badhex

Perfect conditions for hunting Spiral Tap galaxies

Lovely image!

Also, blast everyone on this thread and blast me for following it... every time I see a notification it reminds me that the 6.5mm and 4.5mm are calling out to me and my wallet! 😱😂

I think everybody here would truly love to read what you have to say after trying a few firsthand John!

Great documentary. Outrageous that she was not recognised at the time for her incredible discovery - and terrible that there weren't others like Hoyle making noise and using their positions to correct the egregious and deliberate move by some to claim her work as their own. At least it is fantastic that she can now be the role model for other women in science!

That was my thinking - looking forward to it 😊

Great images, and a fantastic improvement in such a short time. As many others have said the Venus image is really breathtaking!

Thanks all, perhaps I will revisit the binoculars idea. I guess I've just never found the experience that comfortable, even though I have a tripod bracket - but obviously the ease of star hopping and scanning the sky whilst hand held is a big attraction. Still very much undecided!

This is fantastic work Ags, ordering a copy now! Thanks so much for your hard work. I will no doubt be using the book in combination with my ZS73 for the most part so I will report back!

Thanks! Whichever I end up taking, I will be sure to report back!

Yeah that is definitely the plan. I have taken the ZS73 travel kit away before but not like properly on holiday, and whatever happens I will be taking it on the first holiday where things are a bit les of an unknown. Maybe I will evaluate then if it was worth it, or whether I'd have been just as happy with a more basic setup.

One downside to the cheap scope is that the max FOV I can get would be about 4 degrees of sky, assuming I take the MaxVision 24mm SWA which I had not planned to take. The ZS73 will net me 5.5 degrees! I would take my bins also but I never find the experience as enjoyable somehow.

Yes, I never drink even a beer if I'm observing. The darkest sky this scope has seen has been Bortle 4 and it was actually almost overwhelming at first, because so many more stars were visible I couldn't initially recognise some parts of the sky, so I imagine at Bortle 2 it would be incredible!

This is a great approach - maybe a custom filter holder for binos!

I do enjoy my 80ED but the mount I had at the time was not sturdy enough and it wasn't portable enough to take to darker sites easily - which is what really drove me to go for a more portable setup. I guess I pretty much bought this setup for trips like this!

Thanks Victor! I saw your posts about this filter, so I will have another look and see what works for availability etc. The contrast/large exit pupil issue is definitely one reason for wanting to take the ZS73 - I find under less dark skies the 35mm Aero ED has great views but can suffer a bit from a lack of contrast, so I'd love to see it under very dark skies!

Thanks Jeremy. If I did take the travelscope I would probably take my bins as well, but I've never really enjoyed bins for astro as much as a scope.

Thanks. As it goes, I'm pretty much insured up to the hilt so I guess it's not my main concern. I guess if I don't take the WO, I might be always kicking myself afterwards. It's just a fair bit less convenient, and at maximum I might only get 3 or so nights under the very dark skies.

I thought the same!

Good to know, thanks. The choice is between the WO ZS73 or a cheapo (but still surprisingly good) Celestron TS70. I had been planning on keeping it simple with the Celestron until I realised how dark the skies will be.

Yeah the Astronomik does keep coming up as the best option in many SGL threads. Wasn't aware that Televue had one as well. Assume its astronomik-al in price though!

The OIII was something I have strongly considered as a pre-trip purchase! In this case I would buy the 2" though, which precludes the possibility of taking the cheaper scope.

True, although the place we're staying is an island chiefly composed of volcano and only 1000 people, so I'm assuming it should be reasonably dark.

Well, indeed the options are between a small refractor and a small refractor! I know either way it will be great, and the TS70 does surprisingly well for the cost, but then I would be limited to 1.25“ EPs, and I like the idea of huge swathes of sky not being washed out by poor contrast for once. My "expensive" option is a small 73mm WO refractor, so comparable to your 66mm.

Hello all, I'm going on two separate mediterranean island holidays later this year, and I knew that for the first of these it would be in Bortle 4/5 skies. We're mostly staying in one place we have rented before and I know the situation well etc., so planning to take my portable setup of ZS73 and 4-5 EPs. For the second trip, we planned to be island-hopping a bit on some smaller islands with a few more days on the final island (also Bortle 4), and had decided that it wouldn't be ideal taking this same setup. Although it's compact, it's quite a lot heavier and by the time you add it all up it's a lot of expensive glass to be lugging about from place to place. I planned to just take a couple of inexpensive EPs, a Celestron Travelscope 70 and a carbon fibre tripod - chuck everything in my main case and not be worried about breakage, weight, (theft even maybe?). BUT I just discovered that two of the places we're going on the second trip (total of 5-6 nights) will be Bortle 2! Now I'm worried that only taking lower quality gear means I won't be getting the best of a rare opportunity to observe under really dark skies, but taking the expensive and heavier gear is less convenient and there is at least one afternoon I'll have to leave it with a hotel and not in a room. What do I do?