bomberbaz

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.

The title actually says it as it is. It has been a good while since I got my eyeball proton wetted and with a trip to galloway coming up it seemed tonights clear sky was an ideal opportunity to give the dob a whirl around and check all my other equipment. First thing before getting started I checked any equipment that used batteries, good job I did. Both red torches and my observing head torches batteries were goosed. One set especially looked as though it was ready to leak. One thing I have noticed when panning around it the dob moves a lot easier in AZ when pointing low down, this I assume will be the bearings taking the weight differently and so this affects it freedom to move. Not a major issue but something I need to be aware of for high power viewing. The DSC system is a dream to use now I have got to grip with it, even with a slight slope to contend with I got within 1/4 of a degree everytime with it and I didn't carry out a particularly good alignment compared to my usual OTT aligning method. One thing I particularly like about DSC over GOTO is you are still looking at where things are as it uses the skysafari app on the phone and really without trying I find I am learning more as I go. It has a great viewing red screen filter and you can setup your viewing list on a planner. Moving on, tested out my new TS 28mm UWA eyepiece and it was as I would expect, a very good quality piece of glass. I didn't go mad but a view of Albireo and the double cluster was enough to tell me it is well up to the job. Now I have never used my new viewing hood until tonight, I found it slightly awkward to use as there is so much stray light around so it needs to be a good seal or the slight light intrusions are more annoying than the flood of light from many directions without it, yes my garden really is that bad. Anyway I tested it out on a few objects including albireo, and the double cluster as well as M31, M18 and some others. The one that gave me the best result was without doubt M18 which, cranked up to x200 looked exquisite. I am really looking forward to observing with the hood in a darker setting where extraneous light is not going to be a problem, observing with both eye's open is far more relaxing. Other things checked were a couple of nebula using filters, these being M57 & 97. I have a UHC-s filter from baader, useless on the owl although ok-ish on 57. The astronomik filters (UHC-OIII) were both far better on the owl but on the night under the heavy light polution is was the OIII which performed the best. I quickly switched to M27 dumbell and the OIII worked superbly on this, really got a great shape with hints of additional structure. I don't think the baader filter is a poor filter, it just doesn't perform very well under bad LP skies. So all in I am pleased with my little session and feel confident for my trip to galloway, here's hoping the weather is kind. Steve

I can confirm it hasn't to add to the other comments, I spoke with Mike this morning and brought my arrival date forward to Wednesday #mostpromisingnight

Just reread my post John, didn't mean my reply to sound negative if it came across as such, so sorry if indeed it did but like you was just giving my own point of view. 🙂

read the blurb about the HG lasers, the guy throws them several times to shock them to see if they hold collimation, if they do then they pass. For me that is why I would get one now if starting out. TBH this thread is making me reconsider buying one of them again! @johninderby "The Hotech laser is perfectly collimated and stays that way but not cheap but still a good buy when you consider how good it is. The crosshair beam makes colimating easier than the simple red dot type." Trouble is they don't though. Mine may be an old one but collimation has slipped and although a 5mm donut at 3500mm isn't too bad, it is still there and I would prefer it to not be!

I hope not Ian, I need to call them tomorrow anyway so will find out. There is nothing on the website to suggest as such. Galloway Astronomy Centre Maybe there is more than one such centre with similar names? Assuming all is good, I hope to meet with you again sometime next week all being well. steve

I think if I was starting out afresh I would be using howie glatter gear, never heard anything bad about it. I believe the lasers hold collimation extremely well and are very versatile plus extremely accurate. Howie Glatter | First Light Optics However the HG laser and any accessories are quite costly and when I bought my gear I didn't have the funds so bought a Hotech collimator laser. Slight problem with this is it doesn't hold perfect collimation itself and so needs collimating itself occasionally. I did this today and couldn't quite make a perfect laser collimation, I had a donut with a diameter of about 5mm at a range of 12 feet/3.6M. IMHO this is going to give you a pretty good collimation. However I do double check this (light permitting) with a concenter eyepiece and a standard cheshire for good measure. Back to the start, if I had to start again, the HG route would be my preferred option.

I noticed this earlier and may bring my own dates forward to take advantage of this. The following 3 days do not look as promising, however this gives me more time to pay a visit to your camp site.

I have to admit I found this first episode a rehash of previous stuff and at times I was thinking, " get on with it". However I also think it is not aimed at people like astronomers and others with an established interest in the cosmos.

Hello all. I am stopping at Galloway astronomy centre, about 12 miles from you from 4-7 November, this has been booked for a longggggggg time. So if you don't mind I shall endeavour to pop up and have a brew and a chat with you one afternoon all being well. Would be nice to meet some more of you face to face. I have already met estwing and I think uplooker (Ian) didn't we once meet at dunsop bridge?