mark81

I've viewed and sketched the Orion Nebula many times with small binoculars... It's one I haven't done with a scope. I used x66 on this one and spent 15-20 minutes observing, the longer I looked, the more detail appeared.... Some real nice shape and structure could been seen, so I took a sketch... 80mm f5 with 6mm UWA x66 Mark

@Voyager 3 I used both x26 (bst15mm) and x66 (SW 6mm UWA)to view the Crab last night, the x66 didn't make a huge difference to the nebula but made the background sky a bit darker - so that had the best result - and that's what's in the sketch.. Mark

Finally had good enough skies for a go at the Crab. I've never seen it before but with help from Stellarium, to the EP and back again, suddenly it jumped out at me. With this scope you get used to most DSOs being faint fuzzies... But this one really stretches that expression.. it really was tiny and very very faint... One you could easily miss unless you knew exactly where sits. But it's another one off the Messier list with this little scope.. here's a little sketch.. Mark

Finally a clear sky! Thought I'd grab the opportunity (19/12) 4.35 so I don't miss out completely. Grabbed the ST80 and a 6mm 66apov eyepiece. The dust bands of Jupiter jumped in and out of view but mainly remained hard to see... Mesmerising to see these two in one FOV....

That's a nice way to record the whole event... All you need is a nice clear sky for the next week... Not sure that will happen here..

Nice report... I often have sessions like that, laid back in a chair and the targets seem familiar too... I always check out the Auriga clusters - as you said, only smudges, but always nice to look at.. Also very nice to see some meteors... The last few showers have been ruined of course with all the cloud, but maybe I'll catch a few later this week... Mark

Reading reports like this is great... I can't remember the last time it was clear here,(like many of us) so hearing someone else's excitement is very welcome! Mark

Clever Marketing... Being a massive fan of the ST80, I havent had much to complain about. Its cheap and does good at what its supposed to. BUT often i have thought about a focuser upgrade because when your sitting there waiting for the scope to settle after a re-focus you kind of wish it had a better focuser.... but that is about £180 so your £100 scope is now about £300 and all it can do it low/medium power.. as @vlaiv says, you add MAK for high power and you may as well have got an ED80.... If you focus on one scope - like the ST120, You can get this on the AZ3 for about 280? And we all know that this mount is going to be poor with this scope sitting on it.... Yes, astro can be done but your soon going to become frustrated..... so you end up buying the AZ4 for £170 for a total outlay of £450 but of course in the first place you could have bought the 120 with the EQ3 (perfectly adequate) for £380!? saving you £70.... clever marketing? I guess that if we could all go back to the start of our astro journey, many of us would go straight in and buy our perfect scope and save loads of time and money although the outlay night sting a bit ... and if you your just dipping your toe in, I guess we have to pay....

I don't suppose many would consider the ST80 a 'mini' scope, but you can pick the whole thing up in one hand and carry star maps and red torch in the other.... The trouble begins when you have to open a door....

Nice one Doug, I was surprised to see it up for sale so soon - glad your keeping it - and hearing the tight crisp doubles you can split, I would hold onto that one too! Mark

Hi Roy, A warm welcome to SGL Mark

In terms of a tripod, check out First light Optics, (FLO) in the binocular section, there's a decent selection there... All should be more than enough for the 10x50s but you'll need to check the thread on the telescope... Mark

@wulfrun yep that's the one.. Quite often someone has captured it on camera which is always good to see....

I didnt see it. I never see them.. I've actually never seen a fireball despite looking for 20 years... There are a few sites that log fireballs, I thinks it's meteorsky.co.uk. Check that out in a day or two and see what pops up.. Mark

Check them out... Sometimes you can get lucky. Most of the time those unbranded bins are terrible under night skies... A combination of poor lenses and prisms might leave you disappointed.... A friend gave me a pair of Tasco zip bins which I thought was nice... But when compared to the Olympus DPS the difference was quite unbelievable (and the Olympus are only about £50)

SOLVED**** not sure how I missed it.... Thanks Hi All, I was wondering how to limit the magnitude of stars shown on the mobile app if you have the full version? Thanks Mark

Hi All, I know there are a bunch of these and DIY p-mounts around for big binoculars, but this video popped up on my recommended and the simple design looked quite appealing - especially to me - and I guess quite a few easy mods could be thought of too... For your interest.... Mark

Nicely done! It's always very satisfying to grab an object that really needs to be hunted down... I always find it that little more satisfying when achieving it with binoculars Mark

I've not seen this one before... It's interesting that if you had the 90/900 you might wish for a shorter focal length for better wide field views, but with the ST80 80/400 you'd wish for a bit more focal length and a little more light power.... This one seems to fit the bill...

Thanks Stephan, I've not come across that one before.... I'll have a look at that next time I'm out... Mark

It's been a while since I've been out with the bins and couldn't resist when I saw a nice clear sky for the first time in as long as I can remember. I grabbed a look at m45 first of course and it really jumped out at me, one we've all looked at many times before, but always a good starting place. Some great doubles in the Hyades and that nice string of stars just above it.... That's one FOV I really enjoy under a nice dark sky. I stuck with Taurus and picked out 1647 as a faint smudge with a couple of stars resolved... Then 1746, another cluster which is similar to 1647 - much better viewed later when it's higher and more visible. A pair of 70mm really helps on these two. M35 just creeped over my neighbours roof and just to the right of these was a faint fuzzy patch which was clusters 2156 and 2157 merge together I think... Checked out the Auriga clusters of course, you can't quite get them all in the 6.5 degrees of the 10x50s which would be cool, but I'm sure I have with the 8x40s. All were nice and easy to spot. I had a go at M1 - not sure why, cos I've never seen it with 50mm and tonight was no different.... I finished off in Cetus. I got Delta Ceti in view and and to the left sat two faint faint patches? Maybe? They jumped in and out of view with averted vision, I'm hoping they were m77 and maybe 1055? I had a close look at my atlas later and I'm not convinced, so that's one for another day.... Let me know if you've ever seen m77 with some 50mms. I got growled at by a hedgehog and then spooked by a cat..... And came in... Clear skies Mark

Thanks Steve, lots to look forward to. I've never viewed planets with bins before, but must give it go this month... And I'm sure we'll have clear skies for the meteor shower... 😏

I think it goes down to personal preference whether a standard tripod is comfortable enough.. I have found it a little annoying before , when you want to look above 65-70 degrees and have to tilt you neck too much and try and keep your eyes close enough to the eyepiece.... Of course you could look into a parallelogram mount - I've used one before but I've never set one up and they do take up a little more room.lt will allow you to view in comfort, either standing or sitting/laying back Mark

Fantastic.... I have always wanted to have an old pair of 14x100... Some of the best binocular targets you looked at there, as I did last night with a pair of 10x50s - I imagine your 100mm showed just a bit more detail..😀 If you have a chance, it'd be great to see a picture of them Mark

Great sketch Mike, really wonderful soft colour... These sketches always make me visit the FLO telescope section....😃