Just rigged up for tonight

[Moonlit]

It's a balmy 7 degrees Celsius, I asked my neighbor to switch off his garage lights, am off work tomorrow so can stay up late, I expect the Moon will be pretty at 88% illumination. Looking forward to tonight!

Edited October 6, 2022 by Moonlit

[Nightspore]

2 hours ago, Moonlit said:

It's a balmy 7 degrees Celsius, I asked my neighbor to switch off his garage lights, am off work tomorrow so can stay up late, I expect the Moon will be pretty at 88% illumination. Looking forward to tonight!

 

7*C is definitely barmy lol. Good luck, too cloudy here. Nice pair of refractors.

 

 

The jetstream is over Scotland and Norway. 

[Moonlit]

25 minutes ago, Nightspore said:

 

The jetstream is over Scotland and Norway. 

Haha I noticed! I was looking at Iota Cassiopeiae and the wind was the biggest problem, the ~1m long scope catches it and wobbles quite a lot.  I'm located right at the lower end of that yellow intrusion in the middle. 
I managed to get a glimpse of the third faintest of the triple star though, going to have another go.

[Nightspore]

4 minutes ago, Moonlit said:

Haha I noticed! I was looking at Iota Cassiopeiae and the wind was the biggest problem, the ~1m long scope catches it and wobbles quite a lot.  I'm located right at the lower end of that yellow intrusion in the middle. 
I managed to get a glimpse of the third faintest of the triple star though, going to have another go.

 

Iota Cass is one of my favourites. I can usually regularly see all three stars with a 60mm refractor.

[Moonlit]

18 minutes ago, Nightspore said:

 

Iota Cass is one of my favourites. I can usually regularly see all three stars with a 60mm refractor.

I went ahead with 222x mag right away but I think I'll remove the 2x Barlow and see if just the 9mm gets a clearer image, what with the moon being so bright and the wind. It's a wonderful star system for sure!

[Nightspore]

38 minutes ago, Moonlit said:

I went ahead with 222x mag right away but I think I'll remove the 2x Barlow and see if just the 9mm gets a clearer image, what with the moon being so bright and the wind. It's a wonderful star system for sure!

 

Depending on conditions I can see all three stars at about 120x with the 60 EDF (0.5mm exit pupil). 

 

 

I often use a 3.2mm TMB clone on the 72mm for 131x. If the conditions are really good I can see them at about 76x.

Edited October 6, 2022 by Nightspore

[Moonlit]

1 hour ago, Nightspore said:

 

Depending on conditions I can see all three stars at about 120x with the 60 EDF (0.5mm exit pupil). 

 

 

I often use a 3.2mm TMB clone on the 72mm for 131x. If the conditions are really good I can see them at about 76x.

 

My achromat is the cheapest 120mm f/8 Sky Watcher made 10-15 years ago. I'm fiddling with focus a lot but can't get the stars to appear really sharp so I suspect the diagonal may be the weak link as it's the one that came with the scope. Iota Cas is too high on the sky now to crawl under trying to see it without one!

That scope looks really nice. I did look very closely at the new Evolux 82ED, but not having tried it I'm worried that the much smaller aperture might annoy me so I'm waiting and thinking. I've reached out to a few local clubs to see if I can go to a gathering and perhaps look through a few scopes to see what it's like.

EDIT: The EP I'm using tonight is branded "Doppler Ultrawide LER 9mm 66d 1.25" - bought from a local retailer. Not one that came with the scope. 

Edited October 6, 2022 by Moonlit

[Nightspore]

8 hours ago, Moonlit said:

 

My achromat is the cheapest 120mm f/8 Sky Watcher made 10-15 years ago. I'm fiddling with focus a lot but can't get the stars to appear really sharp so I suspect the diagonal may be the weak link as it's the one that came with the scope. Iota Cas is too high on the sky now to crawl under trying to see it without one!

That scope looks really nice. I did look very closely at the new Evolux 82ED, but not having tried it I'm worried that the much smaller aperture might annoy me so I'm waiting and thinking. I've reached out to a few local clubs to see if I can go to a gathering and perhaps look through a few scopes to see what it's like.

EDIT: The EP I'm using tonight is branded "Doppler Ultrawide LER 9mm 66d 1.25" - bought from a local retailer. Not one that came with the scope. 

 

Splitting doubles with faster achromats is always a bit difficult in some respects. The CA will probably have some effect even at f/8. Although the Synta achromats are pretty well corrected considering. 

 

 

I've had a few focusers on my ST102.

 

 

Including GSO & Long Perng.

 

 

Finally ending up with a MoonLite. 

 

 

Your 9mm eyepiece sounds like an Orion Expanse variant.

 

 

The 9mm was considered the best of the range, closely followed by the 6mm. The other two, lacking a Smyth lens, can show lateral astigmatism in anything faster than f/8. I've always thought these were very good eyepieces. Eye positioning can be a tad tricky at times. 

[Moonlit]

On 10/7/2022 at 9:39 AM, Nightspore said:

 

The 9mm was considered the best of the range, closely followed by the 6mm. The other two, lacking a Smyth lens, can show lateral astigmatism in anything faster than f/8. I've always thought these were very good eyepieces. Eye positioning can be a tad tricky at times. 

That sounds about right, if the angle is slightly uncomfortable I have to work a bit to see the whole field, but I am very pleased with the 9mm. I think "Doppler" is a house brand used in Scandinavia. Mine has a golden ring printed on where the blue rings in your picture is.

[Nightspore]

2 hours ago, Moonlit said:

That sounds about right, if the angle is slightly uncomfortable I have to work a bit to see the whole field, but I am very pleased with the 9mm. I think "Doppler" is a house brand used in Scandinavia. Mine has a golden ring printed on where the blue rings in your picture is.

 

I'm fairly sure they were originally made by BST. I have no idea where they are made now. Well, apart from the fact that it's somewhere in China lol. If it's got a gold ring it may be a rebadged TS Optics. There were rumours that these had better coatings than the Expanse. Although I doubt it. I've discovered that if I roll the eyeguard up eye placement issues are not so much of a problem. 

 

 

My 6mm SvBony still gets used predominantly with my 60EDF. SvBony claim a 68 degree FOV although I can't tell the difference with the 6mm Expanse. So it's either some SvBony marketing gibberish or it has a slightly wider field stop.

 

 

It's a minimalist set-up but I can't really find an alternative to the SvBony/Expanse. I've used a 6mm Vixen SLV, a 6mm TMB clone and a 6mm Sky-Watcher UWA. All nice eyepieces but none of them have the field of the SvB/Expanse.

 

 

[Moonlit]

@Nightspore I'm of course wondering which EP to buy next, as I only have the battered stock Plössls that originally came with the scope, except the 9mm and 32mmSWA.

I then noticed Siebert Optics, who apparently makes a lot of different EPs for both amateurs and observatories. I especially like the 'industrial' look of them.

Got any clue if they're as good as they look? Their Ultra series is branded as orthos and go for $169 for for SS4 Ultra series <10mm, with 68 deg FoV and 17mm ER.

SS4s are below the SS3s: https://siebertoptics.com/SiebertOptics-Ortho page).html

[Nightspore]

12 minutes ago, Moonlit said:

@Nightspore I'm of course wondering which EP to buy next, as I only have the battered stock Plössls that originally came with the scope, except the 9mm and 32mmSWA.

I then noticed Siebert Optics, who apparently makes a lot of different EPs for both amateurs and observatories. I especially like the 'industrial' look of them.

Got any clue if they're as good as they look? Their Ultra series is branded as orthos and go for $169 for for SS4 Ultra series <10mm, with 68 deg FoV and 17mm ER.

SS4s are below the SS3s: https://siebertoptics.com/SiebertOptics-Ortho page).html

 

I have no personal experience of them. They look expensive lol.

 

 

You can't really go wrong with the TMB clones.