Froeng

I would be more interested in a 12” classical cassegrain. That could be a real SCT killer!

Well done! Amazing observation!

Seriously, Ι would say get the Mewlon 250 if you really have a site with good seeing. You should be able to appreciate the quality optics more than the C14 aperture (I’d forget about the C11). In B8, your NV can “replace” the extra light gathering power of the C14. But the high mag views of the Mewlon are likely going to be better… just some thoughts!

Sell the refractor and find a used Mewlon 300 😹😎

Had a quick look at Jupiter before it disappeared, japanese style. Also looked at the moon straight through. Had to fully extend the photo tripod…

This will be HUGE!: https://m.dpreview.com/news/6582518777/new-optical-fabrication-method-uses-liquid-polymer-for-faster-cheaper-custom-lenses

A black-out observing cloth. A huge improvement!

I am a big fan of the original LV line. If you are wearing eyeglasses like I am, the twist down rubber eye cup is the only option imo. For me - the newer eyecups do not push down enough. I tried an SLV before and I found it difficult to see the field stop with glasses on. YMMV… I also have the newer 50NLV and 30NLVW, which I also recommend. The comfort and relaxed eye placement, I find are even better than in the famous 42LVW. Esp. the 30mm is my favourite eyepiece. I use all of them in my C8.

Fantastic!

It is indeed a very nice area. Whilst the lightpollution is better than in London, the problem is we have ALL of London in our southerly aspect. So anything below 0 deg DEC is a struggle when it crosses or is near to the meridian… But I can see the summer milkyway - VERY faintly - from zenith to about mid-Cygnus. It is not overwhelming or structured, but a very faint haze naked eye.

I recommend the Thameslink train. I am in St Albans which is 27mins from St Pancras on the fast train. We have bortle 6 sky which is MUCH better than zone 1. Maybe try Harpenden, which is another few minutes on the train. They have a common in walking distance from the station. I have not been there at night, but it might be worth a look…

Wow! Very nice. I especially like the tight framing. Makes it more abstract and emphasis the subject.

I was out last night, first with the 60mm f/15 Vixen 60l. Saw Venus (jellybean shaped) and a few double stars epsilon Lyrae, Albireo, Rasalgethi and Achird, the latter one I particularly liked. Then after dinner I changed to the C8 to look at Saturn and Jupiter. Seeing wasn’t great and a bank of high clouds was moving through. Galilean moons nicely lined up, but Jupiter’s disk was so wobbly, I could hardly see the GRS. Then Uranus, the typical pale green disk. Packed up at 9pm. The sky was generally murky with cloud bands moving through, made worse by the local FC’s floodlights nearby…

A quick look at epsilon Lyrae while the C8 is cooling for the gas giants. Let’s hope the clouds stay away…!

Waiting for Saturn and Jupiter to clear the house…

Exciting observation! Well done. Also a very good video…

A bit of an update! It was clear last night! This was the first moon-less night for a loooong time. Started observing around 8.30 BST and gave the “wisp” a go. Due to local light pollution (I am in the centre of a small city) and background light pollution ( the small city is just outside of London), I have recently started using an observation cloth. My sky is about bortle 6. But overhead, I can JUST ABOUT see the very faint glow of the milky way. I use the cloth over my head like you used to see photographers use their cameras in the olden days - if you know what I mean. Started off with the blinking planetary to get dark adapted. After about 10mins, goto’ed across to 52 Cygni and the Veil was nicely visible with the OIII filter. Followed the nebulosity up north and down south to the end, then slewed across to NGC 6992. This part was brighter and revealed more structure, especially the Southern portion, which broke up into “fingers”. After observing a few minutes, I set the Goto to H-198301, which is one of the brighter stars in the middle of the wisp. It took a good few minutes until I could see some very faint nebulosity appear from the background noise. It wasn’t much - but definitely there! A few patches of mottled glow appeared. I used both 30mm and 50mm eyepieces with the OIII in the C8. I even tried my trusty 26mm Vixen Plössl from the 80s, but the field of view was a bit limited. I will definitely try this again under darker skies! The observing cloth makes a HUGE difference! Highly recommended…

A quick session last night - didn’t bother to put up the light shield on the balustrade…

It is the old Lumicon OIII

I use mainly my 2” eyepieces. I have 50mm and 30mm Vixen NLV(W) and a 40mm Celestron Axiom from around the year 2000. I also sometimes use the 30mm in combination with the Celestron telecompressor for max. Field. i have so far not seen the wisp or the other fainter parts, but bth I didn’t think I would be able to reach these with the C8. Maybe I did not try hard enough. Recently had an observing cloth made from black black-out curtain fabric, so let’s see if this helps with dark adaption and brings out more detail. Main problem is certainly overall light pollution due to proximity to London…

This is encouraging! I can get to a bortle 4 sky with my C8. I have seen the Veil many times, but never that much detail. I MUST try harder and spend more time with it. A combination of the OIII filter and an observing cloth may help…

forgot to mention - inspired by jetstream’s earlier report, I also found this link last night: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-blogs/explore-night-bob-king/explore-veil-nebula/

Lovely report! Hoping for the sky to clear before the swan flies off… what scope did you use and how dark is your sky?

Hi Jarno, what a shocking find and terrible service! They advertise the mount as completely maintenance free! This is indeed disappointing. I am sorry for you. I have the Linear on my list as one of the options of a “final mount” maybe I should reconsider this… 😞 A shame as I really like the looks and the concept.

Great! Let us all know how you get on…