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Everything posted by Highburymark
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TecnoSky 70/420 ED, Takahashi FS60/355 CB
Highburymark replied to Fedele's topic in Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups
I think there are two Tecnosky 70mm EDs - a triplet, and a doublet which I think uses FPL-51 (?). The 70ED was cheaper than the FPL53 Tecnosky 60ED I bought a few months ago, so presume it’s FPL51. If this is a comparison between a fluorite Tak 60 and an FPL51 70ED (which is pretty fast at F/6), you’d expect a clear difference in performance. -
Finally time to start up again! (Full disk, lunt 50)
Highburymark replied to Chris-h's topic in Imaging - Solar
Prices are going up I’m afraid. The Solar Scout (£895 in the U.K.) is now more than a Lunt 40mm at the stores I was checking today. Might be cheaper in the States, but other Daystar products have shot up in recent weeks - probably because mica’s becoming more expensive and difficult to source. Haven’t seen any Solar Scouts deliver the detail and consistency of Chris’s image above. Maybe that’s because at F/15 the scope is way too fast for the integrated Quark, which really needs to be operating at F/30 or above to get the best out of the etalon. The only way to achieve that speed is to stop down the aperture to 30mm - but then it would make more sense to buy a Lunt 40mm. -
Very nicely captured!
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Three amazing filaments on show today - 3rd April 2022
Highburymark replied to Stu's topic in Celestial Events Heads Up
Looks like UK will get some clearer weather on Saturday - real shame this week’s been so cloudy. I’ve only managed about 10 minutes viewing each day. Hoping the activity continues. -
Very interesting. The last time I read about the progression of the new cycle I think the conclusion was that activity wasn’t necessarily higher than predicted, but that Cycle 25 had just started earlier than expected - hence why we were seeing activity rise above the curve. But this suggests that both might be happening! A great summer ahead. Thanks for posting Paul.
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Three amazing filaments on show today - 3rd April 2022
Highburymark replied to Stu's topic in Celestial Events Heads Up
Very quick scribble of today’s sun. Even during solar minimum and the start of the new cycle, we’re used to seeing impressive proms and active regions. But large dark filaments like these have been almost entirely absent since Cycle 24 was still highly active. -
Three amazing filaments on show today - 3rd April 2022
Highburymark replied to Stu's topic in Celestial Events Heads Up
Still there today - only had five minutes of sunshine but the filaments are beautiful - best of this cycle that I’ve seen so far. -
If you’re near a hydrogen alpha solar scope - grab it now! Amazing prom system and filament on show.
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This is what I meant earlier when I said to be ultra safe for high magnification astro purposes, take the advertised payload and halve it. I was told that by an experienced wildlife photographer who also enjoyed astronomy. I’ve had two refractors and a Skytee on my 40kg Gitzo - probably 18-19kg - and it was great. But not sure how it would cope with 40kg!
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Superb images Pete. First one is absolutely stunning. Well worth sending to one of the astro magazines.
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I think it attaches directly Gerry but am away from home at the moment so will need to check. There are different Gitzo top plates available too I think. The best advice I picked up when researching tripods was to: a) take advertised payloads and basically reduce by half to ensure strong stability and dampening for astronomy purposes. So I treat my Gitzo as a very capable 20kg tripod rather than expect it to carry 40kg. b) stiffness is more important than payload. Am sure the brands suggested by Victor would also be well worth a look.
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MARCH 26TH - WL, AR2974, AR2975, AR2976.
Highburymark replied to paulastro's topic in Observing - Solar
I thought AR2976 was the star of the show today - really intricate activity. I was at 220x this evening through the binoviewer - 5pm-on is best time of day here in London, even though I’m looking through more atmospheric gunk the seeing stabilises. -
Another option is one of the high-payload super-light carbon fibre tripods which are coming onto the market in increasing numbers. I use a Gitzo 5-series with a TSA-120 and Skytee and it is rock solid. New they are expensive, but there are lots of secondhand camera stores where I found one for less than half price - about £400. Payload 40kg. Even with my dodgy back, it’s easy to lift the whole set up - tripod and mount - with one arm. There are cheaper alternatives to Gitzo if you look around.
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Thanks for the tip off Paul - glad today is a work from home day……. Nice images too!
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Agree - LS60. For visual, I’d prefer a double stacked LS50 to a single stacked LS60, but for imaging you can counteract the lower contrast of surface features with just one etalon through post processing to a degree. You may be fortunate and get a really good single stack which performs more like a double stack, but it’s something of a lottery. Must say I don’t understand the Solar Scout design at all. Quarks operate best at F/30 and over, so the superfast Solar Scout seems built to produce a wide bandwidth and lower contrast. And the fact that the quark/etalon is not detachable (though some enterprising owners have succeeded in separating it and using it more like a real Quark) means you can’t slow down the system with an extra extender or barlow. The fact that it’s advertised as having ‘double stack’ performance is marketing nonsense.
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Panoptics 19 mm opinion and suggestion on set.
Highburymark replied to Fedele's topic in Discussions - Eyepieces
Here’s the difference between a 25mm orthoscopic microscope eyepiece and the Panoptic 24 looking at a squared target through a 60ED refractor. The Panoptic has a huge amount of pincushion distortion. Yet it’s a sparking eyepiece if used in the right scopes on the right objects. -
I’d go Delos 14 too. Such lovely eyepieces. Though have to admit I’ve never looked through a Morpheus.
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What's the next eyepiece you are going to... get rid of?
Highburymark replied to Ags's topic in Discussions - Eyepieces
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Small RFT.(Rich Field Telescope)
Highburymark replied to tico's topic in Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups
I can get 5.37x with a TV55, adapted to 67mm with a night vision lens, in my Tecnosky 60ED! Haven’t tried it to be honest. But I have used the little scope with an APM 20mm 100 degree for 18x, which is stunning under the right skies. Does show some field curvature of course.