Paul73

Filter space! Good plan. Wish I’d thought of that. Would have saved a small fortune. Paul

So what is going to fill all of that spare space? Eyepice cases abhor a vacuum.... Paul

I agree. He writes well. Although his vast experience, Hawaiian sky and owl like eye-sight make me feel a bit rubbish as an observer. Best multiply his specified aperture requirements by 2 to get to ‘normal chap under UK sky’ territory. Paul

Well done John. The sky is exceptional tonight. I'll not hijack the thread, but a first view for me too. Using that dud filter that you sold me! Very rewarding. Cracking writeup too. Paul

Far too neat. It'll never last...... Nice collection. Paul

Looks like you have got things covered! Good orange case that can't get lost in the dark. Maybe a decent wide angle 24mm??? My MkIII zoom gets pretty narrow at the 24mm setting.... Paul

The bit about not achieving focus is interesting. Are the struts fully extended? I.e. Hard up against the stops? There are is an interim setting which is a couple of inches shorter. I think that it is to allow a camera to reach focus. Working properly, they are cracking scopes. Paul

Nice collection Shane. Those two shorter Panoptics need some twins, they would work a treat in the binoviewers......... Paul

That looks really impressive. I really like the mirror box(?) / Rocker assembly. Yes. Telescopes should be found!!! How much the bottom section weigh (box,rocker,base and mirror)? Paul

Very very impressive. Thank you Paul

Looks great Garry. Tell us more about the Solar Tak? And, how do the vows compare with the Lunt DS? Paul

Great to hear. I'd be trerrified of ordering a scope like that, just incase the views didn't live up to expectations. I'm loving my SW ED120. But, still dreaming that one day..... Paul

Amazing! I'll definitely be having a go at this one. Great post Harrym. And thanks for wrecking my plans for the morning. It is going to take me ages to work through the "19bn ly" bit!??? Paul

Result! Hope that the views are 'as new. Paul

It's a tough one really. We need to know about the "bad" guys. But, how to make it objective/fair?? I guess that word gets around..... Paul

Treated myself to this little gadget from HoTech. Should make life a lot easier!!!

??????? Hericy !!!! The E21 not Top Dog!! Facinating findings. And, an enjoyable read. Looking forward to your galactic findings. Maybe Lunt have done something clever with the coatings? Paul

Errrrr. Am I allowed to say that I think that my black Moonlite is great..... Possibly, a tad over complicated, but for visual observing it does the job nicely. It is most certainly a good step up from stock focusers. The Bresser stock r&p is so poor that I'm tempted to shoehorn a stock SW Crayford effort onto the tube. Part of my work is in Value Management of design solutions. Which looks at how to best meet the real requirements of a customer. ie. Most Value / £. A lot of us won't admit that, for us, small constituents of value are items such as aesthetics / feel / exclusivity....... This is fine if we admit that this is part of our definition of value. But, when we ignore this and obsessively defend brands from a point of pure functionality, we get overly excitable postings and conflict. I might have to try a Steeltrack (with a bag over it ?). It'll save me from the Feather Touch money pit for a while. Paul

I did look through a PSTx2 Binoscope. One was naked and one double stacked. The views were good.... @garryblueboy. Nice setups. Which scope gives better surface detail? Paul

Glad that you are enjoying the PST double stack. Even with the increased image scale (100mm plays 40mm), I can't get that level of detail. The proms are great though! It goes to show that, unlike with Dobs, size isn't everything. Paul

Here's a bit of an update. My PST has been at the Gym. It had its Poper Maiden Voyage today. i.e. Got it working properly! ??? The gear is: 1/ Sky Watcher ED120 with a Lunt 1/4" wedge (white light) 2/ Bresser 102mm PST Mod (Ha) On a Sky T ii atop a Berlebach 26C Uni tripod. I can revert the PST to standard spec in a matter of minutes for travel. Paul PS. I'm still hankering after a little Lunt 50 DS'ed (of course) for the fine surface detail.

Agreed. So much of the observing experience is down to ergonomics. Eyepieces with similar optics can make for a different viewing experience. ie, the Delos range with their endlessly adjustable soft eye cups are a delight, but try them with the cups down and they are near unuseable. Paul

Don't get me wrong, the ES is a very fine eyepiece. The view just wasn't quite as immersive as the Ethos. It also lost a tiny bit on contrast. As expected, the narrow gap between the two got narrower in scopes slower than f5. Paul

Sounds like it may be a keeper! There is a lot of Astro budget tied up in 21E's..... I tried the ES 20 100° for a while as an alternative to the capital hogging E21. Good, but not quite close enough. The Lunt/Myriad might be a very attractive compromise. Paul

One of these ? ? Sorry OP.