estwing

Fantastic little scope..

Totally agree with this...see you in spring

What a belter of a night and a great report!....well done.

I have had pleasing views of M33 with good extent of two spiral arms...but that was in very Dark skies on a new moon with 18" of mirror...has been caught in 15x70 bins also.

My eyeballs...

Ahhh....you have me mistaken for Damian (mapstar) ...yes he likes the 13..

Where was this mate?...usually drunk on vodka!!!

Old..but gold..this was in a 20" tho...

No...in my scope I have the 21,13 and the 8 ethos and rarely use the 13!...17,10 and a 6mm would be my choice in your scope but if you ever go bigger you're future proofed ...don't waste the money on a 31.

That's really good Mark...have you a waterproof scope cover ?

Damian..(mapstar)..had a crack at the cone but reported that hardly any of the surrounding nebula was visible

Great piece of kit in a fast scope.

Nice report mate...great dark skies make that aperture punch above its weight...get a telrad on it...so much easier to find targets...good to meet you...clear skies!

After a 5hr drive to the site ( leaving the cloud and rain behind in the Lake District) I set-up quickly with the promise of a clear night ahead...rare for me in Scotland!! Dew heaters on ,kettle on, 21mm Ethos in..ready. First up I just had to look at Jupiter, Saturn and Mars..Jupiter wasn't showing much detail and Saturn was only slightly better but tbh its always a better view than Jupiter!. Mars ( star of the show) was too bright for viewing without a filter..so on to the Witches Broom. Not a massive difference between the filtered and unfiltered view, not dissapointing, just not spectacular. Hoping towards M57 and upping the power to the 8mm Ethos the target looked fuzzy!...not the best sky conditions but a clear sky doesn't always mean a good sky. Swinging round to M31 the dust lane and extent of the object was impressive...you do kinda forget how big it is until viewed in dark skies!. Following down Kembles cascade to seek out NGC 1501 in Camelopardalis. I picked up this target from O'Mearas Hidden treasures Number 22. The Blue oyster nebula is a mag 11.5 planetry nebula that's pretty bright, smallish pale blue object and the 13mm ethos at x157 showed a pin cushion viewed from above sight...nice catch! M33 had two main spirals along with inner detail that was pleasing. Next up was M77 in Cetus, bright core but lacking in spiral action...hmmm..not really a great galaxy night as confirmed by Mapstar who was struggling to track down a galaxy in Auriga. NGC 1074 and 1055 bagged but not memorable yet NGC 891 was good with the dark lane shown with ease..but then again it's huge!. Popping over to Perseus NGC 1003 was just a fuzz...coffee time and a bowl of soup later I sneeked a peek at M1 and to my suprise the unfiltered view in the 21E was good with inner structure ..i spent time on this as it wasn't half bad!. Orion was rising but at this point of the night the stars started to twinkle more and more ..on to M42. Normal showcase view even low down!..but the Cone nebula would be rising soon so another coffee was needed to boost me into the wee small hours...choccy bar and i sat down ....mistake...i woke up with a jolt and coffee running down my leg....i was shattered and decided to call it a night as the drive up had taken more out of me than i thought....drat. Friday night was a waiting game as a clear patch of sky was moving in from the west.. but never moved far enough to reveal more the jupiter and saturn....only triumph was the capture of M17 in Sagittarius and M18 just to the side...by 10pm it was game over, shame but at least i had a taste of the dark skies of Galloway....and dark they are!.....clear skies everyone. Calv.

Booked.

Booked.

Looks..😂

Left at 11am..home for 3:30pm...fantastic to see you all again, one good night out of three suits me...thanks to Lesley, Derek and the two super athletes who showed a turn of pace walking back the pub on Saturday afternoon...see you in March, take care everyone...Calv.

And two 500p scopes together isn't large at all..!!!!😁

Think that was two 18" with john Nichol mirrors

I would love to go bigger but the amount of time I get out with 18" doesn't justify spending 8k+...

Cloudy here but for slim patch...still bagged the Omega!

I'll wait till tmz to type up as the amber nectar is flowing!

At last...a report to type up!

Sounds like a winner for the wallet and glasses wearers....good honest report John.