Barry-W-Fenner

Great shots there guys! Merlin, I have far more poor shot in my camera reel than good ones. I need to go through them and delete then actually 😁 I literally just try to line my phone to the eye piece let it focus on the target then click. I haven't a clue how to adjust shutter speeds, exposure ect... John, what power did you get them close shots at? The detail is amazing! Very clear and crisp. What type of scope is an ED120? Baz

My camera skills are poor to say the least haha. I actually put my skywatcher 4mm planetary eye piece in the barlow and was looking at Venus at x600 when the seeing was very good on Venus a couple of weeks ago. Not the best view but interesting to see at that power! 🙂

Just a brief look at the moon and Venus this evening. The moon looked nice at x100 just about fitting the full phase in the field. Always nice to go lower mag and get the full perspective. I had a look at it through the new 3.2 at x375 but it was a bit blurry. Maybe it would look a bit better at full darkness. Venus on the other hand looked very good at x375 a fairly clear view of the phase with only the slightest bit of fuzz. That's very encouraging with Mars approaching fast.. Baz

Only very briefly with the 76p it gave some good views of the moon. I am hoping to try it in Venus later in the 200p

Hi Merlin. I am also looking for a UWA 2" eye piece. After discussing on here I have settled on the 30mm Aero ED for the 200p. It seems to be quite a well regarded. It is likely to be the next eye piece I purchase. Baz

Starts with "s" ends with "t" Bortle 8, can make out the main stars but that's about all 😢

The little fella has had some loving. Now fully flocked, it's totally dark inside the tube. 3.2mm BST for a bit more power. Mini right angle finder which I am chuffed to bits with, it looks the part and sits beautifully on the 76p tube with a couple of silicone blobs. It's given the scope some character. It is so much more comfortable to use than the standard finder and is much clearer. Baz

This seriously smart little right angle finder 3.2mm BST eye piece Both from sky's the limit. Excellent polite, fast service 👍 flocking from fleebay These bits will hopefully enhance the performance of the little 76p not to mention the eye piece giving a high mag in the 200p 🙂

Waiting on a couple of items to improve the little 76p, Alas nothing today though. Maybe tomorrow? !

Morning all, I am also a fan of the compact Rigel and wouldn't be without it now. I also found the sticky pads to be not much use. So much so that I went to get the scope out to cool one evening and found the Rigel on the floor, In one piece fortunately. I have now attached with a couple of small blobs of silicone sealant. Its not going anywhere now! Baz

Thanks everyone, That RD finder is now on my watch list! The position of the finder will stay the same, However I wont have to try and get my Neck/back positioned over half way down the tube like I do now, I will also be rewarded for my effort as this finder should actually show me something when looked through 🙂 On another note Merlin, How did you get on with the 3.2mm BST? not only might it be of benefit for me with Venus and Mars. I could potentially use it in the little fella to achieve x93 mag. This will be getting up to its maximum. Baz

Morning all, Trust you are all keeping well. I had a mini viewing session last night through the open patio doors with the little 76p. Venus was fun to look at through this instrument. My only issue is the awful finder scope. My back is in agony today after trying to look down it. Any suggestions for a small compact Red dot finder or similar that members have fitted to similar size compact scopes? Pic attached of the current atrocity 🙂 Baz

That's is one of the reasons I was also thinking of the 3.2mm for high power on Mars and Venus.

Morning John, 100% Agree, There is a gap in the BST range between the x150 of the 8mm & x240 of the 5.5mm that needs filling. As I touched on in another thread I am fortunate to have a barlow which gave me x200 combined in the 12mm, This seemed an ideal power for the globulars. I would like to see Jupiter at this power. I will have a look at the William Optics 6mm I would like something that gives x200 without the barlow as I am a fan of fewer components in the optical chain. At 1st I thought I had gone over board with the BST range, In the end for the modest outlay that they are I am quite pleased to have most of the set in my Arsenal. I will now try to make some more informed decisions to fill the power gaps. I am still on the hunt for a nice 2nd hand 2" 32mm 🙂 Merlin - The 15mm BST doesnt seem to get much love, However I really like it. It gives a nice x80 for scanning the sky and to me feels an ideal power. I personally prefer it to the 12mm & 18mm in the 200p Cheers Baz

Excellent! I look forward to hearing how well it performs 👍

I will be very interested to hear how the 3.2 x375 performs with the 200p, I was looking to purchase this eye piece for lunar and Venus when seeing permitted. John kindly pointed me towards the skywatcher 4mm planetary piece to give me a x240 and X300 at my disposal. This did give a smoother curve in my power gains x150 x200 x240 x300 respectively. X300 has given great crisp clear view of Venus when conditions permit, I am keen to see what views X300 brings of Mars and other planets. As mentioned above I am very interested to know how the 3.2 performs in the 200p as I would be tempted to add it the set for very high power use. I have all the BST collection with exception of the 3.2 and often find myself utilising them all for different viewing. They are very good value for money, my next eye piece will probably be a 2" 32mm wide angle as this is all that is really missing for me currently. Baz

Thanks John. Great to know that in your experience 200x is around the right power. I bet the extra apertura is a big benefit when viewing Globes. I could see them well but really needed to concentrate and relax with some averted to get better views. I found that the detail keep kind of pulsing in and out of view. Huge numbers of stars slowly appearing then gone again. Seeing was good, However I am really hoping that I can get better seeing conditions and try to resolve more detail next time out. I will lower the power on M13 and try to locate the galaxy also. Galaxy's have been quite tricky with my sky though. I decided against viewing last night. The 4am planet hunt had taken its toll and I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I have found that if I go out viewing tired I tend to lose concentration fast and it becomes frustrating. Hopefully I am recharged for tonight! Cheers Baz

I went for a wander at 4am this morning to search for Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. Managed to get a view between houses and take a little shot. If I have the energy I might have another go at globulars again tonight. I found x200 to be the right mag to resolve nicely. Any advice for the best methods to view globes? Is there an ideal power? Baz

Forgot to mention on my report. Had a good look at M45 also, it's a must! Can't believe I forgot about it 😁

Hi gents. Thanks for letting me know about these eye pieces. I will have a look at them all. This certainly give me more options at the low power end. Regards Baz

Thanks for the update. I two am intending on getting up early one morning this week to have a look at these 3 planets. As you have mentioned I am not holding out for great views, But just to see them all rising together should be an excellent sight.

Morning all. An update on last nights viewing, But 1st a couple of notes. I will change the topic to name to just "Observing report" As I will ads to this thread from time to time. Also I have created this in the "Observing Discussion" Section. It might be better moved to "Observing Reports"? I set up "last night" Nice and early. Around 4pm as i like the scope on the patio 🙂 I managed to start viewing around 9pm A quick look at Venus @ x300 mag and it was once again showing an excellent clear crescent phase. Always enjoyable, and pretty decent seeing which is a bonus! My 1st target was a brief hunt for Tegmine again, And again I failed to locate it. To be honest I was rather impatient as I wanted to get some viewing under the belt so didn't give it the time required. My intention was to come back to it later after some clusters but I didn't get around to it! Maybe tonight then! It was now open cluster time again and I spent a fair amount of time at x66 looking at the wonderful M35, Beehive and M67. As we have mentioned before, 3 stunning ope clusters. Very enjoyable observing the different colours, brightness and shapes these 3 have. The combination of tight and lose whitish stars in M35, The Orange triangular structures of the beehive & the faint but spiral like structure of M67. Brilliant! A peak at Algieba in Leo again next. This double has had quite a profound effect on me since reading about the distances between them. A real joy to look at give an understanding of the shear size of the galaxy! As touched on in another thread star link was also passing through Leo I lined them up in the finder and watched about 6-8no pass through the eye piece @ x66 - This got tedious very quickly 🙂 Time for a globular hunt... A look @Stu information above showed that M53 should be a very easy Globular to hunt down. I found this with the finder then started to view at various powers to try and resolve as best as possible. I found x150 to resolve this nicely and show a combination of fuzz and faint Stars. Very beautiful. Next I was determined to locate M3. So a quick look at the Soft Orange Arcturus then straight up. A bit of navigation from Sky Safari and I located M3 in the finder. 🙂 This Globular even more spectacular than M53 with the same viewing methods. However I tried to push my lack and observe at X240 This was to much power. I wanted to try and tease out a bit more detail as this Globular was resolving better than M53 - More than x150 but less than x240... A x2 barlow and my 12mm BST giving x200 was the answer. I found the perfect middle ground to get the best view. I sat for quite a while looking at M3 with my eye patch on, Relaxed at the eye piece with averted vision, More detail seemed to come and go but I could make out a huge number of stars very faintly & briefly. Absolutely amazing! I now had my eye in for Globulars. Half of Hercules was peering over the front of the house roof. Fortunately for me I could just get to roughly where M13 should be. Again this was located through the finder and I used the same x200 method as above and tried to relax as best as possible. A very similar outcome to M3 but bigger and brighter! great stuff. I had viewed these 3 globulars in the right order. From least impressive to most. Each one showing more than the last. A great 2hrs at the eye piece 🙂 I am interested to know other members techniques at viewing globulars. Such as what sort of power used and best ways to try and tease out more detail. I hope you all managed to get some great viewing at the eye piece last night. Cheers Baz

At 9.36pm 🙂I was observing around Leo and had a few pass through the eye piece at low power which became quite distracting. In the end I decided to line them up in the finder and watch them pass in the eye piece, It got tedious quite quickly 🙂 I did not that they were extremely bright last night which I assume is down to better sky quality in general. My wife has told me that social media is ablaze with people commenting on seeing them for the 1st time. Baz

Well I have had a look on the usual sites, Cant seem to see a 30mm Aero used anywhere...