ED80 v ED102: real-world thoughts?

[Basementboy]

@Sadiestorm I'd be delighted, will PM you

[Basementboy]

You've all been so helpful, I thought I'd let you know what I saw last night using my first instrument – a pair of binoculars, sold to me by @Tiny Clanger for a song.

Wow! Binoculars! Saw the full moon as a sphere in space with what I guess are small mountain ranges or ridges along the bottom edge. Found Polaris, Sirius, Orion (of course) and a few other bright stars whose names I forget. Realised how red Mars is. And then ... up to the Pleiades! What a thrill being able to see something through the binoculars that you can't see with the naked eye.

The moon was actually so bright that as well as casting sunlight-sharp shadows around me I suspect it obscured the view of other stars somewhat. But Mars and the Pleiades helpfully decided to appear in the right bit of sky to be visible from my back garden, and without the moonglow, so that was a nice plus. And the mount was very portable to take to the closest park, which has a better and somewhat darker view – though again, the full moon actually washed things out a lot.

A few things I struggled with:

-double vision. Particularly for tiny dots like Mars, I had a devil of a time trying to get both eyes to resolve in a single pinpoint of light, rather than two. It was much easier with the Moon for some reason

-the mount. It's very well built, and super light and strong. But it's clearly for photography: it's designed to move into one place and stay there. I was constantly faffing with loosening the clamps, moving the sight and then clamping it again. I can see an Alt-Az in my future

-finding stuff. I was basically pointing and looking. I can see a powerful Mak might be tricky to use at first

-phone battery died. So no Stellarium for most of the time. But it underlined for me that I don't want to be messing with phone-based Go-To starfinding (and the attendant power packs and wifi issues and whatever else) while I have to take it to a park.

But frankly I didn't need the app. It was just fun to look up. So that's discovery No 1. 

 

[Pixies]

2 hours ago, Basementboy said:

double vision. Particularly for tiny dots like Mars, I had a devil of a time trying to get both eyes to resolve in a single pinpoint of light, rather than two. It was much easier with the Moon for some reason

Oh. The optics might have been knocked out of collimation in transport. You can test by defocusing one eyepiece and see whether the bright spot in one eye in central to the round fuzzy circle in the other eye.

There are several threads about this in the binocular section. And several ways to fix it, if you are lucky. What model bins do you have?

[Tiny Clanger]

2 hours ago, Pixies said:

Oh. The optics might have been knocked out of collimation in transport. You can test by defocusing one eyepiece and see whether the bright spot in one eye in central to the round fuzzy circle in the other eye.

There are several threads about this in the binocular section. And several ways to fix it, if you are lucky. What model bins do you have?

I confess (as the person palming them off on a newbie ... I offered them for just the postage cost )  they are 10x50 porros sold and branded by the camera retailer Jessops. Made in China, bought about a couple of decades ago I think.

[Tiny Clanger]

5 hours ago, Basementboy said:

You've all been so helpful, I thought I'd let you know what I saw last night using my first instrument – a pair of binoculars, sold to me by @Tiny Clanger for a song.

Wow! Binoculars! Saw the full moon as a sphere in space with what I guess are small mountain ranges or ridges along the bottom edge. Found Polaris, Sirius, Orion (of course) and a few other bright stars whose names I forget. Realised how red Mars is. And then ... up to the Pleiades! What a thrill being able to see something through the binoculars that you can't see with the naked eye.

The moon was actually so bright that as well as casting sunlight-sharp shadows around me I suspect it obscured the view of other stars somewhat. But Mars and the Pleiades helpfully decided to appear in the right bit of sky to be visible from my back garden, and without the moonglow, so that was a nice plus. And the mount was very portable to take to the closest park, which has a better and somewhat darker view – though again, the full moon actually washed things out a lot.

A few things I struggled with:

-double vision. Particularly for tiny dots like Mars, I had a devil of a time trying to get both eyes to resolve in a single pinpoint of light, rather than two. It was much easier with the Moon for some reason

-the mount. It's very well built, and super light and strong. But it's clearly for photography: it's designed to move into one place and stay there. I was constantly faffing with loosening the clamps, moving the sight and then clamping it again. I can see an Alt-Az in my future

-finding stuff. I was basically pointing and looking. I can see a powerful Mak might be tricky to use at first

-phone battery died. So no Stellarium for most of the time. But it underlined for me that I don't want to be messing with phone-based Go-To starfinding (and the attendant power packs and wifi issues and whatever else) while I have to take it to a park.

But frankly I didn't need the app. It was just fun to look up. So that's discovery No 1. 

 

Good that you have got out and done some observing , and that it helps narrow your ideas about the practicalities what will work for you and might be a good 'scope purchase. Yes, the Moon was swamping the sky with light last night, we had high cloud round here too, which made it even worse A truly clear night with no Moon will be better, even in London !

A lot of people (me included) use binos on a monopod , a single leg support, which works well and is easy . So here's a suggestion to reduce the tripod awkwardness :r ather than  opening the tripod legs out, try extending the sections to get the height you need, but leaving all the legs together, put a rubber band or velcro strap , bit of string or something around them near the bottom to keep them tidily closed. That will make your lightweight tripod into a pretty sturdy monopod . Lock the horizontal control tight, hold the binos and just move yourself round the 'ppd to pan sideways ,so all you have to  deal with by faffing with a handle/knob is the altitude. You probably already found that if you mount an astro instrument the way round you would a camera on a photo tripod pan/tilt head it can be impossible to point it high enough , you usually need the alt type control away from you , not towards you. 

You could I guess try extending just the one tripod leg, but I suspect that would be less strong and more top heavy.

And the Pleiades 🙂  lovely aren't they ? Now you know where to look (and Mars won't be just under them for very long as a landmark, but you will know where to look anyway after a few trips out to admire 'em) , when you are able to  go somewhere a little less light polluted, you will be able to find them and see the brightest few with just the naked eye.

Heather

[Basementboy]

9 hours ago, Pixies said:

There are several threads about this in the binocular section. And several ways to fix it, if you are lucky.

Thanks, I'll check it out

[Basementboy]

5 hours ago, Tiny Clanger said:

And the Pleiades 🙂  lovely aren't they ?

They were great. The whole night was great. In fact, I'm heading back out to test out your monopod idea! 

 

[Pixies]

Have a a look around Mirfak in Perseus. There's a great open cluster called the Perseus Moving Group (or something like that) - Merlotte 20. It's one of the best bino views in my opinion and easy to find in bright skies, as Mirfak is very bright. It's about 5 degrees across so a bit too wide for most telescopes.

I'd also normally recommend M44, the Beehive Cluster, but it might be a bit too close to the moon.

[Marc1964]

19 minutes ago, Basementboy said:

They were great. The whole night was great. In fact, I'm heading back out to test out your monopod idea! 

 

After my late supper I'm heading out with binoculars to look up and just see what I can see, but I am going to charge my phone first...