I've read a lot of Germanic mythology as well, Snorri Sturluson was a huge influence on Tolkien. In fact, a bigger influence than most people realise. Bjork's been going for donkey's years yet she never seems to age, must be the elf in her. That video I posted is one of the least weird things she's done I think, believe it or not lol. I kept meaning to go to Iceland on holiday, it's expensive there though (especially beer) and they eat weird food. The 'Pylon Poets' all holidayed there in the '50s apparently. Then there's the Cod War, which I don't think ever officially ended. I hope they know the UK has almost finished building the two most advanced aircraft carriers in the world lol. Try poaching our cod then Bjork!



Back to the actual topic ... this 5.5mm Bresser Plossl/Erfle (Plerfle?) should arrive tomorrow. It will give me approximately 73x on the ST80 for a 1.1mm exit pupil and 48 arc minutes of TFOV. I'm not sure how it will deal with an f/5 scope but I wanted something (preferably small and lightweight) around the 1mm exit pupil for some of the Messier objects (I'm talking about you Trifid Nebula!) and some doubles so the 60° AFOV will be nice.

Keeping with astronomically themed rock music:



Muse's vocalist is the son of the guitar player in the Tornados who had a 1962 hit with Telstar. AFAIK neither of them are part elf.

 

How's it going Ray? Weather's fairly pants here to be honest. I was looking at a potential focuser at 365Astronomy but they reckoned it wouldn't fit my ST80. I guess it depends on what the focuser's like on the Meade. The ST80 is renown to be a bit basic. I'd put the focuser on the scope that needs it the most.

 

To be honest Ray, I'd hold off on the focuser thing until you've used the ST80 a bit. See what you think with and without the WO Amici first.

150x is usually the accepted lowest magnification to reveal detail for planetary targets. Although, I'd say that around 125-130x would be the absolute lowest. A lot depends on conditions, location and aperture.

Targets can vary, bearing in mind, you're also using an alt-az, which is hard work above 150x anyway due to right ascension. An alt-az won't track like an EQ. I was viewing the Moon a very short while last night at 69x with an 18mm ortho' and the StarMax/Vixen Porta. I fully intended to up the magnification but the clouds came. The 43° AFOV gave me a whole 15 arc minutes of TFOV and even then I was noticing regularly having to constantly tweak both alt and az slo mo's.

The Moon's a bit of an oddity with astronomy. The ST80 gives a very nice 171x for me, although I can easily get 300x with the Bazooka, the Moon can look good from anywhere between 70x and 100x. A huge amount of detail can be seen under a 100x. So you can go ridiculously high with the Moon with exit pupils of around 0.4mm and yet still see a lot at 1mm or 2mm. This isn't so easy with other planets.

There's a good chance you'll perceive cloud detail on Venus with the 102mm Meade, but I doubt that's possible with the ST80. Being a refractor, I'd say the Meade isn't far off the 130mm Bazooka with resolving power. From my experience with the ST80 it's about on par with my 102mm Skymax. A good 30% of the Skymax's aperture is taken up by the obstruction. It makes a difference. You could potentially see cloud detail on Venus at around 140x-150x, I have with the Bazooka, but not with the Skymax.

The Skymax was good with Saturn and I could see the Cassini Division pretty easily, I'm expecting the ST80 to be similar. Jupiter was about the same with both the ST80 and Skymax and seeing the GRS isn't easy. The EZ, NEZ and SEZ were easy to see though. But it takes the Bazooka to really see any detail and easily spot the GRS.

So, 150x should be fine for planetary, but don't expect the detail on Jupiter and Venus to be the same as the 102mm refractor.

 

The 5.5mm Bresser 'Plerfle' arrived. Looks good. If it doesn't work with the ST80 it should work with the Bazooka.



Unfortunately the 20mm bino pair are going to have to be replaced due to both having debris on the eye lenses. Bit of a disappointment as I will now have to wait for new stock, but they look very good and capable. Shame they went a bit Pugh, Pugh, Barney Mcgrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub.



I was so depressed I ordered a 12.5mm Fujiyama from 365Astronomy. It'd better be bloody perfect lol!



"There", says the mayor, "that's that!".

 

Yeah, it's probably best to give the ST80 a workout with a WO diagonal before splashing any spondoolies on upgrades. Plus, I'm not sure how easy replacing the focuser is as it may need some collimation. With my disability faffing about with stuff isn't easy. I think I've got the eyepieces I need for the ST80 now. The 19mm Panoptic (although I've used the T5 Nagler on it for 25x) for low power sweep/finder, 9mm Expanse for mid range wide angle, various Plossls to be used with a short Barlow and the Bresser 5.5mm 'Plerfle'. I've finally decided on a lightweight short Barlow.



This 2.25x Baader 'Q-Turret' should come tomorrow. It's high quality, a light aluminium build, has no undercut or compression ring, has a removable element and it's short. If it turns out OK it should be perfect.





I even have a nice Baader 18mm BCO for it that will give 50x on the ST80. If everything goes well I'll be euphoric lol. I may even try to dance to rave music ... maybe not. ROTFL

 

Hey Ray?

Regards a Crayford 10:1 for your ST80:

You won'y need to buy a separate 'shoe' for this as the one I bought from Agena (got another from ScopeStuff for my Maksutov 150mm) comes with these built-in and another is in-the-box along with these GSO Crayford's. As a result, I have an army of extra 'shoes' sitting here, as I bought these GSO-made Crayford's for 4 telescopes - all my telescopes have them, asidefrom my 200mm F4 Rich-Filed Newt - which has a 1.25" single-speed Crayford, older scope which isn't built for 2" draw-tubes.

So I suggest getting yours from Agena as well. Best price, and extra 'shoes' galore! (Agena better give me a commission! )

When I see people with their day-glo colored Moonlite Focusers - which cost 3X more for no improvement in focusing to the GSO - I have to chuckle.

Best Wishes -

Dave



GSO on older ST80 from Agena, same Crayford is now on my white-tube ST80 from Orion. This blue-tube comes from Skywatcher - yes I have 2 ST80's!

 

I think they're around 70 USD Stateside, although here they're about the equivalent of 45-50 USD. Baader products are expensive in the US. I've had my eye on it for years but I thought it would be the best thing for the ST80 as it's so light, simple (no compression ring or undercut) and high quality for an achromatic. It basically gives the ST80 a focal length the same as the Bazooka (900mm).



365Astronomy are bloody quick, I'm still waiting for the Baader 2.25x but the 12.5mm Fuji came!

 

The Baader Q-Barlow arrived. It's virtually perfect for the WO Amici on the ST80. I should be able to rotate the diagonal well with a short, light Barlow. Important with an alt-az unless you like changing the tripod leg height a lot during a session lol.



It looks very high quality and doesn't seem to vignette particularly in the daylight testing sessions I undertook.



Being all aluminium it is quite a bit lighter and sits lower in the diagonal than the TS Optics (GSO) 2.5x Barlow to the left of it. For comparison, the Celestron X-Cel 2x 'shorty' and the TeleVue 2x Barlow are to the left. The TV is easily the heaviest. The TV's fine in a Newtonian focuser but can be problematical in a rotated diagonal for me.

 

I think it's intended for the Baader Q Turret and designed with BCO's in mind, but it seems fine with the two or three Celestron Plossls and a Hutech ortho' that I tested it with. I can't see why it wouldn't work with anything else. It can be purchased on its own anyway. I can't test it properly until the weather gets better. As far as I can tell it's good with orthoscopics and standard Plossls. One thing I did notice is that it did lengthen the eye relief of the Plossls I used, which is normal. I actually have an 18mm BCO for it though.

The reason I bought it was that it drastically reduces the weight in the diagonal. To look at the zenith and nearer the horizon with the ST80 I'll need to set the tripod height so that I can sit comfortably viewing the zenith. As you know, with an alt-az, this means the eyepiece position raises as you lower the altitude of the scope. So being able to rotate the diagonal really improves flexibility.

When I get the chance I'll tell you how it performs, bearing in mind I'll only be using small Plossls and ortho's in it.

 

It's OK, I've been called worse lol.

 

I am not sure what that means. I doubt a Baader Morpheus would be that good in the Q-Turret Barlow, but I tried a few small EP's including a 30mm Vixen NPL and they all worked. In fact, I was surprised how well such a short Barlow coped with the Vixen with little to no vignetting.

I think the sort of eyepiece type may be limited. If you kept with small orthoscopic and Plossl types with focal lengths of 20mm or under you'd be fine. Which is what I actually bought it for.

Our favourite (NOT lol) forum is discussing it here: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/257430-baader-q-turret-225x-barlow-and-bst-starguiders/

John knows what he's talking about usually.