PeterW

Inuse one of those ultralight camp chairs that you pop together Al piles like a tent, the high back and normal do just fine as I slump down in them to reach higher elevations. Much easier to carry about. Only issue is the small foot ends that like to sink into soft soil…. You can get ball attachments to avoid this. Peter

… got to keep Occam’s razor nice and sharp… Peter

Anything from the sharpness catalog. IC1318 around gamma Cygni, sharpness 119, IC 5068, monkey head, Pac-Man, plenty of next level down objects to point the h-beta at. Really potent filter for seriously improving the contrast, just also tends to kill the stars off too. Peter

Not noticed anything wrong with physics, things still seem to fall downwards, kettle turns on when I turn it on….. I would suggest that we pay more attention to measurement and measurement uncertainty, to help us be able to critically decide on the significance of measurements and to put limits on theories. Theorists need to dream and model and hypothesise, but without something novel that can be predicted and observed it can tend to philosophy. Got to say that quantum weirdness seems to be coming up with all sorts of clever science applications at the moment, so physics can’t be too broken. I tend to stay at the “whack with hammer” scale of things personally, let others play with some quantum/bio stuff. Now you’ve got me started, we also need to do more boring scientific reproducibility… although science doesn’t like people “just repeating” things others have done…. When people try sometimes they find than things can’t be repeated and thus may have been wrong in the first place…. Scientists disagreeing is how things work, different experience and ideas, trying different things until they convince each other that they have a plausible answer (until someone finds a new insight and things move forwards). Being wrong and learning something new goes with the job, keeps things interesting. There is a risk of thinking that science doesn’t know all the answers, true, but it knows plenty about a lot of things demonstrably better than most other approaches and knows plenty about a lot of things. Peter PS I always think that a good bit of optical alignment, especially involving getting light into optical fibres is good for you well-being! It’s a pity that so many lasers are now “permanently aligned”…. No fun L!

I always store mine with the battery and lid out so I know it’ll fire up when I need it. My eyesight isn’t friendly with the old analogue calipers…. 😞 Peter

The papillo fill the “close up” niche and are my “don’t have the space the carry a proper pair of binoculars” too. peter

I’ve noticed that starlink satellites can often produce short rapid brightening a a little like the old Iridium ones. If I notice one I keep looking on the general direction and often I then see several more in the same area. Often the duration of the flash is quite short and you can’t see them before or after. I don’t find the starlink predictions especially good, been out to see passes and seen nothing and seen things that were not predicted. Very fast is likely a meteor. peter

60degree apparent field of view of larger gives a more immersive view, but getting nice edges is less common, if that is an issue. With binoculars you should look in the centre of the field and pan the view, rather than your eyes as keeping your pupils lined up with the exit pupils only really works when looking straight ahead. I am a porro user, but no reason that roofs aren’t any different. The type of glass is not really an issue, I’d look at reviews for chromatic aberration, eye relief and the size of the sweet spot (how wide the sharpest part of the view are). Then your personal preferences and budget will find an option. For Astro you’ll want a rock stable view, the pistol grip on monopod than many here use is very good standing or reclining in a chair. peter

No mention of “they’re fragile as they’ve got gubbins in” or “they rely on batteries” yet?!!! Good to hear that people are just using and enjoying them. I don’t have any end caps, but I have kept mine in a peli1150 case all their increasingly long life. If/when the rubber goes all icky you can rub the worst bits off using IPA soaked alcohol swabs. I find mine fit the “binocular or spotting scope” gap well, using them one handed people think you’re mad, but the view i still nice and steady. Have to say I’ve seen almost none of them out and about, seems the lack of advertising means others don’t discover their potential. @Stu, @Captain Scarlet you’d enjoy them! Peter PS when the batteries need changing they can give some off putting image judders… you’ll think they’re bust… put in new batteries and normal service will be resumed 😉

Listen to binocular sky… I use my heavy 10x50 on a trigger head on a monopod. I recline in a camp seat with a heel to hold the monopod foot stable on the ground. By slouching about you can cover quite a bit of sky up to the zenith. Can use the same setup standing up. For high angles and a vertical monopod you need to ensure the ball lock is tight so the binocular doesn’t droop. I’d also cover all metal surfaces in thin neoprene rubber to avoid frozen fingers…. Enjoy. Peter

Mine must be 15yrs at least, don’t get so much use as they did. I keep them in a pelicans room for protection. The coating has gone sticky in places, but I’ve stripped off those areas by scrubbing with isopropyl alcohol wipes. They do give lovely stable views day or night. peter

Suffolk coast, Isle of Wight, Pembrokeshire, mid wales. Going north too far can result in more cloud and rain. The South Downs, Chilterns, Kent Weald, get you somewhere, depends where in London you’re starting from. Best time are the 3rd quarter to new moon late august to mid October, school time, dark, not too cold and the Milky Way right overhead. Having a few nights gives you a few tries for clear skies, so have something to do in the daytime. Be prepared to stay up “just in case…”. I can tell you that the person who turns up late to breakfast at a starparty and says the skies were perfect 30mins after you decided to call it a night are not popular. Refer to as many weather apps as you can and the sat24 animated infrared images… gives you hope when you’re willing the clouds to part. You’ll also discover that low cloud seems to be invisible on those images! Don’t forget binoculars, they’ll show a whole lot more under good lies and give you an overview of the Milky Way, rather than just looking at isolated objects with a scope. The lack of starparties with roofed accommodation is a hinderance to the “no car” observers, the Isle of Wight was the only one I knew of. Good luck Peter

You could 3D print some bits to jam things together… short prints, so tweak till they fit right. What are the current best parts for making one of these, I assume smaller lenses will vignette somewhat? Peter

All that space debit is messing up its own view and whacking into each other. No one has mentioned image intensifiers to make nebulae more visible.. though they’ve been in use for 20 odd years and although the performance goes up slowly the prices don’t come down. Peter

Mine only partially cleared form part of the filter. Never operate why scipe with all the filters in place of course. I am surprised that glass filters go bad, maybe they heat up and react…. I usually assume that doors glass filters are pretty stable. peter

Just use an optical cleaning material without any abrasive, should get the middle looking better. I’d drop Lunt solar systems EU an email, I got a spare sent over for free even though mine was out of warranty. (If I remember correctly). I’m in the UK. Was a few years ago. Peter

Put some 12.5mm Morpheus in and enjoy wide higher power views. Nice rig. Peter

Are those streetlights in the background of your picture… i thought you lived in a very dark area?! Peter

The Altair should take most take eyepieces. The APM UFF are nice as ate Baader Morpheus. Not sure if the prism size as this might limit the lowest powers you can reach (some have a slightly larger prism that helps utilise 24mm eyepieces), best for nebulae. These are semi-APO so some CA will show, hugest power likely around 7mm before the views get too dim. with a 90degree set the easiest mount will be a solid camera tripod and fluid head, though you might not quite get to the zenith (you can let one leg of the tripod down a bit if you need a bit more elevation). inuse my 70mm with 12.5mm eyepieces on the daytime, very nice views. I tend to use the 18 or 24mm at night. Peter

For Borlte estimation refer to the descriptions of what you’re able to see. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale At the best time be the SQM doesn’t change much but the descriptions certainly do. My home seems about 7, which is a notch behind where the SQM says it should be. It’s good to know what should be visible so one knows how much more one could see and thus how many more pennies one should save for those special trips. I’m certainly envious of those who live in dark locations, only consolation is that if I need milk or the like I can get it within a few minutes stroll. Peter

The best I had on the Isle of Wight would be Bortle4 by the descriptions, mag21.5 measured. The locals noted the night wasn’t too good compared to what they can get… guess the more chances you take the more chances of a special night. Peter

You can’t properly correlate Bortle with SQM and satellite data can’t perfectly give you a real SQM estimate. If you look at the sequential VIIRS data you’ll see random variations. If someone there cam check one clear, dark night and confirm their skies are best described by the bortle 1 description then I’d be interested and it’ll save on air miles from the more readily known B1 skies. Peter

Wedges give much better views than the other options but need careful use and filtration to use safely. I have an old cheap 1.25” INTES model and it works fine. The backfocus issue with 2” models is a little known one, as you’re working at quite high power on the sun there is no need for 2”, but manufacturers don’t seem to care. The ND filter will probably warm Up slightly (never tested), but it wouldn’t pose a problem. Always check things before you use them though. Peter

Books like “the dobsonian telescope” by Kriege or “portable Newtonian telescopes” by highe might be useful. Otherwise there are lots of people who have put plans and discuss what they’ve done. If you have the tools then it shouldn’t be too bad. Sourcing some of the materials might be tricky and you’ll need to decide where to get the optics from. Good luck. peter

You’ll only find 1 in remote deserts with transparent skies. peter