(Very brief) first light BST Starguiders

[Lee M]

Following the many recomendations of the BST Starguiders in combination with the SW 200p I invested in a 15mm and 8mm which arrived today.

As the clouds finally rolled away at about 8pm this evening I grabbed the EPs, TLaO and a few notes I'd made of a couple of things to target bearing in mind where the Moon was.

I swung the dob around to Polaris, popped in the 15mm and tweaked the Telrad and finderscope. The view was crisp and clear and I adjusted the twist up eyecup to give a comfy view. I quickly swapped to the 8mm and made a further slight tweak to the finderscope. What was immediately obvious whilst I did this was Polaris's little sidekick which I'd just about picked out with the SW supplied 10mm EP last week. In the 8mm BST it was as bold as brass ...... until it started to get a bit fuzzy and 'Ah, that's the cloud back then'.

Cup of tea made, back in the garden I tried a bit of huffing and stern staring at the cloud. No joy.

So an hour and a half of looking out of the back door every 10 minutes and finally a gap appeared which gave me 15 minutes of part clear, part obscured viewing of the Moon and Jupiter. So it was straight to the 8mm. A very quick spin around the Moon was lovely, seemed beautifully crisp, sharp and detailed. On to Jupiter and I could see considerably more than the SW 10mm had given up previously. Rather than simply three thin dark lines across the disk they became bands which varied in thickness and density of colour.

Not an extensive test and my eyes were probably still acclimatising when the cloud filled in for the second time & I called it a night.

Very happy though and really looking forward to a longer session.

Lee

[Spec-Chum]

They are quite good aren't they

I had the 8, 18 and 25mm ones although I didn't use the 18 much to be fair the, but 8mm was great.

[spektrumdx8]

They are quite good aren't they

I had the 8, 18 and 25mm ones although I didn't use the 18 much to be fair the, but 8mm was great.

I too also have the 8 and 18mm and am considering also getting the 25mm- just wondering what your views are on the 25- is it even worth getting that size??

[Spec-Chum]

If I'm being brutally honest the 25mm was a little soft at the edges but still more than acceptable however once I got my MoonFish 30mm UWA the BST never got used.

When you can get what I think is a decent budget UWA for about £13 more...

[Planetesimal]

I had a nice go with my 8mm BST tonight as well, focusing on the moon and Jupiter. I didn't do any prior research, so it was brilliant to be rewarded with my first ever view of the GRS, a transit of Io and a lovely shadow on the planet's surface as Io crossed the GRS. So yes, I'm very pleased with the 8mm BST now!

[alan potts]

I am pleased that you liked the BST's, now lets hope for some more clear sky tonight but you have the moon getting bigger every night which will spoil things.

Alan.

[spektrumdx8]

If I'm being brutally honest the 25mm was a little soft at the edges but still more than acceptable however once I got my MoonFish 30mm UWA the BST never got used.

When you can get what I think is a decent budget UWA for about £13 more...

Done a bit of research and seems that the Moonfish 300mm is only available in 2" -also appears to have a short eye relief (varifocal spec wearer !) - don't really want to get an adaptor just to use ONE eyepiece!

Will try the BST 25mm and see for myself- the seller says I can always return it if not happy with it ,,

[Spec-Chum]

I can understand the adapter issue, yes, but the moonfish has a huge 22mm of eyerelief.

I think it'd be fine with glasses to be honest.

[spektrumdx8]

Appreciate your views on this, I'm in Central London tomorrow to pick up a guitar( another hobby !!) so will pop in to the Widescreen Center and see if they have something similar to the moonfish, as before the year is out I plan to upgrade to either a 10 or 12" scope-with a 2" focus - haven't decided what type yet

[Spec-Chum]

OK, but please be careful on what you buy. This Moonfish is the only example of a UWA budget eyepiece that I've used that is actually any good.

The 15mm version was awful...

[Mark in Macc]

I think Opticstar sell these under the Ascension name.

[spektrumdx8]

Thats the plan,, try before I buy !!!

failing that ,there's always Meade, Celestron, GSO, Bresser, etc,, etc,,, etc,,,,

[Spec-Chum]

I think Opticstar sell these under the Ascension name.

They do indeed, and quick tip...

Buy the 20mm version as it's actually the 30mm version with a 1.5 Barlow element screwed on to the bottom. Take this off and you have a 30mm UWA eyepiece and a 1.5x Barlow which you can screw onto a 1.25" adaptor to give 1.5x all your eyepieces.

All for £5 more...

[John]

Done a bit of research and seems that the Moonfish 300mm is only available in 2" -also appears to have a short eye relief (varifocal spec wearer !) - don't really want to get an adaptor just to use ONE eyepiece!

Will try the BST 25mm and see for myself- the seller says I can always return it if not happy with it ,,

Using a 1.25" adapter with a 2" eyepiece defeats the benefits of the 2" fitting, ie: a wider field of view. The adapter will reduce the field to the max that can be accommodated within the 1.25" size which is smaller.

At least your scope is not too fussy about wide field eyepieces like fast scopes are !

In the 1.25" fitting, a 24mm 70 degree field of view eyepiece or a 32mm 52 degree FoV is as wide as you can go - that will show around 1.1 true degrees of sky.

[spektrumdx8]

Makes sense, thing is, I tend to use the 127 mak mostly and occasionally the etx 90 when seeing is really good,,

Which scope would the above statement apply too???

[John]

Makes sense, thing is, I tend to use the 127 mak mostly and occasionally the etx 90 when seeing is really good,,

Which scope would the above statement apply too???

The 127.

[spektrumdx8]

Thank you!!

[JG777]

I got 3 BSTs as well but due weather have not had a chance to test them. Hope mine are as good as everyone elses!

[russ.will]

In a 100ED, they will be VERY satisfactory indeed. They're not bad approaching F5. At F6 they're pretty damn happy. At F9, you'll probably want for little else, unless you catch the UWA bug. It's an expensive bug, so do all you can to avoid it....

Russell

[JG777]

Yes indeed, good advice about the UWA bug.Definatley doing all I can to avoid that!

Cheers

[John]

Yes indeed, good advice about the UWA bug.Definatley doing all I can to avoid that!

Cheers

Although at F/9, UWA need not be too expensive.

[spektrumdx8]

Done a bit of research and seems that the Moonfish 300mm is only available in 2" -also appears to have a short eye relief (varifocal spec wearer !) - don't really want to get an adaptor just to use ONE eyepiece!

Will try the BST 25mm and see for myself- the seller says I can always return it if not happy with it ,,

Have to say that despite some reviews that the 25mm is supposed to be soft towards the edges,, I love it !! ,, Used it first with the 127 then the etx 90 after allowing both scopes to cool down for an hour- both scopes give great views but the etx 90 gave smaller but sharper views- swapped over to the 18mm and I'm blown away- these bst star-guider's are really excellent value

[Obi Wan Ken00bi]

I too also have the 8 and 18mm and am considering also getting the 25mm- just wondering what your views are on the 25- is it even worth getting that size??

I have the 12, 18 and 25 and I read a lot that the 25 is the 'worst'', however I love looking at m45 in them, and andromeda as well. They give much better view then a similar Plossl, but a 32 2 inch would be even better I guess..

BST ftw