John

I did an outreach session at a school last year. We did some solar viewing in h-alpha and also tried an exercise with the children to try and demonstrate the scale of the solar system. Not a video or an app but something practical. We used a basketball to represent the Sun and a small bead to represent the Earth which were about the right relative sizes. We asked the children to think how far the Earth / bead might be from the Sun / Basketball on the same scale and they had some guesses by running off around the playground in small groups with beads (dropping their Earths a few times I might add - just as well that we had some spares !). We then positioned it at about the correct distance (about 20 metres away I think ?). We then produced a golf ball to act as Jupiter and they went running off again trying to work out where it would be relative to the Sun and Earth. The answer was somewhat further off than they expected - it was towards the edge of the school playing fields I seem to recall - a bit over 100 metres away. And finally we produced a cricket ball to represent the nearest star - Proxima Centauri and asked for guesses where that would need to be placed. The children knew that the nearest star would be a lot further away so came up with suggestions of nearby towns or even Scotland in one case. The answer did rather surprise them as it did us when we worked it out - the cricket ball would need to be in the middle of Africa to be on a similar scale and we would all need to get on an airplane to take it there ! Now the exact sizes of our representative objects might only be approximately right and similarly with the distances that we reckoned that they needed to be placed but the overall but I think that the whole exercise did at least start to illustrate the sort of scales that we are considering in astronomy. And, most importantly, it kept 8 and 9 year olds interested and active for the 30 minutes or so that it took to complete the exercise. We really enjoyed it as well

Your scope will work quite well with a 40mm eyepiece in terms of exit pupil size but in the 1.25 inch fitting, a 40mm eyepiece will not show show any more sky than a 32mm can and the view can seem rather restricted with a 40mm 1.25 inch eyepiece. The barrel size restricts the size of the field of view that can be shown. Fortunately, at F/10, your scope is not too fussy over the optical correction of an eyepiece so the lower cost wide angles will work quite well too. It you try them in an F/5 scope they won't do so well though.

Very good point ! All your "firsts" will come with this scope and, no matter how expensive equipment you might eventually own, you can never quite re-capture the magic of those early discoveries in the hobby - the first Saturn and Jupiter, early double star catches, your first Messier objects, etc, etc. These views are etched into your memory forever and a 90mm refractor is a great way to get acquainted with the wonders of the Universe

Honey, I shrunk the Explore Scientific 4.7mm UWA vs 17mm 92: David and Goliath:

That is what Cartes du Ciel indicated as well. My zoom at 7.2mm plus the 2.25x barlow was giving 281x in my Tak 100mm F/9 and I reckon the AfoV of the zoom plus barlow at that focal length is around 55 degrees and the true field of about .20 degree. Result: both planets easily fitted in the field of view That sort of power was not doing either planet, and especially Jupiter, any favours though, with them being just on the tree line here so throttling back to 150x -180x gave crisper views and enabled a little Jovian and Saturnian detail to be picked up. It was seeing both these fabulous worlds and some of their moons in the same high power view that was the fascination though Looking at the forecasts, the next 3 days look pretty hopeless but Christmas Eve looks hopeful with the planets still just 20 arc minutes apart, If I can get a "pass" from the boss that is !

Good report and a nice sketch M1 can be hard to spot even with quite large apertures. You did well with your 80mm

You would laugh out loud at what I call audio gear, believe me ! I must be lucky that coma is not something that I have found bothersome even with my Ethos eyepieces and even when I used to have an F/4.8 10 inch newtonian I feel as if I should go back through my reviews though and add the health warning that "no coma correction was used with the newtonians involved". Your experiences echo what @Piero has been posting recently though so there must be something in it

Interesting report. Being a perfectionist can be quite expensive can't it ? Another thought springs to mind - should we place much credibility on any reports on eyepiece performance that are based on their use in newtonians where a Paracorr or other suitable coma corrector is not being used ? That one has bothered me for some time

My first proper scope was a UK made 6" F/6 newtonian. It had a good quality primary mirror (made by David Hinds). I thought that was an excellent "all rounder" scope. Mine was on an equatorial mount but it was possible to get the newtonian on an alt-az mount: The one disadvantage with that model was that it came with a 1.25 inch only focuser. Later ones might have had 2 inch capability though ?

Personally, I think the 3rd photo you posted particularly sums up what the great conjunction is all about

Great stuff all round Doug

Hello and welcome to the forum. There are a number of threads on this event. Lots of observing going on over the days leading up to it

Miraculous cloud and rain clearance here leading to excellent views of the pair with my Tak FC100-DL and barlowed zoom. Crisp and bright at 100x, not so crisp and bright but still both planets in the field of view at 281x. I thought it would be a washout this evening so pleased to have made the effort. Just got to wipe the Tak tube down - still lots of rain drops coming off the trees, none near the optics though. The pair were very nice with the 11x70 binoculars and even with the 6x30 finder. Even if I don't get a view tomorrow (closest approach) I feel I've observed this great conjunction quite well now Excellent to read the other reports coming in as too - thanks for posting them

I was hoping to get a glimpse of them tonight at 9 arc minutes separation. The scope and mount are ready but the sky is currently heavy with dark clouds and rain is falling I'm all ready to leap into action if things clear in the next 45 minutes or so though (ever the optimist !)

Hi - I believe that it is not a particularly difficult target to image. Seeing it visually seems to be quite a different matter

The Baader Classic ortho 10mm (mentioned by heliumstar above) is an excellent eyepiece for lunar, planetary and deep sky observing Currently I often use the 10mm, 7mm and 5mm Pentax XW's and they are superb although 5x the price of the Baader Classic.

Nice report ! While seeing them together is great, this is not a good time to see fine detail on either planet is it ? Young eyes do seem to do well though - sometimes seeing stuff that our older eyes and brains overlook or don't register Mosquitos is a problem that we don't seem to have here - unless @paulastro ran into some hardy Yorkshire ones to add to his other challenges last night !

The mount works fine without a counter weight but I have found that adding a small one (that is a 1.8kg weight) gives a smoother azimuth motion.

You worked hard for those views by the sound of it Paul. Really glad that you were rewarded The things we astronomers to see some blobs of light a long, long way away

Some more great reports - thanks for posting them The planets actually looked quite attractive through my little 30mm RACI finder as well. Even when they dipped behind the branches of the chestnut tree and I was playing hide and seek with them. We had a reasonably clear evening up until about 40 minutes ago. I can still see some stars out there but they are competing with a patchy cloud layer now so I've bought the scope in. How many of us will get another shot at this pairing tomorrow and beyond that I wonder ?. Hopefully, lots

I use either a Giro Ercole or a Skytee II mount with my refractors from 100mm to 120mm in aperture. The Giro Ercole is the lighter of the two (3.8kg for the mount head) but does not have slow motion controls. It easily carries my ED120 F/7.5 refractor so should cope with a 90mm without any problem. Here is a review of the Ercole by an SGL member: http://alpha-lyrae.co.uk/2015/05/03/tele-optic-giro-ercole-alt-az-mount-review/ The scope on the mount in the photo below is my Takahashi 100mm F/9:

Thanks for all the reports folks My other half did come and have a peek at the pair and a little later also enjoyed the colour double star Gamma Andromedae. She won't be taking up the hobby anytime soon I suppose but she did make all the right noises about the views

Edit: I should have added "transparency" to my description of the skies above. Dark and transparent skies are vital. I spent ages getting and staying dark adapted when I managed to see the Horsehead as well. I kept away from any light source whatsoever for about 2 hours. Even turned the reticule of my Rigel Quikfinder off. Of course the whole thing might be somewhat easier and more of a sight at a truly rural site with skies - say bortle 2/3.

Very nice - proper "big frac" experience and a not too big price tag

The darkness of the skies and getting the exit pupil right are almost more important than the aperture of the scope I think. I've managed it a couple of times with my 12 inch dob using a H-Beta filter but it is probably the least distinct target that I have ever observed. I use this Jeremy Perez quote often with regard to this target but it is a good one: "Really, it's like trying to see a little bit of nothing with a little bit of less than nothing resting over it."