Stephenstargazer

Maybe like stuff from USA, occasionally you get lucky? The HMRC lottry😀. 

Panther on Planet looks very capable. Can you compare using Panther and Nexus DSC as both are push to?

Do I recall that UK VAT is waived on items form EU below £140, or am I dreaming ???

Nearly right ! The Gov says:

VAT

VAT is charged on all goods (except for gifts worth £39 or less) sent from:

• outside the UK to Great Britain
• outside the UK and the EU to Northern Ireland

VAT is not charged on goods that are gifts worth £39 or less.

You pay VAT when you buy the goods or to the delivery company before you receive them. If you have to pay VAT to the delivery company, it’s charged on the total package value, including:

• the value of the goods
• postage, packaging and insurance
• any duty you owe

VAT is charged at the VAT rate that applies to your goods.

Goods worth £135 or less in total

If you bought the goods yourself and they are not excise goods, the seller will have included VAT in the total you paid.

You will need to pay VAT to the delivery company if the goods are:

• gifts sent to you by someone else and worth more than £39
• excise goods

Goods worth more than £135 in total

You will have to pay VAT to the delivery company either before the goods are delivered or when you collect them.

18 hours ago, Another Drizzle Dweller said:

For those of you frustrated with the dangling chains on the tripod

Just hang them on a nail in the shed! Works for me. If you have some tension on the clamps the tripod legs dont flap around, particularly once the tray is in place 😁

3 hours ago, Orange Smartie said:

Is this a cluster that needs a very dark sky to observe it properly?

Definitley not! I enjoy it from near East Midlands airport where we can read the cap badges of DHL captains  landing. Agree with others you will need to look before the moon rises now.. Mean while try something nice and bright like  M35

The modular design of Rowan means you configure a mount by what works for you. It's not about selling extras IMHO but rather making a bespoke mount. I really like that clamps, counter balance, encoders, DSC, motor drives, panning handle are all options not a package deal.

This is possible because it is not mass-produced remotely and that has cost implications like a Saville Row suit. You even get to choose your own tripod or pier solution, as many posts show. With the drives opening another possibility will we see an equatorial wedge? Perhaps there are more imaginative possibilities 🤔?

I have had a go, but as it is very bright opted to use small mak and about X200 with ND filter. Worked well and used Cambridge Photo Atlas as my guide. Found plenty between Schlutter and Eichstadt including Montes Cordillera and Rock and Lacus Autumni. Not sure if that counts as Mare Orientalis, but they are part of the basin. Treated myself to espresso and chocolate for effort!

5 hours ago, johninderby said:

Fingers crossed.

A completely clear night and 97% full Moon !  Like an all you can eat buffet with just turkey twizzlers 🥴

OK then lets look at the moon and listen to next doors husky howling..................

15 hours ago, paulastro said:

Stephen, how far away from the 'eyes' are you talking about? 

My snap shows much less than what could be seen through my 102mm, and the image is low-res, only a single frame.

Very close indeed, just specs of light slightly below the peak  around the Southern one. Also one just above the Northern peak.* The seeing was steady here and that was through Tak FC 100 and TV/LVW eyepieces and twin polarising filters. They were consistent throughout the observation. Possibly lost due to your overall exposure????

* hope I have my orientations right as it was a reversed view! Should have sketched it.

Happy recycling of all the kitty litter!😁 Sometimes hard to work out who makes stuff for TS but they seem to have achieved some consistent results over time. I liked my 90mmm triplet a lot and so does it's new owner.

I go with the giant cat idea, eyes a 100km apart 😾. The idea that it was the tops of Montes Harbinger is completely far fetched and is unreservedly withdrawn !🙃

Paul, on your full resolution image do you pick out the other points of light? I counted 6 at the eyepiece, spaced around the eyes.

16 hours ago, paulastro said:

I took a single frame with my Olympus E-M5 Mk 11 at 7.33pm, 1/320 at 400 asa.

You caught the cat's eyes in that picture !!

I too accepted the that the moonlight was too bright to look at anything else and spent from 8.30 to 10.00 on the moon with good seeing all through in S.Derbyshire. 100mm f/7.4 at 120X to 200x on Rowan and new Berlebach (dead smooth controls and rock solid).  I saw the weirdest thing!

South of Sinus Iridium West of the terminator two bright and very obvious cat's eyes blazing out of the dark. It was neither lockdown fever or chemically enhanced!! It was I believe the rising sun catching the tops of  Montes Harbinger, so that they shone above the Mare Imbrium lava which remained in shadow. This illusion lasted well over 45mins and I have never caught it (or heard of it) before. The moon being 10.2 days old craters Delisle and Diophantus were the nearest Eastward  in full view. A few small spots of light from elsewhere on the Montes were visible too, but it was the peaks, which run N-S, that made the spooky cat's eyes in the dark.

I'll be looking for them next lunar cycle, but the timing has to be just right. It surprised me as checking on the atlas they are not that high, but neither is anything else nearby.😾 or what?

SEE POST BELOW FOR LINK TO PAULASTRO's IMAGE!

On 19/02/2021 at 20:18, mikeDnight said:

I'm wondering if anyone has had hands on experience of this mount?

Yes. I picked up an ex dem AP equatorial mount a few years back and bought the AZP  base so I can use in either configuration. The engineering accounts for the price, the slow motions are exceptionally smooth, the friction settings just a finger movement. On an AP tripod capacity is not great, far better to use a HAL or similar. Still use it for travel, grab and go, mainly in EQ mode for single axis tracking and access to zenith area.

If looking for a quality AZ now would consider the Scopetec Zero as it looks as if the slow mos can be fully adjusted to get nice feel. It packs smaller too. For a widefield scope slow mos not essential, but as soon as you use more magnification ( most objects) they become very desirable! Nothing wrong with window shopping unless you break the glass 😀

AZ mounts are difficult for tracking stars around the zenith anyway, so some of the physical problem of clearance to a tripod will in practice rarely happen. The benefit of equatorial mounts is that they can track through this area. Also by flipping across the meridian virtually all issues with tripod clearance are overcome. The blind spot for an EQ mount is around the pole instead. That is my excuse for having two mounts!!

But it is a problem when using encoders and digital SC of course.

Hardly worth their while as you can buy EQ6 extensions already and cost of producing CNC machined item likely to be uncompetitive. If they did it would be a good one, like the EQ5 or pier adapter!

You are going in the right direction, take your time and dont hurry! it's easy to think a bit of kit will change things, but honestly it is time under the sky that counts. Take every chance to look up, like you did with Andromeda, and always read about what you have seen. Best of luck (make your own!!!).😀

Well done! He who looks finds (eventually). Learning the star hops to these objects is really good for your knowledge base and you will never forget how to find it ..... and be able to show others too!!

BTW using phone apps is OK but does not IMHO help you learn your way around the sky and they tend to upset dark adaption too, so I encourage beginners to get a good small sky atlas and star hop. This year I star hopped to Neptune with binoculars, even though I have seen it times before with a scope, and felt good just about finding it.

1 hour ago, Sadiestorm said:

for all the DSO's and Messier objects that are just too big for the FOV on the Mak I am thinking another scope

Nah! the Mak will show you nearly everything you want for a couple of years. Just get some moderate bins for the 3 or 4 silly big objects. Your first upgrade is to get a good star atlas (like S&T Pocket or turn Left at Orion) and a red torch. When you have worn those out you'll know where to go next!!

There is no geared column like no geared column. Tripods work best when the centre of mass supported is as close to the intersection point of the legs as practical. It's just a basic structural fact (trust me, I am an engineer). Any type of pier extension should only be used where it is essential for other reasons. Piers which do work are fairly massive and/or very well fixed. (PS yes this a bit off topic but we have been sharing ways of supporting a Rowan - they deserve it!!)

Additional comment:

To be fair, geared tripods are a brilliant soluton for photographers (according to my brother-in-law) trying to get just the right angle on near objects. Astronomers have the option of moving their butts (as I believe you say on your side of the pond!) instead, as the 'angle' to a distant object is trivial.

Thanks for all the good advice, each choice of trpod has it's merit! As my intention is to keep this set up quite light and easy to put in the car I have opted for the UNI 24 which FLO have just dispatched. However we all know about good intentions! I could (in theory) fit it to my pier (using the Rowan adapter) for home use / multi scopes etc but then that is what my equatorial mount  is meant for.

How fortunate to be faced with such 1st world decisions 🤔. Will post photos later as they help others visualise different set ups, certainly helped me 🙂 !

Delivered very quickly, not a nice day so photos inside.

Right choice ? YES. Very solid and for me the planet would have been overkill. I could have got away with the UNI18 but the 28 is just right for me at minimum height when seated. The extra height is available for standing viewing which is easier when sharing the telescope with others.  I dont use a dovetail bar and clamp but the scope still (just) clears the tripod when pointed to zenith and rotated 360deg. I like the tray which fixes the legs just as well as the solid spreader. The tray will get eyepiece holes and a bag for transport is likely so as not to mark the wood. The chain is discarded!

Spot the Goldilocks length flexibles and the nifty RHS Pan handle from Derek. The extra finder bracket for a red dot is mine, prefer it out the way once the alignment stars have been found.

On 09/02/2021 at 15:04, Telescope40 said:

Hello. All set and good to go. Both scopes loaded and the mount doesn’t seem to notice the weight.With one  scope in place it just runs fine.

Have you got the mount on a UNI 18 or 28? Does that work OK even with two scopes? I am just weighing up which tripod to go for and portability is important to me. I would rather not lug a Planet around but don't want to limit the Rowan too much either.

Anyone else using Berlebach, or other tripods, want to chip in??

Whilst not in the same class as a Peli Case, I have mine in a Really Useful Box with some eggcase foam. I use a bigger RUB for an 8" cassegrain. They are economic and loads of sizes to choose from. Even with foam sheets think £30 - 40. 

Will add a photo from pc later.

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Do you have a special edition?

Not at all, it was stock from Takahashi EU. I have not checked the date from the s/n. Just looked again and decided that if you held it next to something greener you could say it was bluer. I had better again look in daylight as it was under warm LEDs !! The tube is a light cream not true white but not full Old English White (BMC) either.

This is worse than trying to tie down Aston Martin Racing Green, when they mixed a new lot every time.

My 2020 FC100 -DF is creamy white with the lighter green focuser body and that matches the tube clamp OK. I dont plan to become a serial buyer though and in the dark they all match up dont they!