wookie1965

Well done Neil cracking report I've had one night that didn't turn out too good and one with gods torch out so everything was washed out. Great to read reports you can pick up some great targets if you haven't seen them thanks.

Richard Biggs collimated mine he has been on "The Repair Shop" he knows what he is doing.

Friend gave them to me and to be honest they have surprised me. Lightweight and quite a sharp image only used them on Mars and the moon between clouds I was hoping see Jupiter and Saturn but not sure whether I can with houses in the way.

I have 3 1 W&w one a friend made for me out of nichrome wire and the 3rd the one made out of the resistors. The W&w gets warm not hot but enough to keep the dew off the lens saying that it can feel hot but outside on a cold night it's just warm how it's supposed to be.

I have a W&W one for my Tal works really well I have made one for my 5" using resistors that also works very well.

Got out for a couple of hours had a nightmare did 3 star alignment would not give me a star in Orion or Taurus. I use a zoom lens when I am aligning when I turned it down to 8mm and the Stars would not come into focus. Eventually got to go to Mars that was awful a yellow smudge even in a 25mm and 15mm BST`s. Even Mars was out when I went to it Taurus was a bit high so went for Monoceros went to Hagrid’s dragon nowhere in FOV went to Castor that was way out aligned that using PAE where you press escape then press and hold escape again centered that. Tried Christmas tree dead on so went for Beta Mon I thought the was the big star at the bottom of the tree my scope took me away from that looked in viewfinder could make out one star with a tiny reddish brown companion looked at my notes said it was a triple so put 8mm in nothing went to Zeta mon could hardly see it looked up cloud rolling in so packed up I am now worried the Tal has something wrong with it as at higher mag the stars do not focus.

I did a silly thing bought a pair of Bresser binoculars off ebay (10x50) they were out of collimation. I sent them away to be collimated they came back but the view is terrible not sharp at all. To my question and help a friend has got a pair of Jessops 10x50 roof prism binoculars he said I can have as he doesn't get on with them something about the narrow eye width, I already have a pair of 10x42 revelation roof prism ones so I understand the narrow eye width can anyone tell me if these Jessops are any good please I've looked for a review but nothing is popping up. Thank you Paul

Just ordered and paid for a copy.

I have only been once but I totally agree if I book for 3 nights I will pay for 3 nights if I go a day earlier that's on me not the camp simples.

Clear here at 9.30pm just a bit of cloud so went for a shave came down full cloud. Checked every half hour got to just past 12 and had some very fine rain so gave up. Woke up at 4.30 felt the cold straight away looked out crystal clear I should of stayed up kicking myself now I didn't. Great report Nick and a couple extra for me to add to my Taurus list.

Thank you as I have been observing doubles now for a couple of years with the encouragement of a member on here it's all about finding the right magnification and sitting looking at the double stars for more than a second using averted vision when necessary. You do need good seeing and transparency. I usually stick around 1.6° splits the lowest but when everything comes together it's nice go for the closer ones. Tegmine is my nemesis I've not split that yet into all 3 components, I would like a 6" Refractor but I will have to get a bigger mount first.

I had a 8" reflector but I never used it, I bought a Tal 100rs for doubles then my Meade came up I got a dual speed focuser for it from a friend and had an adapter plate made to attach it from Moonraker Telescopes.

A great list the best I've done is 1.2° split but then I only have a 5" Refractor not tried anything closer. My main objects are double and multiple star's and clusters just the same as you.

A warm welcome to SGL

I only used a short Cheshire for my 200p and the collimation was spot on.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.RapidoDroid.synscaninit2&hl=en_GB&gl=US This is the app, I used to use the wifi dongle with Sysncan pro and Sky Safari for some reason it does not work now. If you look at the first picture you can see the list of things your handset asks for the co ordinates are already in, the date, time, elevation, polar hour and polar scope need to correspond. Then you use the reticle to position the mount.

At the moment I have a android phone and use synscanlnit 2 I am getting a new iPhone I know this is not available on ios but is there any other apps with the same information or close to all the information. Thanks in advance.

Just check the length of the three collimation screws I have a feeling 20mm thumb screws will work but just measure first may need 25mm.

A warm welcome to SGL

Nice mustache Damien hopefully I will get back up there next year.

I have seen M81 and M82 in my 4" Refractor from bortle skies M51 and M101 I have never seen from home I have seen them from a dark sky site.

I must not get aperture fever I must not get aperture fever I must not get aperture fever keep saying it Paul it will go away.

Just for information if you get good weather look out for a super nova in spiral galaxy NGC 514