jetstream

Excellent Goran. If we tone down the results from the first image it would simulate how I see IFN, confirmed in one spot near Vega and strongly suspected in another place. I've been trying on and off in M81/M82 area for a long time but nothing confirmed. I absolutely need to see an edge to have any hope on these. Your image gives me a new spot to try... Keep them Coming Goran!

Why is this?

A warmer night here at -27c, maybe the vortex will move along soon. One thing is for sure- it does bring very good skies with it. The TSA120 was enlisted along with the 42mm LVW, 17/14mm Nikon HW and the 10mm Delos. Orion was hiding behind some pines so this one will be observed in a bit where there is a gap between them. Nice to see Leo again so the first target was the Triplet. The 42mm found them no issue, 2 brighter and the edge on fainter. In with the 14mm- thats it some nice cores appeared in 2 of them and the edge on glowed brighter. Very nice to see them again. Off to M51, again found in the 42mm as a very faint glow. In with the 14mm which separated them nicely. Right where I know fantastic spiral arms would show I saw hints of arms, rectangular streaks, 3 of them spaced evenly around the glow became apparent. This scope shows M51 well, for its 120mm aperture. M101-tough? not in this scope. The10mm Delos increased the delicate glow of this object with hints of arms flicking in and out of view. Great to visit this great object again. Now M42 appeared in a gap between the trees so a quick trip over revealed a really bright nebula no filter. The lower loop was easily visible in the 17mm. The real detail came with the 14mm, its just enough to make a difference. In fact M43 showed its dust lane cutting it faintly- not bad for this aperture. The Running Man showed his main lane- in the glow. All in all this 120mm eclipsed the view given by the 90mm. Inspired I shot up to the Flame nebula, and narrowing up the view with the 10 Delos a bright segmented view appeared. I'm surprised at the view actually- it seems "too good" for the size of the scope. Way better than in the 90mm...seriously. Keeping Alnitak at bay is a must IMHO. Puzzled by a loss of contrast as I searched and found other objects I started looking around- and yup, there was a problem. The aurora had a green glow just over the pines on the next ridge. Wanting to confirm this is what it was I checked the aurora map when I came in yes its down here. So a pretty good night , many objects found thats for sure and the Tak120mm did not disappoint.

Unfortunately this was just a matter of time IMHO, one specialty eyepiece made by some remaining craftsmen of a former Zeiss branch.Expensive to make and a limited market. It is just a different eyepiece, the Ethos has the same contrast but with that great apparent 100 deg FOV. The Docter is more constricted at 84 deg, has fussier eye placement but with a hair sharper view IMHO. Either one is welcome in the collection John. I think that the Pentax XW series is the best deal and with some of the best glass available currently. If buying new I know what I'd be looking at 10mm and down, plus the 30mm.

Thats a lot... I paid just over half that-new... actually less because I bought when the CDN and USD were near par. The Nikon HW 17/14/EIC is a super eyepiece with the most ridiculous eye cup I've seen. The Ethos eyecup fits perfectly though lol! My line up: 20mm Lunt, 17/214 HW, Docter UWA, Delos 10mm, Delos 8mm. Then of course theres the planetary/lunar eyepieces... oh yeah, the widefield frac eps 42 LVW, 30 ES 83 jeez forgot these other ones...😀... etc etc Ethos,Zeiss, Leica..HR's, orthos.. Normally I take 2 or three out! Tonight the LVW/HW and Zeiss zoom get the nod for the 120mm frac.

I always look forward to your reports Iain and am eagerly waiting for more!

I have confidence you will (or have) achieve this. Yes, the Roddier test has been questioned. I would absolutely like to have an easy to use very accurate test method that no one can dispute.

Youre not going to see much difference between the 21E and the 20 APM IMHO, edge astig being one difference, and yeah I have them both. If I drop the 20 APM I'll cry, if I drop the 21E I'll jump up and down ,cry and throw a fit over the money I just lost 😀

I have spent thousand of dollars maximizing my views through trial and error. Forget the 25mmES 100 if you were looking as well as the monster 6 pound 30mm ES 100... The 30mm UFF is very highly regarded but at f7.5 I need a lower mag EP for the OIII. IMHO buy eyepieces that are known to sell well in the used market then you can play a bit- easier money wise. If you had the 30mm UFF, 20mm APM and the 13mm APM you would not be lacking by any ones standards IMHO. From there you can fine tune.

Yes, same eyepiece.

The difference in transmission becomes apparent even though I don't have the 13mm APM. Depends what you want- I love the 14mm Nikon HW eventhough its not the highest trans eyepiece out there- its vg though. All this is going to boil down to how you like the look through the eyepiece IMHO. Last night the unfiltered view of the Rosette was amazing using the 17mm HW, had I used the 17.3mm Delos the look would be constrained. One thing for sure- you need an EP for the OIII...

Unfiltered this parameter is harder to know, it depends on the skies and observer. The 20mm Lunt is a super eyepiece that shows a tiny bit of astig at the edge with the PCII. This does not bother me one bit. One known: I would for sure, have one widefield just over 4mm exit pupil for the OIII, nesr 5 if your skies are dark.

This is a bit low for OIII use IMHO. The 17.3 mm Delos rapidly became a favourite eyepiece, very bright huge contrast and then there is the Docter UWA... All these eyepieces need good dark skies for differences to become apparent IMHO.

It might be best for you to try some different ones out before buying, to see what works for you.

@Deadlake one vg one for filter use and one vg one for general galaxy work. For the latter the 17.3mm Delos is superb, knocking the 17E off the stump for this work. In your scope a 30mm widefield gets the nod for filter use and something like the mentioned Delos for widefield galaxy use. Of course this is up to personal taste.

Have you tried them both on Saturn when the planet is high up? I'm curious about the tonal difference and which scope you prefer. And after that Ill make an offer to purchase on the TSA102 😀 but I know it wont be for sale

Thanks Stu! it was sure good to get the Raptor out, the views through the refractor were excellent, its been a while since I used it. Refractors do offer a purity of view and last night M42 showed extremely bright with the Nikon HW, this eyepiece on some things has no rival IMHO. On the Swan in the 24" the views are jaw dropping and photographic like. Eagerly waiting your reports Stu!

Great to hear from you! Get the snowshoes out and report when clear! 😀

The size of the light disk that hits your eye is called the exit pupil and this illuminates your eye. The size of this disk matters IMHO for a variety of things. Eventhough my eye opens well over 6mm, almost 7mm I find for me the trade off of a smaller 5mmish exit pupil and therefore increased image scale (mag) works extremely well (filter use).In talks with a bunch of "us" this seems to be a commonly liked place to be on large diffuse nebula. The range revealed from conversation is 4mm for lighter skies to 5mm ish for any sky. In theory the UHC which allows more light through can use a smaller exit pupil (more mag). I generally don't do this- if the object is bright enough for this ie the "Swan", the filter comes off for better views. On the other hand if you shrink the exit pupil and therefore increase mag and drop eye illumination these filters don't work well- not enough light hitting your eye- these filters espc a proper OIII really limit the total light through to your eyes. To start try a 5m ish exit pupil +/- a little bit with an OIII IMHO. On planetary neb this doesn't apply- throw everything you have at them, I regularly go over 350x with my 24" with a 1.5m exit pupil/OIII on small ones.

I think the difference is in the bandwidth, the TV is tight and the old Astronomik a bit wider. I would presume a new Astronomik to perform the same.

Thanks John and I eagerly wait for your report!

Last night our puppy "Neek" woke us up at 3am growling and barking "really lots".. today we went to the point and saw a single set of timberwolf tracks, about 30 yds from the house-good catch Neek! Im trying to train him to observe with me and I thought tonite would be a good session- until he started the growling and barking at the window as I prepared 😲 So I left him in the house and headed up to the ridge and seacan myself, believe me I was all ears out there. @domstar is working out the details to observe the Rosette nebula and I figured I better "walk the talk" with respect to the opinions I'm giving. A steady -33c set in and with great skies. I wanted to emulate a bit brighter sky situation so I set up with the sliver moon still up but low. Transparency was vg. My 90mmSV Raptor is a great little scope that has seen hundreds of adventures around the area- I know this scope well.A 42mm LVW and Nikon 17/14 HW were on deck as well as an Astronomik OIII (wide, older one,vg) and the new tight, high trans TV OIII. Under these vg but lightish conditions- very very faint MW, the 42mm/Astronomik OIII were enlisted for the first try- and success! The 6mm exit pupil and this OIII revealed the nebulosity and the Raptor framed it beautifully. Wide OIII worked? Ok time for the TV OIII, my best of three OIII's. This very tight high transmission filter gave an immediate contrast "pop" to the Rosette! A very noticeable difference. Ok over to M42 for a break, off with the filter. A really small M42 presented itself, nothing like it should be... in goes the 14mm HW and bam! the bright core and draped wings were excellent - but- the lower loop-why is it sub par? Off with the EIC in with the 17mm HW- whoa-a perfect bright view of M42 and its lower loop. A great sight. On goes the OIII and the lower loop was there but patchy and very faint. By this time the moon lowered and I explored the area more- the 42 LVW/TV OIII revealed the Meissa nebula-its huge even for this 4.2 deg TFOV combo, larger than this. Not bad for a 90mm scope though? Back to the Rosette- the 17mm HW, no filter showed the liquid grey glow of the Rosette nicely-so OK the OII will help right? This 2.4mm exit pupil combo killed the Rosette... Anyway this was my mini adventure for the day and Im glad to have had it, the sky here is superb right now.

We'll see how the 90mm Raptor does on it in a minute...

I love them, bought them on sale and with our dollars at par- otherwise there would be no TVs here...

You know between the Tecs, Taks and NV I've dreamed up spending $20,000! Twenty grand? I better just use what I have lol! Yes, Gavin has very good equipment.