Mr Flibble

Looks good 👍 You should find they'll help you out a lot. I've done something similar for my Telrad and my finder scope to give the correct field of view when star hopping. I've got velcro on each one to attach to the side of the atlas when not in use.

Great stuff. Really enjoyed reading through your observing session. Good luck with your dew issues, you'll get it sorted in no time 👍

Hello Denys. Hope you enjoy getting into astro it can be very rewarding and fun. In terms of magnification I think a 20mm with 70 degrees will work well as a finder eyepiece to locate objects. That gives you a field of view almost identical to what I use to locate objects. For a second higher power eyepiece it will depend on what your preferences are for viewing and how your own interests develop. I mostly hunt down faint fuzzies and I mostly use a magnification of x90 and x125 for viewing galaxies, star clusters and nebulae. A 6mm eyepiece would give you this. To view planets this generally requires more magnification again. Plus how stable the atmosphere is will play a large part when viewing planets, the more 'still' the atmosphere the more magnification you can use. The general guidelines is up to about x200 as a ball park figure. I think the 6mm with a barlow will be too much magnification unless you live in a location with great viewing conditions. If you don't, I'd be tempted to go with a 4mm eyepiece instead of the barlow which will give you a mag of x188. A 20mm, 6mm and 4mm will give you a nice range. Hope this is of some help. Enjoy the hobby and clear skies!!

Derek, you've got the moon age wrong. Deffo not 29.44 days. I specifically remember seeing it as a child and that was a long time ago 🤣🤣 Grabs hat......

I leave my mirror alone......until it starts to look really gunky. Mine will fit in the kitchen sink. I use a little bit of washing liquid and let it soak for a minute then rinse off with distilled water. Prop it on its side to drip dry. At a guess I think I've cleaned it twice in the last eight years or so.

Great stuff Derek 👍

Will be Mars opposition on the tuesday night (13th). In pisces. Around midnight. Should be decent this year. Allegedly. Current forecast has it snow showers easing off after sunset.

I really hope it goes ahead this autumn. What a nice way it would be to come out of lock down with a trip to drumroamin under a starry sky and good company. I have an image in my head of everyone's rigs having two meter markers on the ground radiating outwards 🤣🤣🤣 Whether it be this autumn or next year it can't come soon enough. Stay safe everyone ✌️

its kinda nice observing inside in the warm.........🤣

and pretty confident on M37 and M38......can't make out M36 tho......

I can see M35 in the second image 👍👍

Forecast is clear after midnight tonight for anyone who has arrived already. I've lost track of who's attending given the sogginess of the situation but here's hoping for some clear skies for everyone this weekend. I look forward to seeing some lunar images from Damian please.

I'm booked!! 7 nights sunday to sunday. Only eight months to go..........the long range weather forecast has it clear 😜

Hey hope everyone has had a good xmas and new year. I'll be booking up for 7 nights. Not sure what nights yet but probably sunday to sunday to try and catch some empty roads 🤘

Great stuff Mark 👍

Do you mean hand-delivered by Al himself?

Home now. The drive took 9 hours with breaks so tired but happy! What a fantastic week. Four and a half clear nights with plenty of observing and banter. Was great to see everyone again. Big thanks as always to Mike for his hospitality and warmth and for always making me feel welcome. And thanks to Lesley and Ralph for the stay and putting on the food on friday night. And to everyone who chipped in and contributed to making the 10th anniversary a big success 👍 Can't wait to return next year 😀

All new Herschels bagged in the last two nights. All OCLs except for those stated :- Cygnus - 6866, 7128, 7086, 7062, 7044, 7008 PLN, 6834 Draco - 5982 GAL, 5985 GAL (couldn't get the third of the Draco triplet!) Gemini - 2371 PLN, 2372 PLN Taurus - 1647, looked really hard for 1817 but couldn't find it! Persus - 1245, 1545, 1528, 1513 (looks like a snake to me), 1342, 1023 GAL, 1444 Delphinus - 6905 PLN, 7006 GLOB Aquila - 6755, 6756, 6781 PLN Rounded it off with a very detailed look at UGC 7490. What a pretty galaxy. Such fine detail to be teased out. Now I know why Damain spends ages looking for it

We had a good dose of clear skies last night. Wind had dropped so was very peacefull with just the odd owl hoot and horse munching to break the calm. Bagged a few new Herschel objects for the first time in an age. Although clear, the transparency wasn't great so I concentrated on mostly star clusters rather than chasing galaxies. Cass - NGCs 659, 654, 637, 436, 381, 278, 225, 136 Andromeda - NGCs 7686, 404 Pegasus - NGCs 7217, 7448 Gemini - NGCs 2371 and 2372 - pair of planetary neb needed a UHC to bring out the hourglass shape Safe journey to everyone who's making the trip this week. Glad the car is fixed in time for you Ian 👍

Yes have a safe journey. Take it easy on the long drive. Make sure you bring all the kit so you don't have to borrow off Julian I'll be loading the car saturday next week and setting off early hours sunday morning.

Me, Myself and Irene.

Good news. I've managed to get the time off work. So I'll be arriving on the 27th and leaving on the 3rd. I haven't seen everyone for a while so can't wait to catch up 👍

Nice one Adrian. I'll give you a hand to put your tent up on the saturday......hope its not too windy!! I'll be leaving on the monday 28th but we'll have a couple of days to catch up ?

Cool. That means I'll only have to have conversations with myself for three days until company arrives ? Hope you're keeping well ?

I really want to make it this autumn, especially as its the 10th anniversary. But I've got issues lately with not being able to get time off work during half term periods which is why I haven't made the last couple of trips. So I'm toying with the idea of arriving on the 21st and staying the week before. I'll be billy no mates and have to go home before the main event ? but at least I'll have made the trip!