Ags

When were Speer WALER eyepieces introduced? My only ocular that could possibly qualify for this thread is an SW 10.

And purchased - i will post my findings when it arrives.

I think i have found what I need, going on the basis that ARTCISE tripods seem rather good. They are hard to come by but I found a smaller one with 18 kg load on Aliexpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001609653198.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000060.1.62207a36oFjH91&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller&scm=1007.13339.169870.0&scm_id=1007.13339.169870.0&scm-url=1007.13339.169870.0&pvid=3ba10565-5dc5-4cdf-936d-3e695f034e92&_t=gps-id:pcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller,scm-url:1007.13339.169870.0,pvid:3ba10565-5dc5-4cdf-936d-3e695f034e92,tpp_buckets:668%230%23131923%2369_668%23888%233325%237_668%232846%238110%23376_668%232717%237558%23170_668%231000022185%231000066059%230_668%233468%2315618%23976 Not sure about import duties and so on given aliexpress but 112 euros is a good starting point. Another nice thing is this has a center column but it is screw-on not telescoping so should be a lot more stable should I ever choose to use it.

Looks amazing!

All my stuff is 3/8 fortunately. As far as I can see the ballhead is separate.... worth verifying.

Welcome back!

The Braun Nox 180 I am looking at now is rated for 12 kgs...

Looking at this one now: https://braun-germany.de/en/professional/153-braun-nox-180-professional.html

The Earth is absolutely flat, but spacetime is highly curved.

or look at a suitable double star - basically a clock in the sky.

If solar system bodies are present in the sky you can use that to get a pretty good fix on date and time from their positions as they are relatively bright and change position rapidly. Then, assuming you know geographic location, the exact time is simply the right ascension of any star. I am sure the mechanism they use does not rely on Polaris, as they might be deployed in the southern hemisphere too.

Maybe @Dantooine likes the EP so much he adopted it 😀

APOD!

Roughly one in six US satellites are military, although that proportion is declining rapidly. I’m concerned about any military use of space, but not too worried by one more dot up there. Nevertheless, it is inspiring to see the flawless operation of SpaceX rockets, personally it makes me hopeful for the future.

A string of clear nights!

This is a graph of age of eyepiece thread vs cost of eyepieces under discussion 😀

Stunning picture and amazing depth from 3 hours exposure - shows what a RASA can do in the right hands.

It's eyepieces that explode my list when I am in visual mode - and I don't even look at the expensive stuff. For visual my list looks something like: A lot of Vixen SLVs. ES 11mm 82 degree ES 16mm 68 degree A couple of Baader Q Turrets. A 70mm ED scope. This would complete my visual dream machine: C6 and small frac mounted side by side on a giro-style mount. The turrets allow quick changes of eyepieces without disturbing the delicate Giro balance, and allows going to very high mags without also risking losing the target.

I have a wishlist that mutates between visual and AP every few months. Currently it includes: Second Tripod so I can set up for visual and AP simultaneously. Ha filter. Zhongyi Mitakon 135/f2.8 lens.

Multiple studies have shown wikipedia is a solid source on scientific and technical topics. I wouldn’t trust it on controversial hot topics like COVID because of the greater risk of page vandalism, but away from the flame wars it is excellent.

With what camera?

Me too...

I am hoping for clear skies too. Forget white christmas - let's have a starry christmas!

Stopped down to F3.8 and shooting Red only looks much more satisfactory. These are longer subs (16 seconds).

Well it was clear at dinner time, but puffs of cloud were already drifting over when I set up soon after. I figured there was no point waiting for M42 with the deteriorating conditions. With the light cloud I needed to be shooting straight up. So I had a go at NGC 1499 (California Nebula) and gathered 74 minutes before the sky was totally gray, but one third of the subs were of water vapor. But still - I did get a result and quite good by my standards! Not bad for limited data, thin clouds, Bortle 8 city lights, and only an R filter not proper narrowband. For me anyway 😀. Will try grab more data, I think I could make this quite prety... 189 x 16 second subs at Gain 160 (ASI 178 MM, 100mm focal length, F3.8)