Sunshine

16 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Well that handle is certainly top drawer, Ian.

There are nearly as many handle admirers on here as Tak.

In my vain attempts at making a handle I have thrown away $30 buying materials that didn’t work out, it’s a struggle making a handle that doesn’t look like an eye sore. Nothing less than something polished and aluminum colored will do, for me.

12 minutes ago, iantaylor2uk said:

I have to thank the previous owner for the handle! I think it is a door or cupboard handle, but it's a really good idea if you have the William Optics tube rings, and get a handle which is the right size.

Awfully excited for you, can't wait for your first light, regardless of the minor hitch with my diagonal which is not on every object, the views are stunning! cant wait for your first light, I'll be staring at my computer till then 🤣

The quality of your images really do it justice.

Congratulation! oh you mean like the exact same WO diagonal I have on mine which I am looking to change? lol, congratulations again! 

I need to make a handle just like that one, I like it! I must add, I have tried my friends TV diagonal and did notice a difference right away, my WO diagonal is introducing 

a simulated atmospheric diffraction effect which is why it must go.

Welcome to SGL! I myself love to bark at the moon! 

Nice report, sounds like your session ended better than you had hoped! 

Observing introduced me to me.

WOW, it is a beautiful image! 

Love the header, nifty,  the pics are awesome!.

On 01/10/2021 at 15:35, mikeDnight said:

But that's not a refractor. What you really need is this.... I'm sure that if you place an order the rest of us on SGL will club together and buy you a handle for it. 

 

Just imagine the planetary views through this beautiful behemoth! I would drag it out crawling on my hands and knees if i had to but, it would get mounted handle or not.

Ignore my quote above, could not delete it but I didn’t want to high Jack this thread with diagonal questions so I’ll post my query in another thread.

29 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

By the way got the T2 Baader BBHS mirror working tonight on Jupiter, superior in the LZOS to all the other Baader 

27 minutes ago, Stu said:

A bit of fun, a list of scopes in a random sort of grouping….

The Light Thimble and Peashooter

TAL Alkor 65mm f7.7

Zeiss Telementor 63mm f13.3

The Four Inch Fleet

Televue Genesis f5

Takahashi FC100DC f7.4

Vixen FL102S f8.8

The Frac pack

Celestron Omni 120 XLT f8.3

APM LZOS 130mm f6

Meet the Dobs

Orion Optics 8” f8 1/10th wave

12” f4.8 Truss Dobsonian (project!)

16” f4.2 Truss Dobsonian

The Sun Worshippers

Vixen 102mm f10 PST Mod

150mm f10 PST Mod project

Clinging on….

Heritage 150p

The most used are the FC100DC and 8” f8, mainly due to their convenience and the fact that I use the Tak for lunar, planetary, doubles, widefield and solar white light. The 8” is lightweight and easy to carry out, plus gives great results and doesn’t need hours to cool.

As Magnus mentioned, I’ve got a 12” mirror set from him to fit to my truss dob bought some years back, which should make a good setup to use from home regularly.

Obviously I hope that the 130mm f6 will become a regular favourite on the AZ100 for a wide range of uses.

The Celestron ‘Zombie’ 120XLT will largely be used for white light solar but I’ll try it out at night too I should think.

I was planning on selling the Heritage 150p, but it didn’t seem to shift and now there is some market competition from @JeremyS and @Chris so I will likely hang on to it now, will be handy for Lorna to use when she is a little older.

Oh, and the small matter of the 150mm f10 that I bought a while back with the intention of using it for a PST mod. I’ve got a decent sized D-ERF now and all the bits needed, and a suitable mount so perhaps one day this will get sorted.

A quite frankly silly number of scopes but hey, I enjoy them so I guess they will hang around.

This list reads more along the lines of a shops inventory tally, this is awesome. There are two more scopes I need to complete what I will need for ever, really, I’m placing an order for a 60mm double stacked Lunt and I’m searching for an Orion 8” intelliscope. With these two combined with my TSA-102 I can’t see why I would ever want more.

That is great to hear you're getting sorted out and planting roots in a new spot, that beachside spot is just beautiful! lets see, you have an 8" dob, 16" dob and a 130mm LZOS? the only thing you are missing is an H-Alpha scope. 

oops, did I just disrupt your plans? 

2 hours ago, Icesheet said:

Thanks all. I should have replied earlier. It came away and no lasting damage it seems! 

Great to hear that, I was in suspense waiting for the result.

Welcome to SGL!

1 hour ago, johninderby said:

😁😁😁

When did that come out!? I spent most of my childhood playing with one, I want that edition.

If only I could sketch.

No matter what type of scope you are used to using, everyone needs a refractor. Sooner or later everyone has one in their collection.

Welcome! thanks for the heads up, this sounds like a great event to see!

Congratulations on the scope!

Welcome to SGL! and to the 4" refractor club!

28 minutes ago, Elp said:

I believe the quality/resolution of the detail you see is far greater but as you say, probably more noticable when imaging as you can adjust after imaging to bring out more details. Personally from a Coronado PST, I wish I had a 60mm at least for h alpha solar as my 60mm refractor white light is a pleasure to use.

Thanks, my first H-alpha scope was a PST! loved that little scope, it introduced me to H-alpha and I spent countless days enjoying it.

The opportunity will present  itself (so my local shop tells me) for me to purchase a Lunt much like the 60mm I once had and foolishly sold. having said that, I am wondering if mainly used for visual would it be a big improvement to have an 80 over a 60?. For night time observing I am aware of how aperture means everything but, on an object like the sun I ask myself if larger aperture is mainly for imaging? I am not sure. 

20 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I think their best known cocktail is “Show Us Uranus”

If it gets me a free cocktail I’ll show them!

Phone to telescope photography is not easy, especially without an adapter. Don't beat yourself up as I have quite a bit of phone through telescope photography but I don't even attempt planetary,

just Lunar, lining up a tiny target like a planet to the tiny chip on a phone hand held is like catching a fly with chopsticks.

That's awesome! when I make the leap across the pond I will make sure to visit The Astronomer! I'll offer him a free haircut for a drink.