Highburymark

Another factor worth mentioning - I could detect no difference in on-axis views of Jupiter between a Delite and Fujiyama ortho at 130x, but then going up to 272x seemed to lose no sharpness at all. Again, all points to exceptional seeing conditions.

Both interesting comments - I don’t want to fall prey to ‘new scope syndrome’, by overpraising it. Certainly the seeing was unusually excellent as Albireo and the double double remained sharp and steady at over 200x. I even picked up the Dumbbell without help from night vision - a first from my London location.

I collimated my C8 within a nanometer of its life, but never got close to what I saw on Jupiter last night. Makes me think my C8 may have lacked precision as clearly they are capable of good planetary views. Should also add that Saturn has been much less impressive these last two nights. Put that down to the fact that it’s lower in the sky.

Oh my…… tonight I had my best ever views of Jupiter in over twenty years of stargazing. Spent an hour at 272x using Tak TOE 3.3 - aside from Ganymede shadow, counted 12 distinct horizontal zones across the disc. Details like two grey storms prominent above the North Equatorial belt. See what you mean Gerry. Still got binoviewing and the Moon to come. I left the 3mm Delite indoors tonight thinking 300x would have been too much - but next time I’ll give it a go.

Here’s the bigger dovetail, fixed with four hex screws, so feels safer. Time to pop out and see Ganymede’s shadow transit.

Just depends on your seeing, and what you’d use it for. The 2.5mm would be too much for the DL except on rare occasions. The 3.3mm and 4mm are both phenomenal eyepieces - I’ve only used the 3.3 but hear the 4mm is just as good. Can’t go wrong with either.

Breathtaking views of Jupiter last night. Slightly shocked how much detail on show with good seeing and Neodymium filter - planet still sharp at 225x.

Congratulations - looks stunning!

Excellent report. I use 3nm filters almost exclusively for nebulae from the city, but interesting to read that your 3nm worked so well under darker skies too - and clearly improved on the 7nm. Thanks for posting - we need more night vision disciples on SGL!

An extraordinary amount of work has gone into this - it exceeds already very high expectations - by far the best solar astronomy resource on the market. Ken - do I take it that you helped translate it into English? If so congratulations on a great job.

Great report Victor. I had the 1.25” Lacerta wedge and thought it was excellent. If you have access to any Plossls or orthos you might find them slightly sharper than widefield eyepieces, although some widefields do work well.

First time outside last night. Seemed robust enough on Skytee 2 but attached photo shows that vixen bar only held by two small hex bolts, so think I will change the mounting arrangement. Saturn showed Cassini division (fleetingly) and cloud bands at 225x (Delite 4mm) despite being low down in the London murk. Stars are tiny pinpricks - absolutely zero false colour in or out of focus on Vega, or my artificial star for that matter. Under dark skies must be breathtaking. Looking forward to some double star viewing with this scope.

Thanks Stu - I thought with my back this is my last chance at a slightly bigger scope. Certain I’ll move back to 100mm at some stage, but going to enjoy this for a few years. The 3” focuser is quite a lump after the svelte 2”, but helps to balance the nose heavy triplet.

Have never had a scope that required a Losmandy before. Might be the way to go…..

Thanks Garry. Might even get a bit of time under the stars later, though pretty humid so not ideal conditions. Fitted some More Blue rings today and had chance to snap up a Feathertouch 3035 for the TSA. My one concern is the dovetail which feels a bit undersized - have a much beefier TS bar so might use that - probably sensible to prioritise safety over matching colour schemes with a scope like this……

No doubt your views won’t be harmed Siouxsie, but as Stu said, the resale value will be. Surely Celestron will look after you here - particularly if you didn’t ask for any work on the optics, and the scope was poorly packaged!

Thanks Gerry. Your glowing comments about your TSA helped push me over the edge. The first star test I did with the scope last night was superb.

Nice sketch Paul. As Peter noted, good to see the first really impressive filament for a while. Decent spot, no shortage of proms, and clear weather from tomorrow for most of the UK. Happy days!

It was lightly ‘pre-owned’. Think there would have been a bit of a wait ordering new, though I hear they are making DZs again in Japan

Tbh I don’t know for sure - those single screw clamps work really well with modest scopes, but I’ve always presumed that spreading the load over a wider contact surface reduced vibrations.

I agree John. The AZ5 also has that single screw clamp which can’t be swapped for an ADM clamp

9kg sounds like a huge load for the AZ5 - even with a strong tripod. Unfortunately think you’ll need a beefier mount.

Here it is Jeremy! It’s in beautiful condition. Waiting for some ‘More Blue’ rings from FLO (also seen on the Epsilon 130 in the attached pic). These will help keep weight down, but the OTA is lighter than I was expecting, so thanks for your help. Swapped Tak bits for T2 spacers and BBHS diagonal. Maybe some views of Jupiter and Saturn and solar white light this weekend - though conscious 120mm might be less forgiving with average seeing than the FC100 for solar. We shall see.

Good idea - I’d be up for it - only caveat is we may go away in early August - going to make a late decision on holiday this year. I’ll try and make contact with two other NVers in the area - Gavin and Peter

Benvingut Kinan! - from my favourite city Barcelona. Glad to have you on board.