Jiggy 67

21 hours ago, Patbloke said:

Then my first Starparty in the Peaks where I had the great fortune to tent up next to Nick... I never used my own little scope that weekend and was given skytours, much banter, vodka and a new insight into the world of the Astro nuts

Hi Pat, I'm pretty sure I was tented the other side of you at that star party ........was your missus with you?...apologies if I'm wrong. I too took a break for a few years for various reasons but I've been back for nearly 12 months and loving it all over again??.....enjoy

Looks like you benefit from an excellent observation site. 

All the advice above is good regarding alternative methods of PA. A couple of points from me regarding the traditional use of the polar scope. First, the altitude scale on the mount is not accurate, I haven’t took much notice of mine for a while. I think I live at 52’ (that’s how often I take notice of it) but when accurately polar aligned my altitude scale is nearer 60’ that’s where it is sitting as I type and I have extremely accurate pa using the traditional method.

If you continue with manual PA an app like Polar Align Pro can assist as it has a daytime polar align routine which is not accurate enough for AP but will at least get Polaris in the fov of the polar scope for later fine adjustment.

6 hours ago, Jarvo said:

Queue the hate mail....

👹👹👹........Only joking...enjoy!

10 minutes ago, Dave2292 said:

I thought that was the case . I suppose manually returning to a planet wouldn't be too hard after. Thanks for the reply 

It would only take a couple of minutes to realign after making changes. There’s no need to re do a full set up, you don’t have to enter time, date etc, just access the setup menu and go straight to the two star alignment bit....should take about 5 minutes to do.

 I would return to home first and make sure you are in the correct home position as you might have slipped when loosening the clutch 

7 hours ago, Pixies said:

But a new purchase winging its way to me shortly might change that.

.....pray tell......

I also struggled with the Triangulum and Pinwheel galaxies last night, couldn’t get either of them. I think a combination of sky glow and possibly high level wispy clouds didn’t help. The biggest problem I have from my location are galaxies!

 I forgot about Neptune, I’ll give it a go tonight if I go out......I’m not used to 3 nights in a row so don’t know if I can manage it!! 😀

Do you ever wish you hadn’t asked the question cos I’m in a real quandary now. 😀 Your advice has got me torn between the SW Evostar 80 ED and the 100 ED. I feel that I need the extra aperture for visual as I live under light polluted skies and DSO’s are a big part of my observations . However, the wider fov of the 80 is appealing. I can stretch to the 100 if it will be a big improvement over the 80 .  

3 hours ago, Gasconman said:

PolarAligner comes in two versions, free and paid for. The ‘Pro’, paid for version (which is cheap enough) has a ‘Daytime Alignment’

PolarScope Align Pro has the same feature. I use it for a rough alignment whilst setting up during the day. You may find it more accurate than your version as it’s not a beta and has been out for a while. You have to bear in mind though that, due to the metal/magnetism in your mount it will only be a rough alignment which maybe fine for visual obs. I find that it will get Polaris in the fov of the polar scope (most of the time) but adjustment is needed at night through the polar scope for accurate PA. Useful and time saving feature though

Thanks for your help, I’ll have to give it some thought. Visual obs will override AP so both of your answers have merit 🥺😩

I have always used reflectors but I fancy the idea of widening my horizons and buying a refractor, initially for visual observations but with a view to doing a bit of AP when I retire in 18 months. My preference is DSO, of all descriptions, double stars and planets (everything really) so it needs to be a bit of an all rounder and around the £500 mark. It would be on an EQ6 R Pro and be used, mostly, with the Morpheus range of eye pieces. I am considering this:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bresser-telescopes/bresser-messier-ar-152s-760-refractor-ota.html
 

What do the refractor experts think of this scope? Is it a good choice? Any comments/advice welcome 

6 hours ago, Jm1973 said:

tried the blue snowball as well, but it was so faint and small I could not really see it

You’ll need a bit of power on the Blue Snowball, not the 25mm which will only give you X40 mag, 

21 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

NGC 7662 the blue snowball lovely nebula. 

My Favourite!!

That’s a big question!... there are literally thousands depending on environmental conditions such as your level of light pollution. M57, The Ring Nebula is quite well placed in Lyra at the moment, not far from Vega and is always a good object to view, the dumbbell Nebula is close by as well. 
Can I ask why you are looking manually with a GoTo? I only ask as an EQ mount can be really awkward to star hop manually 

That method looks really complicated and unnecessary. Try using this method for the perfect home position 

9 hours ago, Uplooker said:

Unfortunately not big enough for Derren

Ian, are you calling him “Derren “ cos it works better for him to lip read??

6 hours ago, merlin100 said:

I hope my homebrew beer is ready in time... 

All of us hope your home brew is ready in time 👍😀

24 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Sorry, I think it's a mess. As a photo of Andromeda it's worth 6/10 at best and the gimmick with the stars may be art, but it's bad art and shows that the imager does not understand the effect he is trying to create. The reduction in star size towards the vanishing point is not wrong in principle but it should be accompanied by a reducing sharpness towards that vanishing point. What we have is the reverse, so the supposedly foreground stars are blurred and the more distant ones sharp, in painful visual conflict with what is intended. 

I'm not a fan of gimmicks in AP at the best of times but, done as badly as this, I really dislike them!

Olly

Edit: I come from a family of professional artists and am married to a professional painter. I react in similar vein to the gimmicky claptrap of 'conceptual' artists and hackers in half of cow carcasses! Hence my irritable reaction. Sorry, but there it is.

 

Stop sitting on the fence Olly......Do you like it or not!! 😂

I accept that it’s an image created with trickery and that it’s more art than science but I think he has created a very pleasing result

I’m no imager but this award winning photo of Andromeda is amazing. He has used a 3D effect to make the galaxy appear closer. What do the imagers think??........

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-54105085

6 hours ago, JamesF said:

They disappeared two or three years back, I believe.

James

That’s a shame. I have one of their covers which I use underneath a Telegizmos when the weather is really severe. It is a really good cover 

I was gonna suggest Green Witch but a quick search reveals they no longer exist!!!😢😢 The only result returned on Google was TG, no other brands, I hadn’t realized there were so few choices!!

8 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Wish FLO would start stocking the Concentre colimation aid. I now consider it an essential in getting the secondary perfectly adjusted in particular.

I got one of these a few weeks ago but I just can’t seem to get the circles focused properly in the focuser 😢 if you know what I mean, they are blurrd

Many cheaper laser collimators require collimating themselves which can be more of a pain than collimating the actual scope! I have the HoTech laser collimator which is expensive but an outstanding collimator. It does not require collimating and uses a compression ring to centre itself in the focuser, unlike many cheaper versions which rely on the focuser screws which squew the collimator off centre. The HoTech makes the process very easy and is very accurate. It also uses a “star” like laser point rather than a dot which assists with the finer adjustments

I have the full Morpheus range after using the savings from lockdown to purchase them over several months. Due to appalling amounts of cloud since purchasing them I’ve not been able to try them out much but I have tried the 17.5mm and found it to be excellent in my F5 newt. Crisp and sharp with no noticeable aberrations. I found that I had to increase the eye relief by using the spacer ring supplied and after that it was really comfortable. I have briefly gone down through the range, splitting a couple of double stars and was very satisfied with minimal refocusing required between focal lengths. Jupiter through the 4.5mm was outstanding with all 4 Galileon moons still visible, although at the very edge of the FOV. One thing I do like is they appear to provide a lot of contrast. I recommend the Morpheus though I’m no expert, but I cannot see me buying any replacements any time soon and that includes Televue 😀👍

I would use a dust blower to remove as much debris as possible before using any cloth , you don’t want the cloth scraping debris across the glass and scratching it