HollyHound

2 hours ago, Dantooine said:

I had one of these. Very good indeed. Big problem is I’m pretty sure this is the eyepiece that led me on the path to my 4.7E so good luck 😉 

Oh dear, I’ve just bought one today too, curious to try an ES eyepiece (having been impressed by their focal extenders) and now having a dob, interested to see if 82 degrees is any more useful that 70 of the XWs 🤔

2 hours ago, johninderby said:

Was looking for a Nirvana 4mm but that looks like being oit of stock until the spring so this was only a bit more than the Nirvana would have been and a better eyepiece..

I had the set of Nirvanas earlier this year, but sold them on here in the summer... great eyepieces, but at the time I didn’t need the 82 degree FoV. Now, with the dob I’m seeing if the slightly wider FoV is indeed useful...

Thanks to you all at @FLO for your courteous and efficient service during this very strange year 😀

13 hours ago, Dantooine said:

“Tactical” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Well it has got black zippers and a flash of green... I can see the special forces carrying these off 😬🤣

1 minute ago, Dantooine said:

Had a look at mars. It’s much smaller now 🙁

Yes, huge difference from October unfortunately 🙁

Enjoy 🔭 

Just had a short session on the moon too... just the Mak 127 and zoom, but still lovely 👍

Interesting to hear your thoughts on this combination, I’ve would expect the Ethos is amazing on the moon 😀

Already posted on the “what did the postman bring thread”, but it’s a Christmas present so here it is...

The Night Sky Observer’s Guide Vol 1 & 2... these books are an amazing resource and will be great for exploring more targets with the 10” dob 👍

Bought from a fellow forum member (thanks👍) and delivered by 🎅 today... The Night Sky Observer’s Guide Vol 1 & 2... really loving reading through these this evening, and will be great for exploring more targets with the 10” dob 😀

4 minutes ago, John said:

Short session though - got to keep on the right side of the CEO

Me too... final prep for Christmas lunch tomorrow 🎅

3 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Moon: looks really good through the 22mm LVW x82. Not so good with the 8mm LVW x225 - image was mushy, however, some nice shading on the inside wall of Copernicus. This tells me the scope has excellent contrast. Through the mush you could see the scope is razor sharp.

Mars: Wobbly and full of atmospheric artifacts. Could just about make out some shading, but it was elusive.

Had two hours with a clear sky and the Mak 127, and my experience mirrors yours... magnifications up to x100 were ok but much higher and things seemed “mushy” indeed. Binoviewing the moon was still very pleasant though. Just lovely to have clear skies again for first time in ages 👍

Scrub that... suddenly cleared up and moons amazing 🔭👍

11 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Supposed to be raining here but sky completely clear but horrible seeing.  Just couldn’t get sharp focus on anything with the StellaLya CC6. Frustrating

Likewise, was hoping to get out for an hour on the moon this evening, but total cloud cover so far... still it's Christmas Eve and so sure there'll be some festive food and drink around anyway 🎄

Lovely scope BTW. Will be interesting to see how it performs, as I love Maks and this seems to be a really good one 👍

A rather more modest (and only recently acquired) little collection...

26mm (Halloween)

18mm Ultima

12.5mm Ultima 

Admittedly I don't know when these were made (not sure they even class as "vintage"), but they're now part of a "grab and go" set, give lovely sharp views and complement my newer eyepieces 😃

5 minutes ago, aderyn said:

Ooh there are a pair of these under the tree for me! I've been permitted a very quick look through them (have to do a quality control check on delivery, of course...😄). Looking forward to being allowed to use them properly.

I've bought the 20x60 version of these to get back into astronomy and they're excellent... enjoy 🙂

23 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Stupid American question.  What's an HCA?  I gather it is a healthcare related acronym that we don't use here.

Health Care Assistant... usually assists nurses and doctors, working under their guidance 😃

10 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

My therapy is to keep seeing these like this...

My stepsons girlfriend is an HCA and has the same thoughts 🤞

If it’s not been mentioned before... I admire everything you are all doing out there on our behalf... thank you👏

5 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

It’s definitely shown a weakness in my monetary skills. 

Think of it as therapy for a very trying year 👍

1 minute ago, Dantooine said:

This year has just cost more money because we can’t try before we buy. 

Ah, but it’s been fun trying and quite educational too 😀

47 minutes ago, John said:

"try before you buy"

It's been quite a shame this year that the opportunities to meet with other astronomers has been hampered by the crisis, as I'm sure that getting to experience other setups, views and experience, is very useful to help decide in which direction to go 🤔

2 minutes ago, John said:

I'm not sure that they would be your "cup of tea" to be honest with you 

"try before you buy"

No, in all seriousness I am very happy with the 70(ish) degree FoV, as I find it very relaxing to view for long periods, and the eyepieces I have for that work well now in both the dob and refractor... so I am more than content 😃

2 hours ago, Dantooine said:

Shhh I haven’t got a 21

Yet... 🤣

I certainly have no interest whatsoever in an Ethos of any kind this year either 😬

1 minute ago, Ricochet said:

Ah, I was thinking you'd bought the hexafoc version and wondering how they had changed it for the paracorr not to fit. If you do go for the hexafoc version it takes up something like 31mm so there's a bit of a focus saving over the standard extension and clamp but I would think it would still protrude into the OTA a bit. You might also find it doesn't extend far enough outwards for use without the paracorr, but it doesn't sound like that would be an issue for you now. 

Thanks. Unfortunately the Hexafoc version hasn't been in stock for a while, so this worked well without the Paracorr, but not with 😬

1 minute ago, Paz said:

There is one other target that benefits but keep it a secret as it is not what big reflectors and a paracorr are supposed to be used for.

Check out the moon. Super flat/clean from top to bottom and side to side. 

Umm, not such a big secret here... I've already used the Bresser on the moon and loved it, so if the Paracorr improves further, then am in for a treat... I love the moon, hence why I have the StellaMira 80mm ED f/10 and Mak 127 already. I wasn't expecting a dob to be such fun on the moon but it was 😃

11 minutes ago, heliumstar said:

I love this mount but when out yesterday for conjunction I felt alt getting a little stiffer.

I have noticed it very occasionally gets a little stiffer in the cold, but usually just loosening the clutch a little, moving it around a bit then re-tightening does the trick for me.

21 minutes ago, Paz said:

Nice report. I drew the same kind of conclusions and I don't observe with my reflector without a paracorr now. 

Personally, for some reason I find I notice the flat field benefits more than the coma benefits.

You need to seek out some party pieces to make the most of it. For me that means open star clusters that you can fill the whole field of view with, such as the double cluster, M44, and M45.

I really didn't expect the improvement to be so great, but it does indeed seem to really clean up the view for coma (it was very noticeable to me before) and helps with field curvature too.

It very noticeably improved the Pentax XW20 to where I can't really see field curvature until the very edge and this is a superb eyepiece now. The XW14 also improves, but the Delos 14 is flat field anyway with no other obvious downsides, to that's my first choice at that focal length.

I certainly intend to seek these targets out now and make the most of the improved view 👍

3 hours ago, Ricochet said:

What part of the clicklock prevented the insertion of the paracorr? I can't think of anything on mine that would do that.If you mean some extension tube fitted between the clicklock and focuser, I think you could do away with that as with the paracorr you are almost at the inward limit of focuser travel.

In order to obtain focus visually on the Bresser 10", you need to use a 37.5mm extension tube ring (which they supply in the box). The small 2" clamp screws into this and then both 2" and 1.25" (with adaptor) eyepieces fit into that and can be focussed normally.

As I wanted to use a ClickLock (because I have them on other scopes), I bought this one... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/baader-2-inch-click-lock-cl-extension-47mm.html, figuring that the extra depth on this would be equivalent (approximately) to the extension ring, which I then removed. This all worked perfectly and there was still a reasonable bit of "in travel" available even when using the closest focussing eyepiece (the Delos I think).

I figured that the Paracorr might go in this and still have enough "in travel" to work fine, unfortunately however, this Clicklock adaptor (having a 2" nosepiece) won't of course allow the Paracorr to go more than half way inside. So I've now reverted to the supplied extension tube ring and clamp the Paracorr fully into that... given that I am now very likely to leave the Paracorr in for most (if not all) my observing, then being able to use ClickLock to swap 2"  eyepieces is not such a big deal, although I do have a ClickLock 2" to 1.25" adaptor inserted in the Paracorr to use for the majority of my eyepieces 👍

I may still obtain the normal HexaFoc fitting ClickLock... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/baader-clicklock-m68-clamp-for-hexafoc-focusers-bresser-omegon-and-explore-scientific.html, at some point to make quickly fitting the Paracorr easier, but this is very much a minor detail for now.

I'll have another play with the Paracorr and figure out how much inward travel I've got left now and see if maybe I can even do away with the extension tube ring, but likely it may put focus position out 🤔 I'd like to set it up so there is the minimum amount of focus tube extending into the OTA, as I have noticed when I de-focus a star that I can see the shape of that in the similar way to the secondary spider vane supports, and worry it may degrade image quality.