Deadlake

24 minutes ago, John said:

I still strongly feel that there is a niche for a decent quality, high capacity alt-az mount somewhere between the Skytee II / Ercole and the higher end AZ100 / APM Maxload. Something around £500 perhaps ?

I had originally hoped that the AZ100 might be that mount but, understandably, that product can't be produced at that sort price point. So the niche remains.

 

 

Single or dual? I think there is space for a single alt-az mount with tracking.

3 hours ago, RobertI said:

My thinking was that Rowan have the know how to produce a lightweight mount to rival the Scopetech, in addition their heavy-duty AZ100. 👍

True Rowan could, however they are busy with motorised tracking. Wonder what the weight would be like for a smaller version?  Curiously Zero has all the fixtures  to add push to go, which would make the zero amazing. For me I have an LZOS 130 in bound, too heavy for the zero so will have to go my SXP2, which is not far off AZ100 in weight.

2 hours ago, RobertI said:

Bit late to the party on this one! This looks like a fine mount and really seems to fill a gap, a step up in quality from the Porta 2, and I really want one. But the price - almost £400! I'm sure its simplicity belies the engineering quality, but I do wonder whether Rowan Engineering could produce something of similar quality for a lot less money (hint, hint).

The scope tech is considerable lighter then the AZ100, that’s what you are paying for. With a carbon tripod the weight with the Zero is 5 kg. For the AZ100 and tripod is around 17 kg. Having said that, once the AZ100 has tracking motors attached I would take a look. 

I wonder what happens in the new year? Astro stuff is not going to be a priority and food is, more delays and what will be the new tariffs. Well unless importing from Japan, then no change...

2 hours ago, Captain Magenta said:

That is actually a feature not a bug. That rubber ring allows you independently to focus the eyepiece onto the reticule, then adjust the focus of the objective until the stars are sharp. That way the stars and the reticule are at focus in the same focal plane. If the stars are sharp and the reticule fuzzy, they are in different focal planes and you’ll get parallax, ie the cross-hair point moves around the star-field as you move your eye. I have an APM finder/ eyepiece and it’s very good. The SW-style ones that come with many scopes don’t easily allow one to make those adjustments.

Cheers Magnus

Cheers. I didn't notice that. Will try it out when the weather clears.

Having said that, the Baader is meant to be a step up on the APM from some one who owns one, this one:

https://www.baader-planetarium.co.uk/shop/baader-polaris-i-25mm-t-2-illuminated-measuring-and-guiding-eyepiece/

 

Looking for a reticle eye piece to use in a finder with a 90 degree erecting prism.

I like either Vixen and Tak reticle eyepieces but they don’t make 90 degree finders.

I  have an APM reticle EP, but to me the cross hairs are a little fuzzy compared with the Vixen finder scope.

The other option is the Baader finder, but wondering what other options there are?

Anyone used any of these:

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Excellent read Neil, two very interesting and successful nights.

It’s been slim pickings here recently, limited to a couple of lunar sessions but it’s nice to be out and grabbing whatever you can.

Slim pickings, it changes so quickly. Last night was meant to be clear, by 9 am when I was going to get setup it has clouded over and scope nights said a no go.

Tell me this is rare for this time or year, spoilt over the summer.

36 minutes ago, TerryMcK said:

It’s a pain at the moment. We can’t even travel to other countries to escape the constant gloomy skies.

I’ve not known it be this bad for a longtime. Last time I was out imaging was late September. Some members with permanent observatories have been able to take advantages when they arise. I use ScopeNights which is a paid for app on Apple and that is generally very good. Meteoblue is also another good app.
ClearOutside has been a bit hit and miss for me recently but others seem to use that.

I use scope nights, it's been wrong once in current memory. As far as the weather, its bad, but good for my bank balance 😃. 

This could be a new interesting scope for NV. 

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=103346594423278&story_fbid=318484316242837

near to relaese, but is 260 mm, Flat field,  f5 and had reported 95% transmission .

However I'd wait for a field test before I went any further.

Planewave make one similar to this but 3x the cost.

32 minutes ago, John said:

One of these care of @billhinge

So that I can put my T-Rex alt-azimuth mount on my Berlebach Uni 28 tripod:

If needed this will go tall - the dovetail clamp is at around 2 metres at max:

Most of the time though the legs will be less than 50% extended.

How much weight does it save you over the steel tripod you have?

3 minutes ago, GavStar said:

The figure I quoted for Celestron is at the 656 halpha band that is critical for nv nebulae observing. I haven’t seen anything specific regarding the Epsilon transmission but would think it would be similar to the other scopes.

As Peter says the key advantage of reflectors is the ability to have large aperture to get the necessary image scale for smaller objects with nv, which is what I use my c11 edge and 16 inch dob for.

What about 700 nm range (red)? 

Agree for larger aperture SCT looks the way to go, EdgeHD series looks like less maintenance than other mirror based systems. At lot of RC scopes have quartz mirrors which aids with cool down, but for  NV less sensitive to acclimation.

8 minutes ago, GavStar said:

Eddgie on CN estimates his Boren Simon has transmission in the order of 85% which is the figure Celestron gives for its latest coated scts.

Googling for mirror transmission for reflectors comes up with limited hits, for instance I wondered if an Epsilon would have a higher transmission. 

NV I believe is not so sensitive to the green/blue frequency bands, do we have transmission values for the red band that NV is sensitive too?
 

9 hours ago, PeterW said:

Depends on the mirro coating, can go >95%, easier to get bigger and faster... lots of options.

Peter

How does age affect a mirror’s coating?

You forgot to mention collimation and acclimation. 😀😀😀 Actual quite scary number of threads on CN around collimation.... put me off RC types...

I think the next 2 weeks are a write off. Apparently this winter is go to as cold as the ones 10 years ago. Whether that is a help or hinderance I have no idea... After the summer, this weather is such a change...

4 hours ago, joko said:

Like @PeterW i would recommend the Boren-Simon 6" . 

At F/2.9 it seems to be the perfect grab and go scope for Night Vision. Mainly for very wide nebulas.

I don't have it but i will probably order it soon, i should write this in my letter to Santa Claus 😀

Does anyone own a Boren-Simon newton and use it with NV? 

35 minutes ago, Stu said:

The only thing that is large and white at the moment are the clouds, although more like grey. Would be nice if they cleared to let me have a look at this! Thanks for the heads up, and enjoy it! 👍👍

When I looked at scope nights around 2 pm, was meant to have a clear patch from 9-12 tonight. Now back to business as usual.....

I have the digital copy, find it a great way to keep them archived. However ties you in to having an iPad to read them on...

So far this is one to avoid until several patch versions come out. I suspect all the effort was getting it running on ARM silicon and x86 translator etc. Its a huge change this year, so best avoided while they fix teething issues. 

Any idea of what the f stop is on these?

On 01/11/2020 at 07:58, LeeHore7 said:

Looking good from Wednesday for clear skies here 🙏🌌📷🔭

I've shut up shop until Sunday, however maybe clear skies tonight 12-3 am in Surrey area...

Just now, Highburymark said:

It’s quite a long stack with the 67mm adapter as it also requires a further extension. But it was MkV binoviewer that provided the biggest load - with eyepieces it was over half the weight of the scope 

Any idea on weight? Thanks

2 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Paul - as Mike says, the DC focuser has very short travel, but removing the section ahead of the focuser makes the scope more flexible for binoviewing. The Tak focuser is ok but not so great, in my view, at handling heavy loads, like weighty binoviewers fully loaded or a long night vision stack with a 55mm plossl.  The Feathertouch solves all these issues.
I’ve taken the DC abroad a couple of times - as long as it’s packed carefully, with dew shield and focuser removed, it will fit into cabin baggage with  pretty much all U.K. airlines. I can’t remember the precise length of the shortened ota - think it’s around 19”. It’s just short enough to fit into typical cabin baggage.
 

How every duty a focuser is needed when attaching a NV stack? Actually how much does the stack weight?

I swapped out the stock diagonal for a Baader prism. Mars when from white to red, I suspect a filter might help as well.

And no 12 month wait for a new one! 😀