CraigT82

Best thing to do is just get out with it next clear night and see how well it works. Observe something at the highest magnifications you’re likely to use and see how easy it is to track the object, and how badly the view wobbles when you touch the focuser. If either of those things are going to be a chore you may need a larger mount.

Don’t underestimate the challenge of getting a 12” newt up onto a mount, unless its permanently mounted then doing it again and again gets very unappealing very quickly. Please explain why you think this?

Lovely images Roy. I might add that using the IR filter will reduce the resolving power of the scope. The shorter the wavelength of the filtered light the better the resolution, however you will need good seeing to go with those shorter wavelengths.

Thought I’d have a bash at a deep sky sketch last night. I had my 12” newt set up on a dob mount down at my in-laws house, where we spend most Monday nights, and it benefits from a darker sky than I enjoy at my house. My intention was to sketch M45 first and move onto one of the OCs in Auriga, however I only had periodic breaks ont he cloud cover to work win, so M45 on it’s own would have to do. At the eyepiece I sketched out the positions and magnitudes of the stars using white pastel pencil on black sketch pad. Afterwards I used a white paint pen to emphasise the brighter stars and used crushed grey and a tiny bit of blue pastel on a brush to try to depict the faint nebulosity around Alcyone and Merope from memory (I could swear the nebulosity was blue visually, however I’m not sure if that could be the case and it may have been just my brain adding the colour. I then took a pic of the sketch and added the black frame to seem like an EP view and added the text (on the actual sketch I wrote the wrong details and so that’s what drove me to add the black frame!)

I’ve just noticed another SGL regular classifieds seller is now advertising on ABS as a ‘kit tester’, not sure how long that’s been the case as haven’t been on ABS for a while. I think it would be appropriate to ask them to flag their SGL ads with the same designation.

Thanks Kostas, the white paint pen is great for giving it that effect I think

Thank you for saying that but no I didn’t... Went to Wigan Tech and got a City & Guild’s level 2 in motorcycle service and repair!

Due to poor weather this is a quick sketch using the Lunar orbiter photo on the Copernicus Wikipedia page. Black/white/grey pastel pencils on white sketch pad. White paint pen for highlights.

For personal safety you can’t beat a 6 cell maglite 😉

Yea it sounds like you just need to get your polar alignment sorted, a polar scope will definitely help and you can get an app on your phone to tell you where Polaris need to be placed when looking through the polar scope. The tripod doesn’t need to be level to get a good poor alignment but it certainly won’t harm it it is levelled.

Yes agree with all this, however my main issue is with the dealers then selling it on and pretending not to be a dealer. If they are doing this ‘professionally’ they should be up front about it with their buyers and should abide by distance selling regulations like any online trader, and offer things like returns/warranty on the things they sell.

I’ve also nothing against someone turning a profit, but if the person profiting is a trader who is posing as a normal punter then that’s crossed a line.

Yes I’ve seen this before… I previously reported a user as a dealer to the ABS webmaster after something very similar occurred with my sold kit, but nothing happened as far as I could make out. Guess the only thing to do is always sell at slightly above full market price, or maybe only sell to users you know/recognise, but that’s be a sorry state of affairs.

Then that rules out incorrect model for the mount as a potential cause (unless something seriously ham fisted has occurred) Looking closer at the posted M42 image the trailed stars do have a zig zag pattern to them suggesting intermittent RA driving perhaps…. Batteries definitely something to check on I think, as well as PA.

Yes I know that thanks, that’s why I advised to check they have the right one for the mount.

That looks to me like the EQ5 Enhanced dual axis drives, but the other drives also linked to above by LaurenceT look the same too, so definitely worth checking you’ve got the right ones for your mount. Also worth checking the batteries. Low power could cause slow tracking. But the first thing to sort is your polar alignment, looking at the pic of M42 the stars seem to be trailing in declination which is a sign your polar alignment is off. Fix that first and then see if it’s still not tracking properly.

Fantastic 👍🏼 Going to have to add Luna Cognita to my wish list I think.

Haha thanks Mark it is a bit of a scattergun approach! Got to admit it’s pretty addictive. Cloudy last night so I’m now walking around the house looking for things I can sketch

Very nice Geof, have you done a Mars map this year? can’t remember if I saw you post one or not, seems like you’ve got more than enough coverage for it. Looks like there was a hell of a dust storm in Hellas basin in your first image.

Excellent well done! That IR 850 shot is really showing so lovely subtle details.

Nice comparison shots, yes some definite reflections going on I think, possibly between sensor and AR coated window or maybe even the window and the barlow? Most AR coatings don’t work too well below 400nm. I removed the window on that 290m as I wanted as little glass as possible between the planet and the sensor, theory being that glass absorbs UV light but also wanted to do away with those AR coatings on the window. I also bought the APM 2.7x barlow as it was rumoured to have coatings with good transmission below 400nm and is a very good 2 lens barlow, which theoretically should transmit more UV than a 4 lens telecentric as it’s got half the number of coated surfaces.

Aaaaaand another! Again sketched at the EP last night. Took only 20 mins this one in total. Had absolutely no idea what this crater was when I was at the scope but checking the map I’ve identified it as Capuanus, to the SE of Mare Humorum. I really like this style/medium as it’s quick and quite effective. I shade the paper before even going out, pick a target at the EP, sketch it out in HB pencil at the scope and then embellish with black and white pastel pencils afterwards. Same setup as earlier 102ED on AZ4 and 3mm EP giving 238x

Oh my this is horrendous! What a miserable 4 hours

Another one from me… Sinus Iridum just coming into the light. Sketched last night at the eyepiece and have tried to maintain a faithful eyepiece perspective. I say sketched last night but when I looked at it again today I was unhappy with it and so a lot of erasing and redoing occurred. I used a white colour pencil, light grey pastel pencil, compressed charcoal pencil and a white paint pen for highlights. All on black paper sketch pad. Scope was a 102ED on AZ4 and StellaLyra 3mm LER EP giving 238x.

One M6 on each ring is fine, that’s how it comes on the Starfield optics version with its supplied rings and dovetail.