michael.h.f.wilkinson

I have the Nagler 31T5, 22T4, and the 17T4, and they are my 3 favourite DSO EPs (I have a Celestron GP-C8, so same as optics as your scope). I would say the 31T5 works very nicely in the C8, and is almost always the first EP out of the case. The 22T4 is great, and I use both it and the 17T4 for my galaxy hunts, alternating between EPs depending on the surface brightness of the objects. The 31T5 does give significantly wider views than the 22T4, so if it is a matter of either 31T5 or 22T4, I would go for the 31T5. Ideally, you want both

+1 for APP. I had many problems with DSS, and got so exasperated with it I tried APP, and it works great. You can get it here: https://www.astropixelprocessor.com/

I have the 5, 9, and 15 mm SLVs, and compared the AFOV simply by holding pairs up to both eyes, pointing at an evenly illuminated white wall, and checking whether the image circles matched. The 9 mm and 15 mm match, but the 5 mm compared to either shows that the 5 mm has a slightly smaller FOV. Not something you would really notice in everyday use, but the 5 mm definitely has the smaller FOV. Therefore, I find it most likely that it has a 45 degree AFOV rather than the 50 degree AFOV of the 9 and 15 mm

Very nice result!

The SLV 5 does have a slightly smaller FOV than the SLV 9 and 15 I have. I have never found that to be a big issue, especially on a tracking mount, but also on my mini-giro for solar observing. I have never found the weight of the XW 5 a problem, I should say, but then it is dwarfed by the Nagler 31T5 "Panzerfaust"

The XW5 is absolutely superb, I simply cannot fault it, but the SLV 5mm I have in my travel/solar kit is every bit as good, it just has the smaller FOV. I have looked through a TMB clone, which was very good, but not quite as good as the XW5 and SLV 5mm. I understand the Delites are similar to the Delos in performance, and the Delos EPs I have are every bit as good as the XWs. I have never looked through the Takahashi LEs.

My Vixen SLV 5mm is excellent, essentially the same quality as my Pentax XW 5mm which differs only in FOV (and price)

Alas no, it was behind trees and houses

Snapped this with the Canon EOS 80D and 100-400 mm L IS USM zoom

Really nice first images. I would be very happy with that. More exposures helps reduce noise and bring out even more detail. The framing of M31 is very nice, M45 could be framed a bit better

I have seen far too many of these adverts. I always report them as fraudulent

Interesting reading. What I really don't get is how many people rave about reducing the number of elements in an EP for better transmission, and then insert the resulting EP in a Barlow (or even tele-centric lens like a PowerMate) adding at least 2 elements. Yes, fewer elements reduces scatter, but also increases other aberrations and at very short focal lengths really require you to glue your eye to the lens. The very fact that the addition of the Barlow increases image quality as reported in the CN thread shows the aberration issue is real, especially for a 3x Barlow. This reduces the already moderate light cone of F/7 to F/14 or even F/21, which will of course reduce all other aberrations of the glass ball. I will stick to my XWs and Delos EPs Back to the Siebert Optics (Super) Star Splitters: never heard of these. I wonder if the design is somehow related to Masuyamas, given the 5 element design. For myself, I am more tempted by their series of tele-centric Barlows, which come in lower magnifications than others (which all start at 2x), which could come in handy for planetary imaging

I have a Celestron GP-C8, which has a slightly lighter OTA than the Meade equivalent you have, whereas the Vixen Great Polaris mount it sits on is generally considered sturdier the the SkyWatcher EQ5 (which is one of many GP clones). This combo is fine for planetary imaging, and visually on DSOs, but I would not want to do DSO imaging with it. The GP mount works nicely with a short refractor, and at a pinch with my Meade 6" F/5 Schmidt-Newton, but DSO imaging at 1280 mm focal length would not work well at all. Even the EQ6 might struggle a bit at that focal length

I have been using ZWO cameras for years now (only non-cooled versions), and have had no issues with them whatsoever. I also have two filter wheels, and like the cameras work fine with all the capture software I have used. Never used QHY or Altair cameras so cannot comment on them

Spectacular details in those images

The best way to get a planet on a small chip is using a flip mirror. I align my finder scope with the main scope with a reticle EP in place, then aim the scope at the planet with the finder scope, centre it on the cross hair of the EP in the main scope, flip the mirror up, and the planet is neatly on chip. It does help that I added an R&P focuser to the scope, but I also used this approach without.

Just did a bit of a reprocess on the image, pushing it a bit further, and cropping it to eliminate some issues in the background Not sure which I prefer, much depends on the monitor, I find. As ever, more data are needed, preferably from a dark site

Added 1 h 60 min or so of data to my previous effort. Not easy under hazy, suburban skies. I don't think I could get much done without the Optolong L-eNhance filter Might want to retunr to this object when I am at a darker site

Managed to capture the sun in WL and Ca-K for the first time in quite a while. Had to set up the APM 80mm F/6 on the EQ3-2 mount across the street, because the sun doesn't rise high enough to image from the garden WL WL pseudo colour Ca-K Ca-K pseudo colour I cpatured 2000 frames and stacked the best 500 (seeing was surprisingly stable) in AS!3, sharpened in ImPPG, final curves in Gimp

Yesterday I got just a shade over an hour's worth of data on the Crescent, taken from my Bortle 5 back garden, using a Meade SN6 6" F/5 Schmidt-Newton, with ASI183MC camera and an Optolong L-eNhance filter Followed by about 1h 36 minutes of data on the Crab Stacked and stretched in APP, some final curve tweaks and crops in Gimp. Noisy, of course, but pretty pleased at my first effort. Should be able to add more data tonight

Got it! Not easy in moonlight, but I spotted a vague hazy blob in the right location, first with the Nagler 31T5 in the Meade SN6 6" F/5 Schmidt-Newton (24.5x) and slightly better using the 22T4 Nagler (34.6x). The blob moved with the stars if I moved the scope, so wasn't likely to be some internal reflection somewhere in the optics. The SN6 is really proving to be a great comet hunter

Collected the data (now shooting darks). Managed to get Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) with the 22T4 Nagler in the 6" F/5 Schmidt-Newton as a vague blotch in Orion. Difficult under moonlight

It cleared up reasonably well earlier than expected, so I have set up the Meade SN6 Schmidt-Newton on the Great Polaris mount with ASI183MC and Optolong L-eNhance filter. I first got an hour's worth of data on the Crescent (until it was low over the neighbour's house), and have now swung to the Crab. Both are firsts for me, and the SN6 ASI183MC combination seems to frame them well

Hope to have a go this weekend, weather permitting

Just a note on ordering bins on-line: there is always a chance that they arrive out of collimation, but that is fairly rare, especially for the better quality bins. Besides, if you order from a reputable store, they will replace them without hassle. The first pair of Helios LightQuest 16x80 bins that arrived by DHL were out of collimation, but FLO replaced them swiftly without any extra cost. I have had similar experiences with other on-line stores (notably astroshop.eu).