bomberbaz

3 hours ago, Franklin said:

My scopes are F/7.7 and the largest aperture is 103mm, so no light-buckets here. I have two nebula filters, a Baader UHC-S and a Badder OIII (visual 10nm) and even though the OIII has much more effect, ie. darkening of the sky background, I much prefer using the UHC-S. It helps with contrast against my light polluted skies but still allows plenty of field stars to be viewed.

If you could get a use of an eyepiece around 36mm then this would give you an exit pupil of 4.7mm which would lighten things up and brighten the nebula too for the OIII, on the downside your only going to be around x20 so only decent sized nebula (eg M42, Crescent, NGC 7000) would work with this, hence my reference to larger apertures and lower focal lengths being more suitable for line filters.

However, I reckon any of your scopes would work really well with a UHC especially if you get into skies which are sub B5. I use UHC on my large bins (80mm) and it responds really well, had some cracking views of the lagoon nebula earlier this year as an example.

I too have a UHC-S filter and generally it is used on my fracs but it has had occasional use on the T350. Where it will come into it's own is when cranking up the power on planetary nebula although this is where you OIII should also stand out as previously mentioned.

On 09/12/2022 at 02:48, Louis D said:

It's so difficult to get above a 4mm exit pupil with an f/10 SCT or f/12 Mak, let alone an f/15 Mak.  You need a 40mm or longer eyepiece just to get close to 4mm.  50mm or more is better.  Then the problem becomes you're looking down a straw.

Agree with you Louis and to be fair I should have been more precise in my previous comment.  An average off the peg scope of much more than F6 is not going to provide a readily useable exit pupil for a line filters unless we are talking light buckets in my opinion. However when we get to light buckets, we get typically get to F ratios of F4 and below.

Kindly pointed out to me by @robin_astro is this type 1a in NGC 5631, magnitude around 14. Easy enough to capture but slightly fuzzy in my eVscope, I have recollimated it since this image was taken. 

15 hours ago, PeterW said:

Not scopes do collect more light but spread it out more as they operate at higher powers. The f-ratio attects the brightness of the image (other things being equal. Reflectors tend to have a higher noise floor due to dust on the mirrors, one reason the camera lens powered Dragonfly telescope array is unique in detecting ultra faint structures round galaxies. 
The ability to produce acceptable images of a range of objects in a reasonable time under light pollution (do lens shields and filters help) is key to outreach, so people don’t get bored. No point in Hubble quality if you have to wait a hour, won’t get to see many objects. This affects all EEA scopes.

 

Peter

Good point well made, here are some examples of eVscope objects in I think reasonable time.  I am still getting used to it but sitting inside when it's -10 outside and still being able to observe is great fun. 

On 09/12/2022 at 12:17, robin_astro said:

Too low for me but here is another further north of a different type, ( a type 1a, an exploded white dwarf). SN 2022aaiq is  in NGC 5631 under the pole  in Ursa Major so the further north you are the better !)

https://www.wis-tns.org/object/2022aaiq

Discovered by amateur Patrick Wiggins three weeks ago, it is still currently  mag 14. It is quite close to the galaxy core though so might be an interesting visual challenge ? (I am not a regular visual observer)  Here is a typical image by Wim Cuppens

https://www.flickr.com/photos/snimages/52535076314/

and my spectrum (in black) overlaid on a matching type 1a spectrum

https://britastro.org/specdb/view_image.php?obs_id=12942

Cheers

Robin

I got this last night, thanks for the heads up. Very easily found and seen. Used my own eVscope to get it, too cold to go after it visual.  

Transferring data guide from ZWO site. I use method 3, it isn't the quickest but it avoids data corruption which I have had in the past from dickie memory sticks.

[ASIAIR GUIDE] How to transfer images from ASIAIR (UPDATED) – ZWO ASI (astronomy-imaging-camera.com)

22 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

Can you attach a USB powered external hard drive to an ASIair?  Not that I want/need to. Just wondering. 

Not that I am aware, that said I have never tried it.

FWIW, I transfer my data from the ASI AIR via wireless, takes a while but simple enough to do and no messing with cards or sticks.

5 minutes ago, etsatlo said:

At about 15% of the price of the eVscope (give or take), that's the stand out feature.

Whilst I agree specs and aperture and flexibility can be challenged, at that price point I think they could be sat on a gold mine.

Mount, scope, sensor, plate solving, live stacking, goto, tracking, solar imaging and daytime imaging all in one package the size of some binoculars? That's worth a punt (which I have!)

I did look at it but there was some warning that as a perk, receipt of the goods isn't guaranteed! What's all that about?

I own the eVscope and compared to that it is vastly underpowered. If I was just buying one for night time viewing then I would probably not buy this. 

However I think there is a good market for it as it is both terrestrial and night time, extremely portable and overall very ubiquitous. It would be great for astronomy clubs for outreach, schools and college for similar, there is definately a market out there for it. 

1 hour ago, Giles_B said:

Polarising filter, UV/IR cut and a Contiuum. Actually it's the altair contrast booster version, not the Baader continuum, so a bit thinner, but all 3 are still a good few mm all told.

The Lacerta also has the ND3.0 built in.

I've just now found on Teleskop-Express for the bare T2 version of the 1.25" Lacerta wedge - "Light path from T2 to T2 is 61 mm" - so a bit less than the Tak diagonal. Still I'll test tomorrow to be sure.

If this is right Giles it sounds like you'll be fine. I will test my overall tak diagonal plus remaining back focus distance tomorrow.

However, all the praise the scopes receiving is making me regret the revised selling on decision now, haha 😉

Discovered December 6 and magnitude 16.5 at the time of discovery. Located in NGC 1300 which is 72 Mil LY away.  

For those in Northern hemisphere it is well located in Eridanus.  From 53 Lat it is at 17 degrees on southern horizon at 22.00 GMT. 

Here is an image from an eVscope user.

these are a little pricier but the image stabalisation is a brilliant addon that is hard to beat.

I already have the 10x30 versions, would like to have had the 10x42'.

Stargazing & Astronomy Binoculars - Canon UK

Had a play around with the data and this is about as good as I can get without losing detail from the image itself. 

@Stu beat me to the key point on filters, exit pupil is to me at least the biggest driver of filter use  as much as the object you are viewing.  The O-III is a line filter (as is the HB) and these typically respond best to an exit pupil of 5mm. The variance is often quoted at 4-7mm for line filters but this isn't set in stone of course although 5mm is generally seen is optimum. However I have been down to under 3mm with the O-III on planetary nebula which are more responsive to higher power due to their small size and high surface brightness. A perfect example is the ring nebula.

If you have a slow scope of F10 or slower, this may mean a line filter is less suitable in terms of exit pupil and in such an instance a UHC may be a better option. The UHC have a wider bandpass and as such will work better in slow scopes with a useable exit pupil from 5 down to 2mm, beyond 2mm the sky is darkened so much and object brightens anyway that the filter may lose it's advantage over no filter at all.  However I have seen reference on exit pupils down to 1mm but I haven't been there myself.

20 minutes ago, Elp said:

It's a good attempt, you haven't applied flats though?

I image from bortle 7, and yes RGB can be challenging. A quick background extraction in Siril has made my RGB imaging much easier as it removes gradients with literally two button clicks.

No the flats have been used but I am thinking maybe some new flats may be needed. These are 6 months old and perhaps do some more over the stock 30 used too.

5.5 hours in colour, widefield which was cropped.

Huge amount of gradient in this as can been seen in the cropped image. I spent a lot of time tinkering and this was as good as I could manage.

I shall try adding some more data obtained next time i can get somewhere really dark to even it out a little. The key here is my local sky does suffer visually from gradiant so obviously going to be worse imaged and B6-7 is never best for grabbing data.

Overall though not too bad given data obtained and conditions.

Very in depth there @Shimrod, I will be taking some notes from this to, thanks 👍

Thanks for all the replies, I will be doing route planning and destinations once booking is confirmed. I will refer back to this as some items on my list, some not, so certainly a worthwhile post even though it is a difficult (read heartbreaking) time in my life, I have to make it a full of love and wonderment as I can.

steve

5 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

Sorry to hear about the problems. Iceland is fantastic, a place you will never forget, there is nowhere else on Earth quite like it. I can't help with the astro side, but here are some "must visit" places.

Thingvellir: site of the world's oldest parliament. a valley being pulled apart by tectonic activity between north American European plates with a river and huge waterfall.

Geysir: erupting hot springs.

Gullfos: the European Niagra of waterfalls

Hallgrimskirkja: the huge and dramatic looking church in Reykjavik. Amazing pipe organ inside.

Blaa Lonid (Blue Lagoon): over-rated but maybe worth a visit just to say you've been. Could be good theraputically for your wife to bathe in the waters, though.

Reykjanes Peninsula: You will see this on the way from Keflavic Airport. Very dramatic scenery. NASA trained Apollo astronauts here as the terrain is so alien and lunar like.

Kringlan Shopping Mall: used to have a 4 metre tall stuffed polar bear on display at a sporting goods store. Store went bankrupt long time ago and bear was list for many years. Has been found recently and is on display somewhere in Iceland. Google will find him.

Vatnajökull: Europe's largest glacier.

Reykir: site of Europe's largest banana producer!

The Perlan: Iceland's most famous revolving restaurant sat on top of the water storage vats that feed Reykjavik.

Trains: Iceland has no rail network, but has a steam train near the harbour in Reykjavik! It goes nowhere.

Food: Fish, of course! we ate at a small cafe in downtown Reykjavik and had the most amazing lobster soup.

Everyone is so friendly and nice and most speak excellent English.

 

Some of those I was already aware of but the affirmation is good to read, several I was not. Thanks for the reply post, most helpful. 

Hello everyone.

My wife and I are hopefully off to Iceland in late February next year. Sadly I have to say this is something of a bucket list type holiday and needs must as my wife's health is getting worse rather rapidly from the affects of secondary horrible big C. However we should hopefully still be able to take this break.

Observing aside, the place looks beautiful and we are doing a 9 day self drive tour on the entire island (hopefully) 

The observing opportunities I refer to is aimed partly towards the solar people as I am hoping for some aurora observing and wondered if any advice can be given in regards this aspect. (apps to use or other things to be aware of, etc)

But also looking to see if anyone has done Iceland before and can give me a few pointers for bins observing as two nights of my self drive tour will be a short drive from B1 skies 

Also any tips of obscure things on the island itself will be brilliant. I want to make this a time to remember for us both.

TIA
Steve

14 hours ago, woldsman said:

  It’s great you have a budget of up to £1,200 but personally I’d keep using your Canon 10x30s while keeping a look out for a good deal. Other posters on forums claim that patience pays off. 

I might have that but it doesn't mean I want to spend that. So far I am unconvinced that I want to buy anything and am prepared to play the longer game.

That said, the Sig Sauer's and variants there of are certainly of interest and remain contenders.

I am rubbish at maths and as much as I try, it's all greek to me.

SO I use this calculator instead astronomy.tools

23 minutes ago, Second Time Around said:

A Cloudy Nights thread here: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/794521-sig-sauer-zulu6/

There's also a link there to a longer thread with reviews of the Zulu.

Good info in that link, the sigs seem well received and certainly worth considering.  thanks for posting. 

10 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Smaller exit pupil and I agree that without a good lot of reviews behind it I would be cautious. I know a number of companies have released IS models recently and some are not well thought of. see how many more reviews/forum posts you can find so you can be as informed as you can be. 
The canon are a very well known quantity, so you know what you’re getting. 

Seems bresser also make them Peter. Bresser

They are roughly half the weight of the canon 15x50's at just 1.2lb but the 15x50's have roughly 40% more light gathering power. Always a trade off as we all know but one must consider alternatives.

Also I have found a few video reviews and they seem well thought of and should be available to buy for circa £850.00 new inc import duties so a little less expensive too.

Anybody give me some info on these?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sig-Sauer-Binocular-Schmidt-Pechan-Stabilized/dp/B08SJ3LZ3P/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?adgrpid=124758289807&gclid=CjwKCAiA9qKbBhAzEiwAS4yeDV3Ao8jzk_rRwKfSI-Pvzgqjjd2kxfTGZumLaIZo0zOuSxtouwuZKxoCT-4QAvD_BwE&hvadid=515315493253&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=1006585&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14690009833432560326&hvtargid=kwd-855838907682&hydadcr=24954_1816940&keywords=image+stabilized+binoculars+uk&qid=1667865906&sr=8-2

The thing that attracts me to these is the same things putting me off the 15x50 canons, weight.

The sig sauer are half the weight albeit at the expense of some aperture, it would however still be a significant step up from my 10x30's. 

Problem is I don’t trust amazon reviews although there are some on manufacturers website.