Mark Daniels

Had a look last night. Couldnt see the red spot but not great viewing as lots of light polution but i think if the sky was dark it would be possible.

Thats a shame thanks for the help👍

https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/huge-comet-visible-sky-week-18946949 link to article

Thanks for info it was in paper Mirror saying it would be visiable with naked eye in the east above horizon cheers

Any idea how high this will rise above eastern horizon? And any idea of brightness? cheers

I have the olypmpus DPS1 veey happy with them

Thanks good idea. The black emd is more a protection for the lens i will need to extemd to help reduce dew so the pvc pipe will work well.

Yep not really a dew sheild. I am looking at possibilty of fitting a solar screen as it seems threaded if i can find a lens ring to fit say from a camera lens company then i can machine a cover to fit it snuggly and use a sun filter sandwiched between preventing sun penetrating and the obvious dangers. May even be able to find a manufacture one but something for the future. That said i may buy a dew shield to add as lens only about 30mm from opening.

Ok so today brought from hong kong a replacement bracket made by Sybony £25 ish well made aluminium and a shorter mount so i can reduce size in case. Trying to get it all as small as possible so i can take as hand lugage on plane. Tripod can go in suitcase in hold. works well. Used thescrews from the supplied mount as locking ones. last night it was quite bright from light polition and i was having trouble finding square inHercules so i could locate great cluster used my vixen binos to help and found if i placed behing red dot finder i could magnify enough to see stars well but also the red dot appeared in FOV and helped me align scope to around the right area next is to figure some kind of mount/ rest to hokd binos square to scope as it was a bit fiddly to do pictures attached 👍

I will have a go. I think though possibly not powerful enough. However with an astro camera and software using it that way should be good. It is designed to be used as astro lens. Have a go tomorrow as skies should be clearer will try with extra barlow like i did with saturn👍

Just had a couple of hours looking up with it so at 40x which was the 2x barlow conversion plus a 12mm wide field i was able to split the double in the plough which was clear and bright all stars looked pin sharp no CA i got the great cluster in hercules even though skies here not very dark and quite light poluted it wasfaint but there jupiter was small but banded and the four moons were out to play and i added a second barlow before lens and after diagonal for saturn which showed bit of colour and defined rings but it was pushing it to be fair. Reckon got me up to around 80x lots of stars around cygnus but had to give up on andromeda as behind neighbours house and i have work tomorrow give it a second chance. I will take it to a darker site over next week or so and post agsin 👍

I hope so 😀

At some point ill give it a go. At the moment happy gazing away. Can focus thats the main thing good ifea though👍

Ery nice indeed

The furthest i could go with my eye pieces was around 50-60x but more than enough for star hopping. Sure you could go to 100x with the right lens I think this little scope is very well made indeed and very clear to my eyes with no vignetting or CA will try with a camera when i get goto set up 👍

Took the scope to the top of hill near where i live this afternoon looked at tower approximately 1 mile away no CA at all. Very happy

Not that i noticed certainly not looking at stars and jupiter. That said they were small targets. Jupiter was a undifined but very sharp circle no CA and fairly big and the moons pin sharp dots. i will look at the moon if out tonight. Probably there will be some but i can live with that as size of scope and wieght is the main thing. The alternative for same compact scope would mean at least 700 quid. Will let you know👍

Ok so we are ready to book holiday and an update for those like me that have never been thought i would use this thread to give out info for those who fancy the same at some point and will if it does happen! Post while i am away so far worked out west coast is the best for sun and tgat they control light polution. Star watching trips are easy to find and the resorts have dark areas for some viewing but best is achieved above 1000ft. But as istand is a mountain that travelling by cab for a few minutes gets you up there easily i will when book give details of where i am going and the places recommended on the net where i am staying etc in the meantime i am working out what to take. The plan is to get it as light as possible and packed in a rucksack for easy use picture of scope below i have posted on disscusion thread how i have turned finder into travelscope for those who fancy that scope cheers Mark👍

So after a couple of months faffing about, trying stuff out and trawlling the net for ideas, i think i have a solution that works. I wont take credit for basic idea but have refined it to make solution less hassle. So i read on post here and on some american sites that the use of a barlow would sort out the focusing issue and it did however it requires using a barlow between the diagonal and the extension tube. This inceases the length and makes for a wobbly affair. In a moment of enlightenment i wondered if i could combine the barlow and the diagonal to make one unit. I have other skywatcher scopes and so spare barlows and diagonals. I took the lens from a barlow screwed it to the diagonal and had ago hey presto it worked. Whats more using the supplied spacer provided with the ED50 the scope now focuses in the center of travel of the focuser so no issues with lens length etc. was up last night looking at jupiter which was small but clear, split a double or two again small but clear and took a look at andromeda which was not bad considering the moon was out. because of the barlow the magnifications were doubled obviously but being 242 FL the FOV was the same as my 102 travel but wiegt wise probably 1/4 of it 42mm= 10x 32mm= 16x 25mm= 20x 15mm= 32x 12.5mm= 40x 9.5mm= 50x give or take a few units for a holiday affair i am extremely happy and i will be using this scope lots between now and my visit to La Palma in the new year in preparation picture attached for those interested and i will up date as i work out some king of red dot finder fir it cheers Mark

Hello

Got both yesterday relly good look forward to reading them

Thanks for the link👍

Hi Ok so i and my wife have been travelling to the canaries in the winter for a few years. This coming January we are looking at la palma. I will be taking a small travel scope for the evenings a sw 50 ed and small tripod also some 10x50 binos I would like some guidance from those who have been before. Things like a nice hotel in a not to built up area where we can walk of an evening drink some wine and look up to the stars. Also iwould lile to visit the observatory and from what i can gather need to arrange independently so any info on this would be good. Also are the stargazing evenings on offer any good Any info on must see tours or nice resturants etc are very welcome as this is a holiday so stargazing is only part of the reason to go. Thinking south or west of island but opento all suggestions ans experiences Thanks Mark👍

Love it. Should sell them.

Welcome