RobertI

Well done John!

Cheers Stu. I did see the granulation but sadly I didn't know about AR 12805 - had I seen your very useful screenshot above I would have given it a go! I made a note of www.solarmonitor.org for future reference though - I am a bit of a solar novice, but I'm looking forward to doing more observing and possibly a sketch or image or too. I hate to sound like a scratched record, but the binoviewers have been a game changer for me and made the moon, and now the sun, objects of real interest.

Nice report and nice smart phone pics Stu. I've also just been out for some white light solar - this time using my binoviewers and 102ED-R. Unfortunately I couldn't reach focus with the 1.6x GPC (57x mag) and Herschel Wedge, so had to go for the barlow which give around 175x - far too much mag, or so I thought. I homed in on the only feature visible (12804) and was completely blown away by what I saw - the amount of detail was way more than I was expecting, with structure visible in and around the penumbra of the main spot and lots of bright areas (faculae? ....sorry, I'm a bit of a solar novi

I had a brief go myself last night with the 102EDR. Cranked the magnification up to around x300 but nothing was apparent - I didn't look for long to be honest as the view was quite unpleasant. Might try with the 150PL tonight.

Although the full moon is not considered the best time to observe the lunar surface, clear nights are few and far between, so I thought I would have a look anyway. I'm glad I did as I was rewarded with some great views and at x57 I was able to take in the whole globe in the FOV. Observations made with the 102ED-R and Binoviewers. The most obvious features were the crater 'rays', with Tycho, Copernicus, Kepler and Aristarchus being the most prominent. The rays from Tycho were spectacular, stretching across one third of the lunar diameter - what an impact that must have been! It happened 10

That’s great, thanks John.

Still might have time to try the pup before it goes. My main scopes are a C8 SCT, 150PL newt and a 102mm ED frac (sadly my 130P is out on loan) - I was thinking the 150PL is probably my best bet for spotting the pup - what do people think?

That’s a very useful feature for binoviewing. Lovely scope, I have the 102 ED-R and couldn’t be happier. I reckon the 125 is terrific value for money.

Sadly not looking so promising here, but thanks for the heads up, look forward to all the reports!

Had a couple of brief but pleasant outings recently. The first night I thought I would try the dual setup which I have enjoyed so much in the past (4" frac alongside 8" SCT). This time I mounted the refractor on the top clamp thinking it would allow me to line up both scopes exactly. The result was it was more trouble than it was worth and I shall be moving the clamp back onto the end for a more traditional side by side arrangement. Anyway I started off with M42. WIth the moon nearby I was more interested in the Trapezium - the E component was immediately visible in the C8 but more fleeti

Wonderful sketch (all of them in fact). I'd be happy to have these on my wall!

An interesting challenge! I have often given an audible “wow” when viewing objects. Doubles and multiples can be very special - the best of the bunch has to be the Trapezium, a set of tiny perfect pearls set in the fiery maelstrom of the nebula. But there are so many other wow objects to choose from, all stirring up our own personal emotions and feelings.

I know the feeling Mike! I always seem to be browsing my next purchase and scheming my next project. The Vixen looks like a lovely mount - I guess the price is down to the 'modularity' - I am always reluctant to pay a premium for aspects I'm unlikely to use. Having said that my Skytee has a top mounted clamp which I tried to use the other day - it was a complete pain in the bum to use so is effectively a useless feature I paid extra for - I wish they'd removed the top clamp feature and add some decent side clamps.

Sounds like the scope is fine, hopefully the mount will operate fine too. These scopes are pretty robust. I once had a 7kg CG5 mount fall 4 feet into concrete - it was fine and still working years later! I also had my old apo refractor fall from a tripod onto a hard floor, thanks to a dodgy clamp - again no damage thankfully.

Well done Chris. I watched the landing (well lots of people getting excited in the control room and some simulations) and it was great. Well done on the images.