RobertI

22 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

From Suiter 2nd edition p23:

 

… and from my own 6” Intes Mak just now:

 

Elseqhere in the book I recall discussion where certain circumstances yield a vivid bright red spot, and I have observed it, but I can’t immediately recall where or how.

Magnus

PS the bright objects are a set of radar-tower warning-lights on top of a mountain about 16km from me. Extremely convenient non-moving objects for collimating!

Ah very interesting, I have seen these many times with my C8, never realised what they were. Thanks! 

Yes I can see a faint red disc in the middle if I zoom right in. Poissons spot? Sounds interesting. 

Re-reading the post I realise that the OP has both a Vixen dovetail for attaching the scope to the mount, and an ADM rail (which is a completely different fitting and much narrower as it’s designed for mini-ADM accessory clamps) - in fact exactly the same setup as me.  My clamp on the mount is also ADM and won’t close far enough to hold the ADM dovetail, so I’ve never had the problem, but I guess with the ‘bolt’ style clamps it may be possible to do it by accident? 

Impressive result for short total exposure time.  

Crikey that’s a piece of luck!

Welcome to you and your scope. I like your avatar, a Genesis album cover if I am not mistaken - if you want the perfect combination of astronomy and prog rock in a 4”telescope, you need to get a Televue Genesis! 😆😆

4 minutes ago, Space Hopper said:

I would avoid all of them.

None are really suitable to carry a 1200mm focal length scope with that movement arc.

And surely, you'd also have insufficient tripod clearance ; the long scope would be hitting the tripod legs ?

 

The 150PL definitely hits the tripod legs with the Skytee, a pedestal tripod would solve the problem and I have considered getting one, but I’ve heard varying reports of how good the skywatcher is. The Skytee handles my 150PL easily, it’s just the tripod that’s the problem. 

1 hour ago, josefk said:

Hi Rob - In my observation notes for NGC 1647 I have notes to the effect of "remember to come back and spend more time here on a pitch black steady night". It is lovely isn't it.

Yes it is, and I was surprised at what I found in Taurus - I think the Pleiades and Hyades steal the show, and I forget to ramble the lesser known paths. 

Trying to keep it simple last night, so ventured out with the 102ED and the 17.5mm Morpheus (giving 40x) and filter wheel for some DSOs. Warmed up with M42 and had some lovely views, tried some different filters -  the UHC was the best. Transparency was good after all the rain but seeing was very wobbly so I didn't try upping the power to get the E and F.

Had a scan around some other objects in Orion. Had a half hearted attempt at the Flame Nebula - I've never seen it and I think I need to do some more research about the best scope and conditions to see it. Next I found M78 by accident, a small, faint, well defined but irregular shaped nebulosity with a couple of stars at one end. There was a hint of the even smaller and fainter NGC2071  in the same field of view.  Failed to find the challenging planetary NGC2022, at mag 11.7 I need darker skies I think. 

The some open cluster in Taurus and Gemini. NGC1817 was large and sparse with around 40 members. Next to it in the same FOV was the slightly smaller and even more sparsely populated NGC1807. They made a very attractive pair and will go on my "two in a view" list! NGC1647 was another very nice large and scattered open cluster, possibly the nicest of the Taurus clusters I looked at - worth a look. NGC1746 was also large and sparse but again, definitely worth seeking out. 

I failed to find the "intergalactic wanderer" NGC2419 which was a bit disappointing, but it lies in a sparsely populated area of sky so star hopping not easy.

The Eskimo Nebula NGC2302 was easy to find lying next to a brightish star, which made its non-stellar appearance more obvious. When viewed with the OIII filter, it maintained its brightness whilst all other stars dimmed, confirming the catch. I finished the session with the Crab Nebula M1 which was nicely visible, but didn't seem to benefit from any filters for some reason.

A nice session but noticeably colder now! The Morpheus is a very easy eyepiece to live with, and with the 102ED, shows lovely wide field of view and at 40x, the sky is dark enough for DSO hunting but wide enough to find things easily, so no bulky finder-scopes required. It was nice keeping things simple. 

10 hours ago, Alan White said:

A quick 10 minutes with the Binos and I am refreshed again.

That’s a nice way to explain it! 🙂

On 22/11/2022 at 18:40, jjohnson3803 said:

I have a 50mm RACI finder that I use as a super grab-n-go with a lightweight photo tripod and alt-az mount.  If I keep an EP in it, I'm out the door and observing almost as quickly as walking out with my binos.  It's quite good for those times when I don't feel like messing about with a larger scope.

 

On 23/11/2022 at 07:52, Stu said:

That’s a fine haul @RobertI. Binos can be a very good option for times when you can’t face putting a scope out. I must say the skies did look very transparent when I was observing Mars, and I picked up a number of the Auriga clusters in my 10x60 finder whilst hunting around for it, quite surprising.

My only comment about getting a more serious setup is that as soon as tripods and mounts are involved, my view is that it’s just as easy to put a small scope out. I don’t often use it, but my old Genesis can give a five degree field and it is much better edge corrected than binoculars I’ve used, plus the viewing position is much more comfortable.

You guys made me think I need to set up a couple of Grab and Go scopes for super quick sessions. So I put my 60mm RACI finder on a monopod with a 21mm eyepiece in, making a lovely rich-field mini-telescope, with 11x magnification, 6.3 degrees FOV and 5.6mm exit pupil. Actually quite amazing the number of stars and clusters it picked up last night - almost got M36, 37 and 38 in the same FOV! Edge of field aberrations were pretty horrendous, but not surprising at F3.75!! The mono-pod really helped to steady things, even when not on the ground.

I also set up my Heritage 130P on the mini-giro and photo tripod for quick sessions. The Heritage is good as the eyepiece is at the right height to use when standing (so no seat to set up) and is nice and easy to view near the zenith. Actually a very good G&G setup. I tried the 24mm ES, 21mm Hyperion and 17mm Morpheus - the latter giving much the better views and probably the one I will leave in there. A nice transparent night last night with M1 and M33 (my test objects for transparency at this time of year) showing up very clearly.   

So now the decision on which scope to use becomes easy, if I have 5 minutes it's the 60mm, if I have around 30 minutes it's the H130, and if I have longer I set up the 102 and/or C8 depending on what I want to see. Simples.

On 22/11/2022 at 19:52, Franklin said:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Edmund Scientific "Astroscan"

 

Actually this reminded me, I think the Portaball is a very attractive looking scope:

15 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Black telescopes can look good when properly dressed...

Is this the “John Player Special” edition of the Moonraker? 🙂

Very nice report! Objects at different ends of the spectrum there, sounds like it was a great night for planets. I can’t help going back to M42 each time I go out, there is so much to see at any magnification. 

2 hours ago, Mike Q said:

In two years i have yet to look at Mars.  Its on the to do list but i never seem to catch it when it is in a good spot.  Seems there is always something in the way 

Yes, I really only started ‘getting into’ Mars at the 2020 opposition, partly because it was so large and partly because my new refractor/binoviewer combination transformed my enjoyment of solar system viewing. It seems that Mars is a bit like a plant that flowers spectacularly every two years, but only for a very short period - blink and you miss it!! 

Nice. I like your electronic finder setup in the right hand panel.  What scopes are you using?

Nicely caught! 

Another nice session tonight, with wonderful transparency but slightly wobbly seeing. Despite this I managed some nice views of Mars. Got out the C8 and the 102ED - while the C8 was acclimatising I had already spent some time observing Mars with the 102ED and made a sketch!I Syrtis major was very obvious with Hellas Planitia clearly showing as a light oval patch. With my binoviewers I found that my Hyperion Barlow gave a noticeably better view than my Baader classic Barlow, showing more contrast with less red and blue on the planet limb.
 

The C8 came into its own for deep sky and I enjoyed some nice views of the M1 and M42 with my new Morpheus 17.5mm. The E component of the Trapezium was clearly visible but the seeing was a bit too wobbly for the F tonight. 

2 hours ago, shirva said:

Been  a while since I was last on.

Welcome back sir. 👍

1 hour ago, paulastro said:

I had some great views of Mars last night, superb in the 8 inch StarSense Dob, Syrtis Major, and Sinus Sabaeus were striking.

There are many people, some on these pages, who don't start observing lt until its actually at opposition.  Big mistake.

Older hands will know this, but not only does Mars only come to opposition every 2 years, not all oppositions are equal. At this opposition it attains a diameter of 17.2".  If you want to see it bigger and brighter, you'll have to wait until July 2033 !!  

Particularly if you're getting on a bit, don't delay - make the most of it. I' won't see it better until I'm 78 years old. 😱 😅.

Thanks for the reminder Paul. It makes you realise how good Mars was at the last opposition when it was nearly 22” diameter. Your post made me investigate a bit more to remind myself what’s going on - there’s a really good explanation here. So basically we can look forward to Mars decreasing in size at every opposition (approx every two years) until it reaches a minimum of 14” in the 2029 opposition and then increases again until it reaches a maximum of 24” in the 2035 opposition. Unfortunately it seems that the declination is decreasing so it reaches a max altitude of around 60 degrees from the UK at the moment but will only be at 30 degrees in 2035, so another good reason to be observing NOW.  🙂

Interesting thread on using two RACI finders: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/631033-using-two-ra-finderscopes-to-make-a-binocular/

26 minutes ago, JAC51 said:

APM  have 70mm right angle binoculars which are the smallest I have seen

Thanks hadn’t spotted that - I think it’s these. Interesting that they are triplets. Not cheap but should provide outstanding views I would think and potential for powers up to 100x. Thing is I only need low power and these are possibly ‘too good’ for my needs! 

Which scope Michael?

I really enjoyed low power viewing with my binoculars last night, but straight through viewing was a pain in the neck - literally! I lay on my damp and hard garden bench which was much better for overhead, but not ideal. I then got out my 10x60 RACI finder and found it instantly much more comfortable. I could go the parallelogram route with my bins, but seems overkill for 10x50s. I know there is the angled mirror option, which I might look at as a last resort. But I’m wondering:

- Is it possible to lash two of these 10x60 RACI finders together to get a right angled binocular (my inter-pupillary distance is 65mm)

- Does anyone sell 90 binoculars this small? I know you can get plenty of 45 degree giant binoculars, but I want a 90 degree small binocular!!

- is an alternative route to get a fast 70-80mm refractor and cut the tube down so I can use my binoviewer and low power eyepieces? I’m thinking the magnification would be more like 20x min in this configuration which is still pretty low.

Any thoughts appreciated.

@Peter Drew I know you have lots of bino-scope experience, so tagging you! 

On 15/11/2022 at 22:28, newbie alert said:

A little bigger than you mentioned but it could have been made smaller

A very elegant and simple solution. Nicely executed. 👍