What did the postman bring?

[Geoff Barnes]

3 hours ago, SacRiker said:

What kind of EP is that? Have you had a chance to use it yet? Good? 

Hi SacRiker,

It is a Skywatcher SP Plossl, 32mm FL, 52 degree FOV.

I've used it a couple of times and although the sky has been somewhat washed out by the full moon I have been able to ascertain that it's optical quality seems very good indeed, sharp pretty much to the field stop and wonderfully clear views. 

My only slight complaint so far would be signs of reflections around the edge of the FOV, but not a problem unless you are looking for it, maybe internal flocking could be improved?

Anyway a real bargain for £24 from our friends at FLO.

Edited January 23, 2019 by Geoff Barnes

[Guest]

6 hours ago, StaceStar said:

A new focuser for my scope ?

Snow came shortly after...

Nice! this looks like a nice replacement for my archaic looking Lakeside focusers that I use on my C8 and AltAir 115....like the Twitter post too ? 

[LukeSkywatcher]

17 hours ago, StaceStar said:

A new focuser for my scope ?

Snow came shortly after...

That is one beautiful piece of gear. How does it operate?

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

That is one beautiful piece of gear. How does it operate?

Have a look here: https://www.primalucelab.com/astronomy/sesto-senso-robotic-focusing-motor.html

 

[JOC]

I've just unpacked this:

I couldn't resist.  The trouble is the 'collection' now looks like this:

I kind of now feel the need to continue until it's complete ("Ouch!" says the bank balance), perhaps if I do so I'll sell off some of the other 'old friends'.  Possibly, maybe.......

Edited January 24, 2019 by JOC

[PeterW]

Interested to see how they perform regard eyerelief, blackouts and the are of viewing the whole field... I have a sinking feeling that I might need to get some in the medium future.

Peter

[JOC]

6 hours ago, PeterW said:

Interested to see how they perform regard eyerelief, blackouts and the are of viewing the whole field..

Happy to provide feedback when I had had them out to play.  Please explain 'blackouts', do you mean the dark areas which can occur if you don't view through an EP squarely enough?

[Geoff Barnes]

JOC, I have the Morpheus 6.5mm and I would have to say it is my favourite eyepiece for high power viewing, spectacular views of the planets!

Meanwhile, I had a delivery of my own today, and I'm just a little excited, as I'm in the midst of being determined (and thwarted) to see Barnard 33, the HorseHead Nebula, so this little gem should give me my best chance so far.....

  

.....but of course the clear weather of the last 300 or so weeks has now turned to cloud.......?

Edited January 25, 2019 by Geoff Barnes

[PeterW]

Good luck, I hope your skies and scope can help the filter to deliver the goods. 

Peter

[JOC]

5 hours ago, Geoff Barnes said:

spectacular views of the planets!

The 6.5mm is also a recent aquisition (my bank balance really has issues with SGL classifieds!) and is another one that I haven't yet tried.   I have high power EP's, but I do like the widefield view offered by the Morpheus EP's, I also know that my 5mm seems to need those really cracking conditions that you rarely get here.  I've got an 8mm BST, but for that extra 'push' a 6.5mm sounded spot on for my scope - given the performance of the other 2 EP's and should give me x184.  I had hoped that it might be a planet killer, so I'm pleased with your comment about your own experience.  I can't wait - the trouble is it's no longer planet season, so I'm going to have to wait for them to come back during my viewing times.

[PeterW]

Blackouts are those dark area that appear as you love your eye around. Ideally you won’t get any, some eyepieces are worse than others.

 

Peter

[Mark at Beaufort]

8 hours ago, Geoff Barnes said:

Meanwhile, I had a delivery of my own today, and I'm just a little excited, as I'm in the midst of being determined (and thwarted) to see Barnard 33, the HorseHead Nebula, so this little gem should give me my best chance so far.....

  

.....but of course the clear weather of the last 300 or so weeks has now turned to cloud.......?

Geoff I look forward to how you get on with this filter. There is a company in the UK that sell Optolong filters and I am looking for another O-III  filter to use in my Apollo Binos. 

[LukeSkywatcher]

Today the Postie brought a letter from the electricity company I'm with (never usually a good thing).

Today however, it was a letter saying that my last three bills has been guesstimated and they enclosed a bank giro transfer for 200 euro.

Happy days. I dashed down town and lodged it in my bank before it had a chance to self destruct.

[reezeh]

They must've been hugely overestimating those leccie bills Paul!

 

Meanwhile I got this "little" baby delivered by DHL ... A catsperch chair I snaffled for €140 on EBay, got it from Italy. Probably the most-travelled astro chair in the world as he got it from America as a gift, but it was too big for his observatory. Took me half an hour to get through the bubblewrap this evening! 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

As  man with two routers I really ought to make myself one. But router dust and scopes don't go together well. Perhaps in the summer when I can do it outside.

[reezeh]

10 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

As  man with two routers I really ought to make myself one. But router dust and scopes don't go together well. Perhaps in the summer when I can do it outside.

That might be an idea. The hardest part would probably be making sure you get all of the slots aligned if you're building one like this, otherwise it's just a wider single piece about 15-20cm wide - but I think I see problems there with routing that too. And I'm no DIYer.

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, reezeh said:

That might be an idea. The hardest part would probably be making sure you get all of the slots aligned if you're building one like this, otherwise it's just a wider single piece about 15-20cm wide - but I think I see problems there with routing that too. And I'm no DIYer.

The secret with routing is always to use a jig or a guide of some sort.

[iPeace]

Just the thing, in great shape, with grateful thanks to Gordon @Floater , a true gent.

[Danjc]

A few bits today ?

In true new gear fashion the weather is amazing ?

 

[Swoop1]

Today saw the arrival of a Sony lens mount adapter so I can use my a mount Tamron 70-300 zoom on my E mount Sony a6300. Should make for some better widefield images thatn I currently get with the kit lens.

[JOC]

18 hours ago, Danjc said:

A few bits today ?

Did you tell your SO that you'd won the lottery?  That's quite a haul!  Hope you enjoy using it.

Me?  Well I got an armful of pluckable foam to do an EP case with - not half as exciting as your new telescope.

 

Edited January 30, 2019 by JOC

[Danjc]

3 hours ago, JOC said:

Did you tell your SO that you'd won the lottery?  That's quite a haul!  Hope you enjoy using it.

She took delivery of it all but there were a few additional extras thrown in ?

cant wait to use it and it’s clear at the moment ??

[emadmoussa]

All the way from Hong Kong...at a great price...

 

 

[Telescope40]

Hello.  Fancied a pair of Canon IS Bino’s for a while now. 

These have arrived. Looking forward to seeing if they are as they seem. 

Only observation so far is no objective dust caps. 

May have to remedy that glitch. 

Regards. John 

[AdeKing]

Not the postman, but yesterday I met a friend and collected two new (and hopefully final for a while) additions to my astro arsenal. 

1) a new to me Giro Ercole Mini and counterweight bar. 

2) an ED120 of the gold coloured vintage complete with a very nice red Moonlite dual speed Crayford. 

Unusually the weather gods smiled on me and we had a cold but clear night down here in Dorset and I got to use them both. How often does that happen?

The mini ercole was fantastic to use with much more progressive tension on the axes unlike the Giro GR2 mini which I find a very much on or off affair. 

Now just need to decide on the fate of the Starwave f/11 which hasn't seen much use.