Stu

Wow, amazing job. That rim holding the mirror in is so neat, and evenly trimmed, how did you do that?

Beautiful job Mark!! 👍👍

Oh no! It was looking so good in the first few pictures Mark. Hope you find the right way of doing it next time!

Looking great Gina! Might have to tidy that wall up a bit now though

Thanks both. Little fracs certainly give me observing time when other options wouldn't. Regardless of that, I do love the views through them.

I'm really looking forward to getting the Moonlite on my 106mm, was a great scope already but should be about perfect then. Hopefully should get it tomorrow.

Will update on the arrival of LittleMakStutov, due end of March but quite likely to be 'popped out of the sunroof' early because the little blighter is the wrong way round!

Stu

Just out of interest, I weighed these two this evening. With clamshell, dovetail and 2" Everbrite diagonal, the TV76 was 3.8kg and the Genesis 5.1kg. Doesn't surprise me having felt them both but surprised the Gen is so light!

Agreed, but think about this. With the C9.25 and the nag you get a 1.1 degree field of view. That's only enough to fit the central core in really.

With the 76 and Pronto you get 5.3 degrees (maybe a little less due to field stop, not sure). Under a light polluted sky it will be fairly useless, but get somewhere really dark, with inky black skies and good dark adaptation and you can really begin to see the full extent of the galaxy. It is huge!

Certainly have Shaun, at least I have in the 76. It's a really wonderful sight, the star colours are lovely. That's one thing I love about these scopes, looking at clusters and really seeing all the different colours peppering the view.

Easy enough to find, don't need Goto for that :-).

The Double Double splits very nicely in it too so it well worth a look.

Have you tried Almach? Another of my favourites, and if you fancy a challenge you could try Izar. That's really quite tight but I can split it with the 76.

Cheers,

Stu

Well I would apologise, but if the end result is you getting to experience the same fabulous views then all is good :-).

Hope it arrives soon, and you get a clear day. Don't forget to fit the polarizing filter to the EP, especially if you are changing them over. Don't think it is dangerous without but you might see purple and green dots in front of your eyes for a while!

Thanks Shaun. I really love the 76, wonderful little scope. Have heard very good things about the Pronto too. The views are lovely, and the chunky, beautiful engineering is pretty good too. Feels like a little tank! It's amazingly capable for such a small scope and so quick to setup, as you are finding out :-).

I've since found out (via Kerry's thread) that what I confidently described as a shadow transit was actually Callisto. I had no idea it was to dark, it's the first time I've seen a moon visible over the surface other than when they are near the limb. The other moons just seem to blend in with the surface of Jupiter. Very nice to see.

Stu

Thanks for the comment Duncan. I would love to be able to see the MW from here, but I've only once had hints of it on a very clear dark night :-(.

In general, I reckon aperture always helps so the 12" should be very nice. Where aperture doesn't help very much at all is with low surface brightness objects. If the object is fainter than the sky background then it doesn't matter how much aperture you have, the object won't be visible.

I generally concentrate on planets, doubles, open and globular clusters from home, with the occasional look at something like M81/2. The other objects I tend to leave for holidays or rare star parties.

I do love refractors for the pin point star shapes and wide field views.

Cheers,

Stu