Wyvern

Interesting that no one's picked up on these beasts! Maybe it's just me that has a hatred of these cheap and potentially lethal - to your eye at least - "solar filters" that screw into the eyepiece of 1.25 inch ep's. A number of cheap "starter telescopes" often feature a "Sun filter" and "moon filter" as accessories with their scopes to make them more "attractive" to potential purchasers. While the moon filter will be of some use at times in the Lunar cycle and cut down glare, just think for a moment where the filter is actually placed in the focal path. Yep, almost at the exact point where all the light and heat is brought to a focus. Given time, the "solar filter", having gone through periods of heating (expansion of filter material) and cooling back to ambient storage temperature (contraction of filter material), will suddenly and without any warning crack and fail, leaving your now unprotected eye ready to instantly lose its sight having had the "benefit" of all the aperture and magnification capacity that your telescope can supply. If anyone has one of these "solar filters" with a telescope, please, for your own safety and peace of mind throw it away - after beating it senseless with a hammer - and follow the safe and sensible options presented in the posts above. Thanks,.......... getting off my soapbox now!!! Les

Hi John, PM inbound, Les

Hi John, Appreciate I'm a "bit late to the party" on this advert but is it still up for sale? Will be traveling to the Stafford showground from Mid Wales on 19th Jan if it's still up for grabs and convenient to collect from you then. Would be a post-show collect +/- 3pm if OK. Regards, Les

Hi, Belonging to the "Keep It Simple School", I've got 5 of these hasp and staple fittings with a carabiner clip fitted for quick release inside the ROR obsy. Have survived 7+ years of all that the Welsh weather has thrown at it to date! Regards, Les

Hi, Yours seems a common "complaint" on these "lightbucket" lenses. Better results are found at f4, but stopping any lens down generally improves things as standard. Have a search for this thread here on SGL Samyang 14mm - star image quality assessment Makes for interesting reading. Les

And since both receivers work around 20MHz you'll soon have a simple "Radio Jupiter" set up as well, Enjoy! Les

New concept?!!!!! Sorry, but we've had a "mobile observatory" for some years now! Thank you Citroen Berlingo/Peugeot Partner.!! Les.

What is "over-engineered" to some is perfectly functional to others, and sometimes needs must! I think you can safely blame the holes in the table down to hyperactive woodpeckers! Great jobs either way. Les

Shot from early hours! Difficult to tell if it's significantly brightened from the photo alone as the Comet was still quite low down nr the NE horizon at the time. (+/- 12 degrees). Had been out already for a couple of hours and starting to get serious dewing issues, so "bottled it" at just gone 1.30 am. Regards, Les

Our two GSP's (German Shorthaired Pointers) also have "fun" at my expense during observing sessions. Mum and Son (Sol and Indus with Indy on Left and Mum Sol on Right), are both jet black and were adept at sneaking into the obsy and curling up on the floor where I'd "discover" them by tripping over them! Oh how we laughed on the way to casualty!!!!!!!!. Luckily it didn't quite come to that and I've now learned to keep the obsy door shut for my own safety and sanity!........ still love 'em though! even when they now know to lurk just outside the door for when I finish the session! Les.

Given the request for photo's at the start of this thread, here are a couple of my humble shots. Les.

Hi Brian, Like the image, cracker! Don't bother about buying a book to find out what features you've captured and where they are on the Lunar surface, download the Virtual Moon Atlas, available from several sites, one linked below https://sourceforge.net/projects/virtualmoon/ Regards, Les

Nice one Mark! So SID and Jupiter array set ups for the next projects with all this holiday time available? Les

Here's a couple of very basic shots I've snatched over the past couple of days. Regards, Les