Highburymark

I’ve only ever had alt-az mounts. ETX-105, Celestron Evolution, Giro Mini, Giro Ercole Mini, AZ5, AZGTi, SW Heliofind, Skytee 2, all the manual mounts pictured. Most recent acquisition is the Skytee and very impressed by it - for the money it is excellent. Even the supplied clamps are surprisingly good - though have upgraded main one to ADM to support heavy-ish TV85/solar set up.

Interesting link Martin. I still find it mind blowing that the Soviets managed to get that incredible image of the surface of Venus all those decades ago.

I’ve had two double stacked Lunts (50 and 60), and now a Solarscope SF70 DS o my 85mm frac, and honestly none of the single stack views were particularly impressive. In each case it was vital to add a DS filter to see surface detIl. The difference is night and day.

For ha solar, they are unquestionably the finest plossl. Substantially brighter and more detailed than Synta/GSO Plossls. Very similar views to Fujiyama orthos (on solar), but again I marginally prefer TV Plossls. I’ve never actually used any of my TV Plossls for normal night viewing

Old thread, but having just bought a second TV plossl 32mm for solar binoviewing, thought it was interesting that they are cheaper now (£139) than they were in Alan’s first post four years ago. Still a hefty investment, particularly with an eyeguard extender, but there can’t be many other astro products that have fallen in price over four years? Problem for me is that my binoviewer only comes to focus with a 2.6x barlow, so need low power 1.25” pairs to achieve right magnifications. Have gone for TV32 and 40mm Plossls as they deliver such bright and sharp views of the Sun. But after reading up on all the alternatives over the last few weeks, must say I’d love to try a pair of 30mm pseudo Masuyamas. Maybe a wanted ad is imminent, though they seem tough to track down.....

Space weather said there is a tiny spot in the new active region - just visible in ha, belongs to old Cycle 24.

More excellent images Nigella! I missed that superb lift off prom when I was observing earlier, though the seeing here in London is as bad as I’ve ever experienced, so gave up for the day

Stunning images as usual Marty. What a wonderful few weeks it has been for solar activity - particularly for me the filaments curving around the limb.

Lunt just announced it is launching a new entry level 40mm scope - see main website. F/10. New competition for the PST.

Oops. Only just seen this thread is ancient.....

You could go for the C8 version? Mount easily copes with the scope . Wider views. I loved the C8 Evolution that I had - ‘go to’ and WiFi worked perfectly. The 9.25 is quite a bit bigger, and as said above, it uses a stronger tripod but same mount.

How are the views Brian? It’s a pretty fast achromat is it not?

Very interested to hear your comparisons Brian. Unfortunately absolutely zero to look at in ha solar at the moment - despite beautifully clear day

Wow - very nice Brian. Congratulations! Thoughts of creating a Coronado 60mm Solar binocular come to mind (with a PST as the ultimate solar finder..).? Sadly presume not possible as SMII and SMIII otas so different?

I completely missed this too. An excellent account of what sounds like a successful evening. Night vision revolutionised astronomy for me - accounts for 95% of my dso observing now. And 18 months since getting my PVS-14, I’m still blown away by the views. Last night for example, midsummer’s night from the centre of London, I had memorable views of M3, M13 and M92, using Delite 18.2 through Epsilon 130. Great to have another NV enthusiast on board - welcome to the club!

Bit of a blast from the past this thread, but wonder if Pete or anyone else could explain how you manually track the Sun when imaging - with standard solar refractor on manual alt-az mount with slow motion controls?

What’s your current Quark situation Dave? I’m keeping mine because proms are excellent at high mags, not so surface detail unfortunately. Great to hear that other posters in this chain are happy with views

Mak - sharper, better for lunar, and perhaps has slight edge on planets. SCT - better all round performer, wider fov for DSOs.

Superb images as always Marty - filaprom was relatively small but you’ve brought out amazing detail

Good stuff John. Amazingly capable those PSTs! Interesting you got good results with an Ethos. Generally I’ve found most widefield EPs disappointing for solar - Delos for example. Never tried the one Ethos I used to own however, now rather regretting it!

Unexpected break in the clouds this afternoon - equally unexpected and very nice filaprom which wasn’t obvious on Gong. Well worth a look. Nothing else provides such a 3D effect on the solar surface, particularly with binoviewers.

I agree John - to me they’re the most enigmatic objects we can see as amateur astronomers.

Wouldn’t want to claim anything different - that’s why I said versions available today.

A great thread and a phenomenal image. But it looks like Andromeda’s globulars are more spread out than the Milky Way’s - is that correct? In comparison with this picture, our globulars are more concentrated around the central galactic core?

Nice! You may well be aware, but have you seen Neil English’s website? He’s passionate about 5”-6” Newtonians and upgrading them.