Telescope Reviews: Finally, Clear Sky

Last night the sky cleared! 2 weeks of clouds and smoke from wild fires really muck up the viewing. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get a chance to "do astronomy" as my wife puts it.

I set up everything I owned in the backyard at dusk, 2 chairs, 12x50's on a tripod, 8x40's on the table, and the 70/f10 refractor on it's excuse for a mount....

I started out with jupiter and got fabulous views with the 8x40, better than the 12x50's due to internal flare and coatings I assume. No planetary detail, except I thought I saw a hint of banding once when the atmosphere stabilized (in 8x40's!!). the refractor gave its "normal" 2 equatorial band view at 26x and 40x, but higher powers failed.

Next I focused on Ursa Major. The refractor failed miserably, no crisp star views at any power... then I noticed that the focuser was very stiff even with the set screw removed... the "lubricating glue" had set up apparently. Vigorous spinning of the focus knobs loosened things up enough to get sharp focus, but the single eyed view was becoming a strain so I gave up and moved to the binoculars.
What a relief, my eyes relaxed instantly with the two eyed viewing... and I could see much fainter stars even though 70mm aperture is larger than either 40mm or 50mm (yep, I passed first grade!)
Again I was shocked, both binoculars showed crisp stars, but the little 8x40's hand held beat the mounted 12x50's.
I suspect the short eye relief of the 12x50's are part of my problem, since I have a tough time "finding" the image and staying centered in the EP path.
I had a lot of fun looking about... not really looking for anything in particular, just gazing about in wonder. I am going to retire the 70mm f10, it is too tough for me to use, and the single eye view was too stressful on my old eyes.
Now if my Sky Window would just get here...

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Nikon 12x50 Action; Pentax 8x40 PCF WPII
Bogen 3220 w/3way+qw
Trico SkyWindow