Startravel ED 80 for visual?

[Carl Au]

Harry does..,

[Stu]

@col that looks like a great little scope you’ve got there, and a very decent price too I think.

It will certainly be excellent for visual session, these little apos can provide a surprising amount of detail on planets. Last night I was viewing with a 76mm and could clearly see the two shadows which were transiting, plus surface detail well beyond the standard two equatorial belts. This was at x108, but up to x160 should be perfectly fine, and perhaps beyond if you don’t suffer from too many floaters.

You could get a Herschel wedge for it too, and then it will give excellent solar views.

Enjoy! 👍

[doublevodka]

I think you did really well there, I've been keeping my eye out for a decent priced used one but so far no luck, nice bundle of accessories with it too 👍

[col]

3 hours ago, Stu said:

@col that looks like a great little scope you’ve got there, and a very decent price too I think.

It will certainly be excellent for visual session, these little apos can provide a surprising amount of detail on planets. Last night I was viewing with a 76mm and could clearly see the two shadows which were transiting, plus surface detail well beyond the standard two equatorial belts. This was at x108, but up to x160 should be perfectly fine, and perhaps beyond if you don’t suffer from too many floaters.

You could get a Herschel wedge for it too, and then it will give excellent solar views.

Enjoy! 👍

Cheers Stu, I've been very pleasantly surprised how good the views are considering its size.

It would be hard to justify a Herschel wedge to the wife after what iv already spent 🙂 But it did come with a solar filter so can still have a solar sesh .

[Stu]

36 minutes ago, col said:

But it did come with a solar filter so can still have a solar sesh .

👍👍

[Ags]

What sort of solar filter?

[col]

2 hours ago, Ags said:

What sort of solar filter?

It's the silver one inside a circular frame that goes over the front of the dew shield. 

It's in the pic i posted above. 

[badhex]

I have the newer version of this from around 2015, it's a great scope. The only reason I don't use mine is that I have a very portable 73mm for quick grand and go, and a less portable 102mm I use at home. Since I need a sturdier mount etc. for the 80mm, I might as well use the 102mm. 

That said, a few recent threads about 80mm and 90mm scopes (including this one) have convinced me I need to get it out for some observing again! 

Have fun with your new scope, it's a good one and perfect for your grab and go aspirations. 

[badhex]

Not sure if you've had much chance yet to have the 80ED out under the stars? After reading this thread I decided to get mine out again so I've had it ready to go on the balcony for a couple of days. Sunday night was clear before going to bed so I had a quick look at some clusters in Auriga and Gemini. I'd almost forgotten how capable this scope is for the size! 

[col]

It's surprising isn't it, taking higher magnification than you'd expect too. 

Definitely a keeper. 

I'm looking forward to see how it performs on the moon, though going on being better than expected on the planets I'm not expecting to be disappointed

Edited November 1, 2022 by col