Roy Challen

An interesting read, thanks Michael. Definitely agree with it being an absolute bargain. Is there any other eyepiece that does so much, for so little? Probably not.

I got a brief look in this morning, lots of sunspots visible, a couple of small proms, but didn't see any flaring.

Top of my list would be a really, really bright X-class solar flare, I guess that's just a matter of time. Best so far: middling M-class. Will this year be the year? A really, really bright comet Hale-Bopp style, would be next, followed by a really, really bright supernova - Betelgeuse, I'm looking at you! Lunar occultation of Jupiter or Saturn, or if it is even possible, a Jupiterian occultation of Saturn? Or a Shoemaker Levy 9 size event, preferably on Jupiter! Actually, let's combine No2 and No6! Now that would be something!

I feel for you. I took the day off for the 2004 Venus transit, watched the whole thing, got loads of photos. That is a career highlight for me, not the only one but still right at the top.

I've never used Hyperions, but the fine tuning rings sound like a great idea. Why don't other manufacturers use them? Patents?

What a fabulous instrument! I agree with a plossl and zoom being the only necessary eyepieces, that's all I bother with in my very similar, but not quite as beautiful, achro. I imagine once you've collimated it, Izar will be stunning. My scope shows it extremely well at x208.

The Baader adapter I had fits between the visual back and diagonal - see image below. The scope in the image is a 90mm but I believe the visual back is the same for the 127mm as well. I might be wrong on that though.

I have no experience with Lunt scopes, I have a Daystar Solarscout. By far my favourite eyepiece in this is the Baader 32mm plossl, but I also liked the Vixen 30mm NPL - it just has more reflections than the Baader. I've also used a Televue 25mm plossl (didn't get on with it), Meade 26mm Series 4k plossl ( not that great but useable), Baader 18mm BCO (good in good seeing), and an ES 16mm 68° (good in good seeing). Hope that helps

I agree with everything in your post except this. Baader sell an inexpensive compression ring adapter that screws directly on to this thread, making a much nicer way of holding the diagonal. Looks nicer too!

I live in a large town centre, so pretty much any DSO is invisible to me. However, I go to Kazakhstan regularly and on one visit a few years ago, we went to a place that is truly remote. Such places ought to be Bortle 0. The Milky Way looks like thick cloud, you cannot clearly see constellations for the stars, and DSOs are no longer faint fuzzies! I saw the dust lane in M82 through 12x50 bins, with ease. Unforgettable.

Can you believe it? Mention Starfire and one appears on ABS, a 152mm no less! I need to ban myself from looking.

Agreed, much as I do love my Tak, it would be the first go in a forced cull. So on that note, I'd keep the Skylight and get an adapter made up for the Solarscout's quark enabling me to use it in the Skylight.😀 Actually, now that I've thought about it, that's a great idea. More resolution, more focal length, less telescopes😁

I think this thread isn't so much about need as want!😉

+1 for the 10mm BCO

Depends on what you mean by budget. If I were 'allowed' to buy what I have funds for (aka life savings) the result would be very different from what I have...but I'm not saying I'm unhappy with what I have. On the dream list though: Tak frac 100-150mm, anything with LZOS lens, Zeiss APQ of any size. Wouldn't say no to AP Starfire either, or a Traveller, or...even a large Russian Mak. Any one of these would be perfect even if I only got to use it once a year in perfect conditions on my favourite targets.