JeremyS

Yes there are regularly scare stories about whether water might damage fluorite lenses. But that’s what they are: scare, disinformation and not backed up up by facts.

but fewer pairs of Speedos inside the tube

With a setup like that I can understand why his Questar remains on the shelf 😊

We have great posties delivering to us. The problem is we’re lucky if we have 3 deliveries a week. Parts of Cheshire seem to be struggling similarly: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68382286

That’s a very fine scope you have there. It’s often claimed that the FS 102 is a Mars killer, perhaps due to the optical qualities you describe. I’ve not compared my FS 102 side by side with my FC 76DCU ( or FC 100DZ for that matter), but I had some of my best ever views of Mars with the FS 102, during its 2003 perihelic opposition.

More food for my Lovell/Jodrell obsession

Looking at ABS these days, there’s certainly a lot of kit testing going on. I’m surprised they have time to do anything else 🤔

My Leica Zoom was made in Portugal. I was mortified to discover Baader are made in China. I try to avoid EPs from PRC, but sometimes there is no option, like the SVB 3-8 zoom.

Red wine doesn’t count, Malcolm. It’s a health tonic 👍🏻

I don’t know about festoons, but @mikeDnight will be seeing more barges

Apart from general haziness, the Scots seem to be celebrating their 6 nations victory this evening (the “star” is Jupiter)

I can recommend this outfit for cleaning OGs, @mikeDnight

I thought @Stu was working on a need to know basis. Well, I needed to know and thankfully all has new been revealed. And very good it is too 👍🏻

That, @MalcolmM, is a study in beauty and elegance!

Does it have GOTO or just push to? 🤔

That’s quite a collection Nigella! 👍🏻

Well, that’s definitely one in the eye for Galileo 👍🏻

C9.25 I find to be an excellent all rounder. Recommended.

And then there’s the tales of the one that got away 😊

If you want to make measurements of separation and position angle, then a driven EQ will be by far the preferred option. This is due to the high magnification and the desire to have north in the same position in the field.

Nil by mouth

I’m a late adopter on Ethos. I find them excellent in my TSA 120 and Mewlon 210. I have 17, 13, 10, 8, 6, 4.7, 3.7 The FL of the M180 is also long so you won’t need the shorter FL Ethos. Their wide FOV means long drift time with an altaz mount. Optically they are excellent though fairly short on eye relief. I find the Leica Zoom excellent with my M210. Can really tune in the seeing.

It’s always good to wonder at these things. If you want to read a bit about Betelgeuse and how observations by amateur astronomers have helped to understand it, have a look at this article by Mark Kidger in the BAA Journal

It looks like my “Eau de Flourite” by Parfums de Takahashi body spray. Comes in baby blue or hospital green tins.

The latest distance estimate for Betelgeuse is 548 ly with an uncertainty range of 499 - 634 ly, see Joyce et al: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/abb8db