Stu

Another nice one. Would have liked to see the 1st stage recovery, although they said it was only a simulated recovery?

Can you still see the Wi-fi network produced by the mount ie is it still listed when you looked at which networks are available?

My 20 plus year old Vixen Atlux with Skysensor 2000 PC worked beautifully and even connected to SkySafari with no problem. Amazing.

Ah yes, that’s the one I’ve got now

Not quartz I don’t think but very accurately figured and performs as well as or better than anything out there, particularly at longer focal lengths. T2 fittings are hardly an 80s/90s throwback, it makes them very flexible, you just add the components you want eg 1.25” or 2” barrel plus 1.25” or 2” clicklock or whatever on the eyepiece side, or a T2 Quickchanger for connection to Binoviewers or other accessories. You may find this interesting... https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/articles/mirror-vs-dielectric-vs-prism-diagonal-comparison-r2877

Wasn’t thinking of anything to do with micro focussing, the Zeiss Prism has an excellent reputation. There are certain benefits to internal reflection rather than exposed mirror surface. The AP is also excellent of course, but the T2 is very good value, plus nice an compact physically and in terms of optical path length. Great for binoviewing. https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p609_Baader---ZEISS-90--diagonal-prism---T2-thread-on-both-sides.html

Lovely scope, fully deserving of a Baader Zeiss T2 Prism I think. It’s only money

Apparently there is indeed a built in automatic dew heater. A shield would probably help too though.

Technically it looks very interesting. It gives a 1 degree x 0.7 degree field, has auto focus, field rotator, auto dew heater and automatically stacks and processes images. Very expensive of course for what is basically an 80mm scope, but we know that an 80mm scope can be very capable for DSO AP. They are upfront about it not being capable of imaging planets. The DSO and Lunar images posted seem to be quite good for an automated system. I think a number of the promises are over egged, such as that it will cut through LP with the built in filter. It will still have the same limitations as an other scope but without the flexibility Michael talks about in terms of changing filters and cameras etc. It does mention upgrade kits but this seems to involve returning the scope for the sensor to be changed for one of your choice. If I had everything else I needed in life, then I might consider this as a very extravagant luxury, but it is somewhere around the bottom of the list, certainly below my Ferrari and TEC200 I suspect that in future this sort of scope will be very common, and may be how the next generation view the skies. I find that sad, as for me the key point is the engagement with the skies themselves, and getting out under stars to properly experience it. It’s progress though, innit?

Perhaps if you look like this.....

When does it arrive then Mike?

Which telescope are you talking about Daniel?

Nope, too tempting

Still showing as in stock, wonder if they have more ex demo units?

The simple answer is.... 'it depends' Basics here, Magnification = Focal length of Scope/Focal Length of Eyepiece. Fundamentally a 100mm scope will have a certain resolution so will cope with a certain level of magnification, let's say x200 ish. The focal length will define which eyepiece will give you max magnification. In many cases, the shorter the focal length of the eyepiece, the shorter the eye relief which means it is less comfortable to observe. In this case, the longer f/l scope let's you use longer f/l eyepieces to achieve the same mag, so therefore more comfortable. Exceptions to this are more expensive eyepiece designs which have consistent eye relief across the range. Coming back to different focal lengths scopes, depending on the type of scope, a faster focal ratio ( focal ratio = focal length of scope/aperture or scope) can result in certain abberations becoming more visible. In an achromatic refractor, you will see more chromatic abberations (false colour) and most likely more Spherical abberation which makes things softer at higher powers. That means that the f10 scope 'may' produce better higher power images than the f7. ED doublets and triplet apo objectives are used to over come these issues in faster scopes. With a Newt, coma becomes more and more pronounced as you get to faster focal ratios, say below f5 or so. This is the effect where stars appear to become little comets towards the edge of the eyepiece with their tails pointing away from the centre, rather than being points of light.

Yes, it's all rather silly and pointless. I've had wonderful view through fracs, SCTs and Dobs. The common theme about the best nights has been being under a nice dark sky. Seeing the whole Veil in a widefield frac is something you can't do with a dob, just as seeing Markarian's Chain in detail or spiral arms in M101 or M51 is something you would struggle to do with a small frac. 'Orses for courses as they say

I know, dreadful little pea shooters they are, don't know why anyone bothers looking through them

Yummy

Very nice Avtar, welcome to the club

Fairy nuff

I wonder if it could also be a 'Lunar Quest'? Phases make the auto tracking a bit more difficult but still a simple plonk down, self align to the moon would be great for outreach.

What a fun piece of kit, it's really good to see a bit of new tech being brought into these mounts to liven things up a bit. Question.... I assume the mount it doesn't actually level itself but detects if it is not level and makes sure the scope starts from a level position, and tracks accurately?

Lovely scope Dave, and in beautiful 'as new' condition by the looks of it. Looking forward to hearing about the views, should be cracking.

Great news about the chip Dave, and I don't think that's a bad price including the mount. It looks really nice hope it performs well.