Ratlet

20 minutes ago, doublevodka said:

Some other forums, however, not so much 😂

Finally, something we can all agree on.

(Although I will say their sketching bit is delightful)

Ah well.  

Never mind.  Should still be clear on Wednesday.

Full moon isn't ideal, but I've got AG's double book and really keen on starting that.  @Mr Spock has got me fired up on them and also really want to try some better logging.  This far I've been basically using the "what I saw tonight' thread to track my observations 🫠

That being said, I'm not sure what's going on, but desperately hoping the delivery date is correct and so is the clear outside app lol.

1 hour ago, Kobayashi Maru said:

...and the size. A 10 inch is a big boy. Mine is a solid tube and pretty awkward to move about. The truss dobs would be easier but have other issues obviously (collimation, light shrouds, set up).

Fortunately, the size shouldn't be a major issue.  It's going to live up the shed and have to go about 8ft to where it will be setup.  Got a sack barrow if I do struggle.

I'm holding fire on upgrades at the moment, but I've got a list of links to different things people have done on here, including the roller bearings (either going to teflon or lazy Susan).

It's been a test of my moral fortitude to not go completely nuts on getting loads of bits for it, was this close to getting the encoders. 

So far I've only gone for an inclinometer (really want to try setting circles) and some stuff to flock it with.

When it arrives I'm going to make a template for the base parts.  I'm not a huge fan of particle board so I'm wanting to try remaking it out of exterior grade plywood and varnish.  Also having seen some of the home made dobs, I think the plywood and varnish gives a really nice 80's vibe.

1 hour ago, Kobayashi Maru said:

Do these sorts of eyepieces work well (or ok) in F5 scopes?

Yes.  It is better than the BST 8mm and 8mm + BST X2 ED Barlow in every way except eyerelief for planetary imho.

If the idea of chromatic aberration bothers you with the ST102, a similarly priced reflecting alternative would be the 130pds.  Great 2" focuser for visual and fantastic widefield views.

Apparently they work well for imaging too, I tried mine once and it did a good job but since then the only thing on the end of the focuser has been an eyepiece and my eyeball.

Works nicely on the azgti mount as well.

Edit: I type this knowing full well that I've committed my greatest online sin, suggesting a third option when someone asks for a choice of 2!  But for widefield observing I think the 130pds is underated.

1 hour ago, AstroNebulee said:

Are you using in in az or eq mode? 

I should think it would be ok as you have set up but if it were me I'd install a counterweight bar and weight to it. Hopefully someone whose used that combo on an AzGti will soon be along. I've seen people put a 130pds on the az gti in az mode and put a counterweight on it. 

My imaging set up in EQ mode comes in at around 6kgs. 

Lee

I use a 130pds on the azgti.  In alt-az mode I'll admit. Solid as a rock.  I've got a 1kgs counterweight hanging off the other side, but it's not enough to completely balance it, I just figure it helps.  No issues at all for me.

I've had it up to 215x magnification with a 3mm eyepiece and very little wobble to speak off and it tracked well.

Not sure on the weight of it, internet suggests 4kg, but I've got an extra dovetail, some extenders, dew shield, etc. On it so maybe heading toward 5kg.

The Royal Astronomy Society of Canada has some lists up.

https://www.rasc.ca/certificate-programs

I'm going to work through the finest NGC when I get some time without the full moon.  They've got some YouTube videos up where they discuss the lists as well.

For the time when the moon is about I'm going to work on double stars from  Discovering Double Stars.  Book 2 is possibly the better one for starting as it's displayed by constellation.

https://discovering-astronomy.eu/discovering_doubles.html

5 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

CO was saying clear for here early this evening. Looking out the window I can say for certainty that's nonsense 😜

Clear outside is saying Tuesday is going to be green all night, and that'll be it for clear skies this week.   

Really looking forward to it because it means my Dob will be here on Wednesday.

9 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

No. The brightness depends on the exit pupil. So the 10" would be 32mm/5 = 6.4mm and the 5" 16mm/5 = 3.2mm. The brightness of extended objects, and therefore the background, is proportional to the square of the exit pupil. 

Thank you very much.  I can feel the clutch in my brain slipping every time I think to hard about this sort of thing without adult supervision , but this makes sense.

Slightly related, but if you had a 10" scope and a 5" scope, both F5, if you picked the eyepiece so that you had the same magnification (say 32mm in the 10" and 16mm in the 5"), would the brightness of the sky look the same?

2 minutes ago, Dave-P said:

Quick update to this - whilst I was weighing up the pro's and con's of FPL51 Vs FPL53 ,fate intervened and I stumbled across the attached on Astrosellbuy (or is it buysell...).

An Altair 102 F7 EDT APO triplet, picked up for slightly less than a new FPL53 doublet. A credit to it's former keeper. Just rigged up this afternoon, expecting clear skies late April or so...

 

That is looking very swish!

2 hours ago, jjohnson3803 said:

Thanks.  I have two UHC filters, but was thinking the H-beta might be a good adjunct.

 

Would certainly be interesting to see how it goes.  I think California and Horsehead are two notable examples, but no idea how they would cope with light pollution.

I found this on cloudy nights which has some good descriptions of how different filters affect (effect?) different targets:

https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/user-reviews/accessories/astronomical-filters/filter-performance-comparisons-r1471

I thought we figured out green a long time ago.

I seem to recall a documentary on the BBC in the 80's about an English courtier in Elizabethan times who created a sample of purest green.  I think he was trying to make gold, but his plan wasn't cunning enough...

This is the great thing about the hobby, there's loads of ways to fry an egg.  Some even have them poached.

I did consider getting goto myself but Flo were doing a stellalyra at a phenomenal price.  I really only wanted it for tracking and I think an EQ platform might be the best option for me.  Heck I might just find I get away with nudging.

9 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

I’m too lazy to use the setting circle and inclinometer. Starsense unit all the way for me. Horses for courses I suppose.

The starsense is on the cards, it just looked looks like it might be fun to play around with setting circles on the dob.  Can't possibly be more frustrating than goto.  It would be nice if I just couldn't get it to work, but the fact that sometimes it does and other times it hilariously doesn't does my nut in.

Bad time to mention that there is a (rather battered admittedly) 102 fluorite on fleabay?  

Excellent.  Thanks for sharing that!

Does anyone know the size needed for the secondary collimation screws?  Would like to get some ordered whilst I wait for D-day.

How do you log the ones you've seen?

My head's spinning trying to take all of that in.  Love the colour coding!  I bought some erasable highlighters for something similar, but haven't gotten organised enough to do it yet.

I think I'd get massively lost in that.  I'm hoping to get started on doubles next week if they manage not to update the weather and the green actually stays green.  Got @Ags double book as a starting place.

That should keep you occupied for a while!

That's a fantastic looking collection.  I've always fancied the vixen binocular scope myself.  Think it would look right at home with the Res of your collection.

I think Vixen make a nicer looking scope than Takahashi, but then again I eat kiwi skin so my judgement on taste is questionable.

Regardless, that looks a fabulous collection.  Only thing it lacks is an optical sommelier to provide recommendations for eyepiece and scope pairing for a particular target.

1 minute ago, Zermelo said:

I have the LIDL one and it works well. You might need to tape something over the display to dim it if you're using it during a session.

I saw you were looking at one a while back and mentioned that.  Glad to hear it works well.  I bought a few sheets of colour acetate a while back so I could make a red screen for my mobile to not vapourise my retinas with skysafari, so I'll tape some of that over 👍

13 minutes ago, andrew s said:

I think it more likely it's where all socks were initially paired up correctly - before they became fermions. 

Regards Andrew 

If it wasn't for Pauli we'd all having matching socks.

Cheers folks.  Managed to find a Lidl one on eBay.  I like the look of it and it will fit in with my strimmer and chainsaw on a stick (I have a middle of Lidl problem).