IB20

I scalped this list off another forum as it was a suggested doubles list for testing an 80mm refractor. They are all 2” separation or less and both components within 1 mag brightness of each other. After some star hopping last night I pinned down HR8040, a blueish white primary in Cygnus. At 80x I couldn’t really see any split but increasing to 100x a greyish blue secondary popped out. Further increasing the magnification to 133x and 160x presented a really pleasing double split with two nice airy discs. An excellent result! I aim to work my way through the list decreasing in separation and see where the 80mm gives up! Would welcome other members having a go and if there are any other similar double targets people can recommend, I’d be all ears.

Have just had a go at this, got one split with the Starbase 80mm at 62x 13mm TV delite and the tighter double showing as somewhere between elongated & resolved. Upping the mag to 80x with the BCO 10mm split both nicely.

Still really enjoying the Starbase, almost entirely a white solar scope at the minute and some terrestrial viewing as the light nights have put paid to any night time viewing in my current circumstances. Got a few more iPhone images to share, this scope is just a great deal of fun. I might have a go at lucky imaging and stacking when I get opportunity to process some videos as the detail at the eyepiece is much higher than a single snap is yielding. The Baader continuum filter is a lovely bit of kit too and works really well with the scope. Hoping I get chance to have a few night sessions with it soon as well.

I love my 8” 200P dob and its footprint is fairly small, 52cm I think when pointing towards the zenith so I’ve got it just in my kitchen. The eyepiece position is really good for zenith viewing, maybe not so much if you are >6 foot but you could always elevate the base e.g. with a water butt stand. Lining up zenith targets can be awkward as I have a telrad and straight through finder, a right angled finder would no doubt make this easier but I just find using a telrad quicker and am still quite flexible. It weighs about 26kg; I wouldn’t say it’s incredibly portable but I can lift and move it a few metres at a time. It’s an awkward shape which makes carrying it as one something I wouldn’t want to keep doing in a session. In separate parts as tube and base it is very easy to move however. I’d say cool down can be about 20-30 mins in summer and 45-70 mins when it’s colder. Viewing on patio concrete probably causes me more issues than actual tube cooling, it might faster acclimated if I observed on turf.

Been out this afternoon too. Some periods of really good seeing, seeing plenty of faculae and some movement and fine detail within the sun spot umbra. Grabbed a few iPhone snaps and a vid but they aren’t quite up to what I saw at the eyepiece. IMG_6955.MOV IMG_6955.MOV

I’m thoroughly enjoying white solar viewing with my f10 80mm achro & wedge. I can easily see faculae which are enhanced near the disc limbs with both continuum and Oiii filters. In good seeing at 80x I have seen dark lanes within the umbral regions of spots and have pushed this to 167x. I must admit I haven’t really observed granulation yet but I’d also say I haven’t really looked for it either, I’d probably need a higher mag eyepiece than 5mm too? I’m not much of an imager and take the odd at the eyepiece iPhone shot, but I’d certainly disagree with that the images I get from that after processing surpass what I see visually. If anything the images I generate aren’t quite as detailed.

That was the Starbase 80 and Lunt wedge. 14mm and 6mm Starbase orthos too, I’m finding these eyepieces are pretty decent!

This has been my experience pretty much every time I attempt to split Antares. Xi Scorpii is a nice target in this area, a triple with a close double, I haven’t split the A & B stars but have snow-manned it.

Trying out the new continuum filter, loving it so far, provides wonderful contrast.

Went to observe at my dad’s as we both have a love for astronomy. Got to see it for a few seconds through a spotting scope/ solar filter and some 8x Lunt bins. Never returned once we set up the 120mm Evostar though. Was really nice to have an Astro session with the old man as we rarely get chance, despite the end result.

Stellar work from @FLO for getting this out to me before tomorrow despite being swamped with a recent shipment. Fingers crossed we get some cloud breaks. 🤞🏼

That’s with an Oiii filter https://www.firstlightoptics.com/uhc-oiii-visual-filters/oiii-filter.html but for a little bit more you could get the Baader Continuum filter https://www.firstlightoptics.com/solar-filters/baader-solar-continuum-filter.html which @Stu has used in the thread below. I liked the image and contrast of the filter so much I have one on order from FLO, hopefully delivered tomorrow.

Cassiopeia is in the worst possible direction for my observing and is entirely blocked out for most of the evening, so I’m appreciative of other members’ updates on the nova. 👍🏻

That looks great. I’m looking forward to making some minor tweaks to my scope and refining it into its best form.

In the last week I have continued to use the Starbase every day for white solar, the weather has meant the days have been clear but cloud seems to come over in the evenings, exactly like today! I managed one night session which I just spent exploring the skies with no targets in mind. Albireo looked beautiful and presented a brilliant golden and blue pair of stars. During scanning Cygnus, I realised how much it would have benefited having the finder as the peephole doesn’t really offer much when pointing at a region of sky! Back to daytime, I can get the scope out and swap in the Herschel wedge and be viewing in seconds. The 1.25” Lunt wedge really is a brilliant bit of kit, I doubt I’d own it now either if I’d have stretched my scope budget a bit further so I’m glad about that. I’ve been leaving the scope capped in the shade and whenever I get a spare 15 mins or have lunch I’ve been enjoying delightful views of the sun. I never did this with the dob and always planned sessions, I love the ease and spontaneity of observing with the 80mm. I’ve been getting up to 133x magnification consistently; 80x a right sweet spot, and on odd occasions in good seeing, 160x has shown nice detail. I’ve been playing around with filters and EPs combinations, learning about back focus optical paths and just refractors in general. It’s been a joy really, and I’m observing at every opportunity. I don’t mean to neglect the dob but if I didn’t own the 80mm the nighttime weather would mean I wouldn’t have used it anyway. I do intend to have a lunar and doubles session with both scopes as soon as possible. I’m very much looking forward to spending more time night viewing but white solar fills the gap nicely when it’s cloudy at night! So far what I’ve learned is:- 1. I love portable 80mm scopes and set-ups. I will always own one I’m certain of that. 2. I love white solar viewing and it lends itself to this set-up incredibly well. 3. If I had to choose between reflectors and refractors, I’d pick a refractor. There, I said it! Luckily I don’t need to choose, so I’m keeping both 😝. Lastly, despite spending my Astro budget a few times over this last month I visited FLO after a few too many bank holiday sherbets and got an addition for the scope which arrived today. 😊 The safety warning advises “Don’t look at the sun”; if you have the appropriate filters, wedges and films, absolutely do look at the sun!

Saw a new, small spot region on the south-west limb of the solar disc this morning. Checked on spaceweatherlive.com and it hadn’t been numbered, but checking now and it has been updated as 2829. Seeing wasn’t the best but it’s great to just leave my small frac scope set up and pinch a few minutes here and there throughout the day.

Thanks @vlaiv for your expertise and writing such a comprehensive response, that makes total sense. 🙂

Hoping a member can answer this for me as I can't seem to find a definitive answer anywhere. What does placing a 2x Barlow before (rather than after) a prism star diagonal do to an eyepiece's exit pupil? I tried it yesterday with a 15mm eyepiece in an f10 scope and there were plenty of noticeable eye floaters. From what I've read it's assumed a 2x Barlow would increase to around 3x due to lengthening of optical path making the exit pupil in a 15mm eyepiece around 0.5mm. Yet I've used a 5mm in the same scope without the Barlow and don't see anything like the number of floaters? Am I missing something?

I have serious scope envy!

Not great imaging conditions today but grabbed this of AR2827. Occasional dark filaments showed in the umbral region of the larger spot. I assumed solar viewing would be fairly slow paced but sunspots change readily from day to day.

I found this too, was only fleeting moments where the dark lanes and filaments were defined inside the larger foetal shaped sun spot in my 80mm. It is quite windy here but I expected seeing to be a bit better with recent conditions.

I have the 25mm BST that I use as a DSO finder in my 200p. It does suffer some outer edge aberration in a f5.9 system but it’s still a great eyepiece for the money. There’s the 68° 24mm ES which is probably about the widest field you’ll get for 1.25” but costs over 3x the BST.

The package was £549, the mount and tripod must be about £180 of that as a minimum if the AZ3 is £139? The eye pieces and diagonal another £70-80? So that makes the OTA £289-299? I would say without even having to think that the OTA is worth that. Obviously providers need to take some profit margin too. I’ve purchased cheap before and ended up with a pair of lemons (Celestron binos) so didnt mind paying for a premium for a Japanese made achromat. Buy cheap buy twice as they say! I didn’t own a mount, tripod or star diagonal prior to this purchase and if I did own these, I would’ve looked at getting the Vixen A81M or even splurge on the SD81s and not the Starbase but as a serious starter package it’s thumbs up from me.

“Captured this last night” etc etc rGQCsHvveBUQd-Pj.mp4

That’s a lovely looking scope.