Ratlet

5 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

Not with the type of foam in my cases you can't (unfortunately).

The foam is squared when looking at it face on, but each square extends the full width of the foam layer (there are two foam layers). I sometimes ditch the top layer only and refill any holes in the bottom layer with pieces taken from the top layer.

I really need to be less obsessive about the tidiness of my cases. 🥴

If someone bought you an eyepiece it would be both a blessing and a curse lol.  That is a very pleasing arrangement.

Yeah, I've got to say that the print quality of @900SL's one looks pretty dire as well.  After seeing that and ELP pointing out the risks, I went for a middle ground and used 90mm Skywatcher tube rings with 3D printed spacers that are lined with felt.  The spacers have a wedge cut out of them so that when the tube rings are tightened the compress the 3D prints.  Because of the nature of the 3D print they are not putting force on any weak planes of the part. 

I've realised that whilst the weather might be an unmitigated disaster recently, it doesn't have to be a major impediment to my enjoyment of astronomy as I mostly sketch my observations with a side hustle in astrophotography (I set up my astro rig whilst my scope cools.  I leave it running till I'm done).  With this in mind I decided to try sketching my astrophotos.  This one from a Tair 3 (300mm focal length) and AA Hypercam 533c.

This is partially because I need something to do when it is cloudy and partially because there is much more detail visible in a controlled environment sketching from an image so in theory it should help sharpen my skills and let me get a better feel for the results.

I far preferred the inverted graphite sketches I was making so decided to go for broke and try the Mellish method although I've used Mary Mcintyre's method of scraping the pastel onto the card.

I really enjoyed doing this.  It's very relaxing and I'm quite happy with the results.  I think I need to get a pen with an actual point rather than a ball point as doin hte stars was a bit of a mare.  Also I struggled to get the pastel to adhere to the card and retain much colour (not that it was a major issue for M45 since I think the ghostlyness of the nebulosity works well.  I do need to work on my star placement, but I think 9/10 astronomers would be able to guess what the sketch is of.

Any constructive feedback would be gratefully received.

18 minutes ago, Ian McCallum said:

A red dot finder from eBay, for the Prinz Astral 500 refractor. 

Shroedinger's RDF:

Its both a red dot finder, and it's not.

I blame all of you for the prolonged cloudy weather.  The cloud debt all those eyepieces will accrue will be astronomical.

Since the weather isn't good enough for me to get out and observe and sketch I've started sketching astrophotos.

Going to try the Mellish method now the postie has brought me this haul

1 hour ago, jacko61 said:

Clear Outside is telling me Wednesday is going to be clear from 5pm right through till 3pm Thursday. As usual this coincides with a full moon  - you couldn't make it up!!

Graeme

As is tradition.  The full moon brings clear nights.

Whats the rational behind using the L bracket?  Is that to allow easier alignment of the scopes?

I'm going to second ELP on the starguiders.  They are quite liberating compared to the bog standard eyepieces (although I quite like my plossl if I'm sketching).  I'm pretty new and can't comment on the wide FOV, but I think given that by and large they eyepieces you've got so far are pretty poor, jumping straight into 100 degree eyepieces might be an over reaction. I'm using an F5 Newtonian, 130mm so broadly similar scope to you.

Personally, I'd test the water with something less extreme and cheaper than the Wide angle stuff.  The jump from even my plossl at 48 degree to a Starguider at 60 is impressive and like ELP I find it imressive.  It's plenty wide, excellent eye relief and looks delicious at F5.

I can tell you that the 8mm BST Starguider is amazing at F5.  Heck, I've managed to go 6 months using almost exclusively the 8mm starguider and a 32mm plossl.  I've got a barlow and an 8-24mm zoom but those almost never get used.

I love widefield shots of galaxies.  Most times you look at one you keep seeing more and more galaxies.

5 minutes ago, markse68 said:

Been wanting to try one of these with the 150p- first impressions it’s big but quite light and i like its aesthetics. See how it fares at f5 

Mark

Can't wait to hear how you get on.  Is that one of the new old stock ones that turned up recently?

Rev 1 of the mount fits perfectly.  Attached the STL.

NUC Rev 1.stl

13 hours ago, JeremyS said:

What is it?

It's a sentry drone from a computer game from 15 years ago.  It became a bit of a cultural phenomenon because of various factors in its design an marketing as well as timing with the explosion of social media.

Part of the reason for that was the end credits of the game had the villain singing a song which starts with the line "This is a triumph..."  The design of the Vaonis is reminiscent of the sentry turrets (to me anyway).

1 minute ago, SteveNickolls said:

All looking very good, well done. 👍 

Often thought about a dual rig set up, and often thought how the side by side dovetail is then connected to the mount sadle? Can you enlighten?

Cheers,
Steve

You just put it on as normal, but have the saddle rotated 90 degrees from what you normally would when you lock the clutches, ie make sure the 'scope' is pointing in the normal direction..

There is an extra step in balancing as you need to make sure the side by side mount itself is balanced along the axis of the long dovetail.  This video demonstrates what I would do:

Although if I'm being honest I've not been too worried about getting the balance spot on as the drag from the cables had made it difficult.  Shouldn't be a problem now though!

Because of the imbalnce in weight between a guidescope and Tair 3 it usually means that the Tair will be very close to the mount.  Given the size of the vixen clamps I think I might try this with the 130PDS as well just to save having to come up with another NUC mounting bracket.

A massive improvement.  Should reduce my breakdown time as well since I can just remove the camera and lens and put the NUC/guidescope/cables away in one go.

3D printed this because I was getting more than a little fed up of the mess and weight of cables from my rig to my table whilst imaging.  Also I like to use that table with my observing setup. 

I almost exclusively image with small(ish) lenses so I bought a starwave side by side mount to make getting a guidescope mounted easier.

https://www.altairastro.com/starwave-dual-vixensynta-175-inch-side-by-side-dovetail-bar-kit-230mm-ota-separation-208-p.asp

Back has 2 guide holes which fit into the blank holes on the mount and stops the nuc from rotating.  Alignment means the nuc has its usb ports pointing along the same axis as the scopes.  Small bit of clearance on the bottom to allow routing of cables.

This first one was a bit tight on the old alignment of the guide posts, just waiting on the rev1 print to finish and I'll upload the stl.

I'd love one as it looks pretty robust and could possibly handle the 130pds, unfortunately I'd need a second scope then too lol

37 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/vaonis-telescopes/vaonis-vespera-observation-station-smart-telescope.html
 

This is a triumph

51 minutes ago, JCIdaho said:

Is that a thing, or sods law?

Just an observation in my area that I'll generally get weeks of looking through sucker holes and then come the moon being nearly full (when imAging and dso viewing are sub optimal) it'll be clear for ages

I'm going to call it just now:

Clear skies for most around Monday 5th onward for 3 or 4 days.

The full moon always brings clear skies.

I bought this one from Amazon which is more than likely identical to the rvo one:

Telescope Laser Collimator 1.25inch, Bysameyee Calibrator with 2’’ Adapter for Newtonian Reflector Telescope Collimation https://amzn.eu/d/exrHvaQ

It has some rubber over the collimation bolts on it but is easily removed.  Collimating the laser is pretty easy

I very rarely have to adjust my secondary but bought some knurled bolts of eBay to replace the alen bolts that are in it.  Just don't loosen more than one bolt at a time.

Collimation is easier than you think and is a piece of cake with a cheap laser.

If there's no glass near to it you could try tapping the thread.  And I do mean two as in gently hit.  Not battering like a ginger stepchild.  We used to get stuck threads on equipment where you would need a cheater Barton open it.  However tapping around the thread with a small adjustable spanner would get the bins to release.

38 minutes ago, John Wick said:

Very nice, what lens was that? Might see if any lurking on ebay

Tair 3 photosniper.  Its a weird lens on eBay as usually they go up for £100+ but they very rarely sell for that.  Just bide your time and pick one up cheap. 

There is another version the Tair3A which is very similar but a more conventional design and the one I picked up had some slight astigmatism.  It also does not have coatings which may or may not affect performance.  The photosniper does have coatings.

Managed to nfinally get the Tair 3 out for a quick go last night.  Got some good data and I was mostly happy with the chromatic aberation.  Quick stretch and process in photoshop (my Pixinsight trial ran out and I have no idea how to photoshop).

All in all I am quite happy.  For £60 for the lens I am very happy and the fungs does not seem to have had a significant impact (compared to my shady processing).  I suspect to get better I would need to spend significantly more than I have done so far.  40 minutes of data with the lens stopped down to F5.6 or so using a step down ring.

Clear skies in Brechin for once.  Got the imaging rig out and got some data with the Tair 3.  M81/M82, M45 and a bit on the horsehead.  No point setting that up and not observing.

Mostly focused on finding Caldwell 22.  Pretty sure I found it starhopping with stellarium.  Mostly viewed with the 32mm plossl.  Did a weird blinking thing where if I looked directly at it it would sometimes disappear/dim, but looked quite bright with averted vision.  Tried my UHC filter but I don't think it really provided anything useful.  The 8mm was fogging up.

Tried finding the veil but I think it is possibly to low down ATM for good observing.

M42 poked it's head out above the neighbours house.  Viewing wasn't the best though and could only resolve 3 of the Trapezium stars.

Mars looked good with the 8mm.  The best does this weird thing if it figs where you get this weird tunnel effect going with a vastly lighter central region. Despite this I could clearly see darker areas in the west extending north/south.

Rather nippy out.  Most of my hear was frosted up by the time I came in