Jiggy 67

Dubhe is actually a quadruple system……from SkySafari……… The star is orbited every 44 years at a distance of about 23 AU by a warmer, much dimmer, and less massive class F0 V star. Over 400 times farther away, at a distance of about 8000 AU, is another class F8 star that also has a companion with a 6-day period - making Dubhe a quadruple system.

A globular and 3 nebulae in the same field of view!!….wow!!…..so jealous!!! FYI - NGC6752 is recorded in SkySafari as being one of the oldest known objects in the Universe which, I’m sure you’ll agree, makes the observation even more special

Well with my Newtonian I like to be able to stand up as straight as possible . The bigger problem is the position the ep can end up in resulting in awkward body contortions

I think it’s whatever is comfortable for you. No set rules and depends on your scope. Are you talking newt or frac?

Always enjoy your reports from down under Joe

The thing is that the program is not for amateur astronomers anymore. Other than the couple of minutes given to Pete Lawrence it is basically a science program mostly about space exploration, not astronomy. I remember when it was about Patrick Moore sat with a guest discussing a deep sky object including how to find it, what equipment to use and what it would look like…..there is none of that anymore, it is all about space tech and professional large telescopes

A rough polar alignment will only give you a rough tracking ability. Star alignment is not the same as polar alignment. One tells the scope where it’s pointing and where everything is in the sky relative to where it’s pointing and the other sets the RA axis to the North Celestial Pole so it can track accurately. You need to do an accurate polar alignment, the more accurate, the more accurate your tracking will be Also there is no need for a three star alignment, the third star serves no purpose unless you suffer from cone error which you don’t need to worry about for now. A one or two star alignment is perfectly adequate

I watch this every month, and really enjoy it. I often think that there should be more of this on the actual programme instead of talk of satellite manufacturing and similar. In my opinion this is what the program was started for

Apart from cost, there is no reason why you can’t go for an eyepiece to provide you with the highest magnification possible for your particular scope. The main limiting factor is seeing and transparency, sometimes you can achieve x300 or even x400, sometimes no where near that. I would recommend at least one ep that Max’s out your potential…..because, sometimes, it will work great. Also you don’t need to reserve it for planets, planetary nebulae and double stars, for example, require huge magnification sometimes, but when the conditions are right, you will thank the Gods for a high mag, high quality ep

Just a quick update for those Interstellarum users interested. I worked out the correct diameter of the circles required as 7.5mm, 3cm and 6cm. I tried creating concentric circles to those measurements on Windows at work......could I work it out??....No, not easy on Windows. So i did at home on Mac and it took literally 5 minutes. I sent the document to these.... https://www.ezeeplan.co.uk and they charged me £4 plus P&P to print it on to clear acetate.....The circles were correctly scaled.... This is the Telrad circles supplied with the Sky Atlas 200 on a Sky Atlas map: This is the same area of sky on SkySafari: And this is the homemade Interstellarum one: So i'm pretty made up I got everything right. Here is the correctly scaled template if anyone wants it: Telrad Cicles.pdf

Bortle 5 isn’t great but a lot better than my Bortle 8 and I can see quite a bit in my 8” scope. I don’t really trust the Bortle scale anyway, especially the online sources that tell you where you are on the scale. At this time of year, don’t expect too much from DSO’s, it just isn’t dark enough, open clusters, globular clusters and multiple star systems should be your targets at this time of year. Come the winter you will be able to see hundreds of nebulae, planetary nebulae, fainter star clusters and the brighter galaxies. As an example, in my skies, galaxies are my nemesis, they have very low surface brightness and require dark skies but even I can see quite a few. There are aids to viewing….dark adaption is crucial. You can try light pollution filters or other types of filters for nebulae, OIII and UHC…..but a level of patience is the biggest assist you can have

Field of view isn’t particularly important for the planets but contrast is, you want to see the different bands on Jupiter for example so I think these may be good for you. I would recommend the 6mm or 8mm because you could use it with your Barlow but with the 6 you would probably at the extreme of magnification https://www.firstlightoptics.com/vixen-eyepieces/vixen-npl-eyepieces.html

There is one absolute guarantee and that is that you won’t stay interested in just the planets and the moon for long, if you get the bug, you’ll want to go deeper very quickly so realize that from the beginning and plan for it in advance. I’m no Astro photographer but I believe these are well thought of as a good all rounder and as a good beginner AP setup. A bit more than what you wanted to spend but it might save you money in the long term https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p-ds-eq3-pro-goto.html

Unbelievable!!

I get what you’re saying, but if you can’t see it, you can’t see it, it doesn’t stop you using a Telrad for what you can see…which is conveniently categorized for 4, 8 and 12 inch scopes. I already have the Sky Atlas 2000 but I wanted something a bit deeper and the IDSA is certainly that, it’s far more detailed than the Sky Atlas 2000……not as pretty though and a bit more difficult to find objects and navigate the charts but easier to handle at the scope

So, forgive my ignorance and poor geometry skills here. If I was to draw three circles to the scale of a Telrad Finder as @PeterW suggests.....0.5 degrees, 2 degrees and 4 degrees and for that to match the scale of the Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas of 15mm per degree, I would set a compass at 7.5mm, 30mm and 60mm??........Is that correct??..........or am I just embarrassing myself 🤪

Let’s not forget something as simple as mental health. Especially through the pandemic, I have found something as simple as standing in the freezing cold, in my back garden, concentrating on trying to find a mind blowing distant object through a telescope and then making notes on my observations, extremely useful and helpful…..far better for my mental health than sitting in front of Netflix every night!!…….though there is a place for Ozark as well

At £4389??….Surely that’s a scam

I think it’s the mount that gets it that title 🤣

Hi all, I’m considering the purchase of this atlas but I want something I can use in conjunction with a Telrad overlay I have. The overlay I have is the one from the Sky Atlas 2000 Deluxe Edition. Does anyone know if this overlay can be used with the Interstellarum atlas or would the scale be all wrong??

Maybe that’s why I can’t place mine, I have the markIII 🤥

I think you might be surprised. The BHZ Is a quality zoom and often they can change hands multiple times. I actually can’t think of where my 2” nosepiece is 🤣

Is that not what you already have, just sold separately?

As I understand it, there is no "edge of the universe". There can be no edge to something where nothing exists beyond it and when I say nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, no space, no time. This state of "nothingness" existed before the universe came into being. I say "before" but there was no before, because there was no time. The big bang (again, misleading, there was no big explosion) did not happen in a "place" there was no place, it occurred everywhere at the same time, creating the universe as we know it today. There is no centre of the universe, from which galaxies are speeding away from. Space (and time) themselves are stretching which gives the effect of galaxies speeding away. Because of this stretching, we can estimate distance to the furthest galaxies using the red shift end of the spectrum (created when light waves are stretched by space itself stretching). We will never observe the "edge" of the universe because there is no edge, there can't be, because nothing exists beyond it

Thanks for the heads up Nightfisher, looks amazing. It’s really useful when people post recommendations for observing locations. I often think it would be a popular sub forum for people to post dark site locations they use, if they are comfortable to do so, Astro friendly campsites, places to avoid or for people looking for a suitable location to ask the question. I asked for advice on a couple of locations in Derbyshire recently but got no response. It may have been different with a dedicated sub forum……Maybe the mods might consider it???