Sky-searcher

Observing seat? As i have a sloping garden, the usual observing seat isn’t suitable. While observing the moon recently while high in the sky I found it getting uncomfortable to stay at the binoviewers for any length of time. I grabbed an off cut of 4x2 & sat with that behind me. I was able to concentrate on the views easily for long periods. The idea of a shooting stick came to mind & found this one used on fleabay. Seems like it’s going to be a good buy!

Looks great John 👍

Looks good to me & colour matching with the Stellamira. Well done 👏

This shouldn’t happen! Postman dropped off a solar filter and finder on a clear sunny day! Bought a filter & finder for my little used these days MAK127. Cheap enough entry into 1st time solar viewing. Can now enjoy this hobby night & day as long as the clouds stay away. ☀️🔭😁

Hoping to get a good lunar session in this evening. Clear when setup, had a coffee & patchy cloud appeared. Got a few clear patches before the moon disappeared totally. Good to get out though.

My old neck of the woods! Kicked up in Skem before moving to Aughton when I was 13. Left over 20 years ago to come to the Isle of Man. Small world!

I am quiet lucky to have bortle 4 skies at home, can be amazing in our garden looking up at the Milky Way. But we have an ever increasing housing estate to the rear I have more & more light pollution from security lighting etc. On the up side the street lights are switch off between 1am to 6.30am so a late night observation is incredible. 20 minutes drive are bortle 2 skies according to the scale. I am yet to try them as usually happy to observe from home. But as usually happens, I don’t expect the local skies to get better, only worse over time.

Arrived yesterday, but delivered to work & I’m presently working from home. Managed to keep my excitement on hold till I picked it up this morning. Unpacked this thing of beauty & craftsmanship! Berlebach uni 28 heq5. 😃

Already on its way. Berlebach uni 28 HEQ5. Arriving Tuesday hopefully. Has been on my wish list for the last 12 months.

Jeremy are you an immortal? 😂

I had a quick 15 minute session to test the effectiveness of the Bino Bandits last night. Setup my lightweight mount and MAK127 & used Orion as target. Using Baader 18mm BCO,s the bandits easily mount over the eyepiece’s. Stood besides a lit window with street light reflection from next doors house & my garage lights on behind me. The bandit was comfortable & easy to adjust to conform to my face especially around the nose area & was able to block all surrounding light, leaving me to concentrate on the eyepieces with no distraction. 1st brief session looking good. A simple design & low cost accessory that can make a big difference. 👍

Bino bandits arrived today. Fitted easily on the binoviewers. 👍

Bino bandits arrived. Fits the binoviewers easily. Hopefully a good addition. 👍

I was all set to have a go tonight after reading earlier & we had clear skies, but now fog has quickly moved in here spoiling my evening 😢

Ordered last night. Cheap enough to try out. Will give them a go with my binoviewers & if doesn’t work out will fit to my 20x80’s. 🤞

What appeared to be a promising evening has turned out poor. Not a cloud in the sky all day & clear when I put the scopes out earlier. Light cloud covering wondered in at around 7.45 to spoil the session. Promising clear evenings for the next 4-5 days, hopefully 🤞

Beautiful scope John, I am envious! I was very interested in the TS badged version, but Astro funds never stretched far enough at the time. Very good value for money & binoviewer friendly also with removable focuser section. Sure you’ll enjoy it!

Baader 1.25 glass path corrector arrived today from Microglobe. After fitting the T2 adapter to my WO binoviewer, I still needed a touch more travel to focus when on my TS 80 mm frac ( extremely close, but no cigar). Fitted the GPC into my 2” nosepiece at the front of the T2 diagonal giving an extra 30mm of travel. Can now get focus with a spare 12mm & not add too much magnification in the frac. Had to use a stock pic as I was to eager to try it out when I arrived home with clear skies to take a picture.

I have no experience with the mount. I would say it’s probably ok as it’s part of the package, but probably close to its limits with the 150 Mak.

The Orion Mak is the same as skywatcher’s. They are both made by Synta in China as is the Celestron scopes. The Meade 150 Mak is also the same. 👍

Hi Spier24, as Louis has mentioned, the extra aperture does improve on resolution. Both scopes are great. I have both at present. Just to note that the 150 is a total different beast. Physical size & weight of the 150 means it needs a sturdy mount , whereas the 127 is a lot more compact & can be used on quite light mounts making it good for grad & go. I would recommend the 150 if you have a suitable mount or go for the 127 if being more portable is better for you.

T2-M26x0.75 & lock ring for WO binoviewers arrived today. Expected delivery was 2-3 months, but arrived in less than 3 weeks from rafcamera in Russia. Should shorten my focal length by 35mm. Will be touch & go if it will reach focus without GPC in my 80mm frac.

Had a quick Luna session last night as it was rising with my TS80 photoline & WO binoviewer & 1.6 gpc. Got to say 1st impressions are good. Comfortable to use ( 18mm especially) & really sharp views. Good contrast & pretty dark background considering it was a 97% illuminated moon without filters. Hopefully a winner, time will tell.

Binoviewer bundle arrived today. Bought used off ABS. 2 x 18mm & 2 x 10mm classic ortho’s. 2.25x Barlow included also which should work well with my hyperflex zoom. Looking forward to putting them through their paces in the binoviewer.

I use a pair of hyperflex zooms without click stops & as Peter says you get to easily judge the mag in each eyepiece. I was worried before purchasing the pair, but quickly found them easy to match by eye.