Mr Spock

Just been studying Hesiodus and Pitatus. The rilles in Pitatus are quite prominent at x380. The good seeing is a chance to try out my 4mm eyepieces. Svbony 3-8 v 4mm Nirvana v 4mm Circle-T Ortho v 4mm TOE. They are all similar except the TOE is just a bit clearer. There's a hill in the right side of Pitatus with a 1.1km crater just below it. The crater was seen in all the eyepieces but was crisper and easier in the TOE. Also tried the Svbony at 3mm v the 3.3mm TOE. The TOE was the winner with the Svbony just a touch hazy. Quite acceptable detail though. I don't see a difference in magnification so I'm guessing the Svbony isn't actually 3mm.

Just been looking at it. The shadow is receding slightly now, but it's still a good view.

I've got the 12" out again. Just put it out and without any cooling (it's cool in the shed) the seeing is far better than last night. I've just been looking at Clavius and Tyco at x253 and it's lovely and crisp.

Maybe similar looking on the outside but using different alloys?

I only used 8, 7 and 6 due to the seeing. x253 at 6mm was enough

I'm going to use it for doubles and possibly planets. It has far too much field curvature for use in the 12" on the moon as I found last night. The effect is very similar to my 16mm Nirvana. I tried it against my 8mm LVW, 7mm and 6mm orthos, and 6mm SLV. They are all fine. I didn't get out the 7mm Nirvana this time but I know that is sharp to the edge on the moon. The Svbony was sharp in the centre, no more so than the others, with the 6mm ortho giving the best view, but that field curvature was annoying. For lunar, if I want a wide view I'll put the Nirvana in, for fine detail, the ortho, and for high power, seeing permitting, the TOEs.

Solved the problem - switched to a Baader like I have on the Tak. A lot less bulk and does what I need it to - point!

Moved to Imaging Discussion so our imagers can take a look

Show's over - cloud has arrived 😡 Better night than I expected though. No verdict on eyepieces yet other than the sharpest view was with the 17mm LVW and x2.5 Powermate. Surprisingly that combination does have some yellow 'CA' towards the edge. Not a characteristic of either on their own. There's a round 'dimple' below Ptolemaeus M, with M attached to the top and another, smaller crater, on the bottom. That smaller crater was very sharp in the 17mm + Powermate - that's x224. I'll need better seeing for a more thorough comparison. Had a look at Castor too but that was a fuzzy mess.

It's still clear but seeing isn't that good. Trying out the Svbony 3-8 in the 12" alongside an 8mm LVW, 7mm and 6mm orthos and 6mm SLV. At all settings the Svbony shows marked field curvature. Not what I was expecting. It's sharp in the centre, no more so than the others. Best view was with the 6mm ortho - Ptolemaeus M looking very crisp.

After some heavy showers the sky has cleared and the 12" is now out cooling. It's in a cold shed but still has some tube currents to settle. I'll give it half an hour or so. Radar looks clear of rain now so I think we are good to go 👍

Some clear sky here but occasional showers and 45+mph winds put me off. Next few nights look promising though.

I've a feeling this should be an observatory scope. I'd feel uncomfortable lugging a scope that size and price onto a mount on a regular basis. Meanwhile, I wonder what the optics are like for visual. Seven elements are over the top for planetary but it would be a heck of a wide field scope (at a price!).

I've fixed the formatting. In future when you paste, select 'paste as plain text' only. Thanks.

It's a triplet with a four element corrector.

They will be fine. My LVWs work nicely with it.

Just do a star test. The 102 I had was perfect inside and out, and showed a classic airy disc.

Still cloudy here. I don't know how you all do it

I have no words...

Hmmm, interesting. The person from Sheffield who keeps posting astro photos on the local facebook page has posted some images of the moon from today. I don't know what part of Sheffield they are in but I've seen 100% high cloud all day today with just the sun occasionally lighting it up.

f4 v f5 ^

714 / 24 = 30 714 / 15 = 48 714 / 3-8 = 238 - 89

24mm UFF - various brands available but the StellaLyra is the least expensive https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-eyepieces/stellalyra-24mm-ultra-flat-field-125-eyepiece.html

I have a 12" f5. It takes me a few seconds to collimate and it is perfect. I 'had' an 8" f4. I spent hours trying to collimate it. Despite my expertise in collimation it was never even close. In six months of ownership I got no observing time out of it at all. All the time was spent collimating...

I saw some pics of the moon on my local fb group from last night. However they were hazy. I might have tried the scope If I'd have known there was a chance. CO was red 100% all the way. I could see the moon late on here (I'd been watching tv all night), but it was too low to bother.