What did the postman bring?

[Piero]

3 hours ago, Captain Magenta said:

... as a follow-up to this I thought I might post a picture of the inside-cover page to see if by some happy chance the previous owner is on SGL?

 

 

 

 

Sidgwick's Amateur astronomer's book is excellent in my opinion. Very inspirational and rich of insights. A keeper.

 

Edited February 22, 2020 by Piero

[markse68]

A bit vintage now perhaps but I’ve read good things about them

[scitmon]

Received my sesto senso 2 today 🙂 

[geordie85]

A massive thank you to the guys at FLO. 

[Frank the Troll]

Just a little light reading this morning, and an EQ puck for my older black EQ6, and yes it does fit

Quote

 

 

[johninderby]

With a few more items sold over the last few days treated myself to this. 😁

[Piero]

I bought a copy of IDSA, in order to map the objects described in Burnham's celestial handbook and create observing lists. 

The atlas for outdoor work is Sky Safari Pro instead.

[Captain Scarlet]

On 22/02/2020 at 16:09, Piero said:

 

 

Sidgwick's Amateur astronomer's book is excellent in my opinion. Very inspirational and rich of insights. A keeper.

 

Yes I agree, having had a look through it now. An ocean of information. A good companion to Suiter.

[Piero]

46 minutes ago, Captain Magenta said:

Yes I agree, having had a look through it now. An ocean of information. A good companion to Suiter.

I also think that it is a good companion to Suiter's. Same for Texereau's how to make a telescope. Same for Burnham's.

👍

[Frank the Troll]

A little more light reading to go alongside the GIMP book. I may be gone some time

Edited February 26, 2020 by Frank the Troll

[TerryMcK]

As I don't have the luxury of an observatory I have to break down the rig so I'd been on the lookout for something to store my flat panel generator in. Rather than pay vast prices I had a look on Amazon and found this https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B014QV4POK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - a set of three padded gadget bags for £22

The middle sized one stores the Lakeside focuser unit, the Raspberry Pi and power supply. The small one I don't yet have a use for but no doubt will and the larger one fits the flats panel (it's an Aurora Flatfield Panel D100mm, with 12V Inverter and works really well if you are interested). So no more storing in a cardboard box

 

Edited February 26, 2020 by TerryMcK

[carastro]

First time I have been able to contribute anything to this thread as not bought anything new for ages. 

On recommendation on various threads on SGL I have bought one of these:

Now all I need to do is work out how to use the various settings as not experienced with camera lens imaging.

Took me 10 minutes to work out how to remove the lens hood which was on upside down for posting, all the instructions are in German!!!

It's brand new and comes with a nice pouch to keep it in. 

Carole 

[Adreneline]

6 minutes ago, carastro said:

On recommendation on various threads on SGL I have bought one of these:

You won't regret it Carole - money well spent! Whilst you are on a spending spree I would definitely recommend one of the M42 end plates that are on offer from FLO or Astrojolo - very easy to fit and makes using the lens with astro stuff a lot easier (IMHO). I have also purchased a Hoya Pro UV filter which has helped reduced blue/OIII bloating on stars. Enjoy!

Adrian

[Frank the Troll]

Thats a nice lens, would suggest you use F2.8 first, F.2 might be too much

Looking for a 135mm myself

Edited February 26, 2020 by Frank the Troll

[Gina]

Welcome to the widefield set Carole 😀

[carastro]

Quote

You won't regret it Carole - money well spent! Whilst you are on a spending spree I would definitely recommend one of the M42 end plates that are on offer from FLO or Astrojolo - very easy to fit and makes using the lens with astro stuff a lot easier (IMHO). I have also purchased a Hoya Pro UV filter which has helped reduced blue/OIII bloating on stars. Enjoy!

Thanks Guys.  I had a look at that adapter Adrian, but it looked to me like you had to remove the bayonet part on the lens, definitely a NO NO for me.  Plus I might want to use it with the DSLR from time to time. 

What I have got is one of those Geoptik Canon adapters and last year I managed to fit my Atik camera on the back of a cheap camera lens (with a small threaded spacer given to me by Davey T) while I was in Spain and do some imaging.  Having also a luminance filter inserted.   It worked but I wasn't pleased with the stars thus the purchase of a better lens.

A couple of days ago I tried attaching my filterwheel and camera to the Geoptik adapter and it did fit, but need to test on a live sky to check if I can get focus.  So still experimenting.

Image from Geoptik site showing it more clearly.

Carole

 

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2020 by carastro

[Gina]

I have a 135mm f2.5 Asahi Super Takumar lens which is superb even at full aperture.  I may buy another when funds permit as I like the FoV it gives me with the ASI1600MM-Cool cameras.

[Steve Clay]

Well My ED120 arrived today but sadly the case has taken a bash. Thankfully the OTA looks ok but need to check it optically tomorrow, if this rain ever stops.

[R26 oldtimer]

Thanks to @Stu
this great little mount arrived yesterday!

It took some time to get to my hands (2 months) since it was first posted in mid-December. It began its journey from the U. K., came all the way to Athens, Greece and stayed in the local courier post ( a couple of hundred meters away from my home) for a 3 week "vacation" because the "fellas" at the local courier post, never bothered to deliver it, before sending it back to Stu.( At this point, Stu, I am rather surprised that you didn't contributed to this thread, upon its arrival 🤣)

Even though we've asked for at least a free re-send or refund that never happened. To his credit, Stu paid in full for a second dispatch, even though I offered to chip in, or arrange for a week's stay, should he had decided to deliver it in person😁( don't worry..., next time). And now, it's finally here!

Let me say at this point, as I've read some recent threads on not wanting to sell abroad, this: Couriers sometimes do a lousy job whether a parcel is delivered within one country or multiple countries. Of course during those two months there were a couple of hairy moments, but neither of us got afraid that the other part wouldn't honour his part of the agreement, even beyond what was originally agreed, to satisfy the other. I think that's because we all share a bond as fellow amateur astronomers, that's even greater than just living in the same country or speaking the same language.

Now, without any further delay, here is what the postman brought!

And this, was the last piece of the puzzle, of my ultra portable setup!

 

 

Edited February 26, 2020 by R26 oldtimer
Removed parcel photo with address visible

[FLO]

2 hours ago, Steve Clay said:

Well My ED120 arrived today but sadly the case has taken a bash. Thankfully the OTA looks ok but need to check it optically tomorrow, if this rain ever stops.

That appears to have been caused by something inside the case poking out. The scopes piggy-back mounting screw (on top on the tube-ring) does occasionally do that during transit but then the hole is roughly in the centre of the lid. I don’t think I have seen one in the corner. Have you purchased it from us? If yes then we’ll happily arrange collection/replacement. 

HTH, 

Steve 

[Steve Clay]

9 minutes ago, FLO said:

That appears to have been caused by something inside the case poking out. The scopes piggy-back mounting screw (on top on the tube-ring) does occasionally do that during transit but then the hole is roughly in the centre of the lid. I don’t think I have seen one in the corner. Have you purchased it from us? If yes then we’ll happily arrange collection/replacement. 

HTH, 

Steve 

No Steve, it was from RVO as they split the kit up for me. There is a hole in the shipping box that coincides with the damage to the case though. 

Steve

[FLO]

13 hours ago, Steve Clay said:

No Steve, it was from RVO as they split the kit up for me. There is a hole in the shipping box that coincides with the damage to the case though. 

It looks like it was caused by something inside the case. Not an impact from outside. Anyhow, it isn’t one of ours so I will exit the stage 😊

Steve 

[Yawning Angel]

This:

Contained this:

and this:

[johninderby]

The clouds are on their way. 😁

Very nice focuse BTW. 👍🏻

[Frank the Troll]

Just this today

StellaMira reducer