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Friday evening Sun & Moon 29-05-2015


Pig

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Some lovely clear blue skies this evening :laugh:

What a real nice treat having the Sun & Moon out together, just a quick spin of the mount and bingo

Sun, Moon - Moon, Sun ... Ha Ha (say that in a Tommy Cooper voice) :laugh:

There are about 5 fantastic proms to see on the north and south of the disc, loads of bubbly granulation with the swirling effect in between. Not forgetting that huge filament that we are lucky enough to see at the moment.

The Moon contrasting against an electric blue sky is one of my favourite views ever and I cannot get enough of it, the craters take on a totally different effect than when viewed against the dark sky, very subtle indeed...ahhhh

Anyhow I am back off outside before the sun drops below the roof tops :grin:

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Enjoy

Shaun

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Thank you Luke. I didn't think I was going to receive any replies :grin:

The combination of scopes I use on the giro do balance very well making it a pleasure to use :laugh:

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Your post was looking a little lonely :grin:

I've tried my 8 inch SCT on my giro mount, it sort of works, but does feel a bit of a handful. I was thinking it could be useful as a mini light bucket at dark sites.

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Nice write up Shaun, and the duel scope rig looks really good :)

I was out too last night with my two fracs until 1am, although I didn't start until 10:30 when all the kids were in bed. Had a really good look at Jupiter, Saturn, and the Moon, Not had a good night session like that for a while!

The seeing was a bit wobbly but just glad to be out there :)

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Chris,

Thank you, I do like the variety of choice that a dual giro set up offers.

It has been a bit poor lately and like yourself I was pleased to finally get outside over the past couple of evenings :smiley: Jupiter has not been so good but the Moon and Saturn have been very pleasing.

Luke, did you try dual mounting the 8"SCT as it does make quite a difference when balance with another scope. I do have 2" Crayford etc ... on my 6" and altogether it is quite a hefty chunk.

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Lovely report, Shaun and cracking set up, very fetching :smiley: I've never viewed the Sun and Moon at the same time; quite an experience. The Sun this last fortnight hasn't really been that active in white light, but h-alpha is always a different.

I was wondering: do you think the Giro WR would be workable with something like the 76mm TV and 60mm Lunt on an AZ4 tripod, Shaun? If I recall correctly, I remember a while back you had a similar set up but did you notice any problems with guiding, friction, stability etc?

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Rob,

First of all thank you :smiley:

The skies have been pretty poor here of late, but fortunately and unexpectedly, we have had a couple of nice evenings this week where both the Sun and Moon have been out together.

I still have the giro-mount set up on the AZ4 tripod and as it happens it is my only setup.

I did have to modify the AZ4 tripod slightly for the Giro to fit and I can take some images for you if required, it is very straightforward (only a saw and a file are needed :grin: ) Did I say modify ? maybe butchered would be a better description.

I have no doubt it will work fine with both of your scopes, in fact they are a very good combination. Here are a couple of pics

This would be similar and glides beautifully

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This is extreme but it still glides in all directions beautifully

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Cheers Shaun and that is a very kind offer to supply some pics if needed. Thank you :smiley:

If all goes to plan, I'll try to get old of a Giro WR this summer and if so, I will drop you a line for a helping hand. Glad to hear May and your the trouble you had with your eyes have cleared a good bit and you've been able to have some pleasurable sessions. Tonight will probably be a cloudy one here, but I hope you are able to get out a little to enjoy Saturn and the big, fat Moon :grin:.

Here it's been quite a sunny day, but I think clouds will be rolling in later. The forecast for the beginning of June isn't great but May was quite a month. Only 2 day of clouds blocked the Sun and although I didn't go out on all occassions, there was about 3 weeks of clear nights.

Thanks again, Shaun and I will drop you a PM soon :icon_salut:

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Rob,

The Giro is a 3/8 thread and the bolt has to be inserted from underneath the tripod mount into the Giro. I don't know why it isn't metric especially as it is made in Germany (I think it is biased toward camera fittings) :smiley:

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Very nice setup Shaun, similar to mine so I know how well they work.

Rob, the Giro-WR has a pretty high payload and the clutches are very progressive so setting the tension correctly is very easy. The only problem I find with them is their small size, and in particular the height, or lack of it, leaves the scopes very close to the tripod when you use something like an AZ4 or EQ6.

I use a length of Ali tube as a home made pier extension on mine which works very well.

I also agree with Shaun that balancing is much easier/better with two scopes on the rig. I guess the errors cancel out and it all just works much better. The WR will cope no problem with the Lunt and 76. I regularly used a 76 on a mini giro with a counter balance bar and weight, so having a Lunt do the same job would work fine.

I think an 8" SCT would need at least a giro III, and more likely an Ercole to work well. I used my Mak and 106 triplet on an ayodigi II and it worked beautifully; I wish I still had that mount!!!

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The tripod makes all the difference to stability though so using your AZ4 is a good plan

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Thanks. Shaun, I must give the 8 another go. I did have another scope on to counterbalance, it just didn't feel quite as responsive as with my ED100, but perhaps I need to have another look at the balance/tension?

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