What did the postman bring?

[callisto]

16 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Craters of the Near Side Moon book to go along with the Features of the Near Side Moon received a few days again. Couldn’t find it used so new from Amazon.

Hefty book at 752 pages. 🙀

Nice doorstop you have there John 😄

[HollyHound]

2 hours ago, johninderby said:

Craters of the Near Side Moon book to go along with the Features of the Near Side Moon received a few days again. Couldn’t find it used so new from Amazon.

Hefty book at 722 pages. 🙀

 

 

Thanks for this, I love lunar book and atlases, so have just ordered this one too, for my collection 👍

[johninderby]

The Craters of the Near Side Moon & the Features book are going to work well along with a moon atlas app. Use the app to identify the crater or feature than look it up in the book.

These books are much better organised than Luna Cognita and are going to be so much easier to use. 👍🏻

 

Edited July 29, 2021 by johninderby

[HollyHound]

7 minutes ago, johninderby said:

The Craters of the Near Side Moon & the Features book are going to work well along with a moon atlas app. Use the app to identify the crater or feature than look it up in the book.

These books are much better organised than Luna Cognita and are going to be so much easier to use. 👍🏻

 

This is what I’m thinking… I have quite a few good lunar atlases as reference and Luna Cognita for in depth information… as you say this will be ideal for checking out detail on any craters I spot 👍

[teoria_del_big_bang]

This post is a bit premature but I have just hit the Buy button on the following from Deep Sky Dad.
So more of a "What the postman will bring" type of post.
Field Rotator

 

Flip-Flat

These are pretty new items from DSD so maybe a bit of a gamble but they promise a lot for the money and the auto focusser I got from them worked just fine which gives me some confidence.
Also I have had loads of info from Pavle, despite me disturbing his holiday, which makes me pretty confident they are up to the task and there seems nothing else close to these without paying much more.

Since Brexit (Sorry I know that is a bad word on this forum 🙂 ) DSD do not add any VAT to the price so initially the prices seem really cheap.
I have done some searching and from what I can see when they land at the Royal Mail in UK I have to pay 20% VAT, plus 4% import duty, plus £8 admin fee to get the items released.
But still  If they do the job then its still a good price at around £330 (£370 with heater) for the flip-flat and £475 (£488 including the hand controller) for the rotator, including all the taxes etc.

They are on a 4 to 8 week delivery but will try to review them on SGL when I receive them and later when they have been in use a few times.

Steve

Edited July 30, 2021 by teoria_del_big_bang

[bottletopburly]

@FLO stock deepskydad products too  https://www.firstlightoptics.com/flat-field-generators/deep-sky-dad-wo-redcat-51-flap-panel.html

[Stu]

I finally joined the official AZ100 owners club, having tested and provided feedback on the original prototype unit. Looks great, nice little bracket to hold my Nexus II and the handle seems very handy too.

Won’t get to try it for a few weeks unfortunately but can’t wait!

[MARS1960]

Well that was quick, so I don't think he came all the way from France 😀.

It was only Tuesday he brought the Samyang 135mm and so very surprised that just now my gizmo came.

Fits a treat, well made, looks great and micro focusing is a doddle, roll on clear skies.

 

[JeremyS]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

I finally joined the official AZ100 owners club, having tested and provided feedback on the original prototype unit. Looks great, nice little bracket to hold my Nexus II and the handle seems very handy too.

Won’t get to try it for a few weeks unfortunately but can’t wait!

That’s three Nice looking handles, Stu.

Rest looks OK too 😊

Oh, and welcome to the club 👍🏻

[AdeKing]

4 hours ago, Stu said:

I finally joined the official AZ100 owners club, having tested and provided feedback on the original prototype unit. Looks great, nice little bracket to hold my Nexus II and the handle seems very handy too.

Won’t get to try it for a few weeks unfortunately but can’t wait!

That's excellent news @Stu' I'm glad that you got one.

As someone who regularly uses two scopes, did you opt for the alt az adjustment plate gizmo for the second saddle or did your previous testing with the mount suggest that it wasn't really needed?

I'm looking at adding a second clamp so I can use WL and Ha scopes together but am pondering whether the adjustment plate is needed.

As the mount doesn't track I'm leaning towards not needing it, but am still undecided.

[Voyager 3]

18 hours ago, Stu said:

I finally joined the official AZ100 owners club, having tested and provided feedback on the original prototype unit. Looks great, nice little bracket to hold my Nexus II and the handle seems very handy too.

Won’t get to try it for a few weeks unfortunately but can’t wait!

What are the scopes you are going to mount on the AZ 100 Stu ?

[Stu]

14 hours ago, AdeKing said:

As someone who regularly uses two scopes, did you opt for the alt az adjustment plate gizmo for the second saddle or did your previous testing with the mount suggest that it wasn't really needed?

Thanks Ade 😀

At this stage I haven’t bought the adjuster plate, mainly for financial reasons. When I tried the prototype it included an AZ adjustment and while it worked, I found it rather fiddly, particularly for the AZ adjustment. I do like having the scopes exactly aligned, particularly for solar when both are at high power. When you have one widefield and one higher power it matters less. I may try one later, depending on how far out mine end up being.

[wookie1965]

On 19/07/2021 at 20:09, Stu said:

This very lovely Celestron Omni XLT  120 arrived today, beautifully packaged and in wonderful condition! Looks like a proper refractor and I love the blue finish.

I was looking at one of those ages ago and was humming and arring then got the Meade 127mm but I still think I may have been better off with the 120.

[AdeKing]

8 hours ago, Stu said:

Thanks Ade 😀

At this stage I haven’t bought the adjuster plate, mainly for financial reasons. When I tried the prototype it included an AZ adjustment and while it worked, I found it rather fiddly, particularly for the AZ adjustment. I do like having the scopes exactly aligned, particularly for solar when both are at high power. When you have one widefield and one higher power it matters less. I may try one later, depending on how far out mine end up being.

Thanks Stu, I think I'll give it a miss to start with and see whether it's actually needed first.

It will irritate me if it is needed and I don't get it, but I'm hoping that the engineering is of such a quality that the alignment won't be too far out.

I guess that there is a bit of room for slight altitude adjustment in the holes in the clamps anyway.

Maybe I try it with a spare ADM clamp that I have first and see how it looks.

[AdeKing]

17 hours ago, AdeKing said:

I guess that there is a bit of room for slight altitude adjustment in the holes in the clamps anyway.

Maybe I try it with a spare ADM clamp that I have first and see how it looks.

I had a go with my ADM clamp and have found that I can achieve pretty good, though not perfect alignment by using a milk bottle shim and using the altitude slack around the bolts so I'll give that a go first before shelling out on the adjustment plate as it's been a heavy couple of months on the wallet 😳.

[Sirius Bizness]

This little beauty turned up last week. Got it off a chap in France. Condition looks as new so was very happy. Only down side was the import duty. Still less than they were new but you can’t buy them anymore so was irrelevant. Looking forward to having a play down to 2-2.5mm in my frac when seeing allows. 
 

[SuburbanMak]

Adding to the 1900 Clarkson System - a Charles Frank “Superwide” RAS fit 44mm (I think) & a John Browning of London 19th C eyepiece of unknown focal length. 
Thanks @Oldfort for a smooth transaction. 
 

Also in the post a brand new RAS - 1.25 converter, hand machined in brass by Barry at Beacon Hill Telsecopes. 
 

All helping me get a classic back into regular use. 

Now if only the weather… 

[jacko61]

Just taken delivery of this rather lovely Antares 50mm finderscope courtesy of @paul mc c. The optics are in perfect condition and the custom bracket/shoe is a thing of beauty.  It will be joining the guidescope on my Zenithstar 73 so I can use it for visual without having to crank up a laptop to figure out what I'm pointing at

Graeme

 

[paul mc c]

12 minutes ago, jacko61 said:

Just taken delivery of this rather lovely Antares 50mm finderscope courtesy of @paul mc c. The optics are in perfect condition and the custom bracket/shoe is a thing of beauty.  It will be joining the guidescope on my Zenithstar 73 so I can use it for visual without having to crank up a laptop to figure out what I'm pointing at

Graeme

 

Glad your pleased Graeme. 

[Stardaze]

One of my final missing pieces arrived this morning. 

[Jonny_H]

Hi all,

Just received this from Mr Postman.

Finally took the leap in upgrading my EP's. Just need this bad weather to do one so I can test it out! 🙄

Regards,

Jon

 

[Stardaze]

2 minutes ago, Jonny_H said:

Hi all,

Just received this from Mr Postman.

Finally took the leap in upgrading my EP's. Just need this bad weather to do one so I can test it out! 🙄

Regards,

Jon

 

You can’t go wrong with that, love mine.

[Jonny_H]

10 minutes ago, Stardaze said:

You can’t go wrong with that, love mine.

Thanks Stardaze.

Only issue is that I fear I will quickly want the 10, then the 14 and so on.... 😀 

Still.... noone said this was a cheap hobby! 😆

[AdeKing]

The haul for this month arrived from FLO this morning.

Two Oklop bags, one for my eyepieces and another for counterweights and a second Rowan saddle for the AZ100.

 

[JeremyS]

All the way from 🇯🇵: Pentax XP 3.8 eyepiece