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Hi Jeremy I found this with my Hawk Endurance ED 20x60x68. I read on here somewhere about sucker gaps in the clouds, after you rush to take your scope out and the clear gaps disappeared. Well I rushed out with this on a manfrotto tripod and had ten minutes of Saturn crisp and clear , though very small, and another time with Jupiter and it’s moons. All very nice views , though Jupiter being so bright I still only saw two orange bands. I’m sure it would serve very well as a grab and go for some very good viewing nights as I’ve found mine does. If I was that way inclined it would probably do well for astrophotography too.

Hi Dave Iv got a celestron NexYZ adapter, it is a great but niggly sometimes adapter. Niggly because there can be slight movement if you don’t finely adjust some tiny screws, but being careful not to overtighten them. Otherwise it fits 2inch eye pieces too. Its a little dear being nearly fifty quid but does have all the adjustments you need to get the perfect position for your phone. Although can take a little practice.

That is seriously cheap for a years Sky at night magazine's. I get it monthly from my local Smiths, I'll start keeping my eyes open for offers now 😊

Iv also just realised I can attatch my dslr D3200 to the zoom eye peice I have, and drop it in my startravel 102 for very easy attempts at taking some simple pictures. I'm not interested in putting them into stacking ext but just being able to take a basic, even soft edged pic just as a record is all I'm after trying. Because it will be easy to try I'll give it a go. If it works for what I want great, if it doesn't I'm not that bothered about getting more equipment and learning to use programmes ect, as I'm into visual and enjoy the simplicity that brings. Even holding the phone to the eyepeice can get frustrating and take the fun out of the session, so I won't get that drawn in to it. If I manage to get anything, I'll post on here.

I'm not sure what OC is? But it seems the best effects for clusters and nebulae ect is a smudger. It's a rolled up peice of paper with a point, and you use it to simply smudge the pencil mark or sanded pencil dust to shape. It's something I'm going to try, it's a great way to add to notes for the nights viewing.

This is my first ever scope.

We lived in Cyprus when I was 7 or 8 as my Dad was in the RAF and we were posted there for 3 years. During that time there was an Eclipse of the Sun which had an eerie feel to it, and really got my attention of what’s up there. Also it was the moon landing, though I remember it well with the excitement and interest we all had, strangely I can’t remember watching it, though I’m sure I did. Then that Christmas my brother received a small telescope, a 20x30 nelson type on a small tripod. He let me use it as he wasn’t interested and I was always trying to look at the moon with it. I still have it and enjoy using it now and then for nostalgia, as it’s fifty odd years since my brother basically gave me it. This in turn had me hooked on the tv series UFO which was just released and one of the few programmes on BFTV with limited times when anything was on, I think it was three hours after six in the evening at the time and UFO started at 18.45 if I remember correctly. To top it off, our neighbour was into space, and he had a great toy that had a radio dish on a platform that turned pointing up, and was supposed to receive signals from alien life on other worlds and was like a radio tuning into a channel, but never actually getting that illusive signal, though sometimes sounding like it nearly did. His name was Philip haze and was two years older and a friend of my brother. This was also the time that planet of the apes was first released into cinemas,(get your dirty paws off me you damned dirty ape) more space influence. Even though I was too young to see it at the time, oh and me my parents and brother and sister saw Ben Hur with Charleton Heston starring again, first released on the open air cinema at Episkopi .That’s been one of my favourite films ever since. So that period in my life, which happened to be the best 3 years of my childhood opproximately 68 to 71 , was also very inspirational to my life long interest in space,although I didn’t know it at the time. Then the Turks started threatening to invade , and everywhere we went in the car there were pill boxes all over in the hills of UN soldiers keeping the peace ish. That was when we came to the end of my Dads posting and came back to the uk. Just in time ,as not long after we returned the invasion began. This was the time I was influenced and my interest and fascination in looking up was born.

I thought I’d replied to this, must be an age thing. my present phone is a Samsung Galaxy A51 which I haven’t used yet as I use my previous phone for Astro when I do try. That is a Samsung Galaxy A5.

It’s showing how I didn’t really think the question through Stu :-). It seems it’s more problematic to do than I realised. I do like the idea of sketching , but the techniques used to get a good suggestion of say a fuzzy shape isnt as easy to do as I thought, to give an accurate representation. But then well placed stars would tie it together and makes it identifiable. I think I’ll do some more research on sketching, it’s a very appealing thing to try.

Autumn and winter for me. Iv never been a hot weather person and love the colder seasons.

Ah thats how i got my best pictures of the Moon, hand held at my Tal100r 's eyepiece. It might be worth me trying my Tal again , as the less light recieved by it might help dull the brightness of the planet and show a little more detail maybe? I've just worked it out, and I think the highest I used was 133x ? That will be my next challenge then, Ill try the Plossle 6.3 I have for 190x , see what difference it makes. I've avoided using the 6.3 as I have to near enough rest my eyeball on the glass.

Iv been reading a lot of people mentioning their Bortle number, and was curious what mine is. So after googling it, I found out the Clear Outside site actually lists it at the top of the page for that nights cloud cover. I had no idea it was that easy to check. Im in a Bortle 5 area after being convinced the light pollution for me was worse than that.? So in reality Im not in as bad a situation I thought I was. Saying that, sometimes the school behind and next to the back garden fence has the security lights on all night facing towards me. but thats not been that often lately. And i can see the glow from the estate and town over the rooftops. But it gives me hope for deep sky on good nights possibly.

Your picture of Jupiter is better than I see in my 8inch, I can only make out two of the bands at the moment with the brightness of the planet. But thats a great shot with your phone. what scope did you use? Thanks for the links too, it gives me plenty to go at. Im a visual only oserver too, but sometimes it would be nice to be able to get the odd picture like yours. And with this in mind I have a Nexyz mount to play with. It fits easily on my refractors eyepieces, but is problematic on the dob. But ill keep trying now and then, you never know.

Iv been spoiled with the brightness and extra details of the moon an 8inch dob gives you, but my own thoughts on this are , buy the best you can afford whichever way you go. Be it binoculars ,refractors or reflectors. My first real scope was a Tal 100R from my wife at christmas more than 20 years ago. This gave me the wow factor for planets and the moon and is still with me now. Its something Ill never get rid of, not just because it was off my wife, but because its a capable scope. but noticeably dimmer than my 8inch dob now iv been spoiled with the dobs light collecting ability. I also have a startravel 102 achromatic refractor on an ez 3 mount which is slow motion control with two long bendy rods. Now this very handy and easy to set up which is great. It had an erecting prism with it which i also liked as its easier to find things , and great for terrestrial use too. Some dont like the false colour fringing you can get with these types of refractors, but its never bothered me. But it gives great views of the moon, planets and even deep sky objects , though iv never really tried for deepsky with it yet due to light pollution of where I live, except for m31 the Andromoda which was a fuzzy blob. but even in larger scopes its going to be a fuzzy blob too, just maybe a little better resolved . Iv even used it for solar observing with the right solar filter, and saw my first sun spots with it not long ago. Then we come to my 20x80 Opticron Oregon binoculars. These were the biggest surprise on how much you can see with them, on top of a good camera tripod its been the most relaxed obseving iv done. obviously things are very small in the view. but for wide angles and just taking in the view its great. Again colour fringing is seen sometimes , but it really isnt a problem for me, but some might not get on with it. These three have all given me some great observing in their own way, but if i had to pick one it would be difficult as they all have their plus and minus side. They all show me similar things , just slightly bigger, smaller or not as clear. Even my new 8inch stellalyra dob shows me similar , but slightly bigger and a lot brighter with a bit more detail, so the quest for more detail and size is a never ending one really. I believe its called aperture fever. Iv always been a go and look astronomer, iv never really tried to learn a great deal about it, but thats what ive enjoyed. More recently Iv started to learn more and have an interest in learning which will enhance my enjoyment of looking up iv no doubt. But just going outside and looking up is the simplest and in my opinion ,the most enjoyable aspect, with the help of an app to tell you what might be visible , and any of what iv got in optical things to help, is all thats needed. After all the years iv spent with my Tal 100R, and the last couple of years with the binoculars and the startravel 102, It could be any of these to enjoy looking up if i had to pick one. My point is it doesnt have to be the very expensive scopes to enjoy what your seeing. Iv never had the chance to look through an apochromat maybe costing three or four times what my scopes cost, but i bet M31 is still mainly a fuzzy blob with maybe a few of the stars resolved a little better.

Yes it is a nice change not having to spend to give it a go isnt it 🙂 Although Id already overbought things for painting and sketching as you do, so have plenty to use for this new addition to the hobby, when i get round to it of course.

This sketching at the eye piece has grabbed my interest, what a good idea. Watercolour painting is something I enjoy trying to learn, and with most things it happens in phases. Then I'll have a phase on another hobby and it continues. I'll definitely not be bored with retirement when it comes I have that many interests. This sketching what we see through the eyepiece is another I think I'll add to the list.

Thanks Lee That's very interesting, could be worth a try.

Thanks Dave There's plenty to read about there.

Don't get me wrong, I love seeing the great pictures everyone takes with long exposure photography. But is there anyone out there that takes pictures of what you actually see in the eyepiece.? Nothing tweeked in a programme or sharpened in photoshop, just the real image as it was viewed live.

Not long in from tonight's observing, and after realising something that made a big difference, I was actually able to do a start test and get the results I was hoping for. The star test was with a star not far from straight up, and with the 9mm stellalyra in the stellalyra 2x 2" Barlow. After trying so many times and trying to figure out why I can't do a star test, I saw on and off with good seeing coming and going those several concentric circles like a bullseye target. I nearly shouted "Get iiiiiin" , but it was nearly midnight and controlled myself 😁 The outer ring was pretty jagged, but all the internal rings looked concentric. Now your probably wondering what I realised to help me in getting this result. Well it's a rather simple solution of using my left eye instead of my right. I have a habit of using my right eye as I also do air rifle 10 metre Olympic target shooting. And I'm right handed with the rifle and pistol. Breaking this habit is going to be difficult, but I also have a slight astigmatism in my right eye, which has been causing the problem of not being able to do a star test. It was a brilliant moment realising the problem and seeing the concentric circles. Anyway, after the star test I wasn't intending doing much observing as I was expecting cloud, but it was still clear so I turned the scope to jupiter. After spending some time, maybe five to ten minutes trying to get the focus as best as I could, I could see two solid orangey bands. No other detail was visible with the brightness of jupiter, but it did look very nice. Roll on good seeing. Before the star test I had a quick look at saturn, as it was on its way to going behind the trees so spent ten minutes enjoying the view. I could make out what seemed to be some sort of detail on the top half of the planet, like cloud maybe? It was a nice sight with a clear separation of the rings and the planet, but no other detail of the casino devision could be seen. Though I also could see two moons of saturn i think? Again roll on better seeing, as 20 odd years ago i could make the cassini devision out on my Tal100r. But I'm putting that down to my sight being a lot sharper back then, and ideal seeing in the winter. I'm sure I'll be able to see it again in the 8" when conditions improve. Fingers crossed.

I was just wondering if the Starsense type scopes are just a version of an app? and the phone doesnt have any connection to the scope, other than held in place with a mount? Im thinking if mounting a phone to any scope and using one of those apps that shows you whats in the sky as you point in real time does similar. Or am i missing something?

cheers , ill have a look at that later. Its interesting to think that any time we could see something if we happen to be looking at the Moon and even a micro meteorite hits.

I went through every magazine I could find over time and ended up with Sky at Night and Astronomy Now. They both give me what I want in a different way. I particularly like the sky that month in both.

Iv read about TLP(transient lunar phenomena) a little, and it sounds very interesting in that there could be a number of reasons.? Has anyone witnessed it, or know someone who has? Ill be keeping my eyes peeled , you never know.

It was gifted to me nearly 20 years ago , but cant remember for sure exactly when.