Society for Popular Astronomy

Well, I bought the ALDI Maginons for £14.99, so I guess that brings us from the sublime Vixens to the ridiculous Kunmingers. Bob

I noticed a pair of Maginon 8x40s at my local ALDI reduced from £19.99 to £14.99. I''ll think it over for another week before committing to such extravagance. They've been there for weeks. Bob

Thanks Brian, I am a specs wearer. Years ago I used to remove my glasses to observe with bins but nowadays I leave 'em on, so large eye lenses with rubber cups are a vv desirable feature. I think it was the fact that old style bins etc used to have such small eyepiece structures and no eyecups that ...

Soz, they are all Vixens as I now recall but marketed also by Celestron suppliers. Bob

Hi Mike,I haven't used them but like you, I am intrigued by them. I am sure Celestron market the same thing under their brand. However what shocks me is the price. I know we are used to cheap, serviceable bins from the Chinese empire, but I am taken aback to find these opera-type glasses are literal...

Sounds a bit like Leeds on a United match-day. Bob

Mike, Brian, Thank you; the best info comes from people who use the equipment in their own back gardens. Kind thoughts, Bob
Oh PS, I made a mistake earlier where I referred to my 10x30s, they're actually 8x32 Opticrons!

David, I bought the Revelation 15x70s and a cheap photo tripod a couple of years ago on a whim, just to take to Cornwall for a family holiday. Collimation is ok and they have proved much more serviceable than their price suggested that they would be. On that trip they gave me the most pleasing view ...

Hello Mike, Can you tell me more about your image stabilised monocular, how you rate it etc? I've never looked through one, but it sounds like it could be a nice compact viewer to travel with. I use hand-held 10x30 and 10x50 binocs for casual viewing and brightish variable star estimates. You develo...

late summer evening flight of a hot air balloon at a range of 5 miles plus.
Bob

Interesting and informative web site Nigel, I really like the deep sky notes.
Kind thoughts, Bob

The "simple" stars are much neglected and its nice just to pick them and look, you never know what will be revealed. Bob

Dear Cliff, you've opened an interesting thread. Lowell came to astronomy latish and he was not really regarded as a "professional" observer by some others (even though his mathematical ability was not in question). Lowell saw what he so much wanted to see when he looked AT Mars, whereas, ...

Hello Cliff, Haven't seen the NS article but I think there is also a suggestion of another planet in the Proxima data - more work needs to be done to be sure. As far as canals go, the only experience I have of them is being locked in a loo next to the Leeds-Liverpool once upon a time! Bob

Germany's "Der Spiegel" is reporting the unconfirmed discovery of an Earth-like exoplanet orbiting the habitable zone of our nearest stellar neighbour, red dwarf Proxima Centauri. The anonymous leak alleges the discovery was made at the ESO. The ESO is refusing to comment, although the new...