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heliumstar

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Everything posted by heliumstar

  1. All these scopes I think are the same. Altair, TS, Starfield, Tecnosky, WO, etc. I had 3 Altair scopes and all were excellent both mechanically and optically. One of the best out there. I still miss Altair 80ED-R I sold. It was on par with Takahashi 76. And I mean completely on par - no difference whatsoever. Amazing star test in both and you could see less purple in Altair actually. Tak 76 has nothing on it apart from being slightly lighter but Altair has shorter tube and is 4mm wider. I am sure you would be very happy with any 115mm you get - no matter if Altair, TS, Tecnosky or whichever brand you buy. Go with the cheapest imo...
  2. Looks all ok now ๐Ÿ‘ Thanks for a wonderful newsletter!
  3. binocularsky.com redirects to parked.need-less.org.uk for me in Firefox on Linux for some reason. Other browsers are fine.
  4. ZWO Seestar S50 - the price is right and the package looks well thought of overall. Ordering....
  5. Just saw this. https://twitter.com/dfuji1/status/1629259622619176961
  6. I wanted to try and test everything so I bought pretty much everything that can fit on my balcony. My eyes are not perfect so take this with a grain of salt. What I am left here with is a simple 127 Maksutov that puts to shame all premium, mid and low range refractors in ~80mm for planetary and Moon (this is what I can see from my polluted sky). Yes, even Takahashi 76. On to refractors. I thoroughly tested Tak 76 and Altair 80ED-R. I really liked the Tak but Altair is just as sharp and a little brighter as well. Focuser is much much better on Altair. The weight is the same. Guess which one I am left with? Unfortunately Tak is not worth it in my opinion when the view is the same and everything else is better on Altair. I suspect that at the end I will be left with Maksutov for quick planetary and Moon and sell Altair as I am looking for smaller refractor to fully automate EAA sessions.
  7. Thanks @John for reminding me of this article! Nice eyecandy to rest my eyes at end of work day
  8. Morpheus is now in the price territory of Pentax XW. It would be interesting to know if sales drop. I would go for XW every time. There is just no comparison in build quality between the two. I also find XW more comfortable. Viewing through them is similar experience with a slight edge to XW again in my experience.
  9. That's interesting. I am aware that Japanese might not be as 'excited' about Taks as we can sometimes be but what else is out there that is held in awe by people from Japan?
  10. Amazing! Hopefully we'll see smaller ones as well Have one question. Is weight spec accurate? Other brands are lighter. Any changes on Starfield?
  11. Same experience here as well with 127 and 102 Maksutov. The best views I get in the UK are ~120x with both. ~130x+ is already 'mushy'. The same with 80mm and below refractors. The seeing just doesn't allow for more magnification most of the time. I have Baader Zoom and Vixen SLVs and no real difference apart from SLVs being just slightly more comfortable.
  12. These work as risers for me https://www.gwr-fasteners.co.uk/spacers---standoff-collars-606-c.asp
  13. Thanks for posting this! I presume you use az gti mount in eq mode? What tripod do you have? The scope is quite heavy so I presume not the standard tripod that comes with the mount?
  14. I am poor at judging the quality of astro photos but this looks very good to me! What mount are you using with your RASA 8?
  15. I had similar experience with FS-60Q one night at ~270x. Yes, the image was dark(er) to the eye but I was actually flying over Luna. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me since I am not sure if I remember correctly (keep notes right!) but I had similar experience with Vixen A81M as well.
  16. My birthday is coming up and I am browsing all the usual UK suspects (astro shops) to see what I can give to myself Last year my lady paid for the Tak and I tried this year again but it looks like I need some socks so that's in the works now. I am thinking to get some decent accessory (or maybe -ies??) so need some suggestions. For me, Rigel finder is that single most useful accessory. I have Synta/Vixen style shoe for it so it goes from scope to scope. Suggest away Let's say ยฃ500 price limit.....but if you find some thing is really useful the budget can be stretched.
  17. Not sure how any of this is relevant to giving credit where it's due?
  18. If particles are between lenses return it. Otherwise clean it Q-tip and alcohol will do the job.
  19. I love this mount but when out yesterday for conjunction I felt alt getting a little stiffer.
  20. You ask if there is anyone that used SLVs with SCT. I used it with C5 and refractors. I had 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 9mm and 12mm. I saw that spacer in the eyepiece but never saw reflections when observing the Moon. In the fl range you're looking for I settled for BCO 10mm and am yet to find the eyepiece that shows more stars than BCOs with my eyes. If you can handle the size and weight I would look into Pentax XWs as well as there is nothing better for overall experience (transmission, comfort, eye relief, quality, fov) out there as far as I am concerned.
  21. Try it bare-bones. Without anything attached (cable in your photo) and with just internal batteries and go from there. If the same I would do a firmware update but not sure how far you want to go before returning it?
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