Highburymark

Excellent Richard - wish you all the best for the new scope. I’ll be following your posts with interest.

Had a birthday this week and was given a rather lovely collection of 50 postcards, each featuring a historical space/astronomical image. They are not just beautiful - but fascinating too. Thought they might appeal to SGL members so have attached details. Should confirm that I have no connection with the publisher.

Superb detail. Sunspots almost look as well defined as in white light.

You’re in for a treat. One of my favourite astronomy memories was summer 2015, in rural Menorca, testing an Ethos 13mm for the first time in an 80mm ED refractor on the Double Cluster. Will never forget it.

Congratulations - looks like a superb scope Steve.

Very nice! Look forward to that (distant) first report.

Haha - excellent!

Very nice Peter. Love binoviewing with these longer F/L eyepieces and the odd barlow or two. Just a case of getting comfortable with the eye relief

With thanks to Steve, two lovely Celestron Ultimas 30mm for binoviewing.

And there’s still a place for us non-imagers too, just like here on SGL. I would love to be able to produce images like Nigella’s, but what holds me back is the added complexity to a part of the hobby I enjoy more than any other - and the knowledge that I am fairly hopeless with technology. Also, I only have a manual mount..... and yet, I’d love to see just what sort of images are possible with my scope.

Congratulations Nigella - you’re up against some of the best solar imagers in the world there.

Even though a filter using Baader film is even cheaper, the Lacerta/Lunt 1.25” wedges must be among the best value pieces of kit in the astronomy armoury. Particularly now that activity is returning they are capable of showing fascinating detail with even modest 3” scopes. As mentioned above there isn’t a big difference in the quality of views, but enough to repay the extra investment.

Standard coffee beans? It’s Takahashi. They’re an added option - £300 per pack.

Supposed to be unbeatable on axis - but seeing as they have an afov of less than half an Abbé ortho there are compromises.....

Good stuff Alan - really nice detail you’ve captured. The Sun is too low for much of the day here in London at this time of year, so I still haven’t seen the latest active region. Driving me mad! Just means I have to get up earlier and try and observe before settling down to work. But thanks to Gong, your sketches and those of others on the site I can always follow what’s happening. It’s absolutely fascinating watching the new cycle rev up. I bought my first white light filter (and ha solar scope) in spring 2014, when Cycle 24 was still delivering the goods. So haven’t had the privilege of watching activity grow with a new cycle before. Looks like we have an exciting few years ahead.

Fantastic video John. Thanks for posting. Think we’d feel very different about astronomy in the Northern Hemisphere if we didn’t have M42/43 to look forward to each year, knowing that it will reward multiple revisits through the winter - whether observing with a dob from a dark site or a small refractor from the city.

The answer to that question depends on whether you get a good one or not. In general, with solar ha you tend to get what you paid for, and this is the cheapest solar scope on the market for a reason. I’ve seen a couple of positive reviews online from imagers, but they are few and far between. To be fair one owner has clearly got an excellent filter, but more people seem to be underwhelmed with their Solar Scouts than thrilled with them. Also bear in mind: The ‘double stack’ claim is marketing bluster and not accurate - it can’t filter out parasitic continuum (photospheric light) like a proper double stack instrument. Like a Quark, it has a powerful barlow built in and will produce high magnification views, so isn’t a good choice if you want to see the whole solar disk, or if your seeing is poor. I’d prefer a Lunt 50, or even a Lunt 40 or PST. And good advice above. If you do buy a Solar Scout, go for a retailer who will take it back or swap if you’re not happy. £695 is cheap in terms of solar scopes, but it’s still a lot of money if you end up disappointed.

It’s quite a long stack with the 67mm adapter as it also requires a further extension. But it was MkV binoviewer that provided the biggest load - with eyepieces it was over half the weight of the scope

It was the FT-2025. I think you’d probably be able to reach focus with the stock focuser by removing the extra section, so may not need to upgrade.

Paul - as Mike says, the DC focuser has very short travel, but removing the section ahead of the focuser makes the scope more flexible for binoviewing. The Tak focuser is ok but not so great, in my view, at handling heavy loads, like weighty binoviewers fully loaded or a long night vision stack with a 55mm plossl. The Feathertouch solves all these issues. I’ve taken the DC abroad a couple of times - as long as it’s packed carefully, with dew shield and focuser removed, it will fit into cabin baggage with pretty much all U.K. airlines. I can’t remember the precise length of the shortened ota - think it’s around 19”. It’s just short enough to fit into typical cabin baggage.

Having sold my Meade ETX 105 and having left my collection of Meade Plossls on the back seat of the 507 bus to Stoke Newington, my oldest astro gear is seven years newer than this thread.

Great report Paul. I love a good Mak too. The eyeguard extenders work well with the TV 32mm plossl - but for binoviewing sometimes you might even need two (ie 2x2) of them, which makes them pricey, although they are also useful for the 40mm plossl. The Celestron Omni 32mm is much cheaper, with much less eye relief - and still very good, though not as bright or sharp as the TV.

I use a 100mm F/7.4 frac (Tak FC-100DC) for night vision and it’s great - also use 67mm Plossl and sometimes reducers to get speed up. If you PM me I can send you an article Gavin and I wrote on night vision for Astronomy Now magazine last year which featured this set up

Fair point Gavin - though looking at open clusters sometimes I struggle to get clean stars - while other times they’re pinpoint.

Easy for you experienced Newt users to say Peter. I struggle to even read the collimation instructions in the Epsilon owners’ manual, never mind carry them out. Useful message that isn’t always communicated in night vision threads - it is not a panacea for all astronomy problems - particularly poor seeing.