dweller25

Great observation and drawing 👍

Brilliant work @alexwolf 👍👍

Third most popular name after Sato and Suzuki..... https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/the-10-most-common-surnames-in-japan-and-their-meanings

Don’t know about the Mr Takahashi link with Pentax but It’s a very popular Japanese name

Excellent 👍 What date and time was this ?

Great drawing Mike - I was out at the same time but had poor seeing and heavy mist that strongly affected the views 🙁

The best way to maximize SCT performance is :- 1. Either point the scope down with both end caps off for at least an hour to allow it to cool or wrap it with refectix to improve thermal stability - this way you get good performance straight away. 2. Once thermally stable check the collimation at best focus at high power - ideally you will see a star with a perfect circle surrounding it. 3. Pray to the weather Gods for good seeing 😁👍

Excellent observation and drawing Chris 🙂

Excellent drawing Mike👍

Yes rice will work plus once dry give it a good uv soak from the sun to prevent mould growing.

Brilliant 👍

Can you take a couple of photos and post them here ?

Great report Gerry, I can only imagine what the views are like through your Dob - do you use the 120mm as a finder ? 😂

I was just going to say the same thing 🤪

Great sketch Mike, I was out at the same time but did not catch the same detail - time to get the Binoviewers out I think.......

Thanks Gerry

Nice image, what time was it taken please ?

Mars was surprisingly putting on a great show at 10pm - much better detail than Jupiter showed when due south earlier in the evening and at a similar altitude. I used a good old KK 12.5mm Ortho for this drawing giving x153 in my setup. The polar ice cap was bright. I’m not the greatest artist but it represents what I saw. More to come hopefully as Mars moves to closest approach in October....

Very nice Mike - very steady seeing last night 👍

Hi @StarGazingSiouxsie I had the same problem - resolved with a 50% transmission Neutral Density filter to bring the brightness down that was washing away detail. It will not effect the tone of Mars at all 👍 https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p319_TS-Optics-1-25--Grey-Filter-ND-03---50--Transmission---Neutral-Density.html

Wrapping it in a couple of layers of Reflectix will definitely help.....

The seeing quality of the UK skies varies a lot - so I use a zoom to match the seeing conditions. The Baader 8-24 zoom used in your Mak will give magnifications from x63 which is great for Luna to x188 which is about ideal for a 5” obstructed scope on the planets. It’s not cheap at £185 but four BST’s would cost a little more. The zoom is even better value if you can find a used one.....

Yup 😁

I’ve got wind 😂

Gort, Broadhurst Barada Nickto 😁👍