Grump Martian

Total collapse. Could not resist

I have the Starfield 102 mm f7 from FLO. A fabulous refractor. I also have a matching Seymour white light solar filter. The views of Sol are great. Get one.

3 hours ago, Swoop1 said:

I have just broken Apollo Remastered from its cellophane wrapper and have high expectations of it.

 

Thanks for the heads up on this book. Now on my birthday list. I love the photo of Aldrin being allowed to take his pipe to chew on it during Gemini mission.

5 hours ago, Astroscot2 said:

😉

 One thing I did notice was Houston continually ensuring all was go, the pressure on Armstrong must of been huge. Definitely the right stuff.

Hi Astroscot2. I just loved hearing all of the interaction from mission control "Go,no go" was a common phrase. I have a cd by the music group "Public Broardcast Service"

It's called The Race for Space. It mixes their music with news commentary about space missions and mission control audio. The track  Go is the best with the then flight controller Gene Krantz calling Go  no go. And then when Apollo 11 landed he cries out Stay, no stay! Great albu.. look it up.

I am watching a documentary on Youtube. "Apollo 17 Remastered (50th Anniversary)". I'm sure that it can be found on other channels. It tells the story of Apollo 17's three day stay in The Taurus Littrow region of The Moon.

Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt really tested their endurance and the capability of their equipment and especially the Luna rover. The longest traverse in the rover was was 20 km and the greatest range from the LM was 7.6 km. Imagine that distance relying on relatively untried technology. Harrison Schmitt was the only non military pilot to travel to the Moon, being a geologist. Of course astronaut Ronald Evans should not be forgotten. He bravely piloted the Command module spaceship alone.

NASA cancelled Apollo missions 18, 19 & 20. Just imagine what may have been achieved if these missions had taken place. 

I remember as a 12 year old watching the live tv transmissions. The excitement expressed by Harrison Schmitt when he discovered orange Luna soil which proved that there was volcanic activity at some point in the Moons history.

I am now studying my Luna atlas so as I can better appreciate what I am seeing while obseving the Moon.

If you like spectacular Apollo mission photographs take a look at a book called Full Moon by Michael Light.

The picture is from this book. It shows the Apollo 17 Luna module two miles away. Would the astronauts  have been able to walk back if their rover had failed?

Yes I’m sure we had a Grumpy Martian before.

Easier if people just used their real names.

I am the original Grumpy Martian . I have rejoined. It's good to be back. Using my real name Martin does not express how miserable and grumpy I am😁😁

I have submitted my header name and made a mistake. I submitted it as Grump Martian.

It should be Grumpy Martian?

Any help would be welcome.

Dobsonians are good if your garden does not have high fences or bushes.They are situated on the ground The Maksutov on a tripod can give a better vantage point for viewing higher up. Maksutov's are designed for planetary observations and some smaller deep sky objects.

On 24/01/2023 at 08:09, badhex said:

Throwing in my lot with another vote for a 4" doublet, specifically the Starfield 102 as mentioned by @Mr Spock if you're in the UK, or other brandings for elsewhere in the world. 

Obviously it does not have the light gathering of a larger dob but the performance you do get per inch is exceptional. Added to that, with the right EP combo you can easily get 4° of sky at one end and 200x at the other, which is a great spread and covers many objects. 

I really enjoy using my Starfield under my light polluted skies

The interloping star is HD 1385 in Pisces. This is shown in Stellerium at 6.45 p.m.

A brief look at the moon and then Jupiter just a few minutes ago,6.45 p.m.

Nice to see the Earthlight on the unilluminated part of the moon.

But what made me smile a little was the view of Jupiter. It normally shows the four largest moons. But for a brief moment I could see five. Ha, just a star close by. Funny how one's mind works. Thinking it was an extra moon for the briefest of moments. Of course it was a star inteloping with the Jovian system that we know and love.

Expand the picture should show it above the third moon on the right. Please don't laugh at me,lol.

I currently have a 102 mm f7 ed refractor. An excellent tradional telescope which I enjoy using and will keep.

But I recently sold my Celestron C6 OTA. I used this as a travel telescope on visits to dark skies in Swanage and Wales.

What a mistake to sell it. I cannot see new ones for sale anywhere. Have they stopped making them?

I once enjoyed owning a Celestron C5. I found that the C6 gave much brighter views. You would expect that given the extra size. But they were pleasingly much brighter. Oh for the addition of another C6 to my armoury. Are there plans to sell the C6 OTA again I wonder?

Crikey Stu, you'll need steps and a safety harness to get to the eyepiece

This is my Starfield fitted to a modified Berlebach Castor alt/az mount

8 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

I understand completely, GM. Oddly enough, I was also looking at the Starfield, initially as a grab&go and eventually to replace my 8" dob - I'm gradually getting more feeble as I age. I also concluded that a go-to would be very useful given the LP where I live (I can see the main stars in Ursa Major and Orion but not much else). The obvious mount choice is a SW AzGti but the Starfield is only 0.8 kg below its weight limit and by the time you've added a diagonal and finder, probably over it. I was thinking about the AZGTiX as it'll take a kilo more and can also accommodate two scopes. If anyone has another recommendation, I'm sure both of us would love to know!

I'm not sure the the AZ GTi would suite a longer tube length 4 inch refractor. Perhaps a Skywatcher EQ 5

I have been enjoying using my Starfield refractor on a manual alt/az mount. But finding objects in the night sky by following stars has become quite differcult. This is due to light polluted skies. I did have an AZ GTi mount. This was a good mount, but for the payload specified.But not sure that with a fully loaded 100 mm refractor would work well. That really leaves EQ mounts. I have never really got on with EQ mounts. Could this really be me not fully understanding them or giving them a chance. Perhaps rushing the setup.What mounts do others use for their 100 mm refractors?

I am only interested in visual observing.

Amazing. The skills available to us in the modern age.

I have always been fascinated by the planet Mars. Views of Mars began with drawings based on observations from ground based telescopes. The top picture being one from 1879 ( a book,Sun, Moon & Stars).

The second picture shows an impression of Mars as seen from one of it's moons Deimos. Painted by Chesley Bonestell in  1956.

As a child in the 1960's I began borrowing astronomy books from the library. These had black & white photos of Mars from ground based telescopes.

This is what we had into the early 1970's. The third picture showing such an example from my 1973 Hutchinson 20th Century Encyclopedia.

Then in 1976 we had the Viking Mars landers. These provided breath taking pictures from orbit and the surface. We now have data from recent Mars rovers. These pictures are fantastic. When I reflect over the decades of my life,looking at the earliest Mars pictures, I am truely living in that young childs future. Is there no wonderment in space exploration anymore? Or are there even bigger surprises coming our way?