mikeDnight

Yes it does! ☺

It's possible that the locking screw can push the eyepiece slightly off axis which makes it near impossible to merge the images, where as the rotating lock type, at least in theory, will centre the eyepiece more effectively. If the screw type I used it may be wise to try different screw holes in the eyepiece holder (There are usually three in each), to enable true image mergance. Or, you could use three locking screws in each holder to secure each eyepiece on axis.

I've used a cheap Revelation binoviewer and cheap ortho's for around eight years now and it gives superb views of the moon and planets. Nothing could tempt me to return regularly to mono viewing, except for wide field and dso's. Mike

It's best to forget about "those imaging people!" However, they may have done visual observers a great service, by causing manufacturers to design faster, high quality optics. The comfort and greater range of usefulness of a good ED or Apochromat is godsend. I'd much rather use a tube of a metre or less than an unwieldy monster that tremors with every passing moth. With modern, well corrected eyepieces, or if preferred, a simple ortho or plossl with a barlow lens, they'll deliver both wide rich field views and razor sharp, colour free, high power views. I love em!

Hi John, My late friend Phil was obsessed with comparing spot diagrams of various designs of telescope. He spent a lot of his time over many years designing many different kinds of telescope. From what I remember about the spot diagrams he showed me, if a telescope keeps its natural aberrations within the Airy disk, it is essentially perfect. Most telescopes come nowhere near this kind of perfection, though Apo refractors tend to be among the best. Often the aberrations between similar scopes such as the DL and DC, though being noticeably different on paper, still come close to, or within the confines of the Airy disk and so both scopes will offer essentially the same level of performance, or at least it would take a very expert eye to notice any real difference in image quality. For a 6" achromat to give a perfect image it would need to have a F ratio of around F25, yet at F15 it performs stunningly, so it illustrates how forgiving the visual view is. SCT's produce very poor spot diagrams and this is quite noticeable in the star image produced, where the star never quite seems to snap into focus, yet the SCT remains popular. As you pointed out, focal length does play a part. Short F ratio Newtonians suffer from numerous destructive aberrations outside the Airy disk, where as, long focal length Newts have very tightly constrained aberrations and deliver near perfect images. It seems to me that we're all so easily distracted by graphs, spot diagrams and Strehl that we forget the most important factor which Gavin touched on when he said he's "Loving" his AP130. ❤?? Mike

I love the look and sound of your AP scope Gavin! Do you know if its oil spaced or air spaced? Mike

Both myself and paulastro have noticed the seeing has been a little off over the last few days despite having a steady view. Our cars have had a fine covering of what appears to be dusty sand, which got us wondering if there's some Saharan sand in the atmosphere?! Mike

In February 2005 I attended Astrofest with my friend paulastro. We had booked into a hotel in Kensington, not too far from the venue. In the evening's we'd empty our rucksack's of the goodies we'd bought onto the beds and play with our numerous new acquisitions like excited children. One of the things I bought on the Friday was a 20mm Nagler. On the Sunday we made our way home and on the Monday I was surprised to receive a parcel in the post. I was even more surprised to find that the parcel contained another 20mm Nagler. I looked for evidence of its origin but there was no indication on the packaging, neither was there any information accompanying the eyepiece. What to do? If I phoned around, anyone could say they'd sent it. Also, if I phoned around I could have got someone into trouble for making such an expensive mistake, and I wouldn't want to get anyone into trouble!

The scope looks good on your adapted Tal mount Ian. I'm sure you'll soon fall in love with the scope itself as the 127 Maks can really deliver! Mike

Pea shooter or not, the 120 ED will pound the living daylights out of any 6" F8 achromat on the Moon and Planets, every time! Aperture counts for nothing when definition is compromised! Mike

Wide angle eyepieces introduce lateral colour to the view and often the scope gets the blame. On axis and in focus the SW ED's can rightly said to be apochromatic, at least visually. Mike

No, I did mean to write up-building! Up-building in the sense of adding to our knowledge and understanding, as well as adding to our over all enjoyment of the hobby and instruments, and of course building bonds between SGL members. However, up-lifting is a nice word too! ? Mike

I think its very sad that this thread hasn't been used to be more encouraging and up building. May be we should all just take time out and all read chapter 15 of Leslie Peltiers Starlight Nights, "The Comet Seeker!" so as to fan the flames of enthusiasm for the superlative ED120. Mike

Hi Tim, Why? Because it looks pretty and you've lots of cash to waste. Why not? Because there are so many excellent, cheaper alternatives to be had. Vixens GP mounts, which Skywatcher have tried to clone, are excellent! If you have your sights on a FC100DC then the GP is the perfect mount. Rock solid and simple to use, as well as being light weight and portable. They come up second hand regularly! Attached is a pic of my DC on its Vixen GP. Mike

Hi Jules, You mentioned in your original post that the ED120 gave excellent views of Jupiter, which is really good, as it says a lot about the optical quality. As far as DSO observing goes, you may find that using a UHC filter, and something like a 20mm Nagler or similar eyepiece, will change your view. Three years ago I swept through Cygnus with my Equinox 120 one summer evening using a UHC filter in my 20mm XW, and the wide, rich field views were simply beautiful. The pelican nebula and north american nebula filled the field. Often I found that just by blocking out stray light by draping a black blackout blanket over my head and eyepiece ( no filter) my dark adaption was greatly increased. After around 20 minutes under my black blanket, targets like M45, M42, M13, M31,32&110 and many more take on a whole new persona. Of course, using a blackout blanket will enhance dso views through any scope. In mid summer however, to get good DSO views observing is limited to midnight BST to 2am. Mike

Selling my FS128 was the biggest single mistake I've made in Astronomy. It was a truly sweet scope, and moving from the 128 to the 152 offered no significant advantage for my kind of observing, in fact I used it less! The FS128 was simply perfect! I hope you have many years observing with yours, and exploring its planetary and dso capabilities. Mike

Beautiful!!!

Another pic of my FS152. Again courtesy of paulastro, who for some reason hides in the bushes of my garden photographing my scopes. Mike

So it's a DL that wishes it was a DC? Mike

Some crazy person with a Midlands accent, who forgot to turn his FLASH off. Mike

Here's a rare pic of my FS152 with its CNC rings from 2007/2008. After trying it out on two brand new EQ6 mounts, which were both returned due to being faulty, it ended up on a Losmandy G11. (Photo courtesy of paulastro). Mike

May be a carrying handle would tempt you?!

I'm not sure about selling any on yet Gavin, there's still room in that photo frame for another frac if you move everything over to the left. I'm thinking may be a FS 152 would complete the collection?! Alternatively, you may be able to coax me into exchanging my FC100DC for your DL and then you can get Peter Drew to build you a superlative pair of FC100D binoculars. Mike

That's a great pic! Mike

Not bog standard at all John. It's a terrific scope! Mike