Barry-W-Fenner

I feel like I have inadvertently helped you spend money John 🙂

Some sound advice on here chaps. I think I will look for a used 30mm Aero. Ebay here I come. Where did you manage to pick yours up John? regards Baz

Hi Gents. Thanks for the advise and opinions. I will have a read up on both the 2" Panaview & Aero ED eye pieces. They both look a good option for me, I just need to determine if I should pay a bit more for the performance of the ED. Your point about the filters is very valid also John, I didn't take this into consideration. I think the positive benefit of 40% more FOV will still sway me in favor of the 2" Do you use the 30 or 40mm more for open clusters? Will the larger field of view and lower power help with Nebula? Baz

Afternoon All. I am looking for a budget range 30-32mm wide field of view eye piece to add to my collection and would like some advise please. I want to view large clusters in the whole field of view if possible So I would prefer something in 2" So far I have been looking at the OVL Panaview which looks reasonably priced, Anyone have any experience with this eye piece? https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/ovl-panaview-2-eyepieces.html I have also been looking at the Celestron Omni Plossl eye piece. Again reasonably priced but only 1.25" offered and I dont think this will give me the FOV I require. https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/celestron-omni-plossl-eyepieces-125.html Any recommendations welcome. Regards Baz

Hi mark, I actually got so engrossed looking at clusters I completely forgot to look for Tegmine! Your star hop looks a nice straight forward hop from Procyon (which I really like observing) I will give this a go next time out. Not sure when that will be though. The weather has turned rainy and Grey here. Regards Baz

Hi AdaKing. Well at least you managed to locate M3 🙂 Was it an enjoyable target to view? I didn't get out last night, Very cloudy here.. Baz

My sympathy Stu. I know exactly what you mean. As if this hobby isn't tough enough. The lp around our neck of the woods justs adds to the difficulty. I had a look at the es 32mm you advised. It looks an excellent eye piece with an 82 degree field of view. It's a little out of my budget at present. Would you have any other suggestions. I wish I could remember what thread you and John gave me the advise! Baz

I would say that's why I follow England Rugby instead, they usually progress further but it often ends the same as the football...

Excellent, thank you Stu. I was hunting for it with the finder but didn't realise it wouldn't be visible through that.. Next time I am out I will try to find it with my lowest mag instead. doesn't look like that will be tonight, sky is thick cloud here 😕

Cheers SSC I will certainly have another hunt for it. I did actually start from Arcturus as I was observing it. I thought it would be almost straight up but couldn't locate it. What sort of power did you use to locate M3 before viewing? Regards Baz

A little update. I had a good look at M67 last night. A very pleasing tight spiral like cluster. Quite faint but with averted vision a lot of stars popped in and out of view. Very enjoyable. Another good look at the beehive followed by M35 Some stunning open cluster viewing at low power. I also attempted the Crab Nebular at x66 but couldn't see it, Does anyone know if this is a particularly tough target in an 8" dob? Now I really need to source a 30-32mm wide fov eye piece for this type of viewing. Any other suggestions folks? Regards Barry

Domstar, You hit the nail right on the head. I felt I had a mixed bag of success and failure which IMO is great. It was just a joy to get out and have a go win or lose! Baz

Hi Jock1958 I have viewed M35 A few times and it is one of my favorite open clusters. It is spread over a large area and very enjoyable to view. I might jump over to it on tonight's viewing as it goes! Baz

Hi John, That is a big help thank you. I will bring this star hop up on my phone later and have another go. I started my hunt for Tegmine from both the Beehive and Procyon (I forgot to mention what an excellent colour of white Procyon is) but had no joy. Looking at the above I think I located either 8 Cnc or D1 Cnc but couldnt seem to get the correct angle to Tegmine. This also shows the M67 aswell so two birds with one stone! Cheers John Baz

I honestly thought it would be easier to locate to be honest. I will have another go tonight I think. Its always good to try and get some experience hunting the globulars. Thanks AdeKing Regards Baz

Reading this is very encouraging, I look forward to having a look tonight. As mentioned in my report my lowest powers are x48 & 66 so very similar to your suggested power Jiggy. I will try them both. Regards Baz

Hi Paul, Scope is outside cooling now for tonight 🙂 M67 now on my list, I will hopefully locate it tonight! I will let you know how I get on. Thanks for the heads up. Baz

Hi Stu. Thanks for the excellent explanation of the differences between seeing & transparency. This is a big help and now I have a better understanding of what is affecting my viewing. I am pretty sure the ES 30mm 82 degree eye piece is what you recommended me before, However I cant seem to locate the thread that was on. I will certainly check that out for my low mag wide field cluster viewing needs! Regarding galaxies I have really struggled to find any that have been enjoyable to view from my location I am definitely keen to get to a dark site to see the difference when I get a spare 5 mins 🙂 Cheers Baz

Hi all, Thought I would post a short write up on last nights viewing session. This is my 1st report so any pointers for future is welcome.. I set up the dob about 5pm to beautiful clear blue sky which was very encouraging. 1st up was Venus around 7pm while still light. I wanted to view the phase as best as possible without a filter. Unfortunately Venus was very shimmery at x300 & 240 nothing like the clear views over the last couple of nights. This gave me some doubts about the transparency and high mag. Once fully dark I went back out with the hope of locating Tegmine as I have heard a lot about these binary stars on here over the last week. Bearing in mind the poor transparency earlier on Venus I wasn't counting on seeing much if I could locate it. Unfortunately for me I failed to find Tegmine anyway, So I will give this ago another night. (maybe tonight?) I did however have some wonderful views of M44 Beehive cluster. This provided some remarkable viewing, I mainly viewed most of the cluster in x66 & x48 to take in as much of the full cluster as possible. My next eye piece is going to be around 30 - 32mm I think as I really enjoy seeing these clusters at low power. (Stu & John kindly advised me on some great options but I cant remember what they were!) Moving on from the beehive I went over to Leo to look at Algieba at x150 at this power it showed the split very nicely without any shimmer. I really enjoy this double, it has become one of my favorites. After reading the fact about the gap of this tiny split being 4 times the distance between our Sun and Pluto I was totally blown away trying to comprehend this! Denebola was also looking excellent at x150 giving of a stunning white glow! I then started my search for the Leo triplet, I have never managed to locate these before so this was a new one for me. I did find M65 & M66 at x 66 power. I was very pleased that I managed to locate and see them, However I was a little underwhelmed with these galaxies to be honest. I couldn't see anymore than a small smudge for both of them and I had spent quite a bit of time looking for them. Arcturus had now risen above my house roof so I spent some time viewing this again at x150 - This is a very beautiful star which was releasing a lovely soft yellow glow. I very much enjoyed looking at this target for some time. As I was in the area I decided to try and locate the M3 Globular. I haven't seen a globular since M13 was around late last year. I am slightly embarrassed to say I failed to find this target. 😞 For a veteran star gazer this is most likely child's play. but being an amateur this wasn't to be for me last night... I then tried my luck at locating M101 in Ursa Major, No joy here either, Just a real sore back for my efforts looking up at the Zenith! To round the night off I bounced over to the double cluster, Again viewed at x66 & x48 - Just to reiterate I am really enjoying this sort of object at low power. taking in the majority of the cluster is a joy and the start really stand out wonderfully. That was my 2.5 - 3hrs viewing complete for the evening, A very mixed set of results in truth. I found some new objects, Didn't find others and revisited some greats! Not a huge amount of substance to report, However I just though I would share a very enjoyable few hours at the eye piece with fellow observers. Any advice on how to locate my missed targets greatly appreciated 🙂 Here is a quick snap of the Beehive cluster at x66 Regards Baz

Nice shot Dave, excellent how you managed to get them all in the same FOV. I also like the way it shows the planets all in line in an upward curve, this gives a good visual understanding of their path through the sky!

I was also up at 5am. Had a peek out of my front window and could just see the moon and jupiter slightly above the opposite houses. No chance of getting a scope on them but they looked great to the naked eye. It was lovely seeing Jupiter again. I'm now really excited that Mars is ascending, I haven't viewed it yet.

A star cluster near the core of our galaxy. 26,000lys away.

That's a bummer. I have struggled to hunt down M81 & 82 on a few occasions. It doesn't bode well for the comet for me 😁

The 200p is out cooling. A little early admittedly. It didn't get dark here until almost 9pm last night!

Great sketch John. This is exactly what I need to see to stay inspired and hunt down the pup. I will get it one day. Might have already?? But I can't be certain! Baz