Littleguy80

Great report, John. I had the same experience with Starlink last year. I actually went on the BBC news site to check that the ISS was ok! I’ll give NGC 6229 a look next time I’m out

If experience has taught me anything it’s that there’s multiple routes to success. I’m very lucky to be able to observe with a number of experienced observers. On an evening at the observatory, I’ll be using SkySafari, low brightness and red display. Others have paper atlases out. S&T Pocket Atlas and Interstellarum being amongst the favourites. I have Interstellarum Atlas and it’s companion Deep Sky Guide. These are top notch IMO. There’s also some astronomers there using GOTO. Ultimately, we all find our targets and take pleasure in calling each other over to share the views at the eyepiece. Experience only really teaches us what works for us as individuals. I only have to look at my children to see how people can take quite different routes on the path to the same objective and be equally successful.

A couple of years ago, I started a review thread comparing different atlases including pictures to give an idea of what each offered. Hopefully will be of some use.

No problem. It’s around 600g

Haha well it’s working well for me. I hope you’re happy with your reworked case when it’s done

I think I’m finally done with my lockdown eyepiece case revisions. I’ve replaced the ES82 30mm with an APM UFF 30mm. The Lumicon UHC has been replaced with a new TeleVue Nebustar UHC, which arrived from FLO today. If APM ever produce something like the 30mm UFF in 40mm then that will be on my wish list. Other than that, I think I’m set…. for now 😁

I’ve had to wait patiently for this to arrive. My UHC Filter journey started with 1.25” Astronomik which gave wonderful views of the Lagoon in my 130mm reflector using a 12mm BST Starguider. When the 10” dob came along, I upgraded to the 2” Astronomik. Last year, I got 2” Lumicon original UHC which edged out the Astronomik. Will the TeleVue Nebustar be an end to this journey?!? Only time will tell

haha It's a lovely eyepiece. I normally use my Noblex 12.5mm with the Baader VIP set to give an approximate 7mm eyepiece. This works really for me. It's a different experience to the DeLite, the wider FOV gives a sense of the object being further away. The DeLite has a feeling of being much closer. Performance wise they're closely matched. I think this experience with the DeLite has convinced me that I don't need to get a dedicated 7mm eyepiece but if I was looking for a quality high power eyepiece then the DeLites would definitely be on the short list. Another thing I like is how small and compact they are. Really nice and light.

Thanks Stu. I sometimes don’t appreciate how much I’ve seen until I write a report. I have noticed the best nights come when I don’t need to use the dew heaters. The scope was bone dry until right at the end when I noticed the views had deteriorated.

Thanks Dom. Glad you enjoyed it Well worth getting out if you get the opportunity. Even when astro darkness leaves us there’s lots to enjoy over the summer months. Observing when it’s warm enough for shorts and t-shirt is always a joy!

Thanks Ed. Sounds like you guys had a great time

Last night I headed out to my local dark site for what will most likely be the last trip there with astro darkness this side of the summer solstice. 4 other observers from my astro society were already onsite when I arrived a little before 10pm. The first thing I noticed was Mercury, clearly naked eye visible, edging its way towards the horizon. As the twilight moved towards darkness, I set the 10" dob up and collimated it. I was surprised by how far out it was as it normally only needs a small tweak. Just proves the value of checking collimation at the start of each session. Nova V1405 has become my standard starting point for a session since I first observed it back in March. It's brightened significantly to near naked eye visibility. I tried a few times to see it this way over the course of the night but without luck. Through the eyepiece it shown brightly next to M52. The Needle was my first galaxy of the evening, revealing its dust lane with averted vision. A unintentional but welcome observation of NGC 3593 was noted on the way to the Leo triplet. The trio showing really well, transparency seemed very good with not much moisture in the air. My attention turned to something closer to home in the form of Comet 2020 R4 Atlas. The dark skies helped with showing the hazy diffuse glow of the comet. No tail that I could detect. We each called out good targets that we were observing, it's one of the nice parts of observing in a group. I mentioned that I was going to try for Comet Palomar near M3. One of my observing buddies, decided she would also try for this. I've seen this comet previously from home, where my skies are much worse, and so expected this to be an easy find. After 20 mins of searching, we'd both drawn a blank. The comet was supposed to be near a mag 10 star but we couldn't see it. NGC 4517 in Virgo was the last of the Virgo galaxies from the RASC NGC Finest list that I hadn't seen. It's a fine edge on galaxy which sits right next to a bright star. It was like a mini version of the Silver Needle Galaxy whIch was my next target. A quick SQM reading returned 21.25. A superb meteor streaked across the sky around this time. Pointing up towards the zenith, I spent a happy 10 minutes or so mesmerised by the spiral arms of M51, averted vision just about bringing out the bridge connecting it to its galactic parter. Gerry's @jetstream recent report of HII regions in M101 was the inspiration for an extended study of that galaxy. The spiral structure was impressive. I picked up a number of brighter regions in and around the galaxy which I believe were HII regions. Amazing what can be seen! Iain @scarp15 has kindly loaned me his DeLite 7mm to try. With conditions so good, this seemed an ideal opportunity to put the TV eyepiece through its paces. M108, Surfboard galaxy, swiftly followed by the Owl nebula, M97. The Owl actually revealed its eyes without a filter in the DeLite, I was really impressed by this. A brief change of eyepiece to enjoy this pair together. I rattled through M13, M57, Albireo and M56, all showing superbly. The 60 degree AFOV giving a more intimate feel to the view than the wider eyepieces I normally use. I returned to Comet Palomar and was thrilled to pick it up as very small faint glow next to the mag 10 star. I believe it have moved a little since my attempt earlier in the evening giving a bit more separation from the star. Either way, a good win for the DeLite. By this time, everyone else had left but I just couldn't leave with the skies so good. The rising Milky Way was making its presence known and I decided to dive into Cygnus. The Western Veil came first, along with Pickering's triangle and the Eastern Veil. Just stunning. The ISS passed near Vega as I looked up from the eyepiece. The Crescent nebula was there but gave the first signs that the skies were turning as light cloud began to arrive. The North American Nebula was a similar story. I finished the session with the Dumbbell which provided itself to be very DeLite friendly. As I locked up, I took one last look at the Milky Way with a promise to spend the summer admiring it.

When I was considering swapping in the 100 degrees eyepieces for something narrow, I set up the FOV circles in SkySafari for current and planned eyepiece and then went searching through a bunch of targets that I like to look at. It gave me a good idea of what would work. 100 degree eyepieces give that slightly more immersive experience of loosing the edge of the FOV. I found that there's not too many targets that really need a big FOV like that. At least, not in my repertoire!

It's been a big improvement for me and has had lead to a definite drop in my use of the 10mm Delos. Although as I said earlier, the 10mm Delos offers advantages on fainter targets with the increased mag. For example, Saturday night I was looking for C/2020 R4 ATLAS. I couldn't see it with the Noblex though the nearby galaxy NGC 4314 was showing well. I initially mistook the galaxy for the comet. Moving to the 10mm Delos, I was getting a hint of the comet but not total confidence. I then switched to the Noblex with the Baader VIP barlow which I have set to give an approximate equivalent of a 7mm eyepiece. The comet became clearer at this magnification and I had the confidence to log an observation. Each step brought improvements.

Good plan. My original plan had been to keep the APM 13mm with the Delos 10mm and then get an XW 7mm. That only changed when I got the chance to get the Noblex. £1100??? I didn’t realise it was as much as that.

When I got the Pentax XW 5mm, I spent quite awhile comparing it to my BGO 5mm. I concluded that the BGO had a small edge in performance but also felt a lot harder work. The XW is my favourite for Lunar. The extra FOV just gives you that little bit more time to pick out the details. The BGO only tends to come out when I’m going for something really faint.

Haha nothing but practice. Rest assured that I am also capable of impressive levels of incompetence

I’m a little crazy in this respect. I use a Vixen HR 3.4mm in my manual dob (350x mag and 0.12 degree TFOV). You have to work for it but I’m quite well practiced now. I was able to see Neptune’s moon Triton with this combo. I only had orthos for high power eyepieces when I first got my dob so I had no choice but to get used to that. I guess a lot depends on the quality of the mount you’re using too.

Mmmm that’s a tricky one. The first two 100 degree eyepieces I got was the 20mm and 9mm. For awhile, I wondered if I needed the 13mm at all. In the end, I got the 13mm as there were occasions when it was useful. At the moment, despite the 12.5mm and 10mm being too close on paper, I find what have works well for me. Maybe the answer is the Nikon Nav HW 12.5mm. I think that comes with a focal extender so you can use it as a 10mm too. They’re supposed to be tier performers. Pricey but if it’s two eyepieces in one….

When I had all APM 100 degree eyepieces (200/13/9), I spent most of the time bypassing the 13 and going straight to the 9. Odd targets, like M33, seemed to like the 13mm. I also recall using the 13mm as a middle step when hunting down some comets. I now go 20 to 12.5 most the time and less frequently onto the 10. Part of the reason is the Noblex gives much better contrast than the APM 13. The extra mag of the Delos can help on some targets. I do go back on forth on whether the 10 is too close to the 12.5 but I think the Delos 8mm is too much of a jump. I also tend to start with the 10mm for Lunar/Planetary and work my way up from there. My instinct for you would be to go for a 10mm and see if you feel like you’re missing something in between. Another option is the APM 12.5mm 84 degree. It seems to have built a good reputation.

I love the simplicity of that. Sometimes I think I’d need less gear to actually go to space than what I take on a dark site trip!

Agree. Just now looked. Definitely the brightest I’ve seen it. Very obvious even in the 9x50 finder.

Similar experience to @Nik271 this evening. Once I spotted in the 10x50s it became easy to see naked eye.

I currently have one eyepiece that I regularly use with a Baader VIP Barlow. I can just screw it directly onto the T2 thread. The eyepiece is semi-permanently attached to a Baader push fit adapter. I’m contemplating getting a Baader quicker changer to make this process even easier. The quick changer has a 15mm optical path so I could use it in place of one of the existing 15mm T2 extension tubes. The eyepiece weighs 620g on it’s own. My question is whether the standard version is sufficient or do I need the heavy duty version? Plus looking for any general comments on using the quick changer. Does it work well?

I got a 40mm Aero ED for use with my frac. I’ve used it with the dob and filters and had some good results. I’m not sure I would buy a 40mm just for the dob. It’s behind everything else on your list for sure.