wookie1965

Very interesting thankyou.

Yes Nick one of the highlights of my night apart from pushing the mag, I would later find out why it was going soft dew on the scope. I never thought the scope would dew up it was that warm had some fantastic views of Saturn as well. Going write my report up later as having a party for granddaughters birthday only got in this morning at 2.30am

I have used a 6" and 8" reflector but I found my 4" and 5" refractors are brilliant on planets when Mars was close I bumped up magnification and could discern detail on the surface and the polar caps. Saturn two nights ago with the 4" was incredible easily see the Cassini division.

Great report really enjoyed the read.

I had a pair of prinz 12x50s not the best make but they were brilliant crisp bright images. My mum kept ringing me saying what's that in the sky she was on a lounger with blanket over her using some small binoculars 7x30 or something so I gave her the prinz and she loves them looked at the double cluster just for instance and was blown away. I picked them up on a boot sale for a fiver but sadly nothing has come close to these yet. I have had a word with a friend and I am saving up for some helios apollo/delta extreme 15x70s now they will last a lifetime.

I have been given a Celestron C-102 from a very good friend and been waiting for a good night to try it last night it all came together. Still suffering with my back it was to be a shortish session, I had put the scope out earlier a lot lighter than even my Tal. 11pm son gets my stuff out luckily I have one of those right-angled sight tubes that fits on the polar scope so no getting down on my knees for that. First off wanted to try the optics where better than Lyra. Double double easily split both pairs with a 10mm x100 M57 with a Oiii filter at x66 look spectacular. Aquilla 11 (SAO 1043 08) With mags of 5.3 and 9.3 with a separation of 19.6" you could be forgiven as not seeing the double but there it is yellow primary with a tiny ash coloured secondary. Haas says ashy blue but with a 125mm. 15 (SAO 1429 96) mags of 5.5 and 7.0 with a separation of 39.1" cracking pair at x66 loads of colour grapefruit with lilac companion. 28 (SAO 1044 72) with mags of 5.5 and 9.0 with a separation of 59.7" the surprising thing here this looks like the double double Off white primary with tiny grey companion. Hass says the secondary is blue but that is with a 125mm scope. 57 (SAO 1438 99) Mags 5.7 and 6.3 with a separation of 35.9" x66 pair of stars mildly unequal as Hass says I saw twins. Cygnus NGC 6910 (Rocking Horse cluster) Cracking cluster which does resemble a rocking horse. NGC 6811 (Hole in the cluster) With only the 4" out this was not as discernible as with a larger scope I have seen this a load better when I had my 8" reflector so I wasnt that disappointed. NGC 6819 (Powdered glass cluster) Again not too disappointed even with plenty of mag this wasnt as good as I have seen it I will try with the 127mm but as above I think to do it justice you need a larger scope. 16 (SAO0318 98) Mags 6.0 and 6.2 with a separation of 39.1" these really are twins same colour and nearly identical mags, sunflower yellow. 26 (SAO 0490 98) Mags of 5.2 and 8.9 with a separation of 41.4" at x40 to me another Albireo yellow and blue. 52 (SAO 0704 67) Mags of 4.2 and 8.7 separation of 6.4" with my 11mm Televue plossl I could see pale orange and greyish blue stars. 61 (SAO 0709 19) Piazzi`s flying star Mags 5.3 and 6.1 with a separation of 31.1" both stars are yellow Orange. 61 Cygni was a prime candidate for distance measurement due to its large proper motion. Italian Catholic priest, mathematician and astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi first measured this, in 1804. He studied the star over a period of 10 years and realised it was moving faster than any known star at that time. Christened the "Flying Star", Piazzi's measurements initially gained little attention until Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel published an article in 1812. The method used to measure the distance of nearby stars is parallax, which involves using the Earth's orbit as a baseline. A star's positioned is accurately measured twice, 6 months apart, and then it's distance can be calculated from the angular displacement using trigonometry. In the 1830's, there was intense competition between astronomers to be the first to measure a stellar parallax. In 1838, Bessel won the race announcing 61 Cygni had a parallax of 0.3136 arc seconds, corresponding to a distance from Earth of 10.4 light-years. He narrowly beat Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve and Thomas Henderson, who measured the parallaxes of Vega and Alpha Centauri respectively. In addition, Besel's calculation was remarkably accurate and a testament to his observation skills. For comparison, modern measurements place the star at 11.36 light-years distant. I was going to pack up then noticed Saturn between the houses behind me so had to look at it and wow one of the best views I have had in a couple of years with the 11mm Televue plossl it was the sharpest I have seen it the Cassini division was seen as were a couple of moons I was delighted, more magnification just smoothed out the edges so stuck with the 11mm. Son came out and packed up for me well the heavy bits which I am grateful for this was 12.20 am I had been up since 4.30 am the previous morning and as I write this I have been up since 5.45am pain waking me up its no fun but at least I can still get out there and look up. Paul

Cracking report some great objects there.

Brilliant John I finished with Saturn one of the best views I have had in a long time.

Nice one John I was in Aquilla last night but forgot about this I was only using a 102mm so maybe would not of caught it.

Forecast is clear here I've got the Celestron out cooling just in case.

I have give up I have bought 5 pairs now all out of collimation, I started to ask before I bought 7 different ones and all replied they could not say for certain or they are a older family members. So easy to check but none of them have so saving for a really decent pair.

No nothing was setting up when the cloud rolled in hoping tonight will be better thanks.

Brilliant forecast was clear here from 11pm. At 11pm this is the sky 15 minutes later this.

You really have answered your own question, definitive what can be seen through a 4" scope in light polluted skies then scale it up to 8" and 10" after clusters and globule's from darker sites in constellations and magnitudes thus giving the reader an idea of what they are likely to see.

I have quite big hands and to get the card/paper through the gaps in the spider is rather difficult not so much with the bigger scopes, but when I make the tool it should accommodate all apertures. That is why I want measurements so I can make it long enough for the big scopes and say the handle/mounting part I can make it a universal fit.

I do that as well I just like to get the secondary central but also it is for a teaching aid. I can collimate fairly easy but showing someone new can be a pain because of so many reflections this way I can show them which reflections they should be looking at first.

Hi can you people help me with a few dimensions please preferably for a 10" ,8",6, and 4" scopes. I have joined a group near me and a few people have asked me look at collimation when we can have meetings I want to make a tool or tools to aid me to do this quickly. So could you good people supply me with the measurements from the front of the scopes to say 3cm past the secondary and the same from the spider vanes please. The tool (tools) will look something like this thank you. Paul

I would love to find a definitive one I have one but it has not got a great deal in it. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Star_Clusters_and_How_to_Observe_Them/AgkCl1L1G2cC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=globular+and+open+clusters&printsec=frontcover

Overcast here as per according to met office app Tuesday and Wednesday I may have a couple of hours and Thursday all night so I wont be holding my breath but I will be crossing my fingers.

Next time get extra electric if you have to and leave it on, ours stopped at 7am so we were up then but next time I won't run out again.

Take a heater next time hopefully try sort something out for next March all being well with this covid.

Yes Peter that was a cold night to be sure.

Come Tuesday it will be 3 weeks for me.

Such an interesting thread cannot wait to see everything back together and working to see how it performs.

Great report a 4" Refractor is a great scope for doubles and multiple star's even in these light night summer evenings.