RobertI

All major astro purchases start with “just a look”! 😆 Good luck resisting the temptation.

Looking forward to this Stu. I was all set to do a comparison between my Celestron 70mm F10 ex-Starsense Achro and my 66mm F6 ED, but haven’t managed it yet. I was quite impressed with first light with 70mm though, I managed to see some small bright planetaries, easily see M81/82 and split some close doubles. Can’t ask for much more from a small cheap achro with a plastic tube.

The early saddles of the Skytee were not fit for purpose. The issue was the poor quality knob which didn’t thread securely to the bolt of the saddle and was made of soft alloy. I replaced the knobs with higher quality ones and the saddles became perfectly usable, although by that point I had moved them to a different mount. The knobs provided on the current mount saddles look different to the originals so I would hope they are much better and have resolved the issue (perhaps others can advise). FWIW the ADMs saddles are top notch, and a good investment if you have heavier scopes (say 6 kg+) but if you are only mounting lighter scopes then there are cheaper good quality saddles available.

Excellent! An interesting selection of objects. IC1396 looks tough, especially from my skies.

I guess it depends on exactly what you want to get from bins, the little 2x constellation binoculars are pocket sized fun but limited, 10x50s will reveal huge amount of stuff, and can be handheld, and also used for everyday use, anything bigger or more powerful will need mounting in some form so less grab and go. Why not start a new thread in the binocular section to get some further thoughts and advice? Good luck! 🙂👍

Thank you for your kind words, I wish I had the dedication of a school teacher or the intellect of a university professor! I do have some patience though and that helps. 🙂 I’m so glad you are taking the plunge with binoculars, get a good pair and you will have an observing companion for life.

I guess the other option is the Celestron Starsense 200mm dob - it’s £150 more than the StellaLyra and you don’t get a dual speed focuser, but the the Starsense is fab in my opinion.

Sounds like your gardener is pretty knowledgeable! Yes I know what you mean about people not ‘getting’ doubles, especially beginners. Perhaps they are an acquired taste. 🙂

Very nice sketches, a good rendition of what I saw, I like the format too. I’ve only tried to estimate the colour and separation but I can see how doing brightness and position angle would encourage being longer at the eyepiece. I try to estimate PA when observing very faint/close doubles to eliminate any doubt! Thanks for posting the sketches.

Lovely images Reggie, nicely done. 🙂

Interesting to hear. I have occasionally tried a doubles sketch, but don’t think I’ve got the right technique! Feel free to include any sketches of the above doubles, it would be interesting to see, and might bring my descriptions to life a bit.

Totally agree! It’s hard to make the descriptions interesting, some definitely have colour, usually yellow or pale orange, occasionally blue white, but the dimmer secondaries are hard to identify the colours. I have been trying to estimate the separations and have been within 20-30% but not sure that makes for interesting reading!

The rare sight of a clear sky demands some observing, even under bright moon. 102ED plus Baader zoom (30-90x) plus Starsense atop the AZ4 made for some pleasant double viewing. Using the Astronomical League’s list of top 100 doubles in Sky Safari led to me to some really pretty doubles in Cepheus, Cassiopeia and Bootes. They were all very nice to look at, but two stood out: the first was HR8281 embedded in the Elephant Trunk nebula (which I couldn’t see!) - this is a lovely triple, with a yellow primary and a dimmer secondary either side around 8” away, one seems bluish and the other greenish (yes I know green stars don’t exist!). The other was actually two doubles in the same field of view, Kappa Bootis and Iota Bootis, just in the same FOV at 90x but much better at lower magnification.

I pretty much exclusively binoview for moon, sun and planets, it’s been a game changer for me, at least with the scopes that can take it. It’s much easier to stay at the eyepiece(s) for long periods to reveal the detail. For deep sky? Yes and no, at least with my BVs. Brighter stars have a “speckled” quality, so doubles not so nice as cyclops, although the splitting power seems the same. Lower power views of galaxies and nebulae are fine, but I feel less contrast than cyclops, perhaps due to the light loss through all those prisms. Globulars and open clusters are great and probably the best DSOs for binoviewing in my opinion. Downsides for BV are I cannot get lower than around 70x mag due to long light path, restricted clear aperture, etc. I have looked at ways to achieve much lower power but it seems expensive. So for now it’s BVs for solar system and cyclops for DSOs.

Nice Starsense setup Paul, I’m sure that will work perfectly. 👍 How do you find the 130PDS for visual? I’ve often thought about getting one to replace my Heritage 130 - I just love the size of the 130 F5 Newt, really underrated as a grab and go scope in my opinion and the 130PDS has the dual focuser too. It’s got a larger secondary than the H130 I think but I guess that is more than made up for by the better light protection and focuser? I was out with my 102ED plus Starsense recently, and I actually managed without a finder at all, initial alignment was at the zoom’s lowest power, and then all fine from there. I did feel a bit ‘naked’ without a finder though! 😂 Like you I continue to be amazed by the Starsense app, and now I’ve enabled it in SkySafari, I can use my numerous preprepared observing lists to guide my observing sessions, and capture my observing notes too if I feel so inclined I must get hold of one of those orange adaptors…..

Yes, I did exactly that, I also set the iPhone colour scheme to red as the iPhone ‘soft button’ occasionally appears and would otherwise be a bright white. For doubles and brighter DSO it was fine. I would imagine that in a very dark site with serious dark adaption, it may be a different matter - not something I generally have to worry about though! 😆

Thanks guys. I have to say that part of me feels the technology is making the experience a tiny bit less relaxing - the device is crouched on the scope, reacting to every scope movement, demanding to be interacted with and checked for information. Also the screen doesn’t always help the night vision. I also worry that perhaps I am going to lose my knowledge of the night sky and where objects are, as I am looking at a screen, and not at the sky. But the technology allowed me to see more, which I guess is my main goal! Also I was able to do some things I wasn’t inclined to do before. I found it easier to compare doubles as the time between observations was less and the previous double was still clear in my mind, and for the first time I was starting to estimate separations and found I wasn’t that far out. It’s only my second or third proper outing with Starsense, so I may feel differently over time, but right now I feel it’s becoming a crucial part of my kit.

I recently discovered that StarSense ‘mobile’ can be used via Sky Safari, so excited by the prospect of being able to use my observing lists to drive Starsense, I popped out to give it a go. Despite hazy high cloud and a low bright moon, I ended up having a really good session, largely thanks to Starsense. Using my 102EDR with a Baader zoom (giving 30x-90x) I enjoyed viewing a variety of doubles around Bootes, Corona Borealis and Draco, including a couple of lovely triples (Alkalurops and 16/17 Draconis). Finding doubles in these challenging conditions would have been impossible with my red dot finder, but was easy with Starsense, which put every object in the FOV of my eyepiece every time, even at 90x, and never failed to locate its position using the phone camera, even with the cloud. Really awesome. So what started as a test ended as a really good session, and no finders were required. When I’d put the equipment to bed in the garage, I came out to see total cloud coverage - what lucky timing!

That is really wonderful.

Like last year, I am looking at what astro setup to take on holiday with me. Having decided that the best combo would be the Heritage 130P +Mini-Giro+Horizon tripod, I had a brainwave to use the other side of the mini-giro to house the Starsense unit - one L-bracket and some cable ties and I have a pretty serviceable setup! As per last year I quickly concluded that it’s all too heavy to take on holiday, so binocularswill have to suffice, but at least I have another interesting option for the Starsense unit. 🙂

Out of interest what did you hate about the 5” SCT? I echo what @Elp said about imaging. I tried imaging with a small APO, cheap EQ mount and a DSLR which I already had. I had to buy some adaptors, reducer and cables, but the results were pretty good. I invested in a guide cam and scope and things got even better, but I stopped there before costs really began to spiral, which they do if you get serious about imaging. I repurposed my mono guide cam for EAA, which I found a lovely simple setup for my light polluted skies, and did for a few years. I’m in a darker spot now and do mostly visual but it’s nice to have the EAA in the back pocket.

Scudding clouds and so-so conditions called for something a little different tonight. Out came the 2x constellation binoculars and SkySafari. I spent a pleasant 30 minutes re-acquainting myself with the some of the dimmer constellations such as Vulpecula and Equuleus, and the less familiar constellation shapes such as Sagittarius, Capricornus and Aquarius. Spotted a few interesting open clusters along the way, despite the poor conditions. 🙂

Sorry to hear about that. 😕 Sounds like you have all sort of challenges there. Fortunately mosquitos and biting insects are not something we ever really get over here in the east of England, the driest part of the UK. Seem to get plenty of cloud though!

Yes it’s been a long and depressing stretch of weeks without clear skies. Tonight might have a few sucker holes to look though, but not holding my breath. We astronomers are a patient bunch, but sometimes…..

Lovely report to read. Sounded like a lovely session with some top notch equipment. Thunder, lightning and torrential rain here last night - the garden was grateful though. 🙂