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dweller25

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Everything posted by dweller25

  1. I have looked at M31 with a 5” APO, a C9.25 SCT and a Skywatcher 10” Newtonian. To be honest none of the views impressed me. I recently looked at M31 again and got that “wow” factor - trust me that does not happen often after 50 years of night sky observing. The sharpness, relative brightness and above all the contrast of the view really caught me out by surprise. The scope was a Mewlon 180C
  2. Yes, the colour vibrancy of the FS128 is superb 👍 But I digress from the OP’s thread……
  3. Hello John, Are you saying the ED150 was a little better than the FS128 or vice-a-versa ?
  4. See here…. https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/843206-flashing-geosynchronous-satellite-trails-common/
  5. When you have read it can you let us know what size scope is being used the observe the Martian craters Mike ?
  6. dweller25

    New member

    Hello and welcome to SGL 👍
  7. That could have been the 2020 opposition when Mars was quite low. I found little to see when viewing Mars that year. The 2022 opposition was much better as Mars was higher - but smaller.
  8. @Flame Nebula When did you observe Mars as a white disk ? I have been observing Mars for a very long time and have never seen it as a white disk. However poor seeing, thermal issues, collimation, Martian dust storms and how far Mars is from opposition can all contribute to a bright pale orange featureless disk.
  9. TLAO is a great classic - I have a copy 🙂 This is the book I started out with many years ago…
  10. I have had two SW127mm Maks and a C6. I preferred the C6 as it showed more planetary detail and had better light grasp for DSO’s than the Mak. The C6 came close to, but did not beat my 4” APO.
  11. The coffee spiral galaxy ? 🤣
  12. Skywatcher 10” Dobsonian. Times have moved on though and either the Stellalyra or Bresser variants would be my choice now.
  13. The 10” Newtonian was the best planetary telescope I ever had 👍
  14. Snap, except I saw Europa merging with the planet, but my seeing was poor - I could see a stream of air moving across the planet !
  15. Tonight at 7pm….. Europa will start transiting Jupiter and the GRS will be visible.
  16. Hello @Mr Brownstone and welcome to SGL…… What vlaiv said 👍 .
  17. @MalcolmM Took the M180 out of the house at 5:40pm, started the fan running on the front and left it until 6:10pm. Looked at Jupiter at x178 and it was ok but not super sharp, could make out the GRS and several bands but a bit soft. Jupiters moons were trying to show an airy disk but it was not steady. Turned the scope onto Bellatrix and defocussed a little, the outer ring shows small protruding spikes - this could be the hairiness you see ? The scope had clearly not cooled down. But there was no lateral air movement across the out of focus image - so seeing was good. Fan put back on and waited until 6:30pm. Back onto Jupiter at x178, much better views and the moons were showing airy disks. Back onto Bellatrix and that was much better too, the outer ring showing much more stability and slight spikes/hairs. In focus showed perfect collimation then slight mis collimation - scope still not cool. Fan back on until 6:45pm, back onto Bellatrix and it was almost stable at x178, very slight spikes when defocussed and perfect collimation. Fan back on until 7:05pm, back onto Bellatrix at x178 - stable. Turned the scope onto Al Kab at x321, stable, no spikes, perfect airy disk, good seeing. So even with active cooling it took 1 hour and 25mins to cool from the house ! BUT - an obstructed telescope will never quite match a refractor for sharpness 👍 Hope that helps.
  18. From what you say about Polaris and the views of the planets I suspect your collimation is very good and perhaps not worth worrying about too much. I think seeing and that final bit of cooldown where the boundary layer (where residual heat hovers on the primary mirror surface) may be the issues. You should be able to see the airy disk of a star at perfect focus at x300 if your scope is cooled and seeing is decent. I see this regularly in the M180 but I always use a fan. In fact I will get the Mewlon out now and give it a try…
  19. Which Mewlon did you have and can I ask In what way was it better ? I’m interested because I tried that but even with filters the secondary got dirty and its harder to clean the secondary than the primary. And the cool rate of the primary was much slower.
  20. Yes Alnitak is too low to assess collimation and it’s a double star - I aim for something at least 70’ high, I aim for Al Kab in Auriga this time of year, which means you are looking through a bit less atmosphere - it all helps ! PS - I have seen a scope that was not fully cooled showing it was out of collimation. Later when it was fully cooled it had perfect collimation 👍
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