WO ZS66

[blinky]

I suppose this is a kind of first light report & Observing report, even though I have had the ZS66 since March!

Finally a nice clear evening and as the moon was rising around 10:30 I thought I would get my WO ZS66 piggybacked on my OO 8"Newt.

First off I tried to find M15 as it was nearly straight ahead of me! Failed miserably as it was too light and the moon was starting to rise. I then had a scout around with my Lidl bino's, this was good fun and even though it was not dark I managed to identify Altair and Vega (I am still all new to this! I know you veterans could point to these with you eyes shut! I then spotted the moon rising over the hills so thought I would have a look. Even though it was very low on the horizon there was no boiling visible. I thought I would have a look with my ZS66, I was really amazed at how much magnification I could get from it! I kept dropping EP's into and and eventually had my 5mm ortho with a 2X Barlow and could still reach focus no problem! Looking back at Altair and Vega you really notice how much dimmer they are when compaired to the 8"Newt. Altair was really bright in the newt but just a normal star in the ZS66. Whilst looking around at everything I spotted quite a few sat's flying over, I love watching these and even managed to followa couple in my Bino's.

Nearly time for bed I thought, so I got all packed up (this is now around 11:30, I start work at 7am) and had another quick scout with the Bino's. Straight overhead is (I assume?) the Milky Way, It's amazing to see all the stars in there and it did appear to be somewhat milky (Or were my eyes too tired?).

Anyway one of the most enjoyable evenings I have had my scopes etc. I only got my first scope last October so have never really had it all out when you did not have to wrap up warm! I am really pleased with the ZS66, will deff be using it for more moon observing, it does appear to be a bit sharper than the Newt but maybe that is my imagination again! Was lovely to just browse the Galaxy, I purposly left my camera's packed away and just enjoyed the sights!

What a great hobby this is

[MartinB]

Glad you're enjoying it Blinky. Did you like the silky focuser?

[Helen]

Nice report Craig. The 66 punches way above its weight, and its sooo nice to use! brilliant for grab and go between clouds and as a travel scope.

Helen

[blinky]

Yeah when I was typing this up I was thinking about how much nicer it is to use the ZS as the focusser just makes it a joy to use It is really soooo smooooooooooooooooth

[FLO]

Nice report Craig

[geppetto]

I was really amazed at how much magnification I could get from it

I'm still amazed at that..

Can push mine quite hard on say Jupiter and it's usable beyond what you would

expect the max magnification to be 8)

[blinky]

I was really surprised I could never push the newt to those levels! I just kept sticking in EP's and thinking that this would break it!

[barkis]

That is a very pleasant account of an evening of visual astronomy. Just a relaxing tour around the summer sky. No frustration involved, trying to get a mount aligned properly or anything like that. I bet you felt quite good after it.

Nice one Craig. It is really what astronomy is about.

Ron.

[blinky]

Ron, You just summed up my night perfectly 8) Shame is is cloudy and windy tonight! Still gonna open one of the Belgium beers I brought back from Brugge Some at 10.5%

[Stardust]

I can't get over just how good that little scope is, mine takes the nagler 3-6 zoom with no trouble, it really is a quality piece of kit. Wonder what a ZS110 would be like?

Dave