PeterW

Many people have noted their existence and their light weight as they “don’t have prisms”, but collimation maybe hard to achieve. None seems to have seen what’s inside or made any detailed reviews other than “not impressed”. PEter

Prism type: BaK4 Optical system: Porro prism For £10 it’s almost worth buying some and seeing where Mr Newton’s mirrors are... guessing it’s just marketing BS and they’re overpowered Porro bins. 30x gives good views, but really needs a bit more aperture and a good tripod to keep the view steady! PEter

Depends what you want to see, anything reasonable will need a potentially heavy mount to be grabbed/lugged into the garden. Binoculars can give you a contrast to the bigger scope.... Peter

Their Dark Sky Reserve application and annual reports can be found here: https://www.darksky.org/our-work/conservation/idsp/reserves/exmoor/ Sounds like you’ve had a look from the sites they list. Peter

The binoviewer chops the light in half and so you lose exit pupil brightness, I’ll let others comment on the benefits Peter

Look at the sky through some mounted binoculars and then close one eye... shows fainter stars more easily and low contrast easier. This chap was indigogoing a 6” https://analogsky.co/swift/ (the 8” he was asking a fair bit for). Covid happened and he didn’t reach his target. Would be a shame if it never became available as there is no one else making any and he had some clever designs, though not in the size range some are contemplating here... Peter

https://www.bbastrodesigns.com/Largest Amateur Telescopes.html Worldwide, but Mike Lockwood just made a 45” f3.75, where it is we don’t know! Peter

The Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas has objects colour coded by scope size and type, generated from lots of real observations. Find a chunk of sky that’s going to be easy to see (high, south, free of obscurarion) and that’s got enough stars for you to star hop with (unless you have goto). Pick a range of big/small, bright/faint and see how you get on. I like going away from the “usual suspects”. (There aren’t many messiers, not all the Caldwell are easy and there are NGC/IC that are bright)... lists like those above are a good starting point too. Do you have a good erect image finder scope and some low power binocukars to make your job easier? Good luck! Peter

Great news! There are some people I know who actively mine secondhand shops for old 7x binoculars. There are some great models out there, check them in shop and if they’re good, you’ve got a bargain. One of my best pairs are from the 1960s.... don’t make bins like that anymore! Fixing collimation is possible at modest cost, but few people offer the service. Fixed focus binoculars are notorious... they rely on your eyes doing the focussing work, so different people get on with them differently... only really a marketing gimmick. Not surprised you could use them in the daytime, stars make miscollimation much more obvious, especially bright planets. those of us who like in cities envy your skies, enjoy, learn your way around, ask more questions! Peter

Eastern Europe is reckoned to be quite good, the Liverpool 30” lives in Hungary I believe. I think the final frontier would be binocular ultrafast with 7mm exit pupil, like Mel Bartels is currently working on. Two eyes really are better to an one and fast improves the richness of the view. Possible for 12”+. Of course those of us on the Dark Side end up going in the other direction... my latest optic had a focal length of 16mm and the views were great! Peter

There are a number of meter class scopes, france and Germany. Certainly challenges anything the Americans have! Peter

You need to let your eyes get used to the colour, like with hydrogen alpha. As mine doesn’t have a fixed filter I can reduce the ND when I run at higher magnification (mainly for imaging). Am waiting for a polariser to allow tuning when usi an eyepiece. I’d not run without the continuum, it’s the best way of white light viewing. Peter

Many have an ND filter permanently mounted and so are intrinsically safe. I’d note that some 2” might not allow focussing due to required backfocus on some refractors, you might be better off with a 1.25”. A continuum filter helps with surface detail, a polariser (I am waiting for one) could help tune the brightness. I have an old Intes one, simple but effective (though the user needs to manage the ND everytime they use it!) Views are still great. Any of the options should do well. peter

Serious windchill, but sometimes there is a gentle breeze that sucks the warmth out of you. As observing is a stationary activity gloves designed for vigorous activity are less suited. I might just go for an oversized warm mitten, space for additional layers and heat packs. Peter

What kind of external gloves do you recommend. I am thinking that a super warm external glove with some lighter ones for detailed short duration activities. I have several pairs that don’t quite work when the wind blows... Peter

Not mine, tripod mounted, nasty eyecups, but SOOO WIDEEEE, even at the field stop (when you look sideways into the eyepiece) is sharp. Makes my Nagler bins feel claustrophobic! Peter

Patudo has access to some WX.... the pinnacle of binoculars. Had a great session with him at the “wetland centre” on my side of town. I educated him with the 30x70s! He mainly hunts peregrines in the city... must meet up again once the craziness passes.... Peter

As long as you can plan what the centre of the field should be then you can do your own. Microsoft ICE will stitch anything you throw at it, starfields are probably easy for it’s they have lots of tight points to overlap. Great to see people using it for bigger objects. Peter

For a low complexity grab and go it probably works, but there are quite a few objects that won’t fit in the field of view. Field of view will always be a compromise in these Systems. Wonder if the makers would add a “stitching” function where you can define an area of sky to measure. Peter

I sent some wide old second hand 7x35 I’d got from ebay to a young family relation, easier to hold, lots of stars. peter

.... I read somewhere that some will add a shade for a short period for free, otherwise it would be charged for... as you have found out. It’s sad that they won’t add shade regardless, but they’re probably so cash strapped that they need to as it’s not essential work. Peter

Just being under a properly dark sky and with a pair of binoculars should keep the smaller ones busy. Ask them to see how many satellites they can count! I managed to get my youngest to a stayparty, he’d gone to bed early and then it cleared… god it was hard to drag him out, pry his eyes open for a few seconds… I think he saw the milkyway…! I am still looking for “the monsters”… watched a pair of little owls hunting worms on local cricket pitch a few nights ago. Like cats, I think they were cheesed off I could see them… some animals think they’re invisible! Peter

The observers sky atlas was my first guide, the little finders are quite good, though some of the objects that are hard to see unless your skies are very dark... M33, North America Nebula and pelican, ic1396, mgc281, ngc2237, ngc2024, and many of the fainter galaxies fall in the same category. Have a look through central Auriga and see if you can find any of M36/7/8? Ngc457 is the ET/Owl cluster as it has two prominent stars. in the area is ngc7789 Caroline’s cluster, very dense and worth finding. What scope/binoculars are you using? The advantage of the sky atlas is you can star hop from hopefully easy to find stars. A planisphere or something like stellarium will help you understand how the constellations fit together, make using the sky atlas easier Peter

Think I’ve got feet, legs and head sorted. Looking at coat options at the moment... just leaves the hands. The issue with observing is you’re not moving about so gloves for sport can’t be trusted to work. I got some that I now use as gardening gloves but they are a wee bit too small to keep fingers warm (totally bramble proof thiugh). Peter peter

If cold metal is an issue then cover the bits you might want to touch in thin rubber sheet so you don’t freeze to it. I just want to find some gloves that keep my hands warm.... dexterous or otherwise.... I have a small pile.. sadly not able to put them all on top of each other... 😞 @Captain Magenta how cold does it get down your way then...? Peter