Geoff Barnes

I'd say it's a toss up between all you Daves and the Johns. Mind you, there do seem to be quite a few of us Geoffs on here too! 😛

Yes that slight offset is quite normal and as it should be.

Hi Andy, yes it is very close to being spot on. Just a tiny tweak of the primary knobs to get the small donut ring directly over the cross hairs and bingo. As it is it should be good enough for observing purposes. I would do a star test with a high power eyepiece on a bright star just to confirm.

Pretty much every outing Barry. It gives 230x so is very useful as a high power EP on a wide variety of targets from solar system to double stars and globulars and even galaxies and many nebulas. Obviously good seeing is required but I feel 230x is not too much power in a 12 inch f5 Dob for many targets in average or better seeing conditions. Food for thought. 😁

Hi Barry, if I was in your shoes and (like me) you love the Morpheus EP's, I would get the 6.5mm Morph. Getting the 9mm when you already have the BST 8mm doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. My 6.5mm in the 12 inch Dob is superb. I have a decent barlow, the Celestron Ultima 2x Japanese one and I don't like the dimmer image it produces much, so I hardly ever use it these days.

So frustrating down here. Neowise has only just risen above the horizon after sunset, but is too faint to see in the twylight before it sets. I've been out two evenings running scanning the sky with binoculars where it should be, but to no avail. Oh well, bring on the next one...

Indeed, nice and high in our sky and quite an easy split as I recall from last year, though I don't remember the mag required. Coming into view here soon so looking forward to splitting it again.

True that. I have to say in my defence I don't consider it a split unless I can see clear black sky between the pair, and despite my poor viewing conditions there was clear seperation around 200x.

I'm staggered by this, 49x??? Whilst the double double is very low down here near the horizon and very wobbly, I have just about managed to split them into four on a couple of occasions with my 12 inch Dob but only with around 180x-200x.

I think we all know there was only one person who took the post too seriously @John, everyone else seems to have joined in with the lightheartedness you intended. Indeed I am sorely tempted to paint my SW Dob bright pink and post a photo, might as well as I'm not getting any astronomical use out of it lately! 🤣

Like @Paz my highest power EP is the 2.5mm SLV. I knew it wouldn't get a lot of general use, bought it primarily for lunar and planetary use with my 12 inch f4.9 SW Dob, giving 600x magnification. With it being our usual cloudy wet winter here I have only had a couple of chances to use it on the moon and the views were incredible. Itching to use it on Saturn and Mars in the forthcoming weeks as we go into spring, with the planets here being very high up in the sky, seeing conditions can be exceptionally good at times, so fingers crossed!

@John, I used Google Translate, but it couldn't cope with the whole page, so I copy and pasted each individual EP section into Translate and it coped with that.

Blimey, they only rate the XW at 12 and the Ethos and Delos at 15/16 out of 20! Certainly leaves a lot of room for improvement in performance but one has to ask how on earth that could be achieved. 🤔

West Virginia USA @John. I know because I've been there.

Beautiful image and beautiful poetry @astroavani, did you write it yourself?

+1 for the Lacerta focuser, I fitted the very same one on my SW Dob. Easy to follow instructions and as almcl says, only takes 10- 15 minutes. Make sure you tilt your scope into a horizontal position when fitting to avoid anything falling onto your mirror.

I noticed you had been referring to a Mak-Cass in some of your posts recently @John, and wondered if you had taken the plunge. Not as big as I thought you were going to go for, but at least you probably won't need to put up a shelf to store it on, does it fit in the scope alcove with all the others?

Hi @John I think you missed my earlier enquiry about the altitude of these planets where you are observing, are they below 10 degrees? You're doing really well to see such details with them low down there.

What elevation are they rising to up there @John? I do feel for you all having to peer through the murky wobbly atmosphere to see these magnificent objects, when my problem is craning my neck to view them overhead! Can't see them here until after midnight when they clear the trees, but in August I shall be spending a lot of time on them.

Yep, I'm going to be looking for it from about the 26th onwards from here when it should be about 10 degrees above my north horizon, so a bit iffy but hope for the best!

+1 for the SLV 2.5mm and 4mm @Agsthese are two of my most recent purchases. With the planets being almost overhead here Downunder in Oz I am rejoicefully able to use very high magnifications on them. I fear they will give too much magnification for you with the planets so low down there. No problem for excellent lunar viewing though with steady seeing. 😁

I'm particularly looking forward to viewing Mars when it comes into my view in December at 45 degrees elevation. As it is one object that seems to take whatever magnification one can throw at it I will attack it with my new Vixen SLV 2.5mm and at 600x I will expect to see at least a few Martians going about their business! 😁 (No dust storms pleeeez!).

There's an interesting write up about it here @dd999 https://www.spaceweather.com

That looks fully extended, strange that it doesn't click before you get there though. Oh well, we can rule out the poles as the problem I think.

Then you need to be brave and pull harder, you must reach the second click. Try a bit of lubrication on the poles if it helps, my poles get a bit stiff after a while and I have to wipe them with some silicone spray to loosen them.