RobertI

1 hour ago, F15Rules said:

Y' know how a lot of stargazers happily use ironing chairs as an observing seat?

Well, sadly, today I've learned that that role can also work the other way, too🤦🤦😱😱🥴🥴..

Thank goodness for Magnum P.I. re-runs on TV!🤪😂

Dave

My sympathies Dave. 😉

I think you'll find the 150PL a really nice scope for lunar and planets. It will show you much more detail than your 72mm refractor, but the diffraction spikes (or diffraction 'smears' in reality) are really noticeable when viewing the brighter planets (Jupiter and Venus). The experience is very different to a refractor, you won't see such a clean edge to planetary disc, so the view will look a bit more 'messy', but the detail will be there on the disc. Lunar should be superb.

One of the biggest surprises with my 150PL was how good it is on DSOs - I remember one of my clearest ever views of the Veil through my 150PL. I think this is party because it is so much easier viewing close to the zenith when you view with a Newt, which is where you tend to get the darkest sky and the best seeing. It's also very, very good on tight doubles. The other thing I love about Newts is you can give them a big hug when you are looking through them. 🙂  

On 02/03/2023 at 15:39, Guy65 said:

Hi folks

I have fairly bad light pollution to the South (Bortle 7 or 8 I would guess) and struggle to see anything other than the brightest DSOs with my Skywatcher Skymax 127 (I know that's not an ideal scope for DSOs) which I've had for several years.  I would just like to be able to see more of the Messier catalogue (to start with). 

Would a bigger aperture help with visual observation of DSOs? I was thinking of an 8 or 10 inch Dob. Or would I just be getting a brighter view of the sky fog?

If I went down the Dob route how do people find star hopping with it? I know that if I move my scope on 1 axis it's always E - W and N - S on the other axis. Doesn't Alt - Az get confusing when you are starhopping by reference to a chart, or Stellarium say, where the orientation changes all the time?
 
 

Good advice above. My only addition is that a zoom eyepiece can often help with finding the best magnification to make a DSO stand out - there’s usually a point at which you get maximum contrast between the object and the sky background, sometimes it’s a higher magnification than you’d expect. The downside of zooms is the limited FOV at the longer end of the focal length range (typically 40-50 degrees at 24mm). 

Outstanding work and beautifully presented. 👍

4 hours ago, Franklin said:

I fell head over heels in love with Vixen telescopes way back in the 1980's after buying a secondhand 4" achro when I was a spotty teenager. The scope was a 102m and it knocked the socks of my 60mm Prinz starter scope. Since then I have had many Vixen refractors and kept hold of quite a few of them, until now. Having acquired the more modern ED versions of these scopes I have, albeit reluctantly, sold on all my achromats, the vintage models, the old school SP/GP mounts and bucket loads of eyepieces.

Hopefully I am now done, having a lovely 4"ED on an EQ as a main scope, a 3"ED on an AZ for G&G and an exquisite little 2"Fluorite for travel and possible future forays into the dark arts?

(Although if a nice SD115s surfaced at a respectable price, I would probably bite the sellers hand off🙂.)

 

 

Fabulous collection, they look stunning together. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being enthusiastic about a brand, especially when it means something to you personally. 👍

Excellent choice!

I’m a big fan of binoviewers in my 102ED F7. I have the WO with the 20mm eyepieces and they transformed my viewing of planets, moon and sun. I use the Baader Classic barlow screwed directly onto the end of the nosepiece and get around 170x which I find perfect for moon and planets. With BVs I can spend so much longer viewing and teasing out those fine details. I have a massive ‘mesh’ floater in my left eye but it’s not much of an issue with BVs and I benefit hugely from using both eyes. Can also be used for doubles stars or lower power viewing of DSOs at 57x (it JUST reaches focus with the 1.6x GPC) but I prefer cyclops viewing for these.

3 hours ago, carastro said:

If you think this thread is splitting opinions, you should see some of the arguments on other forums on how ethical it is to present images where all you did was you bought the downloaded data from a hosted site  in the dessert somewhere and all you did was process it. 
 

Say no more. 
 

 

If you think THAT’S bad, just try asking what the definition of EAA is!! Post the question, stand well back and watch the thread explode. 😆

Manual 99% of the time for me. I occasionally use my SkyProdigy for fun. My CG5 only gets used for EAA, not for visual. I have always hankered after a Celestron C8 Evo with Starsense - that could possibly work for me as minimal set up time (no cables, polar alignment, counterweights, etc), but for now my manual setup is fine, especially with my 4” APO. Interesting to see which way the voting is going at the moment.

I’m not very well informed on top end scopes, but the Astrophysics Starfire 130 seems to have an almost mythical status and reputation for being unobtainable, and I have been well and truly seduced by it. I realise there may be better high end scopes out there, but it would be wonderful to own one. Does that make me shallow? 😆

I also have a number of portable scopes and mounts, probably the most portable is the Zenithstar 66mm on the Mini-Giro mount and tripod, followed by the Heritage 130P on the same mount. My everyday scope, the 102ED on an AZ4 is also very quick and easy to set up, being easy to carry ready assembled. 

18 hours ago, Louis D said:

Just be cautious of overloading your Skytee 2.  The late @johninderby had his snap off under load, but was able to grab his OTA before it hit the ground:

The mount is made of cast pot metal rather than being CNC machined from a solid billet of aluminum.

Yes I would echo the warning about the Skytee. I have a solid ADM clamp on mine which clamps onto the puck with very solid M8 bolts, but the puck is bolted onto the ‘soft’ metal of the mount by three tiny M4 or M5 bolts which seem to only screw in a few millimetres, which looks like a huge weakness to me. I tapped in some longer bolts but still not  happy to load it with more than my C8. Sorry to divert, thought it was worth mentioning for the sake of your beautiful new scope. 

On 12/02/2023 at 15:39, kev100 said:

Thank you. Really hope you enjoy it 🙂👍

Just read your book Kevin, and I have to say I REALLY enjoyed it. I love the way you have managed to mix in descriptions of your favourite objects (some of them not so well known) with interesting backstories about where you were and what was happening at the time. And it seems like you have travelled plenty and seen much. I also like the way the book can be used either for reference or just as a good read. I think anyone on this forum would enjoy your book, whether novice or experienced. Well done and more please.  

[Five star Amazon review submitted 😇]

22 hours ago, FlyingMonkey said:

Hello, 

My friend gifted me a telescope a while back. I recently decided to learn more about it but I am having trouble finding more about it online. The sticker on it says Orion, when I look online everything goes to Celestron. 
I am attaching an image of the sticker. Maybe someone is able to send me a link to the right model. Thank you. The stand for is is Celestron as well.

This is all new to me. 

Thank you

 

You have got a really fine scope there. The 9.25” was/is considered the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the SCT (Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope) range. Feel free to post more images including the mount, etc. 

Just ordered “A decade in stargazing”. 🙂 Also thinking about getting ‘Demystifying’ for my friend who is just starting out - I have lent him my Heritage 130P and he’s had a squint at the moon already. 

20 minutes ago, kev100 said:

maybe we should start a favourite ‘twofer’ thread 🙂

I was thinking exactly the same!

Great review @Sunshine, gives a good taste of what this book is all about. Congratulations @kev100 on a fantastic achievement. Will probably place an order myself. I certainly agree about the joys of “two in a view”! 

Nice capture, and I agree that having Capella in the same frame provides a really nice contrast.  

We wait with baited breath. Good luck. 🙂

5 hours ago, jetstream said:

Thanks Stu!

Lots of snowmobiling and fishing happening and at the end of the day a nice outdoor hot tub lol

Good to see you posting again Gerry. 🙂

Super animation - how long was the time period?

7 hours ago, IB20 said:

Tonight I’ve exclusively observed Sirius with the FC-76Q around about 9:50pm at 20° altitude. Eyepieces used were the Tak TOEs 4mm and 2.5mm which gave mags of 240x-380x.

Consistently I kept detecting some artefact around 2 o’clock that very, very occasionally appeared like a very small dim companion in between the 2nd and 3rd diffraction rings, sketch attached.

Could this be the pup or is it just scintillation artefact? I have to say tonight is the best I’ve seen Sirius through the 76Q, the diffraction rings were beautifully controlled but it is still a very difficult target especially skirting the rooftops and drifting through heat plumes.

I could be wrong, but I think Sirius B is positioned on the East side, following the direction of drift? 

Interesting read, thanks Louis. I also tried some filters on the comet over the weekend with a bright moon washing everything out. I didn’t have time to do a proper assessment and the bright sky was a pain. The Astronomik UHCE has been sold as helping view ion trails but sadly not a hope! The best view was no filter with a higher mag to darken the sky, but I’ll try again when the moon has gone, assuming the comet is still around! 

Finally saw the comet tonight. Bright moon rising, but still easy to find and easily visible with my 102ED at 30x. Can’t say I could discern the fan shape, even when zooming in to darken the background. I showed my 8 year son, partly to dispel the myth going around his school that comets shoot across the sky! I have to say though, I remember being his age when Kahoutek’s Comet  came in 1973/4, and me and my brother would rush to window whenever we saw a flash in the sky or a plane overhead, hoping to catch the comet streaking across the sky! 😆

I think this is fab, you rarely seen full moon sketches. I was about to suggest you enter this into the sketching competition but I am pleased to see you already have. 🙂