alone is sold for £26 in some places! A shame I already have one 😊.

It's the same for me since I came out of hospital in early January. My 10 inch has not been used, my Askar 103 triplet twice and my seestar seven or eight times - and that doesn't include a few solar sessions. All because of the weather.

I wouldn't have bought mine if it had been £1,000. Firstly because I wasn't 100% certain if if it would be as good as all the hype (it turned out to be better than I expected!), and secondly I would have been reluctant to pay a grand for an electronic device which may soon be superceeded by a better and cheaper version. As it turned out, the S50 could be all I ever want in terms of imaging, unless they bring out a clearly superior model for around the same price as the S50. Even then, I may not be tempted. So in my case, Eds view that it would be best to have waited is not true!

So he should in my view. I've always respected Ed and liked his reviews. I will say though in this case he made it clear from the start he didn't like the S50, and then did everything he could to rubbish it. As others have said, he completely missed the point of it to the degree that I feel he must have known what he was doing. Comparing the unprocessed S50 images with those of processed pics with setups costing many times the price was plainly misleading. I've been a visual observer for over fifty years, and bought one because its amazingly cheap for what it does with the least effort. I am delighted with the quality of the images it produces whilst knowing its limitations and don't need anything better. Also, heading toward my 70th year with heart difficulties, I won't be following Ed's advice and be sitting on my hands waiting for technology to improve and prices to possibly fall further. I'm sorry Ed, but this is not one of your finest moments.

Last evening I went to Penistone Hill Country Park to attempt to see the predicted aurora. No aurora alas, but I did take my Seestar S50 for its first field trip. I did manage an image of 12P/Pons-Brooks. Also I took one of the Orion Neb to see what the S50 could perform on a night with theMoon 99% illuminated. There was also a fair amount of haze. Being a non- imager I was pleasantly surprised. The comet was 8 mts exposure and M42, 60 mts.

Also the show was great if you wanted to save £50 on the Seestar S50 - they were flying out the door. Zoom in on the notice slung uderneath the Askar 185!

Single frame taken at 8.12pm from Penistone Country Park with my Seestar S50.

MARCH 24TH. Took this single frame of 12P Pons-Brook at 20.12pm from Penistone Country Park, five minutes drive from where I live. Went there to view the aurora, but alas it didnt happen. While waiting I took this with my Seestar S50.

I went to Penistone Hill Country Park 5mts drive from where I live and was there from 7.30 to about 9.50pm. Mostly clear skies, some haze and the 99.9% Moon of course. No sign of any auroral activity at this time. I met a lady and her mum who were members of a local aurora group. They showed me the extent of the auroral oval and we were a little S of the green bit.

Stu strong auroral possibilities as darkness falls this evening reported - check out spaceweather and other sites inc SGL.

Large sunspot AR3615 is on the CM and its very complex and active. Probably naked eye,(WITH SUITABLE FILTER!) Forecast aurora activity in the early hours tomorrow morning too. Single frame below taken at at 11.07 today withSeestar S50. UPDATE Indications are auroral activity could be as soon as it gets dark anywhere in the UK.

Well grumps, I enjoyed travelling down with yourself and Keith 😊. Thanks for doing the driving. I met a couple of friends from London and Northampton I have known for at least thirty years and a friend from The Astronomy Centre I haven't seen for a while as I was incapacitated before a couple of medical procedures in December and January. I bought three books and some free mags from The Sciety for the History of Astronomy and renewed my subs, and bought the 2024 Handbook from the BAA stand. Also I had recently advertised on SGL and astrobuysell for a used copy of the 4th volume of the Kepple Guides to the Night Sky, 'The Glories of the Milky Way.' Its out of print and used copies are advertised for up to £160. I didn't get any responses to my ads. Speaking to Owen Brazil on the Webb Society stand I asked him if he had actually ever seen a copy - I hadn't. Owen turned round, picked up a new copy of it off the sales table and said 'do you mean this?' What luck!!! it was a lone copy that had been bundled in with an order from the publishers in the USA. What joy. This alone made my whole trip worthwhile. Also looked at lots of goodies and got my hands on the Askar 185mm triplet apo! (I have the 103 version) I had a wonderful day 😊

Geoff, if you fo search by pressing the search button on the top right corner of the star atlas, by each object it indicates which objects will automatically use a filter. You can of course choose to switch on the filter for the objects where this isn't indicated. Edit Just checked tis, and it will show the categories of objects when you press the search button I indicated , and you then have to use a search box at the top of this page to type in the object you are looking for.

Out this.morning from around 11 -11.45 with the Seestar, its quicker to get out than my refractors and the cloud was building up. There was a fair wind and I was operating it from my car and it was being well buffeted but the seestar always returned the sun to the centre of the frame. In the end I lost my nerve in case it was blown over and so Ipacked up. AR3165 is very complex and active and well worth observing. Single frame below taken at 11.06 am. Info below from spaceweather.com

Patrick, thank you for starting this thread. It so happened it was at a time I was thinking of getting a better quality amici-prism to use on both of my refractors to use as my goto prism. It's been useful for me and I hope I didn't divert the thread from where you wanted to be ? apologies if I did. I've ordered the Baader T2 90 deg Astro Amici-Prism with BBHS Coating #2456130 this morning. I'll post my findings when I've had time to use it a few times. Many thanks also to those who have added such helpful information to the thread.

Five minutes from an hour is a poor return. Was it a little windy, or perhaps cloud interfering or even an obstruction? I've noticed that they are much better at reacting to conditions than I am. Usually when I hadn't noticed that cloud is increasing or there is some wind. Mine doesn't usually go below at least a 2/3 success rate. It did once stop for about fifteen minutes and I thought it had frozen somehow or had broken down. Re- booting it didn't work - and then I noticed it had completely clouded over where the object was! 🤔 PS If you were using it on the small tripod it comes with, perhaps you hadn't noticed the nebula was too low to be seen by the Seestar. I've done this as well!

No problem Mark, I had to check back to remind myself what I had written! 😊

Many thanks Mark. Mark, where did you get the XWA 20mm from? My two 2 inch eyepieces are the Celestron 30mm/70 Ultima Edge FF and the Baader Asheric 36mm/72, also the Baader Star Diagonals Manual I printed off some years ago has the clear aperture of the Baader T2 Astro Amici-Prism with BBHS coating as 31 mm clear aperture. I do agree that Baader T2 prisms don't vignette very easily. My Baader T2 body with 'extra large BBHS Prism by Zeiss-standard short optical length' (34mm clear aperture, 38.5mm optical length) doesn't vignette with either of my 2 inch eyepieces. I must admit, your own and Stu's comments have moved me in the direction of the T2 amici-prism for which I thank you both. PS I could swap out the 2inch T2 Clicklock and 2inch nosepiece from my other prism.

Many thanks. Apologies if I seemed dismisive in any way re the APM, I didn't mean to be. Your club member may think a lot of it, but I've no way of knowing what criteria are important to him. Also, I've no way of trying one out so if I ordered one I'd be buying blind. If I bought one and tried it out I might think its great. If I didnt or it wasnt as good as the zwO I have, would they be willing to take it back? Not all suppliers are as helpful as FLO and others I have used. The 46mm clear aperture is good, but then my WO version is 40 and shows no vignetting, the expensive Baader is 44, but this is not the only important thing. The Baader literature gives persuasive reasons for buying it. as the APM one does, even more so. The main thing has going for it is that it has an excellent reputation, their other prisms are certainly very good. Are there any reviews of the APM version pr other information.? I didn't know it existed before you mentioned it.

Many thanks Mark. That's very useful, I'll take it into consideration. It may come down to how important it is to increase the field in my 103 from 2.3 to up to 3.7 degrees! I'm saying thus on the basis I'm assuming there will be some vignetting if I use a T2 2 inch nosepiece and 2 inch eyepiece clamp because of the smaller clear aperture in the T2 version.. Have you tried yours with 2 inch eyepieces Mark?

Many thanks that was very helpful. I think in quality, the cheaper (smaller) one might be ok for me, but if I can't use it for sweeping with my 2 inch eyepieces (possible vignetting) then that would restrict the field with my 103 triplet to 2.3 degrees, instead of 3.0 or 3.7 degrees - I'll have to think about that as its half the price. Whilst I agree that £600 is a lot for a prism/diagonal, it depends what you compare it with. In our astronomy world some people will pay( and do) well over £600 for an eyepiece, £87 for anti vibration pads, £200 for counerweights and over £300 for some filters etc etc. The reason I most want a better amici prism is that I have always resented having to put up with a mirror image view when using any ordinary diagram or prism. It's not only annoying on the Moon and planets, but for any object or star field you look at you are not seeing reality, it's not what they really look like. Most people don't seem to be bothered by this, but if all telescopes had always given a right way round image and then someone had invented an optical system giving a mirror image people probably wouldn't put up with it! (an inverted image is fine as it exists in reality, no upside down in the universe of course.) Rant over 🤣. Thanks for the APM prism heads up, but it may mot be as good as the Willuam Optics 2inch prism which I've used up to now. ( link in my first post in this thread) Anyway, thanks again, I have somen thinking to do ☺️

Space Hopper. When you say the cheaper one do you mean the one below. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/diagonals/baader-t-2-90-baader-astro-amici-prism-with-bbhs-coating.html I was thinking of buying it ( or even possibly the expensive one!) to replace the William Optics one I have. I've never really been troubled much by the diffraction spike, but I would expect one or both of the Baaders to have a better overall performance and be ok on powers of over x125 or so. Of course the cheaper one probably has too small a prism to accommodate my Celestron Ultima Edgel FF 30/70 and Baader Aspheric 36/72 without vignetting. Can you tell me how the cheaper one performs on Jupiter/ Saturn/Mars on higher powers IfI bought the expensive one, I'd use it all the time and sell my ordinary Baader prism #2456095 to recoup some money. Thanks, Paul

If you mean the William Optics 2inch 90 deg one (listed on 365 Astronomy) at just over £200, Ive had one for some years. I bought it used, then it wasn't available again until comparatively recently. It is MUCH better than any other I've used over the years (and I've tried and owned quite a few others) and can be used on powers up to around x125 (which others I've tried have not been able to do) and still have a good image. It gives a nice image with good contrast and is very well made. I would recommend it if it's still of the same quality. The best one is generally acknowledged as being the Badder/Zeiss 2 inch 90 deg version that costs around £600! FLO lists it but currently out of stock. This is the one I have https://www.365astronomy.com/William-Optics-90-degree-Erecting-Prism?path=113_152_358

Thanks Geoff. I just launched the app and it prompted me to download the update. Its all working fine, though no sun to try it out. Good to be able to make the lens raise up without entering one of the modes 👍

I'm glad you had a session Mike, it was almost like seeing you in person - lucky me 😊. Nice pics, I almost felt I was there! I'd practice a bit though before you launch your channel on u-tube - unless it's a comedy channel 😅