Rusted

Thanks. My etalon is already, half exposed. i.e. Without its usual metal or rubber band. I adjust the etalon tuning and tilt frequently with a rod in one of the usual screw holes. But I have always suffered the same off axis "illumination." There is one setting where the entire field darkens and becomes more even. That is my preferred setting but it is not very stable. I have previously removed the etalon element, examined it and its sponge support ring. Sadly I was none the wiser over what could actually be done to improve matters. There is no separate packing piece. Which is mentioned occasionally in solar circles. Just a plain, sponge rubber ring. Any specific advice would be very welcome.

Brief glimpse of the sun, moon and Mars today. Emphasis on "brief!" Ya wanna see today's harvest after several days of drought?

A brief glimpse of the sun fooled me into setting up. One quick "snap" and the overcast returned. Not so much a work of art as a humble record of the event. The spot had left quite a trail of destruction in its wake!

Blowing a gale here with cloud until it was too late to matter.

The new dangerous sport for 2020? Extreme observing spot landscaping under duress. Mine likes my two storey, 10' green dome on top of a 15' tall octagon [with veranda]. So there!

I'll see your damp Cheshire and raise you Wales and Cumbria.

All good points but I find excessive eye relief a nuisance. Preferring the gentle, head locating effect, of the twin eye cups, for relaxed, extended comfort. I bought pair of 40mm Plossls for achieving lower powers with GPCs and have never used them again after the first trial. Oddly enough I found my head could not remain steady at the precise position required without any physical clues. 26mm followed by 32mm are my usual "weapons of choice."

I gave up the idea of a Pulsar dome after reading about the condensation problem. I also passed up a secondhand 2.7m GRP dome at pocket money price. Hopefully this absence of condensation will continue for you. Keep an eye out for white mould on the painted, inside surfaces. My plywood dome is deliberately well ventilated at the base ring, bi-parting shutters and is wide open below floor level. I even spaced the floorboards to let it breathe. The insides of the matt black water based paint on plywood dome and walls have all been covered in white mould since the first cool weather from first being built. It hasn't got any worse and is more cosmetic than a structural problem. The worry is that mould can cause allergies and severe bronchial problems.

Seeing the moon through binoviewers is more like hovering above the surface than merely peering at it with one eye. I find it relaxing and detailed with no obvious floaters. Same with the sun in W/L and H-alpha. The increased magnification has already been mentioned as [probably] the major downside. The Glass Path Correctors are placed a long way from focus with binoviewers. I use pairs of Meade 4000 32, 26 and 20mm Plossls. 26mm more than the other two. With my TS binoviewer I have TS 1.6x, 2x and 2.6x GPCs. I believe these are their true powers when used on the snout of a binoviewer. They are weaker when used on the nose of a single eyepiece or camera. More expensive binoviewers should give you much greater clear aperture. For using lower power, wide angle eyepieces, without vignetting. Best to check this before buying.

Cloudy morning then poor seeing in the sunny bits. Cleared up a bit in the afternoon but never good seeing. Used the PST BF a lot today. The Lunt B1200S2 just wasn't bringing out the detail. All B&W. Variable processing.

A nice clear morning but I was really struggling to get any detail on the monitor or out of processing. A range of images taken this morning with different degrees of processing: Not proud of any of them.

Don't use ordinary polystyrene sheet without a damp proof membrane over it. Moisture will go straight through the polystyrene, condense on the inner wall surface then drip through and/or discolor the polystyrene. It was not a pretty sight! Damp, porous materials are probably not great insulators either. Closed cell foam might work better but I haven't tried it.

I arrange sandwich boxes around the base ring and collect it. It's like the Tardis. The rain is bigger on the inside.

The seeing is dire. Glassy, wobbly, going in and out of focus: You get the picture. I got two: Don't kill the messenger!

There are mitts with detachable finger hoods for whatever you need to do with bare fingers.. A "gentle breeze which sucks the warmth out of you" is a clear message to invest in a decent jacket and a tea cosy with ear flaps.

The gimbal head is unsuitable for plane spotting because the telescope tries to pass through the base as it is tilted upwards. A fluid damped, video head is more suitable provided the tripod is tall and steady enough. Some spotting scopes can reach 95x but are expensive. Kowa 88mm fluorite Apo series with 1.6x tele-extender. 25-60x native zoom. Superb optics in a compact form with an upright image. I suggest the angled version for planes and birds. Straight through for water birds, video and photography. Now I'm sounding like an advert. Does that make me an influencer?

You don't need high magnification but a zoom is almost essential to keep it in the field of view. A camera is a neck breaker without a diagonal. Most terrestrial diagonals are 45°. A normal star diagonal will reverse the image. By sheer coincidence I have recently been taking snaps of aircraft with a 400mm MFT zoom. [800mm equivalent in FF.] This image has not been cropped to avoid increasing the magnification. Resized from 5000 to 600 pixels for the forum.

Thanks for sharing your valuable, personal experience. Windy, or still conditions, are very different. Both require different approaches. Wind chill becomes a serious matter with increasing [wind] speed. A breathable membrane is essential for cycling or other exercise like mountain walking. But windproof cycling gloves may not be [remotely] warm enough for just standing around. Hopefully wind chill is very unlikely at the telescope. Though I once designed a Dob on a cycle trailer to get away from the street lights.

Or, alternatively, a message from The Cave Management: "Clear off outside!"

External to the telescope a midge would be so far out of focus that it wouldn't register.

I second the use of a camel hair brush. I use a wonderfully soft, rouge "mop" from the makeup department. Kept in a clear, tubular container to help keep it clean and to avoid ever touching the bristles. I wonder why we don't use blowers more? I plan to use my hair drier on my optics as a routine before starting every solar imaging session. The dew which arrives on the optics from opening up the observatory after a cold night attracts lots of dust! The warmth clears the glass quickly and probably helps to shift some of the muck without physical contact and before it sticks. Your lens looks much like my optics usually do!

Wind, cloud, no transparency and terrible seeing conditions. I was really struggling to focus on these surface features: Left of centre in the southern hemisphere:

A really impressive video for outreach!

I always used a Fringe Killer in my 6" f/8 achromat but never even considered a filter for my Vixen 90mm f/11. The Vixen has always delighted me with its almost, violet free views. Both 'scopes have fixed cells. Peter's advice is sound. Test, by all means, but change nothing you don't understand. Laser collimators and Cheshire Eyepieces are themselves subject to errors until proven otherwise.

I use cheap Thinsulate gloves with the first two finger tips cut off both, with scissors, for typing in the obs. I bought a pair of ridiculously expensive £60 Sealskinz, years ago, for winter cycling. Sweaty, even in the cold and not particularly warm either on their very first ride. At the first natural stop the furry linings stuck like glue to my hands and pulled completely inside out! So I was stuck miles from home with no usable gloves. I couldn't even get my finger tips back in! The pain of that ten mile ride home was excruciating! I had planned to go very much further but had to abandon. Those Sealskinz were lethally dangerous garbage IMHO. It took me years more to discover GripGrab 'Nordic' winter cycling gloves in the form of divided mitts with rubber dots for grip. Totally windproof, they breathe well, flex easily, are neutrally warm and don't make my hands sweat during exercise. Downside it they aren't remotely typing or touch screen gloves. Their fingered gloves are great autumn and spring cycling gloves. Though I haven't tried to type in them they aren't bulky. A down jacket and hood are a great way of keeping your hands warm. Core temperature stays warm so the extremities are too. Big warm pockets when you aren't typing War and Peace on the laptop. Thickly lined, winter boots will keep you comfortable and happy too.