wookie1965

A warm welcome to SGL

I have had one good session since June with health and weather but this winter from October to today has been rain rain rain. According to the BBC weather app next clear sky is the 9th from 5pm until 10pm but I will not hold my breath.

According to the BBC weather app forecast is light rain showers the next clear spell is Tuesday the 9th from 5pm until 10pm

If I had £500 I would of bought this.

A warm welcome to SGL

Not all astronomy related but a good haul.

Every astronomy event this year has been clouded out as far as I can remember. I have not seen one meteor shower this year.

A warm welcome to SGL

Put a piece of paper opposite the focuser (White) then put a piece of card inside the tube to block the primary mirrors reflection. Then rotate the secondary (back off the three collimation screws a tad) get it so you can see a full circle. Take the card out now using the 3 screws small adjustments get the primary mirror clips all the same. Thats the hardest part done unless you drop or bang the tube you wont need to touch this again. Now using the three screws on the primary centre the dot in the donut. Once you have done this a few times it gets easier like riding a bike. Take a look at this site. https://web.archive.org/web/20200223041214/http://www.schlatter.org:80/Dad/Astronomy/collimate.htm

A warm welcome to SGL

Cut out 6" x 6" pieces of wood place the wheels on them when setting up that will stop the mount sinking.

No stripped threads it's for a friend he dropped the mount or that's what he said and done this.

Can anyone tell me what this part is called and is there anywhere I can buy one please. It is not the bolt but the part the bolt goes through.

Once I have split the doubles I am on to the next one the only time I spend time is if I am sketching, As Cygnus is making its way over my house I got in as much as I could because next time I may not be able to see it.

Aligned with Vega and Deneb so stayed in Cygnus as it was opposite to the street light and in a good position. Albireo (SAO 0873 01) always a great sight. 17 Separation 26.3 mags of 5.1 9.3 (SAO 0688 27) very yellow and pale blue ΟΣ 390 Separation 9.4 mags of 6.6 and 9.5 (SAO 0879 32) lovely triple white with a wide pair one blue other just a dot. Ψ PSI Separation 2.9 mags of 5.0 and 7.5 (SAO 0821 14) Lemon yellow and close Blue, first time using the SVBony 8-3mm and very impressed with it. SHJ 314 20h 06.0m +35° 47’ Triangle of stars wide pair with a much dimmer third. 52 Separation 6.4 mags of 4.2 and 8.7 (SAO 0704 67) green yellow and grey pair. Σ2749 Separation of 2.0 Mags of 5.9 and 6.8 (SAO 0330 34) both blue/white stars. 59 Mags of 4.6 9.4 and 11.4 make this a challenging triple (SAO 0503 35) Orange with pair of blue stars went to X250 to get them. 61 Separation of 31.1 Mags of 5.3 and 6.1 (SAO 0709 19) Orange/yellow pair Known as "Piazzi`s Flying star" because of its proper motion. Another double double S786 + Σ 2789 easy to see. ΟΣ 447 Separation 29.6 Mags of 7.7 and 85 21h 39.5m +41° 44‛ Easy yellow and blue pair. Σ2832 Separation of 13.3 Mags of 7.8 and 8.3 (SAO 0337 80) lovely blue pair. NGC 6826 wow this really does blink NGC 6910 "Rocking Horse" you can really see the shape NGC 7082 sparse open cluster. M39 Rich open cluster lovely sight NGC 6866 "Kite" you can see why its called this nice open cluster. M29 "Cooling tower" nice cluster NGC 6811 70 odd stars in this open cluster called the "Hole in the cluster" because of it dark centre I did not see that. Up into Hercules for the pair of clusters M13 and M92 both didn't look as good as I have seen. Lyra next the double double easily split with the SVBony 8-3mm went down to 6mm for a proper split. M57 looked better in the 15mm BST without the UHC filter Uranus I am sure I got it after checking but I was not able to see colour. Jupiter and 4 moons I had tried this earlier but the seeing and the scope had not cooled so it wasnt that good at the end of my session looked again it was much better looked great in my 12.5mm University optics could easily see two bands and hints of others with spells of better seeing. That's it a really enjoyable session must get warmer socks as my feet were freezing. Saw a couple of bright Geminids pity its going to be cloudy tonight would of liked to just sit out and watch for more.

In actual fact its a Celestron Sp -- C102 tarted up lol.

I've just come in for a brew then I'm back out again.

Cloudy as usual here every shower this year I have not seen a one.

A warm welcome to SGL

I bought one for a vary reasonable price from bosun21 which I am very appreciative of unfortunately I have not had a chance to use it with a vengeance yet. Looking at the weather forecast it doesn't look like I will be out for another two weeks.

I use one on my EQ5 best thing I have ever done really easy to set up now.

A warm welcome back to SGL

A warm welcome to SGL and great pictures.

Snow

can I just put a spanner in the works a nice 4" refractor planets look like balls and can take more magnification if conditions allow. https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/skywatcher-evostar-120mm-refractor-optical-tube-assembly.html