F15Rules

Many congratulations John, your truly prolific but always worthwhile and measured content is unlikely ever to be matched, let alone beaten!👍

As a pointless exercise for my own amusement, I worked out that, at my average level of posting per year over my 12 years of membership, it would take me 128 years just to get to John's 50k posts milestone..

Perhaps one of Johns' greatest achievements is also his resolute refusal to get drawn into the silly "Handles" debates that erupt on here every so often!!😂

Sincere thanks and congratulations, John - here's to the next 50k!

Dave

2 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Thanks Dave I was not aware of this so I hope for his speedy recovery. I have met Steve and also he has done a few Zoom talks for my local Astro society.

I can thank Steve for introducing me to Apollo 15x70 binos which is one of my best purchases.

Hi Mark,

To be honest I only found out when he emailed to apologise that he couldn't do the latest monthly bulletin due to illness.

I've not had the pleasure of meeting Steve, but have had his book for years and love his bino reviews..factual, objective and completely impartial🙂.

Dave

As some of you will probably know, Steve Tonkin, alias our "Binocular Sky" SGL expert, has not been well recently, and for the first time in 10 years has not been able to publish his excellent and very enjoyable monthly newsletter.

I'm sure you will all join me in sending warm good wishes to Steve for a speedy recovery, and our thanks for all the excellent and enjoyable reading materials he makes freely available to us each month.

If you haven't come across Steve before, do visit his excellent website ( http://binocularsky.com/)  and check out his wonderful book,  "Binocular Astronomy", a superb resource for beginners and advanced users - and everyone in-between!👍.

Get well soon, Steve, and Thank You!

Dave

Nice report 😊.

Yes, the GRS is easily visible in a decent 4" refractor under good conditions👍.

Don't be tempted to go to really high magnification on Jupiter..I find that 120-140x is often enough, and any extra can make the view more "mushy"..

Conversely, Saturn will often take more power..

Dave

20 hours ago, johnbaz said:

Oh, By the way, They bear a striking resemblence to the Zeiss Jena, Coincidentally taken over after the war in Easy Germanby!!

Yes, the Russians took all the Zeiss machinery and drawings back to the USSR apparently, and started making and selling them in their thousands to Europe especially, as a means of obtaining much needed western currency.

Apart from sometimes smelling of fish (no, really, the pong can be quite striking!), the bins are generally built like tanks, very sharp, and with a slightly warm cast to the view. 

These were also issued to the military, as they were so robust, and the orange yellow filters often supplied with them were for use in snowy terrain, to reduce glare.

I had a pair for £13 from Gumtree in lovely condition..I eventually gave them to.my daughter and her husband.and they use them to this day for birdwatching.

Another good Russian/Soviet brand worth looking out for are Tento..their large 20x60s are superbly sharp if well collimated..

Dave

On 21/07/2021 at 00:46, JeremyS said:

Errrmmm…several. He says blushing 

🤣

Several??

He's got a whole harem of them!!!😱😂😂🤣

We should have a competition to name them all..😁..that way we could keep a handle on them all..

Dave

I managed to find a really nice (looks like new) counterweight bar to replace the old one which was quite corroded. 

Also a nice polar finder scope which came off an old SP mount but fits the GP perfectly.

I've also added in a Skywatcher spreader bar and accessory tray to the old Unitron wooden tripod and this has really improved the stability when mounting the SP102 on it👍.

Just need to paint the white mount hub in green now, then should be about finished😉.

Dave

Lovely report Paul, and great sketches too👍..

Dave

1 hour ago, Stu said:

🤣🤣 blooming autocorrect!!

Dewing!! Now fixed.

I'd actually assumed you meant "seeing" Stu!

I too have a Morpheus 17.5mm and a 9mm. "Not bad"?? I beg to differ, mine are both superb😊.

I'm sure the APM will be excellent too👍

Dave

3 hours ago, Alan White said:

Post person been to me with a new EP, courtessy of AB&S and Mike Baccanin.

Now have 10, 7 and 5 in the XW range 😃

Congratulations Alan..as my much younger-than-me-son  would say.."That's a Bangin' Eyepiece!!👍😂 - and a bargain to boot!

Dave

3 hours ago, Merak said:

Postman Pat brought me this today:

Never seen one of these before, but that pic doesn't half remind me of a Baader Morpheus to look at (no bad thing!!😊)..

Dave

Nice set!👍

Dave

I owned the S Waler 5-8mm  variable zoom for a while last year. I bought it as it came up for sale at a good price and I had read good things about it, mainly on the USA forum.

Here's a link to the thread I started on the eyepiece: 

It was a very nice eyepiece, quite quirky and very long when extended!

Dave

On 29/06/2021 at 09:43, JeremyS said:

On 29/06/2021 at 09:43, JeremyS said:

After much deliberation, I went for the mirror version of the Baader 2-inch BBHS, rather than the prism

 

Was the deciding factor the Brilliant Baader Handle System Jeremy??

Dave

I tried it a few times with my Tak FS128 (5"), but never on a night of really good seeing.

I've never got near to splitting it, and that could well be as much to do with my Mk I eyeballs not being what they were as with the scope's objective (which although only 5", is of known excellence 🥴😊)..

I think your Skymax at 7" aperture might manage it on a great night, if totally thermally acclimatised. I've read that these Maks are slightly stopped down to c170mm, but the thread below (which is very technical but very well written!) suggests otherwise I think, and might interest you..it will certainly keep you occupied on one of our all too regular cloudy nights!😁

Dave

Lovely report and photo!☺️👍

I can sense your enthusiasm, and totally understand after such a long spell of endless poor observing conditions at night.

Thanks for sharing.

Dave

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Fireworks here too. Have I missed something?

Amateur astronomers celebrating Richard Bransons' imminent departure from Earth??

Oops, silly me, of course - it's Jeff Besoz's departure that people are really looking forward to..

Dave

I went outside to check the sky at 11.45pm. A high altitude haze had moved in and I could just see the summer triangle of Vega, Deneb and Altair but none of their attendant stars..so I didn't bother to get a scope out.

If I'm completely honest, I was almost glad, as my aching bones were calling me to much needed sleep: as it's such a while since I had a proper session (late May I think), I want my next session to be under a good sky, I want to be thrilled, not disappointed. Have you ever felt like that?

My  scopes are fettled, cleaned and raring to go, so I'll wait til everything comes together, sky, motivation and physical energy🙂.

All that said, I'm genuinely pleased for you, John, and everyone else who had a decent sky last night, it's just nice to hear that a few of you, at least, saw the Milky Way - instead of the Milky Haze!!😊👍

Dave

It's partially clear here too John, amazingly..I'm aching all over from spending 6 hours trimming our Holly hedge today, but...might just get the Vixen out for a quick peek if it stays clear.

Good luck if you get a session tonight☺️👍

Dave

I just can't get a handle on this endless cloudy night weather...I wonder if Jeremy or Johninderby can help?

Could do with a lift to be honest.....

Dave

1 hour ago, F15Rules said:

Lovely photos Jonny☺️👍.

You mentioned AE scopes...

Here's a link to an old thread I posted about an AE 4.5" F14.4 refractor I owned 10+ years back..

The photos aren't the best as mobile phone cameras weren't so good then!

I traded the scope with John Timmins at Peak2Valley optics in Buxton. I don't know what he did with it though?

Dave

Hi again Jonny,

Searching old emails, I can now tell you that I bought the AE 4.5" from Linton Guise in Bedford (top man!), and sold it to Robin Butland in Somerset (also a lovely chap).

All this was back in 2010..

HTH,

Dave

On 08/07/2021 at 21:30, Jonny_H said:

I haven't been into this hobby for long and have only recently learnt of him but from what I understand he was an absolute magician when it came to optics! I would have liked to of met him but i was only a nipper when he passed away.

On a similar topic -  I read on here that you used to run AE Luton for a fair stint (apologies in advance if I have got that wrong or I'm generally talking nonsense)?  I have been looking lately to see if any AE scopes come up for sale 🙂 I gather they are hard to come by though 😩

Lovely photos Jonny☺️👍.

You mentioned AE scopes...

Here's a link to an old thread I posted about an AE 4.5" F14.4 refractor I owned 10+ years back..

The photos aren't the best as mobile phone cameras weren't so good then!

I traded the scope with John Timmins at Peak2Valley optics in Buxton. I don't know what he did with it though?

Dave

Hi Cloudy!😜😂

Welcome to the forum and enjoy those binos, they can keep you busy for years.

Search posts by our SGL resident bino guru, Steve Tonkin, alias Binocularsky, he's forgotten more about using binos than all of us on here together!

Dave

Just an Awesome combination Steve!😎

Dave