Sunshine

Having watched a two hour documentary lately on Amazon's rise to power, i would steer clear of those ads. They pressed amazon execs regarding dangerous and, fraudulent goods sold on the site, their execs 

kept skirting the questions and passing the bucket to the sellers which are trusted to adhere to amazon standards but, amazon can only police a fraction of them. They claim that if the product is stated as "fulfilled by Amazon"

then it has been screened, if it says "fulfilled by seller" being someone who opened an amazon store, then its a crap shoot.

 At least for planets and the moon, pretty much anywhere is good, thats the silver lining, a dark sky won't really matter all too much for planetary and lunar. 

Thats awesome! wait till you see Saturn for the first time, its a whole new level of WOW!

Spectacular! a Tak TOA150, only in my dreams.

The star adventurer is loads of fun under a dark sky.

Having seen the entire video, including the puff of desert dust at the end, i searched through the comments section afterwards to see what others said.

One youtube commented "he went out like Wile E Coyote" this had me keeled over.  Flat Earther attempting actual science is bad news, sad he had to kill himself 

so pointlessly, i feel terrible for his loved ones who were just supporting him, maybe they were?.

R.I.P. KJ

1 hour ago, NGC 1502 said:

Years ago, some club members were doing public outreach using a 4” refractor to project the sun’s image onto a screen. One of the members held a pencil to the eyepiece to show the dangers involved, the wooden pencil quickly smouldered and gave off smoke.   As he withdrew the pencil, a bystander started to bend to look through the scope.......of course they were immediately prevented from doing that.......we were flabbergasted that having just seen what happened to the pencil anyone would want to put their eye to the eyepiece.

The above is regularly recalled when discussing solar observing because some will simply not grasp the very real dangers even with a totally obvious demonstration 🙄

Ed.

 

 

Somehow, that doesn't surprise me at all.

Hello, i am curious about how large bino's are typically used, i have never had the pleasure of looking through a large pair, it must be beautiful.  Upon doing some searching, i see that Orion makes 100mm ED bino's, that is BIG! and ED at that. When using such Bino's, it is obvious the eyepieces will cost a lot since one needs two of each but, can magnification follow the same rule per inch of aperture as a telescope? is it feasible to use lets say 100x power in binoculars? (on a mount  of course). Having never used a large quality pair, i can imagine what sweeping the milky way would be like with such large ED binoculars. Maybe if i had a peek, i may never touch my telescope again. Those Orion ED binoculars are pricey but, they surely must be another experience all together. Sweeping star rich regions in stereo vision must be just jaw dropping.

Amazing, you are a brave soul, i would have written that mirror off, licking it clean would have been so far from my train of thought. Maybe spitting on it and gently finger rubbing the spittle but, you say you actually licked it clean?? you my friend, should be issued the equivalent of the amateurs astronomers Nobel Prize or something. The story will be told at star parties.  One fellow will ask of another, as they glance at you from a distance, "who is that man?"... other man replies, "you don't know! that is the man who once licked his mirror spotless" a collective gasp is heard from everyone around and, they part as you walk the grounds. 

Welcome to SGL!

Those are wonderful images! and yes, quiet would be the correct word to describe our sun right now.

Oh yes, I remember my "once off" telescope, I bought it about 12 telescopes ago, wait a minute, I swore they would all be the last one!. If I were sent off to an island with only one scope forever more, I may just pick a 9.25 Celestron Edge SCT on an equatorial mount. There is no such thing as a do it all telescope but, the 9.25 Celestron falls nicely in the large enough to show the fuzzies yet still manageable as I age, a great scope for planetary also, and, if imaging is in your future, with an EQ mount, you'll be off to the races. tomorrow, I may choose another, there are so may options it boggles the mind, I am basing my choice from scopes I have used before, others may have completely different choices. The point I am getting at is this, one can only make such a choice after having had experience with many types. 

There will be many different options suggested to you and, I guarantee, if you are crazy about this hobby, the term "once off" is, respectfully, humorous to those of us who many times have thought "that's it, no more scopes"

Hello!

 It cannot be stressed enough how important it is that you seek out your local astronomy club and, join it. You will, as we all have at one time, benefit greatly from mingling with others who will be more than pleased to help you both grow with your scope and, understand the night sky. Another recommendation I know will REALLY help you (as it has for us all also) is seek out a book called "left turn at Orion" or, another great one "Nightwatch" by Terrence Dickinson. Those books are beginners bibles, they're not science books meant for astronomers but, books tailored for the beginner.

Having said that, Welcome to SGL!, congratulations on your first scope, it is a great beginners scope, you'll enjoy it for years to come. Utilize YouTube for videos like "using an equatorial mount" "night sky for beginners" and so on, YouTube is a treasure trove of info for all of us amateurs. Work with the eyepieces you have for now, you will know soon enough what you want, get to know your scope and how it works under the night sky. Make sure to read the manual and, most importantly, never get discouraged if you run into a roadblock, we all do. When you get out under the sky, first thing you'll want to do is put in an eyepiece, find any terrestrial light or lamp post in the distance, focus on it, then adjust your pointer so it is pointing at the same object your scope is looking at. Once this is done, they will be in sync with each other and you can then use the pointer as a target finder for the scope.

Have fun and, visit often!

The detail you've captured in those wisps of clouds is pretty darn sweet, don't throw in the towel yet my friend, i can see your good work through whatever has obstructed the view.

Welcome! your images are great! i have to say i love the last one most, Orion, in all its glory.

Welcome to SGL, nice pics!

51 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

For a near 5" top class apo refractor, £980.00 is not a bad price. I know its a lot of money, but it will last you a lifetime and it will never deteriorate. 

You're right about the eyepiece,  it is a 31mm Nagler, and the mount is a Hercules Helix altazimuth fork, sadly nolonger made. The tripod I'd a SW tubular steel version.  The views were simply awesome! I say "were" because I eventually sold it to fund another refractor, but the 120ED is very dear to my heart.

 

Is there a particular type/brand of eyepiece you found that favored this scope? is it hard on lesser eyepieces? I will be looking to buy a couple of eyepieces with it, maybe Baader Morpheus which I have used on other scopes and like.

Jupiter and Saturn will have you over the moon! no pun intended, it is a planet/lunar killer.

Have fun!

Those are crippling prices, especially when considering i would have to add about 35% for the exchange rate to Canadian dollars, no thanks, i would want the 80mm at least. It would end up costing me about 

$7000 CAD including taxes and shipping, unfathomable.

9 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

I really hope you get it. The ED120 is one of the best doublet refractors out there. I've had three of them over the years, one 120 ED Pro with black diamond livery, and two Equinox 120 ED's which are identical to the EON. Personally I wouldn't worry too much about haggling, I'd just pay the money and run. It's an exquisite telescope that can stand alongside high end refractors with its head held high. It's very Takahashi in its image quality and will give stunning rich field views at low power, while on a good night with a steady atmosphere, you'll get 300X and more on the Moon and double stars.

That is a beautiful looking scope you have there, i certainly hope when i call tomorrow, as today is a holiday here, it will be available. The one listed in the ad is identical to yours, with the chrome trim, i must say i love your mount also. By the looks of it, you have the "king" of eyepieces on there, maybe the 31mm Nagler? that must provide some jaw dropping wide field views!. The asking price for the scope is the equivalent of 980 pounds.

Same here regarding seeing, you may try three nights in a row without success then, suddenly, one night you'll see them. E&F stars are such tiny delicate little pinpoints, they are easily overwhelmed by a boiling atmosphere.

Is it ever fun to delve into the trapezium, i saw E&F stars with my 150 mak recently, it was a rewarding adventure.

Beautiful image!

Welcome to SGL!

I’m awfully excited about maybe getting my first serious refractor, short of the Tasco toy I had as a child. On the classified market near me I have found an Orion Eon 120. Tomorrow, I will call the shop in hopes they still have it, the reputation of this scope is fantastic as I have read countless posts. As you all know, I am the first to Honk my horn about my Mak but, I do wish I had a scope which could offer wider fields, be more AP friendly for the future and, cool down quicker. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll haggle the price down and have it shipped to me once I speak with the shop owner. Awfully excited, I have never had a decent frac.