Moonlightbaker

Thanks for the tip ! I’ll try those next time . Living in the fens in the winter it’s often pretty damp round here to say the least. Im sure that doesn’t help my cause in the battle against dew

Currently dying of the dreaded “Man Flu” so I was adamant I wasn’t going out regardless how clear the sky was. Well by 20:15 it had cleared up beautifully. Constellations popping out of the night sky. By 20:30 I was huffing and puffing the scope (SW 250p) into the garden from the outhouse . Low lying mist started to bug my chest by 21:40 so I called it a night but I had a cracking hour . First stop an easy one Jupiter with the 24mm Baader Hyperion. Cracking! then I thought ok let’s see what it looks like with the Morpheus 12.5mm . Blew my mind!! the longer I looked the more details I picked up. Then hopped over to pleiades ( actually preferred this in the 24mm ) but I did try both out. Next stop Orion and Orion’s nebula. 24mm was on to locate but once I found what I was looking for I went straight to the 12.5 and what a view it looked better than thought . The edges of the nebula really stood out ( I was expecting more of an indiscriminate smudge ) even the wife came out for a look. I must say I think I picked up more detail with the nebula at the edge of the lens rather than slap bang in the middle. That moment I was hooked! I had a quick pan over to Ursa Majors mizar. Then found Cassiopeia to try and hunt out Andromeda. Unfortunately that direction is the city a few miles away, you can sure see the difference in the sky. So that’s a hunt for another night. I had a final look at Orion’s nebula. Checked out Sirius (that guys bright !!) then hauled the scope back in to shelter . It was a bit of a supermarket sweep of a first gazing session, but I couldn’t resist 😅 Not that I have anything to compare to but really happy with the kit / scope and lenses. The telrad is a bit hit and miss gets misted up fast I think 🤔.

Intrigue ? Something else for the grey cells to work on ? Bit of me time . And lastly because seeing things yourself instead of online is better.

So seems in short most of you go out after midnight 👍🏼

You might be on to something! I’ll let the 3 sides battle it out I think , relentless nights and monster astronomy both sound good 🤣

Next week I’ll have a go at starting a hour later and getting up at 2 am one morning . my plan so far has a banking on Saturday nights and the wife falling asleep by 11 . Then me going outside with a redbull 🤣

That’s not a bad shout . Obviously I have weekends . Fortunately I live in a market town and I’m at the edge so it gets dark here pretty quick . I hadn’t really noticed how rare clear skies are untill I got my scope 🤣

As a new comer to astronomy, I do wonder if I’ve picked the wrong hobby . 🤣 I’m a baker I go to work at 3am ( which often has lovely clear skies) I obviously go to bed around 10pm ( doesn’t leave me a lot of time , if any in the summer ) often 6-10pm seems cloudy . So my question is what time do you all go out observing and how long for . I do live in a Bortle 5 /6 so I only have to get outside.

That’s the plan . I was thinking of going to 2” but I’ll do some research, find out pros and cons

Thanks very much this makes complete sense now. Also explains to me why the baader is both. ( so you can stick to the size that suits your set up best.) so basicly untill I get more eyepieces I can just have the 1.25 extension in and forget about the 2”. I did use Cheshire so hopefully I’m about true. But good advice. Fiddle less look more 🤣 👍🏼 I hope to take the scope to my next Astro club meeting as they are having a getting to know your scope session next month.

Well thanks ! I had a bit of success! Left on the bottom extension and put the the 24mm baader , pretty sure I could see Jupiter and 4 little dots all in a line ( the moons ?) no detail on Jupiter though just a white thought I possibly caught a glimpse of a dark band on it but maybe just my mind playing tricks on me . I must say it blew my mind . Having never looked through a scope before it was breath taking. I did try adding the top extension to get a 1.25 10mm eyepiece on but I couldn’t focus that at all . So stuck with my 24mm baader. so I guess my next question is how do you guys know what extensions to use if any ?

Got the cross hairs lined up . Still the same issue

Well thank you kindly for your quick response Geoff . Here’s some pictures. The scopes stored in an outbuilding. It’s dry but no heating. Last picture I tried to go through the Cheshire but it was tricky . It looks like the cross hairs are off today.but the centre dots are lined up .oh please ask the obvious 🤣 im sure im doing something blindly obvious wrong . But yes i turned the focus knobs and saw movement. This just made things worse oh and the mirror looks dirty in the photo it’s not . I had it aimed to a window in the outhouse 👍🏼

Hi , for the past year my son ( now 4 ) has been getting more and more interested in all things space . And thus peaked my interest . I’ve always payed a little attention to what’s going on there but no more than “the moon looks big tonight“ or “ “well I know that one’s Ursa major”. But then my wife started to notice the books coming home are probably more for me rather than bed time reading for him 😅. I’ve been to my local astronomy club for one meeting . I do plan to go back but I did get that feeling you get when walking into a very local pub and the locals give you the (are you lost friend ? look 🤣). I’m a fairly outwards going guy so I’ll go back persisted with it. So my wife surprised me this weekend ( my birthday 35) with a dob she bought form FLO. It’s a skywatcher 250p and a baader Hyperion-8 68 degree 24mm eyepiece . And obviously I have the stock ones from Sky-Watcher . Plus a moon filter by baader . I got all set up with a Cheshire collimater ( not sure I’ve done it right .. you’ll see why if you read on ) left the scope outside for a hour to obviously view the moon ( easy first target ) and saw nothing but a big bright blur . After messing about with it for a further 3 hours and getting nowhere I came inside. By that point the finder scope lens was covered in dew and I felt deflated . Sunday day time I tried to focus on a mast on a water tower at the end of my road ( clear and crisp on the finder . But still a hazy blur in the scope it’s self . I’ve tried taking the extension kit off . Ive tried leaving it on . I’ve tried all 3 lenses stock 24 stock 10 and baader 24mm same blur each time . So now the question is , can anyone help 😅