Highburymark

Just one on the end and one on top Stu. I have a counterweight bar on the other side, but don’t think I’ve ever put a weight on it as the mount is so robust. But yours sounds ideal. I bought mine about a year ago, and it came with much better clamps than I was expecting. Still replaced the end one with an ADM clamp though.

I also love Plossls. Though anything below 10mm I find difficult to use because of inadequate eye relief. The TeleVue plossl range is corrected to work well with fast scopes, even down to F/4-5. Contrast, sharpness and transmission up there with the very best eyepieces. But they have a slightly different design to more traditional Plossls.

I’m another very happy Skytee owner. I rate it very highly. Quite often mount two scopes on it. The top clamp should happily take your Tak FC-100 Stu - it does mine. Then I mount heavier scopes on the side.

Hi Paul, great report of what sounds like a terrific night. I can only sympathise with sounds like a very painful injury - but there is hope. It takes a lot of recovery and exercise, but I’m managing to stargaze after breaking my back in an car accident. Quite a few of us crocks on this forum so keep sharing your experiences.

Transparency is key, for sure. But I was surprised just how good views were yesterday, considering brightness of the Moon. First time I’ve tried this combination on M81/82, but am now going to explore further with Delite 18.2 and 100mm frac on star targets, where the speed of the system is less critical than with nebulae. Night vision continues to surprise. I’ve had some evenings where an ‘easy’ target like the Nth America nebula is only just visible, even with a 3nm Ha filter. Never quite know what you’re going to get.

Enjoyed reading your report Max. Good to see someone else enjoying night vision in the UK. By way of comparison I observe from central London - the very worst skies for deep sky. But tonight I had great results on M3, M5 and especially M81/82. I was using Takahashi FC-100DC and Delite 18.2mm with Baader 685nm to bump up the scale (my main NV nebula scope is F/3.3 Epsilon 130d, but it’s difficult to get sufficient magnification for small targets like globs), and tonight’s set up really paid dividends at around 40x, despite the near full moon.

Thanks for the report and nice drawing Roy. Lots of impressive filaments today, but the main prom is the highlight - turning into a filaprom.

Great set up Luke!

Ingenious!

Spaceweather is predicting a coronal mass ejection from the main active region later. This follows an earlier flare today from AR2816 which produced a minor shortwave radio blackout in Asia

There was a fllare from AR2816 earlier today which hit the Earth’s atmosphere, and was strong enough to knock out short wave radio in some parts of Asia. A CME is predicted to follow, so worth keeping an eye on the main active region. Superb filament and proms today too.

It’s a glorious day for solar observing - thanks for setting the scene Luke.

Good advice from Luke. I also sometimes use my TV85 with a Quark and TV Plossls - and need two eye guard extenders for a really comfortable view with the 40mm and 32mm EPs. I also use a GSO reducer on the eyepieces sometimes to get a wider (and sharper) view if the seeing is not great. With a longer F/L frac (740mm) I use the reducer all the time.

Fantastic! Glad it worked out well.

Welcome to the DC owners’ club!

A bridge of plasma developed almost linking the two proms either side of the filaprom Stu. Changing with each observation - even within 5 minutes.

Thanks Stu - good day for full disc imaging with so many separate features on show as you say. Had both Ha and WL on the go throughout the day - lots to see in both scopes.

I’d definitely prefer a 50DS over a single stack 60 Jeremy. No contest (unless you’re one of lucky few who gets a top performing LS60 single stack - maybe a one in twenty chance?). The dimming is not a problem in my view - even with binoviewers. But to really appreciate the extra detail, I block out any external light with a huge silver observing duvet.

Have a few book tokens to spend - this looks great, so thanks for posting

Lovely sketch Achim!

It became a bit of a personal battle Stu - one target I just didn’t seem to have much luck with. Rereading my post above I should have written 4” Mak, not 5” - it was an ETX105 I was using. But I expected more from my refractors on globulars too. Thus far I have still only properly resolved globs with TV85 and Tak100 and night vision.

And here they are:

Lots of lovely bits arrived today thanks to FLO. Baader heavy duty changers - essential kit for T2 diagonals and binoviewers. ZWO tilter, and the dinkiest little camera - an ASI1600 to start solar imaging once I’ve tracked down the right laptop.

Interesting to see your old set up Garry. A unique combination of great scope and rare DS filter. How did you find the Solarquest mount handled the LS80 with 75mm external filter? I’m interested because I reckon yours was about the same weight as my TV85 SF70DS, (except mine is more front heavy), and I’m hoping the Solarquest will support my scope sufficiently for Ha imaging. So far in tests my Solarquest has coped well with the 5.3kg load, but I’m going to be very careful as it’s over the stated payload, and impossible to balance perfectly with two front filters. I’ve been eyeing up the amazing Rainbow RST-135 mount on FLO’s website, which would be perfect (small/3.3kg, alt az and eq, able to carry 14kg without counterweights!), but it’s very pricey.

Good stuff Stu - would like to have a peer through your scope one day.