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Everything posted by Ags
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I have seen definite color on two occasions over the past 20 years, both unforgettable experiences. The first time felt like I was looking at one of those 'color moon' images you see on the internet. I was using a Hyperion 17mm and 102 mm f13 Maksutov. I give most credit to the eyepiece, as Hyperions and their excellent coatings perform admirably at f13. I think the exit pupil of just over 1mm and the unknown sky transparency were very important too, as was the fact I was viewing a full disk. The moon was gibbous waxing.
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My evaluation of this scope is overwhelmingly positive. For balance, here is an alternate view:
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I must try a side by side with my ZS66 and LP90 with y NLV 9 and 12's.
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Is that two scopes, or a scope and a finderscope? 🤣
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Great capture of Aristarchus. I didn't realize I captured it earlier - I associate Aristarchus with incandescent brightness, but in this early light it looks quite muted. Your 8" picks up a lot more detail than my 6".
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Still trying to get the focus perfect with the C6. For some reason 50% of my frames tonight were dropped??? Copernicus: Kepler Gassendi
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If you want to go to a nearby park for observing, I think a dob would be too bulky. Also, if you want to branch into casual imaging, the dob would be unsuitable. You would however be surprised by how much a small frac can show you. I live in Bortle 8-9 and have done a lot of observing with a Zenithstar 66. Typically I use star hopping with a 50 mm finder scope, it’s not hard I have generated a range of star hopping charts for double stars and DSOs - you can download these as PDFs from the link in my signature and have a look. They are optimized for mucky urban skies. FLO sell the same scope I have by the way. it’s great fun for looking at brighter clusters, double stars and brighter nebulae. Unlike @Elp’s experience it shows the Hercules cluster well, just a ball of fuzz though, and brighter plametaries are easily visible. The Moon looks great and I preferred the rendition of Jupiter in the ZS66 to my C6. For more aperture than the ZS66, consider a Skymax 127 or C6, although these are less suitable for astrophotography. I’d mount them on an AZGTI and a sturdy carbon fiber tripod.
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A lava tube that has collapsed and surface material has funneled in along its length? I recall reading that lava tube diameter is inversely related to surface gravity. On Earth a lava tube can get a radius of 10m at most, on Mars 100m and on the Moon 1km.
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Yes, JMARS now labels it as Rima Birt after searching by name...
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Shot this last night with my C6. Most of the session was spent hunting for a new battery for my RDF. I didn't just leave it on last time, I turned it to maxmum brightness too. I feel I should be getting more from the C6, possibly worth trying with a barlow? I see there is a little rille to the left (West???) of the straight wall, I must look it up. Here is the LROC data for the same area, no name for the rille. And closer:
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Long Perng 0.6 Reducer/Flatener for my Long Perng 90?
Ags replied to Ags's topic in Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups
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That’s really delightful.
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Yes NT6 13 would be ideal, but far out of my budget sadly. Realistically, I think it will be the OVL Nirvana 13 as FLO have such a good price. I'll do a comparison to the Speers WALER 13.4 and decide which I want to keep. If I can pick up a second-hand ES 14mm then I might go that route instead. The goal is this widefield progression: Nirvana 4mm >>> ES 6.7mm >>> Nirvana 13mm >>> ES 68 20mm. I don't have the Nirvana 4 yet either, I might get the ES 4.7 instead. I don't go above 20mm in the progression because of local light pollution ruining the views at exit pupils above 3mm. For dark sky trips I might add an ES 62 26mm however.
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SGL 2023 Challenge 1 - Walking on the Moon
Ags replied to MartinB's topic in SGL Challenges and Competitions
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SGL 2023 Challenge 1 - Walking on the Moon
Ags replied to MartinB's topic in SGL Challenges and Competitions
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Optically the Speers WALERs are great. Just very long and awkward. I prefer the ergonomics of the 6.7.
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I find the eye relief on the 6.7 just right for me, nice and snug but not too close. I have heard that from several people, but I have owned the Nirvana 16 and while it gave many enjoyable views, particularly of the Moon, I ultimately found its edge correction, curvature and astigmatism unbearable. My sources tell me those issues do not affect the Nirvana 13 however!
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I have the ES 20 and previously the ES 24, and both are excellent.
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I'm looking for an eyepiece to slot inbetween my ES 82° 6.7mm and ES 68° 20mm. I'm looking at either the Nirvana 82° 13mm or the ES 68° 16mm. I hear the ES 16 is very good, but the Nirvana 13 is a better spacing (not to mention the atractive price!). I'd like to try the eyepiece in my f4 finderscope giving a 5.1° field with either eyepiece, but it would mostly be used on DSOs in my f5.6 refractor.
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Pictures please!
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Great comparison. Both scopes are close to the optimum performance of a 4" refractor, there's not a lot of room for the Tak to pull ahead. I do wonder if it might best the Starfield on Jupiter and Mars however... planetary detail is so marginal a little improvement from the Tak might make a noticeable difference.