Littleguy80

With regards to the finder scope, @Mark at Beaufort has this one and recommended it to me. I’ve not invested in one myself yet but could be a good option. https://www.altairastro.com/altair-80mm-maxi-finder-finder-scope-package.html

Quite right, Doug. There’s normally opportunities for at least a short session if you really want it. Having a proper grab and go set up or binoculars is key to this, to my mind at least. I was pretty good about getting the dob out, even for a few mins but having a little refractor makes it even easier. Having said that I’m sitting outside in shorts and a short sleeve short watching Io emerge from Jupiter with the dob now. Seeing is too poor to get the shadow but I’m happy nonetheless. Here’s to another great 6 months under the stars

I got it through Amazon as I had some vouchers. From memory it was around £60.

Fantastic report, Gerry. Your influence on me always shows through when I reach for the Orthos on fainter targets! The Interstellarum Deep Sky Guide is a great book and has a definite big scope bias. Lots of sketches of targets at very high power in big scopes. Examples of the cat’s eye and Hickson 55 below.

Both scopes ready for action at the observatory

I watched the video below for the first time several years ago and it’s something that has really stuck with me. I really like the message it puts across. Rewatching it tonight, I really felt the sense of awe and wonder that the astronauts describe looking back at Earth is what I feel looking up. It’s a little under 20 mins and is filled with footage of Earth seen from space. Great soundtrack too. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Haha maybe Santa will bring you one

Congratulations Gerry. Looks superb. I hope you enjoy many great nights with it. Fingers crossed for Einstein’s cross

Congrats Piero. Great looking scope. Looking forward to hearing your impressions of it as you get to know it

The very first filter I used on Jupiter was a cheap Moon filter that came with my 130mm newt. It did help bring out the equatorial belts for me though it gave everything a green tint. Since then I’ve tried quite a few different filters including a light blue (82A), Baader Contrast Booster and Baader Neodymium. The Neodymium is my preferred filter though I do regularly observe Jupiter with no filter too. I’m also using a 10” dob. I nearly always using orthos as I find these give better contrast and sharpness to wider field eyepieces. The narrow FOV and short eye relief can be challenging though. I’d be surprised if your Pentax XWs weren’t up to the job though. I know John rates them very highly. Magnification wise, I find myself most frequently using a 9mm eyepiece to give me 133x magnification. This is mostly due to Jupiter being so low often resulting in the seeing being quite poor. I think Stu’s suggestion of a variable polariser is a good one. I remember doing this myself before I settled on the Neodymium as my preferred filter. There’s a nice guide here on use of coloured filters on the planets https://agenaastro.com/choosing-a-color-planetary-filter.html

Looking picturesque in Norwich earlier this evening

Congratulations on the 24", Gerry. Great report. I've been looking forward to hearing how the 24" performs. Sorry to hear the weather hasn't been cooperating.

I took a few measurements with my Lunt XWA 9mm. Without the two T2 spacers the distance between the field stop of the eyepiece and the barlow element is 4mm closer. This gives a magnification factors of 1.94x. Attaching the eyepiece via the M48 thread as opposed to inserting it into the 2"-1.25" means the field stop is further away which why you don't need the T2 spacers. 2" mode on the left giving 1.94x and 1.25" mode on the right giving 2x. Adding the three 15mm T2 spacers in 2" mode takes the magnification factor to 2.64x. In that scenario my Baader Zoom becomes a 9.1mm to 3mm. Assuming my measurements and calculations are correct!

The dob on Jupiter for the GRS and Io shadow transit. The frac with OIII filter on M27. My wife would describe this as “living my best life”

@Piero If I described you as anything less than a hero I’d be doing you a disservice. With the Baader VIP in 2” mode with the Tak adapter all my focus issues go away. With my dob it works using my standard Clicklock extension tube. No need for the extra long 80mm extension tube. The Baader Zoom will focus with three 15mm T2 extension tubes fitted in the frac with 2” diagonal. I haven’t found anything it won’t work with so far. In 1.25” mode, I’ve really struggled with focus issues which has limited the usefulness of the Barlow. All I need to do now is figure out what the magnification factors are with in 2” mode with varying numbers of T2 extensions. Thank you so much for the tip and advice. Really appreciate it.

Fab. Thank you very much

I went out with the intention of having a go at Antares last night but cloud stopped that plan. I did split the double double and then Izar with the Equinox 80 and Nagler Zoom. I hadn’t expected to get Izar in the frac and was very pleasantly surprised. Chris’ comments on splitting Antares at 90x gives me hope of getting a split with this setup.

Hi Piero. I tried this last with the 9mm but didn’t have sufficient back focus to reach focus. My extension tube method setup will only work with 2 of the 15mm spacers. If I add a third then I also run out of back focus. I’ve ordered the Tak adapter for further experimenting. I’m not sure if that configuration with help but worth a go.

I did do a fair bit of experimenting prior to getting the extension tube. I’m not sure if I tried it like that or not if I’m honest. It does make sense that it would reach focus like that though. I’ll give it a try next time out. Thank you!

Some pictures. Long arms are recommended for reaching the focuser 😉

I have the APM/Lunt in 20, 13 and 9mm. I used my Baader VIP Barlow successfully with the 9 and 13mm on my 10” dob. I had to buy a 80mm extension tube and use both of those EPs in 1.25” mode to reach focus. The Barlow slides down the extension tube up to the eyepiece adapter. Even so it’s still quite a stack. It does give me a very nice 100 degree 6.5mm and 4.5mm EPs though

This week’s arrival of a Nagler Zoom has pretty much filled up my eyepiece case. Most of these were bought with my 10” dob in mind. My travel case with Equinox 80, Baader zoom and ES68 24mm. I have a 2” Williams Optics Diagonal and 1.25” TS Optics Herschel Wedge in there too. The Nagler Zoom will be added to this for trips away. I’ve determined that my next astro purchase should be renewing my Norwich Astronomical Society membership in August! Let’s see if I have the willpower to resist buying anything else in the meantime!

Great post, John. I’ve so far failed to split Sirius but will spend some time this season on Antares. Sounds like a good challenge

The wedge comes with everything required. I was just looking at options to try it without the stacked ND/Continuum filter. Solar is new to me so am having a play to see what I like best

This will sound really silly but I'm honestly not sure if this is a serious suggestion. Are yellow filters good for Solar? I wasn't sure if it was a joke due to my fussyness on Sun colour. Really don't mind if it was joke. As my wife says, I have a face for comedy.