pbyrne

Hi all Lately I have been considering the purchase of some new equipment, better eyepieces, deep sky filters, etc. I have been scouring the various websites looking at what takes my fancy and I was on the verge of putting in an order when I stopped myself. I thought about the year that has gone by and thanks to the weather, it has been terrible, I estimate that I have been out observing between six and ten times. I live in a light polluted area, weeks have gone by without a clear sky and some of those nights have resulted in skies that have poor seeing and awful transparency. I have been to a dark sky site three times, and even some of those nights had been sub par. It is the notion of spending hundreds of Euro on new gear and have it sitting in a case unused that is holding me back. Am I the only one experiencing these doubts?

Hi Dan I can completely understand where you are coming from. I have experienced this is in the past, where I could not be bothered to even set up the gear and when the local council switched over to LED lighting, this only exacerbated the problem as the light pollution increased terribly. At one point I took a break from astronomy and took up bird watching. Always in the background the astronomy bug was calling and I answered. I had sold all my large equipment and went to binocular viewing and this dropped the set up time with larger binoculars to a minimum., handheld to nothing, duh! The idea of not spending half an hour or more setting up is a definite plus. Maybe taking a break for a short spell will help, get your mind onto something else and the passion may come back. My light pollution is still awful, BTW.

An ETX 105, this had more plastic than a Kardashian.

I came across a pair of interesting scopes. https://www.astroshop.eu/telescopes/ts-optics-apochromatic-refractor-ap-102-1122-ed-ota/p,62910 https://www.astroshop.eu/telescopes/tecnosky-apochromatic-refractor-ap-102-1100-ed-planet-ota/p,76384

I have come across a video on YouTube from Ed Ting where he discussed the 150mm CC. He is not a huge fan.

Thanks for the replies. This is why this hobby is so fascinating, and frustrating, there are recommendations for all three scopes. I live in Bortle 6 skies, the seeing is attrocious, LED streetlights everywhere. The reason I have not considered a SCT, is that I had a Celestron C6 some years back, and for some reason I just could not come to like it, I think it was the mirror shift, but I sold it soon after. I want to stick to the 150mm size because I believe that it is the best portable size, the Mak can go up to 180mm, but that comes with an even longer cool down time and how will the view be improved with an extra 30mm? I love the look of the refractor, but at this moment, it is down to either the Mak or the CC. More thinking required.

Hi guys I am looking to perform more lunar observations, with a little planetary thrown in, in the scope stakes, I am considering one of the following and would appreciate any thoughts or experiences that you may have. 150mm Maksutov. 150mm Classical Cassegrain. 100-110mm ED Refractor. Each scope has its pros and cons. The Mak, has the longest focal length, however, there is the question of cool down time due to the heavy meniscus mirror and it susceptability to dew. The Skywatcher version comes with diagonal, eyepiece and finder. The CC does not have the same cool down issue as the Mak, due to a lack of a meniscus mirror, it also comes with a R&P focuser and there are no worries about dew build up. There is no eyepiece, finder or diagonal. The ED is smaller in aperture, it does benefit from not having loss of light due to the design of the above pair having the secondary systems, again, there is no finder, diagonal and eyepiece. Then there is the cost. Am I correct to state that a doublet will be more than enough to cut down on potential false colour? A lack of a finder, diagonal and eyepiece are not an issue, as I already have them all. The scope will sit on a Skywatcher HEQ-5 and though not inititially a consideration, I may want to dabble in lunar photography at a later date. Thanks for looking.

It's to hold your umbrella.

I just want to echo what has been stated, zoom binoculars are a really bad idea and non vontage Tasco are not good quality. Binoculars are not the best option when it comes to the moon and planets, they will show larger features on the moon, the bands of Jupiter and the 4 main moons, also that Saturn has rings, though no details on those rings as well as the phases of Venus. If the moon and planets are going to be your main areas of interest, look for a telescope.

Hi all Can anyone out there tell of their exeperience using deep-sky filters with their binocular telescope? I am thinking of purchasing a pair of UHC filters for my 82mm BT, with the potential purchases of O-IIIs or even H-Betas at a later date. Thanks

I have a pair of Oberwerk Deluxe 15x70s that give excellent, sharp views.

I have bought items from the US in the past, always from private sellers, asking nicely a seller will normally put a lower value on the item and therefore avoiding import duties, I have never bought from a dealer. It's when you see the same item for sale in the US at €1000, or more. cheaper it's hard not to be tempted. Buying from the EU, there are no taxes, buying from the UK, I don't have to pay UK taxes, but import taxes are added. Having an item travel 5000 kilometres, some delivery companies are not the gentlest, would make you nervous. I guess the extra cost is worth the peace of mind.

Hi all I am still looking to purchase a solar scope, browisng around the Web, it is obvious that the prices in the US are a fraction to those on this side of the Atlantic. Even taking the cost of shipping and import taxes, about 25% here in Ireland, this will still work out cheaper. I understand that the biggest headache could be if there is a problem with the scope, then it will have to be shipped back and returned, probably more import taxes to be paid. It is a gamble, but is it worth taking? Anyone gone down this road?

Hi guys I have observed in white light, now I want to go down the h-alpha route. I am leaning towards the Lunt 50mm as it appears to have everything I am looking for. Has anyone used the Lunt zoom eyepiece? Paul

Hi all I am looking to get into solar observing and from what I have been reading online, the Coronado scopes do not have a good reputation, has anyone experience with Coronado, I am thinking of the Solarmax III? I am purely a visual observer and sketcher, no imaging. Many thanks. Paul

I found info that they are made by Photax, a camera and camera lens manufacturer. https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/24795-info-on-second-tier-german-binocular-manufacture/ I could not find any info on the company itself.

The second pair arrived and they looked like they were second hand. The rubber covering over the prism housing was not secure and when I gently peeled them back, the silicone covering of the screws was missing, it looked like they were interferred with. I can only assume both pairs were from a poor batch from China, I did not take up the offer for a third pair and demanded a refund. Very disappointing.

A little bit late to the party, try this site: http://rodelaet.xtreemhost.com/binocular_astronomy.html?i=1

They arrived today, viewing through them the first time, it became obvious that they are out of collimation, this is so disappointing and for a moment, I considered attemptng to collimate them mself, I have done this before. Seeing as they are new, the better option is to return them for a new pair. It is just so annoying, Amazons idea of secure packaging is a single piece of crumpled paper pushed to one side of the binocular box is bizarre, whether they came from the factory not collimated or it happened during transit, I don't know. If the second pair also don't come up to the mark, I will demand a refund.

I ordered the Bresser 15x70s today from Amazon.de, they were going for a price I couldn't ignore. They should be here on Thursday. Hello rain!

Thanks for the suggestions of different size binos, I have a pair of Pentax 15x70s and a pair of Strathspey 20x90s, looking to bridge the gap. That sounds worrying, having to return three pairs, it doesn't say a lot about quality control at the Celestron factory.

Hi Alan I'm a big fan of Steve's site and newsletter, great information from a dedidcated man. HIs reviews are excellent and without bias, including the Bresser model for the Sky at Night magazine.

Hi all I am looking to move up from my 10x50s to a pair of 15x70s and after much searching of the Web, I have read plenty of reviews about different models and there are a few that have caught my eye. 1: https://www.apm-telescopes.net/en/apm-ed-apo-16x70-magnesium-series-binoculars 2: https://www.astroshop.eu/instruments/omegon-binoculars-argus-16x70/p,47249 3: https://www.bresser.de/en/Astronomy/Binoculars/BRESSER-Spezial-Astro-SF-15x70-Binoculars.html 4: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p1405_TS-Optics-15x70MX-Outdoor-ED-APO-Binoculars--with-Nitrogen-Filling.html 5: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/all-binoculars/celestron-skymaster-pro-15x70-binoculars.html 6: https://eu.telescope.com/Telescopes/Orion-Resolux-15x70-Waterproof-Astronomy-Binoculars/rc/488/p/113420.uts The binos will be used for deep-sky, the occasional look at the moon and planets and will be mounted on a p-mount. From my reading, numbers 2-5 look to be fairly similar in specs and price with them. I have read many reviews and they all seem to be good quality items. The APMs and the Omegons look to be the standout pair in the six listed and any others out there. My main question is this: I know that there are always potential differences between one batch of binos and another, even in the same series, all things being equal, can I expect similar performances between numbers 2-5? Moving onto the APMs and the Omegons, there is a €300 to €400 difference between them and the rest, is there a justrification of such a huge difference in price to go for one of these? WIll I get €400 worth of improvement? I am looking specificlly for straight through binoculars and not angled models. Thanks for your time.

Alan, thanks for the info, it worked a charm. No doubt I will be back here many times with a thousand and one more questions. Thanks to you all for replying.

Hi there. I took about 2 hours worth of H-Alpha images last night. I went to process them today, they all came out red from DSS, as expected, but when I tried to extract the red channel in Photoshop 2021 and paste to a new image, the new image was the same as the old, ie, all the colour channels were extracted, not just the red. I have extracted the red channel before with my set up, why is it not working this time? The file is a 16 bit tif file. One other problem, when I step out of Photoshop, to go onto Google, etc, Photoshop freezes, why is this happening? I know learning astrophotography is a steep learning curve, but I didn't realise I would be scaling Everest. Thanks