niallk

I've gone maybe 2.5yrs now without buying an eyepiece (is that a record?!! ). I did buy a Ha scope ~1.5yrs ago though (absolutely love it). I himmed and hawed and missed out on a rare opportunity to buy a used ED80 locally for a good price, but on a whim took a punt on a Heritage 130p for when camping with the family. So no - i dont think I'll ever be 'done' buying, despite thinking it time and again... Hopefully I'll go through the astro equipment purchasing equivalent of the Maunder Minimum now - and it will last for a good while

Yup for same f-ratio, the 'tube' volume essentially goes up by the cube of the diameter ratio. So for a 8" to 12", thats ~3.4x the volume, taking a simplistic estimate.

Nice report! I have plans to observe the moon over the course of the summer - I've never done it in a semi-methodical way before, just random touring. It will be unfiltered in a 15" dob initially dazzling, but I've not been blinded yet!

Great report Magnus, I'm itching to get my scope down to West Cork / Kerry again it has never hummed to me though Nice going to detect those globs naked eye! The Cats Eye is a great object, I've pushed up the mag on this before with an o-iii and detected two intersecting ovals - took a bit of close study from my East Cork skies. Never heard of the Hidden Galaxy before - will look it up. -Niall

A nice read for any kindred spirits who have persevered for years on M51 trying to really see detail in the spiral arms http://uncle-rods.blogspot.com/2014/04/my-favorite-fuzzies-m51.html?m=1

Cheers - it seems like the LS60 is what's required to reach focus with binoviewers - and is often cited in what I've read as one of the reasons, beyond raw aperture, to go for the 60mm: as I found out, it's widely reported that it's "not possible" with the LS50. I run up against 'inwards focus' limitations ie making the path shorter. Neither my 2.6x GPC or my 2.5x PM are successful. Ive tried re ordering the blocking filter/GPC ahead of the BV. Ive tried in both the stock + Moonlight upgrade focussers. The only option I've seen stated to work for the LS50 is from Siebert optics. I'll be very glad to hear that I'm wrong - I haven't read that any of the other Baader GPC options would help

Yeah... There are many opinions from people who have not used them there too!! I read more than one report of imbalance in brightness - in what I understood to be a nominally symmetric design?? Then I more recently read a S@N review (I think) which was actually quite positive - at least for DSOs in a 16" dob. I've flip flopped on these, and I guess I wanted to fish for opinions I trust I'm guilty of really wanting them to be good, but knowing in my heart that there's a price with complicated optics... at least at this price which are not designed by TeleVue! Hmmm... I'll hold off for now i think ? My first look through a Ha scope was a 60mm Lunt with a 50mm front mounted etalon, through a TeleVue binoviewer with tv plossls. It was absolutely exquisite! I'd love a poor man's approximation in my LS50DS. I get great views mono, but know what my maxbright did in my 10" on planets. Just can't reach focus with it in my Lunt, unfortunately...

I nearly pulled the trigger before. Saw a review recently in one of the astro mags: I think reflections could be a potential concern... If solar activity shows signs of picking up, I might go for it. I know that could be a while off still ?

Very nice Charl! Yes some real nice proms on view too, I had the scope left out all day taking looks. Quite a cool prom curving high on the limb and coming around and across the disc towards the AR this evening - a real 3D effect, hard to describe!

Hi, Anyone on here use these? https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p10297_TS-Optics-Binoviewer-1-0-magnification-zero-optical-path-and-erect-image.html I'm considering for my Lunt LS50. Concerned about internal reflections / scatter for Ha use. A secondary use would be planets in my 15" dob (if they ever come back... )

Great report! Visited some of those objects last night too. Been thinking about getting that O'Meara book - must do

Great report! Visited some of the same targets last night too I agree - there are several globs well up there with M13: just wonderful objects to see with your own eyes. As Richard Feynman said of globular clusters: "If you can't see gravitation acting here, you have no soul!"

Last night I popped out around 11pm to my "usual" local spot on the coast. As I got out of the car i noticed that the house with the session wrecking security light had it switched off, and wow, the sky was looking good overhead and to the south. There are low horizons all round with the beach/sea to the south. It was like being in a snow globe that had been shook The LP domes from towns to the east and west were not as bad as they often are - transparency was decent. I threw up the scope, popped in a 10E, and first target was M51. Wow. I wasn't even dark adapted, but there it was, big and swirly. Spiral arms obvious with averted vision, as was the bridge. I returned to it several times over the next hour, and as my eyes adapted, I could see beautiful knotty spiral structure with direct vision with a 17E, with teeny foreground stars sprinkled and superimposed on the arms. I could have packed up and gone home happy with just that one familiar target that I've visited so many times. I think I skipped M101 for some reason, had a quick look at the Owl neb, then went down to M64 (nice view of the black eye feature). I saw IC3483 and Zwicky's Virgo triplet, NGC4568 (Siamese Twins), M99 (Coma Pinwheel, teasing that structure was on the brink of averted visibility, but not giving up its secrets). With the 10E I hit the Needle, NGC4565 - big and impressive, with the dust lane in averted vision. Then I paid a visit to M87, and on up to Makarians Chain - with the 10E, just panning around I more often use a N31T5 here - on one hand stunning to take in all the galaxies in one fov, but very rewarding to get in closer and explore. Next up was the Mini Sombrero NGC 5746. A new one for me, a lovely dust lane, well worth a visit. Then the streak that is the Silver Needle NGC 4244. I then went to test transparency on M81/82. First with the 10E on M81: big, hints of sweeping structure. Panned over to M82 - wow, the size, brightness and mottling with the 10E. Switched to the 17E and yep, could better see the sweep of the two arms in M81, to the extent of one pointing towards M82, and the other away from it. I once saw fine leading edges on these from my back garden, but not last night. My hands were really frozen at this point and I took a last look at the Cats eye, with a 6E - very bright and green blue, central star, but I didn't see the internal structure I've seen before - but I didn't attach my O-III last night. Very happy I went out: only an hour and a half, not fully dark adapted but saw lots from a local spot that is decent but not very dark. The views of M51 will stay with me

Nice sketch Nick - yep was fortunate here with clear skies and left the scope out so I could just check the views every few hrs - and see the proms evolve, and the sun noticeably rotate a little from morning to evening.

It's like an astro saxophone