ScouseSpaceCadet

The moon becomes my primary object during this time. Followed by planetary observing. As fifskies wrote, it's a rather pleasant experience observing in a t-shirt. There's also noctilucent clouds to look foward to and just generally pleasant summer evening and night time sights and sounds. My favourite summer observing time was midnight until 2am or get up early to catch pre dawn planets. One of the advantages of shift work, but with now being in a 9-5 job for the duration that's scuppered somewhat.

While waiting for the Amazon refund for the totally misscollimated binoculars above, the pair ordered direct from Opticron UK arrived. £89 inc. next day Parcelforce delivery.

Stardaze I really don't know. I like BST eps. For the money all the focal lengths I've owned have presented me with a decent image and they're comfortable to use. I just felt the Nirvana 16mm had better contrast, was a bit tighter to the edge and obviously a wider fov so saw no reason to keep the 15mm BST. Regarding eye cups, the only eyepiece I've not liked purely based on comfort/eye positioning, was the 2" 30mm Vixen NVLW. A stonking ep absolutely great with 120mm f5 refractor, but the eye cup was horrible.

Individuals vary so much. I got rid of my BST 15mm and kept the 16mm Nirvana... 🙄

The prevailing advice is don't use zoom binoculars. These are recommended: https://www.opticron.co.uk/our-products/binoculars/adventurer-t-wp-binoculars/adventurer-t-wp-10x50

Simply put, no picture of an object beyond earth has ever brought a tear to my eye and filled me with an overwhelming feeling of being part of an incomprehensibly huge universe. The first time I observed Jupiter through a telescope, well say no more...

Don answered the question admirably! Eye relief is very comfortable. Paired with the 102mm f7 refractor and 102mm Mak, the view is crystal clear, the field flat and star shapes tight to near the edge. The only other premium ep I've owned is a Vixen Lanthanum 30mm NLVW and this ep is as least as good.

That's very thorough Robert! I've belatedly started keeping a log in a small note pad. Not a great deal of detail, just the basics; date, time, seeing, telescope used, objects viewed and an occasional extra note of anything unusual/particularly spectacular/interesting etc.

Let me know if you want a (fully vaccinated 👍) outdoor visitor and I'll bring my stuff down. No probs. Skymax 127s are nice scopes mate. The same light grasp as your Meade. You just lose out on fov but much easier to carry. Power isn't an issue. Those AZ GoTo mounts run off the same Talentcell battery I have. It's only slightly bigger than a standard mobile phone power bank. https://www.amazon.co.uk/TalentCell-Rechargeable-6000mAh-12000mAh-Lithium/dp/B0713T4XT9/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=TalentCell&qid=1620058832&sr=8-1

To be brutally honest mate, reading what's happened to you, you're probably (at least a bit) knackered for life and to stay in the hobby will need an ultra light & quick to set up rig. I'm more than happy to come over with my gear to see how you get on with it. The 102mm is just about OK on the AZGTI but I'm cautious about continuing too far into the future with the combination, hence having an eye on the ES EQ. I suggested that particular 80mm refractor because compared to a 102mm f7, it's much lighter at 2.8kg and shorter at 540mm so won't strain the mount at all. Plus when you get well enough to start getting out again, that setup I suggested would be very easy to haul around. However, if you're determined to keep the Tal, would you not consider a manual az mount? You will need extended length slo mo cables to avoid stooping too much.

There's a couple of threads from 2019 on here and Cloudy Nights. The Jury seems to hung. Some like them, some don't. A common concern seems to be the mounts don't suit longer 120mm + refractors but OK with shorter and/or lighter scopes. https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/334333-ioptron-az-pro-mount/ https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/680276-ioptron-az-mount-pro-buyers-beware/ These mounts have been on my radar for a while also, but the comments and user reviews have put me off a bit, so keeping things relatively light weight, cheap and keeping goto, the next mount is likely the Explore Scientific EXOS-2 PMC-8. Don't you already have a HEQ5? If lugging the weight around is the main problem due to the back problems, getting the AZ mount probably won't help so much, it's just under 6kg without counter weights. If it is health issues, maybe bite the bullet, sell both your scopes and mount? Pick up an 80mm f7 ED scope and AZGTI. About as light as it gets while having goto and tracking... For example a Starwave 80ED f7 FPL-51 doublet , AZGTI, ADM saddle upgrade, steel tripod, extension tube, battery and cable would set you back about £900... Just a thought..

That totally depends on what field you work in...

Two years later the case is filled with a decent selection for use with a 102ED f7 frac and 102mm Mak. 5mm max because I suffer with floaters so when using the refractor, the GSO 2.5x barlow does a very good job of clearly extending the magnification past 200x when seeing conditions allow. The 7, 8 and 9mm eps work really well with it. Filters are a Moon & Sky Glow plus an OVL UHC. The Astro Essentials 32mm plossl and Hyperflex zoom are only used as Mak travel kit eyepieces. There's no way I'm taking the Altair UFF 24mm (non astro) camping, besides being a brick it cost more than the Skymax... 🙄

No probs. Please let us know if a regrease alone works. If so I may do a prophylactic grease up now mine's out of warranty.

@AstroNebulee My first azgti's tracking and gotos were all over the place so it was replaced under warranty... I had the tak tak sound develop with my second unit and it also had azimuth binding so I sent it back. My third unit started off with the tak tak but the sound disappeared so I kept it. Fine since. I believe it's the altitude worm gear but could be totally wrong lol. This should fix any "tak tak" or binding issues. The first vid is azimuth only but the altitude is the same process. Regarding the clutches, just tighten "finger tight". Tightening all the way in doesn't seem to make a difference and will increase wear.

Well that was a disappointment. Compared to the Olympus DPS-Is, the Opticron's are slightly brighter, a little clearer, are less chunky to hold, fit my face better and are obviously miscollimated! Gutted. ☹️

Opticron Adventurer T WP 10x50 binoculars. They look and feel very well made. Off into the garden now to find something to look at!

Tbh I've not noticed kidney beaning with my 16mm Nirvana. It's been used with the now sold 150p plus the current Skymax 102 and 102ED. In fact it's one of my favourite & most used eyepieces, as is the 7mm. I did have quite intrusive vignetting issues with the 4mm Nirvana and 150p though.

10x50 binoculars are recommended. Even if you decide to try telescopes, most astronomers will also own binoculars so it's not a waste of money to try them. Also depreciation value is good should you wish to sell. A good new pair can be bought for less than £100. 10x50s for astronomy are best used reclining in a chair to minimise shakes, and/or with a simple monopod and bracket/trigger grip/ball head attachment. During day time use the shakes aren't noticed. Turn Left at Orion is a great general starter book. http://binocularsky.com/ is a good binocular resource. Steve Tonkin's binocular astronomy books are recommended. Look in the binocular section of the forum for loads of tips.

It all adds up. Stopping smoking saved me around £120 p.m., not travelling during the pandemic around £100 p.m. That's not including leisure travel savings. Cutting out take away food, another £100 p.m. That's quite a bit more to invest in a life long hobby without being extravagant or neglecting others.

The pandemic has brought some positives. I'm spending more time than usual window shopping because I have more time and money than usual. Nowhere to go and money earned that needs to be spent. Superfluous items have been sold, the collection refined and kept to bare minimum. I've enjoyed some fantastic observing sessions with new kit, had a go at photography and had more reading time with new books. There's just one more thing I need to meet my needs; a 'budget' goto mount with a higher payload capacity than the little AZGTI. The ES Exos II PMC-8 is a tempting price...

Indentifying a gap in the eyepiece collection I thought I'd try another Altair item...

Great detail. 👍

Another book...

I just come in after two hours. There's a very stiff chilly breeze here but decent seeing. I hunkered down with the new lunar atlas and the 102ED. Not super high mag details but nonetheless a clear and realistic eyepiece view of Schröter’s Valley, the craters Herodotus and Aristarchus and just to the north, the Agricola Mountains. Snapped with the Samsung S6 I use as an AZGTI controller. 119x through a Sky-Watcher 6mm UWA 58° planetary eyepiece. 297x when adding a GSO 2.5 ED barlow. No more detail, just bigger in the eyepiece.