mdstuart

View this evening at the star party.

NGC 891 needs low power and averted vision to pick out. It is ghostly but lovely once you have found it. Try when it is as high in the sky as possible. Mark

Lovely image. I saw those galaxies back in 2011 in a 10 inch dob. I will go back again with my big dob. Mark

Sounds fantastic. Looking forward to coming to Pencelli in October. M

+1 for a tabletop dobsonian

Don't forget the dob mob banner! Mark

There are a lot of pitches with ehu...call the site, they are very helpful. Mark

Enjoyed reading your post. The sense of wow comes across so clearly. You do realise you will soon wonder what those objects would look like in a 16 inch dob. Mark

Explore scientific...82 deg

Well done I have tried but no luck even with my 4.7mm eyepiece. Will try at the October star party! Mark

I think hcg55 might be beyond me here but my 20 inch is more portable now so that is definitely one for the dark sites. Mark

I have now added two more Teflon brakes and three stabilisers to the az motion. Need it to be stiff enough not to rotate when changing eyepieces but easy enough to nudge. 1961 galaxies now seen. 39 to go to 2000. Need a special one for no 2000! Mark

The sky is getting darker and its clear. So good to get out the 20 inch scope again. I have put some new alt and az mods in over the Summer. The Az is on a lazy susan bearing now braked with some teflon. The motion is still a bit too loose so I need more teflon and the base is not firm enough so a tap takes a few seconds to damp down but hey not too bad. The alt is on hardened aluminium strips running on sash window wheels. Still a bit stiff for me and I can tell when the wheels run over the retaining screws even though they are recessed but again better than it was just running on teflon. More tweaks needed. Joy.. Anyway I did manage to star hop to some new galaxies - NGC 5001,5250,5201,5256. I tried but could not see IC5104. The highlight was the NGC 7436 group. This is a group which Owen has done a write up on the Webb Deep-Sky site Webb Deep-Sky Society: Galaxy of the Month: NGC7436 (webbdeepsky.com) It was a tough spot but after a long effort i did manage to see NGC 7435 and NGC 7436 both requiring averted vision. I also spotted the m14.3 star under NGC 7433 but none of the other galaxies in this image were visible to me. Looking at the image I am surprised I could not see NGC 7433. I will revisit! I hope you all manage to get out soon and enjoy the darkening skies. Mark

Tonight is the first astro darkness of the season from 11.52 to 00.06 when the moon comes up. Select your target..here we go. Mark

The astronomers normally go for the oaks field in the area nearest the road. To be honest it does not matter where your tent is as we often gather together when observing anyway. Mark

Pitch 10 in the oaks booked for Friday and Saturday night. Mark

I am very keen to attend. Mark

The rainfall radar is the equivalent of a ha filter. Here is the galaxy with no filter.

Am I the only one that thinks this storm looks like a spiral galaxy! It even has star forming regions and a black hole called London.

Lovely crescent moon with venus low down to the right and a faint Mars under venus. Pondering that venus is our side of the sun and mars is on the far side.. Mark

Amazing. Maybe another book on globular star clusters next Mark

When I look at that image and galaxies through the eyepiece I certainly think wow wow wow that is so amazing. I feel privileged to be able to see such things, it makes me grateful to be alive. Rather than chilled it gives me a strange sort of peace. When I am out under the stars I feel relaxed. When I look at a large globular cluster it can almost gives me goosebumps. It is clear from reading the posts that the universe certainly stirs up lots of emotions from within. Mark

https://intrasights.co.uk/ Reviews look good.

http://binocular-repair.co.uk/ Not a recommendation but will give you an idea. I suppose it is nice to bring a set of binoculars back to life. Mark

It is possible to access the prisms and adjust the collimation. A bit fiddly but possible. Mark