rwilkey

On 03/08/2021 at 14:41, Giles_B said:

Ideally I would like to use them for high magnification if possible. I've been looking at eyepieces from Explore Scientific 82° range, or the Celestron Luminos range. For magnification I'm wondering if it is worth splashing out on the Televue 4x powermate.

My concerns are firstly, whether a 2" plus a Barlow will be too much weight for the Celestron explorer - the televue plus a luminos would be about 900g - I'd be interested to hear your thoughts and experience.

Hi Giles, I started using 2" for high magnification but found myself going back to 1.25" each time, in my opinion you don't need wide field for planets or Moon, if the 1.25" does the job well enough why bother with the extra expense (along with filters, of course, which are double). 

I have never found using a 2" Barlow very satisfactory and sold mine, as you say, weight considerations is another factor and overkill on a 130mm reflector.  Do not think of 2" as an upgrade, I found that this was a mistake, buy for what your target is, don't generalise too much if you can afford it. 

On 30/07/2021 at 19:16, Captain Magenta said:

Wow because I’m officially “watching” this I get the “seller offer”. Seller just offered it to me and other watchers for £410.

I paid £350 off someone on this forum about a year ago, so pretty chuffed with that.  If it's not near half price I don't bother.  Excellent ep!

On 23/06/2021 at 11:49, Bongo said:

Titan does seem plausible.

Titan is nearly always visible in any scope, after that Rhea, the second largest moon can be seen with apertures 100mm and upwards, a 200mm will reveal another three/four moons.

Hi there, I prefer not to use a filter on Jupiter, but if you prefer, an ND96 0.9 (13% transmission) would do the job, or the more expensive Baader neodymium filter, which I rate very highly.

5 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

Y >>> Buy a telescope
N >>> Find new partner

(repeat as necessary)

Love it!  Yes, my wife is also into astronomy and she has her own telescope.

Have you ever wondered whether you should buy a telescope?  Well, here's something to help you 😀😀😀:

Hi and welcome to SGL.  One of our first telescopes was a Meade 90mm and I recall getting much enjoyment out of it, it also had decent accessories - a set of five MA eyepieces in a decent custom made case, which we still have somewhere!  Good luck and clear skies!

Impressive, well done, I saw it noted on my app, 'Sky Map' yesterday, but thought it was just below the horizon.

Hi Lee, impressive!

19 hours ago, Stardaze said:

I’ll keep an eye for when they have stock again. Works out cheaper than a nebustar still, thanks for the link.

I presume you are after 2", very wise, I have always bought 2" as you can use them with 1.25" as well.  The price has really gone up since I bought mine three or four years ago. 

Hi Stardaze, I have bought all my Lumicon filters from AgenaAstro, excellent and fast service, highly recommended, found here: https://agenaastro.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=lumicon uhc

Hi Ian, wow, your pictures are incredible!  Good luck & clear skies!

Hi Jin, a warm welcome from me too.  Good luck and clear skies!

2" ep's are generally used for low power, why the hell would you want to Barlow a low power ep, that defeats the object of buying low power ep's.  I got rid of my 2" almost as soon as I bought it.

Hi Gonariu, a very warm welcome from me too.  Good luck and clear skies! 🙂

Hi Nick, a warm welcome to SGL from me just down the road.  You might find some like-minded people here: https://cotswoldas.org.uk/  Click 'Home' when you get there.  Good luck and clear skies!

Hi Stu, welcome to SGL.  Good luck & clear skies!

Hi Christian, the C100ED-R is a great scope, I use mine for visual only.  Good luck and clear skies!

I have the Cambridge Sky Atlas (Double star version) and find it very good indeed, recommended!

On 23/12/2020 at 11:57, Mackmackem said:

The eyepieces I have with scope are 4mm, 8mm and 30mm and the scope in the shortcut is the one I have.

Hi there, the 30mm will be your best eyepiece to view the night sky, the maximum useful magnification of your telescope is 140x.  The 4mm eyepiece supposedly gives 175x (700/4 - focal length/eyepiece size) and therefore this is exceeds the capability of the telescope (twice the aperture 70x2=140x) - you might get something out of it if you point it at the Moon, but the 8mm will be more useful.   Good luck & clear skies!

To me, it's all to do with eye relief, if you wear spectacles to view then this is more important, but note that the Explore Scientific eyepieces generally have short eye-relief, of the 62° Series only the 20, 26, 32 & 40mm eyepieces have long eye-relief, which means you may struggle with the three shorter focal lengths (5.5, 9 & 14).  It takes a little while to get used to using eyepieces and understanding their various characteristics, but if you have a local astronomy club perhaps you can talk to others and possibly try out their eyepieces?

Hi Cosmic Monk and welcome from me too.  Good luck & clear skies!

Hi Mark, I really enjoyed that, thanks for posting!

Hi Rob, if you want to stay with Equatorial I would suggest the EQ5 DeLux for a really stable platform, found here:  https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/skywatcher-eq5-deluxe-mount-tripod.html  The website indicates that it is in stock, whereas many suppliers are out of stock.  Good luck and clear skies!

On 12/02/2021 at 14:07, Bongo said:

have to admit, I didn't spend long out there because it was so incredibly cold!

Hi there, are you allowing sufficient cool down time for the scope, like you on these cold nights I don't like being out there too long.  Stick the scope out at least half an hour before viewing, at a good angle so it doesn't dew up.