pvaz

Does the powermate work well with the terminagler? Weight is an issue obviously

I used my old 31T5 with a big barlow + panotic interface (the 2 behave as a powermate) and it worked well. A lot of weight though. A simple barlow will extend the eye relief too much and be a bit of a pain to use, specially if you have any artificial lights close by as you'll have to keep the eye outside the eye guard.

And every time I am observing, I am so happy you got rid of your 31T5

Glad you are, it's a great EP.

Updated case : ES 100 degree 20mm finally arrived!!!

[ATTACH]83074[/ATTACH]

So total kit list:

Skywatcher 250P

Celestron C8

CG5 goto mount

1": Skywatcher 25mm super wide, 10mm superwide, celestron 32mm plossl, generic? 20mm plossl

2" ES 100 degree 9mm, 20mm

Barlows: Skywatcher 2x Barlow, Celestron 2x Barlow, Televue 2x Big Barlow

Filters: Baader UHC-S 2", Skywatcher variable polarising 2"

Not looking for ES 14mm, but as a newbie, suggestions are needed as to what to go for next whether EPs or other kit - diagonals? etc...

All ideas welcome

I would sell the big barlow and get an Antares 2" 1.6x. That way your 2 ES won't overlap and you'll have 20mm, 12.5mm, 9mm and 5.6mm available in 100º. (Done the same myself with the Ethos 21mm, the 10mm and the Antares 1.6x and I'm very pleased. Even sold the Nagler 31mmT5 as it was always a toss up between it and the Ethos 21mm)

I think you made the right choice too as I feel a 31mm focal length would give too large an exit pupil unless your 16" dob is very slow!

Yeah that was part of the reasoning that lead me to sell it. I'm planning to get the SW 400p later in the year. The E21 will only have a 1.1º FOV while the Nagler 31T5 would show 1.4º FOV.

Anyway for now I'm upgrading my lenses to L series and the cash come in handy. When I eventually get the 16" dob I'll see if I miss the extra FOV, if so I can always get another 31mm Nagler then.

Latest change: Hand grenade added

For my satisfaction, it found a good home.

I hope I don't regret selling it once I get a 16" dob but, for now, it was always a hard choice between using the 31mm Nagler or the 21mm Ethos. Both excellent but too similar in my 8" dob.

I hear some people find the 31T5 needs quite exact eye positioning. What is your experience?

The 1st day I used mine I found this, but it took only a couple of sessions to get used to it. Now I find it to be very confortable and easy to use.

At the next star party, would it be an idea to construct the most WAY OVER THE TOP EP collection, preferably with about three or four ways to construct any focal length using zooms, barlows etc, and take a photograph of it. We could then present it as the bona fide collection of some fictitious member of the forum, so we can always say: "My collection complete? No way, look at his!" whenever challenged about our EP collection.

My over the top EP set would be a Nagler 31T5, a full Ethos set, a Pentax zoom and a set of Zeiss ABBE Orthos for planetary.

About 7k would probably cover that...

MA is short for modified achromat. This have false color and reflections problems and are usually worst then even the cheapest plossls.

Sent from my X10i using Tapatalk

And change their contents rather rapidly as well - I'm rather shocked to find that I've only one eyepiece left of the 9 I posted a picture of on 14 January this year

SGL's best EP reviewer needs to keep going!

Can you post an update? I'm just curious on what you're using now.

Fab post. Barlows and urban locations (like mine) are terrible.the light pollution seems magnified. Any recommendations for good but cheap wide angle lenses?? i was thinkin meade QX??

I bought a few Agena SWAs before I went for televue. Still have 2 of them and they are good and perform well at f/6+. On my f/5.9 they provide sharp views for about 90% of the FoV. The last 10% ain't perfect but it's good enough and the aberrations are pretty low, so they don't bother me much, unless I'm looking for them. For 15-20% the price of a Nagler, they are pretty good.

No flash for sure. The flash only illuminates close by objects, so it would be a bit optimistic to try and illuminate objects light years away .

You should switch to manual, use shutter speed option at the highest you can get without trails, around 30s when using a tripod and a widefield lens, also set a high ISO (makes the sensor more sensible to dim light).

Live view can be used before the shots to fine tune the focus. My camera (canon 450d) usually misses the auto focus so I usually switch to manual and set it to infinity with some minor tweaks using the live view. The shots themselfs are done with timer delay, to let the tripod stop any shaking from pressing the shutter botton, live view off, saves baterry, and I set it to do a sequence of a few fotos to stack later on.

PS-> My experience is limited, only had a couple of goes and managed some half decent results.

EDIT: same time post as John.

This is the best collimation guide I know Astro Babys Guide to Collimation

To move the mirror up you need to unscrew the adjust bolts to the limit, then collimate. I never did this, just read about it, I think there is a risk of setting the mirror free which can then be difficult to attach again, not sure though.

Well you could buy a smaller EP for higher power, but I'm afraid the problem is fundamentally in the scope. The heritage 76 is a portable option more suited for wide field views of the moon and the largest/brightest DSOs. It will always strugle with planets, but on a good "seeing" night you could probably see the shape of the rings. Anyway now they are a bit featureless.

With the 10mm + barlow on your scope you get 60x. That's only enough to see it as a tine disc with a line crossing it, cuting it in half. That very small line is the rings, they are on edge now, will open by next year.

Depending on the barlow you may need more in travel to focus on that scope. But usually, with barlows it works the other way around, it usually needs more out focus though I guess infocus may be needed with some.

Unlock the barlow + EP from the focuser and slowly bring it out and see if you can reach focus. If you do you can either lock the barlow on the focuser keeping it out a bit or buy an extension tube.

If you really need infocus then the only solution would be a low profile focuser and this cost more as many scopes, so it's cheaper to find another barlow that will focus on your scope. You can also use the collimation screws to bring the mirror a bit up the tube but that can be tricky to do and will only add a little infocus.

Just a small correction: The telrad also haves tape on the base so no need for drilling.

The telrad is plastic and pretty light too, but it's big and the look through glass stays less elevated from the OTA. It comes with the extra 4 degree ring which is precious to find those objects further away from bright stars.

Both are excellent. I think the choice boils down to whether you prefer a smaller finder or the extra 4 degree ring.

My case is finally here so I can show it now. I'll probably end up having to cut the foam for the 2 TV eps I bought. I don't think it's wide enough to keep them up, they'll have to go laying down.

On very good seeing nights, without moonlight and in a very dark observing spot I get to see a green tint to the orion nebula. As on power I use 4 magnifications mainly: 37x (for widfield), 80x for smaller DSOs or scanning the inside of big ones, 120x and 240x (planets, moon, double stars and some tiny DSOs (clown nebula for example)). Other magnifications to fill the gaps are nice to have but I rarely use them.

Specifically on the Orion nebula, I like to observe it with any mag. The wide field allows me to see the full size of it under dark skies, while the high mags allow me to scan the area near the trapezium and the added contrast+mag allows to see structure in that area, almost like cotton threads folded and twisted together (this requires excellent seeing conditions, good collimation and it stands out with my orthoscopic EPs, other EPs fail to show as much contrast thus making the structure less noticeable).

Another great one is the veil nebula with an amazing structure, though it's so faint I need an OIII filter to bring it out and the widest field I have to see it. Any mag on the veil makes it too faint for detail. I find the max mag I can use on the veil is around 80x and it requires some averted vision with the filter. Without the filter I can barely detect it with only the wide field EP, others make it "disappear".

I would advise you to get at least those 4 mags (or similar) available to you and experiment. If you want to add a nebula filter to your stuff then the UHC is less aggressive and probably more suited for a 6" scope, when compared to the OIII. I must warn that the nebula filters don't get much use, unless of course that's your main interest, and they are a bit expensive.

Since the last time I tried to cut out foam it came out a disaster I just ordered this pre cut case with room for 3 2" EPs and 8 1.25" EPs, and lots of room for other accessories: Orion Large Accessory Case, Black

It's on it's way now, when it gets here I'll post some pics.