Alan White

Or have both and enjoy the good points of both. Neither choice is right or wrong.

Now this is Brum and a star, surely.

Nice to see things repairable and with parts available, As you say activity is high so should look good, but also great timing as well.

Does the MFI controller always have a bit missing like it’s flat pack name sake? 😂 Sorry, I could not help myself

Phew Glad you could put your name to the petition.

Depends on how you fair in Carbon Dioxide atmosphere and very high Atmospheric Pressure, oh and the acid also does not dissolve you or your kit.

It always makes me laugh, we bemoan Cloud all the time, Then we go seek cloud on another Planet!

Victor Meldrew, the Astronomer formerly known as @F15Rules, that has a certain ring to it. I have to say it made me chuckle and nod along, oh my, I must be a Visual Observer too and of a certain age bracket.

This has been on a thread before and shared by others, I know I did. So sad that the signature count is still so low, perhaps shows how society as a whole does not get it about light trespass

Oh yes a new EM200 would be very nice indeed, like you the price they require is not equal to my means at present, you can but dream of course. Meanwhile the GP would benefit an RA drive, watch this space.

Newtonian always have work in progress in my experience, problem is folks expect an awful lot for very little payment. The market has driven what we get sold after all. The old line of Buy cheap, Buy twice applies here.

Is the gifted drive the same control box or the black faced one @mikeDnight?

Thread resus, ok its only 3+ years old, so still fair to restart it, honest. What was the solution you found @mikeDnight? and those using the Bresser unit, how has that lasted? @dweller25 I ask as I have taken to my GP again but wish for a RA drive, the SW unit as Mike mentions above did feature on my old GP2, but the quality was poor.

Hmmm 😉

He has eaten your wig as well Mike 😉

I hear what the opening post says and tend to agree, but I would ask this 'is an image just not another way of observing?' the pros do this after all. I would also point out that a sketch is in fact an image, it has been rendered with something other than a camera. I am a visual only observer and happy to share observing with others, in my mind the observing discussion is exactly that a place to dicuss queries, odd things seen or just proudly sharing a special moment.

It’s the cluster all the children avoid 😉 In seriousness it’s a super binocular cluster and one I like to look at from time to time

A tripod and the open sky are in my opinion a great combination. I think its part of the 'observing' experience. Keep a tripod and portbale mount, even if just for the targets you cannot reach from your fixed location.

Michael, fully understand the matched look, What is not showing is the More Blue Vixen Rail already fitted to my scope.

Nice prize @mikeDnight, truly deserved. Not even a raffle since 8, wow that's quite a run. How you could even suggest that Rhubarb had anything to do with your defective letterbox, is beyond my comprehension 😉

Lucky you, a clear enough sky to observe and a game of ball too. Nice way to spend your evening.

If I could cope with such a late one or early one as it really is then I would be delighted to have made sucha decent sketch as yours. The one item I an finding is an essential for decent observing and trying to sketch (in my case terribly) is a tracking mount, having just rediscovered the ease and fun of my Vixen GP mount things may change, you never know I might suddenly find my inner artist. The eyepieces you note, clearly have a well deserved reputation, the HR 3.4 I used to have was stunning, it did something quite magical, clearly the TOE falls into a similar if wider camp.

In the Postman thread I noted the arrival of a More Blue dual speed unit for my Vixen SD103. I have had the Vixen dual speed unit on previous scopes and was considering another for the SD103, but having been shown the More Blue unit owned by Tim @Franklin a while back, I knew the direction of travel. Have held off as various issues with work at the minute, but in the end went 'what the heck' and went for it. Arrived direct from Japan this morning and very impressed with the quality of the unit. Fitted this evening, very easy to fit and so smooth and the reduction gearing feels great. More Blue TP571 retrofit focuser kit for Vixen Fits the Vixen 6mm Shaft, Weight 180g and Reduction gear of 1:12 Vixen unit, Weight 170g and Reduction gear 1:7 And fitted to my SD103. The fixing plate on the More Blue unit is far heavier duty than the Vixen plates, This helps make the whole thing so much more rigid.

That's great, thank you for sharing, super image

Not the Post Person but FedEx have been with a parcel from Japan. A More Blue dual speed for my Vixen SD Encouraged by @Franklin to do so.