RobertI

That's sad news about the oberving site and worring about the observatory. Terrible pictures. More importantly though I hope your son is safe.

Nice progress Chris. Of course the burning question is, what scope and mount have you got planned for the Obsy?

I read a long thread from quite a while back where the different focuser options are discussed - I think the conclusion in the end were that there were three or four different versions over time!

That would sit nicely on my SkyProdigy then. 🙂

Nice selection of captures. 👍

We need The Liberator, that would sort them out!

Nice list of coloured doubles, thanks, I'll have a look for any I've not seen yet. It would be helpful to have the separation in the table too. I've just done a count up and I've got a total of 49 imported observing lists in SkySafari! In addition to the ones Stu mentioned above, I also have the AL Carbon Star List (The Astronomical League) - not doubles but still colured and lovely to look at!

The software looks like it’s working superbly - when I do some EV again I shall have another bash at installing (might be needing a new laptop soon - mine has almost reached its 10th anniversary! 😯)

Very nice report, some lovely objects there.

A quick session with the 150PL on the Skytee 2. A beautifully transparent and dark night, with the milky way pulsating overhead, meteors flashing across the sky and fast moving satellites, seemingly in a hurry to get somewhere. Jupiter was low over the garage rooftops and so in turbulent air, but the GRS was immediately apparent, and in moments of calm the spot was bright orange with surrounding belts of brown, orange, grey and white. Plenty of swirls were visible during the very fleeting moments of super calm. I spent most of the session teasing out details and by the end the GRS had moved quite a lot. The scope is clearly capable of seeing plenty (its relatively new to me) so I may try it out the front of the house where I have clearer skies. I may have a head to head with the C8 for interest. Finished with a look at the challenging Pi Aquilae, it took 140x to split the components which are 1.4", the seeing was pretty good I think. Had a quick scan with the 10x50s. First was a strking triple (not related) comprising a orange, white and blue white star - these were Omicron1 Cygni, 30 Cygni and the unforgettably named HD192579. Omicron2 also lay nearby, another striking orange star. Alberio looked beatiful, very close through bins. Heading south from Alberio was the rusty orange Alpha Vulpeculae (Anser) with 8 Vulpeculae making a pretty unrelated pair. South again and we have the Coathanger asterism, a really lovely collection of stars. Short but very sweet.

It seems like we are staring into the abyss with this one. Very nice. 👍

Those dark nebula are superb, especially the ink spot - very striking. The cluster is nice with some nice colouring, the LRGB is working superbly - to me then cluster has the shape of a couple of castellations (if that’s the right word) - ie: a square zigzag. Hats is a nice album by the way, I have it myself. 👍

Weird that it ‘melted’ when a fairly light weight scope was on it. I suspect they build the SkyTee with very low grade soft alloy to keep the price down - I stripped a couple of threads on the gear assembly, not to mention rubbish clamps. It is nice and heavy duty though and works well with my scopes but I think I would upgrade if I was going to put a really expensive scope on it. But at the moment if my 150PL fell off due to the mount breaking, I’d be more upset at the broken mount than the broken scope (from a price perspective)! 🙂

That's horrible!

Well done, really promoising results, you've got lots of interesting objects to discover with that setup. I also did EAA from a very light polluted site, and although my skies were probably darker, it's amazing what could be achieved against all the odds.

Do you perform observatory commissions?

A striking image of an extraordinary looking nebula. Thank you!

Sorry to hear about your experiences with your neighbours Alan, nightmare scenario, I hope they move one day! I think for some people, us astronomers are aliens speaking and alien language, and they just don't have the capacity to grasp what we are about, even with the help of Brian Cox!

The lights are not on tonight. 🙂 I am hoping that either they are having a rethink, or this will not happen very often. They might also have heard my cries of anguish when I first saw the lights! They seem like nice people and I’m sure they would be reasonable if I went round and had a neighbourly chat about the problem, it’s just a shame to be forced to do it. To smooth the waters I could always offer to show them and their children a squint at Mars through the C8 (if I can think of a safe way to do it).

I might just set my 5 year old son in them! 😁 Thanks for the reactions and responses - it certainly sounds like others have it much worse than me, so I guess I should count my blessings, at least I can block them. The lights did actually go off at around 10:30 so might not end up being too much of a nuisance, but I shall closely monitor. This has made me think about trying some trips to local dark sites....

Just a thought regarding the EQ3, the more solid EQ5/CG5 equatorials regularly come up for sale on the used market - they would hold a 150PL nice and steady. I bought a used CG5 without motors but with 2" legs (very solid) for £120 - add a slow mo cable and tracking becomes easy. I would think finding one with motors (non-goto) wouldn't be hard. If that option appeals you could always try a wanted ad? Regarding the 8"F6 versus 6"F8, I've never compared the two, but I can tell you that I have been incredibly impressed with my 6" F8, it's a great all round performer. Another point to note is that if 2" eyepieces and accesories are important to you, the 150P Dob has a 2" focuser but the 150PL does not.

One of my neighbours has finally gone and done it - after spending the last six months building a massive pergola, they have finally adorned it with the inevitable fairly lights, which are so bright they illuminate the back of their house. There is some hope as the gap through which they are visible is only about six feet wide, so a screen or even better a nice summer house would probably shield it, but the illuminated house would still be visible. Back to EAA I think...

Very nice, must have been wonderful. The Cornish skies are amazing, I have stayed near Bude a few times and got lost in the profusion stars in the inky blackness. I was just round the corner from Eddington Lodge and plan to experience their 20” dobs under those wonderful dark skies some time.

Great thanks Alan, good know how they compared and what you ended up doing. I think you have the perfect combination there and top brands. A lot of experienced visual astronomers seem to end up with a quality frac in the 85 - 130mm range and a large newt of 250mm or larger. Rewind 12 months and I was mulling over whether to get a 6" F5/F8 Newt or a 100ED frac to add to the collection. I decided to go for the Newt (one came up for £90!), and I have loved it, but I still had the 100ED itch, so now have a new Skywatcher 100ED on the way (if the retailer ever gets stock). So I will now have both, and have probably doubled up, but I shall do a comparison anyway out of interest!