Dantooine

Head first into the mirror for a truly immersive experience 🤣

Very impressive from a visual only observer. Very nice.

I’d be off that ladder in under 30 seconds.

You are correct Don. I’ve topped out my magnification with this. Antares 1.6x or whatever it’s actually giving me is now redundant.

Well, I’ve done what I wasn’t going to do. I spent quite a while looking into getting a powermate or an Antares barlow in order to avoid the inevitable. Oh well, the inevitable was delivered today. Mars really needs to show its face now. This time I think I’m done ✅

I thought it was balanced on an ash tray. 🤣

Yes I got mine direct from Altair Astro. There have been a couple of bad reviews on here about them however I have full compliments on the way my purchases have been. I dealt with a man called Ian Night who was very pleasant and helpful. If you decide to purchase from Altair I would give him a telephone call and discuss stock levels and delivery details. Altair is a small business with only few staff and sometimes they are very busy. My own experiences have been they are perfect gentlemen to deal with. Old fashioned speaking in the phone is sometimes better in this high tech click and collect rat race of a world. Dale.

It’s a good scope. No regrets from me. I love the sliding few shield. Focuser is great. Nice manageable size for quick setting up and cool down. I find it so easy to use. Very good all rounder.

That’s a nice thing to do. It’s very true about people wanting a look. I’ve set up before on my drive and moved the telescope further into public view as the evening went on. I’ve had whole family’s wanting a look, even complete strangers come up and talk, they always seem amazed at what they have seen and go home talking about it.

Wise move. Very interesting. StarSense sounds like a useful tool. Is it possible to use it with any manual alt/az mount? Can it be fitted to a telescope mounted finder scope shoe etc?

I hope this one does the trick for you, they are not cheap. I have read lots who use this one swear by it and it’s the best on planets especially Jupiter. Good luck.

Wow that is one chunky eyepiece. Very nice.

I’ve not tried Morpheus but I really want to. Let me know how you get on with it and what it seams closest to 👍

Plenty of storage then especially as it’s “empty” at the moment.

I managed a very short session trying the APM 20. Clouds stopped play however I thought I’d get onto planets with it. )because they were all smiling at me). Not the best of nights tonight but I could see the black on mars and ice on the top glowing at only 36x which surprised me. Quite a comfortable lump of glass to use. Eye cups different to what I’m used to but a nice view all the same. Not really the right night or targets to test what I’ve bought it for but very promising. I looked at stars on the edge and they were quite sharp and coloured stars showed quite well. I popped in the 13E and have to say you try and you will want one. For me it’s just something extra that I can’t explain. I could use it all night. All in all I think the APM will do the job I want it to, for me anyhow. As you tempted me into buying it I will do my best to tempt you into buying the 13E. 👍

That’s really small. Amazing what can be put into a small package now.

I just bet that you don’t wait that long 😁

Of course this I am definitely not, but my philosophy is I won’t outgrow them. (I do talk to them too) 🤫

Well I’m hoping for a 2 hour window tonight, I finished my shifts for the week so I’m hoping to try the new APM 20 and will compare it to the 13E. Obviously things will look different but I should get some idea of performance although my eyes are tired and my body is exhausted. If I don’t fall over in the dark trying to look at the small red lentil of mars I will let you know what I think of the APM in comparison. I never really go the full 100 degrees to the edge as I find it’s better to just move the telescope. My Main reason for me having the wide eyepieces is I only use a rdf on its own and I can pick things up easier, I like the view and what surrounds my target also keeping them there for a little longer. Everyone has their “reasons”, mine are really quite simple, so the 10 percent at the edges I’m not Losing sleep over if they are slightly less than perfect.

Don’t you have the APM 13?

I just need to buy some green paint to paint in the lettering.

They will all smell the same once they’ve marinated long enough in the same case.

That’s budget tyres for ya

Sounds like you had a very productive session. Must have been bright in a 16”. Was this a driven scope? as At 180x I find things start to move. With mars it all seems to be a race against time before it starts shrinking again. Nice to hear you had good views.

Just came off shift to a parcel from Germany. APM 20mm. Wow this thing is sweet. If it performs how it feels it’s going to do the job. Had to post the second picture as it’s a perfect match to my 13E. (Size & weight) Special thanks to Stardaze and John for twisting my arm in the direction of this eyepiece and saving me a considerable amount of money on the purchase of an ethos 21. It actually feels like an ethos.