Franklin

You're not looking in the eyepiece, you're looking at an image formed by the eyepiece and that image is formed a little way outside of the eyepiece lens. You'll get the hang of it once it's clicked.

Your eye can take in about 65 degrees so with the extra wide angle eyepieces you need to look around to see the whole vista but if you move too much you get blackouts. When I first looked through 83 degree eyepieces I hated them but I learnt how to look through them and now I love them.

Depends on your eyesight. Just take the eyepiece out of the telescope and hold it up to your eye, aiming at a bright sky or lit ceiling and move it slowly away from your eye until you see a nice clean circle of light. That's the correct eye position to have when using in your scope.

Not necessarily, the rubber eyecup should be adjustable. Try twisting it up so it keeps your eye further away from the lens.

Try holding your eye further away from the eyepiece and try to keep it central.

You have to hold your eye in exactly the right place to see through these super-wide field eyepieces.

A Vixen 102M was my only scope for a couple of decades and I couldn't agree more with you.

Not only that but there is a remarkable number of targets up there that are accessible to small refractors and they're so easy to get out observing with. My SD81 on the manual APZ and lightweight TL-130 tripod are by far my most used pieces of kit and the views are amazing. Sure the bigger scope does perform better especially on extended objects like the planets but the 3" is no slouch, not by any means.

Observing Jupiter earlier and I thought I was seeing the four Galilean moons strung out to one side but then a fifth moon emerged on the other side which I now know was Europa. The mystery fifth moon was in fact 43 Ari😁.

I don't think it includes the counterweights, just the scope and other kit. Also, aim for around 50% of quoted payload for best results (imo). If your mount carries 10kg just put around 5kg on it, overloaded mounts are frustrating.

Just sold mine to an SGL member and yes it is a very good scope. It was the A105M and had the 3 foil spacers rather than the spacer ring which the current A105MII has.

Looks slightly out of focus to me, Io is a bit blobby! A tip is to focus on the moons rather than Jupiter itself.

The Vixen 80M has been in production since the early 1970's and it was only last year that Vixen pulled the plug on their 3"achromat, presumably influenced by the sales of their very popular A80MF, which is the Chinese made (Synta) version. The MF model is a good starter/beginners scope but the original Japanese made version is much superior. The 4" version, the A105MII, is still available though. The most recent A81M was supplied with the Vixen RDF and flip-mirror as standard.

Maybe he was talking about The Big Bang Theory on the telly?

Winnats Pass is notoriously steep, steeper than it appears in your excellent image.

Wow, I'd be happy with the non-filter view of the HH from the advert. What scope was used? Hubble! Never use Amazon for this very reason, not just astro.

I'm not for one minute going to pretend that imaging is easy but with todays technological improvements over those of yesteryear I feel quite confident in saying that imaging is a lot easier than it used to be and the results speak for themselves. However, there will always be something magical about being out under the stars with just a telescope and eyepiece, even if you're just looking at the same old targets year in, year out. Visual observing maybe in decline for a number of reasons but it will never die out completely. The connection with the night sky that a visual astronomer feels when observing is not something that can be caught on any camera.

All the non-Z GPC's can be placed after or before the diagonal, in the latter case there is an increase in magnification. They're not screwed into the nosepiece end, like a filter but placed inside the nosepiece from the diagonal end. This is what the supplied plastic ring is for, to centralize the GPC in the nosepiece.

If only 5 I'd give up all the SLV's, the NPL's, the HR's and all the LVW's except the LVW22mm. I'd keep the LVW 22, the SSW 10, SSW 7, SSW 5 and SSW 3.5. These are great performing eyepieces and give a perfect selection of magnifications with both my scopes. But of course I am actually going to keep them all, along with my collection of vintage Vixen eyepieces and the 2" long focal length ones.

Cloudy now but there was a clear patch for a good half hour or so earlier around midnight. A dozen Perseids in 30 minutes and a couple were really bright and long, stretching the whole diagonal across the Square of Pegasus and leaving trails.

Bad weather is very frustrating for all of us but it's the imaging guys/gals I feel for the most. Lack of observing opportunities is frustrating for visual observers as well but at least we can have a small, grab and go set up ready for action if a break in the cloud blows through or even just a pair of binoculars by the back door. Visual observers can still get some kind of fix in these frustrating times but the imaging crew need time under good, clear skies and at times like these, rather than throw in the towel, I would suggest getting a quick fix from a portable, visual only set up. Better weather and darker skies will return at some point in the future.

The skies cleared last night and I sat out from around 11.00 till about 1.00 with my constellation binoculars. Perseus was rising in the NE over the houses but my view was restricted to the east through to south and up to the zenith. It was nice scanning around Cassiopeia, Cepheus and Cygnus with the little 2.1x42's and maybe because of this I could have missed a few Perseids. In the end I only witnessed two meteors in two hours, one a bright Perseid which passed through the fov of the binoculars whilst looking at Deneb, which was startling and the other a faint sporadic through Delphinus. The clouds of today are trying to clear right now so I'll set the alarm for 2.00am and hopefully get out again for another try.

Was out around midnight scanning through Cygnus with the 2.1x42 constellation binoculars and a bright Perseid fired through the field of view towards Deneb, fleetingly leaving a trail. Hope the clouds stay away for 12/13 night.

Sunny Rossendale! You are very close to the Astronomy Centre, Todmorden, worth a visit.