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Highburymark

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  1. SCTs appear to be very variable in terms of sharpness. I had a decent C8 Edge but a very average C6. Most SCTs will deliver good views of the Moon but almost any telescope or eyepiece will perform well on lunar up to 200x. It’s the planets where differences are clearer, and my TSA-120 is simply in a different league on Jupiter and Mars, even compared with my old C8 Edge. The 9.25 is supposed to be the best SCT, and I’m sure the best C9.25s are excellent. But I’d want to test any SCT before buying.
  2. It’s a military image intensifier - used with a telescope the resulting image has been likened to a doubling or tripling your aperture. If you Google night vision astronomy, you can find lots of information. The catch? It’s not cheap, unfortunately. And combined with a ridiculously large finder and Starsense system (not shown in pic), it certainly attracts the attention of passers-by.
  3. I’d have to go small too. Despite having a beautiful 120mm triplet with 3” Feathertouch focuser, I’d keep my TV85. It’s my main solar Ha, daytime spotting and travel scope, and is a nifty night vision instrument too. First thing I’d grab if the house were on fire.
  4. Four for me. Takahashi TSA-120 is my main, does everything scope; Tak Epsilon 130d is my night vision scope (and testing how badly eyepieces perform at F/3.3): TV85 is for solar Ha, travel, and daytime use. And the little Tecnoski 60ED is for light travel and daytime use.
  5. I’ve really enjoyed the same book. It’s by far the best of the Springer observing guides that I’ve read. Full of useful information and pretty well written - a bonus for those of us who enjoy reading astronomy books!
  6. Very nice Paul. That’s another great option for airline travel cabin baggage. Looking at the promotional literature for these scopes, it’s clear the whole package has been very well thought out.
  7. 3-8 zoom now £81 on SVBony website! Having just offloaded a couple of Delites because I have all the planetary eyepieces I need, I can’t justify joining the queue for the 3-8, but it’s an amazing price.
  8. Interesting that the 7-21 seems to be the best SVBony zoom according to these bench tests. Impressive.
  9. Wonderful! It’s possible they are of very high quality, with a narrow bandwidth which would really bring out surface detail. Solarscope is still going - and doing maintenance and repairs if you do need help.
  10. This is an amazing find! What looks like double stacked Solarscope Ha 50mm filters. If the etalons are in good shape, they should provide spectacular views through the little Tak (or any refractor). It would be interesting to know when they were made. Solarscope has been through several changes over the years, but many of the earliest filters were absolutely superb. Potentially a very exciting discovery.
  11. Interesting to see Solarscope from the Isle of Man is exhibiting. Wonderful company which has been making some of the best solar filters in the world for several decades, but is rarely seen at this sort of event. For those earlier in the thread asking about the large Askar refractors, 365 Astro is exhibiting, and at Astrofest a few weeks ago in London, they had one of the 185mm triplets on their stand. So likely they will bring it along this time too.
  12. Agree that 60mm is too little for really satisfying WL detail Stu, but the 60mm PST mod sounds promising. Presumably you just swap over the etalon from your monster mod scope? I still think 100mm is the sweet spot for white light in U.K. seeing - it’s the one thing I miss having moved to a TSA-120 from a 100DC. With the 120, I’d say 75% of sessions are compromised by seeing. But the other 25% certainly compensate. Marvellous views at 250x on very special occasions. Have you tried the wedge with your FS128 yet?
  13. I had what I believe was the first Moonlite to be made for a Lunt 50, which unfortunately isn’t made anymore, so good that the FT is reappearing, though no doubt at a hefty price. Worth it though, especially for binoviewers and cameras. My Lunt helical seized up and the whole scope had to go back to Germany for a fix.
  14. Having tried most of the major wider field lines over the years, with the exception of ES I must admit, I don’t think you can go wrong with XWs from 10mm to 3.5mm, Morpheus for the ‘teens’, and a Panoptic 24. Proven favourites with many experienced observers.
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