First light with StellaMira 80mm ED f/10 Refractor

[HollyHound]

Over in the  StellaMira Owners Thread (started by fellow owner @johninderby), I promised a report on the first light with my new StellaMira 80mm ED f/10 refractor, so here goes... bear in mind I am still very much a beginner, but learning fast...

The new refractor arrived last Monday from the great team @FLO, and was delivered of course with the usual bundle of clouds 😬 Friday night wasn't initially looking too good, so I hadn't really expected to get a look at anything and so just set about watching some late TV with my partner. However, just after midnight I had a look outside and noticed that the clouds seemed to be opening up and there was a moderate clear area in the South and East. As I was very much hoping to look at Jupiter and Saturn with the new scope, this seemed promising.

I therefore headed out onto the patio and setup my iOptron AZ Mount Pro on its TriPier and attached the StellaMira, quickly balanced it, one star align (Jupiter) and it was ready to go. I will do a write up on this mount sometime, as although I don't use it every night, it has proven to be excellent when I don't want to find my way around manually looking for very faint objects. Fortunately we live in the rural outskirts about a mile from Thornbury (and apparently have Bortle 4/5 skies), so I am spending more and more time recently using a manual Alt/Az mount and learning my way around the skies. For now though, the AZ Mount Pro would find and keep any target steady in the eyepiece!

In addition and for comparison I setup my C5 on the AZ5 mount too. The air seemed quite moist, so I popped on the dew shield and had the Hyperion 8-24 Zoom attached (I tend to leave this on the C5/AZ5 combo as a "grab and go").

I left everything to "cool down" for 30mins and then miraculously the clouds all but disappeared apart from a few wisps. Not expecting this to last, I started observing at 01:15.

Firstly, the C5... I have only previously seen Jupiter and Saturn once before and in this very scope, so expected the same... however, I hadn't counted on the build of dew on the eyepiece (not so much the objective) which meant that although visible, the view was a bit constrained. Both Jupiter and Saturn looked ok and I was able to take the magnification up x156 (with the 8mm zoom). Still as impressive as my first viewing of these a few weeks ago, but still very surprised how much moisture was gathering on the eyepiece, and in fact the whole scope seemed really quite damp!

Next, the StellaMira... firstly popped in a 16mm Nirvana (x50) and there it was... Jupiter, looking really really lovely. I could see some surface detail and four moons stretching out on the right side (in two groups of two moons). Changed to the 7mm Nirvana (x114) and... wow, it was beautiful, really able to see two main bands now with hints of others. Now, selected Saturn on the mount and within a few seconds it was in the eyepiece and this was even more of an amazing sight (bear in mind this is only the second time I've seen it)... it really looked almost unreal, like somebody had painted it on the view... the rings were awesome 😀 I was so impressed I got my partner to pop out. Given that she is normally happy to indulge for a minute or two at most (usually with a polite "oh that's nice isn't... gosh it's cold, must go back in!"), I was amazed and happy when I literally couldn't prise her away from looking at Saturn for 3 or 4 minutes, and she kept asking "is that actually real"... praise indeed 😁

Once I got the scope back to myself, I set about just swapping back and forth between Saturn and Jupiter, switching between the 7mm and 4mm Nirvana, and did this for the next 30mins, wonderful views. I didn't really find that the 4mm gave me any more detail, just a bigger (and slightly dimmer image). I had ordered a TeleVue 3-6mm Zoom but this only arrived on Saturday, so haven't had a chance to use that yet, but I will be trying that out on these wonderful planets and of course my favourite (currently) subject... the moon.

I could see the clouds were starting to gather again, so quickly selected Albireo and had a few minutes looking at that with both eyepieces... I was very happy to see two lovely coloured points of light. Finally, I quickly tried one of the TeleVue 13mm Naglers (which I purchased from the ads on here earlier in the week, to use in my binoviewer) and got a really nice contrasty wide flat field of stars (something I don't really get to see in the C5)... I can see this eyepiece getting a lot of use!

Surprisingly the StellaMira didn't seem to suffer at all from dew problems, ok it was only an 90 minute session, and of course the C5 has been out for an extra 30mins (I've read that SCTs and Maks need cool down) so perhaps was unfair comparison.

In summary, I found that the view through the StellaMira was absolutely crystal clear, contrasty and had a real character to it (almost like a vivid painting), whereas the C5 felt more "clinical" (almost like a high res lcd display). The C5 will continue in use as my "grab and go" scope, but I can see myself drawn to exploring the planets, moon and (my recent interest) double stars, increasingly using the StellaMira... it really is a lovely refractor 😀

Cheers

Gary

 

Edited June 14, 2020 by HollyHound

[johninderby]

Nice report. 🙂

“In summary, I found that the view through the StellaMira was absolutely crystal clear, contrasty and had a real character to it (almost like a vivid painting), whereas the C5 felt more "clinical" (almost like a high res lcd display).”

Couldn’t have put it better myself. The quality of the views it gives impress me everytime I use it. 

Edited June 14, 2020 by johninderby

[Saganite]

1 hour ago, HollyHound said:

Over in the  StellaMira Owners Thread (started by fellow owner @johninderby), I promised a report on the first light with my new StellaMira 80mm ED f/10 refractor, so here goes... bear in mind I am still very much a beginner, but learning fast...

The new refractor arrived last Monday from the great team @FLO, and was delivered of course with the usual bundle of clouds 😬 Friday night wasn't initially looking too good, so I hadn't really expected to get a look at anything and so just set about watching some late TV with my partner. However, just after midnight I had a look outside and noticed that the clouds seemed to be opening up and there was a moderate clear area in the South and East. As I was very much hoping to look at Jupiter and Saturn with the new scope, this seemed promising.

I therefore headed out onto the patio and setup my iOptron AZ Mount Pro on its TriPier and attached the StellaMira, quickly balanced it, one star align (Jupiter) and it was ready to go. I will do a write up on this mount sometime, as although I don't use it every night, it has proven to be excellent when I don't want to find my way around manually looking for very faint objects. Fortunately we live in the rural outskirts about a mile from Thornbury (and apparently have Bortle 4/5 skies), so I am spending more and more time recently using a manual Alt/Az mount and learning my way around the skies. For now though, the AZ Mount Pro would find and keep any target steady in the eyepiece!

In addition and for comparison I setup my C5 on the AZ5 mount too. The air seemed quite moist, so I popped on the dew shield and had the Hyperion 8-24 Zoom attached (I tend to leave this on the C5/AZ5 combo as a "grab and go").

I left everything to "cool down" for 30mins and then miraculously the clouds all but disappeared apart from a few wisps. Not expecting this to last, I started observing at 01:15.

Firstly, the C5... I have only previously seen Jupiter and Saturn once before and in this very scope, so expected the same... however, I hadn't counted on the build of dew on the eyepiece (not so much the objective) which meant that although visible, the view was a bit constrained. Both Jupiter and Saturn looked ok and I was able to take the magnification up x156 (with the 8mm zoom). Still as impressive as my first viewing of these a few weeks ago, but still very surprised how much moisture was gathering on the eyepiece, and in fact the whole scope seemed really quite damp!

Next, the StellaMira... firstly popped in a 16mm Nirvana (x50) and there it was... Jupiter, looking really really lovely. I could see some surface detail and four moons stretching out on the right side (in two groups of two moons). Changed to the 7mm Nirvana (x114) and... wow, it was beautiful, really able to see two main bands now with hints of others. Now, selected Saturn on the mount and within a few seconds it was in the eyepiece and this was even more of an amazing sight (bear in mind this is only the second time I've seen it)... it really looked almost unreal, like somebody had painted it on the view... the rings were awesome 😀 I was so impressed I got my partner to pop out. Given that she is normally happy to indulge for a minute or two at most (usually with a polite "oh that's nice isn't... gosh it's cold, must go back in!"), I was amazed and happy when I literally couldn't prise her away from looking at Saturn for 3 or 4 minutes, and she kept asking "is that actually real"... praise indeed 😁

Once I got the scope back to myself, I set about just swapping back and forth between Saturn and Jupiter, switching between the 7mm and 4mm Nirvana, and did this for the next 30mins, wonderful views. I didn't really find that the 4mm gave me any more detail, just a bigger (and slightly dimmer image). I had ordered a TeleVue 3-6mm Zoom but this only arrived on Saturday, so haven't had a chance to use that yet, but I will be trying that out on these wonderful planets and of course my favourite (currently) subject... the moon.

I could see the clouds were starting to gather again, so quickly selected Albireo and had a few minutes looking at that with both eyepieces... I was very happy to see two lovely coloured points of light. Finally, I quickly tried one of the TeleVue 13mm Naglers (which I purchased from the ads on here earlier in the week, to use in my binoviewer) and got a really nice contrasty wide flat field of stars (something I don't really get to see in the C5)... I can see this eyepiece getting a lot of use!

Surprisingly the StellaMira didn't seem to suffer at all from dew problems, ok it was only an 90 minute session, and of course the C5 has been out for an extra 30mins (I've read that SCTs and Maks need cool down) so perhaps was unfair comparison.

In summary, I found that the view through the StellaMira was absolutely crystal clear, contrasty and had a real character to it (almost like a vivid painting), whereas the C5 felt more "clinical" (almost like a high res lcd display). The C5 will continue in use as my "grab and go" scope, but I can see myself drawn to exploring the planets, moon and (my recent interest) double stars, increasingly using the StellaMira... it really is a lovely refractor 😀

Cheers

Gary

 

Beautiful scope Gary, and a good report.

 

 

[mdstuart]

Excellent report. Saturn is beautiful.

I leave near you in Thornbury.

Welcome to stargazers lounge!

Mark

[HollyHound]

13 minutes ago, mdstuart said:

Excellent report. Saturn is beautiful.

I leave near you in Thornbury.

Welcome to stargazers lounge!

Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks, it is indeed and I’m loving that I have so much more yet to see 😊

I’m about halfway between Thornbury and Oldbury, so get reasonably dark sky here. I have been able to see M42 easily (that was in my first scope... a Mak 102 at Christmas), M81 and M82 reasonably and even a Comet a few months back (C/19 I think It was), both with an ST120, so am sure I will see loads more. Been spending a good while on the moon recently... love it 😊

Gary

[John]

Very good report Gary

I'm a bit further south than yourself and Mark but not too far away - Portishead in North Somerset.

Good to hear that such an attractive scope has performance to match it's fine looks.

Pity that there are not more Nirvana's in the range - something between the 16mm and the 7mm and the 4mm would be very nice. They are super eyepieces for their cost.

It will be interesting to hear what you make of the Nagler 3-6mm zoom. I have the 2-4mm and use it a lot more than I thought I would !

 

[JamesF]

2 hours ago, HollyHound said:

I literally couldn't prise her away from looking at Saturn for 3 or 4 minutes, and she kept asking "is that actually real"

Even after observing Saturn more times than I can remember I still get that feeling.  It's so beautifully alien.

James

[RT65CB-SWL]

Saturn never fails to impress; even with rings 'edge on' when conditions allow.

[HollyHound]

28 minutes ago, John said:

Pity that there are not more Nirvana's in the range - something between the 16mm and the 7mm and the 4mm would be very nice. They are super eyepieces for their cost.

It will be interesting to hear what you make of the Nagler 3-6mm zoom. I have the 2-4mm and use it a lot more than I thought I would !

Thanks. I agree, I’ve been very impressed with them. It’s the reason I got the 13mm TV, as I was looking for something in between also at 82 degrees, and these came up for sale... I didn’t originally intend to get two, but I have a binoviewer and so thought why not, I expect these will be great for the moon too.

I will be testing the Nagler zoom when I can and will report back, should give me 133x to 266x on the StellaMira, which is possibly pushing it at 3mm, but at least 6mm, 5mm and 4mm should be usable.

[HollyHound]

40 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Even after observing Saturn more times than I can remember I still get that feeling.  It's so beautifully alien.

James

Yes... alien, that’s a good description... “other worldly” 😊

[RT65CB-SWL]

10 hours ago, HollyHound said:

Thanks. I agree, I’ve been very impressed with them. It’s the reason I got the 13mm TV, as I was looking for something in between also at 82 degrees, and these came up for sale... I didn’t originally intend to get two, but I have a binoviewer and so thought why not, I expect these will be great for the moon too.

I will be testing the Nagler zoom when I can and will report back, should give me 133x to 266x on the StellaMira, which is possibly pushing it at 3mm, but at least 6mm, 5mm and 4mm should be usable.

FWIW - I use my TV Nagler zoom @ 3mm in my TV Ranger @f/6.8, (480mm/70mm = 160x), and the views of Jupiter Saturn are awesome with this 'combo'.

I also have the TV 13mm Nagler Type 1 & Type 6, (but I dare not and have not attempted to try the Type 1 in the Ranger... I suppose I should... just to see how it compares to the Type 6. The Type 1 as it is a heavy piece of 'quality' e/p glassware).

My one-to-many TeleVue 13mm e/p's as per my signature 
...the one on the left is the 13mm 'smoothside' Plossl.

[HollyHound]

12 minutes ago, Philip R said:

FWIW - I use my TV Nagler zoom @ 3mm in my TV Ranger @f/6.8, (480mm/70mm = 160x), and the views of Jupiter Saturn are awesome with this 'combo'.

I also have the TV 13mm Nagler Type 1 & Type 6, (but I dare not and have not attempted to try the Type 1 in the Ranger... I suppose I should... just to see how it compares to the Type 6. The Type 1 as it is a heavy piece of 'quality' e/p glassware).

My one-to-many TeleVue 13mm e/p's as per my signature 
...the one on the left is the 13mm 'smoothside' Plossl.

Thanks, that's good to know... 5mm on the StellaMira would give me the theoretical maximum magnification of x160, but I reckon I can use 4mm for x200 on the moon and maybe more... will give it a go.

Crikey, that Type 1 is enormous! I have 32 and 38 PanaViews, but I didn't realise the shorter focal lengths could also be big eyepieces. I suppose it helps the eye relief, quality etc.

[John]

1 hour ago, HollyHound said:

Thanks, that's good to know... 5mm on the StellaMira would give me the theoretical maximum magnification of x160, but I reckon I can use 4mm for x200 on the moon and maybe more... will give it a go.

Crikey, that Type 1 is enormous! I have 32 and 38 PanaViews, but I didn't realise the shorter focal lengths could also be big eyepieces. I suppose it helps the eye relief, quality etc.

It's amazing what Tele Vue have been able to do with the size of the Nagler 13mm Type 6 compared with the original Type 1. Likewise they shrunk the 20mm T5 from the massive original Type 2 20mm:

[HollyHound]

6 minutes ago, John said:

It's amazing what Tele Vue have been able to do with the size of the Nagler 13mm Type 6 compared with the original Type 1. Likewise they shrunk the 20mm T5 from the massive original Type 2 20mm:

Ah yes, of course, these have been around a good long while and I suppose optical technology/techniques improve like everything else.

Thanks for the comparison 🙂

[John]

Of course things go the other way if you get a taste for a 100 degree field of view

[HollyHound]

1 hour ago, John said:

Of course things go the other way if you get a taste for a 100 degree field of view

Wow, I didn’t realise they got that tall 😮I think I’ll use what I have for now and “maybe” try one of those in the future 👍

[HollyHound]

19 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Wow, I didn’t realise they got that tall 😮I think I’ll use what I have for now and “maybe” try one of those in the future 👍

Although I have now realised that I have a large gap in my eyepieces between 18.2mm and 32mm. I gave the 25mm that came with my Mak away to a friend. See how I get on and then maybe garner some opinions on filling that gap if necessary...

[John]

19 hours ago, HollyHound said:

.... See how I get on and then maybe garner some opinions on filling that gap if necessary...

I'm sure that there will be no shortage of opinions when you are ready

 

[HollyHound]

12 minutes ago, John said:

I'm sure that there will be no shortage of opinions when you are ready

 

I have absolutely no doubt about that 🤣

[RT65CB-SWL]

Following on from my reply...

On 15/06/2020 at 10:52, Philip R said:

FWIW - I use my TV Nagler zoom @ 3mm in my TV Ranger @f/6.8, (480mm/70mm = 160x), and the views of Jupiter Saturn are awesome with this 'combo'.

I also have the TV 13mm Nagler Type 1 & Type 6, (but I dare not and have not attempted to try the Type 1 in the Ranger... I suppose I should... just to see how it compares to the Type 6. The Type 1 as it is a heavy piece of 'quality' e/p glassware).

My one-to-many TeleVue 13mm e/p's as per my signature 
...the one on the left is the 13mm 'smoothside' Plossl.

On 15/06/2020 at 12:17, John said:

It's amazing what Tele Vue have been able to do with the size of the Nagler 13mm Type 6 compared with the original Type 1. Likewise they shrunk the 20mm T5 from the massive original Type 2 20mm:

"Honey, I shrunk the kids Nagler" - Al Nagler to his wife. 

[HollyHound]

Ok, slightly shorter update... managed to sneak 30mins with no cloud last night, so thought I'd try the recent eyepiece purchases in the StellaMira (800mm FL).

Firstly, tried both the TeleVue 13mm and 18.2mm DeLites in and around Vega and Albireo, as these are my current "reference" targets for now. Nice dark, contrasting stars and impressively still in focus near the edge of the field of view in both eyepieces. I can see these two being useful medium powers (x40 and x60 ish). I do love the views of star fields through this StellaMira 😀

Next, the TeleVue 3-6mm Zoom, on Jupiter and Saturn... this was as amazing as my first view at the weekend (my third overall for these planets), but with the zoom I was able to start on the lowest power (6mm), focus and then zoom in and out, which is a really great way to go from more context to close up. What was interesting was that on going past 4mm towards 3mm, I didn't feel that any extra detail came out, just got bigger and a bit dimmer. I'm sure there will be a use for 3mm, maybe the moon is where this will come in really handy... we'll see.

Are the TVs better than my current set of OVL Nirvana 16mm, 7mm and 4mm? They seem sharper towards the edge of field, but of course that field is narrower. They felt like they presented a better (more contrasty) image, but I think a good deal more time is needed to confirm that. They are certainly very impressive and I'm glad I have both sets for comparison 👍

Oh and on a minor (possibly trivial) note... I do like the green lettering, they just look so nice in the scope 🤣

P.S. I forgot to try the Burgess/TMB 8mm, but will give that a go next time...

Edited June 17, 2020 by HollyHound

[Alan White]

Glad you are enjoying yourself.

[John]

Good stuff !

With regard to the zoom, at 4mm you are at 200x and 3mm 267x. These are very high magnifications for an 80mm aperture scope to support so I think their usefulness will be somewhat more limited. 

 

[HollyHound]

32 minutes ago, John said:

With regard to the zoom, at 4mm you are at 200x and 3mm 267x. These are very high magnifications for an 80mm aperture scope to support so I think their usefulness will be somewhat more limited. 

Thanks, that makes sense. I’ve found previously when using the Mak 127 (FL 1500mm), that going from the Nirvana 7mm (x214)to the Nirvana 4mm (x375) achieved very little except a bigger but much dimmer image. This must be the aperture related practical magnification limit I’ve read about.

It’s certainly good to have the option to try higher, but then back off when that limit is reached.

[John]

That's the nice thing about a zoom - you can try a range of magnifications out instantly and find what is working best at that time and on that target. On nights of very good seeing conditions you have more in hand, if you want to use it.

The other great thing about the Nagler zoom in particular is that it gives very little away in performance terms to specialized fixed focal length eyepieces such as orthoscopics.