Davesellars

"For DSOs go with the largest aperture you can manage" - is the mantra given for a reason:  8" for me got me to view all the Messier objects at a darkish site however when I moved up to 12" the difference is vast in what I could actually see and giving to actually wow moments in visual observing.  Training the eye and observing technique is also a big part of visual astronomy as well.  10" would serve you very well - the difference in light gathering from 8" is pretty large so you will benefit greatly.  Don't worry that much about coma  - when you build your eyepiece collection, add eyepieces types that at least correct some or don't make it worse + you can always purchase used to keep the price down...

I bought an SCT as my first scope as its compact size and weight was good for lugging to my darkish site on foot without sacrificing too much aperture.  The EQ5 mount held it well.  I did all of the Messier list with my C8 and a good start on the Herschel 400.  The SCT design though is a real pain for any amount of dew and freezing conditions rendering them virtually useless without a shield and a heater.  Cooling off the 8" size took an age although I didn't find that bothersome for DSOs it did give good planetary views when stable - stars though were never really brilliantly sharp especially when compared to my refractors.  Once I'd got into the Herschel list though the aperture obviously wasn't sufficient and replaced it with a 12" Dob.

Uff... it's been so long since my last proper session (almost a year).  My 3 year old daughter is finally sleeping through the night so I can get back my time!   It was incredibly clear however brutally cold so setup my 120ST for a "quick" session at 11:30ish - I finished at just before 2am my feet had turned into blocks of ice...  Most observations made with the 17.3 Delos.

Started out with Leo - a little low down at the start but M65 and M66 easily visible - Couldn't get NGC3628 though it may just have been a little too low down for this...  Across then to the M105 group then  M95 and M96 - so far so good - no major failures

M51 again a little low down a bit disappointing although with the 10mm Delos was able to resolve both parts and a smidge of the spiral.  M101 was literally ghost like just a whiff flickering into the occasional view.  Much better position was M108 and M97 both really clearly visible - M108 although not showing any real definition of detail although M97 I could see easily enough a dark area in the centre without any filter.

M44 (Beehive) cluster was lovely with the 17.3mm Delos framing the entire cluster very well.  Down to M67 which surprised me - quite delicate but bright cluster.  To end the session I finished with the M3 globular cluster usng the 5mm Pentax XW - Determined it was too low down and needed more aperture to resolve this one properly.  Looking forward now to galaxy season coming up with Coma Berenices and Virgo!

Great to get back out again and observing!!!  Really enjoyed it.  Next night will get the 12" dob out to play...

Just now, Marc1964 said:

Hi

From my back garden I have no less than two bright street lights in sight. One is just across the road to my left, and the other, whilst further away is in my line of sight sadly. View to the right is somewhat ruined by other houses and lights. Really can see very little. 

My car is a mini... Even getting my SW90/900 in is a trial, have to put rear seats down and lay across. It's not ideal 😂😂😂

I do have some fields about 10 minutes walk and a grab and go would definitely be a benefit! 

Ah, that's a shame.....  Get a bigger car????

I used to walk with gear from my apartment about 15 mins walk to an allotment where at least I kept my mount in a shed.  I can relate to the need to keep it lightweight though!  TBH, the mount is the most problematic to find something sturdy enough (especially for planetary obsevation) that you can physically walk with the any length of time so perhaps stick with using the car.    If the tripod at least goes in without having to lay down the seats you may have more options?

If you're going with a scope in the car and setting up in the car park how much effort is it really to take a decent size aperture scope?   For planetary you can do that from your garden as street lights won't generally affect your view and for DSOs starting out on the Messier list for example you want pretty reasonable light gathering capability even without light pollution.

The field edition of Interstellarum deep sky guide to go with the atlas.

SQM: 19.92..   So i should get close to 5.3 / 5.4 NELM in theory on a good transparent night.   I have yet to judge this visually from here on how close this is the only times I've observed has been with the Moon from my yard and once from the nearby park however there was significant high level haze / cloud.

I have some annoying lights from neighbours' windows as it seems round here people don't believe in using curtains or blinds... grrr.  It is nice and dark with everything shut off after 11ish or so though for better observing of the faint stuff which needs dark adaption.

If the fog doesn't appear again like the previous couple of nights then it looks we're in for 2 or 3 clear nights so time to get the dob out!

If you get the mount and 80ED with a 2k budget you'll have money left over for an OTA more aperture for visual observation.  Personally I think you'll be disappointed with 80mm visually for DSOs unless you live somewhere extraordinarily dark.

Today he brought me a shiny new 7mm Pentax XW.    ...  It's cloudy and looks like rain for the entire weekend though!  bah.

A shiny as new Tele Vue 17.3mm Delos bought from a member on here.  Looks like there may be slim possibility later tonight to give it a go between the clouds...

A shiny new Televue Panoptic 24mm       Hopefully I may get a chance to use it Saturday early morning to give it a go!

9 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Tempted to go for the ES 4.7mm as I need a couple of light, widefield EPs. Delos and XWs too heavy. Naglers overpriced. Delites perhaps too narrow, particularly at higher magnifications. The 4.7mm looks perfect - light, 82 degrees, under £100. How do you rate yours Dave?

Hi Mark,

I haven't had much of an opportunity to use it with it being one of the more recent purchases however I did use it the other night on Jupiter with the 80ED and it produced a very nice sharp image for the conditions. I'll see if I get an opportunity to view the Moon with the same scope soon using this eyepiece.

Case number two...

A slight adjustment to the (now) dob and 120ED case.... Another smaller Peli Storm case arriving soon for the smaller refractors / eyepieces.

Ah I see they changed the colour as well from green lettering and logo to white.  I haven't had much of a chance to use it - only the once last week but the conditions were appallingly dewy but I noted that it did make a difference to the stars although to be honest all my eyepieces performed really well anyway at f/4.9.

I bought the a Televue in-travel 2" to 1.25 adapter to fit to my 14mm Delos.  This worked well and not too much faffing now between the majority of my eyepieces being somewhere between position 4 to 5.

The specifications including the eye relief for the ES lines are given on FLO.  The 24mm ES68 I find is really comfortable to use.  The 4.7mm ES82 has a bit less eye relief than the 6.7, 8.8, 11 and 14mm. TBH I find these quite comfortable to use as well - the eye relief is certainly sufficient for me.

The 24mm ES68 is very good imho - certainly with a quick test in my new 12" dob is performed very well and on my refractors gives a lovely view and sharp the edge at f/7.5 With my f/5 ST120 there's a touch loss of sharpen at the edge (perhaps from 10%)

On 10/5/2016 at 20:26, spaceboy said:

At £133 that's a steal then for the Paracorr 1 type 2 although if it is the one from phonefan-uk then it is the parcorr I.

Yes, it was that one!  I did some reading and apparently there were three versions: 1st one without the tuneable top and then the second one with the tuneable top and improved optics and I assume the third one improving as you mentioned the adapter but it seems the optics are identical in these two versions at least.  So I assume when he stated that it was the later version that he means not the 1st version...

Dave.

Personally I'd question the need for a 32mm EP for your 150p (which is f/5?) to be honest unless your skies are really dark LP you're not going to have enough contrast for DSOs with a rather massive exit pupil - so unless you're using it with a narrow-band filter on large nebulae I would stick with your 25mm as the longest focal length EP in your arsenal.

You've got some nice quality EPs.  Which focal length do you use the most and what is your prime observing interest?  i.,e lunar/planetary or DSOs or both?

Have to agree with the comments above.  While there's no doubting the optical quality of the TV Plossl - With the price of this EP now adding in the required eye guard extension makes this a seriously expensive Plossl!   What EPs do you have already?

You can get an eyeguard extension.  This maybe is all you need if it's kidney-beaning as obviously your eye is too close.  I know TV sell an eyeguard extension but you can also get them from Edmund Scientific

http://www.edmundoptics.co.uk/microscopy/eyepieces/rubber-eyeguards/2064/

Many thanks! 

I'd be interested to know your thoughts on its performance correcting the coma with ES82 eyepieces that you've found so far.

The one I've bought seems to the Paracorr 1 type 2 from the description.

Sounds sensible many thanks for that. Particularly as I changed the SW focuser for a Moonlite...

OK, so I can use the known setting for the Panoptic 19mm and go from there to focus the rest of the eyepieces just using the CC. Sounds easy enough  

Thanks!

I have the ES82 6.7mm, 8.8mm and 11mm and also the ES68 24mm.  I have an ES82 4.7mm on order...  

I've just purchased one of these from Ebay for my 12" f/4.92 dob.  It's looks pretty well used on the outside but stated optically perfect.  Has the tune-able top and 1.25" adapter with brass compression ring.  I couldn't afford to go for the new TV Paracorr type 2.  All in I paid £133 with a handy Ebay £15 voucher for doing the transaction on a mobile device.  Seems like a reasonable price?

Does this Paracorr have a barlow effect (15%) like the type 2?   Any other tips o people using it particularly with the ES eyepieces?