IB20

Great report. I count everything where it changes colour as a band, I guess really it’s a mixture of zones, regions and bands. Managed 8 last night!

Impressive shot from a phone vid! Must’ve looked incredible at the EP.

I purchased my 200p from FLO and could use it straight out the box. For collimation I only use the £5 collimation cap that they also sell. I find it a doddle to collimate.

Clear skies if people are staying up for the shadow transit. 😴

Similarly to ingress, Ganymede’s image on the disc has become really diffuse and quite hard to see. Jupiter getting closer to a neighbour’s rooftop and chimney though. Hoping it clings on for egress where it might appear like a white dot on the darkening limb.

Sounds like a superb scope Stu! I’m doing all my observing with my 80mm, I have a bad case of small aperture fever.

Must say, Jupiter is looking resplendent at times. I can see up to 8 bands on occasion, 80x definitely the sweet spot, CA pretty negligible too.

Yes, now it is positioned more centrally on the face it’s become much more defined and circular rather than a small smudge and does resemble a shadow transit. I have managed to crank up the mag to 133x so perhaps my seeing has improved too.

At ingress Ganymede appeared very much like Io’s transit. A bright white disc which was visible on the edge and face of the limb, this persisted for sometime before I could no longer see it. I have been battling with some light cloud but around 5-10 minutes ago, at 62-88x I have been able to detect a dull diffuse mark in the EB which corresponds to Ganymede’s current position. What a result! Will continue to track it across Jupiter’a face, weather permitting.

With its shadow due to appear on around midnight. Hopefully seeing plays ball and I get to observe Ganymede in front of Jupiter’s face.

Tonight I went in search of Tx Piscium which is a variable carbon star using the Morpheus 17.5mm. Locating it just to the SW of Iota Piscium showed a fabulously deep orange star, such beautiful colouration. Not much else around that was visible so it might prove difficult to measure its variability. Afterwards I decided to make my way up to Andromeda. Starting with Almach which displayed a beautiful yellow and blue pair of stars, turns out it’s a very well known double! Then panning eastwards to Mirach showed a very bright golden star - something wasn’t right though. I could make out what looked like a green coloured pea on Mirach’s left shoulder. Checking on SkySafari showed that there’s a mag 10 elliptical galaxy called Mirach’s ghost. I’m fairly sure that’s what I could see! After gazing at Mirach and its strange companion for sometime I headed northwards Andromeda which showed as its usual faint fuzzy self, only this time I could make out M32 for the first time too. It really shows how bad the light pollution is even at Bortle 6 as it appeared quite separately from M31. There was no sign of M110 and with work calling tomorrow I called it a night.

Funny you should mention this, I have been offered one. I think I might take a punt on it.

Thanks, I’m in no rush and am happy enough to wait for a good ortho to appear. Nothing stopping me getting a nice wide field too. 😀

Is that T for Tani, Japan? Any idea how often something like that appears on the used market?

I’ve split Epsilon lyrae at 61.5x in monoview!😃 I am interested in binoviewers at some point, probably if (when) I get a 4” frac and more sturdy tripod/mount set-up.

I’m surprised no one has mentioned the Tak LE 7.5mm? Wonder why, are they a little over-priced for what they are?

I do like my 17.5 Morpheus, very comfortable to use and Barlows really well. Just checking the technical specs and it weighs 305g so not much lighter than the 7mm XW.

Hmmm, seeing the Pentax 7mm is about the same size as a tin of beans and weighs nearly 400g might rule it out. What a beast.

Lots of love for the Pentax XW, I shall look into them. I might explore binoviewers in the future but my current set-up wouldn't support the weight so am only looking for monoviewing right now.

I would recommend looking through a smaller refractor before purchasing anything. At first I was quite surprised how small the image was through an 80mm but I’ve now grown to love and see great detail in that image. I think my intention is to get a 4” eventually, although I can feel the Tak 76dcu’s gravitas pulling me towards it first. Maybe one day on a lovely Berlebach tripod and suitable mount… 💸💸💸

Absolutely over the moon to snag one of these! Gotta love the SGL For Sale section. 🎉

Just stumbled upon this if anyone wants a 17.5mm! https://www.tringastro.co.uk/baader-morpheus-76-widefield--175mm-eyepiece---ex-display-18360-p.asp

When I complained to my local council about LED street light intrusion I sent them two pictures of the offending lights at night from my “child’s” bedroom. Immediately they reduced one to 35% output as it was on a cul-de-sac and fitted a light shield to one on the main road. The pictures were definitely from my “child’s” bedroom and not a spare unused room. Send them evidence that the lights are trespassing into your house and disturbing your sleep and they will rectify it fairly quickly IME.

Hi, Sorry for another planetary EP thread! 😁 As I lurch towards being a full on planetary observer I'm trying to identify an excellent 7mm planetary EP, probably leaning towards an ortho but open to other suggestions. I can only seem to find: 7mm Japanese HD Orthoscopic EP - Fujiyama 7.5mm Tak LE HD 7mm BGO (not available but does anyone want to sell me theirs?) 7mm Ohi Optical Genuine Abbe Orthoscopic EP Then there are the widerfield EPs which would probably also give me excellent views: 7mm Pentax XW 7mm TV Delite Does anyone have any recommendations from these or suggestions of other EPs that might suit? Ta!

When I was looking for a refractor, weight was one of the most important factors for me. I don’t know what the lightest rig is for the 102ed but lots of people recommended stability. An AZ4 with steel tripod & scope together would be about 13kg. Using a Skytee would be about 17-18kg. My dob only weighs 25-26kg and the thought of having two heavyish set-ups didn’t really resonate with me. Also the cost of both those set ups would be between £700-£1000. I ended up plumping for a full set-up for £550 that weighed just over 6kgs. I’m now a huge advocate of smaller aperture scopes and would make the same decision again. I’m using the scope every time conditions allow - the best scope etc. As with John’s post, that’s my preference though. I’ve always been a lazy sod 😅 but I have no excuses with such a light set-up.