Ratlet

I use a t3i (600D) for widefield stuff and have taken zero dark frames of any description. Just use =2048 typed into siril for the bias and just apply flats.  I do either every 5 or so subs.

The beauty with siril is you can very quickly and easily stack with and without darks.  Image quality was improved not using darks and using a constant bias.

Sacked off my imaging session as there was some weird coma like issue with the optics on the Tair 3.  Life is too short and I got what I wanted (test the side by side mount out with the new bracket for the mini pc).  Visual it is.  The scope was covered in frost so I assume it was at temperature.

Kicked off by throwing the scope at the moon.  The seeing was exceptional (at x80 at least) and I've never looked at the moon when it's past full or at least not seriously near full.  Incredible scenes near the terminator.  Beautiful contrast.  Mars again next and sure enough there was some faint differences in contrast visible.

Tried the hit the double cluster next but I'm apparently garbage at navigating at zenith so didn't find it, although I'm about 90% certain I found Kemble's cascade by accident.  Or there is another long chain of stars that ends at a cluster, so if I did I got ngc1502 as well. I couldn't see any stars of Camelopardalis and I'm not familiar with it at all so could have been anything.

Decided to go for messier 34 and managed to get there using some star hopping and sky safari.  Grabbed a partial sketch, but I'm confident I got a solid I'd on it.

Finished of with Jupiter which has reappeared at somewhere below 20°.  Probably meat best view of Jupiter I've had.  The seeing was incredible very stable.  Jupiter almost looked like it was rippling slightly in the same way a bubble does when you blow on it.  Had a look around and pretty much every single star was a pinpoint of light.  Not a flicker to be seen.

Took the Tair out for a spin with the side by side mount, but something wasn't quite right with the optics and it was almost like it had bad coma.  It was -3 so decided to sack it off and do some visual.

Can you give a little bit more detail on this technique?  I get that you are doing a mosaic but then my brain falls over.  Are you actually binning these?  How big is the final image?

I'd quite like to blitz a few targets on Monday as it's the last time I'll be imaging for a few weeks.  I might setup with the 130pds and do this (maybe 5 minutes per panel) as the quality looks good enough for me.

6 minutes ago, Shimrod said:

It took me a bit of time to find this, so here's the link for anyone who's interested - it is listed as an item and you then choose one of the products (and delivery option) to add it to basket.   SVbony Aliexpress UK warehouse

Personally I'd be reluctant to order anything - given the discount I suspect these products are customer returns but there is no indication as to the condition of the item

It now shows as £136 with free shipping - unless VAT has to be added to that price.

Vat needs to be added.  Refund policy with AliExpress is usually straightforward.  Good shout they might be customer returns, but if they are faulty then just return them.  I'm going to pick up a couple plossls and can report back.

Just a wee heads-up for folk that svbony on AliExpress appears to have a UK warehouse section in their store.  They've got some good deals in there, some decent plossls for £15 and some guide scopes for £40.  Not used these eyepieces, but they seem well reviewed.

They've also got the SV48 achromat for £160.  Trying to be strong and resist...  Unless someone can convince me of a reason I should get a 90mm widefield achromat when I've got a 130pds lol.

1 hour ago, Vroobel said:

But what about the new moon? You seem to have not too much choice of direction.

The head torch does both.  I find the green light is really good for setting up my imaging rig as it casts some pretty intense shadows and makes it easier to see cables and sockets without the light being as intense as the white light.  It's still quite dim.

If I'm doing sketching I've got a different head torch which is borderline useless as I stuck too many layers of gels over it to dim it down.  It's great for sketching though as it really helps preserve dark adaption.

The other half came in and told me it was clear out.  Unfortunately she followed this up with her needing to spend the next few nights studying (shame because it's supposed to be proper clear Sunday/Monday).  The seeing was not great, but also quite variable it seemed.  Managed to squeeze in a healthy hour. 

Not to be put off by the presence of the moon and with M42 visible from the vegetable patch I set up and had a quick squint.  Whilst there was some good nebulosity visible it was quite disapointing as the majority was washed out.  Still, I decided to linger on and off to see if anything else could be seen Initially could only see 3 members of the trapezium, however managed the 4 once it cleared the neighbours house.  Did a little bit of experimenting and I think the UHC filter provided no really benefit to improving contrast.  I also could do with another eyepiece as the 32mm and 8mm are not ideal for framing this target.

Jupiter and Mars were okay.  Jupiter is really only an early evening target right now as it transits over the roof of my house.  I'm struggling like billio to see much in the way of contrast.   Same with Mars.  Perhaps the 130PDS is just not well suited to planets.

Decided to wrap the night off with Almach.  First time splitting this particular double.  Found it quite challenging with the seeing being so poor (even in focus the stars were buzzing), but managed to split it comfortably with my 8mm.  It was a bit like if Polaris has the colours of Albireo.  Quite nice.  I need to pick up Discovering Double Stars and get after these.

Set up in the plant beds with the 130PDS.  Illuminated with a sacralicious green light.  Not that the light made much of a difference with the full moon out!

50 minutes ago, Mognet said:

I haven't bothered getting my scopes in months because of it. It's either cloudy, too hazy to see much, or the full moon wipes everything out. The all sky camera has shown a couple of recent properly clear spells between 3am and 6am but not much at a convenient  time

My work has me doing 0600 to 1800 shifts every 2 months.  I've been getting up at 0230 to get some quick observation in.  Brilliant time to get going, if you can get into the swing of waking up that early.

We've got some clear spots predicted tonight.  Might leave it till Sunday though as Sunday/Monday are supposed to be super green.

Tidy work mate.

That's a really nice improvement imho.  You are definitely moving in the right direction.  Can't really add much to what everyone else has said.  I suspect you've got a strong foundation in terms of equipment and technique (and attitude) and you're just missing more time on the targets.

51 minutes ago, josefk said:

Thanks @Ratlet - i'm trying to make a sketch of nearly every observation since about Agust onwards this year - less electronic note taking - more care and method (ish) at the EP. I transfer rough ones done at the EP to clean index cards the morning after typically so miraculously all my mistakes disappear :-). 

I'm in much the same boat, I think it makes it easier to observe and object rather than just look at it.

I've started sketching from photos when it is cloudy out.  Much more detail than I could hope to see and gives nice controlled conditions to practice.  Currently trying to do a sketch a day.  Mostly sticking to lunar as I think it is great practice due to the combination of subtle changes in contrast and detail.

Unfortunately this has led to me getting a renewed interest in planetary and lunar observing, about 2 months after I sold me mak lol.

Nice sketches mate

I'm not (well wasn't) a massive moon man, but the southern limb is really nice towards full moon.  I like how some of them look like they are completely disconnected from the moon.

Got up at half 4 to see the big show and decided to check my phone to see how everyone else was getting on with the first clear night in ages.

Got massively distracted and missed mars going behind the moon 🤣

I bought my wife one of those Teddy Fleeces from Primark the other day.  I wouldn't think about going out if I didn't have the option to steal that.  My goodness is it WARM.  and only £15.

Managed to get out for what feels like the first time in ages.  Dense clouds were approaching from the north with steadily, but slowly worsening high clouds causing a pervasive haze.  Much like @Astro_Dad the seeing was pretty dire, with going above x80 not being an option as it was like looking up from the bottom of a swimming pool.

Mars was pretty disappointing.  There wasn't much if any detail visible at all due to the poor seeing.  Jupiter was the worst I've seen and even the equatorial bands were a challenge.

The moon was quite impressive though.  Lovely contrast over by the terminator with some brilliant white bits visible well into the shadow.

would have stayed out longer but my staff night out was yesterday and the recovery is going to be a slow process.

Really enjoying the sketching white on black.  Ordered some shades of gray for doing lunar.

Cuiv the lazy geek and patriot astro on YouTube are Nina gurus.  If you want to learn to Nina then go hit them up.  They're pretty comprehensive.  Between them I managed to configure Nina from scratch. 

You can do a lot of playing about with Nina offline to figure out where things are and how to set up.  I played with the framing assistant and simple image sequencer like that before my first session.

Thanks everyone.  I contacted sky at night as well to let them know and they should be fixing the website soon too.

6 minutes ago, Louis D said:

I figured for under $150 shipped, I'd give it a try.  Due to direct from China shipping, it may miss being a Christmas present.  However, my birthday is 3 weeks later, so it should definitely be here by then for a birthday present.

Excellent a review we can trust!  Hopefully it's gets here sooner rather than later.  I'm in the market for a new planetary eyepeice and this could be a nice option.  Depends how it gets on at F5.

29 minutes ago, thekwango said:

It’s threatening windows of clear sky here…….still undecided if it’s worth hauling the scope out for. Wife thinks I’ve lost my marbles as I’ve been ‘looking out the blinds every 5 minutes for the past 2hrs’

I’ve been told to either sit down or get out - though she put it much less politely 😂

Same here.  Threatening something worthwhile going out for.  Got the scope out for about 5 minutes and managed a very quick squint at Jupiter.  Coming to enjoy the 8mm for x80 for jupiter.

I thought Dylan O'Donnell was pretty quiet.  Someone should pop round in case his desiccated husk is in his skypod.

I find the height of the quickfinder to be a bonus for just looking along it.  My skies are quite good so no issues seeing stars and it can be helped by sighting with both eyes.  Generally just quickfinder to something bright and then use my 32mm plossl to star hop (2° FOV) but I'm considering a raci as the plossl in the 130pds shows a lot more stars than a star chart and it can make it a bit disorientating.

The quickfinder was pretty bad for dewing up, but as mentioned above a few shield from craft foam is a winner.

Not had mine fall off and not had to tweak the alignment and I've had it off and on my scope a few times.