scarp15

11x70's perhaps - if observing from a reasonably dark environment. Either option, consider stabilising accompanied on a monopod.

Yes me to in recent years with sometimes a specsavers moment. Ironic in a way that I require reading glasses to check labels in a supermarket and yet Scotopic vision; dark adapted outer light sensitive rod cells, will enable me yet to see very faint diffuse nebulae.

Yes The Crystal Ball Nebula NGC 1514 in Taurus. Visually invisible until you apply an O-III filter. Then you get a diffuse fuzz around the central star, which becomes highly visible. The O-III will enhance many other subjects, such as The Monkey Head, The Bubble, The Rosette besides many more.

Not-so-young eyes, with applicable filter, eyepiece, conditions, can yield stimulating observations, including the Horse Head.

Eye relief on the ethos range is 15mm, quite good for, non spectacle wearing, relaxed eye placement, cup always up, never questioned this really, works fine. Also retains a little distance from transferring any grease onto glass surface.

Nice account and some humorous encounters with sheep. They can be surprisingly startling at night, at least wherever you were based you were not it would seem harassed by hordes of midges. Particularly good observation of Mars, great that you got an opportunity at least as the weather has not been very cooperative for observing.

Good to read and successful observing account on the Veil. Gleaning a lot flexing the O-III filter, an optimum time of year. Great that you got a good night of transparency.

Interesting to hear of Scandinavian and Canadian winter insulation solutions. Have a pair of old leather nordic ski touring boots in the loft, they are more beefed up than my four season leather walking boots that I might typically take on a cold winters stargazing outing. A repurposed former car rubber boot mat for supporting, insulating the dob from the ground, could be used for standing on, though best when perched on an observer's chair placing feet on the foot rest. I will attach a cover over the Telrad in between use and place the fabric caps on the tube, pointed downwards when taking short breaks.

The 10mm Delos, as others have already mentioned, will fit in snugly with your other focal lengths and not become too compromised in TFOV. Something wide field at lower power, as also previously mentioned, than your 21E if you have access to dark skies will be purposeful.

Definitely, failure or uncertainty is reasoning for enlightened further investigation; i.e. on here. My own experiences, with all optimum factors, the capacity for visual integrity becomes boundless. I am not a dedicated star splitter, concerning deep sky, probably grasping the Little Veil complex in Cygnus is my own boundary. Such as Gerry had mentioned, gradually having learnt to visually understand considered threshold subjects, such as The Horse Head and an extended proportion of Barnard's Loop, that in the right conditions pose no uncertainty.

Lovely shot fusing the Milky Way and Perseids Neil, captures the event really well. Great that you got to your club's dark site and not a bad SQM reading for the time of year. A lot of interesting targets in the session, good that the 10mm Delos is delivering, with a lot of scope time. Thursday night, hmmm a supposedly good weather window but could be windy ha ha. May need to dust off the equipment, get my mojo back. Where to go, your dark site specifically gated, requiring a key is good, my usual dark site is probably remote enough and OK to go to, I have another new one, which might also be OK. Staycation campervans being everywhere currently is the thing.

4am it had to be done and was worth while. I recall when I use to do mountain marathons in the autumn. Not quite 4am, a role call by a piper, playing the bagpipes, clad in kilt at approaching 6am, would parade around the wild campsite, crazy thing is everyone - two to a tent applauded him. Interesting applying a filter, I once had the Televue filter, the first addition but more so for Jupiter, with mixed outcomes.

Brilliant, that's dedication Neil, congrats, a 4am role call after your first session would have not likely registered with me. What power, eyepiece have / are you using on Mars currently, or does the 10mm Delos yield the most stable image presently?

Captures the essence of this occurrence and the Summer Milky Way perfectly, evoking this stage of Summer from your northerly latitude. These wide field images are great for observers, as it can stir up a memory, such as my own recent dark sky encounter a little further north of you.

Hi, I have been wild camping, involving walking a good few miles firstly last summer on the Scottish border involving a large pair of binoculars, monopod, stool etc and earlier this year taking a smallish refractor, tripod etc. Perhaps for this pursuit, you could start by looking at large camera shoulder bags and small camera tripod bags; there is one designed for, such as small reflectors on ebay. Just work out all the measurements for feasibility. If your plan is to wild camp and might involve some walking, a good padded shoulder bag would be manageable. You kind of just have to see what's around and try things out. I carried in a tripod mount in an unused bicycle rear rack pack, padded out with extra foam. There are always some solutions. Wild camping, hauling stargazing equipment is an effort, but if conditions are right will be completely worth it. Where roughly are you planning on heading - which I expect more importantly (even than darker skies) will be post midge season?

Yeah same here, I have been toing and froing to Leeds doing jobs at my daughters house for Uni and missed a few good nights. I had considered setting up on the Newcastle Town Moor, not far from home, but really wanted to do this properly and get to a dark site. It is very much a must see encounter if you get the chance.

Perhaps your binoculars Robert, get to a lofty location with a good NW / N horizon and if possible no light pollution. Of course the sun will be impacting a little. Best from about midnight onwards, probably the last good opportunities in the next few nights. A breezy site for obvious reasons would be applicable 🙂

Yes a blueish tinge, this became apparent late on in the session, no artificial light pollution from my location focused on observing due NW / N, average sky brightness readings were 20.03, good for my latitude 55.14N for this time of year.

That is interesting. I traveled to a lofty dark site on Sunday night and observed the comet between 11.30pm and 2.10am, taking my 16 x 70 Lunt's and a TV-85. I took a mix of ultra wide field focal lengths for the refractor, whilst good the image was not as satisfying as provided by the binoculars. The image in the binoculars was quite astounding, a bright blue tinged nucleus vast long tail, very good contrast. It was hard to take my eyes off and whilst taking advantage of some planetary alignments and some brighter deep sky object, I was greedy for more observations of Neowise. I mounted the binoculars which are very light for the size, on a monopod and sat back on my adjustable observer's chair. A surreal night, in the far distance in this part of Northumberland, I could just hear the night (military) exercises from the Otterburn Ranges.

Headed to my dark sky site and lofty position last night. This was my first opportunity for Neowise, no artificial light pollution NW/ N, yet at 55*14 latitude, the sun had only settled below the horizon. First detected the comet at around 11.30pm, then observed with Lunt 16x70's and TV 85 with a mix of eyepieces between 11.30pm and just after 2.00am. It was immediately visually impactful and increasingly became visually breathtaking. The Lunt 16x70's mounted on a monopod, sat on my adjustable observer's chair, the impression was a bright blue glow and long vast sweeping tail with good contrast. The image was preferable to my refractor although Delite eyepieces 7mm and 4mm gave a good impression (but were more used on Jupiter and Mars). As the sky gradually darkened, it was very discernible with a long streaking tail naked eye. At 2.15am , I took a series of Sky brightness readings which averaged 20.03, quite alright for the time of year, the Milky Way overhead being very apparent. An unforgettable phenomena, ironically, switching on the radio for the drive home and 'In the air tonight' Phil Collins started up.

Finally at last got to observe Neowise, from a dark site (55* 14 latitude). Took 16 x 70 Lunts / monopod and TV85, observed the comet between 11.30pm and 2.00am. The binocular image became increasingly spectacular, presenting a bright blue glow and long vast sweeping tail excellent contrast. It was an impression I will never forget. Therefore 15 or 16 x 70 binoculars, monopod, an observer's or garden chair and a clear lofty observing site with no artificial light pollution NW /N is a winning formula.

By around 10pm, I measured 21.5 mag on the SQM. Much later and I would have expected readings to have decisively gained 21.6 or 21.7. Unfortunately later some thin haze, sea fret swept in from the north east. Before that I did accomplish some quite good observing, that included the California and Barnard's loop. Cold night, ice had formed on the outside of the tent by morning and my water bottle had partially froze. This vast area is protected as a national nature reserve, the upland heather and bog lands are being preserved against erosion, such as caused in heavy storms. The walk out was quite relaxed, as I'd refined how to modify carrying the equipment.

Carrying equipment to my obs - a (significant) step up from my backyard, 1.5 mile walk close to the Scottish border and an overnight stop over. This was taken in March, just before lockdown. My left side is TV-85 in carry bag, right side; porta mount in a bicycle rack pack. Shouldering a Berlebach Report tripod in a Berlebach shoulder / carry bag. Hefty eyepieces in the rucksack side pockets (neoprene camera lens pouches), along with camping stool. Also took filters, finder, charts and of course a Unihedron SQM-L devise. Thought at the time, I will not repeat this, but in the fullness of time, I know that I will.

Very good first light with a 10mm Delos Neil and engaging mid-summer all rounder. Your local sky is great, for an urban environment, picking up the propeller in M13 and a nice capture of the Milky Way (as well as of course the wildlife). Great that you were able to stroll a mile and gaining more planetary action - Mars so looking forward to that. Its been so darn hot, yeah, crawling into bed at 3am, that's the way to go.

Just superb, felt myself being transferred over there, looking up above the pines. Good period of rain does wash out all the particles indeed. IC1318, do look forward to investigating this more comprehensibly. The observable profile of Gamma Cygni Nebula is clearly definable, the Butterfly is apparent, I would like to employ the low power arsenal, beginning with the Pan 41 on a late summer night of good transparency. Lock down measures in the UK may ease further from mid of next month, the backyard does feel restrictive and less motivational. Interesting analysis concerning the TeleVue filters. I hope that it comes together like this Gerry when the gravitational lensed quasar Einstein's Cross is present.