Stardaze

I’ve spoilt myself twice today. First up, an XW 7 to fill a hole plus a basic camera bag for my EP’s, which I must say, for the money is perfect. Thanks to @faulksyfor the ‘inspired’ idea. 😀

Your postie/DHL/Hermes driver Gary must be the fittest in the country 😆

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ just added the series just in case.

Slightly different method than almost everything I've read to date. How do you mean, "in a sea"?

Begs the question Gerry, how often do you clean yours?

Im giving the 2mm exit pupil fl a thorough inspection to see whether I can lose the 13mm. If we bond, I’ll probably look at the 17. Need to add an XW 7 at the end of the month so I then have a slightly more balanced higher range.

The first rejig of my EP collection turned up today.

I probably ruined my 5 year olds interest last year having shown her Jupiter and Saturn, I should have started with the moon and worked to that. She does seem to have a little fascination with the moon, which we have done more of with the binoculars. Our eldest (17) did spare me an hour last December whilst I waxed lyrical about Orion whilst she viewed the trapezium. However, their mother has absolutely zero interest in any of it and won’t indulge me, never mind. I may have mentioned that it’s my escapism from her some of the time. 😆

Love that!! I need to knock some ramps up too. I’m thinking of getting a little truck so that I can do it all in one go instead of breaking down the base and OTA, but certainly need to negotiate the door step. Hopefully save my back which I occasionally suffer with.

Nice report and sounds another great night out. It’s been persistently heavy cloud here now for 2 weeks so I think the final period before darkness ends Monday is a non-starter. Nice to be able to discount another purchase 🙂

The element that I’ve not had issues with my 10” is cooling, but I’ve never really rushed it. Half an hour seems to be ample for mine. I did consider knocking together a fan, more for the hell of it, but I haven’t really felt the need for one. The point regarding the dob is that with cooling, collimation and the bulk to move, it is a longer drawn out process than a small grab and go frac. I’ve resisted the temptation of a frac just now, but the simple form for those opportunist nights will inevitably mean I’ll add one at some point. But, the views from the dob can be spectacular, M13 in my bortle 5 garden was beyond what I could have hoped for last year.

Flocking the Bresser? Be interested if you find an improvement m.

The problem is whether your collection is likely to change much. The bag works on that score but probably not best if you want a massive collection in one place. Bought a little nanuk case but have outgrown it a bit too quickly. Maybe one day I could see a small bino set in it..

I’m going to go with a camera bag this time like @faulksyposted, having similar EP’s. But, I’m probably going to keep mine to a set of 6. The Max case seems to be the best value for money option.

Mine might look a little like a similar copy when it's rehashed shortly. The TV Nebustar is on my shopping list too this year 😀

There doesn't appear to be a break in this heavy cloud at the moment, again this week. Really want to see the difference. 🙁

It’s this version, though they don’t seem to have the 12.5mm in stock. They’re well out of my budget. http://apm-telescopes-englisch.shopgate.com/item/32373639

I'll have to debate whether 100 deg is necessary at 10mm too. At 8mm I'll admit that it was nice to have, but at that mag, you are starting to drill into a target and so not totally necessary. But where's the line? I think that ultimately, if the 10mm is to replace the 13mm, then I'd need it. You have it nicely balanced with the 12.5 for ultra FOV and then drilling down from 10mm.

The Noblex is that good then. Sometimes I feel that the APM 13 needs a bit more contrast for sure, normally seems to be that the sky is still too bright. I haven't anything else to reference that against, it could just be the exit pupil rather than the contrast? The jump down to the 8mm has been too much normally there, so really am wondering whether 10mm is the remedy.

Wow, I knew the Nikon was expensive but not £1100 expensive! I'm not in a rush at this time of year. Think I'll get the XW 7 and see if I can pick up a 10E secondhand, I shouldn't be out of pocket that way. Use that alongside the APM 13 and see how I get on. Whether 20 to 10mm is too large a jump, most of the time, I guess I need to work out.

Just reading through again and assuming your 12” is 1600mm, the comparable to your 21/13/8 core is 17/10/7 for me John.

I’m thinking now, that if I can pick up a 10mm Ethos, I’ll spend some time with it alongside the APM 13. I don’t want to ship the the 13, just in case. Maybe that could be the answer. At least if I pick one up at the right money, I won’t lose out too much either way.

You do have a valid point. The 5mm at 254x was initially a little problematic, but notably the typical target have been planets and so providing the 9x50 was well centred, I haven’t suffered too much. Going over 300x sounds ‘interesting’ however..

Thanks Stu, I was hoping that was the case. Is there a rough calculation possible?

My question to you Neil would be: if your 10mm Delos had the 100 degrees, would that negate the 13/12.5mm? I like the idea of 'less is more' in many ways. I'd rather spend that bit more on the core 3 that I use most. 100 degree fields have negated lots of EP's in-between I've felt.