PeterW

Clubs should have one, people who go on observing trips should have one, people interested in mapping or tracking dark skies should have one. Like quite a few bits of Astro kit, not everyone needs to own their own, we are happy to share. PEterW

I look at the visibility of a few nebulae to assess the transparency. It can be alarming to watch stars just vanish at a dark site.. same SQM reading, just nothing to look at. If you use the SQM indoors in a cupboard wrapped up so it can’t see anything it can fail to give a reading.... but you have to wait a while for it to give up. The more SQM readings of different good sites the better, there used to be a website/map to log them,, but it seems to have vanished. After midnight darkening could well be then streetligths that have curfew times.. good to see a benefit. PEterW

Getting a big box is always dangerous..... PEterW

There are other Kansai equivalents to the vixen, that even enable filters to be added (cheaper too). I made my own using some old Nikon digital camera multiplier lenses. Lying down, looking up with them there are definitely more stars about and you aren’t guessing where you’re looking. Peter

;-) hand portable “scope expander”! peter

Not trying to bash. A good staratlas, a cheap pair of bins and a dark sky and you can be happy for a long time. Under urban skies goto can really help and any electronic amplification will provide better views. Anything that helps widen engagement is a good thing. peter

Sad indeed, but possibly to be expected with average small scopes and our own brand of London Lightpollution. There are plenty of objects if you look beyond the messier list which contains rather too many little galaxies. Another fun game to play is to ask imagers where the object is that they’re imaging....;-) One issue with the unistallar is the small field of view, though if you want nebulae and planets you can’t keep everyone happy. PEterW

A pain for those of us who like viewing big nebulae. I need to get using my lodestar more... Peter

It’s a Ccd at prime focus of a 4.5” f4 scope, alt az tracking mount, plate solving object ID, real-time image stacking to see faint stuff, 0.5degree Fov, image pr sent d on a good quality “eyepiecendisplay”. For the money you probably could assemble your own version using a PC to run it. Seems to have been quite successful on Kickstarter, let’s see how the thing works in practice. It does not use an intensifier, these also work very nicely and can be found second hand in the U.K. if you keep an eye out, not cheap either but seeing “faint” nebulae real-time is kind of fun. peter

Fairy close. Peter

Bignor, went there recently with the Walton group, mag 21.3, nice and dark. There are other sites further west if you avoid the main population centres. PeterW

Mr Eddgie has gone off glass ep like I have. I have the baader mpcc, might try it in the 8" and the 20mm, maybe delay selling it till I have the ES unit.... I have a habit of selling stuff and then regretting it. I seem to have cured myself of aperture fever... now a speak freak instead! Peter

The central obstruction affects diffraction which is not an issue at low power and the collection area. I have a 3.1" and 4" secondary candidates, I'm erring on the side of the larger one. Keeping the optics clean and hoping that the surfaces are smooth.... i.e. No micro roughness (not that its easy to diagnose or do anything about... repolish?!)are also issues that will affect contrast performance as well as extreme straylight defeating with baffles and paint. Peter

8"f4 imaging newt. A 13"f3 mirror that needs scope round it and dreams of making an <f3 6". The 20mm is for the widest and richest views with mark 1 eyeball. I normally use my 80mm jumbo finder for big neb hunting, but that's not mark1 eyeball.

Poor SIPS users... I am planning on using the ES HR coma corrector... get all the focal ratio the mirror has... needs some focus in travel, which you can get by chopping truss poles. I agree you select the scope round the EP and exit pupil. The 20mm is the longest I'm ever going to need unless I take eye expanding drops! (Which aren't any use). Peter

Goodie... just picked one up myself for my ultra fast experiments. Who'd have thought I'd even buy another glass eyepiece! Skywatcher have discontinued the myriad so Lunt and teleskop service are the only options left. Gerry, 24" is a nice scope size, bit "slow" for those big nebulae? Looking forward to your observing reports. peterW

More details please... what sort of focal rationwilk this correct, which lens parts do we need and what sort of spacing is needed? PeterW

Bushnell Rangemaster 7x35, crisp across 11degree field of view. Very nice to have such a wide field, even if they are probably older than I am! Ugly?... yes, but functional. cheers peter

Good point, 15fps will crimp my videos somewhat. Have to play about to see what works best. Forecast isn't going to enable the best chance of lots of images. cheers peter

Work got a call from a local event in need of an eyepiece, so looks like me, some solar glasses, a sunspotter, 80mm+CaK and a spare eyepiece will be making an appearance. Stops me going down the pub if the clouds come over, but makes it more social. I'll bring some solar images too.. Promise not to photoshop on a small black disk.... fingers crossed as always peterW

Not good news.. I was hoping for a TAL to give me more aperture and focal length for solar calcium imaging. Many scopes do not do well when imaging in the extreme blue end of the spectrum. Don't want an apo or other expensive scope, just something that is known to work. maybe have to keep and eye out.... peter

Sky quality meter helps, but poor transparency can still leave you with a dark sky and fewer stars than I see from london. Can someone invent a transparency meter, otherwise you need to look at known objects and Jude how well you can see them. Cheers PeterW

Don't feel the need to buy every focal length, there is not much difference between them. I used to run with 3.... 20something, 13 and 5mm, sometimes dropped an 8mm in. If these >82deg johnnies are going cheap I might be tempted to get one or two. However For the dark stuff I now just use my special eyepiece.... one eyepiece to rule them all. Cheers PEterW

Helios 15x70, though mainly vann 12x36IS for daytime usage (truly one hand usable... All other bins are shaky in comparison), also some 8x40 for my son.. To keep him off canons! Had some 25x100, but even with a big tripod they were hard to use. Cheers Peter