Dantooine

Binoculars definitely the best view in my opinion. Best to see it, won’t be around for long and you can’t bring it back!!

That was a nice read. You did well giving respect to the one eyepiece. It’s all to easy to keep changing up and down. Sometimes it just simplifies the evening and it’s good to find out what a mew lump of glass is capable of.

Very nice.

...and thanks for reading even if it was in a coded format.

To be fair I really don’t know what I’m doing 😂

Well, I’m very probably wrong. I was told. Maybe I need to check it it

Very sweet. Planets are well positioned for that baby.

July 30/31st 2115-2300 Set up out the back near my car with the back gate open so I could get a lower view. Got Jupiter as usual with the ethos 13 first as I like to start at 55x and step up from that magnification. Moons visible were 2 to the left and 2 to the right. As time went by the one on the far left drifted out very wide. It move a long way in the 2 hours we were observing. 2 bands were visible. Saturn as always was crisp showing 1 moon to the left. No bands were visible tonight but was still good to see. The “spectators” were amazed at seeing Saturn’s rings as everyone is first time. The moon was amazing tonight and I stepped right up to 204x. I could see what I know as “the bay cliff’s” very nicely. It was getting a little wobbly at high magnification so I started dropping back. Good views as always with the ethos 13 but my favourite tonight was at low power with the panoptic 27. This showed the whole moon with a couple of stars around it but the most amazing contrast. The mares looked very dark and the whole thing looked like a 3D model. Managed to get in front of the ISSfor the second night running, this time at 89x with the ethos 8. It’s a visible craft at this magnification and I tracked it with difficulty. I could see the shape of it and the solar panels each side of it. The star Arcturus was glowing bright orange with a ferocious flicker. The star Capella was a nice sight showing colours, red, purple & yellow. This is the first time I’ve looked at it properly and it’s strange to see it change colours like that. It’s actually made up of 4 stars that look like one. Went back out front of house 0030-0200 Mars at 204x with Delos. More than 3/4 phase now and looked much more like a planet. Could just make out some dark patches and think I got a glimpse of polar ice cap as there was a bright top to the disc. Managed to get Saturn at 204x also. Could not see any ring division but could just make out a few bands. Jupiter was clearer than earlier and the moon that was wide to the left had moved behind the planet and not visible. Had a look at Pleiades with the panoptic 27 and they all fit in the field of view quite nicely. Finished off looking at them with the ethos 13, the brighter stars really glow. All in all, not a bad session.

Very well done 👍 ive seen Jupiter, Saturn and Mars tonight and I’m happy with that. I reckon I have a while to go until I can even find the others. 🤞

That sound spooky. War of the worlds stuff. Quite a sight I imagine.

Thank you, Yes I feel it’s complete and I’ve just put an eyepiece extender on the panoptic 27, with the rubber folded down it is amazingly easy to use.

😭none taken i have a Delos 3.5 under the bed so will give the 3.7 a miss. The nice thing about my “minimalist” set is they are quite close in weight. I’ve tried to build a good set for my small telescope so I can grab quick sessions when I get the chance. More observing.. less setting up.

😎minimalist in number of eyepieces. My line of thinking is, I won’t be tempted to ad to it as they would go well in pretty much any future telescope. Been a tough ol’ year with no time off and to be honest there are people that spend that on alcohol. But yes it a fair amount but I’ve given my wife the amount on each one I’ve bought so my I don’t feel guilty 👍

Good.. I don’t need anyone temptations, it’s quite a challenge to keep a minimalist setup.

Sounds very interesting. What do you think would be my limits on say mars with a 102ed-r f7 with that type of eyepiece?

That’ll do nicely. Just don’t knock the table over.

Very sweet high power. How often do you get to use the 1.6mm? Must be something special when you get the right night.

mikeDnight, wow 474x, what focal length is the 100mm?

So what in your opinion is missing?

That’ll be your Nagler 31 🤔

Boxes all over the place then 👍

Hoping my panoptic 27 will do that for me. It gives me a 3.85mm exit but less field.

I did consider the 21 ethos however, the panoptic is about £500 less, but the main reason was the 21 ethos is around 20oz more weight than the 6 & 8. This would have gone against my ideas about weight range. I am very pleased with the panoptic 27 and gives me a good bright field. The 13 is definitely the favourite and I have a Delos 3.5 if mars shows its face. Dale.

Alan, The under cuts really don’t bother me. They seem ok on a 2” click lock. I’m not sure the type of focuser they catch with but mine seems fine. As for your question about “chunky glass”, basically I’ve completely gone over to 2” as I feel they are more secure. The weight balance was another reason for my choices believe or not. all the above are fairly closely weighted, the 6E & 8E are 15.5oz, the pan 27 is 16.4oz and the 13E & 4.7E are both 20.8oz. They are all within approximately 5oz so for me it works quite well. Dale.

Over the course of this year I’ve bought way too many eyepieces. I’ve mainly done this to try them out as it’s my only way of seeing which ones I like. The thrill of the chase maybe.. I use a 102ed f7 refractor and would like peoples thoughts on my minimalist set of ep’s.. is my set complete and will they cover most of what’s visible in my manual set up? Dale.