Highburymark

I looked at the Evoguide too - handy option for NV, nice and fast. But get your point about form factor. The F/6 60EDs are about 5cm shorter (230mm without a diagonal), so might be slightly easier to handle. But will have to add spacer or two to reach focus. Just been looking at cheap monopods - fitted with a small camera ball head, with stabilising legs so self supporting, easy to carry around. Think that’s the direction I’ll take.

Whisper quietly: Baader prices haven’t gone up yet at Rother Valley Optics

Gavin (Gavstar) has made the point that I’ll need to keep magnification low with any hand held set up for steadiness - fair point. Maybe a monopod might be useful?

I observe 95% of the time from home in north London. As bad as it gets for light pollution. Much of the sky blocked by tall buildings. I even have mobility issues thrown in after spinal injuries in a car accident 35 years ago. And yet, despite everything, I still get out regularly and enjoy solar, lunar, planetary and double stars. I do have night vision, but even without that, I’d still have more than enough to keep me interested. It does mean I have to take advantage of most clear nights and days, but I’m just as keen an observer as I’ve ever been.

The ubiquitous Meade ETX, the 105mm.

Almost certainly these are the new long term prices. Noticed the zoom had gone up too. To be fair Baader’s prices seemed to have been steady for a while. But this is quite a large increase for sure.

Have had some lovely views of M42, the Flame and Rosette nebulae in recent evenings with 120mm frac, Chroma 3nm filter and 40mm/32mm TV Plossls, despite the near full Moon, and Orion still quite low in the murk over central London. The magnificence of M42 with night vision never ceases to take my breath away, no matter how familiar. Last night the detail was incredible - I think better than I’ve seen in much darker environments, as the brightness is better controlled. I wonder if anyone else has noticed this? I hasten to add it’s the only DSO that could possible benefit from extra light pollution, but last night it was glorious. The one disadvantage with a PVS-14 set-up is of course lack of flexibility for prime focus use. But I’m thinking about buying a little 60mm frac that I can hand hold for very quick sessions in the garden - or take on walks. Am sure it would work well for powers up to 30-40x. These instruments are so tiny these days I’m hoping it should prove easy to use.

Thanks for the heads up yesterday Paul. Main filament was still dark and prominent today. Looked like it would form a vast arch if we were seeing it as a prominence.

Please tell us you’ve got light pollution - or something? Though I suppose the desert is only a short drive away. That’s just not fair.

Getting some really decent solar filters two years ago has more than doubled my overall observing time - and happily coincided with working from home more during Covid at a time of rising solar activity. On another level, finding a secondhand Gitzo 5-series camera tripod earlier this year moved me from being slightly under mounted (with a 4-series, 25kg payload tripod) to a much more robust 40kg payload. It’s benefitted all my 3 scopes so much, even though the heaviest is only 8-9kg.

Glad you caught it Mark - stuck in front of a laptop all day but noticed the prom on Gong. Looked impressive.

It’s a common feature on all these Leica eyepieces Don. Whether the field lens is easily removable to blacken the edges I don’t know. They are also positioned about 1mm from the edge of the barrel, so have to be carefully handled

Here are some pics:

Another 14 months have flown by, and I’ve acquired a second pair of microscope eyepieces - this time Leica HC Plan S 10x/22 M (model 507807) - which means they’re 25mm EPs with a 22mm field stop, long eye relief and adjustable diopter. Bought them from an eBay seller in the US, around £90 each, in perfect condition. Nice heavy metal construction. Smaller than expected. There is a wider model - 25mm field stop - but it’s at least double the price. There’s a superb pair on eBay UK currently - but at £595, only for those with deep pockets. The trick with both Zeiss and Leica microscope EPs is to get German examples, avoiding anything from China or Singapore, which seem to use inferior optics. Adapting them to 1.25” is easy - just used some tape and good quality writing paper to add 1.75mm to the barrel diameter. They now fit snugly into the binoviewer. First daytime tests show they are incredibly sharp, and managed a quick solar (Ha) session this morning. But really looking forward to getting them out under the night sky. If these eyepieces are as good as some experts say - alongside some of the rarer orthoscopics that occasionally pop up for considerably more than £90 - then they offer excellent value.

I’d advise waiting on the Tak Abbes. I’ve sent back my recently-bought 12.5mm, 9mm and 6mm because of dust/gunk in the glass, and am waiting to hear back. Although the views appeared to be good, there are clear and considerable imperfections when the eyepieces are examined under bright light - way more than could normally be expected. The problem has been well documented on Cloudy Nights, so it’s not just a local issue.

There’s an easy way to adapt the 30mm barrels to 31.75mm - attach an old plastic Kodak film canister and they fit nicely into a clicklock type holder

Yes, 25mm Jeremy. And a field lens alarmingly close to the outside world……

Picked up two perfect condition Leica HC Plan S microscope eyepieces for day and night binoviewing. They have an outstanding reputation alongside the best Zeiss EPs, so should be fun trying them out. First, though, must adapt the barrels to 1.25”.

These are excellent images Neil. Very sharp spots and some surface detail too.

Almost poetic Gav

Unfortunately prices seem unlikely to drop, although slightly less perfect tubes (which have small black spots towards the edge of the view - but aren’t a big problem for astronomy) are available at more affordable prices - less than a case of Ethos eyepieces for example (not that a case of Ethos is very affordable!!). I see a lot of local astro clubs have solar telescopes. If they have the funds, they should explore buying a night vision system, which I suspect would prove even more popular with members.

Great illustrations Gavin.There’s a huge difference of course. But not as huge as the difference between city and dark skies without night vision! Wouldn’t stand a chance with any of these objects inside the M25 visually without a bit of photon intensifying.

I haven’t used the 5mm LE. But I think Jeremy has a set, so he might chime in. I see lots of positive reports about particular focal lengths within the LE line up - including the 5mm. But suspect the TOE range would represent a small step up in detail and sharpness. Haven’t seen much feedback from dob owners though as TOEs were mainly developed with refractors in mind, I believe

Didn’t realise Astrograph had stopped selling NV. So no UK retailers? Must say, when I was buying I researched the market in Europe and got an excellent tube with great service from Nighttec in Germany. This was for a PVS-14 with Photonis 4G tube, before OVNI - no history of selling to astronomers - but I spoke to them about what I wanted and they came back with a choice of options. Kept me fully informed throughout.

Looks like a very impressive package - particularly light for a 90mm triplet. Look forward to hearing how it performs visually, even if it will appeal mostly to imagers. Potentially a do everything travel scope. Appreciate the informative video.