What did the postman bring? V2

[saac]

1 minute ago, LaurenceT said:

My Asiair Pro has been slowly dying as far as wifi connectivity goes so I've bought a new Asiair Mini from FLO, now to attempt the registration process with ZWO!

Good luck LaurenceT we will see you on the flip side  

Jim 

[wesdon1]

19 minutes ago, saac said:

I recognise that feeling, trouble is it gets addictive  

Jim 

@saac LOL ain't that the truth! I cannot stop spending money on astro gear, it seems like no matter what I already own, there's ALWAYS something new, bigger, better? It starts off with aperture fever then quickly progresses to absolutely everything astro fever! 😂

[wesdon1]

10 minutes ago, LaurenceT said:

My Asiair Pro has been slowly dying as far as wifi connectivity goes so I've bought a new Asiair Mini from FLO, now to attempt the registration process with ZWO!

@LaurenceT Nice! I got my Air Pro a couple months back, they're brilliant little devices. 

[LaurenceT]

11 minutes ago, saac said:

Good luck LaurenceT we will see you on the flip side  

Jim 

After reading pages on the web of people tearing their hair out trying to activate theirs it was very easy, took less than a minute including downloading and installing the firmware. All I did was follow the instructions which an idiot can do and as I'm an idiot it went very well.

As it happens I've done a lot of quite complicated networking at home in the past day and it all went brilliantly which is a puzzle because I haven't got a clue what I'm doing. 😄

[josefk]

The 6mm courtesy of the Widescreen Centre & DPD today - a purchase finally set in train by the 4.7mm new at IAS on Saturday.

I've "suffered" more than 18-months of analysis paralysis re. the 6mm focal length, I *think* i prefer Delos to Ethos though i'm not sure and didn't know which way to go at this FL where i can anyway make a virtual 6mm Delos from a 12mm with a power mate but often don't like the unwieldiness of the resulting stack. It's also a FL where i could end up needing glasses at the EP a few years down the line.

"Unfortunately" I found the 4.7mm at the weekend to be a very friendly view and i really enjoyed the dark sky/wide FOV combination it's characteristics delivered so i decided to act on the 6mm and enjoy it before i talked myself down from 100-degrees and 15mm of eye relief at 6mm again! 

The little bit of IAS show discount feels expensive right about now so hopefully we have some clear nights in the short term to temper any buyers remorse that may creep in if it sits unused for too long...🫣

[John]

54 minutes ago, josefk said:

The 6mm courtesy of the Widescreen Centre & DPD today - a purchase finally set in train by the 4.7mm new at IAS on Saturday.

I've "suffered" more than 18-months of analysis paralysis re. the 6mm focal length, I *think* i prefer Delos to Ethos though i'm not sure and didn't know which way to go at this FL where i can anyway make a virtual 6mm Delos from a 12mm with a power mate but often don't like the unwieldiness of the resulting stack. It's also a FL where i could end up needing glasses at the EP a few years down the line.

"Unfortunately" I found the 4.7mm at the weekend to be a very friendly view and i really enjoyed the dark sky/wide FOV combination it's characteristics delivered so i decided to act on the 6mm and enjoy it before i talked myself down from 100-degrees and 15mm of eye relief at 6mm again! 

The little bit of IAS show discount feels expensive right about now so hopefully we have some clear nights in the short term to temper any buyers remorse that may creep in if it sits unused for too long...🫣

For a while I used a 2x Powermate with the 8mm and 6mm Ethos but eventually gave in and picked up the 4.7 and 3.7 Ethos SX. 

I never quite had a complete set of Ethos though - I never owned the 10mm. Shame really as I believe it's considered one of the best in the range. Not that there are any "bad" ones as such 😁

I'll start missing mine if I keep hearing tales of how much you like using them ! 🙄

[josefk]

Don't set me off on the 10mm @John - 10mm is a really useful FL for me and i have a bit of an on/off relationship with a 10mm Pentax XW in that slot. The Pentax is optically superb - really nice tidy stars even at the field stop, lovely subtle star colours and i think it's really transparent to boot, unfortunately some nights i just cannot find and hold the exit pupil reliably, other nights i get on with it fine - i need to jury rig a few mm of extension to the eye guard i think to hold me off the eye piece top a little bit. Thankfully for my bank balance I think my current and future astigmatism kind of rules out all the ethos above 8mm (with their corresponding larger exit pupils).

I'll keep you posted on the 4.7mm (i read you had it before and rated it) 😉 - it's a lovely x96 and >1-degree FOV in my little scope and x213 and half a degree in my TOA. In this latter case it gives me double the drift time i have with a 5mm ortho currently so will be nice for Saturn and Mars in particular and hopefully Jupiter too on steady nights. The 6mm is with Jupiter in mind at a slightly lower magnification. (I have an undriven mount otherwise i wouldn't be bothering).

The power mate was my unsuccessful attempt to avoid all these shorter focal length EPs - it's optically excellent but BIG, fine in combo with small EPs but huge in combo with tall EPs.

[John]

14 minutes ago, josefk said:

Don't set me off on the 10mm @John - 10mm is a really useful FL for me and i have a bit of an on/off relationship with a 10mm Pentax XW in that slot. The Pentax is optically superb - really nice tidy stars even at the field stop, lovely subtle star colours and i think it's really transparent to boot, unfortunately some nights i just cannot find and hold the exit pupil reliably, other nights i get on with it fine - i need to jury rig a few mm of extension to the eye guard i think to hold me off the eye piece top a little bit. Thankfully for my bank balance I think my current and future astigmatism kind of rules out all the ethos above 8mm (with their corresponding larger exit pupils).

I'll keep you posted on the 4.7mm (i read you had it before and rated it) 😉 - it's a lovely x96 and >1-degree FOV in my little scope and x213 and half a degree in my TOA. In this latter case it gives me double the drift time i have with a 5mm ortho currently so will be nice for Saturn and Mars in particular and hopefully Jupiter too on steady nights. The 6mm is with Jupiter in mind at a slightly lower magnification. (I have an undriven mount otherwise i wouldn't be bothering).

The power mate was my unsuccessful attempt to avoid all these shorter focal length EPs - it's optically excellent but BIG, fine in combo with small EPs but huge in combo with tall EPs.

I've settled now on the Pentax XW's at 10mm and shorter "bookended" with a 24mm Panoptic and a 14mm Delos and at the other end the Nagler 3-6 and 2-4mm zooms. My Ethos set was pretty much exclusively used with my 12 inch F/5.3 dob so when that scope went, the Ethoi started to gather dust, metaphorically speaking.

I compared the 10, 7, 5 and 3.5 XW's to their Ethos counterparts quite often and found them pretty equal in all but that massive AFoV gap.

Have fun with your green and black hyper wides 🙂

 

Edited September 17 by John

[wesdon1]

2 hours ago, josefk said:

The 6mm courtesy of the Widescreen Centre & DPD today - a purchase finally set in train by the 4.7mm new at IAS on Saturday.

I've "suffered" more than 18-months of analysis paralysis re. the 6mm focal length, I *think* i prefer Delos to Ethos though i'm not sure and didn't know which way to go at this FL where i can anyway make a virtual 6mm Delos from a 12mm with a power mate but often don't like the unwieldiness of the resulting stack. It's also a FL where i could end up needing glasses at the EP a few years down the line.

"Unfortunately" I found the 4.7mm at the weekend to be a very friendly view and i really enjoyed the dark sky/wide FOV combination it's characteristics delivered so i decided to act on the 6mm and enjoy it before i talked myself down from 100-degrees and 15mm of eye relief at 6mm again! 

The little bit of IAS show discount feels expensive right about now so hopefully we have some clear nights in the short term to temper any buyers remorse that may creep in if it sits unused for too long...🫣

@josefk Ep's at this price/quality level truly are such a joy to use and own. I actually hate chucking my Ep's and other astro gear into storage/boxes/out of sight, because I get so much pleasure just looking at them, they're works of mechanical and aesthetic art to my eyes! Just stunning and definitely worth the money impo! 

...and what great timing! Tonight in large parts of UK the night skies are going to be crystal clear all night, perfect for visual and imaging! Enjoy!

Wes, Liverpool.

[josefk]

1 minute ago, wesdon1 said:

Tonight in large parts of UK the night skies are going to be crystal clear all night, perfect for visual and imaging!

Not so perfect for my ability stay accurate in spreadsheets at work tomorrow but you know - priorities are priorities 🤣

[wesdon1]

2 minutes ago, josefk said:

Not so perfect for my ability stay accurate in spreadsheets at work tomorrow but you know - priorities are priorities 🤣

@josefk Haha I've lost count of the dreadful days at work the next morning after an astro session Jose! 😫😂

As you rightly say Jose...priorities are priorities! 😊🌙😂

[Les Ewan]

My Starware illuminated finder arrived today from Harrisons.☺️

I got it for my Skywatcher 400p Dob. The original supplied 8X50 was OK but it had a annoying habit of losing alignment. Personally I have trouble with all supplied Skywatcher finders in this sense, (Maybe its just me)!

Anyway this seems a good quality stable piece of kit. I really need two finders for this scope for star alignment which I find a chore anyway and having a wonky finder really sends me close to the edge.🤯

I also have a Talrad fitted to this scope which keeps alighnment fairly well.

The Starware was easy to fit, the only thing to watch out for with the 400P is when undoing the securing block from the tube the reinforced nut securing plate inside falls away. I managed to catch it but be aware if i does fall it would be dangerously close to the secondary mirror.

 

[wesdon1]

46 minutes ago, Les Ewan said:

My Starware illuminated finder arrived today from Harrisons.☺️

I got it for my Skywatcher 400p Dob. The original supplied 8X50 was OK but it had a annoying habit of losing alignment. Personally I have trouble with all supplied Skywatcher finders in this sense, (Maybe its just me)!

Anyway this seems a good quality stable piece of kit. I really need two finders for this scope for star alignment which I find a chore anyway and having a wonky finder really sends me close to the edge.🤯

I also have a Talrad fitted to this scope which keeps alighnment fairly well.

The Starware was easy to fit, the only thing to watch out for with the 400P is when undoing the securing block from the tube the reinforced nut securing plate inside falls away. I managed to catch it but be aware if i does fall it would be dangerously close to the secondary mirror.

 

@Les Ewan les I was just commenting earlier on another post, these astro accessories, for me personally, are works of mechanical art. I just love well made well designed beautiful 'scopes, finders, cameras, you name it, they're beautiful to look at and touch. 

Your finder is no exception my friend!

[Les Ewan]

9 minutes ago, wesdon1 said:

@Les Ewan les I was just commenting earlier on another post, these astro accessories, for me personally, are works of mechanical art. I just love well made well designed beautiful 'scopes, finders, cameras, you name it, they're beautiful to look at and touch. 

Your finder is no exception my friend!

Thanks for that good to know I bought into quality. Just realised after my post that the product is Star WAVE nor WARE!🥴

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Managed to snag an Evostar 102 OTA on eBay as the only bidder at 75GBP.  Once postage was taken into account it was at 87GBP.

Turned up this afternoon and I'm absolutely delighted with it.  Seller had the 2-inch diagonal for 20GBP and the finder for something small as well but I'll just move my nice 2-inch Altair diagonal onto the 102 from my 70ED for now.

It's a lot lighter than I was expectiing!  A quick test on a far away roof top snapped into focus with a 20mm eyepiece.  Looking forward to getting it out but predictably the clouds have just rolled in.  Apologies for fellow observers in the East Kent area, I've ruined your week.  Also apologies for the nightmare view of my office.  The dog has a very colourful bed...

 

[bosun21]

25 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Managed to snag an Evostar 102 OTA on eBay as the only bidder at 75GBP.  Once postage was taken into account it was at 87GBP.

Turned up this afternoon and I'm absolutely delighted with it.  Seller had the 2-inch diagonal for 20GBP and the finder for something small as well but I'll just move my nice 2-inch Altair diagonal onto the 102 from my 70ED for now.

It's a lot lighter than I was expectiing!  A quick test on a far away roof top snapped into focus with a 20mm eyepiece.  Looking forward to getting it out but predictably the clouds have just rolled in.  Apologies for fellow observers in the East Kent area, I've ruined your week.  Also apologies for the nightmare view of my office.  The dog has a very colourful bed...

 

Very nice. I owned the Evostar 120 some years ago when I returned to the hobby. I used a semi apo filter to cut down on the CA on brighter targets. For most targets it was so little that I hardly noticed it. A definite bargain you landed.

[maw lod qan]

After almost a year having my old fishing reel on the market it finally sold. Surprisingly for what I hoped to get.

Used a little to step up to an astro camera.

A ZWO asi715 mc color.

Just brought the computer into the house and downloaded all the files. 

I was sweating bullets, but it was found and I could see the living room on my monitor. 

So, the learning goes on!

 

[wesdon1]

@maw lod qan I’m very happy for you Maw! It’s a great camera! 
im amazed you had to wait for a full year to sell your fishing rod! I’d have given up after 1 month! 😫😂

Best of luck with your new camera Maw!

Clear Skies from Wes, Liverpool England 

Edited September 19 by wesdon1
Spelling mistake

[maw lod qan]

10 hours ago, wesdon1 said:

@maw lod qan I’m very happy for you Maw! It’s a great camera! 
im amazed you had to wait for a full year to sell your fishing rod! I’d have given up after 1 month! 😫😂

Best of luck with your new camera Maw!

Clear Skies from Wes, Liverpool England 

I understood, most knew what this was and wanted to get it cheap. It was out of production 41 years ago when I bought it.

It's not your usual fishing real.

Holds 1000 yds of 130 pound test line. Just like the reel in the movie "Jaws"!

[JeremyS]

21 minutes ago, maw lod qan said:

I understood, most knew what this was and wanted to get it cheap. It was out of production 41 years ago when I bought it.

It's not your usual fishing real.

Holds 1000 yds of 130 pound test line. Just like the reel in the movie "Jaws"!

Looks reelly nice.

[Telescope40]

2 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

I understood, most knew what this was and wanted to get it cheap. It was out of production 41 years ago when I bought it.

It's not your usual fishing real.

Holds 1000 yds of 130 pound test line. Just like the reel in the movie "Jaws"!

How big is the boat. Asking for a friend. Thx. John 👍

[CraigT82]

Nice little haul from FLO today, all going on the Starfield 102.

[saac]

Was on the way out to the observatory to fit an ethernet panel connector to the pier and the postie dropped this month's Sky At Night through the letterbox. Well it would be rude not to sit and read it - work can wait, I love my observatory, my happy place  

Jim 

 

 

Edited September 19 by saac

[maw lod qan]

28 minutes ago, Telescope40 said:

How big is the boat. Asking for a friend. Thx. John 👍

Not big enough.

This was used mostly pier fishing.

The line and drag could stop a diesel submarine! Give a nuclear one a good fight!

[Ratlet]

31 minutes ago, saac said:

Was on the way out to the observatory to fit an ethernet panel connector to the pier and the postie dropped this month's Sky At Night through the letterbox. Well it would be rude not to site and read it - work can wait, I love my observatory, my happy place  

Jim 

 

 

Have you posted pictures of your setup?  From the outside.  I'm looking for inspiration.