Highburymark

GRS and Cassini should be achievable with your set up - and with the Baader zoom which is pretty decent quality, though orthoscopics would be a step up. Agree it’s all about waiting for a good night.

It’s military analogue image enhancing equipment. The kit is easily available - there’s now a dedicated astronomy NV retailer in France, and Astrograph in the U.K., unlike a few years ago when we had to buy from military suppliers. There are lots of threads on SGL explaining the technology and availability. Also look out for Gavstar’s images taken with a phone camera to see what this technology can reveal. For people like me who live in a light polluted city, and don’t have the option of huge aperture scopes, night vision is a revelation. Under dark skies it’s even better - revealing obscure nebulae inaccessible to even the largest amateur equipment. There are cheaper tubes available too, though it’s still going to cost £3-4,000 for a good system. Lot of money, but many people spend more than that on a telescope, and NV is a game changer in this increasingly light polluted world.

Possibly Stu. A couple of nights ago I was out looking at various nebulae with my 120mm frac and night vision. When I finished I saw the Pleiades and Hyades had just crept over the top of the adjoining houses (for the first time this year), so I swapped the NV monocular for a more traditional eyepiece, and spent the next 30 minutes completely absorbed with the views. Although you can see many more stars with night vision, there’s simply no contest on prominent open clusters, even from London - give me a ‘normal’ set up every time. Night vision doesn’t do planets, the Moon (obv), reflection nebulae, double stars, high magnifications, and many planetaries are better without NV too. I see night vision as a tool to transform views of particular objects, but there’s vastly more to see with a standard scope. If a beginner sampled NV first and then found views underwhelming with a conventional set up, then it’s probably not the right hobby for them anyway.

Fun isn’t it! I’ve had the same reaction from many people. It’s also a great way of getting children to look up and appreciate the night sky. With Ha filters can also see that whole sections of sky are shaded by vast clouds of nebulae. Low power viewing is so enjoyable - my Epsilon with TV plossl 67mm gives a magnification of a little over 6x…. less than the pocket binoculars I use to check out the sky beforehand!!

Many Lunt scopes only come on band at the end of the pressure tuner travel. Both my LS50 and LS60 were the same. If you’re getting good results nearly at the end, try going all the way - just to see if you get any more surface detail. You can’t do any damage to the scope. Sometimes regreasing the o-rings and the piston can help seal the system and ensure the pressure tuner works properly, but that’s only if you think it might be losing pressure. Yours sounds perfectly normal and good the hear you’re getting decent views. The most powerful eyepiece I used with the LS50 was 6.5mm - so I would have thought that the Nagler zoom would be at the limits of the scope’s capability. Plossls and orthos work well if you have any at usable focal lengths. Can’t help with the focus position - I had lots of problems with the helical focuser and eventually replaced it with a Moonlite.

Thanks - it’s a great time to get into solar observing and imaging

Haven’t had my solar scope for a while. Issue with filter tuning had to be sorted out by the factory. But what a joy it is to have it back. Spectacular proms over the past few days, and today, a couple of lovely filaments - the first, snaking over the active region near the middle of the disc, and the second, a very nice ‘filaprom’ system on the limb - with perfect seeing this morning was able to go up to 140x in the binoviewer to bring out detail - complete darkness essential with a blanket over head at this magnification as views are inevitably dim with 70mm filters. Well worth the effort to get outside for a few minutes if you get the chance.

‘In the past’ ….. that last line is supposed to read.

Different experiences like this are what makes SGL so interesting. I had a C8 Edge for many years - nice scope. But my first night out with a TSA-120, I was amazed by the level of detail on Jupiter - more than I’d ever seen through hundreds of sessions with my (perfectly collimated) SCTs. I’d love to try a big Mak one day though. Just the cooldown time that’s prevented me buying one in the last.

Nice set up John. Actually I find the TeleVue solar finder isn’t 100% accurate with some scopes. Even on my TV85, it’s well off centre. A proper finder with solar film is a good idea. Must say the thought of heat damage to baffles never occurred to me before. I‘be tended to observe with slo-mo manual mounts for perhaps 20 minutes at a time, so the scope isn’t too exposed to the heat over long periods. But now I have the option of a tracking mount, I make sure not to leave it unattended for too long.

Agree with Jeremy and Stu - very interesting comparison. I’m of the opinion that SCTs can be quite variable like solar telescopes - and even when well collimated, some of them just can’t deliver sharp views at higher powers. However, get a good one like you C11 and they are unbeatable as an all-round package. Great combination with a 100mm refractor.

I remember my first solar session well: a small Maksutov, Baader solar film, and no finder. The perfect storm for a newbie - an F14 scope with jerky manual movement and a tiny fov. It took about an hour to find the Sun…..

Is that ‘bony’ as in Boney M (showing my age now)? Or ‘bony’ as in mine lies over the ocean?

Great idea Stu. And thanks everyone for your excellent responses.

I have a shameful astronomical secret that I must share. I have never seen Sirius B, the white dwarf companion to the night sky’s brightest star. Tried many times with a 4” maksutov, 6” and 8” SCTs, and 3” and 4” fracs - and once thought I’d picked it up, but later checks confirmed I was mistaken. However, it is currently nearing maximum separation from its parent - up to 11.3 arc seconds. So this winter is an ideal time to finally bag the Pup. Armed with a 5” triplet, I am hoping to hunt it down, though I am at the mercy of London seeing. It would be interesting in a few months’ time to share experiences, and find out the smallest telescope that has proved capable of resolving Sirius B at this wide separation.

Was commenting on limitations of 90mm against bigger tabletop options. I love small Maks - but there is a limit to how much detail you can see with 90mms. Under good conditions, the 105 was able to reveal the GRS on Jupiter and Cassini on Saturn, and it was capable of incredibly sharp lunar views - just as good as an expensive apo. But under average seeing, it was difficult to resolve much beyond the main features of the planets. Considering the OP also has a 10” dob, a 90mm Mak might ultimately prove unsatisfying.

I upgraded SkySafari for this reason - still come across the odd inaccuracy. Have noticed recently there were a couple of triple systems only showing as doubles

I agree SimM. It’s all about the quality and consistency of the etalon with the Sundancer. If they get that right then I’m sure a lot of people will be prepared to spend the extra money over a Quark. Glad to hear you’re pleased with your new Lunt.

My planetary case (incorporating night vision and solar binoviewing) has had a couple of changes recently. TOE set completed with 4mm, but afraid the three Tak orthos (12.5, 9, 6mm) will be going back. The glass is filled with tiny internal dust(?) particles or bubbles - only visible under strong light. It’s not just me - several owners in the States reported the same problem in a CN thread. Real shame as they are the first orthos I’ve found comfortable to use at shorter focal lengths - the eye guards are perfect for eye positioning - even the 6mm seems usable without too much strain.

Very nice Jeremy!

That was a great telescope at an incredible price Nigella. I agree if you can find a good secondhand LS60 and check the performance before buying, it’s a perfect and relatively affordable route into solar Ha. Though I suspect you’d be lucky to find a good DS example under £3k today. But for people buying new, to give some idea of how prices have changed, until early last year it was still possible to buy new tilt tuned LS60s for around £1,700 in Europe. The current new price for a single stack LS60MT (B1200, cheap GSO Crayford focuser) is £3,300 in the UK. Same etalon, twice the price. Unless you really need a small ED refractor for night viewing as part of the package - it’s really worth looking at alternatives. Solarscope 50mm or 60mm perhaps, or one of the new Baader Sundancer filters, which uses a Solar Spectrum etalon - look forward to seeing how these perform. For me, Lunt is no longer the default option for solar, unless you live in the States.

I should add - get a good LS80, maybe with much more affordable R&P focuser, 1200 blocking filter - and it will be superb. The extra resolution over the 60 will be very noticeable, and perfect for a climate where seeing often limits the benefits of higher apertures. Just a case of finding the right scope.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. At the prices Lunt is charging in the UK, it may be worth considering other alternatives. The current price for a single stacked Lunt LS80, B1800 with Feathertouch focuser (admittedly the most expensive option) is an incredible £7,442. Single stacked!! Why does it cost that much for one, small internal etalon? So when I was upgrading, I ended up choosing double stacked 70mm Solarscope filters to use with my TV85. These are made to order, matched etalons - external, full 70mm aperture with no obstruction - for only a few hundred quid more than the price of the single stacked LS80 quoted above. Yes, Solarscope products are more expensive outside the UK, and not cheap here, but they are a cut above everything else on the market.

I had a 105mm ETX which was a great lunar scope, and wonderful for quick views - and actually cooldown was pretty rapid too. But you’re not going to see satisfying detail beyond the two main rings on Jupiter for example. The current generation of larger table top Dobsonians look like a much more tempting proposition.

Nice session Vin! More evidence of night vision and slow systems working well together. How dark are your skies?