Highburymark

23 minutes ago, Flame Nebula said:

Thanks. Point3 is very useful. But I'm intrigued on point 5. Please tell me more about your night vision eyepiece? 🤔

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. 

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.

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. 

On 07/03/2024 at 21:28, SwiMatt said:

I'm already inside since I'm working tomorrow, but I was on my balcony for 1h30 tonight to continue my exploration of the observing list of "Stargazing Under Suburban Skies". 

Tonight it was all about open clusters, starting with binoculars to take a look at M45, the double cluster, Melotte 20 (the cluster around Alpha Persei) and glimpsing Stock 2 high up in the sky.

With the Mak, I started from a re-observation of NGC 752 in Andromeda, which I had seen two days ago. I'm sure I got it in the eyepiece, but it doesn't seem to pop as much as some suggest under very polluted skies (also with transparency not the best and a lot of glare from street lights). I look forward to checking out this one under darker skies. I went on to observe for the first time NGC 457 (the Owl Cluster): it took me a bit to detect the shape, but once I saw it it was quite obvious and fun to look at. Next I saw again M103, which is turning out to be one of my favorite clusters: at 60x it looks like nothing, but it really pops at higher magnifications. The arrow-head shape is quite obvious and it's neat to see that all stars are inside the triangle. Finally, I looked (also for the first time) at M34, very nice cluster which seems almost like a cluster of double stars! 

I also sketched NGC 457, M103 and M34 (sketches linked below), and I'm quite happy with the result! 

 

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! 

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.

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.

On 03/03/2024 at 20:44, Don Pensack said:

Ernest Maratovich has tested a bunch of zoom eyepieces:

https://astro-talks.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1483#p101290

Note which ones are highlighted blue (poor performance) and which are highlighted yellow (excellent performance).

Interesting that the 7-21 seems to be the best SVBony zoom according to these bench tests. Impressive.

14 hours ago, Dinglem said:

@Highburymark I think the original owner had them for quite a while but hasn't been using them. I can't wait to try it all out, it's all new to me solar viewing and imaging. I was hanging my nose over a brand new Lunt when my friend mentioned these maybe available at a good price, everything looks in good order with a few signs of use.

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.

3 hours ago, Dinglem said:

Not the poastie but a friend dropped these off to me, I got them second hand off his friend, hopefully I will see some sun soon to try them out 🌞

 

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.

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.

Fascinating - thanks for posting Matthew. 

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? 

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.

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. 

That’s good news. I hated the helical when I had an LS50. The FT will be a perfect replacement.

2 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

I use 4mm, 3.3mm and 2.5mm TOEs in that range, so it would be of no use to me really. I can understand the convenience, but, I've gone to great expense to maximise the image quality in every part of the optical train; I've noted a few reports which say it becomes softer towards the 3mm setting and that's where you want your maximum sharpness.

My thoughts exactly. But it sounds like a great eyepiece, and in particular perfect for a compact travel kit.

Ethos do seem to come up in the classifieds pretty often, particularly on ABS. I had a couple of Delites that weren’t getting used, so recently swapped them for a 6mm Ethos, which gives 150x in my TSA, or 225x with the Tak extender. Stunning views of the Moon this week. And an added bonus - it’s a relatively light eyepiece.

I have a bad back - and can carry my Skytee 2 on a Gitzo 5 tripod outside without a problem. It handles my 120mm (6.7kg) refractor beautifully, with the slow-motion control I need for high power viewing. I think the Skytee is one of the best purchases I’ve made. Whether it’s overkill for the 102mm F/7 I don’t know, but I wouldn’t worry too much about the mount’s weight.

It only takes a little practice to feel more comfortable using the other eye, I find. Bit like everything in life. 

8 hours ago, Moonlit Night said:

I won’t be deviating away from Delites. I absolutely trust them to be comfortable and just do what they are supposed to. I can just use them and forget about them, the entire line is predictable in its excellence. 

I totally agree. They have the most similar characteristics of any single EP range I’ve ever used. A lot of people seem to think the 18.2 is the outstanding Delite, but I’ve had the 3, 4, 7, 11 and 18.2 and find it impossible to split them. 

If you don’t mind the shorter eye relief and narrower AfOV (though both are still very comfortable), 4mm TOE will reveal intricate detail that the excellent Delite cannot. I recently sold my 4mm Delite for that reason, and I’m a huge Delite fan.

3 hours ago, Saganite said:

The largest  I have ever bought by a long way, this  mint condition APM eyepiece came today courtesy of an esteemed colleague on this forum.  For use in my 12" Dob and my 6" refractor, for deep sky observing, it will yield a 50% increase in power over my 30mm UFF eyepiece and give a darker background, with the same FOV. As is usual, I will have to wait a while for first light.

Very glad it’s gone to a good home Steve. It’s a spectacular eyepiece - but more suited to your scopes than mine. 

On 10/02/2024 at 11:03, mikeDnight said:

Anyone else fed-up with these postmen leaving rubbish in your porch?

Very nice Mike, congrats. Will be spectacular for planetary on good nights with the FS128 and DZ. With your eye for sketching, it should also be great for teasing out lunar detail.

1 hour ago, Saganite said:

+1 for the Svbony zoom a very good buy at well under £150.  

My offering is the humble Tele Vue 11mm plossl @ £99, a superb performer.  I had to buy two of course for binoviewing but in my Denkmeier with power switch  and Vixen ED103 Swt I get... 101x , 145x, and 180x without changing eyepieces.

I’m with you on this Steve - the TV Plossls aren’t the flashiest of choices but they remain among the best eyepieces on the market. 25mm and down are all under £150. Superb for binoviewing and barlowing, solar Ha, planets, Moon and deeper sky.

6 hours ago, C6rrules said:

Wonderful to sit and watch . At one stage it looked like a fish , ending up in a fountain of plasma . Lots heading off into space . 
Clear skies ! Nick

Nice one Nick. It’s going to be a very interesting 2024.