Voxish

17 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

Tele Vue eyepieces are made in Japan or Taiwan.  Not one is made in the U.S.A.

I assume the same could be said for scopes, yet my frac has a made in the USA sticker on it.

Well if the clouds ever disappear I will definitely throw the scope in the car and head out for a view. I always view Mercury as an evening target and had some decent (for Mercury) last year. 

1 hour ago, johnturley said:

I take it then you are not very happy with your Orion Optics 10in Dob, what's wrong with it.

John

Oh that went years ago. The only thing wrong with it was it was a Newtonian. I foolishly bought one new later on as a second scope when I ran into OO’s legendary customer service 

Just now, Bivanus said:

Well, not gonna lie , if not for the large number of Chinese manufactured refractors , the chances of me , a humble boi from the outskirts having an APO would be ...astronomical...hmm, there's a pun tho unintended 😊

Exactly 👍 

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

I prefer to buy optics from certain countries and not others, if possible. I appreciate it that TV EPs are manufactured in USA or Taiwan.

Well I have to confess that none of my gear is made in China, not a thing. That’s entirely coincidental though. I honestly couldn’t give a hoot where anything is made as long as it works as expected. Without the Chinese literally thousands of people would never have the chance to own a telescope. I don’t own a reflector, but there are not too many which aren’t Chinese and I for one would rather deal with FLO to buy a SW dob than go anywhere near OO.
 

25 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

 

Some people have an intense dislike, or strong negativity, towards anything Chinese made. They seem to forget that without a lot of Chinese astronomical equipment the hobby would be a lot less affordable or accessible.

I couldn’t agree more 

Yeah lots of other great suggestions all of which I ummmed and Arrrrhed about and that’s without thinking about Mars and Venus. The ice giants and Mercury are a little more challenging to locate and patience is definitely required here, especially as they, like the majority of classic targets are not circumpolar 

5 minutes ago, Don Pensack said:

It has been the source of more than one call, over the years I was in business, of how to remove an eyepiece stuck inside a Click-lock.

In every case, it was an eyepiece with a conically-tapered undercut, like the ES.

There you go then, tis true. Thanks Don.

5 minutes ago, Don Pensack said:

I notice they asked whether we considered it important which country was the source of the optics.  Hmmm.

I thought that was odd too. However I notice on the other channel some comments about Chinese made gear which made me feel uncomfortable, heading towards racism I thought, but perhaps I am being over sensitive. Certainly some seem far more comfortable by from Taiwan rather than mainland China. 

2 hours ago, JeremyS said:

I didn’t get the email from TV. I am not registered with them. But following this follow I found a 9 q survey on their website which I completed. I assume that it is the same 

https://televue.com/televueopticstalk/2024/01/03/tele-vue-eyepieces-whats-your-opinion/

Yeah that’s the one 

Oh and if you have not already done so you should grab a copy of Turn Left at Orion

It kind of depends what time of year you’re observing, the top 10 varies during the year. Your scope and interests also come into play. However the following are easy to find and worth the time and effort to observe.

The Moon

Saturn 

Jupiter

Bodes and Cigar galaxies 

Andromeda 

The Double Cluster

Ring Nebular

Dumbell Nebular

Orion Nebular

Alberio

Have fun.

I read somewhere that ES eyepieces wreck Baader click-locks over time. I don’t know if anyone can confirm that or not

I completed it too and also asked for undercuts to be removed, not for myself you understand, I have never had any problems with them at all, not once, but I know other people do. I only use Everbrite diagonals with my eyepieces set so perhaps that is why. I once read that TV gear, a bit like Apple works best within its own ecosystem, that’s my experience anyway. 

9 minutes ago, John said:

I've never noticed the "coffee tone" on those eyepieces either. Some eyepieces do have a slightly different tone to the views but I haven't found those variations annoying or distracting. 

I guess that is because the eyepiece creates the connection between the human system and the optical system and that intimacy makes us very sensitive to their characteristics and how they match (or don't match) ours 🤔 

 

That’s my take on it John.
 

We like what we like, but all prone to peer pressure and group think when buying gear and sometimes buy the gear we are ‘supposed’ to like.
It’s funny really since none of us really know how anyone really sees or perceives anything, we only see the images our brains 🧠 and eyes 👀 present for us. 

Interesting. I have both Radians and Delites. I can not see any of the coffee tone some on the other channel seem obsessed with (several threads on the topic). The same thing is often said about TV plossls, a warm or coffee tone that is. Personally I prefer Radians to Delites, they are just a little more comfortable and the build quality is better, in my opinion anyway. Panoptics for me were horrible kidney bean enducing things. I bought two together years ago and sold them together a few weeks later, I just didn’t enjoy the experience or views with the 24 mm so I bought a 32 mm TV plossl and added a eye extender.  I have used Radian for years, I almost have a full set but can’t find the outstanding 6 mm. Never ever had any kidney beaning like I had with panoptics, but there you. Very, very personal things eyepieces aren’t they. BTW if you still have a 6mm Radian then I am absolutely a player. 

I had an excellent season last year, this year has been very poor. All in all the weather to me appears more cloudy year on year and definitely moving in the wrong direction 

Just now, Ratlet said:

I've also got the Nadira although I've been keeping mine out the shed and I think the humidity has gotten to it and the seat bit no longer fits in the holes!  Not a criticism of the chair (easily fixed, just need to not keep it in a damp shed).  It works really well and has vastly improved my observing experience.  You can focus more on observing rather than keeping your balance

Exactly, see above 

I use this one: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-observing-chairs/berlebach-nix-ii-observers-chair.html

It’s expensive, but safe and endlessly adjustable very quickly. The reason I say safe is I had a nasty accident a few years ago with the traditional ironing chair lots of us use. The zenith is never an easy spot to observe (M31) and the short version of the story has be going over backwards falling heavily on the bolted on seat and breaking 3 ribs. Very, very painful and incredibly inconvenient as I had just started a new job at the university and really couldn’t take the time off with a ton of students relying on me. Anyway that was the last time I used a dobsonian or an ironing board chair. 

On 10/12/2023 at 01:59, mcrowle said:

Hmm, now I’ve seen the photo there on-line, perhaps even that was too kind!

It’s not that bad, we’ve all seen worse 

13 hours ago, John said:

Thats the challenge with outreach type events - inexperienced eyes getting quick glimpses. Even with the "showpiece" targets, with the exception of the moon perhaps, I suspect participants can be a little underwhelmed at times. Most are too polite to say so though 🙄

I couldn’t agree with you more. Hard to see what we can do about, especially as we usually have a queue waiting for a glimpse 

Very true. I often wonder how Lunt and co stay in business during a minimum 

On 21/12/2023 at 16:18, John said:

Spending time observing a single target really does pay dividends even if you are an experienced observer. With Jupiter, observing it where there is still some light in the sky helps as well. I've had some of my best views of Jupiter in quite bright twilight conditions. Dark adaptation does not help with planetary observing.

Because the seeing conditions vary all the time (often minute by minute) spending time observing allows the eye to adjust to the brightness / contrast levels and the extended viewing allows these moments of really good seeing to register. 

I've been observing Jupiter for 50 years but still often get a session where all I see at the outset is the cream disk and the two major cloud belts. 30-45 minutes later, seeing conditions allowing, and I'm seeing much more detail, more cloud belts, the GRS if it is on the disk and other features as well.

 

Absolutely. People spend too little time at the eyepiece observing specific targets and dash between them too much. The more time you spend at the eyepiece and the more comfortable and relaxed you are the more you will see. 
 

Just a couple of other things to think about, clothes (you need to be toasty warm) and a comfortable adjustable and safe observing chair. A good chair will keep you at the eyepiece longer

On 20/12/2023 at 23:31, Don Pensack said:

Then a compromise: the 30mm 70° UltraFlatField from United Optics.

It's available for £179 from FLO as a Stellalyra Ultra Flat Field:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-eyepieces/stellalyra-30mm-ultra-flat-field-2-eyepiece.html

Magnification won't be too low, so the field won't be completely washed out.

The step to the 17.3mm is a good jump up in magnification.

It's one of the finest 30mm eyepieces out there today.  I find it sharper than every other 30-31mm eyepiece except the 31mm Nagler.

The true field is 34.4% wider than the 24mm Panoptic.  In a typical 8" dobsonian, 1.73°.

Good call

Anyway, I bought a Powermate