russ

Wow that's a stunner. Nice work. Can't beat a Glob image done well.

Superb. Great images. I have the scope setup but all i have is cloud and wind.

Haha I can relate to that. I really, really need to be in the mood and know 100% it will be clear before going near the EQ6. Most of the time I prefer to throw out the little Star Discovery mount with the Starwave 70. Setup it seconds. Carry the whole thing one handed anywhere in the garden. So easy.

It would be a stunning package if that is all true.

It's the heavy light polluted skies that did it for me in the end. I did without GOTO for 38 years. Always preferred the challenge of star hopping. But from my town centre skies its hopeless. You can't star hop if there are no stars. I just couldn't be bothered now without goto. Unless I can get to decent skies.

Wow 3.3Kg for a 125 aperture refractor. That would even work on my SW Star Discovery mount. Surely that is wrong. My Megrez 110 weighs in at 6.5Kg. Admittedly its not a Carbon tube.

You did the right thing. Just hope they didn't ditch it all as the ST80 is a great little tube. Bought my niece one and she loves it. Hasten to add we bought an ST80 tube only and remounted it on an AZ4 going cheap. Works brilliantly for a young beginner.

My grab and go does both. It's just a cheap Skywatcher Star Discovery mount with the Altair Starwave 70 apo. Star Discovery can be used manual or powered up with GOTO. To cut down clutter with the goto, it can use an app on the phone and the wifi module is built into the mount. I use an external 12v powertank but to cut clutter even more you could load up with AA batteries. But I imagine they would not last long. I was out most of last night with the Star Discovery and used it fully manual the whole time. But the GOTO is superb when i need it and the mount tracks beautifully. It takes a small apo with ease. I love it. We are on hols tomorrow and the Star Discovery plus Starwave will be in the car.

I did a good hour of lunar last night. Got 5 mossie bites to show for it. Moon was stunning last night and night before. Detail incredible and holding good magnification too. Pushed the little Starwave 70 to 250x and the 150 achro to 300x. A real treat. Also surprisingly good was Venus. I normally take a 60 second look at Venus and then move on. But it was so crisp, its crescent phase just snapped to focus and atmospheric conditions were favourable. Both scopes gave a great view. Then back up at 2:45am for Saturn, which was epic in both scopes again. Banding in the 150 was mesmerising. Using the DeLite 7mm was a dream view. Wasn't expecting it but caught Jupiter in the dawn sky. Had to use the little Starwave 70 as couldn't move the 150 to a good position. Starwave nailed it though. Epic night. Mossies aside, I love summer viewing.

That is it in a nutsell Ant Myself, I played no part in SGL, I bailed a month or so after it was formed. Fantastic to see what Ant's baby has grown into with the help of all the admins, mods, FLO and all the members.

I still have those Swift 7x50. It took time but I came to appreciate their quality. I also realised the main drawback at the time was the badly light polluted skies of Portsmouth meant that trawling the night sky with the binos was not a pleasurable experience. However, when we went on holiday to Cornwall under much better skies those bins came into their own. My Tasco was the 49TR. Bought new in 1984.

My little 60mm Tasco was what got me hooked on the hobby in 1982. My parents initially followed that age old advice of buy a good pair of binoculars instead of a cheaper telescope. So I started with a pair of Swift 7x50. They ended my interest instantly. Then I got the Tasco and hooked. I'm sure going back to it now it would be horrendous but I thought it was the business at the time and it wiped the floor with any pair of 7x50 or 10x50 binos regardless of brand or price. That part I would still stand by now.

I second everything you say about the SVbony 3-8mm. Fantastic eyepiece. Super sharp, beats the BST eyepieces. Constant 56deg afov. Fantastic build. Lovely zoom action. Only zoom I own. If you have a short focal length refractor or spotting scope, it's made for it. It also loves being barlowed.

Just had one of those delivered myself this week. Even managed a quick look at the moon with it using the WO110. Razor sharp.

There is nothing favourable happening down south. It is endless cloud, wind and rain. One of the worst starts to a year i can remember. And the forecast for the next two weeks is dire. But there is a drought warning in place.

My phone kept dropping the WiFi. I was still in range of the home WiFi, so had to forget that network so it would hang onto the Synscan WiFi. Highly annoying.

The ones i watch on a regular basis are: Ed Ting, Trevor Jones and Astrobiscuit. There are others i will watch if it looks good. But most are not comfortable in front of the camera and production values not on the priority list.

Yes the old Turf Hill meets. I miss those.

That's great, just as I was seeing it.

Well despite some iffy conditions at times that turned out to be one of my favourite Jupiter views. Actually seeing the two moons in front Jupiter was stunning. And then the shadows. Gave it a proper 3D perspective. I was still buzzing about it this morning. 😃

How are you finding it now? I found it steadied up just after my last post. Used the 8mm for 187x and looked pretty good. Could see Ganymede no problem. And possibly Europa too. However now a fuzzy mess again.

Well it's clear here and wind died to nothing, so two out 3. However seeing is pretty awful. Down at 105x with the C6 and even that is fuzzy. Hoping it improves by 9:30 as the shadows make their way across. Good luck everyone.

Just a heads up that there is a double transit this evening with the GRS. Should be stunning if the skies clear, wind drops and things steady up. Bit of an ask but you never know.

That is more or less the same for me, except swapping Refreshing Views for Alyn Wallace.

My two TV DeLite's (11mm & 18.2mm) are my fav eyepieces. Desperately need a high powered one but just bought a used ES 6.7mm, hoping that will do the job. I do have an 8mm TV plossl but that is really hard work. Optically excellent but too much eye strain. The DeLite can match anything for edge to edge sharpness, epic contrast, incredibly comfortable to use and much better blackout control than a Nagler, Morpheus or even the Pentax XW. Never tried a Delos and would love to, wonder if it has all the awesome qualities of the DeLite plus extra FOV.