Geoff Barnes

I must say I've been thinking quite seriously of getting a pair of binoviewers for some time now, peoples reports of their 3D image effect is very appealing to me. However, I have a slight squint in my right eye so my eyes don't see in stereo, I always favour one eye at a time, usually my left, which presumably means I'm seeing in mono. Does this mean I won't get any benefit from using binoviewers I wonder? There doesn't seem much point investing in a pair if I'm only going to be mostly using one eye. Does anyone else have this condition who uses binoviewers, and does it make a difference?

You need to spend more time in the bathroom Louis! ?

Better quality glass on the left if you ask me! ?

What was wrong with the old one Gina?

Can I join in? Better than I thought actually, now if only I could cut down a few dozen huge trees..... If I could get the 12 inch Dob about a half hour drive east of here I would be well into Bortle 2 territory, if only.....

Here we go folks, this is my 12 inch Dob wearing its posh new Astrozap cloak pointing straight at Sirius this evening. Gives you an idea of the elevation of Sirius and Orion too.....

I had exactly the same issue with my Skywatcher dob when I first got it. It turned out the problem was simply that the AZ Power Cable was not fully inserted into its sockets, it felt like it was but I had to push extra hard to get it to "click" into place, then all worked perfectly. Just make really sure your AZ cable is fully connected. at least it will eliminate one possible cause. Good luck!

Hardly any need for a telescope with those! ?

Last one on the list, number 5, is Series 3..... Antares Speers Waler Series 3 80° Wide Field Eyepieces 1.25" Superior quality 80° eyepieces. Compared to eyepieces almost 3 times the price, the Series 3 SWA eyepieces compare very closely indeed. They feature a very high build quality and stunning optics. ONLY £159.00buyDETAILS

This will make you laugh (or scream in horror) but I recently cleaned a bit of dust off my 12 inch Dob mirror by sticking the vacuum cleaner hose down the tube, and while holding it really tightly sucked the dust off without getting it any closer than 2 inches from the mirror. Worked a treat and left the mirror spotless! ?

Probably not the right thread, but this is the sky here this afternoon, as clear and deep blue as you'd ever see. So I'm really hoping it stays this way after dark, should afford some wonderful seeing tonight, fingers crossed!

Ha ha! Very observant Neil. Do you know it's taken me two whole days to realise my spelling mistake - "moths" instead of "months"! I wondered what the moth balls connection was! ? (Corrected now!)

A big box weighing very little arrived from FLO today, it was a little the worse for wear but I wasn't too concerned as I knew the contents were virtually unbreakable..... We live out in the sticks a bit here with dirt roads, so dust is a very big problem in the summer months (and moths too!). My open collapsible Dob is a sitting duck for contamination from dust not to mention swarms of Australias finest bugs, so it seemed appropriate to order some protection in the form of an Astrozap shroud..... Needless to say it's now pouring with rain so the dust will be settled, but the bugs will still be out there!

Perhaps 5 years of silence speaks for itself? I can't recommend the Baader 8-24mm zoom highly enough, it is wonderful. ?

JOC, I have the Morpheus 6.5mm and I would have to say it is my favourite eyepiece for high power viewing, spectacular views of the planets! Meanwhile, I had a delivery of my own today, and I'm just a little excited, as I'm in the midst of being determined (and thwarted) to see Barnard 33, the HorseHead Nebula, so this little gem should give me my best chance so far..... .....but of course the clear weather of the last 300 or so weeks has now turned to cloud.......?

Hi SacRiker, It is a Skywatcher SP Plossl, 32mm FL, 52 degree FOV. I've used it a couple of times and although the sky has been somewhat washed out by the full moon I have been able to ascertain that it's optical quality seems very good indeed, sharp pretty much to the field stop and wonderfully clear views. My only slight complaint so far would be signs of reflections around the edge of the FOV, but not a problem unless you are looking for it, maybe internal flocking could be improved? Anyway a real bargain for £24 from our friends at FLO.

My plossl(above) came without a cloud sticker and sure enough I've got clear skies! ?

It had James name on the customs label, perhaps we should congratulate him! ?

Only 11 days from FLO to me, that's faster than usual.! Feels nicely made, nice rubber grip and surprisingly weighty. Really nice big eye lens, I do like a big eye lens! Strong green colour to the lens coating, is that good? Has anyone else got or tried one of these? I shall impatiently be waiting for dark tonight, the sky is clear and The Pleiades, Hyades and Orion await my new eyepiece! ?

My thanks to FLO for the prompt delivery of my first foray into the world of Filters. The major planets are moving out of sight from my viewing spot at home, as are some of the best globular clusters and doubles, so I thought it was time to start exploring some of the "invisibles" up there in the cosmos. I did a fair bit of reading up on old SGL threads to garner an idea of which filters to start with, and it boiled down to either a UHC or an O111. Whilst the O111 would seem to be favourable for The Veil and a couple of others, it appears the UHC might be a better all rounder on a wider selection of targets, (debatable I know). Anyway, I've plumped for an Astronomik UHC to start with and we'll see how we go from there. Naturally the weather is not in cooperative mood now or for the foreseeable future after weeks of clear skies here, so I tried the filter out in daylight with my phone camera. Rather nice I think in a slightly psychedelic kind of way..... I can't wait to use it with the 12 inch Dob and hopefully see some incredible nebulae etc. in the near future!

Oh my, such a pretty box! My Baader 8-24mm zoom is great but I just wanted to tease a wee bit more detail out of the planets. My 4.7mm ES 82 degree ep is just a bit too much magnification (320x) and a bit fuzzy under the majority of conditions, so I took a guess that the 6.5mm Morpheus would be the maximum focal length for planets, giving me 230x in the 12 inch Dob. Amazingly huge eye lens, must be like looking through the porthole on a spaceship! Can't wait to try it.!!! ?

You little beauty! I never ever thought I would have one of these, the EQ6-R Pro arrived today! ? Just one problem..... I didn't order it!!! Tasco have sent back my Dob Go-To base unit in one box, and to my surprise they sent a second box (addressed to me). Upon opening said box there it was, a shiny new EQ6-R Pro mount. Very nice I'm sure, but of absolutely no use to me at all. Some poor soul somewhere is wondering why they haven't received their order, well that's cos I've got it! Tried to phone Tasco at 12.35pm only to be informed they close at 12 noon on Fridays! ? I will just have to wait until Monday now to get anything done about it, someone has made a big boob! ?

I have to say I've never even looked in the Binocular threads, but I do have a pair of Sunagor 8-24x Mini Zoom bins which I've had for so long I can't even remember exactly where and when I bought them. It was probably 30 odd years ago and possibly from Jessops, or maybe even Argos in Southampton, not sure. Anyway, they are really compact and great for keeping in your pocket when hiking etc. and nice and lightweight. The zoom function works surprisingly well, though you do have to re-focus as you zoom. FOV is obviously smaller at 24x but still acceptable and the views are really quite sharp for a cheap and cheerful pair. I quite often still use them to scour the sky for faint visual objects like Omega Centauri before unleashing the 12 inch Dob. Out of interest, Sunagor are still going strong and have the proud boast of producing the world's most powerful binoculars, the mind boggles as to how truly awful they must be at 160x zoom! http://www.sunagor.com/acatalog/info_13.html

Let's hope it's "Third Time Lucky" everyone!

Exasperating all round! Not a good week for Skywatcher what with me having to send my Dob Go-To base unit back as well. Hope this is not a trend!