Austin

Tidy bit of kit there dude!

I use a camels hair paint brush on the end of a garden cane to gently "tickle" off the big bits of muck and that's it. Im with danny too, if it's that bad, dont b scared to get the primary out and clean it.

To collimate prior to observing is as necessary as fitting an eyepiece for me it's part of my setup ritual. Very quick and easy to do with a laser collimator which are worth buying imho.

I too watched the landing on ustream, nerve wracking yet very exciting next up, december the fourth!!

Very well done!

Nice one, was that Graham's outreach event? Say hi to the gang for me!! I will soon be back to my former fuzzy glory lol!!

So I finally managed to get the scope out last week... I know, ive taken my time to get to writing about it!! Throughout the day I was continually checking the weather reports to ensure i was on to a winner of a night, and my luck was in - clear until three am I impatiently waited for the sun to clear off and while i waited, I forgot that I still hadn't pulled my finger out and sorted a light shroud and dew shield for my latest scope (skywatcher 250px flex tube) so I rummaged through the garage for some cardboard and duct tape.... Job done!! I just hoped that it didn't get too dewy but yet again, my Lady Luck was on my side! So on to my observing, I had a list of a Few ngc fuzzies for the night but started off at the veil, using my 20mm uwa and OIII filter. I spent at least forty minutes taking in every faint and dainty whips of detail, not wanting to miss one photon! Next stop, M13. Keeping the same ep but removing the filter, i slew over to Hercules and using the telrad sit right on top of this lovely cluster. The uwa easily able to resolve to the core. As it is the same with most fuzzies, taking your time on each object really is worth while! I do a few more favourites such as the ring neb, the blinking planetary nebula in Cygnus, the dumbbell nebula and the double cluster to name a few. After i had stretched my legs around the sky, it was time for the galaxies, ngc 7626, 7479, 7217 and 7332. I used my stock 32mm plossl and it was pretty tricky to hunt them down. But im fortunate enough to live in a pretty dark area of the wirral. Overall, a great night out under the stars with good results low power eps on the Christmas stocking list me thinks!! To clear and moonless skies!!

Thanks for sharing

they were a bit early for bonfire night :/

Nice one i had a nice little list of dso's to mooch at on friday night.... But the veil was my one and only stop! I spent 40 mins on it at least, using my 32mm, OIII and UHC filters with a.v through my 10" dob. Great object!

Ooooh! I want one!!!!!

Here is my re processed M51, 4.5hr @300sec subs with darks. No flats. Hope you like

I get plenty of satellites in my subs

Wow! that's a belter

Thanks Mike