Highburymark

Notice that Telescope House has the new Lunt modular scopes on its website - first time I’ve seen them on sale in Europe. Price of LS60 with the 1200 blocking filter is a few quid short of £3k. So a premium of £300-£400 over the outgoing model. The advantage being of course that you also get an FPL51 ED doublet for night or white light viewing. Not cheap, but perhaps better value as a more flexible package than the dedicated solar scopes.

I’ve found the AZGTi can take over 5kg quite happily. I use it with my Tak Epsilon 130d, which is 4.9kg without eyepiece/camera. C6 would be no trouble. Glad you’re enjoying yours Agnes - it’s a really nice compromise as a true grab and go but with decent aperture. Maks should be a a little bit sharper, but the C6 is a better all round scope in my view.

Congratulations - what a great story!

Very nice images as ever Nigella. The active area has been fascinating to follow in that there’s no filaments or spots but as you’ve captured lots of detail.

Good to hear things are progressing with the new scope Victor. Do post pictures of the filter cell when it’s finished 😎

Stunning images!

Baader film would be fine - Sun’s just starting to get active again!

You had one of these Lacerta wedges before didn’t you John? I had the 1.25” version - nice piece of kit. Lovely active region to enjoy at the moment too, though U.K. weather seems to have finally accepted that summer is over.....

Great choice Victor - a 4” ED frac is a superb all-round telescope. The supplied SW 2” diagonal is excellent too - I’m not sure that my Baader BBHS diagonal (or any other diagonal) adds very much in performance, so that would be one way to save money. It’s also a nice scope for solar white light with a Herschel wedge - maybe something for the future. Unfortunately the Eudiascopic eyepieces Mike pointed out are all discontinued, though a couple of European dealers still have new stock - in Spain and Norway, but they’re fairly pricey......

Amazed at the depth of colour you’ve captured Stu. I’m not that far away from you but Mars has been washed out and drab so far here. Are you using any filters?

Radical - but I like your thinking......

Out tonight for a bit of nebulae hunting with PVS-14 night vision eyepiece, TV55 plossl (stretched to 67mm with TV conversion lens), and Chroma 3nm ha filter. System operating under F/1.5 yet stars pretty well corrected to edge. Lovely views of the North American, Pelican and Gamma Cygni nebulae - also meant more challenging targets like Crescent and Veil more distinct from my extremely light polluted location. All makes for a fairly hefty eyepiece stack but pretty lightweight - and the Epsilon focuser is very robust.

Good stuff! Agree that globulars are fantastic with night vision - M13 and M92 in particular resolve beautifully, even through small refractor

There’s also the C6 Victor. Very portable and flexible scope, which will show more detail than the smaller Mak - though the Mak will win on sharpness. However, I’d be tempted to for a larger refractor - 100ED. Whatever your decision, good luck.

Excellent post! May you have many great sessions to come. You might find that you get better views without a paved area - particularly if it’s absorbed a lot of heat during the day.

I’ve been viewing Mars with a TakFC-100 for the last few nights and have been disappointed with the lack of detail (with Delite 4mm at 185x). Southern ice cap is visible, but the albedo features have been difficult to distinguish. I’ve even been getting false colour - not something usually seen with this scope. So hoping conditions improve.

I’d back up Mike’s comments about the Equinox 80 - even though it’s a relatively fast F/6.25, it’s a very capable planetary performer (though does show limited CA on bright objects), and Mike’s planetary sketches are an accurate depiction of what I saw with mine under excellent seeing conditions. But the market’s changed a bit since I paid £550 for my 80ED new In 2014 (as Mike said, you also need to factor in a decent diagonal). You can now get a 102ED for £465 - that’s a very competitive price for a 4” semi apo. Over 60% more light capture than an 80mm.

Great job Dave. First time I fitted the MEF to an FC-100 it was a bit mushy - still worked well but there was a bit of backlash. Then I transferred the same unit to my Epsilon 130 Newtonian and it’s been spot on ever since.

TeleVue adapter to turn the 55mm plossl into a 67mm one. Will mean my F/3.3 Epsilon will be effectively operating at under F/1.5 to maximise brightness of DSOs with night vision. And an ultra narrow 3nm Chroma ha filter to use with 2” NV eyepieces and bring out more detail in nebulae. Great that FLO is stocking these items now.

Bortle 9. One Messier object visible with the naked eye - M45. And that’s getting fainter. Thankfully able to enjoy the Moon, planets, Sun in hydrogen alpha and white light, and deep sky with night vision equipment from the city. Consider myself lucky to do so.

According to NASA, it’s official. Cycle 25 began at the end of 2019/start of 2020 and we now have five years of increasing activity to look forward to until solar maximum in summer 2025. Pretty obvious to anyone who’s been observing regularly this year, but nice to get the official stamp of approval.

Nice report. What great value these 4” Altair EDs are! The FPL-51 is incredibly cheap, but this FPL53 version also very competitively priced at circa £900. Good to hear it’s performing well too.

Have been following this thread with interest Dave. Very frustrating - only positive is that you know much more about collimation than you did before. I’ve been so lucky with my F/3.3 Epsilon 130 that it arrived well collimated and hasn’t budged during 18 months of use. But sounds like you are running out of options and the scope needs to go back.

Excellent - thanks Brian. Afraid the deer population in my part of north London has diminished in recent millennia, so not sure how much use I’d get out of them.

My only experience with Leica was the ASPH zoom (which I’m glad has gone to a good home) and the 1.8x extender - they were both wonderful. If the pair online are pukka, and I’m sure they are, I bet they would be stunning - and you get two for half the cost of a 21mm Ethos. Even as a TeleVue fan, would much rather have the Leicas