Trikeflyer
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Posts posted by Trikeflyer
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Just now, AdeKing said:
I've finally just placed my order with FLO for one of these and am very much looking forward to the day that it arrives.
Let us know how you get on Ade.
Steve
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When I got mine, ioptron told me to avoid sky safari 6 if using WiFi as the az pro won’t work with that version.
i haven’t tried it so can’t comment. Works with sky safari 5 fine and I love this mount. I’ve found the alignment to be pretty good and as others have mentioned the levelling is a bit of a chore but practice helps.
enjoy the mount I have been really please with the on3 I have.
Steve
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Great report and it does feel good when you overcome a technical glitch with mount alignment and it makes all the difference when observing in urban skies I think. Glad you got it sorted.
Some really nice objects there and you must be buzzing at so many firsts. M76 is tricky I find it really hard from my urban skies, faint and small! Kemble cascade and the owl cluster are two of my favourites. M52 is nice in a scope. I had it in the binoculars last night and it’s pretty faint, the scope opens it up nicely.
Thanks for posting.
Steve
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4 hours ago, johninderby said:
The Nirvanna eyepieces are a great buy and while not a Nagler aren’t far off really in an F/5 or slower.
Wish people would stop mentioning the Morpheus eyepieces. May have to buy one. 🤣
I have the Morpheus 17.5. Very very nice eyepiece indeed. Great field of view and I wouldn’t be without it now. Go on you know you want to....
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9 hours ago, wesdon1 said:
Thank you so much for your advice sir! I've seen the Plaeides ( Open? ) Star Cluster and that was amazing! So many stars close together! M42 was faint grey fuzzy with my 130mm/5.1 inch reflector and still beautiful! So with the 200mm aperture i hope to see more detail! I will let you know how i get on! Thank you again so much sir!
Wes
There are so many open clusters to view. So many, the list is endless really. All will look great in an 8 inch scope. If you don’t have sky safari or other suitable app, then it’s worth getting this. Also a telrad or alternative rdf is a must in my opinion as this will help you get into the right area of the sky before using a traditional finder, thereby saving you hours of endless time searching for stuff. You will find your own way of finding stuff but a good electronic app and a red dot finder are worth the investment. Also worth signing up to the binocular sky newsletter by Stephen Tonkin (see binocular observing section on this site) as although it’s designed for bins, many of the targets look great in a scope at relatively low mag and it might give your observing some structure. I use GOTO a lot as I can quickly get frustrated with looking for stuff in light polluted skies when it’s difficult to see the stars that allow you to hop to them. Using GOTO means that Also I can be pretty sure that the target in the eyepiece is the thing I’m looking at as opposed to any open cluster in the general area that I think is the one I’m aiming for (that may not be important when the targets are distinctive eg NGC 457 the owl cluster - it’s obvious that you have the right target in this case as it can be easily identified. The trouble for me is that many open clusters can be easily mistaken for others when they are less distinctive. Not everyone will agree with that opinion and neither should they, it’s just my view. Don’t worry about GOTO for now though, it will either be relevant to you when you are ready, or it may never become a tool you feel is valuable. Either way, rdf and electronic star map are very very handy bits of kit in the observing armoury so to speak.
Can’t wait to hear how you get on.
Steve
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Thanks for the heads up.
Steve
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Sneaky. I thought there’d be a catch - it shouldn’t be allowed but I guess they haven’t really done anything wrong - just devious. I’m sure the scope will give you many hours of enjoyment and I’m looking forward to hearing about them.
Steve
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Looks like a quality scope.
You peeked my interest and so I looked for the scope. Not sure if it’s the same but astroshop eu have it at an even more amazing price?
Looking forward to your first light report.
steve
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With my 8 inch f6 reflector I have seen galaxies M31, M81/82 from my back garden in suburban light polluted skies. Have tried others and failed miserably (which are easy from dark sky) but not urban skies eg M51 and a host of others.
I find Globular clusters are probably the nicest objects in this scope in urban skies M13, M92, M2,3,5 and a host of others.
Other objects you will get are some other nebulae eg M57 ring nebula, M27 Dumbell, possibly M17 swan nebula - one of my favourites. M42 of course will look amazing. I have managed the faintest hint of M1 Crab Nebula from my suburban skies but it was only just visible with averted vision.
Open clusters will pop in this scope so they are worth looking at, M 11 one of my favourites will look stunning as well as some of the other fainter messiers eg M52, M 56, M72, M103 to name but a few.
Enjoy the scope and if ever you can get it to dark sky your mind will be blown.
Let us know how you get on and what you manage to find.
clear skies
Steve
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7 hours ago, Tubby Bear said:
Cloudy in Derby mainly ; with the odd clearer bit here and there
Had a quick look with the binocs, but it wasn't clear enough to get the scope out.
Same here. Got the bins set up, had about 30mins observing then cloud. Started Steve Tomkins Sky At Night Bino tour. Kemble cascade was the highlight - simply stunning. Cassiopeia clusters were nice, M31 was ok, cloud rolled in session done. Nice to be out in the warm weather.
Hope those of you that had clearer skies enjoyed yourselves, thanks to those who posted reports so far, I’m looking forward to reading more about your observing sessions last night.
Steve
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Glad you go5 your mojo back. I think we can all feel a bit out of the groove at some point. Thanks for sharing though. I just love those nebulae. The swan is probably my favourite closely followed by the lagoon and the triffid. I have to smile every time I catch them.
Thanks fir sharing
Steve
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March 21st/22nd 2020 might be an option. Moon sets during the day and its before the clocks go forward. There is a slim chance of reasonable weather!
Steve
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8 hours ago, nonlinear said:
I've recently acquired an Altair Starwave 80ED-R. It's on an skywatcher AZ-GTI mount and the whole setup is light and surprisingly stable. I was looking at jupiter last night at about 160x without even aligning the mount and it was tracking really well.
+1 for this set up. I have the Altair star wave 80ed on a star discovery mount and this goes with me in cabin baggage. I have to put the tripod in the hold but it travels well and I think is a pretty good balance between wide field and high mag.
There are many choices in these apertures and they are all pretty good I think.
steve
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Looks like a nice scope you have there.
Yes it would be interesting to see your sketches.
Steve
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Just purchased the moon atlas for iPad that you mention John, looks pretty good.
Thanks for sharing
Steve
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Hi philip,
I think the 127 is a great scope but after you have had a large dob, I think you will find it limiting for deep sky observing compared to larger apertures. If you sell the dob you will possibly lose money. It’s tricky when you get off to a bad start with things so I can see your predicament. If I were you I would definitely not sell the dob unless you are going to re invest in another 8 inch dob which you were very happy with. Is the issue mainly the weight and portability or the go To? If it’s the portability, there are these possibilities ( there may be more)
1. Buy or build a scope buggy
2 Add wheelbarrow type arms to the dob base (see pic attached)
If it’s the go to, then we need to know more to advise.
Good luck, but don’t sell the dob, at least not yet, you’ll regret it I think.
Steve
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Michael,
I’m Keen to know how the Monarch 7s perform as they are currently my number 1 target binocular for day and night time use. The Leica’s Olly penrice has are amazing though and my choice is between these two.
Steve
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Sounds amaaaazing. Just thinking that If ever you want rent out your back garden in Ireland for my tent I’d be more than happy to take you up on the offer 😜.
We are planning to go to Ireland next year for our holiday....
Steve.
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3 hours ago, Steve Clay said:
I can do weekend 25 oct. Would have to spend day of 26th with young grandson in Taunton as it's his bday but back up for evening. We would be travelling from Cornwall.
Steve
It is the best date for sure. I can’t make that date as I am away in Turkey - it’s my daughters half term and we decided to go away. Enjoy it guys. Clear skies.
Steve
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8 hours ago, Kepler99 said:
True! But buying the 9mm one, then with a 2x Barlow I can get a 14mm from the 28mm as well as a 20mm from the 40mm , so the gap wouldn't be as big, and then, buying a 6mm one or so, I think it would also be a nice set.
And on days of exceptional seeing for Saturn or on the moon you can try 2x Barlow with 9mm slv.
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14 minutes ago, Ships and Stars said:
I'd maybe go for something in the 12mm range which is around 80x on that scope I think. If you have a 2x Barlow then you can of course double the mag to 160x or so for good conditions. I've been wanting to try the Baader Morpheus line, they've great reviews except the 14mm which is mixed. But this is pitting the Morpheus against best offerings from Televue and Pentax, so the Baader is relatively cheap in that regard (still £175). I'm sure the Vixen eyepiece Steve mentions above is good. Above the really cheap starter eyepieces, most eyepieces seem to offer generally fine views. The 28mm SW 2" eyepiece is surprisingly good, especially considering they practically give them away!
Also good advice from ships and stars. I thought after I posted, you could just get a 2x and 3x Barlow with your 28mm and that might give you more flexibility. Sometimes you can pick up a used 5x powermate which would work well with your 40mm plossl as well. There are loads of options and doubtful that there is one perfect one. In the end anything that gets you into the 6 to 15mm range will give you a much better view than you have now. I have a Morpheus 17.5mm and it is an exceptional performer but for planets you don’t need wide field.
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For the moment in the UK the planets are not perfectly placed. That said, you can tease out nice detail if you spend time at the eyepiece. Realistically mags of around x150 will show you a decent amount of detail if th3 sky conditions are good. In your scope that is about 6 to 8mm. My personal opinion is you need to find the balance between clarity and mag. With planets FOV isn’t a factor. If you wear glasses, eye relief might be a factor in your final decision but if I were you I’d go for something around 8mm. The vixen range of slv are really good - I have the 6mm version but that might be pushing the mag unless the seeing is really good, they only do 6mm and 9mm so not quite perfect but either we not be bad. Cheaper options include bst starguider 8mm which I have used and is nice. In 6mm I don’t think you’ll beat the slv. So summarising it depends on your budget but I’d suggest 6-8mm with decent eye relief. You can consider the orthoscopic design but eye relief will be tight and may not suit. I am sure others will offer alternative opinions, so this is just mt take on your situation.
Steve
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Sounds like you had an night to remember. Nice write up. Thanks for sharing. Just shows that skies are as important as big aperture scopes. Imagine having access to a 12inch Dob out there 😱
Steve
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Depending on actual dates I am definitely interested.
Steve
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ioptron as pro anyone?
in Discussions - Mounts
Posted
That’s useful to know. I got my mount only a couple of months ago and didn’t th8nk the firmware woukd be old, that said, I’ll check it now. The ioptron engineer said don’t use sky safari 6 but based on your experience it does work. I’m happy with sky safari 5 for what I do but thanks for the tip on the firmware.
Steve