RobertI

Lovely dark transparent evening, had an hour or two on my hands, so planetary or deep sky? Well the seeing looked good so I thought I’d try Jupiter with the C8 and binoviewers and was not disappointed. The seeing got better and better and at 180x I was viewing some beautiful features, brown belts, grey streamers, white ovals and the beautiful Great Red Spot (now salmon pink!). I spent a good hour sketching and I may share later if I feel brave enough. I thought I’d switch to the 102ED with BVs just to compare and, oh my, was I surprised. At around 170x the view was so much more pleasing, and the white/light areas and white ovals much easier to see. The disc was sharper, the features richer and more contrasty, the sky was darker and the moons had become tiny little discs. The only real downside was that floaters were getting in the way every now and then which is a pain. I was expecting under these decent conditions that the C8 would pull away from the 102ED but I was surprised. I finished with a little deep sky - a view of the double double cluster. For fun I thought I would compare the view through the 102ED and binoviewers at x57 with the C8 and single Hyperion eyepiece at about x60 - again I was expecting the greater light gathering of the C8 to provide much the better views but I actually preferred the view through the 102ED with BVs - the stereo viewing, dark background, and pinpoint stars made for a really immersive experience. Need to work out how I can get more out of the C8 for lowish power viewing of open clusters and star fields. Edit: Sketch added, while trying to capture the detail I got the positioning a bit wrong, but hopefully of interest.

Great report, nice varied session by the look of it.

Nice observing Nick and nice record keeping both of you. 🙂 I have really struggled to find a format that I like for record keeping over the years. I currently maintain a spreadsheet that I have been adding to over the last three years. I don’t like having an electronic solution, but I have found it pretty useful being able to search and filter to see previous observations of an object, sometimes with different scopes, and also being able to link to my SGL reports. If one thing, it has proved how fickle my memory is when recalling previous observations!

Me too Dave. And without wishing to divert the thread, I think one area where astrophotography can never capture the visual experience is with doubles and clusters. Those perfect little pinpricks of light just can’t be recreated on paper or screen (yet!). I do like the challenge of tracking down faint fuzzies, but I’m not that turned on by the myriad of faint galaxies in the spring - that’s when I bring out the EAA kit!

Thanks! And thanks for the heads up about the transit - I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t spotted your post. 🙂

I did a rough sketch at the eyepiece and tried a better rendition this morning. Not an expert at sketching but hope it conveys the overall view.

Looks wonderful - a serious telescope. 👍

Agreed, it was quite a moment to behold, the black shadow right next to the bright moon against the swirling clouds of the planet, and with the GRS nearby……just awesome. I was lucky enough to have some great seeing at times, and the binoviewers in the C8 at around 170x revealed some wonderful detail in the cloud belts and around the GRS. One of those times when the C8 lived up to its potential for planetary observing. I wish my sketching powers were up to the job - next time I’ll have a go.

Great report and interesting comparison of eyepieces and filters. I have also found that binoviewers transform the planetary viewing experience. Regarding Mars, as others have said, it can be spectacular when it’s at opposition, with lots to see, including the occasional dust storm, so give it a go later in the year! I had some fantastic views (see here and here ) with my 102ED refractor in 2020 so I would hope your 127 Mak can give similar views. Interestingly, reading my old report, I had noted that a yellow #12 filter helped a bit with Mars, which I’d forgotten.

Fantastic! Sounds like you are on the start of a love affair with this wonderful hobby. You've got a great scope there - plenty of fun to be had and it doesn't have to be expensive - although it probably will be. Keep at it with Jupiter - it's just the start. If you can observe when the seeing is good (little atmospheric turbulence) and it is high in the sky, you can crank the magnification up to 150x - 200x and start to see amazing detail, fleetingly at first, takes practice, but it will come - great red spot, festoons, shadow transits - you've got a lot to look forward to. Edit: I should just should add that on nights of bad seeing, high magnifications won't help and you just won't see much detail, so also be prepared for some disappointments!

I think a visual only magazine would be great but would probably be a bit too niche to make any money! I do get Astronomy Now, mainly to offer something different it sit down and read, although they do offer some interesting visual targets each month. You can’t beat SGL as a rich source of equipment reviews and observing reports for visual astronomers. I can also highly recommend the Actual Astronomy Podcast - Chris and Shane release a new programme each week and it’s purely about visual observing and is very entertaining - a bit like going down the pub with your favourite Astronomy friends! 🙂

Here is the original thread, hope it helps….

Correct @Ivan well spotted. Yes I did have exactly the same issue with my SkyProdigy which I believe has many of the same internals. I replaced the azimuth motor and it solved the problem, works smoothly and quietly now. I can’t honestly remember what troubleshooting I did but I thought it was worth a go for £40. Obviously can’t guarantee that’s the problem but seems to be a common problem. Changing the motor was actually pretty straight forward from memory - I think I just ‘winged’ it in the end and I’m not a technical expert and only have limited tools. I’ll see if I can dig out the relevant threads.

Yes I will try again sometime (possibly without BVs) as I don’t recall previous sessions being so problematic. Exactly the same here. I ‘grew up’ with EQs and only bought my first AltAz about eight years ago, so was surprised and disappointed with my EQ session. I think the final straw (which I didn’t previously mention) was that the RA motor seems to have developed a vibration issue which turns stars into small dashes and wipes out any planetary detail!!! Some investigations required.

Thanks Stephan, and a useful description of the area. I found a really good finder chart for the crescent which helped me find it first time, and I know the starfield fairly well now which I think really helps me to know where to look and what to look for. What I really want to do is take my C8 to a really dark site and see if I can do better. There’s still some time left this year!

Thanks! I’m pretty sure I have seen this neb before a while ago so I was perplexed to not have found it. I will get some detailed finder charts and try again!

Just had a nice session of mainly DSOs and Jupiter. Good seeing tonight! More details here:

Beautifully transparent so I thought I’d try some DSOs with the 102ED - almost went with the C8, but didn’t really want the additional hassle. The Veil was beautiful as always with the Oiii - both east, west and Pickering wisp clearly visible. I then spent some time on my nemesis the Crescent, and could eventually make out a very faint oval glow with a brighter corner with the Oiii. Pretty much the same as previous attempts. Why this is called a ‘bright nebula’ is beyond me! Then onto NGC7027 sometimes known as the Pink Pillow nebula. I found it using the blinking method with the Oiii filter. At low mags it didn’t look much but when I zoomed in to around 200x I could make out a clear oblong shape with ill defined edges - unexpected! I then failed to find the Catseye and the Blinking planetaries which was disappointing. Before packing away, I thought I’d have a go at Jupiter and was amazed to see how good the seeing was. In went the binoviewers and I was treated to five minutes of wonderful photographic like detail, with textures I just don’t normally see. The seeing went wobbly again so I thought it was a good time to stop while I had some good memories.

It was actually seeing your 102ED on your EQ5 that inspired me to have a go! I think the experience was made worse for me for some additional reasons: My mount is slightly stiff and ‘sticky in both axes making pushing to the right part of the sky more of a problem. The BVs are tall and heavy and made the changing orientation/angle both slightly nerve wracking and more of a pain. The mount was possibly set a bit low with the result that there was possibly more ‘low flying’ than should have been necessary My old non-goto is VERY slow to slew (max 8x), so can only be used for tracking and fine centering - no ‘fast slewing’ with my setup! There are some additional things you can do with a manual altaz which you can’t do with an eq like lift the whole thing up to reposition the legs so they don’t get in the way! Perhaps I’ll give it another go with my other CG5 which is goto and slightly better set up. 🙂

The verdict is in:

I’ve just come in from a session, mainly observing Jupiter. Unfortunately seeing wasn’t fabulous, although I could see the GRS and some festoons and some lovely colour. For the first time in a LONG time I used my old non-goto CG5 equatorial mount to see whether tracking would improve my observing of Jupiter. Eq mounts can take a little more time to set up over an altaz and can be awkward to use, but I thought the tracking might be worth it. I was quite excited to get then CG5 out again after so long and I was reminded of the great times I had with my 6” newt on an Eq mount when I first started out decades ago, so I was hopeful. Well, having spent a couple of hours tonight using the 102ED on my CG5, I have a verdict; if I am concentrating on just one object, eg planets or moon, and I need my hands free to sketch, then yes it’s worth it. But if I am not going to sketch and I have hands free to nudge or twist slo mos, then it’s not worth it. And if I am going to be viewing several objects in different parts of the sky, then it’s a monumental pain in the butt! The variation in height, odd eyepiece angles and twisting of the focuser needed, was just a pain. And at one point the binoviewers ended up at an angle and immediately twisted round and ended up pointing to the ground because something was not tight enough - thank heavens it was firmly attached to the diagonal! Perhaps if I used the CG5 every session, I might be happier to use it, but it was so clunky to use compared to altaz mounts, I’m not sure I’ll be rushing to use it again!

Super sketch, nice rendition of the transit. 👍

Nice report Stu, lovely pics too. I love the shot of the tripod flat on the ground - it looks like it’s having a little rest!

Not quite dark, but ready for some fun with Jupiter. Trying out the old non-goto CG5 to see if the convenience of tracking outweighs the hassle of an eq. 🙂

A crying shame, it was clear but I am laid low with a cold and was just too tired. 🙁 Hope everyone else enjoyed it. 🙂