Stu

Peace of mind is fine, no problem with that, but I think it is best to set reasonable expectations with those who might be new to this about what is reasonable and what is quite frankly belt, braces and gaffa tape too! If you are an over cautious person that is fine, but two tube rings are perfectly adequate and new starters need to know that. The issue of using the top bracket of the SkyTee2 mount is quite frankly poor advice. The end mount point on the main axis is the best place for your heaviest scope, it is designed to cope with the rates weight and the fact that you are mounting in line with the centre of mass means things are much more easily balanced.

Yesterday’s entry from me, an Ha solar attempt to capture the lovely prom on show, which successfully makes it look quite ordinary

To anyone buying an FC-100 or any variety, please be assured that either the original clamshell or a couple or decent tube rings are perfectly adequate to hold what is a lightweight OTA. I actually find it quite a challenge to loosen the locking screws enough for them to disengage, so it is very safe and easy to loosen them a little should you need to rotate or shift the scope. I have never read of a scope jumping out of tube rings or a clamp, or falling off the end of an alt-az mount. There is no need to use the top clamp of a SkyTee mount, infact the end clamp is far more suitable. So, if you wish to add expense and weight to your scopes with superfluous mounting hardware then by all means do, but please understand it is NOT necessary!

Looks an excellent and very portable solution John. Will interesting to see how such a fast scope performs, very well hopefully

Of course! Thanks Gerry

Those cases look very handy Jeremy. The contents look like the start of my one and only case these days, which is a Nag zoom, full set of BGOs, a 24mm Pan and a Baader VIP barlow. All bases covered (except for very widefield) in a very small case. Looks like you’ve got space for that

@scarp15, Iain, do you know what, if any impact transparency has on the results?

Great stuff Steve, and I’m another who fell for it! That’s one of the beauties of Taks, they are very flexible and seem easy to make Binoviewer friendly, perhaps because of Taks imaging slant requiring more inwards focus? There is an SGL topic on this very subject too; it started from a Feathertouch perspective which also allows native BV use, but then I think we somehow worked out the green extension trick with some helpful input. It’s a great feature and I’m sure you will love using the scope when your clamshell arrives

Interesting post! I used to see these meters and think what is the point? The sky is what it is, measuring it doesn’t make it any better! I can’t recall why exactly I bought one, but I now use it regularly to assess sites that I visit. It is often hard to tell which is better without comparing the same object visibility, so the SQM-L is very useful to be able to build up a picture of where the best sites are. I think the best I have reached is mag 21.3 at Bignor in the South Downs National Park which is around an hour 15 from me. My normal home readings are around 19, and our local observing site 19.3 I think, so not that good! A very handy tool!

It’s wonderful when you get nights (or evenings) like that isn’t it? That is a fantastic smartphone shot, one of the best I’ve seen!

I’m going to lock this thread now, please, as per the rules, start a new thread for each image you want to enter Any on here won’t be considered I’m afraid.

Are you just saying that all entries should be accepted and that behind the scenes a judgement is made about whether they meet the criteria or not? I have no major problem with that. The issues come with repeated questioning of the rules which, given the amount of effort put in by admin to put this competition together, and by mods to judge it, just makes people question if it is worth it. If you are ok with no one questioning rules, entering the competition if you think you meet them and the judges making their decision then I don’t see that’s a problem. Sounds like we both think along the same lines

Hmm, that’s interesting Ade. After I posted it did drop connection a couple of times...... Hope my experience is more like Nick’s!

I was due an upgrade for my phone, and my iPhone 6 Plus is still working fine so I thought I would allow myself to go for a Samsung Galaxy S9 for a couple of reasons. Firstly, having seen the low light performance of Gavin’s phone, I wanted to try one out for the sort of smartphone shots I do ie quick snaps handheld at the eyepiece which should hopefully now have less noise and show more detail in the less bright objects. Second point was for the AZGTi with SkySafari. As I think we all know, the solution with iOS is not that great, and currently I use a Synscan handset with a GPS mouse and Skywire, which misses much of the freedom and flexibility which the mount should offer. You also can’t charge the phone when using Skywire which is sometimes a pain. Anyhow, I’ve just managed to connect the Synscan app and then SkySafari very easily, and to demonstrate to myself that I could control and do test gotos with the mount. I’m very much looking forward to giving it a proper go at night. Should be much easier , and will really allow the mount to perform as it should do.

I don’t know of any other competitions that don’t have rules. I was heartbroken when I was disqualified after winning the under 8 girls egg and spoon race at my children’s sports day but am recovering after intensive counseling to explain it to me..... Come on chaps, it’s not that hard. Enter with the right kit, with an image of the subject taken in the entry period, and create a new thread for each image. Simples!

That’s absolutely right. I definitely see more colour with my 4” under twilight conditions. Similar effect with bright DSOs like M42, I see definite green when not fully dark adapted, not sure I do as much under darker conditions. Different matter with a larger scope of course.

John, what can I say. Excellent image, very sharp and I can honestly say it is the best of those submitted today....., so a worthy winner!!! The cheque is in ....the bin Actually I don’t have a cheque book any more so that’s that sorted

Apologies for the absence of the judge for a while. Gavin, amazing image and a worthy winner for May 7th’s award!

Thanks Louis, that was the one I was thinking of.

Glad you got it sorted Ade. I use a SynScan handset and GPS mouse because of the iOS/SkySafari issues but as you point out, sometimes having the keypad connected can be handy.

What mags are they in your scope Paul?

That has to count as the smallest ever Derek! Very nice. I assume you can reach focus now? Which Prism did you use?

Hi, and welcome to the forum. Your scope has a focal length of 1000mm, and you work out the magnification by focal length of scope divided by focal length of eyepiece. Where there is a barlow involved it effectively increases the focal length of the scope by its multiplying factor. So, your mags are as follows: 20mm = x50 15mm = x67 15mm with x2 barlow = x133 20mm with x3 barlow = x149 15mm with x3 barlow = x200 2mm = x500 Your scope will probably be ok, if cooled and collimated up to around x150 perhaps, maybe a little more on good nights. I’m afraid the 2mm is effectively useless as it will give large but blurry images. Planets are small, and even in the best scopes never get to be huge. It is best to train yourself to observe with a smaller but clearer image and then you will see the detail. A quick 10 second look won’t show you much. I would say something around a 6 to 8mm would be useful, and a better quality eyepiece willmimprove over the barlowed ones you currently have. For around £50 you can bet BST Starguiders which are highly recommended. They do an 8mm, or perhaps a 15mm and the barlow would give you more options. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces.html Vixen NLVs are also very good for a reasonable budget.

Having looked through Helen’s IOM solarscope, I would definitely put one of those at the top of my wanted Ha list, amazing views.

@Highburymark I’ve seen the thread, will reply properly when I have a chance There is an excellent thread somewhere, probably on CN which has loads of detail. If I had to summarise, the best ones I have tried have been 25mm effective focal length, bags of eye relief and a big exit lens. They are very low scatter, and take barlowing to a silly extent. They do need adapters to fit 1.25” eyepieces but these are cheap to buy off eBay. More to follow Edit Having seen Docs comment, I only ever use mine for binoviewing where the focus is definitely on axis