Roy Challen

18 hours ago, Earl said:

It could of been a head on meteor.

Thankfully it wasn't a meteor on head😆

11 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Solid cloud cover here in Oxford. Can’t complain as Tuesday and Wednesday were clear albeit with poor seeing and transparency.

Cloudy in Watford, but same as you, Tuesday and Wednesday were clear. Seeing was terrible on Tuesday, pretty good on Wednesday.

Mars through a small telescope won't reveal much detail, even when it is nearest to earth.

The picture below is of Mars and the Moon, taken with my phone through a 90mm Maksutov, focal length of 1250mm.

Mars was at opposition during this event, so about as close as it gets to us.

Don't stop trying though, but focus on other objects as well.

1 hour ago, Darrensnk said:

Thank you for the information and the link to the adaptor. This might be a silly question but it the add for the adaptor it says requires additional back focus. Does that mean I need to buy something else also to use it.

 

 

Depends on the telescope you'll use them with. If the focuser doesn't rack out far enough, you may need an extension tube, the exact length you'll need to measure yourself. On the other hand, it may work without one.

On 25/07/2023 at 12:58, Roy Challen said:

I'm saving it as proof that I don't have enough 😄

Since I posted this, I have bought a SvBony 3-8 zoom, meaning I now have every focal length between 21 and 3mm, plus a barlow. Does this mean I now have too many eyepieces?

First light is merely a shakedown run, a check to make sure it all works as it should.

The first ride on my £8k carbon bike was a 20km commute.

The first drive in my Aston Martin...was from the dealership to my home.

First light on my FS60-CB was 10mins on Mizar.

Only one of the above is true😉, can you guess which?

I had the Baader prism you mention, several years ago now, but I recall it being very good. I had a Tak prism at the same time and there was no difference visually. The Baader is considerably better built and easier to use, but way more expensive. Shouldn't have sold that one...

Can't say I ever saw any diffraction spikes. I used it with a Borg 60mm achro and my Skylight f/16.

3 hours ago, Sunshine said:

 Just by chance I removed one saddle and held the cradle to the holes, I was stunned to see they are the exact distance apart and the same bolts! What are the odds??

 

 

Not luck, not coincidence, design. I believe that all Tak cradles have the same bolt hole spacing - 35mm iirc. I had the same thing when I bought my FS60-CB early this year. The cradle bolted directly to my 40+ year old Tak mount. Very convenient 😃

Btw, I like your front (?) room, looks like a telescope showroom 👍

16 hours ago, John said:

I'm pleased that the availability of these zooms is still plentiful. I was a little concerned that the supply of them would dry up after the initial production run had sold out. 

Isn't China 'running out' when they're down to the last million or so?😉

Seriously though, the price seems to be dropping so I'd guess they made more than enough to go round.

13 hours ago, inedible_hulk said:

I’ve had my Svbony 3-8 zoom since the summer. I’m ill qualified to provide a detailed assessment, but I’d say in summary:

It’s very convenient in a portable setup. Feedback from zoom mechanism is positive and operation fluid. Views are good quality.

On bright objects, in poor conditions, I occasionally get a reflection from my own eye (I think). Not quite as good as my ES 82s.

Eyepiece cap is really awful 🤣

I think this falls into the “almost as good as” bracket, in that it’s almost as good as [insert premium eyepiece brand here]. It’s great for the price and would heartily recommend it to all but hardcore optics aficionados 😊

 

Agree with all the above. I've noticed reflections when looking at Jupiter.

1 hour ago, Naughty Neal said:

Mine is  on a slow boat from China.

It'll be on a fast boat if you got it from ali express. Mine only took a week.

I stopped using eBay a few years ago, either for buying or selling. No such thing as a bargain there anymore.

51 minutes ago, mcrowle said:

Nor at 5am. Spaceweather.com report one CME arrived after midnight, but the main event is still expected at midday our time. Going back to bed!

Regards, Mike.

Seeing as it clouded over at about 4am, in SW Hertfordshire at least, the aurora is probably blazing away now😁

Nothing going on in the south of England yet.

I've never noticed this before with my eyepiece and diagonal combos until I got my SvBony zoom. On unpacking it, I thought the barrel looked longer than average, and sure enough, it does contact the mirror in my Tal diagonal. Lifting it up a few mm solves that problem but a parfocal ring would be better.

Why not keep it in the family? Tak FS60-CB and Baader Skysurfer finder on an Altair Mini AZ (same as TS AZT6), SvBony 3-8 zoom, and Hyperflex 7-21 zoom.

7 hours ago, John said:

I've compared it with the Nagler 2-4, Pentax XW's, Ethos 8, 6 and 4.7 and Astro Hutech HD orthos so far.

Not lengthy comparisons examining each minute detail of multiple aspects of the image being seen (I've not owned the Svbony for long enough !) but comparisons enough for me to realise that the Svbony 3-8 is a very decent performer. Last night I actually felt that the Svbony zoom at 5mm was showing Jupiter slightly better than the mighty Pentax XW 5mm. 

I'm not about to sell off the XW's or the Ethos on the basis of what I've seen so far but I have let the Astro Hutech HD orthos go to a new home. The Svbony zoom showed Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon as well as they did but with the additional comfort of 10mm of eye relief, a larger eye lens and 16 degrees additional AFoV. 

 

I've only used mine once, but it compares very favourably to my Baader BCOs. On Saturn, it is at least good as the orthos in an f/6 frac, maybe even a touch sharper although that could be new purchase bias. Won't be selling the orthos though 😉

On 17/11/2023 at 03:39, Roy Challen said:

Yup, took the chance and ordered one. Hopefully it'll arrive in a couple of weeks.

Well, it's already here! Feels well made, and unbelievably, it looks like it will be clear tonight 😃

On 21/11/2023 at 21:52, bomberbaz said:

I recently obtained a prinz astral which is a 76.5mm (read 3 inch) F16 and was 0.956 too. I gave it @Peter Drew to clean up and repair the focuser end of things. Now I have a lovely (1.25") scope which still needs some tlc but as it stands is a cracking scope. 

As @Carbon Brush says, the actual glass side of these scopes is often very good. At F15 if the glass is good then it should be superbly corrected, so if you can sort the focuser out you could be onto a fantastic double star buster. 

The Prinz Astral 660 is a fine telescope indeed. Mine was converted by Richard Day into a Skylight, it has split (once) the double double with a 25mm Zeiss Huygens albeit on a night with perfect conditions. Also very good for planetary, lunar and white light solar. Needs a good mount though.

4 hours ago, Franklin said:

London "smog" will be choking this little scope no more, I'll be taking it up the hills in the Peak District. Just hope I can get back down in the dark😁.

The London light pollution will guide your way😆

3 hours ago, Franklin said:

The price is going down, AliExpress will deliver one to the UK for a grand total of £73.14 right now.

I've seen reviews comparing these favorably to some tasty eyepieces.

Yup, took the chance and ordered one. Hopefully it'll arrive in a couple of weeks.

Thanks Don. I do have the Q barlow,and generally only use it as a 2.25. So, the HZ barlow is more suitable for imagers then? Makes sense. Several of both types have appeared on ABS over here recently and I was just wondering what the difference was.

Baader sell two barlows, the Q-turret 2.25 and the Hyperion Zoom barlow, also 2.25. Is there any difference optically?  What other reason is there for offering two very similar products?

11 minutes ago, andrew63 said:

It's clear here, Venus is really bright close to the moon - actuality easier to see than the Moon naked eye. Like a sparkling jewel.

Same here, at least for the moment 

I too have an AzT6, Altair Astro branded. I use it with my FS60-CB and Daystar, on a First Horizon tripod, although for travel, I use a 3 Legged Thing carbon tripod. 

Agree with Jeremy re: counterweight bar. I almost had it confiscated 3 times on my last trip abroad. The airport security were concerned that I could use the counterweight as a weapon. I pointed out that I could also use a pencil as weapon...I still have my counterweight 😛

21 hours ago, JeremyS said:

I have the same mount and under a different name and it works surprisingly well with my Tak FS 76DCU John. Especially with a counterweight bar, but if I’m travelling by air I leave that behind