RobertI

Well, I can definitely see the comet, so at least you captured your target!

I did try to identify the star field to see if I was actualy in the right ball park, but not joy sadly.....

Also purchased a Nikon 2x tele-extender to go with the one I bought three years ago! By some fortuitous coincidence they match my inter pupillary distance when side by side, and so with a couple of cable ties, I have a super wide field 2x binocular. Looking forward to trying under the stars.

Just received my Baader 2.25x Barlow. It’s a lovely tiny little thing, I suddenly understand how one of these with a Q-turret and some compact BCOs makes a lot of sense. Looking forward to using it with my zoom ep (pictured). Thanks for the suggestion @John 👍

Yes I think I might have grabbed the draw tube by accident when moving the scope. 🙄 I didn’t want to lock it as I know the focuser moves very slightly when doing this. Really need a handle!

Having not done any imaging for several years, I recently decided to sell my Megrez 72mm. Having cleaned it up, admired it and sold it, I immediately wanted to try some imaging again! My remaining widefield scope is a WO Zenithstar 66 and I recall getting some nice results without too much effort (in my mind it was easy - of course I had forgotten all the pain that got me to that point). So I tracked down the reducer and camera, set up the old CG5 (with motors, but non-goto), polar aligned, attached the scope with weights slightly east heavy, focussed with a bahtinov mask using the LCD screen on the camera, moved the scope manually to the Veil, locked the clutches and began tracking. No darks or flats for now. Set the camera to 10x30secs and started the run. The clouds duly rolled in, but I think I proved that astro-imaging can be really easy. So, here is a single shot from the night's session - I bring you, the Veil nebula:

Nice one Chris, the Ion tail (?) is super clear.

Thanks John, they sound very accessible targets from my garden observing site. I’ll also add scatter to the list of things to look for. I meant to mention that i found a way of getting equal magnifications in both scopes of 50x, 100x and 200x, partly thanks to the incoming Baader 2.25x barlow (thanks for the recommendation!). I know the different eyepieces in each scope will add some uncertainty to the comparison, but hopefully close enough to not be significant compared to the objective lenses.

Thanks Vlaiv, you’re right I did miss the moon! Good call about Bootes, my western view is blocked by the house but I may be able to get it. Might even be worth finding a different site as there seem to be a lot to chose from. Thanks for the suggestion. Thanks, yes I am planning to spend a good time on Jupiter, might even try some colour filters for fun. That is assuming the scope arrives before Jupiter disappears again!

Hi all, When my new Skywatcher ED100 finally arrives, I am planning to do a head to head against my Tal 100RS for fun. My expectation from what I have read is that (everything else being equal) the ED100 is likely to discern better low contrast detail in objects such as nebulae and planets, and give a better colour rendition. However performance is likely to be similar on high contrast targets such as doubles of equal brightness and the moon. So, during the long wait for delivery, I am putting together an observing list for the comparison. Current list is: Coloured double - Alberio Carbon star - Garnet Star Challenging double of equal brightness - ? Challenging double of unequal brightness - ? Faint nebula with and without filters - Veil Brighter nebulae with and without filters - M57, M27, M97 Galaxies - M81,M82, M32 Jupiter and Saturn Open clusters - Caroline’s Rose, Owl cluster Glob clusters - M13, M92 What do you think? Have I missed anything? Any ideas for items 3 and 4? Any other thoughts? Thanks! Rob

Couldn’t agree more John. I was out too for a couple of hours, trying some AP, and using my 10x50s whilst the camera did its thing. There was a real ‘buzz’ in the air, with the comet, Jupiter and Saturn shining proudly and the Milky Way glittering overhead, like performers in a celestial play. I ended up lying in the grass scanning the Milky Way with the bins, a really wonderful immersive experience. Oh, and the ISS actually went through my shot of the Veil Nebula (I’ll do a post about that!).

Nice view of the core! Good to have some record of this fantastic solar system interloper, I must try and do the same.

Otley can be pretty scary at the best of times! It’s not far out of Ipswich but feels very rural. Must venture out that way sometime.

Great vid Chris, thanks for sharing your night out, your enthusiasm is boundless! I really like your last shot, the wispy clouds at the end of the comet’s tail make it look like the comet is smouldering! Where did you venture to for the dark skies?

Finally got to see the comet tonight. A beautiful and mysterious object - I can see how the ancients were disturbed by these interlopers. The tail seemed to be about 3 degrees in length (half the FOV of my binocular). Through the 66mm frac it had a very condensed core and the tail had a sharper edge on one side. So pleased to have seen it. @Littleguy80 your shot of the comet behind the clouds is just wonderful - my favourite shot of the comet so far.

Great stuff Chris, yo'uve really captured the brilliance of the comet and your excitement is making me itch to get out there and see it.

Lovely report and pic, the comet sounds amazing, yet to see it myself. 😕 For the tiny planetary nebulae, you could try ‘blinking’ an OIII filter across the front of the eyepiece, the stars are dimmed but the PN stays the same. I’ve only just got my OIII filter so not tried it myself yet, but understand it works well. 👍

Thanks Stu, yes the skies are ok and I can drive to a nice secluded spot away from the neighbours fairly easily. I don't often do it but I think it's worth it in this case to see the entire Veil complex in the FOV! If my 130P was capable of taking 2" eyepieces it would be perfect (650mm FL), although I guess fracs are better for these faint low contrast objects?

Thanks John & Stu. That’s really good to know. I will give the ZS66 a go next time as it looks like it should get the whole Veil and NAN in with my existing 21mm 68’ eyepiece. An easy scope to take out for a quick trip to a dark site too. As for the inbound 100ED, the best FOV I can get is 1.6’ with my current gear, so I think a 2” eyepiece and filters may be something for the future and/or a shorter FL scope.

Thanks John, yes very pleased with filters so far. I was pleasantly surprised at the result in the 130P, I had got the impression that these filters only really worked in scopes at least 6-8" aperture, which is why I was trying to get the C8 into action. Do you think they would also work with smaller scopes such as the ED100 or even the ZS66?

Saw exactly the same myself, rather nice wasn’t it?

Tonight’s mission - to test out my newly acquired Astronomik UHC and OIII filters. I also planned to re-acquaint myself with the Tal before my new ED100 arrives. I resurrected the venerable battery driven non-goto CG5 as the host for tonight’s observing . Whilst the C8 was cooling I had a quick scan round with the Tal. The double double (of course) was easily split and the stars showed lovely ‘glowing’ diffraction rings. Jupiter and Saturn were rising but still low over the rooftops. At 164x Jupiter was showing a surprising amount of detail in moment of clarity. The great red spot was coming into view and was easily visible although nothing more than a smudge. Several bands were visible with hints of detail and one band showing a significant feature near the limb. A blue filter helped improve contrast slightly. Saturn revealed less detail, but the Cassini division and ring shadow were prominent together with some faint banding. The driven mount was proving to be a delight for this kind of observing - no pushing or knob twiddling required. Time to put the Tal away and bring out the C8. Surprisingly Jupiter and Saturn did not look much better, and I put this down to the mediocre seeing at such a low altitude. And on to the main event, the Veil with the UHC and OIII filters. Popping in the UHC revealed the Eastern Veil quite clearly. Not so much detail evident but very bright. Then on to the OIII, popped it in and ..... nothing....or very nearly. Very disappointed I put it down to the relatively bright sky, then I realised what was up - dew on the corrector! I hadn’t put on the dew shield. While waiting for the dew to clear I pulled out the Heritage 130P on its tripod mounted Giro (a one handed lifting job), popped in the eyepiece with OIII filter and .....oh my .... the entire eastern Veil was in the FOV with a clarity and sharpness never before seen. Filamentary detail was definitely there but mostly with averted vision - with a darker sky in a month or two it should look spectacular. I swapped between the OIII and the UHC and the differences were clear - UHC darkened the sky less than the OIII but made the nebula slightly brighter more extensive. However there was definitely less filamentary detail than in the OIII. By this point the moon was casting quite a glow so time to pack up, but very much a success and looking forward to darker skies with the UHC and OIII! Completely forgot about the comet! 🙄 Lessons learned from tonight's session: I realised after I had finished that the FOV in the C8 was much smaller than it should have been and I think that this was because the focal reduction was less than 0.63 (possibly more like 0.8) due to the eyepiece being closer to the reducer than it should be (I was using an SCT threaded diagonal which removes the need for a visual back and I was sitting the Hyperion eyepiece ‘deep’ into the 2” fitting of the diagonal). Lesson learned for next time. Aluminium tripods should not be used for long or heavy scopes, too much vibration - I wasted valuable time swapping it out for the 2” tripod. Batteries should be checked before observing - the red dot finder in the H130P was dead. SCTs need some form of dew control - always. GEMs are pain the butt for moving around the sky to see different objects and 'freestyle', but are great for critical and lengthy observing of individual objects. Long fracs look great on GEMs!

Fabulous capture John!

A nice scope like that deserves some nice tube rings. 👍

Some interesting reading matter to help keep my interest up during these cloudy nights.