Are you getting Astro Gear for Xmas?

[gregbradley]

Anyone planning on getting astro gear for Christmas? What are you getting?

Greg.

[WingnutR32]

Just bought myself a Meade 16" LB Dob from Bintel for my own Christmas pressie :)

[coldlegs]

Coronado Solar Max II 60 DS BF15
Time to get serious about the sun!!

[stephenb]

10" Orion solar filter from BinTel - arrived yesterday and I was allowed to briefly "access" it for the purposes of testing it's suitability ;). Apparently it must be wrapped and stored for another fortnight :sadeyes:

Stephen

[Mighty_oz]

Robyn my new red mount arrived last week for chrissie, now i'm looking for some trim, taut and terrific legs for when i take her out :)

Marcus.

[mozzie]

no not this year!!!!!!!!!!
bought to much already...

[bmitchell82]

.....:question::ashamed: maybe

[tlgerdes]

No, but if you want to buy me something, I am sure I can generate a list:D

[MortonH]

Unless my daughter's new dolls house comes with an observatory, sadly no.

[Ric]

I'll be chasing up a solar filter for next years transit of Venus.

I don't want to miss out on that photo opportunity.

[traveller]

Originally hoping for an EQ6, but now will settle for a second hand D90.

[cventer]

I would not trust my other half to buy any astro gear for me.
Certainly bought myself some though.

New STF-8300M Pro package from SBIG on the way.....

[Atlantis69]

Bought myself an NEQ6Pro and 10" Newt... trying to save for a QHY9 Mono for my birthday in March unless anyone else wants to take the hint lol.

[dannat]

12mm IV

[Screwdriverone]

Im hoping to get an Orion Finder/guidescope and "maybe" a DBK21 camera if I can swing it.

If I only get the finder / guidescope then so be it, will use the son's DSLR with the toucam through the Orion, to take pictures of.....Orion! ;)

If work would cough up a bonus or two they owe me, then both are on the cards....sniff

Chris

[brian nordstrom]

;) For me its an ed127 triplet ,thats here now ,arrived 1 week ago , and an Ioptron EQ45 mount , should be here next week and a Feather Touch 3035 focucer thats in transit from NZ , thanks Gary ! :thumbsup:
My pressie's to me after a hard years graft :) Yippee ..
Brian.

[Retrograde]

If you mean 'buying astro gear for myself using Xmas as an excuse' then yes:

102mm F7 ED triplet, red-dot finder and glass solar-filter so far.

Planning to buy an Astronomik UHC-E filter in the next week or so & maybe an illuminated reticle eyepiece for drift alignment before Xmas as well. :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

There's some serious purchasing going on here. It seems Bintel is the big winner in this lot.

Good on em - its a great store.

Greg.

[CDKPhil]

If placing an order for PMX and CDK 12.5, 7 months ago counts then yes.
I have heard from Bintel that the mount and the OTA have been shipped.
So if I am really really lucky I might get a bright red mount for Christmas.
and some Ethos and Nagler EP's.
Also thinking I might push my luck with the wife and put a good word in with Santa and order the SBIG STX 16803, I like the red colour it will match the mount.:lol:

Cheers
Phil

[gregbradley]

Wow Phil, go for it dude!

Greg.

[CDKPhil]

Hey, you only live once. :D

[gregbradley]

That'd be an awesome setup and you'll be able to do some amazing images.

So far I am really happy with the PMX and the CDK design is very very good. The 12.5 is particularly good. It would be handy having an STX as if you decide to get the CDK reducer you'll be able to self guide and won't need a guide scope as the reducer has very limited backfocus.

Greg.

[allan gould]

QHY10 has just arrived for me. Waiting for the clouds to go away

[kustard]

I may be getting a Nagler *crosses fingers*

[gregbradley]

That's the Sony 10mp chip right? Mono?

That sounds like an interesting chip and has a lot of potential.

Greg.

[CDKPhil]

That was one of the reasons for choosing the STX, the self guiding ability. Not just because it's red. :lol:
Oh and it is MAC compatible. It should be able to run in Sky X seamlessly once the camera add on is completed.
I am a little concerned with the reducer if there is going to be enough back focus with the filter wheel in the image train, I will have to research this a little further.

Cheers
Phil

[CDKPhil]

So Greg is Santa going to be good to you this Christmas?

[gregbradley]

:lol:

He's already been! I got a PMX a little while ago.

I wouldn't mind another filter wheel so I can have 2 rigs imaging at the same time in those rare clear nights!

Greg.

[allan gould]

Greg
It's the Sony chip, 10 mp and an OSC camera with 6.05 u pixels
Wanted an OSC that I could take off to Astrofest and just have fun without a lot of hassle. Loved the QHY8 camera so much I moved up to the QHY10 to use with my 5" refractor

[gregbradley]

It sounds like a great camera.

Greg.

[naskies]

Looking for ideas, Greg? :) I picked up an Astrotrac Travel System (2nd hand bargain) and I'm still on the hunt for either a stylish ED80 or similar. I like the look of the WO GT81, the red Explore Scientific, or the carbon fibre variants, etc.

I wanted to sell off the FLT132/EQ6 after one last hurrah with the eclipse, but the weather's not obliging!

[Stardrifter_WA]

Sadly :sadeyes: Not this year. Just can't afford to buy me a chrissie pressie this year :sadeyes: :)

[Logieberra]

Peter, with a signature block like that, I don't feel sorry for you! Hahah

Takahashi 1.25 diag on the way for me, along with 'shorty' FT focuser.

Brendan, I'll send you something... whatcha want? :)

[frolinmod]

We bought ourselves a hydrogen alpha solar telescope.
It's a double stacked Lunt LS80Tha/PT/B1800/FT. :sunny:

[Irish stargazer]

12" Lightbridge. Doubt I could push my luck any further. Nuff said :D

[Gem]

Just received an ATIK 320E for our anniversary this week... :)

Well, I have a "list" of piggyback bracket (for the 80mm), focal reducer, aluminium dewshield, Bahtinov mask, etc...

What I am really dropping hints about is a 14" or 16" flex tube dob. My wife has already said "if" I get one it won't have tracking since the kids needs to learn to use a map! If I do get it, it will be a huge reversal of fortunes - nothing for 15 yrs then a camera and scope in a month.

[spacezebra]

My order is in, new guidescope, Canon 5D, assorted eyepieces etc -im bound to get one of the items on my wishlist! ;-)

Cheers Petra d.

[Ric]

None of us really helping the cloud problem are we :question: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Peter Ward]

65mm narrow band filter set.... should deliver some impressive results with the STX.

Anyone know where I can also order some clear weather? Amazon? E-bay? :)

[Gem]

My thoughts exactly! :)

[bmitchell82]

mmm nothing mate :) just a partridge in a pear tree.! :D see im simple

[JethroB76]

Nup. Going flyfishing this year:lol:

[scagman]

I've been thinking about this too, and it could be a good thing. If we all by our toys in the same week or two and put up with the clouds for a couple of weeks, the rest of the year should be nice and clear, cloudless nights.

Or do the cloud gods look at the total $ spent in a given week and have some formula eg. ever $ spent = x hrs could cover:P

[Kevnool]

No astronomy gear for xmas this year.
A certain fellow in Broken Hill here brought my 10" lightbridge.
He got an Astro prezzie and i am getting him to join up to IIS.

Cheers Kev.

[mozzie]

any wonder the hole country is covered in cloud :lol::lol::lol:

[OICURMT]

Man... Santa's going overboard with the upcoming trip to the USA ... getting quite a few bits-n-pieces...

OPT heard the biggest "Cha-Ching!!!" this year. They seem to dent my wallet every "odd" year... I think my wallet recovers during the even-numbered years...:D

Savings are great this year with all the sales going on back home, now I just need to buy a suitcase for transport back :o

[multiweb]

Santa got me a pier (still had to dig), two one block worms for my G11, new Gemini + 2 maxon motors and one collimation system for my C11 primary. Expect la nina to last a bit longer. :P

[AG Hybrid]

Bought myself a 14mm ES 100 degree eyepiece + 2inch 2x Barlow + Craft right case.

[Kevnool]

All this gear being brought no wonder everyone is howling at the moon.

Cheers Kev.

[mozzie]

another bloody 35mm panoptic !!!!!!!!!!!!!! other one broke :shrug::(

[The_bluester]

Getting (got now but don't get to play with it til Christmas) a 2" quartz substrate dielectric mirror diagonal. A bintel/gso one, the budget will not stretch to an everbrite.

[TrevorW]

Sadly no astro gear for me nor in the near future, my daughter got engaged and I'll be forking out towards her EP

[mithrandir]

ED127 arrived today.

[reillym]

No. But only because my wife bought me a Meade LT8 ACF for my birthday in November and that was a complete surprise!!:eyepop:

[Jen]

:D yep im going to get some nice eyepieces for Johnny when i can finally make up my mind which ones i want :rolleyes:
I have been whispering in santas ear that i would also love love love a solar scope too :prey::prey:

[OICURMT]

Last set of items ordered and should be shipped to my home in Colorado by Friday :thumbsup: ...

A special Thanks to Merlin :thanx: for guiding through the maze of options of Solar equipment. I settled for a dual front Coronado SM60 Etalon system with a BF15 and a custom made adapter for my SkyWatcher ED80. (BTW: Merlin, I'm still going the for the stepper motor solution, as I don't really care for Vegemite :lol:)

All the other bits-n-pieces should easily fit in a suitcase, but those etalons are going as carry-on... they were difficult enough to source, would hate for them to be damaged or lost.:abduct:

OIC!

[dugnsuz]

The Astrotech Flattener for my GSO RC8 (purchased from The Decepticon - Gray) is my astro-xmas pressie!
Doug:thumbsup:

[Screwdriverone]

Cool! are you going to get her a Televue Ethos or maybe a Pentax XW Trevor?

Oh EP stands for Engagement Present.......NOT Eyepiece!

:doh:

Chris

[hotspur]

No more astronomy equipment for me-too much gear that gets too little use-I have two imaging rigs-thinking about off loading one,and buying a 7D for birding-at least I can take photos when there is cloud around when in the field.

If anyone is half serious about a Vixen ED 81 apo and GP mount with guiding-all Jap made,I might looking at selling.

Hope all enjoy their Christmas-will be do less astronomy next year,and more wildlife photography-so might not post as much here in the future.

[Cosmic]

Look...it may have crossed my mind :P nothing major like some of you guys :eyepop: lucky. I'm thinking a side by side saddle plate for my eq6, that's it for now.

[Waxing_Gibbous]

I hope not.
I need a dirt-bike.

[ChrisM]

Santa doesn't always confine his visits to 25 December, so this Christmas I think that I'll be getting nothing more than the 2012 edition of the Astronomy yearbook.

Chris

[glnn_23]

Docter 12.5 UWA ordered.