jonathan

Last night and tonight I have been out with binoculars shortly after 11pm, the sun finally seems to be low enough not to wash out the milky way, helped by some cloud banks in just the right places, too. I was able to see the main bands of the milky way with the naked eye from my door step, though there are security lights so hiding around the corner of the garage or somewhere in the garden is best to avoid setting them off. I fancied tonight that I could just make out the faint fuzzy patch that is the Andromeda galaxy, sure enough a quick glance with binoculars confirmed this, still got it! Very pleased to be seeing the stars again, the summer has seen quite a few clear nights so far but it's been so light and hot I just couldn't bring myself to get out there, just to see a few of the brightest stars. I am considering purchasing a C6 to enable me to get the most out of my CG-4 mount, it's good with the 150P but I suspect any larger a reflector would unbalance it, a compact C6 will be close to the weight limit but at least it will be small so very easy to handle. I find the NEQ6 a daunting thought, my back aches just thinking about getting that thing out.

Just one of those nights.

It's been a while, too long, tonight I finally got my 8SE out of its box and on the NEQ6 for a session observing the Moon and Saturn (when it finally was up high enough at midnight). I took the scope out shortly after 9pm, it's been so long since I set this one up (having been using my 150P on CG-4 for a while) it took me a few minutes to gather all the bits together as they've been moved about and were scattered around the house - the dew shield was in the pantry, telescope in its box, battery interface (a cut-down Maplins 5-in-1 battery pack, minus the battery and with a few modifications so that it can be plugged into a large leisure battery) on my desk. With everything eventually gathered together and plugged in, I tentatively switched on the NEQ6 for the first time using this new battery arrangement, and it just worked. That familiar zumzumzumzum that the motors make is such a sweet sound. I didn't really bother to wait for the scope to cool and pointed straight at the Moon, no finder necessary for this. Wow. I remembered it being quite a bit better than the views I got last night through the 150P, but the difference really blew me away - so much higher magnification, clearer, sharper than the 150P. 10mm was the highest practical eyepiece (as usual) for the 8SE, even with a 5mm eyepiece the 150P couldn't come close to the 8SE. I then spent the best part of an hour just panning around the lunar surface, looking at all the craters from the large deep ones to the tiny ones that are hardly noticeable at first. Recent ponderings about getting a 7" Mak 180 for planetary use seems like a folly when I have such a nice scope already, the difference may not be as great as the £700 price tag is worth. I could see Saturn creeping above the garage roof but it was still just out of sight for the scope, I decided to take a break and get warmed up inside for 30 minutes, watched some CSI, then went back out for a peek at Saturn. Beautiful. Compared to the 150P, so much better. 25mm gave the best views, 10mm seemed too fuzzy on this fainter object (than the Moon). Spent a few minutes taking in the rings, I fancy I could see something on the disc too, either a large cloud band or the ring shadow. No sign of the Cassini division at 25mm, this would probably need a very clear, dark night and 10mm. The clouds that had been looming from the North on the weather map had started to roll across the moon by this time, Saturn remained clear but I was really feeling the cold so decided to call it a night. Amazing how there was no dew in evidence at all tonight, I may even have got away without a dew shield but had it all on and the main heater tape running (with my new Astro-Tech controller) anyway. I suppose the 8SE has its drawbacks as it requires so much more effort, not to mention heavy lifting, to take all the stuff out of the house and setup, probably takes twice as long as the 150P including all the battery stuff, heater tapes, wires, etc. It's the fantastic views that make it worth while, which I am reminded of each time I start observing (assuming I don't start looking for elusive DSOs and end up frustrated at not finding anything!)

Yesterday was alright weather-wise, threat of clouds and mist not far away. Today it has been the clearest sunshine I've seen for what seems like many months. 2012 was just wall to wall cloud and rain, the start of 2013 has not been much better, but hopefully the weather patterns are now changing for spring now that it's mid-February. I had a few hours outside with the Lunt LS60 today, enjoyed using my telescope and seeing the sun, even if there was a bit of a thin cloud streak (probably from multiple high-altitude vapor trails) obscuring it. The view through the eyepiece on the Lunt LS60 showed the sun surrounded by a dim red glow, but with a bit of tuning and focusing the prominences and filaments were all there to see, and quite clear too so the seeing must be good. There were two main prominences on the top part (as seen through the eyepiece), one seemed to be the tail end of something that was just lingering in space, the other was quite a beefy looking blast with plenty of matter visible. Both of these didn't appear to change much at all over the period of about two hours as I observed on and off while pottering around in the sunshine. A very large, long filament stretched from around the centre towards the upper limb. Just as a side note regarding glasses, I have recently got reactions fitted to my main pair and soon realised that these and solar observing don't mix very well (sitting outdoors when the sun is out tends to turn them dark!), I thought I would be able to use my old glasses which are still close enough to my current prescription, but discovered it's actually much better to just go without glasses at all and focus to my eye. My sight is not too bad without glasses anyway, I only need them for distance, so this works well. I suspect this works much better than for night time observing as it's a different type of image I'm viewing, but I will have to try it out again the next time I'm out on a clear night. A good session all-round which makes me feel like I'm getting the most out of my investment.

Feels like an age since I last went out for a proper look (not just out of the window). After recent snow, thaw, and now very strong winds and rain today, I wasn't expecting to be going out tonight but as the skies cleared just as the sun was setting I had a feeling it might be worth my while, and it was. I went out with the binoculars and SkyScout as there was still a breeze and a few gusts. Very cold, and the wind, although not bitterly cold, just made it that bit colder. I went through Tonight's Highlights on the SkyScout, listening to the audio descriptions as I went, with binoculars to hand for a closer look. Orion and the Orion nebula were very clear and nice to see, Betelguise too was looking bright and very red, I managed to find the Andromeda Galaxy, not much more than a faint smudge in the west right now, Castor and Pollux, Taurus, and Sirius too (which I mistook for Saturn to begin with). Jupiter and moons were high up in the sky, close to the Pleiades. To finish off the evening I wandered up the garden a bit to get a glimpse of the rising moon between some trees, a very nice sight - rather yellow looking and on its side (compared to the usual view, which would be much higher up in the sky). With the moon rising and the temperature dropping, I declared it a fun evening and time to come inside to get warmed up!

You're absolutely right, that is what we need here! I am still exploring this hobby so I'm thinking that a big Dob might be my next scope. Astrophotography seems so complicated and requires so much attention to detail, at the moment I'd rather just see it with my own eyes. Now... if I could only find a space for a nice 10 or 12 inch dob...

Here's something I've been meaning to do for ages but never got off my back side to do... a simple dew shield for my 9x50 Finder, which has a nasty habit of dewing up despite the dew heater tape I treated it to. I used some of that 5mm foam card available from those cheap crafty shops such as The Works, and some self-adhesive Velcro tape. Have not tested it yet in the field, but can't see why it shouldn't help at least.

Second time out with the 150P - I had a go at some of the Moore Winter Marathon. Managed to see the Fish's Mouth and Trapezium in the Orion Nebula, quite impressed really despite the relatively poor seeing conditions (compared to last time). It's certainly interesting to compare to my 8SE, that has more power for sure (especially with the 38mm eyepiece) but the views are not that dissimilar.

Clear skies were forecast for most of the night so I decided to give the 150P a go at the telescope targets (which I failed to get anywhere with using the ST80, that was mostly due to a bad night though). Found the first target, the Crab Nebula (M1), something I had not seen before. Not brilliant seeing conditions, on a better night may even be able to make out some structure, but tonight it just looked like a grey blob. Other highlights of the night include my first sighting of the Great Red Spot - evident as a pale gap in the upper cloud belt (as seen in the telescope). It was at the correct time for the spot to be visible so I assumed this was it, as it is not red at the moment. Also managed to get decent views of the Orion Nebular, the Fish's Mouth and Trapezium stars, although could not focus fully using the 5mm due to seeing conditions. Tried for the Owl cluster but the clouds were already rolling in and seeing conditions had taken a dive. Jupiter had a big halo around it and my optics were dewing up (even my glasses).

Good start to the new year - only average seeing but it's better than no seeing.

Sounds good, although I suppose it depends whether you want a fast or a slow scope, and what you got with it - my 150P was only £190 new but it is an f5 scope, so perhaps a bit less forgiving than an f8 scope on both the user and on eyepiece quality. Bog standard cheapo Skywatcher eyepieces provided, I haven't bothered with those as they look almost identical to the ones provided with the ST80 (frankly, I had hoped for something a little better); nay matter, I already have better eyepieces and also ordered a 5mm X-Cel LX. Single-speed focuser too, may or may not upgrade this at a later date. I wrote a new blog entry about my first time out, couldn't really have hoped for a better evening. Would be interested to hear how you get on with yours.

I have been waiting patiently for a good clear night to take my new Skywatcher 150P out to perform final collimation, the star test, having already checked as much as I can indoors. This would also be the first time out with a 5mm eyepiece for me, my 8SE apparently too slow to use one. I mounted the 150P on my Omni CG-4 mount and tripod, the large and small weights were required to balance the scope. The star test seemed to be correct, a perfect circle surrounding a black dot in the centre as I moved in and out of focus, although with the turbulent atmosphere it was a rather chaotic looking circle with animated spikes and such. Views through the eyepiece looked good, stars were reasonably sharp points and the moon looked magnificent (with moon filter). I aligned the finder scope and trained it on Jupiter, just next to the almost full moon. I was pleasantly surprised at how much of the bands I could see, seems to be much better than I remember the 8SE (which hasn't been out for quite some time due to the weather). It would not surprise me if the 150P and 5mm eyepiece combination is better for Jupiter than the 8SE, unless I can get absolutely perfect conditions which just isn't going to happen from my back garden. There was some dew but not a massive amount, although the 25mm did dew up when I left it on the tripod eyepiece rack with the caps off. The new 6" Astrozap dewshield seemed to do it's job - the main body of the scope was wet but the mirrors remained clear. The finder was dewing up towards the end of my relatively short session (only about 1 1/2 hours), may think about making a small dew shield for that out of foam card. I cheekily tried my 38mm 2" eyepiece, I removed the 1 1/2 inch adaptor and slotted the eyepiece in, but found that there wasn't enough focuser travel to achieve focus... so I moved the eyepiece out slightly until it was in focus. A simple tube should solve this problem, I shall have to look into acquiring something official for it (maybe that's what a focal reducer is? I have no idea in reality). Eventually the clouds rolled in, thin stuff to start off with but the main cloud bank wasn't far behind, soon enough there was only the moon and Jupiter, and a few other bright stars, visible. Time to pack up and enjoy the rest of my Christmas Day evening in the warmth. A successful first night out, and a much faster and easier pack-up time than the 8SE / NEQ6.

I ordered this, hoping it will be delivered this week.

Damn and blast! Took the ST80 out to see if I could make a start on the telescope targets, total disaster. The sky was relatively clear when I went out, the seeing was hit and miss but I was willing to stick with it. Halos started to appear around stars, I noticed large cloud banks moving in on all sides, I stuck with it. Then, as I was adjusting the height of the tripod, the plastic bracket split, rendering one leg rather dodgy; but it was OK, the tripod was still steady, so I carried on. I tried for several targets in the list but couldn't see any of them, I think I have to blame this on the poor seeing conditions as even in the ST80 I should have seen something. Then, as I slewed the scope over to the next target, the tripod leg started to slip, and slipped, and kept on slipping. Slipping seemed to be a general theme for the short-lived session as the whole of the garden was covered in ice, my observing area happens to be on gravel so it was a bit like trying to stand on marbles. The clouds finally obscured all but the brightest stars, my eyepiece dewed up, I didn't manage to see anything, and the tripod was broken. Time to call it a night. Tomorrow I will assess the damage, I suspect some epoxy glue and gaffer tape may be the answer. Roll on clearer skies, less ice under foot, and delivery of my Skywatcher 150P (either tomorrow or the day after) which I will be able to use on my CG-4 Omni mount. Hurrah!

After eyeing up an expensive refractor, one of the Equinox range, I have had a sudden interest in the Skywatcher 150P OTA, as it should sit nicely on my CG-4 Omni mount and come complete with everything required (except a collimating eyepiece, easily acquired though). I'm quite excited about it actually, as it is far cheaper and will be a good experience for me to own a reflector, should give excellent viewing opportunities, and may even be suitable for a bit of photography.

The 9 year old in me loves the planets too..

I had cause to use a USB to RS232 adaptor recently for a device that did not have USB. I found two, one came from a car boot sale and the other from eBay, both worked fine. I did have to select the correct COM port (as philhas pointed out), which may be COM4 or higher depending on what your operating system assigns to the USB adaptor (it is a virtual port at this point, but works just the same as a real one). Also make sure that the RS232 comm settings are the same on the laptop (for that COM port) and the EQ6. You should be able to tell from Windows what chip is inside the adaptor, mine both were this manufacturer - http://www.ftdichip..../ICs/FT232R.htm On that page are links to drivers for every operating system, I just installed these drivers and it worked a treat. You may just need to install the correct drivers to make your USB to RS232 adaptor work, I think Windows actually showed me the manufacturer / model when I plugged it in. I used the VCP drivers - Virtual Com Port.

It's on the Sky @ Night page at the BBC website. Look under Related Links for the Moore Winter Marathon pages / downloads.

It was a good two hours out under the stars, ticked off most of the naked eye / binocular targets. Some were not visible yet, but judging by how well the others went then I should have no trouble finding them when they are up at a more reasonable time in December / January. Next time out I shall try to make a start on the telescope targets.