Nakedgun

3 hours ago, saac said:

 almost went last year while hill climbing in Skye. This may be the reason to remedy that and book a  wee autumn getaway. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly3x3np09xo

Jim 

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This you?

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On 17/08/2024 at 11:46, garryblueboy said:

Collected today not really posted Hopefully some spectacular views in the coming weeks 

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Congrats! You should love it. I do, mine.

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1 hour ago, Xilman said:

Of all the things I have ever lost in my life, I miss my mind the most.

Given that I have been interested in astronomy for ~60 years, this must count as astro-related.

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Memory being the second thing disappearing from men's lives. 😉

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11 hours ago, josefk said:

@Nakedgun @Emperor!Takahashi! - i know it doesn't always suit the sweeping freedom desired of binoculars but i'm a massive believer in mounted binoculars being worth "double" the aperture and magnification of unmounted ones. I use the small print of a pay and display car park sign near my house to dial in my diopter offset and its quite unreal the difference mounting makes - even to "lowly" x10.

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Unlikely I'll ever own the Nikons, but if it happens they will get used, one way or the other!

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4 hours ago, Emperor!Takahashi! said:

My eyes find them easy to appreciate. My arms have to work a little harder for it 😉 

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Indeed. More than a pound heavier than my 16x70 Fujinon makes it real beast. Perhaps someday I will get a chance to handle them.

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25 minutes ago, josefk said:

Not mine!

I’m at the Global Bird Fair today in Rutland and these are on the Nikon stand. I was quite glad of my big nose for once in my life because they didn’t fit my face, phew! The view though, even if a bit awkward to access for me, was excellent. As sharp and resolving at the field stop as in the centre as far as I could tell. If they would work ergonomically I could imagine them to be superb under the stars. 
 

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I've not had the opportunity to look through either of these models, and that's probably for the best! Although, I do wonder if my aging eyesight would truly appreciate the optical excellence they offer.

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Hmm, I was planning a purchase from them in the near future...perhaps not.

On 11/07/2024 at 05:11, DaveL59 said:

The pair I tend to carry when wandering about are:

https://imaging.nikon.com/sport-optics/lineup/binoculars/elegant/mikron_x15/

Tiny and nice to use, for me, and you don't notice they're there in your pocket 🙂 

 

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I don't see where this model is being imported to the USA. 

Any UK dealers have them on hand?

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I like, own and use optics from Kowa. I keep this made-in-Japan model in my vehicle glove box:

https://kowaoptics.com/pages/bd25

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Sky less than transparent this evening.

Resized full image:

Cropped image:

Aged: 28hrs. 10min.

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21 hours ago, Dave scutt said:

I thought I was giving up last year due to illness .

Then this came along.

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Synta carbon-fiber 120?

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This morning's 3% illuminated disc.

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Found Venus with 15x56 binos near 1950hrs, then took this photo just before it dropped below my local horizon near 2007hrs this evening.

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My first observation of Mercury this apparition was last night through Viewlux 7.5° 10x50s.

I also took a photo from my driveway,  as it dropped toward the horizon:

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13 hours ago, dweller25 said:

You do not have a TSA

Just sayin y’all ……..

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...yet.

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My Tak family, today:

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"Show Us Your Binoculars"

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You mean all of them?

The last two winters were much wetter and colder than usual, here, and I found myself online more, and particularly with a new-to-me auction website hosted by Goodwill Industries where they auction donated items. Of course, the telescope and binocular sections are where I spent most time (and money) establishing, or adding to, my collections. Am I a "collector"? If you have more than one item hardly distinguishable from another similar item, are you collecting? Perhaps so. A large number of "classic" binoculars get donated and one can easily want to get every variation available.

Goodwill auctions are always a crapshoot. Until you examine and look through your find, you won't know if it's a gem, or a lemon. I have passed along marginal performers to a fair number of folks in my acquaintance who were only too happy to receive them, while some had to be outright tossed away. Junk.

I decided to conduct a binocular inventory while not doing anything else Sunday morning. I knew I had more of them than telescopes, a list of which I posted recently in a thread where someone asked how many scopes we had, but did not have a grasp on a ballpark figure for the two-eyed optical instruments I have, whether in the house, the vehicles, or travel trailer.

They can be divided up according to their intended purpose, too: astronomy; wildlife identification; topography; general daytime observing at home; or on the road; or while camping. And then (and here's where the "collecting" part comes in), there are the divisions between modern, versus classic, daytime use / nighttime use models, quick grab and short use, or serious all-night deep penetration viewing. I suppose as one acquires more models, justifications must be made for the use of each one.

Photographing the lot seems too much work, for now, and besides would take up too much room here, separately, although I could gather them all for a "family" portrait, which also seems more labor intensive than I'd like.

Shall I simply list the totals by manufacturer? That would be easiest.

As of today...

Kowa - 19

Tasco - 10

Swift - 7

Swarovski - 5

Pentax - 2

Jason - 2

Single units of - 

Canon

Celestron

Mayflower

Micronta

Sears

Sunscope

Prestige

Petlux

Binolux

Viewlux

I'm sure there must be some here who will scoff at my paltry summation, at least, I hope so.

Three of the Kowa models are on the "to be given away" list, as I have too many of them.

I'm sure nobody here wants a more detailed breakdown of them (probably TMI already), but that can be done if desired.

Thanks, if you read this far.

Edit: This evening, 30 May, while watching the ISS pass overhead with my Jason Statesman 7x50s I remembered a pair of Tasco 8x20 skeletonized, which I have in a backpack at the moment, so make that 11 Tasco glasses.

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7 hours ago, geoflewis said:

 

 

If you want your own copy the Atlas is now available from many of the usual book retailers as well as direct from CUP - UK prices range from ~£50-£60.

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I have the first English edition of this, published 2008. The 2nd Edition is available as a pre-order currently, from CUP:

https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/physics/amateur-and-popular-astronomy/atlas-messier-objects-highlights-deep-sky-2nd-edition?format=HB

My order through Amazon shows a delivery date of 11 July.

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3 hours ago, ONIKKINEN said:

These images capture the feeling of looking straight up during the auroral display very well. Almost like the sky is splitting in half, i wonder if that's just an illusion in the sense that when looking straight up there is the least amount of atmosphere in the way and so it looks like there are holes in the sky.

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Your location relative to the center of the north magnetic field, I think, is producing this effect for you and Sunshine. Energy from the Sun's flare is channeled down those field lines, concentrated on the center. Would love to experience it for myself, sometime.

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28 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Based on my luck in seeing all of last nights Aurora as I was out observing,

Well my run of luck continued today with my telescope given a lucky blessing while solar observing 😉

 

So another first, cleaning bird guano from my telescope!

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Is the operative word here, "while" solar observing?

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Curt, didn't know you were over here.

One of the youngest Moons I've shot - 23hrs. 56mins.

A few minutes later.

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10 hours ago, DirkSteele said:

A few posts back I showed that I had purchased volumes 2 and 3 of the The Night Sky Observers Guide. I mentioned the need to complete things left me somewhat exposed as Volume 1 appeared to be out of print. Well it did not take long to post a wanted advert in the SGL classifieds. It was answered quickly. big thanks to @Plantins.

Now I just need to pick up Volume 4.

 

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Going to be keeping mine, sorry! 😁

Good luck.

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Published last year, arrived today.

Can't have too many Lunar atlases!

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I do no imaging.

Lunt 100 Universal in single-stack mode.

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Anyone used these, and what is your experience with them?

Thank you.

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