RobertI

20 minutes ago, josefk said:

i wonder if that an effect of the bino bandit Rob? i use a hood with my binoviewer and when doing so i'm definitely conscious of condensation needing more active management. 

I think you’re right, the bino-bandit made fogging happen quicker and I also found that I couldn’t help touching the bino-bandit which induced vibration at very high mags, so possibly only for use when deep sky viewing at lower mags and with the dew heaters. It’s not really needed for planetary and lunar anyway to be honest so I should probably have removed it. 

11 hours ago, Alan White said:

OK, Final post.
The scope was out in use tonight, super Star Test and then an hour of pleasure cruising the highlights and
a short Lunar session.
All is well after much heart ache and effort by more thanjust myself.

This has only been possible with help and the generosity of others, so thanks folks.

The best thing is the scope with no name now has name firmly given, Lazarus.

Very happy tonight and what a way to start the new year as well.

 

Great news Alan. 👍

Nice clear night, but it’s just a humid hell, bino eyepieces instantly fogged and by the time I had attached the eyepiece dewstraps, the objective was starting to dew - a very rare occurrence. I’d run out of dew heater sockets so time to pack away and order a 4-way dew heater controller! Mars looked very good tonight…briefly. 

4 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

 Hi Robert. It was in 2007 when Patrick had noticed  some of my planetary sketches - I think i was the planetary section director for the Society for Popular Astronomy at the time - and so was easily contacted. I recieved a phone call, and briefly chatted with Patrick, ended in him saying "You must come and visit sometime". I can't remember much about what was said as I was in awe that Patrick was talking to me. I know it's silly looking back, but as a teenager many moons ago, Patrick was my hero in many ways. I even had an A4 photo of him on my bedroom wall showing him stood alongside his 15" and smoking a pipe, and hung alongside that, a poster of Bruce Lee with his nunchaku's. I was a mixed up kid! Bruce Lee has now become a thing of the past, but good old Patrick's photo still hangs on the wall of my observatory as a reminder of his lasting influence.  Anyhow, it wasn't too long before my wife and I were on our way to Selsey. When Patrick learned of the distance we'd travelled, from Lancashire to east Sussex, it was he that suggested we stay. It was a very enjoyable couple of days, and within a few days of returning home I recieved a phone call, and the voice on the other end of the line said " Hello, this is Patrick. I'm phoning to say I enjoyed your visit, please do come again, and next time bring your son Daniel..."  Daniel is my younger son who at the time was 13 years old and had an interest in astronomy. I said I would visit again, but sadly never did arrange it. So even after our visit Patrick's focus was on encouraging  my young lad. And encouraging others is what he lived for to the end. I still hold a special place in my heart for him, and gratitude for all that he unknowingly did for me.

 

Great story, thanks for sharing Mike. 

On 30/12/2022 at 20:44, mikeDnight said:

Years later my wife and I were lucky enough to be invited to visit Patrick at his Selsey home "Farthings", where we had dinner with him and stayed over night.

How did you wangle that Mike? 😮 What a wonderful experience. I did have the pleasure of having a pint with Patrick after he gave a talk at our local club over forty years ago. As you say a perfect gentleman and gave his time so freely to the astronomy community. 

Although I tried to define EAA above, I think the subject of what constitutes EAA, and more controversially which forum one should post in, has been the subject of some extremely heated debates in the past, both on SGL and CN. The whole debate is probably best avoided, especially as we just don’t have enough posters for EAA, NV and VS for it to be a problem on SGL. I think if people feel an EEA contribution is of more value to imaging folk, then they may politely suggested that the poster also posts in the imaging forum, but I can’t recall any issues of this sort recently. Keep doing what you’re doing @fwm891, it’s good stuff. 

Well done! It’s great sharing the night sky like that isn’t it? I have been meaning to arrange a ‘sidewalk session’ for my neighbours for some time, need to just to it…..

Nicely done. Couldn’t have been  easy using watercolours. 👍

I feel the lines between EAA and imaging are becoming more blurred as the evolving capabilities of the camera and software allow people to achieve new things. But I would say that ‘technically’ EAA is using a sensor and screen to create a near-live view. The goal is observing and investigation rather than aesthetics and perfection. But the EAA software is becoming so good that it’s perfectly normal to spend time fiddling with the image the next day(s). And EAA software allows multi-spectral imaging, which isn’t exactly real time, but is significantly quicker than traditional long exposure imaging. You could argue that EAA is ‘imaging made easy’!

Very nice images by the way  🙂

I was so impressed with the first one, I just had to buy another ……..

You might also find your local club has a scope you can borrow. 

Some fantastic catches there, we’ll done on the HH!

13 minutes ago, Franklin said:

I wouldn't want to tell this guy he can only have 3 eyepieces!

 

I think someone just has!

26 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

best to adopt a ‘live and let live’ approach……

In both senses of the word!! 🙂

9 hours ago, Ratlet said:

As it rolled into view on the 32mm it quite clearly looked like a Starfish.

Yes at some magnifications the starfish effect is really striking. 

15 minutes ago, cotterless45 said:

then I came across Lynx and 12 Lynci, ( SAO 25938) wow ! What an absolutely stunning triple , bright and breathtaking! 

Think that outdoes beta Monocerotis as the best triple in our northern skies. 

Nice report Nick. Having been wowed by Beta Monocerotis recently, I am now really keen to see 12 Lynci - thanks for the heads up!

2 hours ago, Nigella Bryant said:

OK, I'm going to get some flack with this. I see many post's about new eyepieces arriving and pic's with all the others they have. The cost of some more than some of my scopes, lol. 

I confess at the beginning, I either use my Astro cameras to view on the computer screen or image with same camera's. I don't get why so many eyepieces and sometimes expensive one's. I own about three eyepieces but invariably use just the 32mm sometimes to centre an object before inserting the camera. 

So, may the controversy begin, lol. 

I posted a similar view on eyepieces recently. Ironically the discussion resulted in me buying two new eyepieces!! 😆😆

I dread to think what life this eyepiece has had, possibly fished out of a canal and then opened up to drain out the water!!

Thanks Nik. Already I am seeing some benefits in sharing the lists! 

10 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

My most satisfying nebula in terms of structure, definition, brightness and overall beauty (leaving out Orion) still remains as NGC 6888 Crescent nebula.

Interesting to hear that Steve, I have always struggled with this one in my largest scope (8” SCT), never clearly seen the crescent shape, although I’ve never tried from a dark sky. Do you think my 8” in a dark sky would be able to show it clearly? 

51 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

I noticed you have the double Tau Geminorum on your list. Splitting this one will be very tough, since the magnitude difference is more than 6 and the stars are so close together. It was first spotted by Burnham in 1881 and he had access to some big refractors.   Here are two other famous doubles in Gemini for small refractors: Castor ( Alpha Gem ) and Wasat ( Delta Gem), both are wonderful targets for a four inch scope!

Thanks Nik! That’s perfect, not sure how I forgot Castor, I will update the list. Good spot with Tau Tauri, that star is actually on the list because it’s an (almost) carbon star with an interesting colour (hence the “CS” category) - but when I looked it up, I saw it was also a double, but you’re right, probably not one for the 4” category, I’ll leave it on the list for its colour though. 👍

36 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

That's a substantial list Rob. Have you observed all these targets so far?  

I’ve probably only observed about a third of each list so far, I’m hoping the completed notebook of all 50 odd constellations will keep me going for a while!! Just shows you what can be seen with a 4” scope. 

Although I have plenty of observing resources (too many in some ways), I lack single place where I can list potential targets and record the excellent suggestions I regularly find on SGL (for example, the recent excellent posts by @cotterless45). So I decided to compile a list of targets visible in a 4” scope in a notebook, with a page for each constellation. My main sources in compiling the lists are Interstellarum for the main DSOs and “A Field Guide to the Deep Sky Objects” (Mike Inglis) for doubles, triples and carbon stars. The lists are coming on slowly, sometimes a page is almost not enough, but so far it is proving very useful and quite fun to do. Happy to share as I complete them, if people think they are useful. 
 

An exciting problem to have! 🙂A couple of questions - (1) are you keeping the TSA-102 or is the new scope a replacement? (2) what type of object/observing are you hoping to improve?

Thanks again Nick, some intriguing targets there. Added to my ever growing list.