Paz

Hopefully it is just temperature related as it's a difficult scope to cool. I have a 8" SCT and compared to a 14" reflector the SCT requires more thinking ahead to avoid tube currents. With the reflector I can turn on a fan to cool it faster and the fan will also break up the tube currents even when the mirror is still warm so the views are better than they otherwise would be right from the off.

I agree entirely with the OP. I only use my eq5 if its a small number of targets near to each other and in a fast part of the sky, or if sketching. I agree binoviewing and eq mounts can be a frustrating and dangerous combination, and binoviewing is a key reason why the eq5 sees less action these days. .. .but I do have some epic sessions now amd again with the eq5.

You could use a combination of a sct to t2 wiith a t2 to 1.25" eyepiece holder although it would not be a single item. The picture below is a sct to t2 adapter then a male to male t2 adapter and then a t2 to 1.25" focuser. That might do the job (there are lower profile 1.25" adapters out there that would shorten it slightly).

After trying a few different bins over time I wanted to settle for one pair that was easy to use, high quality, general purpose, good in terms of portability, and fairly robust. I ended up with the Opticron dba vhd+ 8x42 bins. These have been great, 10x is too much shakes for me, and porros and 50mm objectives make bins too big for my preference.

I think sellers selling according to the generally accepted standards about second hand prices as a % of new prices is fair enough. If prices rise then when a seller sells something and wants to spend that on another astro-thing (which is always what receipts from astro-sales are used for isn't it?) then they are not making a profit they are just floating with prevailing prices.

This is not clear cut for me, my favourite time is probably being able to check out saggitarius and the milky way in the summer holidays when the conditions are civilised (i.e. warmer), but winter when the other side of the milky way has come around and when the moon is higher is also a good time.

I have the following BV eyepiece pairs with a Maxbright II... 40mm NPLs 30mm NPLs 20mm SLVs 17.3mm Delos 15mm Plossls 12.5mm Plossls 10mm SLVs 10mm Plossls The plossls were just inexpensiclve pairs to try out focal lengths, I have never used them othwrwise due to short eye relief. For solar with a 102mm f7 refractor I mostly use the 40mm and 30mm NPLs and 20mm SLVs to keep the magnification down (I have 4.3x barlow effect for Ha and 3.4x for white light) and they are good for managing scatter. For lunar with a 102mm f7 refractor I mostly use 20mm and 10mm SLVs. For dsos I mostly use the 17.3mm Delos as they give not far off the widest unclipped field I can get. If you have a trackimg set up that is useful with binoviewers as it helps you avoid having to follow targets moving across the field of view which is tougher with binoviewers.

I use slvs with binoviewers and find them to be very good. I need about 19mm eye relief with my glasses and they are good for that.

Knowing how difficult it can bee to see certain sights and how the brain seems to suddenly get better at clocking things after the first time it recognises something I wonder how many people have seen these events and not realised.

I still have the 31mm and 22mm and I intend to keep them for as long as I am observing, with Delos covering the 1.25" bases. I am retired from the eyepiece ratrace!

Dark adaptstion makes a lot of difference, If im observing dim targets I observe with one eye and check sky safari with the other. I find though it is easy to lose my night vision by looking at something bright by mistake with my observing eye. If I'm doing something super tough I'll learn the location and the star hop and I won't use maps or apps at all.

Great report, I think binoviewers are great and good for most targets. These days my default preference is to use binoviewers. I only go cyclops if I want an easier/simpler/lighter set up or if I'm going for really faint or really big targets.

Great post - well done flying the flag for astronomy!

I find that the lower the altitude of the sun the more often I see things fly across it, be they birds , planes, etc, and I find the same thing with the moon.

Welcome back, and thats a very nice set up.

Heres my white light set up. A small t2 extension goes on the wedge then the 2.6xgpc goes into the back of that then a larger t2 extension seals it in and the rest of the train continues. You can get it shorter than this but I choose to have a 1.25" nosepiece in front of the binoviewer with a polarising filter that I can rotate independently of the scope and the binoviewer to adjust brightness (plus a solar continuum filter). By the way if you happen to have more t2 extensions or other things that can put more distance between the barlow and the binoviewers, this will increase the magnigication but also I think generate more back focus and might get you there.

Great report. You will be able to use baader gpc's with that binoviewer. They can be mounted anywhere in a t2 ring with a little adapter. See pictures below. Picture 1 is a gpc and the little adapter ring they come with and some t2 extensions. Picture 2 shows the little adapter placed in the t2 extension rings. Picture 3 shows the gpc placed in the adapter ring. Then you screw this into the optical train lwherever you want and off you go. The magnification depends on where exactly they are, im my solar set up I use a 2.6x gpc but it results in about 3.4x magnification as ihas to be quite a way from the binoviewer to get things to focus.

If you have a number of large dsos you are interested in observing then the larger true field of view that is possible in the st102 is an advantage. I have had a st120 for many years and for most of that time I only used 1.25" eyepieces to keep the set up simple amd lighter. In the last year or so I got a 2" diagonal so that I could use my 2" eyepieces with my refractors (I previously only used them in my relector). In practice I find I dont use 2" eyepieces much in my refractors as the light pollution is enough to make the background quite bright and bright enough to wash out many of the large dsos i might be trying to see. You would get similar exot pupils with the st102 as the dob if they have similar focal ratios, and if that is the case then if you can use 2" eyepieces to your satisfaction on the dob with your skies then theres a good chance of them working ok on the st102.

I think a sensible starter scope depends on someone's circumstances, what they want to achieve, and what they want to spend. My scopes fit into 3 groups - the small ones are all refractor's, the mid sized ones are catadiatroptics, and the big one is a reflector. I didn't plan for things to end up that way but the pros and cons of the different designs and their value for money at a given aperture probably has something to do with it. Personally I would usually say a small refractor on an alt az mount is a good idea for simplicity and for breaking down into smaller/lighter/more manageable parts or mid sized reflector on a dobsonian mount is good where people have the space to store it and the ability to move it easily (and it does have to be easy or it will quickly become a turn-off), but I wouldn't rate either as being simply better than the other.

I was standing on Rosewall Hill near St Ives in Cornwall. The bad news was it was cloudy and what I thought would be a good and quiet spot (it was deserted when I arrived) slowly turned into a very busy place as more and more people arrived there I guess with the same idea. When the eclipse occurred and the world darkened I don't really remember much about looking up at the sky or the sun and was a bit dejected about the weather. However my strongest memory is of looking north and east along the cornwall coast and across the countryside as it darkened and suddenly seeing it light up with sparkles all across the land! I wasnt expecting this and guessed/realised it must be camera flashes.

Thanks for posting I'll have a go at this. There are quite a few good objects that are not on the popular lists, but that being the case it's not easy to find out about them.

Congratulations on the new house and location, that sounds great!

That is very nice, I would like one of those myself! I am not sure why they call it a Maksutov though, it looks more like a classical cassigrain i.e it has spider vanes holding the secondary rather than a meniscus lense.

I am happy with a skywatcher 6*30 raci finder. They are quite light compared to a 9*50 so useful if your trying to keep weight down, and the extra 2 degrees fov compared to a 9*50 is quite handy also.

Great report, I'm looking forward to having a good look at Cygnus but haven't had a chance yet this time around. Regarding the travel do is there any way to lash a small right angled finder to it, say a 6x30 or such?