Sunshine

It would be nice to actually see the moon again, I haven’t seen it in two months. This is a phone pic from last year,
relentless cloud cover here.

Orion Eon 115 Refractor

9mm Baader Morpheus

Iphone 6S handheld

Amazing full disc as always!

Nice! I have been experimenting with lunar phone imaging for some time now, tried every adapter and different apps, have managed some amazing lunar images with my phone.

One trick i use is making sure to tap the screen on a bright area just before activating the shutter, it allows for a nice exposure and black sky as most phones change exposure 

very quickly.

Hello and welcome to SGL!

Sometimes those fleeting sessions are quite rewarding!

Give it some time, there are many variables that affect how objects look through any scope. Seeing conditions on a particular day, the moon, collimation, whether the scope is at ambient temperature, correct magnification etc. In time you'll notice that with some experience and, patience, you'll begin to know what to expect. Some nights objects just don't look as good as they do the next night, if you set the bar high too early you'll begin questioning yourself too much which will suck the fun out of it, be patient.

Welcome to SGL!

A beautiful scope! it's great to see so many Vixen GP mounts out there, they are smooth workhorses. Have you posted a second first light report aside from the peek 

at the moon? I would love to read that.

Hello Peter! welcome to SGL, your setup looks top notch!

26 minutes ago, Mr Thingy said:

A rare cloudless night; first for a month, so I put it to good use imaging, as well as observing with some binos.

Silly me didn't think about location and my target went behind the house after about 1hr of imaging. But lots of positives to take from only my second outing with this rig: plate solving worked this time, polar alignment routines in NINA worked a treat, and the EAF worked perfectly on it's first outing. 

I must get a nice cushion though as my metal seats weren't the best when -1C.

Nice! great looking setup, your camera looks like it means business, nothing but clouds for me almost six weeks now.

The guy in the photo it Trevor from AstroBackyard youtube channel.

Beautiful capture!!

Thats just beautiful, it is so three dimensional like it pops off the page, you are an excellent sketch artist!!

Enjoy!!

WOW it certainly is a wonderful shot!

An amazing image!

Interesting, I wasn't aware of this!

Welcome to SGL!

I'm getting the feeling men in trench coats and dark glasses will show up at my door if i don't remove the tetrad, I am searching out a Tak finder but, I have never liked straight through finders. 

Having the finder would be nice to complete the scope, i will find the correct 50mm finder.

Now i know what else i can buy to really make my setup look amazing, a wood tripod in a darker stain, a nice one like a berlebach but, used because those destroy wallets.

15 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

What size bracket do you have, a 30mm or 50mm?

On the smaller end it measures 65mm across (outer to outer edge) on the wider side it measures 75mm across, i assume this would be for a 50mm, correct?

4 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

I agree that the telrad's are ugly, but they are excellent finders. I could quite happily rough it owning a TSA with a Telrad attached. You never know, a Tak finder may slip under the radar sometime in the future. 

Yes, i have the bracket for the finder but, not the finder itself, i looked up a new Tak finder just to complete the scope but, had a minor heart attack looking at the price.

51 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

As Dave @F15Rules indicated, maybe a carry handle attached to those tube rings could prevent a disaster when carrying that beauty around?

Luckily I am a bit of a nutter when taking my scopes off mounts. Nothing is done without careful posture and positioning my hands having a good grip, dropping a scope always frightened me.

28 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Looks stunning and, as you say, surgical -  well, everything except the Telrad which must be the ugliest bit of Astro kit known to man 🤣

The Tetrad is ugly, but it has been my fav piece of astro kit for decades, i can put that target on any invisible object and its dead centre on my eyepiece.

Is it ever pretty on my Vixen GP, now I’ll be counting minutes for a clear night!. This OTA has a color scheme that reminds me of equipment one might see in a hospital, surgical equipment. This is fine with me as I think of it as a precision surgical tool for dissecting the heavens.