mikeDnight

Well I made the effort and braved the bitter cold and freezing winds, and saw Mercury - briefly - using a 24mm ultra flat just to centre the planet. Then once in the centre of the field, I swapped the 24 for the 3-8 zoom. During that interchange of eyepieces a cloud covered the planet, and despite waiting patiently for what seemed like ages, the cloud remained stationary. So the lonely field trip ended up being a waste of time. 

I've had three SW 120ED's and they were superb. The first one was a DS Pro, while the other two were the Equinox version. The Equinox was a chunkier build with a better lens cell design, but all three gave great performance on moon, planets, deep sky, and double stars. If I couldn't have a Tak for any reason, I'd be very happy to have the 120 Equinox or DS Pro instead. They are optically very close to Tak's FS series in performance. A Vixen GP will carry one if on a good tripod!

 I found the Crayford focuser could be adjusted to suit most eyepieces, but always struggled holding the 31 Nagler without slipping when aimed towards the Zenith. Also, the rotating focuser is metal to metal, so with both of mine U unscrewed the silver locking ring and cut a tin plastic washer which allowed the focuser to rotate smoothly but firmly without loosening the silver ring. It worked like a dream.

28 minutes ago, Alan White said:

And just to show its not all Refractor mounting, here are my two 150mm Newtonians on the AZ75.

Looks great Alan. You must have the best mounted 6" reflectors on SGL. You could argue of course, that if a scope uses eyepieces, it's still a refractor. ☺️ 

Really looks lovely Steve!  And don't worry about anyone dropping you in it, everyone here has your back like their lives depend on it, because they probably do!!

Truly awesome! 

Fabulous sketches of your observations Matt. I absolutely love your rendition of M27, it really is excellent! ☺️👍

I really like the sketching style you've used for this observation. It sounds like you were battling with the elements, yet the NEB appears full of detail. Increasing the scale of your drawing might allow for easier placement of detail and of course interpretation, and possibly lowering the power for Jupiter to around 180X on a less than perfect night could improve definition. As for the sketch, I think it really works and I'd love to see more like this. ☺️

On 24/03/2024 at 23:34, quasar117 said:

Thanks!

I'll have a think and let you know as I'm decided between either a Telrad or Baader skysurfer III.

Telrad's are excellent, but they are just about the ugliest finder design ever devised, and all plastic. They look ok on Dob's but not on an elegant refractor. Just saying!  The Baader on the other hand is an all metal construction and more aesthetically pleasing. Personally I love the look of an optical finder on a refractor. They look more aerodynamic!  Nuts I know!!

Binoviewing the Moon definitely allows you to get the best from both eyes. Using a 2X barlow on the nose of the BV gives an approximate 4X amplification, which then allows the use of more comfortable longer focal length eyepieces. I rarely ever use anything shorter than 18mm fl, yet the views are better than any single eyepiece, or single eyed view I've ever had no matter how "top end" the single eyepiece may be. I use five element Ultima's with 35mm, 25mm, & 18mm as my main binoviewer pairs and they are stunning. No need to spend the earth on pairs!

13 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Fantastic!  I feel this is a silly question, but how do you get the curve looking natural?  Mine looks like they've been done by a 5 year old.  Also the shading of space, when I try that It looks awful

I used a compass to draw a curve on card, which once cut along acts as a lunar limb template for any future limb drawings. It's worth having a go, as its very rare, even when full Moon, that there isn't something worth observing along the limb, and because of a favourable libration I couldn't miss this opportunity to sketch this region. It looked far better through the telescope of course. The sketch misses much of the finer detail, but it was fun trying to capture what I could on paper. 

4 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Still no group photo? 🤔

Not this year Jeremy. Not all were there, and those that were were not all there, if you know what I mean.😉 

Nicely placed for observation were the mountain ranges encircling Mare Orientale.  There was a lot of detai over a large area which makes it difficult to sketch, but its not every day these features are on view so I gave it a go. 

Very nice sketches. Naming them if you know which doubles they are will make the sketches more valuable,  but the way you've captured the diffraction rings adds to their beauty. 

Excellent!! Thanks for sharing your wonderful sketches! 

I'm struggling to see a wascaly wabbit, but I'm glad you like it.😊

  I think it's telling that no-one has bothered to post any pic's as yet. Usually they are among the first things to appear, but may be the event didn't warrant the effort of being photographed? I usually take a pic or two, but the effort of taking my phone out of my pocket was too much. Anyway, it was an experience, and perhaps next year it will be back at Kettering which was more easily accessible and certainly a more pleasing venue.

 There were some very nice scopes on show, and although I'd walked around the stalls and bought all I wanted within the first half hour, I did enjoy twiddling with some very nicely engineered focusers and licked a few lenses. JeremyS would have been in his element!

15 hours ago, F15Rules said:

OY, Mr Night!!

I'll have you know that's my home town you're dissing!😜🤪🤣..

I suppose the venue could have been in a far worse place? Like "Burnleh", perhaps??😁😁

Dave

PS I couldn't get to PAS today as I was en route home from a city break to Porto..now that would make an excellent venue..even MikeDGRINCH would approve!!

 It isn't Coventry I have a problem with Dave, it's just that peddling up hill all the way home again to Pendle Witch Country which is a nightmare. It really is an arduous drive with the only nice bit being the Toll road. May be next time I should fly down, with my wife's permission of course. I'd hate to find my scope had suddenly been turned into one of those Schmidt thingies! 😲

1 hour ago, Space Hopper said:

Stuck at work so had to pass this year.

But in 25 weeks time, i'll definitely be at the IAS show (September 14) at its new venue near Coventry.

The mortgage will be payed off by then too, so i may even have some money to buy something......

Not another one at Coventry! I don't think I have another drive to Coventry left in me for this year, or possibly ever.😩

Your new Vixen 115 looks great Steve, especially now it has a posh feather touch. I'm quite the peasant by comparison with standard focuser.

3 hours ago, Ouroboros said:

Just got back. I have to say I was slightly underwhelmed. Seemed smaller than last time, but maybe it was a bigger hall. I am glad I got there reasonably early. By 11 o’clock it was getting so you couldn’t easily get to see the sellers’ displays.  I decided I’d bail out a tad early. A plus was that  I bought  a small scope cover, so saved myself  10% on that plus postage, and a couple of 2nd hand 50p books on the history of astronomy stall.  

Underwhelming is being kind. I have to say I found the venue and the number of vendors somewhat disappointing. Even the food on offer wasn't what we've been used to, with dry bread with either fatty bacon or the healthier sausage option. I had sausage on a dry bap with what I think was coffee.  That aside, I had chance to meet up with saganite (Steve), who may not be heard from again once his dearly beloved finds out what he's bought. And Alan W and paulastro was there too, making up a small group of SGLers.

I did manage to buy a couple of eyepieces I've been after for a while. Now I have the full range! And also joined the Society for the History of Astronomy, and received a nice welcome pack, a hand full of free magazines and I also bought a couple of second hand books that caught my eye.

Sometimes, even a cloudy night at the telescope beats what's on TV. The Moon did eventually treat me to the occasional spectacular view!

16 minutes ago, Telescope40 said:

Mike. Not me but my wallet did. Probably be up for the IAS in Sept ?? 
Enjoy yourself and anyone else who is attending 

John 

That's a shame John. On the bright side I may now stand a better chance of keeping the money in my bank account. 😉

A mirror diagonal will give an erect image but it will be E/W reversed. As far as I'm aware, only the Amici prism gives what I think you're looking for. A good Amici prism will deliver outstanding performance, but you may still see the spike on bright objects. 

Well Tomorrow's the big day. I wonder who's chickened out?

Don't forget to set your alarm's!

M33 with the naked eye is my memorable moment, and that was only a few miles from where I live. But as regards deep sky, everything gets better; black nebulosity often becomes even more obvious than the light nebula giving a real depth of perspective to the view - 3D views in 2D.