Alan White

Last light while eating Dinner, dear Mrs W suddenly took stock of just how much Astro Kit was sat in the Dining Room, My bad on that one! It was pronounced 'You have too many Telescopes' and I think you should sell some...... which was greeted by shock on my part and a look of slight panic. The recent aquisition of Big Red, so close to the Vixen SD103, both collection trips that Mrs W joined me upon have seeded this train of thought. I have to say having two 103 sized scopes is clearly a bit odd, but driven by circumstances, but really everything else has its place. I forsee that the Khazi must grow to store (aka hide) these treasures from the accounting person at home. I never buy without discussion, never hide anything, we do open and honest and only buy if I have the money and its not needed for anything else, but sometimes bringing it all together can be a bit risky! I presume others have found themselves with such a proclamation and how have you dealt with it, more for everyones entertainment than anything else now...

Bags from RVO as not at other places. So a Bag for my most used, yet portable scope, the 80mm f6 not a true ED but does ok and great at WL Solar etc. and a bag that truly fits Big Red 152 5.9 Altair, not a repurposed reflector bag, but one made for it. Geoptik have improved the interiors and now smooth nylon no longer velour Somehow Big Red needed a bag to suit and be red.

Nice purchase John, enjoy those Solar views.

That made me chuckle and I can see where you picked up on this.... And nothing like an admission of temptation in aswere, made me grin as well. Oh how we all cannot help ourselves when it comes to kit!

@FLO does the Starfield have an inbuilt ND3 and Polariser?

I use a Lunt 1.25 wedge at present, I moved to this from Baader Film a good few years ago, no regrets other than I should have bought the 2" one at the time. Filter wise, single Polariser (Baader) and a Solar Continuum Filter (Baader) which gives better detail /contrast and does indeed turn the sun green. But after years of using this, the sun goes yellow in my brain, even though for 20 seconds or so its clearly not, it shows as a vivid green.

Amazing to see these, thank you for sharing. I have just bought a 152 5.9 in Altair Red for Solar WL, But now its setting the Quark idea off once again...

They read differingly on inbuilt ND3 and not, which concerns me to be honest. The Altair one ND3 is 1.25 and loose to fit to the EP or is it The APM has inbuilt nd3 I think the Starfield might, does it?

Wow, another lucky observer. Thanks for sharing the images and time lapse, enjoyed it.

With sincere appologies to all at @FLO, this is not a post to do ill to a product, promise. I am curious on this product. I am looking at 2" Solar wedges as I have dipped my toe into a 152mm refractor for in the main solar observing, a big step from the 80 and 100mm refractors in WL to date. I have a 1.25" Lunt wedge, its great but too small for a 150mm scope, it is a super item, but I am lead to believe others out perform this. I am looking at what is available and fallen off my seat at the prices these things are, except the Starfield one. It (Starfield) is so much much lower in cost it leaves me wondering, why? Please dont put the price up!! Anyway, has anyone on here bought or used one and how did it perform? Any feedback is appreciated.

From Ifracombe as well, not oop North, thats even more a wonder to celebrate. 👍

Super images and lucky you Nigella to see this. I have seen a poor display once and only once, it's a dream to see a decent one.

Great image, Thanks for sharing. chuckled at the Raptor visualisation, juts how my mind works too.

Thank you? Nothing like helping my future spending….. 🤣

Yes, just collected it today. See the Postman thread for images etc. Quick peak in WL with the 1.25 Lunt wedge,was quick as far too small a heat dissipation for the scope size, Its stunning, so the 2” wedge should sing.

It needs a 2” wedge to dissipate the heat, so something on the to buy list.

Stu, it’s a prototype just handed over at NEAF, see a post on Cloudynights.

Thanks for the info Stu, most interesting indeed. I foresee one of these in my future to go with the 152.

Wow, that's amazing and Thank you for sharing it. Brought a grin to my chops.

So for getting this straight in my head, your ND3 is not fitted to the Cool Wedge? My Lunt 1.25 as @Paz has, the ND3 is fitted within the Wedge. I do agree though that the Continuum and then the Sinle Polariser building towards the EP works slightly better. Leaves me wondering if the ND3 can be moved?

And not really this thread, but following the arrival of Big Red above, just got first light in White Light. To say I am pleased is a very big understatement. My Lunt wedge is 1.25 so too small for Big Red, but good for a very short testing and no overheating, but it was clear it would be if left on target for a longer period. My socks have just been blown off and I am impressed 😁 Curiosity just got more expensive as need a 2" Herschel Wedge as well now. The detail, which is stunning in my 103 Vixens is just wow in the 152, I knew taking a dip of my toe was a dangerous thing. So First Light within hours of purchase, that's quite an achievement in itself.

No Postman, just me and Mrs W out for a drive and a walk around Ely for good measure this morning. Say hello to 'Big Red' it can have no other name... Thanks to a Classified this week by @Stu1smartcookie and good timing on my part, a long term itch has been scratched. A scope I have always twiddled with at each Astro Show but not quite made No1 on my list, well no longer. It was a pleasure to meet Stu in person and chat astro, the new lightweight set up looks superb. Baked Bean can for size as is the 150 f6 Newtonian... From the serial number, clearly not many get sold. Shame as its looking super in daylight, nice view of TV aerials, branches, birds etc. Mind you a tad large as a spotting scope! Oh and the AZ75 handles it like its not mounted as well.

I see how Elon Musk is a galvanising and devisive character, he does have a way with him that bring sout both of the aformentioned in me. Firstly he has driven space launch ahead, probably by decades and he is now followed over re-usable hardware etc. He and Space X as already said are not driven by financial public funding oversight and the belief that cheap is good value. The need to get bigger into space is a reality of so many projects and those projects do have earth bound spin offs with material technologies etc, and exploring is in our DNA and to do that we need a ship etc to do so. As to spending the funds for space on good, well I see that sentiment, but in reality it is being spent on good and the furure of mankind. The what looks gung ho methods of Space X are in reality calculated steps by them, as they say you dont make an omlette without breaking eggs. If you think doing so, then the Government funded method is likely favoured by you and will tie mankind to near earth orbit for so much longer.

Regrets at buying and selling oh so many fine pieces of glass over the years. If I am honest my real regret is selling to fund other directions, something I have had to do due to funds for this fine hobby. Everything I have had, has been a learning point, clearly both good and bad, the one thing that I have found is that my eyesight has gotten worse, I now have to use long eyerelief at longer focal lengths if I wish to see stars not funny shapes. The eyesight issue has then stopped me from trying so many fine eyepieces and dictates the direction of travel. The one and only eyepiece that I truly regret selling was my Vixen HR 3.4. On my favoured target, The Moon it was stonkingly good. My true regret is not with eyepieces, its with telescopes, I should have purchased one far sooner than I did.

More than a Wet rehersal, it launched etc. Low bar, perhaps, but a solid way to find the issues, This has been the 'Space X way' all the way through.