MalcolmM

Does anyone know if the large valley looking feature (red arrow) have a name? I'm away from home and have no access to my books and my moon app does not name it. For context, the blue arrow points to Petavius I think. Thanks, Malcolm

That's a great looking setup with the bigger frac. That must be absolutely rock solid! I've always erred on the light weight and portable but that does come with a cost in stability and vibration! Malcolm

Very true. I'll see how I get on with darker skies before committing to more expenditure but the Rowans do look very nice. Malcolm

Yes, I was expecting it to be much more unwieldy than my 100DC but it's not! But at the end of the day, it's not a refractor Malcolm

Much better Malcolm

Thanks @HollyHound, I'll have to find something to keep it in while cooling outside! Yes, I know that website. It makes for great reading. Helped push me towards buying the Mewlon But I do admit to making up my mind on the Mewlon 'cause it's a Tak and looks fab and then doing the selective research just to try and justify my choice Malcolm

I was not aware of this the other night but I think our house was actually colder than outside plus for the first hour I was only looking at sky But I have heard they take a good bit of time to cool despite the open tube. Malcolm

That was something else I meant to comment on; to me the Mu 180 looks enormous but it's actually very easy to work with and the finder/handle makes it a dawdle to carry round and attach to the mount. Malcolm

My partner thinks all telescopes look the same so she does not know how many I have as long as I don't bring them out together. Yesterday she went out on the razzle so I took advantage of the situation and paired up my new Mewlon 180 and 60CB on a Giro Ercole and thought I'd try and find the crescent moon. I started at 5 o'clock with a gin and tonic and then set up the scopes. The idea was to find the moon with a pair of binoculars, note it's position and then find it with the 60CB and a new 2" Stellalyra 45mm eyepiece and then hopefully the Mewlon with a Tak 28mm Erfle would not be a million miles off. 20 minutes later I caught the moon in the binoculars. Invisible to the naked eye, Stellarium indicated it was roughly 20 degress to the left and 20 degrees higher than the sun. I simply could not find it in the 60CB. To cut a long story short, the next half hour was spent sighting the moon in the binoculars, loosing it, eventually finding it in the 60CB only to have it invisible in the Mewlon finder. Eventually, using a distant tree, I figured out how how much off the 60CB and the Mewlon finder were and was able to compensate by offsetting the 60CB in order to get the Moon in the Mewlon finder. The next problem was the Mewlon was off focus, so the moon was invisible even when it was in view. And the Mewlon, unlike a rack and pinion focuser where you can very quickly snap to the focus point, has quite a large focus range achieved by turning the focus knob about 5000 turns! By which time of course the moon has drifted out of the view. To cut another long story short, I got there in the end! It was low contrast, still a very bright sky, still could not see the moon with the naked eye but I was surprised at the detail visible in the Mewlon. I can't compare it with anything, never having observed the moon in these conditions before but I genuinely was impressed at the detail. Some time later, when the moon did become naked eye visible, I was able to put in a 12.5mm Tak Abbe and start to recognise some features - see pic. Seeing was surprisingly good despite the moon being so low over Belfast. Lots of caveats but I thought the Mewlon gave a stunning view, can't wait to observe it in better conditions. Next, I waited for about half an hour until I could see Vega. I did what I thought was a star test to check collimation. The out of focus star showed perfect concentric airy discs either side of focus. So I think collimation is spot on despite being transported half way round the world. The finder was also perfectly aligned. I put the Erfle back in and star hopped to M57. Now this is not a long way, but surprisingly difficult given the very narrow FOV of the Mewlon. But the Giro Ercole makes it very easy to star hop, having the dual setup I think makes the Ercole even smoother to slew. That being said it still took me a good 20 minutes! Very satisfying to see M57, all be it very feint but definitely donut shaped with the 'hole' in the middle. Next I thought I'd try for M13 but despite it being 10.30 it was still day light and I couldn't see any of the stars in Hercules to give me a starting point. Besides, I was expecting my partner back at 11 Actually, I lied at the start. My partner has been extremely tolerant with all the packages arriving from FLO and positively encourages me in this hobby Some might query my sanity in spending such a long time trying to star hop or randomly guess where an object is, but for me, this is all part of the challenge and enjoyment of this hobby. And I get such a feeling of satisfaction when I do eventually find what I'm looking for! So in summary; the Mewlon, 60CB and Giro Ercole make for a great star hopping combination. It's a joy to use. The time it took me to find anything was down to the bright sky and my inexperience, not the equipment. The Mewlon is a lovely scope to use, perfect finder alignment and collimation out of the box and initial observations in adverse conditions make me feel it will give stunning views. If you've got this far, thanks for reading! Malcolm

Oh dear you could have pretended Malcolm

I'm really hoping you prefer the TOEs, I simply can't go on a Pentax spending spree Malcolm

Binomewlon with the outer two and bino60CB with the inner two. Quadroscopic views ... fantastic Malcolm

I'm sure I have enough trouble merging images in my WO Binoviewers but all the faffing is worth it for the views! Mewlons, Binoviewers, 60CB, 2" eyepieces; I've a thousand questions for you but too off topic You'll be telling me you have a 100DC next Malcolm

Now if he'd sell his Mewlon ... that would make for some binoscope! Malcolm

I'm not sure even telling my partner another OTA was an essential integral part of the system would cut any weight. She's been very understanding up to now of all the boxes arriving with clouds but I've detected a subtle change in her attitude; well, not that subtle Malcolm

The Rolls Royces of eyepieces! That looks very impressive! I had originally ordered a TV 55 Plossl but it was taking forever to arrive so I swapped for the Stellalyra. I think yours suits the look of the 60CB better! Malcolm

I've read a lot about the virtues of 2" eyepieces so I thought I'd give one a go. Holy Cow! They are big. I now know how the Lilliputians felt when Gulliver came to visit! I keep bursting out laughing when I look at it Views during the day look great and it's a really easy eyepiece to look through. The FOV when paired with the 60CB is bigger than my pair of 8x42 binoculars! Unfortunately I have not been able to use it at night yet but I'm hopeful it'll show great views. It's a StellaLyra 45mm 2" KITAKARU RPL Malcolm

Some food for thought there! I think I'll have to tighten the clutches with the extra weight and I presume that will put more stress on the motors. I have the manual Dec control sitting unused but it would be nice to have the manual RA too, just in case, as you say It's a little pricey but for me it ticks all the boxes: works off USB power or AA batteries, very portable, no goto, easily slewed by hand and looks fab Malcolm

Two beautiful setups! Do you often swap between the two configurations? Is it as stable in AltAz as equitorial? I have been very impressed how steady it was with the 100DC. Malcolm

Thanks @JeremyS, it's actually a 180. I was scared off by the extra size and cost of the 210. And judging by the reaction of my partner when this one arrived, I think I made the right decision Malcolm

Great tip thanks @Franklin, I did not realise you could do that. There's always one more thing to buy Malcolm

Every refractor man is allowed one reflector This is right on the stated limit for this mount but I think it'll cope with it. Be interesting to check out it's stability under high power, though I've had no clear sky for weeks now! Regardless, I think it looks a lovely combination Malcolm

Really nice sketches! I like seeing sketches like these that show what is actually seen at the eyepiece. Malcolm

Has anyone been lucky enough to compare these scopes optically? I have heard the FOA60Q described as optical perfection (or words to that effect). I have read of the transition FS60Q to FOA60 as (or words to this effect ) ... just when you thought the view couldn't get any better ... it does! I'd be intrigued to hear of the practical (at the eyepiece) optical difference between an FS60Q and an FOA60Q and then on to the FOA60Q. Is it contrast? Sharpness? Colour correction? Or just a little bit of indescribable magic? Malcolm

Fabulous images! Malcolm