PeterW

@Stu a little metal thread and you can make any glove “smartphone compatible”… I upgraded a pair of glove liners I use so I don’t need you go without any gloves when out! Postie just delivered this, bought it cheap 😉😉! Actually bought as it contains a lot of useful/interesting non-year/non-North America specific info/guidance and observing lists that I was after! Peter

You should be able to get to almost the zenith, though it’s not perfect. I reckon the tripod will be more stable. I tend to loosen/tighten the locks/friction on the axes when moving. Rock steady binocular stars are nice! Peter

I checked the port/sloe gin and coffee bean supplies and I’m good for a typical winter of clouds or (hopefully not) another lockdown. Time for another dose of “medicine”… Peter

Santa delivered, no FLO cloud/snow stickers, so the weather may improve. Seeing double, for binocular nebulae under light pollution. Peter

Just got a shipping note from FLO…. Looks like Santa might make it this year… Peter

Woah, you could see Whales/Wales with that thing…. Don’t drop it! Peter

Nikon monarch 82ed-a or the meopta 82 S2 both have very good following and can be adapted to astro eyepieces. The advice seems to be to try before you buy as even the big brands have been known to sell lemons (spotters aren’t used at extreme power and so optical defects are harder to spot). Peter

For terrestrial you’ll want a 45degree erecting diagonal, the William optics one works fine. For high power astro use then a mirror/prism diagonal will be best (but flip the orientation of the views). Peter

Great stuff! Peter

The ES coma corrector (that doesn’t waste your precious fast speed) and the 21mm Ethos… people are using <f3 reflectors and not reporting crummy views… some people really don’t like ladders at all! interesting to see a commercial scope <f4, let’s hope more appear: Peter

Try to get the colours to work with red light, I have a book where half the contents vanishes at night. Are you going to provide more detailed charts per object? Good luck Peter

Not commercially available, but another 150mm option… https://www.bbastrodesigns.com/6inchF2.8/6 Inch F2.8 Telescope.html Peter

Which surfaces were the worst offenders? I’ve had dust issues on sensors when imaging, but never visually… apart from eye floaters. Peter

If you’re not wanting to lug the scope around a lot then the astro refractor will do a better job and allow more eyepiece options than a dedicated spotter. I like wide field views and avoid zooms, though I have the Baader one and use it occasionally. Carrying a few extra eyepieces is a little concern if you’re carrying an astro refractor. With the 2” diagonal you can use eyepieces with focal lengths from around 40mm down to 6mm or so. The zooms range is a good start. I think the vixen takes the synta rail mount which the scope seems to come with (?) so no additional adapters needed. My refractor has a “foot”’that has camera threads in, so I need either a shirt synta rail or a tripod head adapter plate to use. I hope you’ll enjoy the views, Peter

Well add it your list! Peter

BBC claims clear day so I’ve got a small chance to see comet Leonard…. Looks cloudy to my eyes… even Clear Outside reckons it’ll be overcast for days to come…. Surely we can do better that “stick your head outside”… Peter

I had the f5 120mm skywatcher that I’d upgraded the focusser on…. Regret selling it many times! Peter

Rule of telescopes number 15 - as soon as you sell a scope you’ll regret doing it! I’ve sold several bits of kit that I have later regretted…. Beware! Peter

… no gain control, I feel your pain, though you get to see things “turned up to 11”! (I find I need to use averted vision and mental averaging/moving the scope to help tease out the faint stuff. Gain knobs rule though! Peter

Two eyes does have advanatages in seeing faint stars and having nice views, also enable you to get wider (richfield) views. Certainly much easier to setup for a quick session or to take along to club sessions. Peter

Agreed, I have some 45degree ones and the zenith is pushing things…. If I get bigger bins then they’ll be 90degree to make zenith observing more pleasant. Peter

Dream like views when you pair them up…. Double barrelled! Peter

Starting to get a bit long and “pirate like” PEter

Baader morpheus are well thought of, anything over 70something degrees give immersive views. With angled binoculars you can just use a heavy tripod and a fluid head, though purpose made yoke mounts are also common. No neck spraining either. A parallelogram is only needed for straight through models. Peter

Looking at the TS “30x100mm”, you can see the 2k ED models and the 1.3k semi-apo (achromat) options. For astro the 90degree make zenith viewing a little nicer. There seem to be other selling these like Altair and Astroshop.eu. APM sell semi-apo, “ED” and “SD”, which is even better, TS seem to selling the first two. Tripod mounting, angled viewing, changeable eyepieces, all useful options to have for larger bins. Peter