bomberbaz

and you would be most welcome Ian, but as always we need weather to play ball.

it'll come Peter, no doubt on a full moon 😂

Just thinking of an evenings viewing on a suitable night Peter. Preferring a new or smallish moon either early setting or late rising. The areas up past clitheroe are not as good as they used to be. Since the installation of LED street lights the quality of the localities just north are much worse. I was thinking of Hurstwood as it is relatively easy to get too, however if there is sufficient interest and people prepared for a short travel, there are other areas which are certainly better. cheers Steve

I am using W11 Ron, only run DSS, Gimp and Stellarium so far as well as all my other non astro related stuff and not had any issues. If anything I find things run better and faster.

Hello everyone who is local to my area or indeed within travelling distance and considering trying something different at new viewing locations. I am looking to see if there is any interest or enthusiasm to possibly arrange a mini star party in the local area. I am aware there is quite a few SGL members in the locality and some may not get opportunity to try alternative viewing places and to meet up with like minded people hence this post to gauge interest! As a starter I thought Hurstwood reservoir car park might be a good starting point. It is easy to get to, reasonably dark, lots of room and has a great southern aspect. I have others in mind but I haven't had a chance to recke them yet. So anyone interested please shout up and see if this can be something worth looking at. No dates in mind yet due to the variable weather. Admins I have put this post here rather than star party's as it tend to have more traffic, hope this is ok. Cheers all Steve

I was going to do this mod on my dob but I then went the digital setting circles route. I think with this option and some practice the results will be just as accurate.

Still not got a scope then john

Hello Paul and yet another hello from another burnley lad, there are quite a few of us. I hail from ightonhill area. To be honest I think its time we had ourselves a star party one weekend. Anyway, jupiter is always a great starter target object, soon have you onto other stuff i am sure.

pretty fantastic that especially when you consider the skies you have to deal with. Nice work.

From Wednesday evening. It was far more spectacular 5 minutes earlier but I faffed around and it had started to fade. Some issues with focus but a reasonable first effort I think.

So I went up to galloway for two nights recently and although I had a very good night observing, something rather worrying became aware to me. However before I spill the beans I shall explain how I came to my conclusion of concern. On my first visit to galloway just south of whithorn about 6 years since, the first thing I noticed when stepping out under the dark skies was the constellations had disappeared under a wash of other stars in the night sky and the Milky Way was washing across the sky. Easily visible with eyes that were not adjusted to the dark. Another thing was on my first visit there was cloud in the sky on night two, but the clouds were not visible in the sky, it was just black where stars should have been. Another thing was I couldn't see anything but blackness with night adjusted eyes. My concern is the degredation of the skies around galloway and uk dark sky sites in general. On my recent visit the skies were not filled with stars to the same level that I couldn't see constellations, they were reasonably easy to pick out . The milky way was nothing like the river of stars I saw the first time although it was there but most obvious was that clouds were easily visible, especially looking north toward newton stuart and in the dark I could move around and see in darkness as it was not not pitch black. There was also a noticable white sky glow north and talking to my host Mike it seems to me the replacement of sodium street lighting with LED lights are the likely culprit. Thanksfully South there is no such light polution and it is at present localised but the difference is very noticeable. Also I note on the light polution may it is listed at 21.86 sqm in 2015, my own readings were at a 21.1, significant difference. I wonder if anyone else is noticing the degrading of the night sky in their own local areas.

Well I stuck my Sony camera onto Cygnus with a view to hitting the milky way from galloway astronomy centre, it is only a basic camera with a night time programme add on installed. 30 x 2 second shots at F2.8, stacked in DSS and faffed around with in Gimp. I don't really know what I am doing in gimp as each tutorial I watch has different procedures but I am learning. Any constructive comments appreciated

Hello all. I popped by earlier but there wasn't much activity so didn't hang around. I knocked on @estwing's van thinking he might have stirred but wonder if he had too many sleeping pills 🍻 😅 anyway, glad you all enjoyed the aurora the previous night, it was just as spectacular for the GaC just down the road.

Yes the green element was dancing along the horizon, really didn’t know where to look, simply amazing.

cheers kostas, tbh stephans quintet was pretty medocre but fun to chase down, spent some time checking and rechecking as there is a similar galaxy very nearby and I had to double check I had the right one. Re the green, stood out like a sore thumb, bouncing and flickering along the horizon. The red was harder to see and was more of a slight glow but still impressive none the less.

I booked this trip 18 months since at Galloway Astronomy Centre, been looked after really well by Mike and Helen at the Centre and well worth the money. Cosy room, cracking breakfast and Mike has a wealth of knowledge to tap into. Anyway onto viewing, I had a fantastic session last night under the stars, so here goes! I went out early on to get the Taurus set up although straight away I noticed the skies were very unsteady. I tried a few reasonably easy objects but the results were best described as wobbly. Cloud bands kept rolling through then suddenly cleared around 8, then the skies quickly settled and things started to look up. I retried many objects at different times of the night and the later I managed them the better the views appeared to get. I think my overall results in terms of clarity were not as good as my last time here but still very good and far better than my normal dark sky site. My main focus was nebula based with a few other DSO scattered in and I got some good results from a good number of planetary nebula. The Pleiades was a beauty later on showing a nice glow around 6 of the larger stars, the crescent was decent but have had better. For the first time I managed the North American, Californian and Rosette nebula's none of which are particularly spectacular although the former NGC 7000 was most fun because of the dark nebula which form part of the object. Just finally mention the veil, that is all of it. This marvelous DSO looked 3D under the dark skies through the Astronomik OIII filter and I could easily see the central region as well as east & west. Also some cracking high powered views (x170) of bodes and cigar, the dark skies combined with power really pulled out some fantastic detail on these two. M33 pinwheel gave me a pleasing result with the 3d animation of it's spiral body although again not as good as my first encounter with it here. M31 also gave some excellent detail in its spiral arms. Had a super time sat at the eyepiece trying to find the moons of Uranus, I an pretty certain I got three of them. Titania, Oberon and Ariel. Difficult to get the last two and needed averted vision. unexpected bonus was the 67p comet although little more than a fuzzy blob. Also managed the Jones 1 planetary nebula which although nothing to write home about in terms of views, it's a tick off the list. It would actually make a good standard candle along with M33 to assess the clarity and darkness of your skies IMHO. They seem to scale nicely together. Other good results was stephan's quintet, managed three out of the five, M1 crab was superb under dark skies without a filter and a lovely high powered view of the little dumbbell. Anyway, one of my key goals for the night was a nebula situated in Orion adjacent to Altinak. First step, can I see the flame, check. So transparency is good. Next slip in a 24mm eyepiece (5mm exit pupil in my scope) with a HB filter attached, get comfy, get the hood over your head (A hood is a must have or a suitably alternative) and relax. I sat there for a long while and things slowly seemed to brighten then as I blinked it was there, finally got the Horsehead. I checked it's location against what I was seeing and there was no doubt, size and location perfect. It wasn't too well defined but there was no doubting it was the much sought after HH. I saved this last part as it had a huge effect on my evening. And that around 9.45 the skies lit up, we had an Aurora. I have no doubt it is already reported on here but below it a snap (slightly stretched) I got from my camera which I took along. Aurora is something that has sat on my bucket list and seeing it made me gasp and fill up with emotion, very satisfying. We also had another bright Aurora at 1am in masses of blues (to my eyes) but I didn't get any pictures of that one. I have never seen an Aurora and to see one this bright with so much animation was truly breath taking. My night under the stars was a resounding and somewhat emotional success.

Bargain complete set of them for £117 on amazon, 6,9,15,20. For any beginner on a tight budget what's not to like? Amazon Sybony eyepiece set

good report, I always try to have a go for something I know is going to be hard to see, always makes it that bit more rewarding when you get it

Have you considered the explore scietific route. Greater range of glass within the group and also a little cheaper than the morpheus. Although I believe the morpheus are good chunks of glass. Explore Scientific 82º Series Eyepieces | First Light Optics

🧐 Well according to this I found whilst browsing info on CygnusA In 2022 we will see a Supernova from Earth with our own eyes As much as I would dearly hope this to be correct, I am not holding my breath. Steve

Just added this to my viewing list for scotland, never heard of this little gem before. Going off what @Nyctimene Stephan says, I should be able to get a reasonable view with the 14" and sqm 21.85 skies cheers all steve

The one I got came fitted to my dob as a paid for extra and cost me quite a bit but when you are using it, you realise it is worth every penny. The other advantage over goto is it is silent and as mentioned, you are still looking to the night sky and the skysafari app as you go along so it is more interactive in that way. I should mention it is also fitted with a telrad and this does get some use. 🙃

All the specs suggest it is a copy of the hyperion, I have used these in an F10 cadioptric and they were superb for that so I would suspect they would be the same in your mak. In a 8" dob at F6 I suspect the results would not be quite as pleasing although as above if you stuck to lower sizes, 12mm and below you may find the edge of field sloppyness less of an issue. TBH it is all very subjective. One man's yuk is another mans, "it'll be alright!" However as soon as you try a higher end eyepiece you perspective changes immediately 😅 Do you know anyone who has one that will lend you to have a bash in the dob, you may find the results acceptable, or has suggested there is always the BST's.

what scope are you intending using these on please. The more information you provide will help with any advice given!

just checked weather, might be a bit rough for you guys later on with the wind. Hope your all ok and get your gear well bolted down.