niallk

Great thread!

One I've enjoyed chasing with some teasing success is detail in the Cat's Eye neb:

On 11/04/2024 at 22:58, Captain Scarlet said:

 

I'd saythat couple were rather annoyed with the photographer for ruining their dark adaption...

I use a 15mm TV plossl the most with my LS50DS, tbh.

I also have the TS badged 7-21mm zoom; same as the Lunt one.  It's poor at 7mm, ok/good above that.

Given the size of my DS sweet spot, I have gone back to predominantly just the 15mm, after chasing higher mag views for a while.

Love my lil' Lunt!

One night of exceptional seeing, I went to 560x on Jupiter in my 15" f4.43 dob: PMx2 & 6E.  However I backed off to the 8E ~480x for greater drift time across the fov, with a Paracorr 2 added.

On a night of very good seeing for planetary, I use a P2 + 6E for 320x.  On just a good night, I use P2 + 8E for 240x, ... and if it's not a good night I generally don't bother on planets!

You also asked about mirror quality: the cert I got claims 0.97 strehl for the primary (1/38 waves RMS wavefront), and 1/10 PV wavefront for the secondary.

So I go nowhere near 50x/inch under southern Irish skies!

19 hours ago, LukeTheNuke said:

I'd love a Lunt 60 double stack solar h-alpha telescope. It, or a single stack, could be in budget soon, but a dob is looking more likely to scoff the budget. Those solar scopes can get a lot of use during the year, though, especially if you can observe during lunchtime. So in a way, I think they're not as expensive as they look. Or perhaps a Solar Spectrum H-alpha filter.

I've a LS50DS, and yeah Ha is expensive!  I love it though - so quick and easy to throw outside for a quick few mins peep at what's going on... and now is a great time to have one with lots of activity.  Even after years of owning it, it still gets lots of use, even with Irish weather!!

(Of course a dob is a great thing too 😎)

I've seen it with a 15" dob - chuffed to see it

I've seen 4 or possibly 5 moons of Uranus with the same scope in good seeing and transparency.  They were fainter than Triton, as far as I recall.

The scopes I've had are: 130p, 250px, 15" dob, and a 50mm Lunt Ha.  I've given the 250px away, and I don't use the 130p.  The LS50 for Ha solar is my most used scope, but the one I'd keep is the 15" dob for DSOs and everything else bar solar.

So I've kinda already whittled it down to one scope for night, one scope for daytime - but I'm tempted to try a frac! 🙊

Sounds fabulous- hope to do it sometime! 👍👍

I too have the Moonlight - replacing the stock helical is a great upgrade for the LS50!

I find the 2-speed focusser invaluable: it really takes the fine adjustment facility to eek out the finest surface details (running double stacked).  I'm always amazed at how subtle structure resolves with the slight adjustment of focus.  I love my lil' LS50DS 😍

With a short drive, I can get to a darker spot, maybe Bortle 4 bordering on 3.

I've noticed nights of exceptional transparency - I'm guessing less back scatter of light pollution being an important factor (?) - and wow: noticeably much better contrast on DSOs.  Unfortunately, such nights have been rare for me, but the memories of what can be possible locally keep me trying!!

One needs a helluva lot of patience & tenacity in this hobby for so many factors & conditions to align for the best views - some of which we can influence,  most we can't.  But that thrill when you know things are looking much better than usual... 😎

The 10E was my first Ethos in my 15" f4.5.  I followed with a 6E ... then a 17E 🙈  I do leave a P2 in the focuser at the cost of weight.

Great EPs - enjoy!

I went from a 250px to a 15" Obsession Classic, and the beautifully smooth movements in alt & az really made the experience at the eyepiece so much more pleasurable: being able to adjust position by a fraction of the fov when manually tracking without backlash and flexing causing the target to shoot out of view is wonderful.

But discovering the night sky with the 250px - my first scope - was special!

Even without a scope just naked eye in a bortle 2 site in late August is spectacular.

'Dobwebs' 😂😂🤣

Sorry to hear this - I've drooled over his telescopes on-line many, many times.  Sincere condolences to his family.

Very cool! 😎😎

Great report!  It's fantastic to get good seeing on Jupiter 👍👍 Nice sketch too - and interesting to compare to an image on the same night - I always go browsing for images to see how much I saw

As others have said, cooling, collimation, avoiding thermals from roofs etc...

One resource I find useful is the jetstream forecast: I won't bother setting up for planets if it doesn't look good:

https://www.netweather.tv/charts-and-data/jetstream

Definitely you get rewarded for being patient- some nights it can be pure mush, but oh when seeing is good... wow!!!

Great vid @powerlord & many thanks for posting!!

Well I've only got 2 scopes - a Lunt LS50DS for daytime (gets great use for a brief few min peep on a sunny day), and a 15" dob - sadly underused of late, life getting in the way...

For my 250px, the stock base was fine in azimuth (I did adjust the tension in the central bolt).  For me alt axis was more troublesome!!

I want one too!! 😍  Sooo cute.

Wonder how much 'Shrouds by Heather' would charge 😄

Interesting use of the O-III !! 👍

2 hours ago, Ricochet said:

Can you not align the primary doughnut with the more central rings then?

OK, maybe what I said is incorrect!  I only use it for secondary centering.

I collimate in the dark so always use a barlowed laser.

Personally I'm not confident that this tool is more accurate than a Cheshire for primary tilt?  I must try it.  I defer to others who successfully use it as a one-stop, complete collimation tool!

Rather than risk derailing the thread, best to take my post with a fist of salt!!  Apologies for any confusion caused.

On 26/09/2023 at 20:44, bish said:

25" obsession. I need to ignore that storage and transportation would be a pain.

Looked thru a 20" one once.  Also saw the ramps collapse as the owner was unloading from the back of an estate car and the mirror box crashed down about 2 feet.   That cured my dob aperture fever!!

These days I'd drool over dark, transparent, good seeing conditions more than equipment.!

I'd love to look through one of these:

https://luntsolarsystems.com/product-category/universal-and-solar-telescopes/dedicated-solar-lunt-telescopes/305mm-h-alpha-solar-telescopes/

Though at €84,000 I'd be afraid to touch it...