Pixies

Here's a review of the NPLs that includes a comparison with the TeleVue plossls. https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/user-reviews/eyepieces/vixen-eyepieces/vixen-npl-plossl-series-r1800 They don't try them with very fast scopes, but do conclude that the NPLs lose a little sharpness at the very edge, whereas the TVs don't. But it's a case of £48 vs £142 (30mm vs 32mm)

Another go with the 10x50 bins this morning. The sky was pretty clear - could see M81 and 82 and just about make out M51. At 6am, the comet was less than half a degree SE of M3. Obviously brighter than yesterday but not quite as bright as the globular cluster. Possibly a hint of the coma in the binoculars. Its tail passed right through M3, so made it hard to distinguish. Looking forward to seeing some images today.

here's a previous thread:

Had a shot this morning too. I'm not an early bird and my plans for a 5am start were closer to 6am! Still, the skies were only just starting to brighten, so it wasn't too bad. First with 10x50 bins. Easy to find M3 just by scanning up from Arcturus and the comet was about 2 degrees NNW from there. Both easily fitting n the same FOV. Then on to the ST80 with 30mm plossl. The comet was visible with direct vision and the tail (about 1 degree's worth) visible with AV. The sky was getting lighter by now and I guess that if had I got my bum into gear an hour earlier, the view would have been better. But still, a comet tail is always a win! Back then to the bins, but by now the comet was getting quite hard to see. I'll keep an eye on it over the next week, if I can. The weather doesn't look great for the next few days though. Tomorrow would have been interesting, as it will pass M3 very closely - just 6 arc minutes at 4am! Perhaps too close to be able to distinguish the two as separate!

Had a good result here too, recently. The old sodium lights in the back lane that overlook the gardens of the terrace were a pain. One shone in the garden, but they all lit up the rear elevations of the houses in the terrace. However, 2 weeks ago, they were replaced with LED downlighters. The effect is enormous - not only direct light, but the reflected light off the houses has dropped significantly. The garden is noticeably darker. So much so, that I need a torch to navigate around if I haven't become dark adapted. The one problem is that the nearest lamp still shines into the garden. Not at full illumination, but enough to be really distracting. The white (moonlight) colour actually seems to be more intrusive in my peripheral vision. So I'm going to have to contact the council and see if they will put up a shade. However, I can't see how they can do that and not affect next-door's garden too, plunging it into darkness. They are an old couple, so I'd better make sure that won't be too drastic for them. Hopefully they'll be OK about it - we are on VERY good terms. Otherwise, I'm going to have to think about some kind of high-level planting to block the light.

I'm not a big TV watcher - but I got called in for this. I got three pointless answers - a bit better than the contestants! It's on iPlayer if you want a shot (and you're in the UK, obvs.)

I find the eyecup 'action' very positive. It takes a little effort to get it lifted up and it certainly doesn't slip down in use.

The Vixen 30mm Plossl. I liked it so much, I bought the telescope!

Wednesday night /Thursday morning promising for me:

The fixed focal-length Hyperions aren't great with fast scopes, but the zoom is fine.

Don't make the mistake I made the first time I used the Vixen EP, and not realise that the outside of the eyecup can be twisted-up!

An 8" dob might be smaller than you think. Especially when considering storage. Here's my Bresser 8" tucked away in a cool corner of the kitchen. My grab-and-go ST80/AZ5/Manfrotto next to it takes up more space!

Yep. Double the magnification, half the exit pupil. It effectively doubles the focal length of the scope

this book is my "TLAO plus": an example of its content: 500 pages - it's all Northern hemisphere, though

Mk 1 special:

A rare clear night tonight - but still with a bright moon. I thought I'd try some double stars, but with the Jetstream forecast to be thundering overhead tonight, I wasn't too hopeful. Stars at high magnification were just round blobs, so nothing too tight: Struve401 - Taurus' "double-double". 6 Trianguli - another mini Albireo (split at x75). Pi Andromedae - easy split. Rigel - managed to see Rigel B. Even with Rigel A looking like a disco ball, B was shining clear at x100, but vanishing into the glare at x75. The Trapezium in Orion. Only A, B, C and D visible. Just blobs, not the usual sharp pinpricks. Sigma Orionis - All 4 stars visible. The dimmest, 'C', only with averted vision. Alnitak - nope! The moon was well up by now, so decided to cut my losses and have a look, but even this was 'boiling', so decided to call it a night. Still - nice to have a clear night for a change.

Yep - RACI and Telrad combo for me

Quite a few use counterweights to balance heavy eyepieces, etc. They can be bought specifically or made up: John has attached a magnetic knife strip to the bottom of his tube to allow weights to be attached at various positions.

Arrived yesterday: The 7mm wasn't really the focal length I was after, because... Oh well. However, I am thinking about getting a binoviewer next year and I'll need something to use in it! Plus this is one of my favourite eyepieces - so now I have a pair of them!

The spikeyness is down to poor seeing (atmospheric turbulence). Have a look at this: http://www.damianpeach.com/simulation.htm#:~:text=Part 4. Performance effects with varying degrees of Atmospheric Turbulence.

Hi from Edinburgh, Larger apertures suffer more from poor seeing conditions. Your dob catches (250^2*π)/(90^2*π) = 7.7 times more light but also looks through 7.7 times more atmosphere! Smaller scopes can often "punch through" poor seeing than the big guns. However, when the seeing is good, the larger aperture will have significantly higher resolution. Also - have you tried the 9mm EP in the Meade? It might be a bit dodgy.

First clear night in ages but my daughter is having her friends over for a sleepover for her 14th birthday party. Too tired and emotionally exhausted to consider anything other than what comes out of a bottle. However, I did see Venus (naked-eye) late afternoon. The first time I've seen it this season.

There's a public list on Sky Safari.

5mm Ortho?

It's been pants since Apple bought out Darksky (the weather data that CO uses). Met Office appears to have been the most accurate this year (for me) - but only for 24 hours in advance. I use it to check the coming evening. CO - the website - has such a great user interface, though. I still use it to consider the week ahead.