RobertI

Lovely looking scope Alan, you’ve got something special there. Looks especially good on that pedestal mount.  I shall watch progress with interest. It’s inspiring me to get my Newt out again. 🙂

11 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Yes, same with refractors 

Just for clarity, with refractors should we also leave the cap off the eyepiece end so the air inside can dry out? I never really thought about this until I saw those desiccant caps that go in the eyepiece end. 

2 hours ago, josefk said:

I also got that Abell guide Rob but definitely out of curiosity rather than ambition. 16” recommended and most obs in it using 22”. Good luck!

Agreed! I think my EAA should setup should in theory catch them, but as you say very challenging, so I’ll let you know! 

54 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

OK SGLers: own up!, who was it?

Not me either, the best my wallet could stand was a manual filter wheel and a bottle of Baader Wonder Fluid! 😆 Very enjoyable time at the IAS though. I also attended the insightful Galaxy Groups lecture - lots of concentration required! Then some nice conversations with the Rowan brothers and a play with the  AZ75 and AZ100. Chris at FLO gave me a guided tour of their dobs, the superb looking new parallelogram mount and the live observatory images. Had a very informative chat with Simon at Widescreen about binoviewers and got some expert advice. Stopped off at the SVBony stand - very friendly people and some nice kit. A very impressive exhibition by RVO with Patrick Moore’s old Ford Prefect with 3/4 million miles on the clock (seriously). Finally bought a couple of books from the Webb Society which I hope will contain some nice objects for EAA, although I think some of the PNs might be a challenge even for my EAA kit!

Great to see you back Ron. 🙂

56 minutes ago, IB20 said:

What is the best eyepiece you’ve looked through?

Binoviewers. 😉

15 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Ah yes, the fatal word: acce$$ories 

😊

I am also going to 'investigate' some bigger ticket items, for future reference of course:

• See a 12" Dob in the flesh and see how big they actually are
• Fondle an AZ75 
• Have a play with an iOptron Pro - possible future mount for EAA
• Investigate alternative binoviewers like MaxBrights and the linear mirror BVs 

And my accessory purchases might extend to some Baader Wonder fluid. And a new dew controller. And possibly a new power pack. Damn.

23 minutes ago, Alan White said:

As always, look forward to looking at all the at kit,

There won't be any left - I'm going Friday! 😆 Seriously I am a bit financially challenged at the moment, so it's probably going to be some accessories.

I think this map also shows the area (the domes are on the bottom right of map 44) but no information unfortunately:

https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/LAC/lac44/150dpi.jpg

On 08/10/2022 at 16:21, RobertI said:

I’m going to treat myself to a day off and come and enjoy the show. Some exciting looking new products to look forward to. 

Now booked in for Friday, I have a long list of things to investigate and possible things to buy (mostly accessories) as I don’t want to be too aimless. Booked in for Millisa Gillone’s talk on galaxy clusters. 👍

Lovely report, the moon can be stunning, I’ve also promised myself more lunar time. 

Lovely report and a great start to your EAA journey. Looking forward to following your posts.  🙂  I had a similar journey I think, finding imaging a bit too time consuming and having too much light pollution for effective visual of DSOs, EAA was the perfect solution. I also love the fact that you have a permanent record of your ‘observations’ and can share with others. I’ve just bought an ASI290 (my Lodestar finally konked out) and waiting for the right moment to get going with it

55 minutes ago, badhex said:

Sorry @RobertI for hijacking the thread, normal service can now resume! 

No problem, useful for me too. 🙂

I have nasty floaters/meshes in my left eye from a ‘vitreous detachment’ a couple of years ago - apparently very common when you get to your 50’s. My right eye probably has a normal number of floaters. Binoviewers definitely helps me, somehow my brain seems to deal with them better in stereo.
 

As regards the OP’s question, I am probably going to commit a scientific  clanger here, but could it be to do with the size of the object being viewed? So if you are viewing Jupiter with a 0.5mm exit pupil in the SCT and ZS66, Jupiter will be the same brightness in both but Jupiter will be bigger in the SCT and there will be more area of planet against which to see floaters? I look forward to hearing the flaws in my argument. 😆

I viewed Mars through two 4” fracs a year or two ago as a little comparison. One was an F10 achro and the other an F7 ED. Interestingly I noted at the time that the floaters seemed less of an issue in the F10 achro when using the same exit pupil - as both are 4” the magnification and image size would have been the same, so I can only put it down to the fact that the F10 achro produced a dimmer and yellower image which showed floaters less. But perhaps a different explanation to what you are seeing.  

1 hour ago, Nik271 said:

Iapetus is famous for being 2 magnitudes brighter when west of Saturn (like tonight, it's about mag 10). East of Saturn it is only mag 12 so not easily seen in small scopes.

I didn’t know that! Educational and informative - nice repot. 🙂

1 hour ago, Moon-Monkey said:

Lol yes i am actually working on an observing podcast

I shall look forward to that. 🙂

Excellent haul, and some interesting catches. 
 

1 hour ago, Moon-Monkey said:

Hey Buddy having appeared on the podcast quite regularly with my observing reports and questions I can honesty say that’s my goto resource for info and a great Chat Chris and Shane not only are very knowledgeable but also great friends too 

Phill From the Uk 🇬🇧 😉

Aaaah, so you’re “Phil from the UK”! They are very complimentary about your reports - I think they have said you should have your own podcast! 🙂

Can a fellow SGL’er come up with a methodical troubleshooting process to eliminate each component as the culprit next time it happens? 

I honestly don’t know about the CA in that refractor but I have been very very happy with my 4” ED refractor for moon and planets and prefer it to the 150P Newt visually. It would also be a better bet if you were regularly transporting it in my opinion. Just need someone to comment on how annoying the CA is I guess. 

5 minutes ago, Ags said:

I was out shooting sequences of Jupiter tonight, but there were a few naked-eye visual treats. Jupiter and the Moon were very close together in the sky, and I saw Mars for the first time this year, much to my surprise. Instantly recognizable and very red - but it was twinkling so I knew seeing in that direction was quite bad. I couldn't resist a couple of quick processes of the data to see if all was ok before going to bed...

I need Mars higher and closer for my C6, but happy to capture a bit of detail already despite the liquid seeing.

Great results, especially Mars. Visually it was small, wobbly and unpleasant tonight. On Jupiter I think you have captured the white oval I described - very interesting to see in the image. You’re getting some great results with your C6. 

Lovely session with the 102ED and BVs - that setup is just such a joy to use. Watched the occultation of Ganymede and picked up lots  of detail on the Jupiter - particularly pleased to get a white oval in what I believe is the South Temperate belt. Would be interested to know if that is a well known white oval or just one of many? Tried different colour filters, in all honesty I couldn’t see any improvement with any of them.  Also got out the RC6 to try for visual for the first time ever - pure curiosity as it’s primarily my EAA scope - the results were horrible - that huge obstruction just washes out all sharpness and contrast. Curiosity satisfied, it’s back in the box for the RC6 for now! 

If you’ve seen the Veil then you’re doing really well and that bodes well for more faint fuzzies. The Veil is even better with an OIII filter. I bought a 4” refractor after years of observing with an 8” SCT, and with each passing month I am more and more impressed. It is especially good on planetary and doubles, but I am now starting to see it is a really good deep sky instrument too, probably because of the amazing contrast and light transmission. Here is an interesting article showing what can be achieved with a 4” refractor - obviously a bit bigger than your 80mm, but shows what smaller fracs can do:

https://rogerivester.com/2010/05/23/my-4-inch-refractor/

I’m going to treat myself to a day off and come and enjoy the show. Some exciting looking new products to look forward to. 

You could hire a 10” dob for a couple of weeks to see how you get on. I’ve been thinking of doing this myself with a 12”, here’s a possible provider who is not far away  ……

https://www.darkskytelescopehire.co.uk/telescopes-for-hire/250mm-skywatcher-dobsonian-reflector-telescope
 

Personally, I think that even if you find the increase in aperture doesn’t show you enough of a difference, the move to a closed tube dobsonian with a better focuser will really improve your viewing pleasure and allow you to achieve more with those lovely Nagler eyepieces.