Jiggy 67

Yeh, surely that would work as well, though I’d have to try it, can’t work the mechanics out in my head. Wouldn’t involve re polar aligning, just a quick one or two star alignment to get back on track Go on Nicola, dust off your eyepieces

Thanks Dave good advice. As it was I could see it in the FOV and I did split it, just couldn’t get it in that centre sweet spot....annoying, but I could try your method next time

You could have put your mortgage on this becoming laser V Cheshire 😂🤣

So last night I managed to get clear skies for a couple of hours, from about 7.30pm until around 9.30pm when high cloud rolled in. But I decided to at least make the most of that, and, given the fact there was a full Moon, decided to pick off some double stars from the Cambridge Double Star Atlas so I concentrated on Cassiopeia and Cepheus. I started with Dziban. Nice double easily split at x58 mag. Primary slightly bigger than secondary which is blueish and dimmer. Secondary at 5 o'clock to primary Polaris Bright and large at 8mm (X125 mag) zoom with a faint but obvious much smaller companion at 4 o’clock. I struggled getting Polaris into the centre of the FOV, a peculiarity of goTo mounts I believe, it just wouldn't get there and the best I could do was to get it in the outer third of the fov!!........anyone able to explain this?? Alfirk Beautiful double!! Large bright white primary at 8mm (X125 mag) with a much smaller and fainter secondary at 7 o’clock. Secondary a lovely emerald colour. First clean split of this double at 20mm (X50 mag). Stunning double, my favourite of the night. Alkurah White primary with fainter lilac and smaller secondary at 6o’clock. Can separate with 8mm zoom (X125 mag) but better with 4mm Vixen (X250 mag), clear separation. Primary is reported to be a binary but unable to split so increased the magnification using 6mm Vixen plus 2.5 barlow (X416 mag). Not obvious but possible fleeting glimpses of a very close secondary as the seeing fluctuated. I think the best I could do to split the primary was to defocus slightly, when I did this I could see that the primary was itself a double but I could never swear on it Delta Cep Nice double, easily split with zoom at 16mm (X62 mag) with a large bright star and a 1/3 size blue companion at 9 o’clock Sigma Cas A very tight double, split with the Morpheus 4.5mm (X222 mag). Poor seeing and high cloud which had just started coming in, affected view. Larger white primary and fainter, much smaller star very close at 4 o’clock That took me till 9.30pm when the high cloud rolled in but really enjoyed the evening. I hope some of the above are doubles that don't immediately spring to mind but I would recommend all of them, just don't panic if you struggle with Polaris and a goto!

Yeh, though when you think about it, if you look after it it will last a lifetime so in that respect it’s a bargain..... I suspect you could buy numerous cheaper ones over the years that won’t do the job, won’t last and cost more in the long run as demonstrated by the OP having to throw his away

Sorry meant to post a link https://www.firstlightoptics.com/hotech-collimation-tools/hotech-sca-laser-collimator-with-cross-hair.html

The only one I’d use is the HoTech. It comes fully collimated and uses a compression ring in the focuser to perfectly align it. It’s easy to use and very accurate, not cheap but you get what you pay for I suppose

You have to wonder where the various apps/organizations get their data from. I use Scope Nights which I find to be the best and Clear Outside which, lately I have found to be the worst. Tonight Scope Nights has completely clear skies from 9pm as does the BBC whilst Clear Outside and Xasteria has 100% cloud!!....how can they be so different?!? I suppose we’ll see later who is right

Believe it or not class 4 is good in the UK, verging on excellent!!!. I wouldn’t bother with the mountains for now, just persevere at home, pick your nights and targets higher in the sky. Start with some easy clusters and obvious things like the Orion Nebula which will be naked eye from your location, without even realizing it you will be learning as you go along

I agree, I love double stars but I do save it for moon filled nights because the moon has little or no effect, they are very satisfying targets and , I believe, they are classified as DSO’s

I’m considering a particular mountain in North Wales, COVID restrictions allowing. About half way up should give good unobstructed views to the South and SoutWest and there is a car park there. I may have my new SW 100ED by then which will be easier to transport than the 200PDS. I have no experience of fracs, do you think it would be more suitable for this event than the newt???

SkySafari Plus. Adds a whole lot more to my observing including accurate planning of sessions and detailed information about objects that I can compare with the view through the eyepiece. I have also created my own searchable database of my sessions and observations recording all in detail on SF which provides an end product to be proud of. Just adds “something “ to the hobby IMO

I take it you are doing a 1 or 2 star alignment?...sounds a daft question but if you’re not correctly star aligned Synscan won’t render the sky in the software correctly. As best you can, learn the alignment stars (google Synscan alignment stars) and where they are so you know the best ones to choose when you start alignment

Sounds to me that you’ve got it all, any of your locations are much better than most people have access to. Hills are good for the clear horizons. The great conjunction later this month for example will be much better on a hill with a clear horizon because the event will be so low. I suspect the air will be a bit clearer improving the seeing. I would go for the hill every time if you can get up there with your equipment, might be a different story though when you get a scope and associated paraphernalia

I know I said this earlier but the egg shape is down to tilt, the mirror is either tilted towards or away from the focuser. You need to rotate the mirror, either by hand or with the three tilt screws to make a perfect circle. You might find that you can centre it in the concentric circles then Edit: sorry you’re saying the PRIMARY is egg shape.

Thanks for the replies, at least I know I’m basically doing it right

Hi Barry, I used my concentre yesterday for the first time, a new 2 inch one. You rack the focuser in or out until you can line up with the edge of any circle and then work from that one, it doesn't matter which circle as they are all central. What I found was that I didn't have enough travel to line up with any circle really, I even tried pulling the concentre out slightly but I still found I was able to use the nearest circle pretty well just by looking at the relationship between the secondary and the nearest circle. It looks to me from your image that the secondary is aligned with one edge of the circle so altering the tilt of the secondary may bring the other side in line, the egg shape is caused by the tilt of the mirror, that centre spot should stay where it is Don't know about you but I don't find these as easy as the manufacturer makes out........the circles are always a bit out of focus, I can't get them sharp at all, how are you making them sharp and lighting them up....or is that camera flash? but I can see how they would make for super accurate collimation, far more so than a Cheshire or cap.........I think they take a bit of practise

I think my SW 200PDS is pretty well collimated and I have never touched the position of the secondary mirror under the focuser. However, I have recently took delivery of a Concentric Collimating tool and decided to just check on the position of the secondary under the focuser.........pretty good I thought, but as human nature dictates, I decided to "tweak" it a little, make use of the concentric and make it even better........big mistake, i should have left well alone. Now, although the concentric tool is an outstanding idea which should make collimation very easy and accurate I find it difficult to use, hard to focus the concentric lines, made worse by the fact that it's usually quite dark in the tube......I know I'm going to get a lot of replies about using a Cheshire, I know all about Cheshire's and that isn't the point of this post. My confusion lies in the operation of the central screw in the secondary holder. What I've read suggests that the central screw is an adjustment screw used to move the holder up and down the tube. It is also said that once adjusted, there shouldn't be a need to adjust it again, unless the scope takes a knock or similar. The three screws next to the central screw are tilt adjusters. My confusion is this: What does the central screw tighten up against?....if indeed, it supposed to tighten up against anything. What is to stop it loosening/moving over time and therefore, shifting the position of the secondary. I have read instructions directing me to tighten the screw at the end of the process, but surely any tightening/loosening of the screw will move the secondary as it's an adjustment screw. The only way I can think of to tighten the screw is against the other three tilt screws......is this correct? This also worry's me as these screws need to be movable for daily collimation Any help to end this confusion would be appreciated. I have collimated the scope but don't really know if I've done it correctly, I just ended up tightening the central screw against the 3 adjusters

The simple answer to that is yes, though there are no easy answers when it comes to eyepieces! I have no experience of your scope but a basic principle is to spread out the range of focal lengths and double that with a 2 x Barlow lens. A Barlow basically doubles the magnification of an eyepiece so.......I would consider a high power, medium power and a low power, something like a 6mm, 18mm and a 32mm . With a Barlow added you get 6 focal lengths for the price of 3. As to which type/brand that is personal choice dependent on the depth of your pocket, preferred eye relief, field of view and other factors, have a read up on these on the internet. A well well respected brand are the BST Starguiders which many recommend on this forum. Dont worry if you make a mistake with a purchase because eyepieces are easy to sell on but like anything you get what you pay for so buy the best you can afford ......enjoy the shopping 🛍

The whole point of packaging is to take damage and protect what’s inside. It appears to me that the packaging has done its job well

I love planetary nebulae, they are some of my favorite objects but they can be difficult, barely discernible from the stars around them, I found this particularly difficult at the Galloway star party where thousands of stars made the smaller planetarys difficult to spot. some of my favorites are the obvious and easier ones, NGC 7009, Saturn Nebula is stunning, NGC’s 7027, 6543 and 2392 are all lovely objects and the king of them all ( imo) The Blue Snowball If you have SkSafari, there is observing list called 80 Planetarys for Small Telescopes

If you have SkySafari, the Cambridge Double Star Atlas is available as an observing list. You can highlight them onto the planetarium anytime you like. I do this when planning a session, pick the targets for the session and create an observing list for that session. I make notes/ sketches in a notebook scopeside and then the following day create an observation for each target in SkySafari adding all my notes/equipment used to the database. It’s a really fun, efficient and tidy way of doing things..... I go even further and transfer all the data to a Cambridge Double Star spreadsheet that I keep separately

Has anyone tried the newer version http://apm-telescopes-englisch.shopgate.com/item/333634303538 I’ve ordered one because I had the TS Optics one but always struggled to get focus. New one not arrived yet

For a Synscan handset we are always GMT 0. When it asks for Daylight saving, in winter ie, now, the answer is no, when the clocks go forward the answer is yes. That’s all you need to know. In England we are always 0 because time zones are set from Greenwich in England. So if you’re inputting a time into Synscan, always put the time on your watch/iPhone or whatever you are using, always put GMT as 0 and if the clocks have gone back answer “no” to daylight saving and if the clocks have gone forward to BST answer “yes”......Do not alter the time yourself, always enter the time as it appears on your watch/iPhone etc

Have you considered visual observing for a while. I’ve never done AP but I think if I’d have jumped into it from the start I would have probably reverted back to my Xbox pretty quickly. I don’t know if you started with visual but if you didn’t and give it a go now you may fall back in love with astronomy and approach AP again later......when the kids are older