Roy Challen

45 minutes ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

Eyecups for ortho's, whatever next?

I like eyecups with orthos! Especially the Baader BCO winged eyecups, and Celestron Ultimas. In fact, I wonder why they are winged in one direction only, it would be better if they extended both ways, although not as far in one direction as the other. I suppose I could always make my own out of some bicycle inner tube or something.

3 hours ago, callisto said:

Just a bit of white light viewing today (when the clouds allow) with my trusty 80M on the newly finished pier 

 

Nice! I was just thinking, that Vixen logo is probably the best astro logo there is. Anyone disagree?😀

Very nice Jeremy, hope it's not too long 'til your first light.

1 hour ago, Davesellars said:

Well done on 100 sessions completed!   I've only really started to do some solar but this very much depends taking advantage of a short break from work.  I'm close 40 (night) sessions this year though even with almost 3 month hiatus through illness and lack of astro-dark - so it's been a good year so far!  May it continue into Autumn and Winter when there's even more time to take advantage.

40-50 was about the max I've ever been able to before this year. Being part time from April-June helped with that, then being redundant (by choice, not a bad thing at all) from July until now has helped even more! Sometimes, I don't even take advantage of a clear night, shocking I know!

Wow! I've never had such a busy astro year! The majority have been solar sessions, but the last few weeks have seen the brighter planets in more favourable positions. The seeing was very good and Saturn was my target this time, and using just my Hyperflex zoom, it didn't disappoint. I could make out the Cassini division - just - and also Rhea occasionally with averted vision. Not bad for a 76mm achro! I also had a quick look at Epsilon Lyrae, as you do, split at around x83 mag. Then had a quick peek at Polaris. This was an easier split at x59 than anything else due to the magnitude difference of the secondary.

It's starting to get chilly at night, so packed up after an hour feeling pretty happy🙂

Nice report, Stu. I was also out this morning, also with 76mm but in long achro format, a bit earlier than you, just as the GRS was beginning to come into view. I too found the view a bit indistinct for a while but the seeing was a little wobblier than it has been recently. It got better after a little while. Mars was still behind the neighbour's tree.

So, have you tried this ep under the stars yet? It was a fine ep in my f16 achro, wondering how it fares in something more modern. I don't have any of my zeiss eps anymore or any other 0.956" eps, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't buy some in the future.

On 20/07/2022 at 10:27, badhex said:

Bit of an update, I got a lens spanner and had a crack at removing the detritus.

So it seems that thankfully the eye lens is actually inside a brass tube which is threaded both inside and out, and has its own retaining ring inside, so no need to touch the lens itself. With a bit of gentle pressure this unscrewed easily. 

I noticed that all of the threads on the on the brass tube seem to be painted or coated with a matt black paint or coating, which could be what caused the issue - although they look like they might be how the EP was manufactured. 

I then turned the EP upside down and tapped out what I could, and most if not all of the larger pieces dropped out along with some black dust. I then used an air duster bulb to try to blow out any remaining dust or dirt. 

After some checking for any more dirt I went over the parts with more airdusting and a clean microfibre cloth to removed any dust, and reassembled.

A first look through the EP revealed more tiny bits of dust or paint flakes on the field lens! I did not see any whilst it was open, so possibly this happened during reassembly! I disassembled again, air dusted again, then reassembled - this time holding the EP upside down, in the hopes that any paint flakes/dust from the threads would stay there due to gravity, instead of dropping down onto the fields lens again. 

It seemed to work! I gave it a few taps to test if any dust was dislodged, but could not detect anything. 

I went over all of the non-glass outer surfaces with a tissue lightly dampened with water and a tiny spot of fairy, then again with a microfibre. 

I tested it out in my F7 TS102 and attempted a few rough shots through the EP with a phone. As you can see it is now nice and clean, as well as giving surprisingly good views in such a fast scope! Next stop is to try it under the stars. 

3 hours ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

Tak' have recently ceased production of their current ortho's and the LE's. There were 7mm ortho's in the past but the most recent series was: 32, 25, 18, 12.5, 9, 6 & 4mm. Maybe they will re-introduce a 7mm in a new series.  Ohi have a 7mm, mine is a KK.

Some are old 'Astro Hutech'. 

Yes, I had heard this. Great shame. As an ortho fan, and plossl too, I've no interest in the trend for wide field eyepieces. The SAEP often leaves me exasperated with anything above 60degree AFoV. The subject of multicoatings vs single coatings, mentioned above, is interesting though, and I do agree with @Andrew_B in his post above 

24 minutes ago, Don Pensack said:

Not, I suppose, a giveaway bargain, but £83 is a pretty inexpensive eyepiece.

It's a nice Japanese eyepiece for the price of a Chinese eyepiece.

FLO has a lower price than many of the EU dealers.

Agreed in general, but everything is relative. Most of my eyepieces were bought second hand, some for as little as £10. Even those I've bought new were less than £60. Most expensive ep I have right now is my Meade RGO which was £70 Actually most of my astro equipment was bought second hand.

Unfortunately, I am 'transitioning'  between employers, so everything is expensive!

17 minutes ago, markse68 said:

Hi Zeta, the BCO 6mm has had at least 2 versions- the latest has the lenses in a stalk housing that is easily removed for cleaning. The earlier had flush mounted lenses I think. 

Mark

Thanks for the link, I probably read it back then but good to reflect every now and then. I definitely concur with John's view on the 10mm BCO, it's my most used planetary EP even though it 'only' gives a max mag of 125x in my frac or mak. Enough for Jupiter at least, but maybe that's why I need a 9mm...and an 8!

3 minutes ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

I threw them away and used the barrels on other EP's. I'm tempted to get another one day. 

Blimey! If you have any other 'dirty' eyepieces, do please PM me before thinking about binning them!

1 minute ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

They're not cheap, that's for sure. Cheaper than Tak's though.

Nice collection ☺️, I had a couple of the 0.965 MCs but didn't find them as good as the alternatives. I notice there is no 7mm in your set. They don't do one anymore? 

2 minutes ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

They both mysteriously developed debris in the field of view. I couldn't clean it. I think it migrated from the rubber around the field stop. 

Ah, I see. Have you not tried to dismantle to clean? A true Abbe is a cemented triplet and singlet so pretty easy to clean and hard to get wrong when reassembling. Give it a go, or send them to me, I certainly don't mind trying!

2 minutes ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

Thanks. I'm a big ortho' fan myself. FLO sell the Ohi now. 

I have a few under different brands.

Yes, I have seen them but they're not cheap are they? I'd rather wait for a nice example to pop in the for sale section.

22 hours ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

Interesting. Both my 6mm BCO's are now toast. I've always thought the 6mm Starbase was the best of the bunch. I have an 18mm BCO, I'm tempted to get the 18mm Starbase now just to compare them. lol

What do you mean by toast? My 6mm is good but gives a higher mag in my achro than is usually useable most nights. It's great for close double splitting though.

Good review and interesting thread overall. I do have a gap between my 7mm Meade RGO and 10mm BCO, which an 8 or 9 needs to occupy. Having had many different orthos over the years, I think the main difference between them is control of light scatter, the less of which helps with improved contrast. The BCOs are quite good in this respect, the 7mm Meade RGO I have is noticeably better than the 6mm BCO, I don't have any BGOs at the moment but I'd like a couple. The Zeiss CZJs I had some years ago I recall were even better still - should never have sold them. I am very comfortable with the short eye relief of orthos so they are my preferred EPs whether for solar or planetary observing. It's good to see that they're still being made.

4 minutes ago, Cleetus said:

I do believe it is the same person - just a typo. Anyway,  I have no more credits with Audible - my last one went with the book on Mars recently reviewed in the BAA Journal -  and will have to wait until September for my new shiny credit. Nice to see astro books getting the Audible treatment.

Ah, fair enough.

Are you talking about Robert Hooke of Hooke's Law fame? Or is there another equally influential Robert Hook that I have no knowledge of?

Ah, the age-old favourite discussion. Yes, undercuts are nonsense gibberish phoey, and I hate them too. But they're not the problem, as shown by Baader Click lock type holders. It's the 'compression' rings on traditional holders that are the problem. Damn things should be banned, I had a Televue 2x barlow, can't remember what eyepiece I put in it, but the ring somehow snagged so badly that I couldn't get the eyepiece back out without brute force. I think I threw them both in the bin in disgust. Now, I remove the compression rings and use nylon tipped screws instead.

My manual Tak mount is bombproof, I've left it out all day with no adverse effects. I do take my solar gear back in after a session, more because of its portability than fear of melting in the heat.

That is stunning.

18 hours ago, Dragon_Astro said:

Would be UK time

I was using a 6” newt, so I think the smaller shadow might’ve been too small for me to pickup, compared to your large newt.

I saw both shadows in my 76mm achro, perhaps your seeing was off.

Agree, seeing has been pants in Watford too. This morning was the best for a few days, pity there's little to see!

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Is it still there? Might manage a look after work.

Yes, still there Stu, although GONG shows it as fading. Grab a look while it lasts - it's certainly very impressive.

Got a look at it this morning, before the clouds came. It's certainly the largest prom I've seen.