Highburymark

Some lovely travel kits in this thread. I’m currently in Menorca with the following: TV85, PVS-14 night vision eyepiece. TV Plossls - 55mm/67mm, 32mm. Panoptic 24, Delite 18.2, 11. Baader zoom, VIP barlow. Takahashi TOE 3.3mm. All fitted easily into cabin baggage on EasyJet flight. Really useful to have a zoom for travel, and the Baader zoom is a great all-rounder - fun zooming in on globular clusters. Wonderful to have dark skies again. First night bagged M13, M92, M4, M10, M12, M9, M14, M107, M22, M28 and four non-Messier globulars. M31, M110, M8, M16, M17, M20, M11, and Saturn.

Ags - the APM XWAs are currently available from Astrograph in the UK for £215, which is excellent value. The 20mm is a bit pricier, but still less than a third of the Ethos 21 cost. Like Badhex I’m usually happy with narrower eyepieces, but I did pick up the XWA 20mm last winter as my one 100 degree EP - fantastic for showcase DSOs, and I was surprised how light it is.

Good luck with the new mount Michael. They are amazingly capable. I have the Rainbow RST-135 and love it.

Hmm. It’s obviously vignetting quite significantly - can you see the field stop visually at all, or is your image an exact representation of what you see through the eyepiece? I’ve seen similar edge colour in my APM 100 degree 20mm - particularly with an F/6 60ED during daytime - but it’s much less exaggerated than your pic.

The first sunny days for years when I’ve not got the solar scope out. Have to make do with Gong until tomorrow.

Is it worth it…..? The LS50 is a very nice scope. You’ll see a reasonable improvement in resolution, so will be able to increase the power without losing detail. Pressure tuning works well. And if you wish later on, you can double stack and significantly improve surface detail. But - In fact the LS40 has a larger etalon than the internal LS50 etalon. In theory therefore the 40 should have less of a sweet spot - it’s difficult to get a 50 which shows consistent detail across the disc because of this reason. However, if you’re not imaging, this isn’t such a deal breaker, as you just manipulate the image to focus on the area you wish to view. So - it’s a yes from me. Only consideration is whether you might want to swallow hard and get an LS60 now - maybe secondhand - and forget the 50. Upgrading solar scopes is expensive - but it’s much cheaper to upgrade once rather than twice if you think you might be tempted by a 60 in the future.

I’ve tempered my hopes for this one after the initial excitement earlier in the year - but it’s one of my main targets for a trip to Spain in early August (with a TV85), and the fact you’ve seen it with bins is encouraging Michael.

Is it just me, or are a lot more Maks being bought these days? Great choice with planet season around the corner.

Beautiful scope! Just in time for planet season too. I was also unhappy with just two tube rings. Although mine fitted tightly around the telescope, there was a degree of sag when I fitted the scope onto my Skytee mount. I eventually moved to a three ring set up, which might seem like overkill, but is much more robust.

I’d like to see a comparison between the T6 11mm and the £££££ Apollo 11mm. Bet they’re not that far apart.

I thought the 11mm T6 was the best in the range Alan. And the most comfortable to use. But at 10mm and below I’d stick with XWs unless weight is a major issue, or unless you need the extra fov.

Last year I acquired a pair of Leica microscope eyepieces - HC Plan S 10x/22 M (507806). Basically this translates to a 25mm eyepiece, with a 22mm field stop. HC Plan S are Leica’s best range, and they really shine in an astronomical binoviewer. The 22s can be tracked down on ebay for around £200-250 for a mint used pair. I believe they are over three times that price new. Although you have to add 1.7mm to the barrel (I just use paper and tape) to fit a 1.25” binoviewer, it is worth it. They are the sharpest and cleanest 25mm eyepieces I’ve ever used. This week I received the wider model - the HC Plan S 10x/25 (507808). So far I’ve only used them for solar Ha and white light, but they are exquisite. I know there are a few people interested in these eyepieces on SGL, so thought I’d share a few pics.

Very nice - eye lens looks nice and clean. Look forward to hearing how they perform.

Agree. Maybe it’s my ageing eyes, but I don’t get a great deal out of white light observing under 150x. 200x is a good day, but ideally, and seeing only allows this rarely, I push for 250x and higher. Penumbra and granulation detail only reveals itself to my eyes at these powers, so obviously the optics need to be capable of delivering it. But it requires a lot of patience. And I only get the WL scope out if I already know that seeing is excellent in Ha.

Thanks Roy. Sun was incredible today. Four epic filaments as well as marvellous active regions

My LS50 focuser (with original run of the scope 7-8 years ago) just seized up, so it was unusable. Would hope they’ve improved the consistency since then - as long as it functions ok and you don’t want it to cope with heavy weights you should be fine.

Very nice - you’ve picked up a lot of detail.

Just go with the flow Stu. If you don’t feel like observing for the next six months, nothing wrong with that. Just make sure you keep enough gear for when the mojo returns - don’t sell the DC and those lovely Zeiss eyepieces!

Good choice chaps - glad you managed to track down copies. Mine’s already out in preparation for a holiday in Menorca at the end of this month.

The type of binoviewer you are buying will also determine whether you can use wider eyepieces at all - the cheaper Chinese units mostly use small prisms, which will vignette widefield EPs. The good news is that if they are collimated well, they give on-axis views on a par with far more expensive binoviewers with larger prisms. But important to check this before you make final decisions about BV/EP pairings.

My most used book (Patrick Moore’s Exploring the Night Sky with binoculars) might seem completely impractical for someone using refractors from an urban location, but actually it’s perfect - it doesn’t waste time on objects I can’t see. it gives me most of the information I need, particularly on individual stars in each constellation - all presented in an accessible and economical way. If I need more, I then use Sky Safari. There’s something about Patrick’s no-nonsense approach, coupled with an enthusiasm which never faded, that makes him an excellent companion when stargazing. Whenever I take my telescope abroad, this book is also the first item in my suitcase. I’d also recommend Stargazing Under Suburban Skies, written by the Loughton Astronomical Society team, for light polluted locations. It’s one of the best Springer publications, and very thoughtfully laid out.

They are more expensive than I thought - at this level they are getting into night vision territory, which in my view is the better visual option because it delivers live views just like a normal telescope. I can see why the eVscope is popular for public events, but I’m sure there will be much cheaper options coming onto the market in the next decade or so.

Mega? Though not sure that suggests anything greater than ‘hyper’, which already sounds painful. Thankfully the Delites were a return to lighter and smaller eyepieces after several decades of increasing size and weight. Doubtless it’s one of the reasons why the T6 Naglers have endured so long.

Indeed. David Lunt started Coronado in the 1990s, and was responsible for making Ha solar scopes affordable to amateurs. After Coronado was sold to Meade, David’s son Andy started Lunt Solar - and he’s still running the company today.

I’d class them all as medium-wides, perhaps allowing myself a little bit of poetic licence with the Delites. They certainly feel like more than 62 degrees in a binoviewer.