John

I suspect that folks who observe in more southerly latitudes wonder what all the fuss is about !

I fitted the Vixen GP and the GP-DX to my EQ5/HEQ5 compatible Uni 28 without any issues. That has an M10 screw. The EQ5 was more or less a copy of the GP so probably not a surprise.

Dust cap for the eyepiece of a Skywatcher finder scope. Lost in the dark and in long grass at my society observatory. I'll manage without it, I guess ........

The Stelle Doppie database has a tab which gives a number of list options. Populars (10K of them) is the default but there are other options / selections down the left hand side of the webpage including filters and export options: Populars - Stelle Doppie - Double Star Database

Wonderful colours 👍

I started this thread in the observing section last year with some more tips in: It's that season again - the hunt for "the Pup Star" - Sirius B - Page 2 - Observing - Discussion - Stargazers Lounge

Lots of times over the past decade or so. Starting out with a 12 inch dob and gradually working my way down, eventually, to being able to see it under really good conditions with my 100mm refractor. No filters or occulting bars although I have tried them from time to time. Just steady seeing. I find around 200x - 250x is the optimum magnification. Eyepieces / optics with low levels of light scatter preferred. It's a good time now because the separation is about as much as it gets - around 11 arc seconds. The secondary star is still usually immersed in the glare from the primary though and that's the trick - spotting the "Pup" amongst Sirius A's halo of light.

I use alt-az mounts now in preference to anything else because of their sheer simplicity of setup an operation. I'm happy to deal with tracking manually, finding stuff for myself etc, etc in return for that. Others will make other judgements though and thats fine of course 🙂

I've had the Vixen GP and GP-DX - they both fit fine onto an EQ5 / HEQ5 compatible tripod hub, including the Berlebach Uni 28. With my (older) Skytee II I replaced the saddles with ADM twin screw versions. I had an early version of the Skytee II on loan for testing and the stock saddles were poor on that. A little after this photo was taken I found that the stock saddle used was in a poor state already. I was lucky that the scope (6 inch F/8 refractor) didn't take a tumble 😬

A quick session after supper tonight with the ED120. Notables so far are the Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392) in Gemini with it's central star, The Beehive (M44) and Golden Eye (M67) Clusters in Cancer and my first look for many months at the alluring but challenging triple star Tegmine (Zeta Cancri). The close pair of Tegmine needed some pursuasion (ie: 250x - 300x) to prize apart - according to the Stella Doppie database the separation is 1.098 arc seconds. Interestingly, the Nagler 2-4mm zoom made that close split a little easier than the Svbony 3-8mm zoom tonight. First time that I've seen a noticeable difference between these high power zooms.

NGC 604 in Messier 33 ? Edit: no competition for quasar distances of course !

The darkness and transparency of my sky (supposedly Bortle 5) varies hugely depending on the direction I look in because of LP glows from nearby cities (Bristol, Bath, Newport and Cardiff). To the S and W and overhead it can pe pretty dark. To the N and E, it's not worth trying to hunt for anything faint unless it's 45 degrees or more above the horizon. I have to be patient and wait for targets to get to the more favourable parts of the sky. It could be worse though - I have seen the Horsehead Nebula a couple of times from my back garden. I can usually see M31 with the naked eye when it's decently placed and quite a lot of the milky way on a good night.

On my Skytee II I have knobs rather than cables for slow motion controls.

I've compared the 3mm and 4mm settings of my Nagler 2-4mm zoom with the Svbony zoom quite a few times now. With the exception of the slightly wider AFoV of the Svbony, I've seen little difference in optical performance so far. The Nagler zoom has more refined "click" detents and in .5mm steps, which can be useful. I don't think the Svbony quite gets to 3mm focal length - 3.4mm at the shortest, maybe ? I was looking for a 3-6mm Nagler zoom (which would be my 3rd 🙄) but I've put that on hold for the time being as the Svbony generally seems to be holding it's own.

A couple of Vixen mounts from my past. A GP in black from when Vixen used to make gear for Celestron: And a GP-DX with my 130mm F/9.2 triplet on board:

I can carry the Skytee II and Uni 28 tripod outside in one piece quite easily. My observing site is just a few paces from the door though. I would not want to carry it up and down stairs or 100's of feet from the house.

The AZ-4 base will sit on the Uni 28 tripod hub in the same way that it does on the 1.75" steel tripod: The Skytee II fully inserts into the recess on these tripod tops. On the topic of the Skytee II, I have used my 130mm F/9.2 triplet refractor on the Skytee II and it has done quite well but not well enough (for my tastes) at the very high powers that this scope is capable of. The tripod is the Uni 28 here:

Don't just go on the weight capacity with these mounts (any of them), think of the tube length - that makes more difference to stability than the raw weight of the optical tube.

Nice job Mike 👍 I've done my DL once and it looks just the same under the dew shield.

I think you are doing a great job of capturing the beauty of such stars 👍 My Vixen ED102SS F/6.5 shows more prominent diffraction rings (similar to your Tak FSQ 85) than my Tak FC100-DL F/9 does. I rather like seeing a neat diffraction ring especially surrounding or enclosing a close pair of evenly matched stars. My Tak does not show them around Alnitak, or at least they are so fine I can't see them. Gamma Leonis and Gamma Virginis look aesthetically slightly nicer with the Vixen than the Tak because of this, I feel. I also like the "diamond ring" effect of a dimmer secondary star apparently resting on the diffraction ring from the brighter component. Maybe faster focal ratio scopes show slightly more prominent diffraction rings ? Nice sketches 🙂

It's so good to read a report from an experienced observer who has found a setup that ticks such a lot of boxes 🙂 Fortunately for @Stu (perhaps) the FS-152 doublets are very, very scarce in the UK. Great report Stu - I enjoyed reading it 🙂

Perfect, thanks Stu 🙂

I'll spill the beans - Stu's perfect setup is a 1960's Tasco 60mm 😉

Hi Stu - it's a great post but could you change the colour scheme ? - I'm seeing it as black text on a dark grey background - hard to see ! Thanks 🙂

Great images of an amazing looking active region 🙂 I wonder how large the largest AR observed was ?