John

Just packed in. Lovely session that - just concentrating on the 2 gas giants with the moon occultation being the main feature.

As Jupiter rose higher in the sky, more surface details started to resolve. As well as the delicate NEB barges already mentioned I also got some clear glimpses of the more prominent southern hemisphere white ovals as imaged by @Fedele a few nights ago. First time I've been able to see white ovals with the ED120 

Ganymede and Europa are just pulling away from each other now. I can split them at 250x. They look like a lovely tight binary pair in between Callisto and Jupiter.

No GRS tonight but some nice jovian belt details emerging now. Some small barge-type structures along the N edge of the NEB I think.

Good to be out just now. Saturn not too shabby either

Thanks to this "heads up" from @paulastro I've got my ED120 refractor out and I've actually managed to find a spot in the garden where Jupiter is in view having just popped out from behind a large tree:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/380848-august-1st2nd-ganymede-occults-europa/?tab=comments#comment-4119061

The seeing is a little unsteady with Jupiter low down but it's gradually improving as the planet and it's moons climb a little higher in the sky.

The partial occultation of Europa by Ganymede is in progress and at 225x the pair are showing as a nice "snowman" effect as per the 2nd image on the Astonomy Now page that Paul has kindly posted.

Nice to see this because a) I didn't think it would be clear, b) if clear, I didn't think Jupiter would have risen high enough for me to get a scope on it and c) I'm likely to make my 50,000th post on this forum shortly and this seems a nice way to mark that !!! 

Here is the Stellarium impression of this event:

I'm off out for some more now !

23 minutes ago, John said:

It's actually clear here currently, amazingly

Looking at the timing more carefully, I might catch the end of the event. Jupiter is currently hidden behind large trees

It's actually clear here currently, amazingly

7 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I should know this @John, but what the the focal ratio of your 12-inch?

F/5.3 Jeremy.

6 hours ago, 7170 said:

.... My anecdotal observation is that many visual only observers don’t frequent Internet forums as much, so you could get the impression it is less popular than it actually is.

 

 

That is a very interesting point James.

There are probably a lot of amateur astronomers out there who do not join online forums or at least are not active members of them. I know of a few myself, come to think of it.

Maybe imagers get more out of forums in terms of getting to grips with the technology involved, capture and processing techniques, sharing results etc, etc ?

I was hoping to observe myself tonight but the clouds seem to be bubbling up again around the sky which might put a crimp in things

Congratulations

You have the shorter version of the F/5.3 that I have. Excellent scope !

1 hour ago, Jiggy 67 said:

So @John a couple of weeks into this thread and I think your original question of “Is purely observing a minority pastime now?” Has been answered with a resounding NO….excellent result I think and very encouraging for visual observers. 👍

It certainly does appear that there is still a sizeable percentage of folks for whom observational astronomy is important to their enjoyment of the hobby, which is nice to know 

What is even nicer to know is that there seems to be a healthy respect amongst the astronomy fraternity for the diverse ways that others like to pursue the hobby 

I'm glad I started the thread - the responses have left me feeling optimistic for the future of amateur astronomy in whatever forms people choose to pursue it

My 12 inch dob (pictured below) can be out and setup in about 60 seconds. The base goes out then the optical tube on that and the finders clip on and it's ready to go at low / medium magnifications while it cools. No drives / GOTO with my scope.

The key for me is having my observing place (ie: patio !) close to where the scopes are stored. Just 2-3 metres and no steps.

My refractors take about the same time to put out, a little less time to cool fully for high power observing.

5 minutes ago, George Jones said:

 

Here is a slightly different question: in terms of absolute numbers, has the number of manly visual astronomers gone up or down? Is it possible that, over the past 20 years or so, the number of astronomers of all sorts has gone up, the percentage of mainly visual astronomers has gone down, but the number of mainly visual astronomers has not gone down? I do not have a feel for the answers to these questions, and I am interested in hearing what people think.

Personally, I am a purely visual. I have have taken zero pictures using my scope, not even with a mobile held to the eyepiece to capture the moon. This may because I don't own a mobile. 😀

My work day consists of doing technical stuff with books, lab equipment, and computers. When i get home, it is a nice change of pace to go out with my scope, and do visual observing while pondering the universe.

Good question George and I don't know the answer to it either, but if anyone else does, I'd be pleased to hear from them

Your motivation for observing very much chimes with me

Wish we had some clear skies so that I could do some universe observing and pondering. It seems to have been cloudy in the evenings here for some time now  

30 minutes ago, Ags said:

Well, in an F4 scope a 30mm eyepiece is giving a 7.5mm exit pupil, so the F4 scope would be stopped down by the eye. So the Nagler advantage in fast scopes evaporates at long EP focal lengths...

True. I was referring to the optical correction though, at that time.

My later post suggested that the 24mm 82 might be a more effective choice than a 30mm in a 12 inch dob which I've presumed is the often found F/4.91 variety.

Another vote for the Skytee II here. Not perfect but very capable and a great workhorse.

2 hours ago, popeye85 said:

Cheers John. The reason I was thinking about the 30 was because I already have the 18 and would have thought that the 24 might be a bit close? 

I was thinking of effectiveness under my skies per £ spent. My 31mm does not get a lot of use in my 12inch dob under by Bortle 5 skies whereas my 21mm is often my eyepiece of choice for faint fuzzy hunting.

Your mileage may vary though !

4 minutes ago, Captain Magenta said:

Binoviewers not an option John?

I can't get on with those even with 1.25 inch eyepieces !

This guy might be interested though

On 29/07/2021 at 13:30, Stu1smartcookie said:

As i sell timber for a profession , What type of hardwood do you think that mount is made from , John  

No idea

It's a good tripod though - as sturdy as a 2 inch steel tubed one like the EQ6 uses, but lighter.

Ash is the wood used in the well regarded Berlebach tripods.

It's such a classic and unique eyepiece and comes up quite rarely. Personally I would not let £20-£30 quid get in the way of owning it.

But I've already got one so I'm not in the frame

I think the 3 pairs (1 large + 1 small) of screws around the flange of the focuser (you have labelled one pair "B" in your 1st photo) act as "push-pull" pairs to adjust the tilt of the of the focuser.

Which pushes and which pulls, I'm not sure.

This is from a Skywatcher manual:

With my 12 inch F/5.3 dob under my Bortle 5 skies I generally find that a 21mm eyepiece is more effective low power tool than my 31mm.

In your shoes I might be tempted to go for an ES 24mm 82 rather than the 30mm.

47 minutes ago, popeye85 said:

What's the quality difference between the ES and the Nagler. Again the price difference has put me in a quandary!!

Not a great deal unless you have a really fast scope to use it in. F/4.5 or faster perhaps and the differences in correction will show.

24 minutes ago, Louis D said:

They're only $666 new here in the US...

666 - the number of "the beast"

Hello,

If you see that black spot and the vanes it means that the scope is not correctly focused. It is quite a long way out in fact. When it is in focus, the spot and vanes will not be visible.

You need to adjust the focus, either inwards or outwards, until your target looks it's smallest in the eyepiece.

To get a larger image you need to use a shorter focal length eyepiece or a barlow lens.

I've owned a couple of AZ-4's and I've had a close look at an AZ-5. I reckon the AZ-4 might be a bit more robust than the AZ-5 and have a higher capacity. Not a lot in it and the slow motion facility of the AZ-5 might sway you if your scope is not a long / heavy one.

What scope are you intending to put on the mount ?

Weight capacity alone can be misleading - the tube length makes a lot of difference to stability.

A steel tubed tripod (or even better, wood) is definitely worth opting for over the aluminum one.

My 102mm F/6.5 refractor was very comfortable on the AZ-4 with this nice hardwood tripod.

18 minutes ago, Maideneer said:

Just got home and opened everything. I…didn’t expect everything would be THIS big lol👀

 

I think that is pretty much the reaction that is had from many that are new to decent aperture telescopes

I hope you really enjoy using it !

2 hours ago, Stardaze said:

Bought a 13E today myself in my attempt to future proof. Do wonder about a 22 Nagler, seems a sensible option instead of the 21E.

Despite owning a 21E I cannot bring myself to recommend that anyone spends £800+ on an eyepiece in all honesty (I bought mine used for much, much less than that).

Prior to the 21E, I moved from the 22mm Nagler to the 20mm T5 Nagler but, with hindsight, I think the 22mm Type 4 is a more engaging and immersive eyepiece. After the 31mm T5 I think it was my favourite Nagler eyepiece to use.

Congratulations on the 13E. I hope you really enjoy it. The 13mm was my first Ethos and it proved to be a somewhat slippery slope for me - over the past decade I've owned all the Ethos apart from the 10mm

@JeremyS: Though the reports on what the 11mm TV Apollo can do are really quite enticing, it's not a focal length that does much for me - I think I've only owned one 11mm over the past 30 years so I think I'm safe from temptation on that one !