Peter Drew

Some results posted on "Solarchat" were not impressive but to be fair, they were first light attempts. 🙂

One of the best views I've had of Saturn was just before it was occulted by the illuminated limb of the Moon. 🙂

I use binoviewers 50/50 on planets and stellar objects but exclusively for solar observation. I have several binoviewers ranging from inexpensive to expensive, my feeling is that the collimation of the binoviewer is the most important feature, I find little performance difference between them when the collimation is good. 🙂

My experience has been that the larger the aperture the more beneficial an ADC can become when observing low declination bright objects. I'm not particularly bothered by false colour that is not caused by poor quality but by unavoidable physics. I was looking at Jupiter a couple of nights ago with a 16" SCT and the AD red and blue fringes were obvious. Just for comparison sake I added an ADC to the binoviewer , if you want to see false colour try a badly set ADC!. I duly adjusted it and supressed the AD, what I did notice immediately was that the streaming turbulence was also supressed, the net result was a better Jupiter image. I'm in the ADC is worthwhile camp. 🙂

It would be Scilly not to. 🙂

I finally had an opportunity around 17.50pm. Rather pale overall but vey extensive and well worth the wait. Reminded me of the Veil nebula. 🙂

Huge cloud here. ☹️

Very nice looking job!. I'm also an enthusiastic large binoscope builder and have made many 6" refracting and reflecting models. The views are fantastic, the downside is that the weight starts to become a problem, definitely not "grab and go". 🙂

Unobtainium I think. Your ED binoculars will be better for wide field than a single refractor, your FC 100 should cover the middle ground and refractors are not large enough in common use for planetary photography at the highest level. What you lack in your line-up is a 100"+ SCT which offers the size, weight and cost of the rest of your other requirements. 🙂

Is the latch held on with a central screw ?,if it is and can be removed, first turn the latch until almost full locking travel, then remove the latch lever and reposition it. This should make it tighten "earlier" with more travel to apply the pressure. I say if, as my 16" is the LX200 version and maybe slightly different. 🙂

The "smart money" will be on Jupiter. 🙂

But richer in many other ways! 🙂

You will enjoy Liverpool AS, a good bunch of regulars. I made the dome for the Pex Hill observatory. 🙂

This is often reported and hence the dilemma. In Michael Covington's "The Nexstar Users Handbook" he explains the levelling "myth". I've never levelled mine and have had no alignment problems provided that the other procedures are followed. However, levelling doesn't take long so why not, just don't obsess over it. 🙂

I find the best alignment procedure is two star alignment and using "up" and "right" motions to centre them. Accurate high power centering is very beneficial, tripod levelling, within reason, should have no affect on accuracy. 🙂

Just managed to get a view around 5pm through a hazy sky which took the shine off it. Cloudy again by 6pm but at least treated to a pair of "Sun dogs". 😎

Busy indeed. I had a short session around 11am, just as well as my hopes for a late afternoon session for comparison were thwarted by cloud. ☹️

For me, eyesight and seeing conditions play a much larger effect than contrast. I have a 4" Vixen fluorite with a lens made by Canon, the same company that makes the ones for Takahashi. I don't know whether the Tak ones are made to a higher spec but the Vixen is considered by many users to be on a par in most circumstances. If a Tak 4" could show me the images reported by those fortunate to have excellent eyesight and conditions I would buy one in a heartbeat, as it is I need at least a 6" to compete. Some of my best planetary views have been through my Celestron 8SE, having it stationed in Tenerife might possibly make the difference! 🙂

Not wishing to be controversial but my visual only experience is different. I have good quality APO refractors, a 4" fluorite doublet, a 5" Triplet and a 6" ED. The first two I hardly ever use, the 6" ED gets some use as it's piggybacked on a 16" SCT which is handy for comparisons. In the main I'm prepared to wait for good enough seeing to exploit the greater resolution of a large telescope, I've been observing for well over 60 years and it takes a good night to make an observation worthwhile for me. I have some large Dobsonians if I want a DSO view and 8" and 12" reflecting binoscopes for the showcase objects. I fully agree that the refractors give the crisper images and better star images but for me, a non imager, it's only part of my enjoyment. Solar Ha observation, my main interest at present is where a good refractor really shines! 🙂

Just invested in a matching pair for my binoculars. 🙂

Didn't look much like that to me around 5pm today. I expect the SDO image was taken with far different equipment. There were indeed two areas of extensive prominences and one large detached one, surface detail was good but only a couple of active areas visually. 🙂

I would go for a mid priced zoom eyepiece at this stage, it will give you a better appreciation of different magnifications on which to base your future eyepiece purchases. The "boxed selections " of eyepieces tend to include some you are unlikely to use and are of entry level quality. 🙂

The very same! 🙂

Another memory has just resurfaced, Jim Muirden made a binoscope from two of the 4.5" refractors, probably what got me interested in such things!. 🙂

I had quite a long association with AE. Before I set up my own telescope making business I often used to call in at Luton and on one occasion helped them out by painting one of their mounts for the 4.5" refractor. When in business I made a few special components for them and also bought a few of their heavy "C" type mounts when I was too busy to make my own. Long time ago, but apart from Jim Hysom who was the MD and chief optician I recall that his brother Rob was the engineer, Cliff Shuttlewood was the designer and John Mathers was another of the opticians. Jim Muirden, Es Reid and Jon Owen also served time there as opticians. At one time they had a salesman named Alistair Moon, no less!. 🙂