F15Rules

5 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

To think I came close to selling this fine telescope (Bresser AR 127L) when all I needed to do was buy a Geoptik Nadira Observing Chair!  Makes it really easy to use the 'scope at high altitude - the lowest setting is about 23cm.  Fabulous bit of kit, with six positions in total, nicely made, sturdy, adjustable and comfortable back, and so easy to move the seat - it simply slots into the holes in the back.

So now the slow, long focus frac is not only easy to swing about on the Skytee II, it's also a joy when used over a wide range of altitudes.  

Great 'scope, coming in for a lot more use - really pleased I didn't let it go.  Bring on those doubles!

Doug.

 

Great Stuff Doug👍.

I too have a Nadira courtesy of my two daughters a couple of Christmases ago, and have just come inside after sitting on it and having it at 3 different heights during the session (tonight I used tripod mounted 60mm binos plus my 60mm D12 Carton Refractor and was able to get comfy with each).

I did find the image below which I really like: I've been using an old towel as padding, but seeing the image below, posted by the chairs' owner, Steve Clay, I think that this is an ingenious solution - and once this lockdown is over I plan to visit Lidl to get something similar!👍

Dave

3 hours ago, Fraunhoffer said:

I had one of those. 😁 I also had the Field guide to the stars and Planets, which was easyy beyond me at the time. I thought it had gone, so i got a replacement, only to find my original copy 1st edition a bit later. 

 

I too had one of those...by Donald Menzel as I recall? Really nice, well produced and high quality printed book☺️.

Hmm, maybe I should look for another one😁..

Dave

Nice report Stu, with the weather we've had lately any chance to see some stars has to be grabbed..👍

I had much the same tonight, kept popping out to see what was stars were visible and by 9.30pm it was clear enough to take the chance. It was also milder than for weeks so no need to tog up with silly amounts of layers!

I did get the FS128 out and kept it very simple..Orion was looking great right over our house, so hit the usual suspects as you did. The E&F  in the Trap were both easy, the sky was very transparent after rain, but ithe seeing steadied down a bit too and stars were nice points.

I also got lovely views of the Pleiades (with traces of nebulosity around Merope) and stunning views of the Double Cluster in Perseus.

So glad to be outside again under the stars..and good to see you getting some respite from busyness too Stu! - I really can recommend retirement!😂

Oh, and I had my first jab today..😊

Dave

I had both the Lyra F11 and Tal 100RS, both excellent achromats..I'd say the Lyra had the better build quality, while the Tal maybe just edged the Lyra optically? Both were excellent though and so much more affordable than the ubiquitous Vixen SP102M that was so popular in the 1980s.. great memories👍

Dave

The second one was a real bargain, very cheap and no strings attached!..

12 hours ago, John said:

From one ageing rocker to another, hold your ground !!!!

Cheers, John👍🤘✌️ (couldn't see your image though?).

I saw Rory live 3 or 4 times, and he was just brilliant, and he (along with Robin Trower, Ritchie Blackmore and of course Jimi Hendrix) just enthralled me with the sounds their Fender Starts could produce..

In the late 70s I played in a local pub band called "Dealer" and had a Japanese Kimbara Strat (a real USA Strat was, like a good scope, way out of my reach then!).

I enjoyed playing covers back then, we used to get £40 plus free beer for a gig (split 5 ways!), but we had fun and bought our P.A. from our "earnings". In 1995, for my 40th birthday, my wife and family treated me to a Fender '57 reissue Strat and case, made in Japan (like all the best eyepieces & scopes!😁) .

That's the one I'd put on my avatar, and which Jeremy couldn't grasp (🤪😂)..but I changed it back to my scope, as I suppose technically this is an Astro forum😊.

For the record, attached is a proper pic of my Strat, and my second guitar, a Marlique Reborn  series model called "Broken Wings", made in Indonesia and one which attracted me with it's interesting artwork back in 2004 when I bought it - this guitar was actually my SGL avatar for some years until I replaced it with the Tak FS128 a couple of years ago..the guitars have been pretty eye candy for years, but just in the past month I've started picking them up again and banging out a few power chords!😁.

Sorry to Carl for slightly hijacking his thread (I blame Jeremy!😁).

Dave

22 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

If you do venture downstairs in the night to look at that clear sky, don’t forget to hold the handrail, Dave 🤣

PS: nice avatar 

Thanks for your concern for my nocturnal welfare, Jeremy👍

Thankfully my bedroom is on the ground floor (I'm allergic to handrails so this was a key "what counts" factor when selecting our retirement home).

Ref the Avatar, I've been advised that the "Ageing Rocker" guitar theme has been complained about by some 70s disco fans..😂

I think the thing I've noticed during lockdown, and being retired and therefore having more sight of daytime tv weather forecasts, is  how many local forecasts are just plain wrong!

The national weather forecast and regional ones are so often very different, I do wonder if I'm looking at the same country?

Our local news area is large, covering an area from Sheffield in the West, Bridlington to the north east, Hull to the East, and Boston in South Lincs to the south. We live only 15 miles inland of the North Sea, and are surrounded by low hills which cause us to have a local micro climate as well. So, although I like the many sunny mornings we have here at the south of the Lincolnshire Wolds, I've now lived here long enough to know that sun in the day is absolutely no guarantee of clear skies in the evening.

Something else I have noticed, (courtesy of increasingly getting up in the night for a loo visit!), is that the sky that is overcast in the pre-midnight hours is often clear in the later part of the night. So maybe we need to look at a more flexible approach to when we observe - although for many younger observers who work or have young children this wouldn't be practical.

This season I've managed perhaps a total of just 6-7 hours of observing Orion, and it is now sinking fast in the evening sky, and with daylight hours lengthening noticeably..so I guess we just have to take any and all the opportunities we can. And for me, that includes increasingly using binoculars and a small 60mm refractor for quick 10-30 minute sessions😊.

Dave

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Belated happy birthday Dave!

I hope you can handle being 65 😊

Any chance of getting your old avatar back? I can see you might want to relive your rock and rolls years, but the scope pic was much better - and much more eye catching 😊

Tell you what, Jeremy..I'll restore my old avatar if you change yours to one where you're not trying to lift your handle-less observatory with one hand ..might be easier if you actually fitted a handle and used both hands? 😜

Yes, Les, I'm old enough! (65 2 days ago😱).

I learned quite a lot of star names from almost memorising Patrick Moore's "Observers Book of Astronomy", a little pocket gem of a book back in the 1960's👍.

I actually picked one up on eBay a few years ago for about £2!

Dave 

This week in the Lincolnshire Wolds has been a week of promising daytime blue skies with occasional wintry showers, with cloud relentlessly moving in at dusk..

On Thursday night the sky finally cleared at about 11pm..by that time I was just to tired and it felt jiust too cold to get a scope out.. so I just got my Vixen 8x32s out, sat on a garden chair, and just gazed at Orion for 10-12 minutes.

The sky by this time was lovely, over 20 stars visible inside Orion's outline with the naked eye, and the bins showed a sprinkling of faint stars all around the Belt region.

That short view was both uplifting and frustrating..uplifting because any clear sky view of Orion is uplifting.. frustrating because Orion is now slipping away in the west, and I've probably had just 3 or 4 decent 1-2 hour sessions with my favourite constellation since November, despite far more numerous days when the sun shone, only for cloud to take over as darkness fell..

..next hazard to.contend with will be the Moon..🥴

Clear Skies?? PAH!! 🤪😄

5 hours ago, JeremyS said:

And while we are about it, similar q for the Technosky diagram John Handleby has posted:

 

I'd have thought John Handleby would have a handle on the diagrams??

Dave

12 hours ago, Sunshine said:

To be clear, the forecast was -11 but feels like minus 21. Having said that, I did follow what Mike said and thankfully had no issues, not a molecule of H2O formed on the lens, I checked for moisture before bringing it in, there was none. Before bringing it in I capped the objective with shield extended in order to trap cold air and once inside it did not fog up at all after peeking inside the cap even after 20 min. Maybe if it truly was -20 ambient temp it may have fogged up? I was actually quite taken aback when it didn’t fog up at all. What surprised me most was I skipped the step of bringing it into my cold storage straight away, I brought it into my +23 degree home. How it didn’t fog up the least bit is beyond me. My 115 Eon would fog up in slightly warmer temps. I’ll leave that up to the dewologists here on SGL to figure out.

People often say that Taks are overpriced, but you're paying for the additional premium engineering as well. For example, the Tak lens cells are a work of engineering art, often collimateable and as far as I'm aware always constructed with a heat sensitive cell which expands or contracts with the ambient temperature to ensure that you don't get pinched optics, for example, where the lens elements get squeezed too much by the metal cell not expanding or contracting at the right rate relative to the doublet or triplet optics in the objective.

On my FS128 (fluorite Fraunhofer doublet), the dewshield is fixed, not  sliding..it threads onto the blue painted collar on the OTA (see photos)..on the rear of the blue collar there is a tiny grub screw, almost invisible, which has to be loosened before you can unthread the objective cell from the white OTA tube (see photos).. this prevents you from unthreading the objective cell from the tube by accident. The dewshield end cover/cap is like a cast aluminium manhole cover, so solid, and yet, with it's felt surround, just a perfect, snug friction fit into the dewshield. The focuser knobs are finely machined solid aluminium..and so it goes on. 

If you want the best build and engineering, it costs serious "wedge" !!( money/cash to our Canadian friends 😂), but you can immediately tell, when handling a Tak, how much thought has gone into it's creation👍👌.

Dave

All of the above good tips..plus place a flat, square piece of wood under your feet, it's a good insulator. I have a small wooden step that I use - I use a Nadira observing chair, and the step also helps if the chair is set best it's maximum height..👍

Dave

20 hours ago, AdeKing said:

Yesterday a lovely little Berlebach Report 723 and tray arrived courtesy of  @Telescope40 via ABS.

This tripod is tiny being just 55cm tall at its lowest and 90cm tall with legs extended but centre column at its lowest.

This is a travel tripod for my AZ GTi and SolarQuest if we're ever allowed outside again.

Also received a copy of Bob Argyle's double star book from @azrabella

 

A Top Tripod bought by a Top Buyer from a Top Seller..Top Notch, chaps!😁👍

Dave

If your focuser is standard Skywatcher I think it has an M57 male thread? If so, this adapter might give you more inward focus capacity if your prism diagonal has a T2 female connection, ie. if it's a Baader T2 prism?

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p1431_TS-Optics-Adaptor-from-M57-to-T2-Filter-Thread.html

Hope that helps..

Dave

Hi Duncan,

I can sense your confusion, and it's totally understandable..all three 80mm, 100mm and 120mm refractors you mention are excellent in their own way, and can deliver great views.

Now, part way through the thread, and probably in the light of all the (very useful) advice you've received, you seem to be leaning towards the "Visual for the foreseeable future" frame of mind? If that is in fact the case, it should make your decision a bit easier..

First, I would eliminate the 80mm from the list. For mainly visual it can't compete with the other two. As Peter Drew said, "Aperture wins for DSOs" (and for most objects, actually). However, both the 100mm and 120mm scopes will actually deliver excellent views of some DSOs, such as M42, M13 etc as well as lovely sharp, contrasty views of planets, double stars, Moon, Clusters etc etc.

In absolute terms the 120mm would be a worthwhile increase in light grasp versus the ED100, at the expense, to some extent, of real portability..

Now, in terms of future proofing in case you do end up wanting to try AP,  the choice of mount becomes more critical than perhaps of the scope..as a visual only observer, I'm not the best person to advise on the mount, but you do tend to need a much beefier mount for AP than for visual.

I think you'd need at least an HEQ5 for a 100mm scope, and an NEQ6 or equivalent for an ED120..if that's wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me. If I'm right, then you'd probably need to allow a budget for the mount of up to say c £1200-£1400 if you were thinking of AP with a 120mm refractor?..and possibly factor in a focuser upgrade or motorisation..

So, I think a good compromise worth considering would be a 100mm scope now, mounted on a heftier mount..you can't really have too solid a mount for any scope, unless portability is a higher priority for you, and then, when you were ready, you could sell your ED100 (they sell VERY quickly!) and put the proceeds towards an ED120 - and perhaps the F7.5 ED120 would be better for AP than the F9 of the ED100?

Whatever you choose, I wish you good luck!

Dave

53 minutes ago, John said:

Well, when I compared the Meade 4000 UWA 6.7mm with the Pentax XW 7mm that I replaced it with, even I could see the difference in brightness when observing smaller DSO's such as planetary nebula.

On brighter targets such as the moon, planets and double stars, the light transmission has no real impact though. 

But, as we must always say, "your mileage may vary"

 

 

That's just what I'd expect John..I'd take a Pentax 7mm over the Meade 6.7mm any day, on looks alone..I think the latter looks very like the ordinary series 4000 plossls (although I've never seen one in the flesh).

The 8.8mm is an altogether beefier beast, much more like the Nagler T2 12mm in heft and solidity, although smaller than the Nagler.

The XW 5,7 and 10mm are truly wonderful eyepieces, which is why I was genuinely surprised that they didn't figure in Marcus Ludes' comparison tables?

This thread I found interesting, just demonstrates the subjective "YMMV"-ness of how people see their equipment..

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/446333-vintage-gold-the-88mm-meade-4000-uwa/

I'm really looking forward to trying out my new acquisition, and I'll report back honestly what I find. However it performs, though, it won't change my view that on the whole I don't rate Meade or most of their equipment very highly..with a couple of honourable exceptions..🥴🙂

Dave

Interesting stuff John..

It could be that the second generation Meade UWAs had improved coatings..

I'm wondering though whether 20 or so years ago the polish of Japanese made EPs made up, at least partly, for any coating deficiencies? This might back up Don's assertion in your quoted thread, where he says "The fact that a ten inch reaches over 0.4 magnitudes deeper than an 8" shows how little effect transmission in eyepieces has. Probably of more importance are factors such as the spectrum of transmission and the polish quality on the glass."

I think that modern coatings application technology, wherever EPs are made now, including China and especially Taiwan, is to an exceedingly high standard, which is to all our benefit of course..

Dave

11 hours ago, John said:

Their light transmission could be better .....

http://www.amateurastronomie.com/Astronomie/tips/tips3.htm

(last eyepiece listed)

 

Hmm...

That's an interesting list John..and somewhat confusing, too.

It looks like an old and very incomplete list to me, albeit we know Marcus Ludes is well respected as the figure behind APM in Germany.

Some glaring omissions in the list in 2021 such as:

No TV Delite, Delos, Ethos 

No Pentax XL or XW (and they've been around a LONG time, and all with excellent transmission..

No Baader Genuine orthos, Celestron Ultima or other Pseudo Masuyama (IMHO these all have excellent transmission), apart from Tak LEs.

No Vixen LVWs, SLVs or HRs

No Celestron Excels or BST Starguiders 

No Baader Morpheus or Hyperions

I could go on, but it just seems a very selective list and an incomplete one, since many of the above eyepieces have been, or are now, big sellers with good transmission ratings?

You'd clearly expect Zeiss & Co to be right up there, but also surely the Pentax XWs, TV Delos and ES SWA & UWAs would feature too? As I say, it may be just an old list, but Pentax XLs and XWs have been around for 20-30 years, and universally well regarded in terms of coatings and light transmission?

It's also interesting to look in the far right column at the overall percentage ratings..in many cases the quoted differences are very small statistically - a few percentage points? And how.many of us can distinguish differences of, say, 3-5 percentage points with our own eyes?

It reminds me of the (often quite heated!) debates over the pond in the context of the difference between, for instance, standard diagonals, "enhanced" diagonals and dielectric diagonals, especially the latter two, how hard it is to see a difference?

To take a real example in my own case..a few years back I bought a 2" Televue Enhanced Diagonal. It worked really well, (and their one piece construction from a block of aircraft grade aluminium is superb) and I was very happy with it. 

About a year later I had a hankering to try an Everbrite version of the same diagonal...so I bought one, same build quality and size, but a good deal more expensive..and could see very little, if any, difference between them, even though I'm sure Tele Vue claimed several percentage points higher transmission for the Everbrite..

Heres an example of what I mean about the debates:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/655975-tele-vue-enhanced-aluminium-v-everbrite-diagonals/

In "real life" usage, I've concluded that such debates are pretty meaningless, and largely unhelpful to the average amateur..what matters is what I see through my scope, with my eyepieces, through my eyes in my local conditions. I know that my own eyes would really struggle nowadays to see the very fine detail I could see 15-20 years ago, certainly in terms of light transmission differences.

However, I'm equally sure that at least some of this deficiency is countered by the fact that I am now a better observer than I was 15-20 years ago..why? - because I don't rush my sessions like I did when I had little time, I had work the next day, I had young children, etc etc. And I see more when I look for longer. And I have better dark adaptation when I'm not in a rush, better preparation, and more patience in waiting for those fleeting moments of best seeing.

That's why I rarely visit CN these days, there are just too many threads that start off as a decent discussion, such as is the norm here on SGL, but then get hijacked by people who believe that their own experience is 100% infallible

Then along comes someone who thinks the exact opposite, but also thinks their experience is also infallible, and then it all falls apart from there..(very UNLIKE what we see on SGL!).. and yet, in a country the size of the USA, the difference in seeing conditions across the US must be tremendous - from pristine desert skies to areas very like the UK, driven by the Jetstream, often to despair!😂.

In conclusion, I don't dispute the pure statistics of Mr Ludes' table: the pure figures may be right (and maybe my 8.8mm version of the Meade is better (or worse!) than the 6.7mm quoted in the table).. I haven't actually used it at night yet..but I am confident that I have enough other, proven eyepieces with which to compare the Meade, in order to judge whether I like it enough to keep it😉.

But it looks and feels like a top end eyepiece, and I'm really looking forward to finding out one way or the other!😊

Dave

3 hours ago, jock1958 said:

I have one of each of the 10mm & 18mm BCO’s and wasn’t sure if they made a good BV pairing, but from what you are saying the 18 is especially good so might keep an eye out for another second hand one.
If you haven’t done so already try screwing the lens element of your 2.25x Barlow into the nose piece of your WO BV’s you will be surprised at the bump in magnification! Worked brilliantly for me on Mars & the Moon. 

Iain,

I also have a pair of Baader Classic Ortho 18mms and they do work really well as a binoviewer pair. Sharpness and contrast are excellent, the 50 degree field is very acceptable (to me, anyway!), and as you say, they do Barlow well with my Hyperion zoom Barlow.

Recommended 👍

Dave

1 hour ago, RobertI said:

What's the screw on the barrel for Dave?

1 hour ago, Lockie said:

Nice! Is the screw to prevent it from sinking too far into a 1.25" focuser or diagonal? 

Hi Robert, Chris,

To be honest with you I'm not sure..my T2 Nagler had the same setup, but the screw was missing, and I've not missed it..the 2" barrel fits into my 2" diagonal and is held by the diagonal's compression ring, and the same applies with the 1.25" barrel in my 1.25" Baader T2 prism...maybe someone who does know can chip in?

Dave

A very nice New Old Meade 4000 Japan  UWA 8.8mm 84 Deg fov.

Bought new from BC&F in 2007 and never used.

Has 2" and 1.25" barrels like my Nagler T2 12mm and Morpheus 17.5mm.

One of the best Meade branded eyepieces ever made IMHO.

Dave

Many Happy Returns to Mrs Fozzybear! 😊👍..wish I was 50 again.. (or even 60 for that matter!!😱😁)

Dave

3 hours ago, Dantooine said:

They double boxed those scopes after I phoned Ian up about the inadequacy of the packing over a year ago. They only used to be single boxed and the focus knob was right up against the box edge. Quite a few were delivered with a bent focus shaft as was my first one. It’s good to know the fantastic product is now better protected. 

You shouldn't have needed to call them up about the packaging..a seller of any  precision instruments should not risk any packaging which is clearly not up to the task.

Proper packaging and good communications are two of the most important "what counts" factors when buying astro gear.

Some years ago I had zero response to an enquiry to Altair about an item. Since then they have had zero business from me. It's a shame, as I've always thought Altair offered some interesting products.

I hope that things have improved since then (it sounds as though they have, thankfully), but as I discovered FLO soon after my experience, I've never felt the need to go anywhere else for new items, apart from the very odd occasion.

The saying "First Impressions Count" is very true..

Dave