ghostdance

On 10/09/2016 at 16:06, Mak the Night said:

You can't beat a good Plossl IMO.

Hey......how'd you get em out of my ep case and I didn't even notice?!

Wowsa Damo, great viewing site, and pier!

The Vixens are indeed little sweeties, Damian! Beautifully made to boot. Just wish I had darker home skies so they could work their full magicke

SteveN - your Vixens and mine must be the mother and baby of the range! I too had lustful thoughts seeing yours...

Steve

Nice Steve

Never thought of using an rdf with bins...how do you find it (no pun intended, lol)?

Introducing the Bin Family in formation...excepting Cousin Revelation Astro 15x70 who is going to market, where he'll shortly be joined by the Strath 7x50s

Steve

Back row L-R, The Elders: Helios Aquila 10x50, Tento 20x60, Helios Quantum4 15x70, Strathspey Marine 7x50, Tento 7x35

Centre stage, The Babbies: Vixen 2.1 SG and Rand Royal View 3x (near useless for stargazing, but dead cute nonetheless and pretty good optics).

Somewhere in the house is also a pair of Canon 8x23's but they've gone temporarily awol...

(eek, they all need a good clean!)

Beautiful work Mike, same with your sketches I ogled in the other thread today....lovely

Gina, you are a marvel...such skills, tenacity and dedication

(Would love to see you presenting a 'DIY Astro' slot on S&N!) 

Good Golly Tom&Olly...

You sure like to awe!

What a *superb* image - thank you both

(P.S. The fiver's in the post as promosed )

Eh, I thought we agrode a tinner?!

It being rainy and nasty out, I've been re-reading this invaluable guide, and as the first reading, it is so helpful. After approximately one year of taking my stargazing 'seriously' (well, as serious as it gets at Ghostdance Towers!), the following bit really leapt out for me. This is so true and pertinent to any novice or old hand:

"There’s also another truism which rings truer to an astronomer’s heart beat. All things being equal, you will see more tomorrow than you did today, and so it follows that you will never see less than you did this evening. Each evening with a galaxy or nebula you are training your eye and brain to notice more than what you have already seen. And that takes time; it takes patience, a little love and care at the eyepiece."

Advice I learn from every night I'm privileged to be out in our fabulous universe. And when the clouds are socked in and cloaking it all, I'm still learning and thinking about this - and never seeing less.

So, thanks Qualia Again

Holland...of course.... Thought it was Belgium, tsk

Looking forward to your experiences and thoughts with the 4.5. Mine was a faithful companion and a great introduction to the stars. I've just now improvised a stand for the 6i using a sturdy tripod and wood platform, so don't be put off by the table-top nature of these small Starblasts - stand options are easily fashioned, while keeping the utter portability benefits.

Hope you enjoy yours as much as I did and do.

Astro Baby.

Wendy and I are now dreading getting our new scope, after reading all this about collimation. 

We will definitely have to read your guide and no doubt buy a Cheshire. Oh aren't we going to have some fun and games. 

Don't be worried Geoff. My 4.5" arrived from Belgium (direct from Orion Europe via Amazon) in perfect collimation, and then when I changed to the 6" Starblast that arrived only slightly out, needing a small adjustment to the primary (using the three adjusters) to collimate. The centre dot on the primary makes this easy with the supplied collimation cap you'll get with the scope. With both Orions, the secondary was fine out of the box.

Assuming yours arrives in the same condition, you'll be good to go within minutes!

I've been meaning to post something about FLO for ages, about their SUPERB personal service, lightning fast delivery and all-round topness.

FLO were brilliant in helping me with the Vixen 2.1's, for example.

But today takes the biscuit: my Baader Wonder Fluid and cloth were delivered by zippy means as always, but REALLY...It was the goldwrapped chocolate deer I found nestled in the box as a little xmas pressie that has prompted this post. Made my day. Awww FLO.... Thank you! And a Very Merry, Cool Yule to you all!

Konig neck thingy arrived today from Camarthen Cameras via Amazon (next day free delivery, nice!) - pretty darn cool for the money! As a wee grab n go support this will be great for throwing in the suitcase when travelling lightish rules out my Manfrotto monopod.

It's not the most substantial bit of kit, but for a tenner all in? Bargain

Right, sorry for thread hijack - back on topic.

Ordered the Konig neck tripod on Amazon  @ £9.99 (no additional postage cost - call me Scrooge...), so thanks again Avtar!

This should be fun....

I bought them from Amazon - 7dayshop neck tripod £8.71

Avtar

Thanks! Ooh, goody, nice & affordable!

I use this neck mono pod thingy for mounting the binoculars rather than a tripod, I find it more convenient.

image.jpg

Avtar

Nice pod (& collection) Avtar I may well have to try one of those for my Quantum 15x70....costly?

Steve

My 'astro' bins are:

Helios Quantum 4 as above

Helios Aquila 10x50

Strathspey Marine 7x50

Great post, great thread, thanks! Very helpful. Nice to see some 4" images so I know what to expect when I can finally find some of these things!