Mostly Lunar

[Bigzmey]

Hi Andrey. Another great observing report from you. And as usual, it was a fun read and well written. You did a great job with the new binoviewers. Thanks for your latest report Andrey, and congratulations on winning yet another TSS VROD Award.

Thanks Marshall! I am glad you have enjoyed it.

[John Baars]

Great Astroid hunt!
Nice bino viewing and testing of the RACi at higher magnifications.
I usually don't take the RACI much higher up than 20X. I have the TS version. Above, slowly all kind of aberrations come into view, and my personal main goal (DSO+big FOV under city circumstances)in Schiedam is best served with 20X. More is possible but at FOV costs. I tried up to 40X but after experimenting stayed happily at 20X.
Congratulations on the VROD!

[Bigzmey]

Great Astroid hunt!
Nice bino viewing and testing of the RACi at higher magnifications.
I usually don't take the RACI much higher up than 20X. I have the TS version. Above, slowly all kind of aberrations come into view, and my personal main goal (DSO+big FOV under city circumstances)in Schiedam is best served with 20X. More is possible but at FOV costs. I tried up to 40X but after experimenting stayed happily at 20X.
Congratulations on the VROD!

Thanks John! Yes, to use as a finder I would not go over 20x (10mm EP) either. What EPs do you typically use for the RACI?

[John Baars]

(...) What EPs do you typically use for the RACI?

Since my last eyepieces-upgrade I sold a lot of them, Naglers and even one PentaxXW. I kept my 11 mm Nagler however for using in the RACI. I know....a bit over the top....using a Nagler in a finder. But it works great on the 50 mm F4.1 finder-lens and gives a 4 degree-field.
Even here in the city the brightest Messiers pop up in the finder. The 4 degree field is very nice, sometimes I just enjoy wandering through the universe with it, like a bino.

Quite often even 4 magnitude stars are not visible with the naked eye. In that case I find them by putting the 30mm Eudiascopic ( the standard one in my 102mm Mak) in the RACI. Horrifying edges but gives a 7.3 degree field of view, like in binoculars. Basically I just swap eyepieces . The 11 mm gives approx. 120X in the main telescope.

[Bigzmey]

(...) What EPs do you typically use for the RACI?

Since my last eyepieces-upgrade I sold a lot of them, Naglers and even one PentaxXW. I kept my 11 mm Nagler however for using in the RACI. I know....a bit over the top....using a Nagler in a finder. But it works great on the 50 mm F4.1 finder-lens and gives a 4 degree-field.
Even here in the city the brightest Messiers pop up in the finder. The 4 degree field is very nice, sometimes I just enjoy wandering through the universe with it, like a bino.

Quite often even 4 magnitude stars are not visible with the naked eye. In that case I find them by putting the 30mm Eudiascopic ( the standard one in my 102mm Mak) in the RACI. Horrifying edges but gives a 7.3 degree field of view, like in binoculars. Basically I just swap eyepieces . The 11 mm gives approx. 120X in the main telescope.

I should say it is a proper use of Nagler. One need a well-corrected widefield to utilize whole FOV of F4 scope. At one point I have tried BST FlatField 19mm. This EP performs nicely in slow scopes, but in the finder the field curvature was so bad, it made me dizzy.

Finding stars is a real challenge in the city, in particular with Moon. I think I made a strategic mistake this session. When I had difficulties seeing enough stars in RACI at 10x (5mm exit pupil) I have switched to Onyx ED 80mm for navigation but prioritized 5 deg TFV over higher power and smaller exit pupil. I should have switched in both RACI and 80mm to higher power and 3-4mm exit pupil instead