russ

Very enjoyable episode indeed.

Great stuff, dedication paid off

53 minutes ago, Dan_Paris said:

A stainless steel counterweight for my AP900 mount,  custom made locally at a machine shop

 

That looks sooo nice

On 01/06/2022 at 15:55, johninderby said:

Had one for ages and find it is a great diag.. Fitted mine with a 2” nosepiece though.

I did the same. Its a great diagonal.

5 hours ago, Rob said:

Pushed the button on a Asterion Pro upgrade for my EQ5 from FLO!.

I have to say it’s quality made.. there’s a new revision with the control/computer. WiFi now built in with an on off switch and USB port for PC/Laptop. Fitting was a breeze.. with control from my IPhone. 
 

very smooth being belt driven

Rob

That looks epic Rob

1 hour ago, Louis D said:

I much prefer the APM Hi-FW 12.5mm to the 12mm NT4.  It has much less SAEP exit pupil finickiness, much less EOFB (which extends to the center of the NT4), better eye relief, and it's sharper to the edge at f/6.  Of course, I prefer the 12mm ES-92 to either, but it's much bigger and 2"-only.  Some folks prefer the 12.5mm Morpheus to either the APM or NT4, but I've never looked through one to comment on it.  Then there's the Docter/Noblex 12.5mm that's supposed to be terrific except for price and the presence of AMD.

If it doesn't work out or doesn't put enough clear air between itself and the Nirvana, the T4 will be going. I paid a good price, so will be just a no cost try out at the end of the day. Those other eyepieces sound epic but guessing they cost a lot more than the £150 I paid for the T4. Probably out of my reach. I did notice someone on here is selling an ES-100 14mm for what seemed a steal.

My next to go will be the Tak LE 12.5mm. Nice eyepiece. Small and light, simple design. Tak sharp. Barlow's well with TV 2x. But that 52deg field just ain't enough 

My favourite sub-£100 eyepieces by a country mile are the set of Nirvana eyepieces (4mm, 7mm and 16mm). Find they perform well at f5, nice and sharp. Great field of view. And all for £70 each.

Last year I tried a bunch of eyepieces I thought would suit the planetary role better. Baader Classic Ortho, Vixen SLV, Tak LE. All had one thing in common, they were claustrophobic. Or just plain uncomfortable (BCO). And yet offered no more detail over the 7mm Nirvana. So this year I have bought a Nagler. A 12mm T4. Only the second time I have owned one. Eager to see how it stacks up against the 16mm Nirvana and also barlowed (with a TV 2x) against the 7mm Nirvana. 

All working fine and stable. 

Those are superb Neil. 

On 05/01/2022 at 20:36, F15Rules said:

Prinz 550 (Dixon's Photographic) 60mm F15 refractor with proper equatorial mount. Made in Japan by Kenko ( later Prinz 500s were much cheaper built with some plastic parts, such as the focuser wheels. They also had Circle T optics, which were quite good, but not IMHO as good as the Kenko lens set). All metal construction in a proprietary grey paint finish which I found very cool at age 15!

Ah the awesome Prinz 550, my second telescope and bought for £25. Could believe my luck at the time (1985), my paper round money covered it no problem. Should never have sold it. But I did straight swap for a home built 8.5" dob. Which I adored.

First instrument was a pair of Swift 10x50 binoculars. I wanted a telescope but Mum used to watch Sky at Night and Patrick said you should start with binoculars. Never been so gutted EVER. Of course I had to look grateful and I did give them a go. Thought they were a waste of time and tossed them in a draw. Six months later I was bought a 50mm Tasco refractor. And from that point on I was hooked. One look at Saturn, job done. I wrote to Patrick to tell him how badly wrong his advice was. I was only 14 at the time. And cringed later when I realised what I had done. And Patrick being the awesome person he is wrote back with a diplomatic reply.

Still have the Swift binoculars, a prized possession now. A few years later I realised the worth of binoculars and also how good Swift were. I stand by what I told Patrick though, binoculars are definitely NOT the right choice for everyone. Had it not been for that little Tasco I wouldn't have been hooked.

That's really nice. Some nice detail in there.

19 hours ago, Stu said:

Depends on conditions, I had some nights on Mars last opposition at x300 with a 4” apo and x360 with 8” f8 dob. Lovely views when you can get that high.

I'm really hoping so Stu. I remember having Mars up around 350-400x back in 2008 using the C8. Never been that lucky with Jupiter and Saturn, even in 2003 when they were practically over head. Probably our location.

2 hours ago, Mike Q said:

It will all depend on our skies here.  300x is about the max it allows most nights.  

200x is the max, sometimes not even close to that. 150x was the optimum last year. Mars and Jupiter so high this year, hoping they will take more.

2 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

The wife would look at Saturn all night if I let her lol.  She generally likes to look at the whole planet but this year I will be running up the magnification a little to see well I can do just the rings.

Cannot blame her, I can sit and look at Jupiter and Saturn all night. Jupiter last year was epic. I replaced my cheapo diagonal with a Baader prism and added a couple of Vixen SLV eyepieces. On good nights the details were superb. Now just bought a Takahashi LE eyepiece to add to the Vixens. Also going to push the mag now they are rising higher in the sky. Fingers crossed they can take it. 

On 12/04/2022 at 02:05, Mike Q said:

Well the wife will be glad that the gas giants are back and we will be spending some time looking at them.  For me, if it isnt blocked Ursa Major will be on my list to look at more closely.  There is a lot to see there.

I'm also looking forward to the planets returning. Should be good in the morning over the coming weeks and months. Saturn, Mars and Jupiter. And Jupiter is getting up to a good height this year.

25 minutes ago, Ian McCallum said:

Are any of the SW ST series of refractors suitable for visual observing?

I adore my Startravel 150. A great visual tool. The chromatic abberation does not bother me at all. Detail on Jupiter has been excellent, rivalling the C6. Yes there is a smear of blue which would drive some up the wall. I can see fine detail within the belts, between the belts. I bought it as a low power sweeper but use for everything. The Veil with an OIII filter was great from the garden. 

Only downside with the 150 is it is very heavy, the 120 would probably strike a better balance between aperture and weight. 

1 minute ago, Rob said:

Hey Russ, hope your good!.

Thanks. Thought it maybe a push for them. Its interesting as Bresser offer their goto for the Exos 2 /EQ5 with a 8 d-cell battery pack?!

Cheers

Rob

All good thanks Rob, hope you are too.

Oh right, perhaps you can then. I'll probably kick myself now.

Hi Rob,

I'm not sure the D Cells will last that long.  The standard drives only draw a tiny amount of power. The Pro series will kill the D cells really quickly. I'm guessing. 

I put the Pro kit on my EQ5, ran it for a month and then took it back off and sold it. Put the Enhanced drives back on. Got fed up running the mains out and refused to go the leisure battery route again.

Now run my mount from a phone power tank, which is epic. Don't even use the D Cells.

These chairs all look wonderful. Very envious.  I did have the Lidl Ironing Chair, replaced it with a Leifheit Ironing Chair. I have no complaints. Its not as easy to adjust the height as these wonderful wooden ones.

LEIFHEIT Multi Seat Niveau Ironing Chair White

2 hours ago, Gogleddgazer said:

I think there is a lot to be said for a small 3" APO that can be "thrown outside" at short notice when unforseen clear skies arise. In my limited time peering upwards some of my most enjoyable nights have been impromptu visual sessions like that. IMHO a light weight easy to move set up is worth it's weight in gold to maximise viewing opportunities. 

Yes that's the real beauty of a small refractor. You can do reactionary astronomy. See an unexpected weather window, grab the scope and go. With the 200P and 250P I would talk myself out of it. Too much hassle to setup. 

Definitely worth owning both. Aperture always wins, and nothing beats a dob for value. But for low power sweeps of star fields, nothing beats a small frac. 

Lovely image.  I saw Orion Monday morning before work. Grabbed 30mins with the scope. First visual of the season.

12 hours ago, Dave scutt said:

Only in Ireland 

In Southampton too last night. Clear sky but raining. It was a great sky though while it lasted.

20 hours ago, lunator said:

Hi Stu

I was using my ST80 with my range of orthos.25/12.5/6/5/4mm

Cheers

Ian

 

 

Really nice report Ian.  Amazing what you can do with an ST80. Since getting the ST150 I haven't touched my C6 or ED100. I have been amazed how well it does on planets. Bought it as a low power sweeper and now use it as a general purpose everything. So much so I sold the ED100.