Alan White

Nice to see that you were able to tinker with the seat Ed,
as I said in one of my posts about these, they are a Dobson of observing chairs.

Oh and I am sure everyone is thankful you held back on posting an image of your rear end 😉 🤣

9 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

Not this year Jeremy. Not all were there, and those that were were not all there, if you know what I mean.😉 

Never a truer word spoken.....
this clearly applies to myself as well as other 😉

25 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

I have never owned this particular scope but FLO sells an Oklop bag for 150/750 reflectors. You could always drop them a message asking them to verify the dimensions.

It’s too short from published size, but thanks for the pointer.

Having just purchased another OOUK VX6 f5 scope, I need a bag that fits it, which is easier said than done.
The scope has a longer tube than SW or other f5 tubes as the mirror sits in a bit, so cases made for those are 700-710 long inside,
my scope to be awkward is 750 long.

My previous one squeezed into a lacerta case, but it was sold as 710 long, so I am asking owners of these fine scopes to tell me how you did it or not?

One was on display at the recent PAS on the Widescreen stand if memory serves me correctly….

And the next delivery instalment from me, not me, not Postie but APC today.

A SW150pl f8 new in the SW mini sale, got sent a f5 at start and now swapped for the f8 ordered.

This was an itch that I needed to scratch and depending on my finding may become the shortened home for my f5.9 hinds mirror …. Watch this space.

And little and large compared.

From what I was told by the lads, it’s work in progress and soon to become a reality.
I was shown it moving, stopping and adjusting the mount position.

Other than that watch this space for upcoming news I think.

8 minutes ago, whooshbang said:

I thought it was well worth the journey up. The stands were a plenty and the cafe was better than the one at astrofest, albeit a little pricey. I picked up a Zwo AEF and a t-shirt.

The highlight was getting a glimpse of the sun through a Shelyak Lhires III Spectrograph and looking at fat absorption lines in Ha. Lovely bit of kit and kind gentleman for letting us take a look!

 

The kind gentleman with the spectrograph is Jack, one of the many members of my club Castle Point Astronomy Club that attended the event. Jack does lots of real science with his spectrograph and is assisting a number of professional Astronomy teams so I believe.

4 minutes ago, NGC 1502 said:

Excuse me….no purpose served?   What about the VERY IMPORTANT PASSENGER you had with you😁

Ahem, so purpose served, and what a pleasant day out and company I had too.

I played courier myself with a trip out.

Got myself a very new OOUK VX6, in pristine condition, very pleased and just need first light…. So I will report back by 2026 😉

The reason for a 6” Newtonian, well convenience, weight, the extra aperture and I can sit in a position that presently suits my back issues that are ongoing.
Sometimes a change is made for us by circumstances, but sometimes it’s a good change anyhow and I expect this one to be so.

The event has a very different feel to previously, more Market Hall than Exhibition centre.

Vendors were much as before, but looked lost with the space left around and the principal of the show
had a scope display that felt very cramped that you risked life and limb accessing.

I came away empty handed this time,  it went only to look and twiddle really, so purpose served.

1 minute ago, JeremyS said:

Pics or it didn’t happen 😊

I hope most of the FOAS will be in attendance and photographically evidence produced.

I am still attending, back now mobile enough for the journey and time at show thankfully.
Be nice to see some folks.

Safe travels.

I would go with an 18mm as I have with a similar spread.
I have both the 18 UFF and 18 DeLite, similar but the TV wins by a small margin.

5 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

Well blow me down with a Feather(touch).

Thanks to @steppenwolf, my SV 140mm refractor will before long be adorned with the ultimate focuser. Not sure what to do with the extant one, SV native 3.5” I believe, but it has very much the feel of Baader Diamond Steeltrack about it.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s made by the same.

Also @bosun21 for the Morpheus 12.5, which may well oust my Ethos 13.

And a couple of eBay delights, a BGO 6 and an old “25x” Zeiss microscope eyepiece that cost very little.

Magnus

 

My goodness me Magnus, that FT is big, I can so no feather in this ones touch 😉

That set up and location look super, just remember a bigger Dob gets heavy.

If you are taking crew 8, they arrived this month and are due a stay of 6 months.
 

Try here, hope that helps

https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/view.cfm?country=United_Kingdom&region=England&city=London

It got into Space, Hot separation worked and more.
The Ship and Booster was always not coming home in my opinion, if it had then they would be further ahead than expected.
This is all a notable success in the development of this Space System

That was an amazing test, well done Space X.
Clearly the data will show perhaps where it failed, but its a test and failure is part of that.
The thing is the stack of boosters etc already built.

5 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Stu...I will check my medication just in case I can NOW go shopping...😁

I am sure one of my medications has this side effect mentioned, if not I will just write it in anyway 😉
You have to make others aware of these after all.

Observatory is coming along fine Michael, love the roof design.

Also really like the mirrored door effect on the fence, nice visual trick to extend the garden.

Interesting about the pinion as my ED103 Lazarus will benefit from a new one.

Only just seen this post Rob, sounds like you had a pleasant time with the 150 f8.
I often ponder these scopes as they are clearly most capable.

I recall when I was getting scope buying fever, many years ago, a local chap showed me various targets in a Tal1, a Tasco f5 and another much older 6" f8 or perhaps longer, at that time the long scope looked to my inexperienced eye a monster.
But what a view to behold.

9 hours ago, Franklin said:

@F15Rules, I see from this pic above, that you're not the only one with the idea of using focuser knobs to hold the rings.

 

1 hour ago, Ianfuk said:

That’s what the tube rings came fitted with , I thought that was normal but just looked at the SD 103 rings  🤔

The scopes I have came with flatter plastic knob bolts for the rings, but they can foul a Vixen shoe if a longer one is in use.
They also supply a pair of dome headed screws to replace the knobs with if desired.

This is all set out in the ED/SD Instructions.