jetstream

I have a working line German Shepherd, 7 months old and about 80 pounds now. Hes very energetic and smart- we just got back and hes outside with the wife atm. Sure glad the teething has stopped! (almost).

Very good! The Cone nebula is one of the hardest objects there is to see, much harder than the HH by many times.

I gotta go get birdseed- my little cold red birds out there look hungry! puppy needs some treats too, back soon.

I hope no offence is taken by my dislike for the Bortle scale- I think it says you should be able to see M33 from your skies naked eye lol! It takes my very best skies to do this... maybe its just my eyes.

Can you define Bortle 4 in your own words from your own observations?

Yes the 807 is excellent! thats the good news! the bad news is that I cant see this range!! Im looking at the IR filters for lunar imaging btw.

I truly dislike the Bortle scale and no offence to him. I hear "I'm Bortle 3" or "ok I'm Bortle 3/4 but sometimes 5". I now go by the Milky Way (and SQM-L, NELM) - if you can "just see" the MW RFT obs will be diminished. If it looks bright but with limited structure ( a transparency issue) RFT view will be good. If the MW shows bright jagged structure with its spurs showing- run for the RFT! and every other scope you have! My skies run from 21.4 SQM to 21.9, NELM at least 6.8. Transparency runs from poor to excellent. I usually only do reports when conditions are excellent

Me too but I don't want the momentum to stop lol! I'm actually understanding (a tiny bit) of this stuff. Well I think I do any way😃 but this is just a subjective opinion of myself

Are you sure?

Bump Still needing to learn!

Please note that filters are not magic... you need dark transparent skies for these objects. I sold my house in town and moved up in the bush for dark skies...

@John has an older wider Astronomik, vg btw, I have one too. Either OIII will be excellent I think, for me now the nod would go to the new TV OIII. I just can't believe it out contrasts my Lumicon-I thought it wouldn't be possible.

Wait until we see the effect on shipping prices with respect to "the cost of carbon".Every single thing will go up from tomatoes to telescopes IMHO.

We can avoid thermal shock- use an insulated case in and out, but this extends times. I leave 2 of my fracs in the seacan (in their insulated cases).The Tak is in the house with me 😀. They are in there now in -37c this morning and would be usable tonight. I just can't imagine risking a $10,000 dollar oil spaced telescope with extreme temps.My Tak does fine for cooldown but I do use an insulated case as stated.

I bought the Binotron 27s for a few reasons including a discussion with Russ. I told him my set up and wanted the binos to work with any of my scopes. He immediately knew what to do- he made an extension for the system to focus in my newts, no charge. This system works in my fracs and newts extremely well. If I was over there I would look at the new Baaders, research them - but they look good to me. Good EP holders are a must.

First off dark skies are a must for rich field viewing, second many scopes can provide it including my 24" f4.1. Many will argue this but whatever. Again getting under dark skies is a must to be able to see what a RFT (or any other) has to offer IMHO.

I use dimming either through a larger f ratio (reduced exit pupil at a mag seeing will support) or better yet my f7.5 frac with a binoviewer. Low power, small aperture and or a small exit pupil. Works for me.

The Baader single polarizer is the only one that does much (for me). BUT...😀 I do have a technique. Interested?

@Deadlake BUT... 😀 A mandatory, must have planetary lunar filter is the Baader single polarizer...forget the rest. My best seeing is right at dusk and some of my very best views of Jupiter and the moon has been with this filter. I do get better views in darkness at times but this filter opens up many opportunities. Forget the rest...IMHO Including the Baader NEO.

@Deadlake Nope! If you have a tight Astronomik UHC, I would not get the TV. I just wanted to try the TV filters because I needed to fill the other dobs slide instead of switching. My Lumicom UHC is extremely good, which speaks highly for the TV Nebustar. The NPB is an unusual filter-tight, dark, passes red but gives VG views? I cant quite figure this on out. I called Dan McShane before and after the purchase-he owns DGM-and told him my thoughts-his filters is vg which he really appreciated, good guy Dan is. Btw- a colleague has a spectral analyzer- he is also a vendor- and he embraced the idea of testing the TV filters for free and under the condition I don't pay for them if they are too wide, down on transmission etc. He called me and said "Ger these are extremely good filters". Sorry for the long story but for me red isn't an issue but I do like the TV which gives a different perspective on things.Save your money IMHO.

Glad I bought when I did.

This can be a problem too IMHO- off topic but we bought an expensive Maytag washing machine years ago because of their reputation-it lasted a year before the pump seal etc went. no problem right?!! Huge warranty for a long time. The repair man told me it would be $600.00 out of my pocket.I called Maytag and yes it had a great warranty! But! I was told to read the fine print...the pump seal etc was excluded. The repair man told me it was a common failure. We now own Bosch- 6 yrs old and going strong. Yeah, these days using price as a consideration of quality needs to be closely examined.IMHO.

A portion of APM's reputation was built on the LZOS lens connection as well as Thomas Back's and priced accordingly. APMs reputation might also have been used as a selling feature for their doublet ED scopes... if some of the discussions on these particular scopes were true then APM's reputation might not have been enhanced. I think there were TMBII eyepieces that some called clones if I remember. All I know is that going into a purchase its best with eyes wide open and being informed.

It is best to be educated when buying optics, very good info Deadlake-I didn't know this. Btw I personally dislike "clones" ....not saying the SS is, but I think you know what I mean.

Perfect! Eagerly waiting to see if I'm dreaming...