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Just giving this a tiny bump and edited for clarity. Can anyone advise?

Great review for a great EP. I cannot use it in 1.25" mode with my TS102 but can't remember if I've tried it with my ZS73. I also noted the AMD but didn't find it to be intrusive as I'm not doing large sweeps with it.

I am similarly afflicted. The struggle is real

We did a bit of collaborative investigating a while ago on the thread below - as far as anyone can tell the WO is the same as the skywatcher (and the skywatcher deluxe model) only with carbon fibre panels - which add nothing optically. They are not bad diagonals except for the quite restrictive barrel stop lip on the inside of the EP side, which can cause vignetting with very low power EPs (anything with a field stop larger than 41.5mm). As Louis said, the GSO diagonals have no such restriction and are well priced. The only other option I'm aware of with the same clear aperture are the Baader clicklock BBHS diagonals, which are fantastic but 3x the price of the GSO.

Mine is this one: https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/accessories/optical-accessories/prism-and-mirror-star-diagonals/baader-prism-diagonal-t-290°-32mm.html although I got the version that also comes with a nosepiece and focusing EP holder (non clicklock). I believe this one has the shortest possible optical length, from what I can see of all the specs (I spent a long time reading them 😂)

That makes sense - in a world of contradictory measurements! The two different prism diagonals also have slightly different optical lengths (or paths), the one I have is supposedly shorter (and the prism is fair bit cheaper, so maybe not as good optically).

I have an APM UFF 24mm which will be used with this scope, hopefully that should give us the results we need re FC so I will report back. On the subject of glass path vs optical path - the glass path is potentially aimed at binoviewer folks I'm guessing, as these diagonals are frequently used in binoviewing applications. I don't know why or if this is different to optical length. Are you seeing two different measurement listed somewhere? Also which T2 prism are you using? The one with the removable male thread (which reveals another T2 female thread) or the one like mine with the much smaller female thread behind the male thread (see my post earlier in this thread)?

45 EUR without shipping, so as far as astro gear goes, not too bad! Once it arrives I'll keep you in the loop as to how it turns out, and if you need one we can figure something where I let him know you're going to be in touch. The Evo-FF 2 also intrigued me because it has a good amount of back focus and is T2 but not sure how critical the front distance is but if I can get this stage working I am considering investing. I'm not totally sure if 55mm is enough to then add the diagonal so it would definitely be a gamble! Interesting that you said you don't feel like it makes a huge difference. How are stars at the edge when panning around? FC is certainly noticeable natively, which I'd expect given the fast FR.

Decided to set up the Skytee as a winter fixture on our (covered) balcony to get more quick observing sessions in, even if the area of sky is a bit limited. To that end I got this barbecue cover which fits nicely over the whole thing including the 80ED with room to spare. Seems okay, but surprisingly thin material. I'll use this as a test and perhaps replace with a Telegizmos if the plan works out.

I have a number of scopes in storage in the UK and some here with me in Berlin. In storage I have: A Charles Frank 6" reflector that I inherited from my grandad and was the first scope I looked through as a child, so has sentimental value. A Skymax 102 which is the first scope I bought myself and I really miss. A Bresser 6" rich field achromat which was completely in bits and I refurbished but never got chance to really use. Here in Berlin I have: A Skywatcher 80ED which I bought when I first moved here for a different experience from my previous scopes. It has never seen that much action, as I ended up having a few years break from astro for various reasons, including not having a mount at the time which could really take the 80ED well. Some years ago on a long holiday I bought a Celestron Travelscope 70 on a whim to take advantage of the darker skies which jolted me back into the hobby. It's a surprisingly good scope. Since then I have picked up a number of scopes. I got a C5 for planetary stuff but have never really got on with it. I keep meaning to give it another run this year. I have a William Optics ZS73 which is my primary travel/grab and go scope and I absolutely love. Incredible rich-field views. I have a TS-Optics 102ED F7 (same as the Starfield) which is essentially my main use scope, and a fantastic all-rounder - good for planetary and can get 4 degrees of sky at the other end. I recently bought an EvoGuide 50ED to embark on a project converting it for visual as a super lightweight travelscope. So, mostly all different use cases, although the 102ED is so similar in size to the 80ED but better, and so has meant the 80ED gets less use. I do currently have it set up on my balcony for quick sessions however as I recently figured I should give it another run.

Happy sun orbit day! 💫

Haha thanks, yes this was a Microsoft Lifecam I converted years ago to use for planetary imaging. I will be the first to admit I'm no imager but did get an okay Jupiter from it! If you look very carefully you can see the tiny bulge at about the 4 o'clock position - a transit of Ganymede. Re the Evoguide - I'm converting it into a tiny ultra-light travelscope. There's a thread of my progress here if you're interested (maybe some of it might be useful for your purposes too). https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/400295-another-ultra-light-travel-kit-project/

Thanks, that's very kind! Glad you liked Miro - it is awesome and it certainly revolutionised my work (in tech/IT). I use it for everything - planning, project tracking, flow/process diagrams, whiteboarding, or cobbling together a quick diagram to help me and others visualise what I'm doing. One of the coolest features is that if you have a physical whiteboard or wall with loads of post-its, you can take a photo and Miro will convert all of them to digital versions including handwriting recognition!

Okay, so if your focal length is 1200mm then the 8mm will give you 150x and the 22mm will give you 54x. I observer Jupiter regularly at 159x with a 102mm aperture refractor, so you should be able to pick out some detail at that magnification. That said it's also possible that your scope is pulling in so much light that Jupiter is too bright and you're losing detail and contrast. You could try masking the aperture of your scope as an experiment. I think the 250p end cap has two smaller holes with caps you can remove? Try attaching the end cap but removing one of those smaller caps. This will temporarily reduce the aperture of your scope so the image will be significantly dimmer, but you might be able to pick out more detail. Regarding the BSTs, they are definitely good eyepieces but you might want to ask someone about their performance in very fast dobsonian scopes like yours - faster scopes are often more demanding of the eyepiece.

Haha thank you! I used a whiteboarding/ diagramming tool called Miro which I have used for work for many years. It is 2D only, Miro is very free-form and a bit like powerpoint in how you can group and join shapes, so most of the shapes (being variations of cylinders) were actually the standard flowchart database shape of a cylinder, which I then joined several of and shaded accordingly to give me a rough version fo the shape I wanted. I'm a very visual person so diagrams are very helpful to me. I even made the focuser (which I am removing so was not really necessary!)

Agreed, it looks like this one but modified with a different eyecup and some o-rings (maybe as spacers), so 8-24mm fits. If this is true, at the highest setting it will be an 8mm eyepiece, so take the focal length of your scope, divide that by 8 and you will have the true magnification you are getting. Do the same for 22mm and that's the true magnification you are getting at the lowest setting. You should also be able to then figure out the stops in between if you wish. What is the scope that you have out of interest?

Hi Mark, welcome to SGL! You're definitely in the right place to start you astronomy journey - lots of sound advice to be found here 🙂 Regarding your eyepiece: I agree with @Franklin that it looks like the eyepiece from a spotting scope, so those magnifications listed will be relevant only to that scope (or another with the same focal length etc). What you need to understand the true magnification that it is giving in your scope are the focal lengths of that zoom eyepiece. Does it have any other markings on it that may help identify what scope it came from? If you have any other eyepieces, you can also make a rough guess by comparing them with the zoom, although obviously this won't be super accurate. I know that it is possible to do more accurate tests to determine the focal lengths, but I've never had to dj it so I can't advise! There are others on here who will be able to suggest more accurate methods.

Thanks! Yes, it's a bit niche. Do any of us really ever have a need for anything astronomy related? 😅

Bit more progress today. Drilled (or enlarged) the holes on the tube ring adaptor plate necessary to bolt it direct to the dovetail without the need for the large adaptor block. Tested it with a couple of spare ¼" bolts which were juuust a few hairs shy of the tube but got some countersink head ¼" bolts arriving tomorrow anyway. The lower profile looks great and shaves a bit of unnecessary weight off.

When ordering to ship to Germany (so I assume it's the same for other countries) FLO kindly remove the VAT at checkout which is awesome. I still have to pay VAT + customs charges at this end of course. On the subject of zooms, I recently invested in the APM Superzoom 15.4mm-7.7mm which is definitely on the pricey side, but maintains the same AFOV, is almost parfocal through the range, and generally performs extremely well in all of my scopes. I still overall prefer fixed-length EPs but it's great when I don't want to drag everything out with me, or for some specific uses such as zooming into clusters or other objects to find the right balance of mags/sky background darkness.

I follow lots of the "show us your..." threads - makes for excellent vicarious observing when the conditions don't allow!

I meant to comment on this before. Your mount is a beast! I followed your build thread - incredible stuff. Well done.

Haha you want this thread (as well) then 😅

Been meaning to fulfill the "accessories" part of the thread title by posting my bits box and a newer addition containing a couple of different finders (and the bits for my Evoguide project). Interested to see other folks' bits boxes and/or finder storage (always a pain with those sticky out adjustment screws)

Yes, I'm very hopeful that this M53 adaptor works out! In my case the tube rings I got were Lacerta - perhaps in the future I will contact Adriano about some custom tube rings as well!