RobertI

Very interesting! Looks like the small aperture has resulted in the diffraction ring just moving past the secondary rather than being on it? Interesting about the colours too.

Thanks for the heads up Nigella. I’ll try and grab a look with my Herschel Wedge and BVs tomorrow. Superb captures by the way, that CaK is quite special.

Excellent range - they seem to have everything covered.....literally. 🙂

Great report! I think it's a really good idea to sketch the constellations as you have seen them, you will probably quite quickly have a better knowledge of the constellations than many more experienced astronomers, myself included! Did you manage to spot the 'bowl' of Virgo? To me Virgo is a 'Y' shape with the bowl making the top of the Y. Although quite faint it is very distinctive and contains numerous galaxies. One for next time!

Grim. Horrible. So glad it's insured though and you can enjoy planning your replacement (and we can enjoy watching you spend the insurance money! ). I have to say that dovetail clamps give me the jitters...every single time I use them. Having experienced something similar and got away with it, my set up routine now includes extensive up and down 'wiggling' of the scope while I do the clamps up - surprising how often I can get another slight turn on the bolts with an additional wiggle or two! I then use a torch to sight along the clamp to make sure it is properly seated. A bit over-cautious perhaps, but when there's 7kg of scope hanging off the end, there's my toes to consider too! I have to say I quite like the 'traditional' clamps with a big bolt and a smaller bolt at an angle which 'digs in' to dovetail and prevents slippage. I can live with a scarred dovetail. The double bolt ADMs are pretty awesome too though.

Yes that’s it! Still not sure how it works though. I am assuming the Barlowed nosepiece (long black bit) goes into a guide scope and the eyepiece goes into the eyepiece holder, but what does the illuminated thingy do? Doesn’t project some sort of reticle and if so is the mirror diagonal translucent?

Can anyone identify this bit of equipment? It comprises a mirror diagonal, a barlow like lens, a tiny mirror thingy which is adjustable like a reticle, and possibly translucent, with a red illuminator. I’m stumped. 🤔

I’ll see what i can do. 😉

Thanks Stu, I'll try Zeta Hercules with the 102ED and possibly the 150PL next time out. Interesting link btw. 👍

Yes please do John, I'd love to know.

Thanks Stu, yes it was very much like a ring with a gemstone embedded in it, I almost used the same comparison to describe it! A lovely sight.

Hi Magnus, coincidentally I have just had another go at Izar with the Z66mm and posted a report. The quick summary is that I finally bagged Izar’s secondary by upping the mag to 175x - very pleased with that. Also coincidentally I did look at Polaris (at one point it was the only area of sky not covered by cloud!) - I found the secondary much harder than expected, with only fleeting glimpses, but the seeing was pretty poor in that area of the sky for some reason. Might have been easier at a lower magnification?

Last time out I tried to split Izar with my 66mm refractor. I’d read that it was extremely difficult with a scope of this size due to the fainter secondary lying directly in the bright diffraction ring created by it’s sibling. The best I could manage was an slight but definite brightening of the diffraction ring in the correct position at a mag of 110x. More details here. Tonight I upped the magnification to the highest I could get, 175x. Having cooled the scope I pointed the scope at Izar. First look, the secondary was not immediately visible, just a very bright diffraction ring. Then on closer inspection, there it was, clear as day, but sitting slap bang on the diffraction ring. I’m not surprised it was so tricky. But a pleasing split. Finished off with a nice view of the double double and a very bright satellite overhead, which turned out to be NASA’s Terra satellite. 🙂

Nice purchase. Look forward to some reports.

Great report! The Veil can be amazing with an OIII. I had a great session last year viewing the Veil. I have also tried the Crescent a number of times and the best I have had is seeing part of the curve (confirmed with detailed star charts), but never the whole thing. It’s my mission for this year. 🙂

Nice demonstration. NV is clearly a great way to observe. The last nebula of the first video was very confusing as it looked looked like the Owl Nebula with its two eyes, but was clearly way too big! I get it now though.

Some fascinating insights there, thanks for sharing. Just shows the variety of methods people use (or don’t!). Interesting point from @Tiny Clanger that it’s useful to record what you don’t find as well. @westmarch I use SkySafari for most of my planning and observing in the field, so should probably should have look at the observing notes feature more. @AlexK DSO planner looks great, don’t think I can get on iPhone though? I do have an old micro-tape recorder that I sometimes whisper into for reference, must dig that out again as it worked well. As regards drawing, I have really enjoyed drawing Mars and I suspect I will do more solar system sketching in future so need to get a system in place for those. 🙂

When I first started observing as a teenager I used to sketch and record my observations quite methodically. Since I rediscovered my passion ten years ago, I have been very inconsistent with my records, being a mixture of sketches, scribbles and reports on SGL. I have struggled to be happy with any one approach. The biggest issue has been remembering which objects I have observed with which scopes. For example, have I ever seen the F component of the Trapezium in the Tal? Which other scopes have I seen it in? Have I split both components of the double double with the 66mm frac? What did Izar look like in the ED102? And so on..... Well I have spent the last few months putting all my recorded observations in a spreadsheet log and I have to say it's been really worthwhile and is a very useful record which I often refer to. It's taken some effort to create and requires a little dedication to keep it up to date but has really provided a lot of insight and helped inform any new observations. For example if observing a challenging double, I can easily find other observations of the same object made with various scopes over the years. I have been surprised at how much I had forgotten. I know people vary massively in how they record their observations, ranging from nothing at all to detailed sketches for everything. How do you record yours? For interest, I log the following in my spreadsheet: Identifiers (eg: NGC) Common Name (eg: Izar) Constellation Category (eg: Glob) Attributes (Mag, sep, size) Scope used Link to SGL report (if applicable) Date Observing Report (what was seen, eyepieces/filters used, etc) Observing Location Time Seeing (Pickering Scale) Transparency Moon phase

I keep my grab and go gear indoors for quick commando style observing sessions. Last night was wonderfully clear but with clouds approaching and a bed time not far away, I set up the Zenithstar 66 on the Giro-WR and Photo tripod. After leaving to cool I thought I'd have a go at Izar which I knew would be a challenge with this aperture - the companion is 2.9" away from its much brighter companion and I believe sits in the first diffraction ring in a 60mm scope. First attempt was not good, possibly bad seeing, so I tried some easier targets first. Rho Herculis - lovely close pair but easily split at 109x, with white primary and fainter secondary. Listed as mags 4.5 & 5.4, separation 4.1”. Alpha Herculis, aka Rasalgethi, is actually the fifth brightest star in Hercules, a beautiful double with orange primary and fainter white secondary. Listed as mags 3.4 & 5.4, separation 4.6”. Gamma Virginis was lovely, comprising similar magnitude white stars. Close but easily split. Listed as mags 3.5 & 3.5, separation 3.1”. Back to Izar. The view was much steadier now, I think it might have been scope that was not completely cooled after being in the house. There was still no split at 109x, but after peering closely for ten minutes I could see a persistent and clear brightening of the first diffraction ring to the N. This was consistent with the position angle of 345 degrees, so I think I can call that a 'probable' catch. I didn't have time to try the maximum mag I could achieve of 175x (would have meant a trip into the garage!) - but that's my job for the next clear night.

You’ve probably had your money’s worth on that one session John! Nice demonstration of what these cheaper scopes can do. 👍

Fantastic project Mike, what a wonderful way to bring your observations to life. Please keep away from small children. 🙂

....but in this position he can focus with his feet, so not all bad. 👍

The finder-scope is proving to be awkwardly placed....

Yes Dave, it has Lego-to. 🙂

The telescope is causing quite a stir!