Mr Spock

Here's how I do mine with a laser:

I named all the stars, but I gave them all the same name and now there's terrible confusion...

I'd suggest taking a step back. You are moving between choices so rapidly at the moment you will end up making a mistake. Most people, when they buy a scope, will have had that scope in mind for quite a while.

Hi Jessica, welcome to SGL

I have an 80ED and it's not even close to the 100mm! The Starfield was still sharp at x223, the 80ED about half that. I'd rate my FS-60 higher then the 80ED.

In terms of price, all the ones mentioned so far are: Starfield 102mm £899 Skywatcher 120ED £1409 StellaMira 125mm £1599 For what it's worth when I tested the Starfield I found very little difference between it and the Takahashi FC-100 The obvious question between a 100mm and a 120mm is size and weight, and what mount they need to go on as they are quite different beasts.

I think if I were moving up to that size and price, it would be the SM 125mm https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellamira-telescopes/stellamira-125mm-ed-doublet-f78-refractor-telescope.html

Traditional finders are useless if you have a lot of LP. Even with a 50mm I'm lucky to see mag 7 stars... My Baader works perfectly and I've never had any problems with it. I use the Baader as a pointer, then an eyepiece as finder. Depending on what diagonal I'm using, the 42mm gives 3.7° and the 30mm 2.8°. The RDF is actually accurate enough to point with much smaller eyepieces.

I had a brief look last night with the FC-100. I used the 3-8 @ 4mm on doubles and compared it with the 4mm TOE, 4mm Nirvana and 4mm Ortho. On Castor there wasn't much between any of them. Perhaps the white of Castor was a bit cleaner in the ortho. On Sirius the TOE seemed to reveal the pup a little better than the others. By the time the moon came round to the observing side of the house there was a lot of high cloud. In these conditions they were all very similar. I did try the Svbony at 3mm for x247 and it seemed sharp enough.

Grindavik, sadly, is a done deal. They are trying to protect it with berms, which is working at the moment. However, the fault line these fissures are forming on runs right though the middle of Grindavik and it's only a matter of time before one opens up there.

EQ5 with motors is perfect. I wanted tracking but without all the goto faff. I just plonk it down on the patio. Once set up you don't need to touch it.

Here was mine:

Had a brief look at the moon, but there's too much high cloud now to get much done. Everything brought in now Despite the cloud the Svbony 3-8 @ 3mm seemed clear enough at x247.

I think the moon's washed it out. There was a green band earlier.

If you are keeping up with the eruption in Iceland, some of the cameras are showing an aurora as well. Especially the cam from Hagafell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=804nPrAUAxg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7AAvFDpUqY Moon is a nuisance though...

Having a couple of hours rest now. My back isn't up to long spells at the eyepiece yet. The moon is too bright to look at faint doubles. Castor looks splendid through the 100mm and 4mm eyepieces (x185). The TOE, Nirvana, Svbony 3-8 @ 4 and ortho all looked great on Castor, with a crisp airy disc and 'broken' diffraction ring (showing how good the scope's optics are. Sirius was pleasing. Not the usual jumble of colours but a clean disc in steady moments with glimpses of the pup in the same moments. Very nice! I'll go back out later tonight to have a look at the moon. At the moment it's behind the house.

I don't want to jinx it but the sky is clear. I've just had half an hour on Jupiter. It's a lot smaller than I remember from January! Nice opportunity to try out the Svbony 3-8 (@4mm) v the TOE 4mm and Nirvana 4mm. Detail in the belts is easier to see in the TOE compared to the others. It's early days though.

I'm not using an inferior product just to use one eyepiece! Depends on the scope. My 120mm has 10mm left with a Nirvana and 8mm left with an LVW. The Svbony is well out of focus - I'm guessing I need at least another 5mm. Not to worry, I have plenty of eyepieces for solar. It won't be a problem with the Tak and a 2" diagonal. I have to use an 80mm extension tube with my Baader T2 prism.

Out doing some solar with the 120mm. First this month... It's clouding over now 😡 One large, spread out and impressive, sunspot. Plus three other 'normal' sized spots. Seeing isn't good enough to get above x125 though.

Yes. It fits on top of the normal spreader.

Round 1, solar: FAIL! With my 120mm achro and Baader Coolwedge there isn't enough in focus for the Svbony. My other eyepieces are fine. Here it is with the Nirvana. Works well with the LVW too.

Solar just now.

I'll be a no show. My back is on the mend but the top of my right leg aches after 20 minutes in the car, I can't risk a several hour drive

There will be a review. Svbony v LVW (8, 5, 3.5), SLV (6), TOE (4, 3.3), Ortho (7, 6, 4), Nirvana (7, 4).