Revelation Spotting Scope

[great_bear]

I’m on a break in Bournemouth at the moment, and - since I wasn’t especially planning on doing any astronomy, on my way out I just absent-mindedly grabbed my old Revelation 80ED Spotting Scope I bought from Telescope House about 12yrs ago.

I’d long-since written this off for astronomy use - bad light scatter around the stars, poor focus, difficult to control etc. so I was very surprised what a good session I had with it last night with none of those issues. I think the issues I’d had with it in the past must have been down to:

1. Bad luck
2. Inexperience
3. Poor tripod

With regard to (1) I suspect that by chance every time I’d used it it must have been a foggy night, because last night I had no issues with with scattered light or poor focus whatsoever. For (2), viewing technique is important - if you don’t look through the supplied zoom eyepiece at the correct angle, there’s a lot of distortion, but get it right, and it’s just fine.

For (3), well - I have an irredeemably bad Velbon tripod I use with this. Completely pointless. Ironically I’ve got a much better, astronomy-focused (slo-mo handles) tripod at home I purchased but somehow never used with this (it’s lightweight but a bit clunky and awkward to transport)

Anyway, in summary it looks like I was wrong to write-off spotting-scopes as an astronomy tool. When time, planning and luggage space are in short supply, there’s definitely a useful role they can play in astronomy for grab-and-go non-critical observing.

Edited September 10, 2022 by great_bear

[col]

Hi Jeremy

I found this with my Hawk Endurance ED 20x60x68.

 I read on here somewhere about sucker gaps in the clouds, after you rush to take your scope out and the clear gaps disappeared.

Well I rushed out with this on a manfrotto tripod  and had ten minutes of Saturn crisp and clear , though very small, and another time with Jupiter and it’s moons.

All very nice views , though Jupiter being so bright I still only saw two orange bands.

 I’m sure it would serve very well as a grab and go for some very good viewing nights as I’ve found mine does.

 If I was that way inclined it would probably do well for astrophotography too.

[great_bear]

That’s why a have a dual-pronged approach at home.

I have a custom-mirror 150PL which I throw onto an AZ4 sitting atop a Berlebach Planet tripod - a set-up which allows me to observe in few seconds. My main telescope is a Mak 180 Pro on an HEQ-5 Pro but I was getting fed up with overcast skies. So now I ‘cheat’ nature by being up-and-running with the 150PL before the skies have had a chance to cloud over! 😊

If the clouds don’t come - and I’ve already got some observing in, then I take a break and set up the Mak for the night’s worth of guided observation.

[Second Time Around]

Some of you may remember I did some tests on the minimum magnification needed to see that Saturn is ringed, even though it was just 15 degree high.  See https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/362487-minimum-magnification-to-see-saturns-rings/#comment-3950610 

You'll see from this that I was very impressed with my 60mm Opticron spotting scope that showed the ring at just 22x magnification.

I've successfully used the Opticron terrestrially for several years and it was great to see how well it compared for astro with my 72ED.

However, I'm going to have a major clear out next month and the Opticron will be amongst the many items I'll be selling, so look out for an ad.  It'll come with a 22x wide angle, 40x, and 20-60x zoom eyepieces.

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by Second Time Around