IB20

Do the DeLites qualify as having an undercut? I’m looking at mine now and I wouldn’t say it looks that severe? I can’t say I’ve noticed it having any impact when changing it out of my scopes. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I thought about chucking in a cheeky bid when they were around £160. Think I’ll let them go at this price and above. 😅

I’m still waiting for you to stock a 102mm f7 semi-apo. Please take my money! 🤑

Similarly this image was 1/15, ISO 3200 and focus 26mm. Sometimes the auto-setting double screen tap sorts this for you but not always. Was pretty pleased to grab this afocally, usually just get a flying saucer blob!

I wish I expert enough to set them with knowledge of why! Essentially I just play around with it until it looks “alright”. 😅 Checking that particular lunar image above, the details were Exposure 1/240, ISO 32 and focus 26mm. Adobe Lightroom is a great free app too, very user friendly and let’s you tweak exposures, contrast and image settings if needed.

I do own a cheapo Amazon adapter but it’s such a faff to line up at night that I don’t bother using except for white light solar now. Burst mode or taking quite a few shots and using a camera app that allows control of the exposure and ISO all help me when hand holding at the EP.

It’s quite possible that if (when 😅) I get the 9mm Morpheus it becomes my workhorse EP, but I’m almost certainly keep the BCO regardless cos I love it. Must admit I haven’t really used the 14mm ortho much as I tend to plump for my 13mm Delite. I did experiment with it in daytime though and it seemed to have very easy eye placement and was easy to take afocal snaps with my iPhone. I do recall it showing some edge of field curvature in those images however but can’t remember if they were as pronounced visually. I’ll give it a whirl next session I get.

Agh, I had great conditions last night but chose to wait until tonight. Completely clouded out so far. 🤦🏼‍♂️

Great report. I must admit it’s not a target I have observed yet but sounds like a nice test for the Starbase 80! Cassiopeia is obscured during my regular viewing times a few months of the year but it has emerged recently. I will give it a go during my next opportunity. It is great when something observed that night sticks in your mind. Liking this new target digital simulation you are doing recently too, John. 👍🏻

Absolutely set both up. I did last night and it was great, whilst my bigger dob cooled I used the smaller refractor. Perfect.

Had both scopes out again last night, the views were astonishingly good, especially in the 8” dob. Saturn in the dob was a bright white with grey polar region but showing depth, the Cassini division although not always constantly crystal clear, popped in and out. In the 80mm refractor it changed to a sand colour, banding easier to see without the brightness. Again the Cassini division jumped in and out with the seeing at the left & right edges of the rings. Titan and Rhea visible in the frac, Dione & Tethys added in the dob. Over to Jupiter and two brown barges quite clear above the NEB and greyish/white festoons sandwiching the GRS. Lots of colouration and banding visible, quite incredible what a backyard astronomer can see with a fairly basic instrument. Io & Europa were slowly dancing around each other all night too; Jupiter just keeps putting a smile on my face. Also managed to locate Neptune in the 80mm refractor. Located by finding the parallelogram of stars it currently sits in the middle of, near HR8931. A very greyish blue dot and although not much to look at quite amazing to think of this icy planet in our System 4 light hours away. Triton may have revealed itself in the 8” dob but I couldn’t stop looking at Jupiter so never spent the time finding Neptune in the bigger scope. The eyepiece winners of the night were the 10mm BCO in the dob (surprise surprise) and the 13mm Delite in the frac. The BSTs are fighting for their life but the 12mm performed beautifully last night so they have a stay of execution. Managed to grab an afocal snap of Saturn too, best I’ve managed!

Wonderful target list as ever. Neptune is a bit of late arrival for me at the minute but I doubt I could get close to seeing Triton. I tried with Uranus’ moons last season and came up empty handed. Hopefully will get to view ice the giants in the next few months.

Well if the conditions are kind I bet the views through the 12” will be stunning. I used my 8” dob for a planetary session a week or so ago and Jupiter looked incredible.

I was hoping you were going to say the 76 DCU. I'm a huge fan of a smaller scope and from what I've read about it's performance I don't actually think its price is too silly. One day... (No guns will be involved in acquiring one!).

Not jealous at all! Out of interest, if at hypothetical gunpoint and you could only keep one, which would it be?

The 10mm Baader Classic Ortho is my most used planetary EP. I find it gives better views in terms of sharpness and contrast than both the 12mm & 8mm BST for planetary use. I use the 200P Skywatcher dob and an 80mm Scopetech refractor. When Mars was at its recent opposition the 10mm BCO with 2x Barlow gave better views than the 5mm BST (it was close however). I’m fairly certain that for the cost, there isn’t a better EP currently than the 10mm BCO. I use it for lunar, double stars and white light solar (with appropriate solar films/wedges) observing too. For an ortho it is very comfortable to look through where my 6mm ortho can be quite difficult for eye placement.

Have just done a quick sketch of what I saw last night. There were occasions where darker areas showed in the NEB, possible barges. So looking forward to Jupiter getting higher in the sky in the next few years.

Seeing was OK but not wonderful. 100x required a bit more patience but 80x was lovely. I have full cloud again now and think that’ll be that!

Just had another 20 minute 80mm grab n go session with Jupiter. Started viewing at ambient temperature in the kitchen doorway and views OK with the Hyperflex zoom but mushy at high mag. Moved the scope outdoors by 12 inches and continued observing, quite amazing watching the image improve over time as the scope cooled, almost like a polaroid developing! The GRS was just visible to the right of the disc but seemingly paler than the rich orange/brown colour of the NEB. By the end of the session the views were pretty breathtaking. The 10mm BCO showing such clear banding between the NTB, NEB, EZ, SEB & STB. The Northern polar region also showing good shading. Can’t get enough of Jupiter right now.

Another good session with the Starbase 80 last night. A night that had a veil of thin cloud over 95% of the sky and one I’d have normally written off. Had 90 minutes of observing the gas giants & the moon instead of none! I must say I am very happy with the planetary detailing on Jupiter that I can see and I feel now I really need to optimise and refine my EP collection from 7-9mm. The 6mm Starbase ortho I have is a good EP but feel the stated range would be most used. The 10mm BCO works beautifully in the scope but I think the scope can eek out a bit more magnification before seeing starts affecting the views. My new 17.5mm Morpheus is also a triumph in the scope, and I can’t quite believe the detail I can see despite the small image. With that in mind I think I’m gravitating towards to 9mm Morpheus, which would also be a great EP in the dob too. I’d say the colours in the 13mm Delite probably appear the best and there’s a 7mm in that range, but perhaps an 8mm Delos is a consideration? I better start saving… Managed this afocal moon snap with my IPhone 11 last night; I do find a refractor is much easier to do this than the dob, probably due to hand position and FOV? Still very happy indeed with the scope, even managed a WL solar session yesterday morning too! It’s been too long.

It's the Starbase 80, essentially a Scopetech brand. My thoughts on it can be found here Also I purchased a camera app that lets me control exposure and ISO called Halide, but there are plenty others available. Sorry for derailing John's thread... Anyway, I seem to experience a strange phenomena when I observe Jupiter, I never seem to be able to access the GRS, it's always rotated out of view. Strikes me as odd or unlucky when it's rotation period is 9.8 hours!

A very small human.

And here she is with a quick iPhone grab. I love this little 80mm scope, brilliant and versatile. Another 90 minute session boxed off when I wouldn’t have got the 8” dob out due to the cloud!

Just out with the 80mm f10 achro now, I'm thoroughly enjoying viewing both Saturn and Jupiter again. Despite complete thin cloud coverage all over, Jupiter is still showing some fantastic colouration and banding. with Io, Europa and Ganymede sitting to the left of the planetary disc. I think Jupiter is my favourite observing target, I never get bored of looking at it and its configuration of moons. There is just so much to look at and look for! The 13mm Delite and 10mm BCO are impressing me again tonight; the BCO is a marvel for its cost. The Moon is just on its way round a tree in my line of sight, so I might stay out a bit longer... 😁

First opportunity for white solar for a long time. It’s a nice little cluster, on occasion with micro-pockets of good seeing 2859 shows really nice detail. A number of smaller pores showing in the penumbra.