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

Left the tripod out and switched things around to add the Genesis alongside the 76 for a bit of side by side on Jupiter and a few other favourites. There is no adjustment horizontally so they are not quite lined up, but near enough. Will try another configuration to see if I can sort that. Jupiter was looking very nice, a reasonable amount of detail visible. I could just see the GRS coming round the corner but unfortunately it clouded over before it transited. Some nice detail in the belts, and what was obviously a shadow transit centre towards the bottom, couldn't see any sign of Callisto though. This detail was visible in both scopes. I actually am preferring the view through the 76 at the moment, particularly at higher powers. I think the collimation is out on the Genesis still and star shapes are nicer, with less (no) CA in the 76. That said, I bought the Genesis for its flat, widefield views and it does those wonderfully. I shall have another tweak again, or perhaps consider getting it somewhere for a service. M42 looked lovely in both scopes, nice sharp trapezium and nice mottling detail in the nebulae. The 'wings' looked very well defined despite the LP and no filters. Only other thing I viewed was the double cluster. Beautiful in both, but again just that bit sharper in the 76. Really wonderful tiny stars peppering the view at the limit of visibility, one of my favourite things to view. Clouded over and have now packed up. This was an unexpected session, forecast was not good so was nice to see the shadow transit, shame about GRS. Stu

Despite being on decorating duty today, I managed to pop the scopes out this afternoon for a quick look at the sun. I have acquired a couple of bits to make my mini giro setup a little more compact, namely a 13cm counterweight bar (Teleskop Service) and smaller L-bracket (365 Astronomy), and was just wanting to try them out. All worked well, the mount is still well balanced and moves smoothly. It's quite easy to align the PST and 76 so that they both point at the sun, avoiding constant movement and making comparisons between Ha and white light views very easy. The photos show the before and after kit shot, much better now. The only other things I might do is replace the az tightening knob with something a little bigger, that would make fine adjustment of tension easier. The views through the Herschel Wedge in the 76 are really lovely, granulation nicely visible, and some amazing detail in the Active Regions. The sketches on the forum are very good representations. PST view was a little quieter to me today, no particularly big proms around but stil some nice views. This kit is very quick to setup and gives really satisfying results. 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

I thought I would start this off as a way of logging what is possible with a small refractor under poor, urban skies. By poor, what do I mean? Well I live a few miles south of Heathrow, which basically wipes out most things to the north. I am on the edge of Walton on Thames, and have a relatively decent southern view over fields, but there are houses in the way so the seeing is often mixed. My NELM is normally around 4.2 to 4.5 but can be better or much worse depending on the transparency. Background sky brightness is around 18 to 18.5 in the best direction, so many galaxies are a challenge. For reasons of convenience, and because I love them, I have a collection of smallish, but decent quality refractors which are my most commonly used scopes. TV76 TV Genesis Astrotech 106mm EDT The first two are small and light enough to use on a mini giro on an Induro AT413 tripod, very quick to set up and pack down. The triplet is heavier and I normally use that on an EQ6 tripod, previously with a giro but will use on the mini until it sells! So, just a quick comment on last night. I had been playing with the collimation on the Genesis so thought I would give it a try out. I had a quick half hour under some nice skies before going out. I was just testing really, but had nice views of Jupiter with GRS, M45 and M42. This scope is lovely for flat, widefield views; at 500mm focal length, a 21mm ethos gives a 4.2 degree field of view, a 17mm gives 3.4. Under a dark sky (which I have yet to get it under!) objects like the Veil and NA nebula should be lovely, particularly with Lumicon UHC filter. I will try to post up about what is achievable/visible in these scopes under my skies as a reference for people. One example of the challenges.... Many of you will have seen the SN in M82 which is a relatively easy target under reasonable skies or with a little more aperture. With my 106, I just about managed it using averted vision. It was probably one of the hardest things I have managed to observe. On another occasion with my 12", it was trivially easy to see! Just finding M82 under light polluted skies can be a challenge in itself! I tried to see comet Panstarrs (whichever one it was ....), and eventually concluded that it was invisible from my skies. I tried scope and binoculars, but it was hopeless. I visited a relative in Bakewell and found it within seconds in the binoculars. Background sky brightness and surface brightness of objects are key to understanding what is visible and what is not. I will confess to a little frustration, seeing posts on here discussing light polluted skies, followed by reports I can only dream of from home. I think there is a big difference between local light pollution in the form of nearby streetlights and houses, vs the horrible orange grey glow which hangs over the larger cities. If your sky is fundamentally ok, then it is possible to block out local annoyances. The other way round there is nothing you can do. So, my aim is to focus on what can be achieved with limited aperture kit under poor skies, how to identify good targets (ie visible!) and a description of what I have seen. The answer generally at the moment is 'very little cos it's cloudy', but I shall be back when it clears. Cheers, Stu