What did the postman bring?

[bosun21]

4 hours ago, Mike Q said:

I don't understand why Orion shipped me the shroud when the scope isnt in stock, but what the heck, it can sit on the shelf until whenever the scope shows up.  

Do you know that Synta and Orion have had a fallen out? I hope this doesn’t affect the delivery of your scope 

[F15Rules]

On 20/09/2022 at 11:51, SzabiB said:

These two boxes arrived (of course with full cloud cover 🤣)

 

Super quick delivery from FLO. Order was placed on Friday morning and made it to the Highlands this morning.

 

End of the wobble era...here is my new DOB.

The dog hates it, he is freaking out 

Lovely dog..is he/she a Doberman or Doberman cross?

If so, a Dobe and a Dob seem like a match made in heaven!😁

We still dearly miss our much loved Kobi the Dobi, who passed away 3 years ago this December 😔..best dogs you can own IMHO..💙

Dave

[Guest]

8 hours ago, bosun21 said:

Do you know that Synta and Orion have had a fallen out? I hope this doesn’t affect the delivery of your scope 

Yeah delivery is scheduled for who knows when.  It could be next week, next month or not at all.  Last week Orion got in a few go to and push to scopes, they were sold out in hours.  So we just wait and see what happens.  I dont get charged until it ships to me.  

[Ian McCallum]

Some goodies from Auntie @FLO. 

[Mr Spock]

It's only right my expanding eyepiece collection has a new case...

[SzabiB]

9 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Lovely dog..is he/she a Doberman or Doberman cross?

If so, a Dobe and a Dob seem like a match made in heaven!😁

We still dearly miss our much loved Kobi the Dobi, who passed away 3 years ago this December 😔..best dogs you can own IMHO..💙

Dave

Kobi looks beautiful. I know, they leave massive black hole behind in your heart.

Miles is a Greek Harehound mix (most likely with a Segugio Italiano). We saved him from Greece, he was born as a stray pup. He is a good boy, but super anxious about people and bicycles. He is with us 8 months and getting better day by day, but slow process. He loves our stargazing sessions, he is doing grassgazing 🤣

[SzabiB]

Amazon men paid a visit for us, just in time. We are off to Outer Hebrides on Monday.

After long an excessive research and many good advice from members, I got the Amazon Basic tripod and the Opticron Adventurer T WP 10x50. (I straight wanted to go for 20x80, but to have multiple use and do some wildlife watching, decided to start with smaller)

Going to try it out tonight. 

 

[Knighty2112]

Amazon been busy today again. Got a Map of Mars to frame up and stick on the wall somewhere, either on the back living room wall, or on the wall leading up the stairs maybe. Need to decide when framed up. 😀

[ED Splitter]

On 21/09/2022 at 11:15, cajen2 said:

Baader Contrast Booster. Why do you want one, Clive, you don't own a refractor? Because I've heard many times that it's a great filter for Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. My views of Jupiter especially suffer because it's too bright now, near opposition.

It’s a great filter. Essential for Jupiter. Red dot leaps out of the eye piece and moon transit shadows look incredibly sharp. 
I  am looking forward to using it on Mars which for the moment doesn’t touch my back garden till silly O’clock hours. 

[Greymouser]

These came today, replacement feet for my Berlebach observing chair. The chair arrived in a damaged box with a foot missing, but as usual FLO sorted it and the replacement arrived today. Why shop anywhere else if FLO stock it? Superb customer service on the rare time things go wrong!

Now the bandage is removed and all is well...

Only problem is that the box from FLO was a right pain to open, loads of tape! They also lied, sticker saying clear skies contained! Its wall to wall clouds, despite their promise and the forecast! 

[Alan White]

17 hours ago, Greymouser said:

They also lied, sticker saying clear skies contained!
Its wall to wall clouds, despite their promise and the forecast! 

Problem was the box had a hole, so it let the clouds in! 🤣

[F15Rules]

20 hours ago, SzabiB said:

Amazon men paid a visit for us, just in time. We are off to Outer Hebrides on Monday.

After long an excessive research and many good advice from members, I got the Amazon Basic tripod and the Opticron Adventurer T WP 10x50. (I straight wanted to go for 20x80, but to have multiple use and do some wildlife watching, decided to start with smaller)

Going to try it out tonight. 

 

Have a great trip!

We just had two fabulous weeks up there, staying on Lewis/Harris, Skye and Mull..and visiting Iona from Mull too.

I took my 9x63 Orion Mini Giant binoculars and a nice Vixen SP102 achromat with me. We had great weather by day, but at night the first week was washed out by the full moon, and in the second week there was much more cloud, sadly.

But the bins got a lot of use and we were able to watch red deer from the garden while on Mull👍.

A fabulous part of the world..

Dave

View over Tobermory Bay, Mull

Our holiday cottage on Mull, with Vixen set up in hopes of clear skies..

But we did see red deer most days from the garden, as snapped here via my Orion bins👍😊

My lovely wife taking a paddle on Calgary Beach, Mull..could be the Med!

One of our daughters and her husband joined us for week two..again on Calgary Beach with few others about..

[cajen2]

21 hours ago, ED Splitter said:

It’s a great filter. Essential for Jupiter. Red dot leaps out of the eye piece and moon transit shadows look incredibly sharp. 
I  am looking forward to using it on Mars which for the moment doesn’t touch my back garden till silly O’clock hours. 

Tried it out for the first time at 4 o'clock this morning! 😱 It IS great but the effect was very subtle - virtually no dimming or colour alteration but details were definitely clearer.

[bosun21]

22 hours ago, Greymouser said:

They also lied, sticker saying clear skies contained! Its wall to wall clouds, despite their promise and the forecast! 

It does say eventually in small print 😂

[badhex]

I seem to have developed reverse aperture fever. On a recent holiday which was not specifically astro focused but included some dark skies, I took my ZS73 travel kit which is a lovely compact setup and weighs about 12 kg total, and fits in one cabin friendly backpack. I had about 4 sessions out of a toral of 23 days, and realised that there was a use case for an even smaller, lighter setup for these situations. 

Thus, I got this Evoguide and have a Baader T2 on the way to build the tiniest of travel kits! 

 

[ED Splitter]

8 hours ago, badhex said:

I seem to have developed reverse aperture fever. On a recent holiday which was not specifically astro focused but included some dark skies, I took my ZS73 travel kit which is a lovely compact setup and weighs about 12 kg total, and fits in one cabin friendly backpack. I had about 4 sessions out of a toral of 23 days, and realised that there was a use case for an even smaller, lighter setup for these situations. 

Thus, I got this Evoguide and have a Baader T2 on the way to build the tiniest of travel kits! 

 

I have pondered a wider use of this very scope for the same reason. I look forward to your user reports. 🤞

[Astro_Dad]

Arrived today courtesy of RVO. Slightly experimental re the 2” eyepiece but I wanted something “relatively” economical as a wider FOV with a specific exit pupil range. Possibly similar to a Panaview in terms of optical performance. Also realised how much I missed having a Cheshire for quickly checking the secondary…

[badhex]

17 minutes ago, ED Splitter said:

I have pondered a wider use of this very scope for the same reason. I look forward to your user reports. 🤞

To be honest, I always liked the look of the EvoGuide as soon as I saw it, but not being into AP I didn't have a use case, as it does not natively work with most diagonals. I've read up on most of the threads here and elsewhere about the various conversion efforts, with one from a few years ago by @DRT having been extremely helpful with a teardown of sorts, as well as the use of the Baader T2 prism to achieve a very short light path, so after my holiday I decided to go for it. 

I'm going one step further and using an ultra-short Baader T2 EP holder which will give me an additional 10mm of in focus, so hoping this will result in an excellent ultra portable kit at less than 5 kg for everything. I'm hoping to test everything in another upcoming visit to darker skies, so I'll post a detailed thread once I can! 

[Ratlet]

After months of badgering me from the wife I've decided to buy a 3D printer.  She wants it for her boardgames and make small toys and stuff for my daughter.

I'm looking to get a Saturn c camera so I'm hoping to print so parts to help fasten it to a vixen.  And bahtinov masks, and an extension so I can mount my guidescope to my gem 28 and....

[Greymouser]

2 hours ago, badhex said:

To be honest, I always liked the look of the EvoGuide as soon as I saw it, but not being into AP I didn't have a use case, as it does not natively work with most diagonals. I've read up on most of the threads here and elsewhere about the various conversion efforts, with one from a few years ago by @DRT having been extremely helpful with a teardown of sorts, as well as the use of the Baader T2 prism to achieve a very short light path, so after my holiday I decided to go for it. 

I'm going one step further and using an ultra-short Baader T2 EP holder which will give me an additional 10mm of in focus, so hoping this will result in an excellent ultra portable kit at less than 5 kg for everything. I'm hoping to test everything in another upcoming visit to darker skies, so I'll post a detailed thread once I can! 

I too have one of these, but ( because I am cheap, ) decided to go via the option of adding a barlow to an ordinary diagonal, ( Just the end of the barlow, ) which apparently works. I never did get around to a proper trial, but it seemed to work. Someone else did it before me,  @Mark Daniels, took it to La Palma I think. @vlaiv even explain to me how to work out the magnification, with the end of a barlow directly attached to the diagonal. ( Not sure I got it really though... )

I will try again soon I think after reading about your efforts here.

[badhex]

1 hour ago, Greymouser said:

I too have one of these, but ( because I am cheap, ) decided to go via the option of adding a barlow to an ordinary diagonal, ( Just the end of the barlow, ) which apparently works. I never did get around to a proper trial, but it seemed to work. Someone else did it before me,  @Mark Daniels, took it to La Palma I think. @vlaiv even explain to me how to work out the magnification, with the end of a barlow directly attached to the diagonal. ( Not sure I got it really though... )

I will try again soon I think after reading about your efforts here.

Just had a quick first light on Jupiter in straight through mode as the diagonal isn't here yet and I have to say that it has exceeded my expectations even under hazy and semi cloudy conditions! 

[bosun21]

DPD deliveries today. A couple of 18mm BCO’s and a 2.6x glass path corrector to go with the 1.7x GPC I already have. Both for my Maxbright II. Just to get another 12.5mm or 14mm Morpheus to make up my third and last pair.

 

[Astroscot2]

Look forward to trying this camera on the planets and moon. Great service from Bern at Modern Astronomy

[cajen2]

Nothing earth-shattering but I was fed up with observing stools and chairs which collapsed or fell over. Thus:

Berlebach and seems pretty solid.

Edited September 27, 2022 by cajen2

[F15Rules]

I've been without a Baader Barlow for too long, so my thanks to @Knighty2112 (Gus) for the prompt delivery of this mint condition Hyperion Zoom 2.25x..

It'll transform my MkIII Barlow to a 3.5mm -10.5mm high power unit, giving me on my Tak 5" a range from 297x down to 99x👍..

Also, (and this is the great thing about Baaders' zooms at 2.25x), it will work with my Pentax 10.5XL to take it from 99x up to 223x - a little more than a 5mm XW, so effectively giving me 2 Pentax quality mid- hi power planetary eps😊.

Dave

 

Edited September 27, 2022 by F15Rules
Typo