Rusted

Preferably side by side. Better binoculars offer a brighter, sharper image without any false colour. You have to see it to understand the difference. There is an immediate and obvious purity to quality optics. Without any softness, only central sharpness or distortion. Remember that this may only be true of top models! Those in the lower price ranges, even by a top name, may be dismal. Do not believe any reviews on YT. Certainly not US dealer's or US hunter's reviews. I bought accordingly. Then had to return them. As completely unworthy of the asking price. It was all complete and utter jingoistic hype/tripe. So finally I went to a bricks and mortar dealer. Where I tried selected models side by side on an outdoor target. Until I reached my price ceiling. There was no point in testing at any higher prices. Because I would be forever dissatisfied.

There has never been a better time, in all of human history, to read conflicting reviews online. There was a time you could trust word of mouth recommendation. Then "they" invented corrupt influencers, paid for reviews and "personality" advertising. Opinions can now be bought and sold, like filthy rich slaves, in/on The Markets. Which unnamed Asian factory is not without sin? When it comes to sticking designer labels. On shoddy, slave-assembled products. For "household names."

Any species, advanced enough to be capable of interstellar flight, would have solved this problem. Interstellar flight is not Moon rockets on steroids. It is a quantum leap in science, technology, materials, energy, wealth and biology.

What they [all] said. 8x42 roof prism is the best compromise. Plenty of light, compact and lightweight. I have lots of old porro-prism binoculars and almost none are still aligned. My 8x42 roof prism binoculars are lightweight and go everywhere with me. They have never shown the slightest hint of misalignment. Despite years and miles of walking, cycling and scrambling through forests. My Zeiss porro-prism 10x50s went out of alignment in one day! The shop refused to replace them because they said I had dropped them. How can you prove you haven't?

Thank you Mandy. It is rarely one can have two such distant objects in the same field of view. Albeit one much closer than the other. Particularly when subjected to high magnification from using a very long, effective focal length. A shorter focal length would have a much deeper field of view. Notwithstanding the extreme distance to both objects. Where two distant objects are in separate fields of view one would naturally tweak the focus just to check best focus. Thereby losing the reference point from the first [sharply focused] object.

Excellent capture. Just curious: Did you notice any difference in focus between the planet and lunar limb?

We had the first proper sunshine in ages yesterday. I was away from home until it was far too late. The two storey dome was already in deep shadow from my own house. 😭

Thanks for sharing. My sky is the same colour as your Sun. But darker! 😭

Wouldn't that stunt its growth into a real refractor?

Would these processes not tend to produce more Borgs? Rather than fluffy little puppies. Or T.Rex. The list of potential threats to all forms of life grows longer by the day. And may often [inevitably] be "Their" last. Give our own preoccupation [innate obsession] with appearance and status: I must say that our mothers-in-law are highly unlikely to allow "anything else" as a suitable partner. Even if "They" do come in peace.

Your image shows truly remarkable depth of field. The [allegedly] fictitious "round object" is as sharp as the ISS in the foreground. 😎 The only thing missing from your artwork is a space walker. Perhaps next time?

As the lady commands:

Will I get banned for suggesting the sun no longer exists? 😭

I don't want to seem picky about orientation but... Hope this helps?

Lots of nice detail Steve. Despite the parking problems. I've forgotten what the sun looks like. 😭

The brackets, which fit the tube, appear to be bolted on and are projecting beyond the base plate.[See image] The holes in the brackets could be easily slotted outwards with a round file. To allow you to slide the brackets inwards. If the base plate is still too large then use a flat file and forget. Do NOT touch the threaded holes in the base plate. These are your bracket fixing points. The difference in curvature where the brackets fit the inside of tube is only slight. Any changes you make would be invisible once the cell is fitted into the tube. If any bare metal cause you sleepless nights then just use some paint.

Dark Matter is [just] gravity "leaking" between parallel universes. Dark Energy and expansion are caused by the pressure of photons leaking between parallel universes. UFOs & ghosts could be sightings across thinning of the membranes between universes. If the maths does not agree.. then it will later. They just don't know it yet. In a multiverse of unknowns then even my silly "theories" are equally valid. Billions of people, on this world alone, believe even sillier theories than these.

You can tell the aliens are highly advanced: They can disable any image stabilisation in our cameras. While simultaneously giving the imager severe Parkinson's.

Thanks Lars.

Lars, Thanks for sharing your visit to this fascinating observatory. Did you take any other pictures of the clock in the glass case? On the right while pointing up at the pictures of astronomers. Precision timekeeping was an important element in astronomy.

Here be dragons! 😱

Just a note: A drive pin on the face of any practical disk size would suffer from slippage. The variations in drive radius [on the disk] would fight each other across the length of the drive pin or width of a drive wheel. There would be simultaneous, multiple drive ratios depending entirely on the contact radius on the large disk. I built an equatorial platform half a century ago. Using a sharp edged rubber gramophone drive wheel and a long plastic cone for drive speed adjustment. The plastic cone drove a long, threaded rod and nut, via reduction spur gears, for altering the speed of the equatorial drive.

Thank you Lars. Do you have any recollection of the quality of the image of Jupiter in the big refractor? I must say that your images of the observatories and instruments are really excellent. Both in quality and detail. .

The problem with the English mounting and Yoke variants is providing the tall northern pier. I visited Herstmonceux with the Bath Astronomical Society well over 40 years ago. Now Bath Astronomers associated with the Herschel Society. We even got to climb on the Isaac Newton 98" mounting. That was before it was relocated. As were other instruments. The scale of which were truly breathtaking!

Thank you for continuing to share your fine images and details of these fascinating old observatories and instruments. I wonder if anybody here has any experience of using such large instruments themselves? Were these large telescopes really "rock steady" in use? Did they suffer from backlash? Not only did they mount one large refractor but sometimes added a second or third. Such confidence! There is no sign on professional mountings and instruments that weight was ever an issue. Most used generously sized iron or bronze castings and steel tubes. Aluminium was not even an option in those days. There are remarkably few amateur equatorial mountings today which pretend to support even modestly sized refractors. [Over 20cm aperture.] Mostly, I presume, because the amateur insists on easy mobility even in their old age. The reflector is the instrument of choice for many amateurs. With many large apertures now mounted on driven, plywood mountings. While the large refractor has become more of a historical curiosity.