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Hi all, I'm planning on taking my XT8 to a darker site than my Bottle 5 home location this October or November and have spent many evenings trying to find the best place that isn't on the other side of the UK (I live in Kent). I've narrowed it down to either SW Isle of Wight which is B3 rating or south of Bude which seems to have a B2 rating according to Clearskies website. So my question is basically is the increase in darkness worth the longer journey. I'm assuming most of you will say yes, so my follow-up question would then be: is B3 a HUGE upgrade from B5? Basically, will a B3 site blow my mind already? Edited to ask if this image is an accurate representation. Cheers

I'm beginning to suspect that this thread should have been posted in OBSERVING/REPORTS... if mods agree, please move it there and my apologies.

I was actually in Valencia last week on a commercial shoot and our shoot day at a cliff side villa in xabia was cancelled due to the storm. 2 died that day sadly... Apparently 500 cars were washed away as well. Crazy weather. Being an extreme weather geek, I was keeping an eye on the live lightning map of the area all week and the number of strikes that hit that region was nuts. I feel bad for everyone affected.

Disclaimer: this is copied from another thread i made yesterday I went out last night intent on spotting Neptune with my XT8, RA 9x50 finder, 25mm plossi, 10mm Baader CO and 2x Barlow....and easily found it..haha OK, so, it was a gorgeous clear night again tonight and i went out at 10.10pm, intent on hunting down Neptune. I had found it by 10.15. Surprisingly easy to locate with the help of Stellarium and my lovely 9x50 RA finder. I used my 25mm plossi to centre what i was certain was Neptune, then switched to my 10mm Baader Classic Ortho and got confirmation. The slightest hint of blue was seen, or imagined. Then i added the 2x Barlow and after having some trouble focusing, I'm almost certain i saw a tiny bit of the planet disc and possibly a bit of bulge from Triton. Of course, I'm happy i got to spot it and marvel in what i was looking at from my little garden in the UK, but i was hoping for a bit more of a challenge. Maybe half an hour or an hour of star hoping and searching...this was way too easy thanks to Stellarium. It was so clear i thought i would look at M31 before heading inside and it really was a surprisingly lovely view, considering how meh it usually is. Amazing to think it will fill the sky in a few billion years... And when i looked away from the eyepiece a gorgeous meteor with a glittering trail flew by overhead...the icing on the cake for tonight's brief session. Cheers

When i was a member of AboveTopSecret (before its spectacular downfall), i started a few mega posts on various space missions and events like the Jupiter Juno probe and Cassini (my favourite mission) where members would post updates and discussions rather than starting a new thread every time. Just made sense to have all the info in one thread. I know i haven't been a member here for very long, but i think a "session" thread could work. After coming in for the night, members could post what they saw, didn't get to see, etc... Could be interesting, or could fail from the get go. I will start it and see where it goes. Mods, if this isn't the right forum to post this in, i apologise. My session report from tonight, below:

Spotted it. OK, so, it was a gorgeous clear night again tonight and i went out at 10.10pm, intent on hunting down Neptune. I had found it by 10.15. Surprisingly easy to locate with the help of Stellarium and my lovely 9x50 RA finder. I used my 25mm plossi to centre what i was certain was Neptune, then switched to my 10mm Baader Classic Ortho and got confirmation. The slightest hint of blue was seen, or imagined. Then i added the 2x Barlow and after having some trouble focusing, I'm almost certain i saw a tiny bit of the planet disc and possibly a bit of bulge from Triton. Of course, I'm happy i got to spot it and marvel in what i was looking at from my little garden in the UK, but i was hoping for a bit more of a challenge. Maybe half an hour or an hour of star hoping and searching...this was way too easy thanks to Stellarium. And when i looked away from the eyepiece a gorgeous meteor with a glittering trail flew by overhead...the icing on the cake for tonight's brief session. Cheers

Can i ask what size dob you have mate? Cheers

Congrats on your success this evening, i hope i get it as well tomorrow. Thanks for your reply and advice John. I REALLY want to go out now...but i think my wife will kill me if i start moving the XT8 to the garden at this time.

Indeed! I studied physics at Uni (and struggled from day 1...)and i know the calculations are fairly straight forward, i was talking more about the fact that we have figured it out as a species...and only just over 100 years from the first airplane took flight.

Hi all, As the title says, tonight I am planning on trying to locate Neptune from my Bortle 5 garden. Here is a Stellarium screenshot of its location at the ideal time i will be out there. The moon may be an issue and is the reason i am not going after Uranus instead. So, do you guys have any advice i can take on board? Will it be possible to locate with my setup below? I'm pretty good at locating things using the RA finder and Stellarium. Thanks in advance. XT8 25mm Plossi 2x Barlow 10mm Baader UHC filter RA 9x50 finder

Great post mate. Not wanting to start a new thread just for my Veil Nebula view tonight, I'll just add to yours: So this evening, I finally managed to catch a glimpse of the VN...and i mean a GLIMPSE. just barely visible with my XT8 and Sybony UHC filter....If it was an image layer in Photoshop, it would have been set at 2% opacity...it was ridiculously faint from my Bortle 5 site and even despite Cygnus being almost at Zenith and the Milky Way being slightly visible. Man alive, this creature is hard to corner. Still...not complaining, happy I finally saw some of it. And the people who said that it is way too big to fit in the eyepiece view were not kidding. This thing is HUGE. Gonna get an O III filer and try again soon. Tomorrow night, I'm hunting Neptune! Cheers

Wonderful video. Kudos to the creator. Still astounds me that humans can send a probe up, have it travel for a decade and rendezvous spot on with a tiny lump of rock hurting around the sun at 8.5km/s (thank you Stellarium)...awesome. Cheers

I'm so sorry, i just googled that question and came across a lot of posts on here...i should have done that before posting. Sorry all

Hi all, I'm 99% certain the answer is NO!!!!!!, but figured i would ask anyway. Is it simply way too risky to take it with me by plane? I have the original box and styrofoam bits. Forget about cost, I'm purely interested in whether my beautiful scope will land in one piece. Thanks all Cheers

I would agree with LukeSkywatcher, it was a bolide/fireball. Easily took 4 secs to cross my section of sky. I just said meteor out of habit. My mistake. It was so gorgeous. Vivid green. I was waiting (hoping) to catch it explode or break up and brighten the valley i live in..but no such luck. Looks like a few other people spotted it, I'm assuming this was the same one as it did come from the East of the UK and did go over East Barnet. Also, both of our views were at the same time. https://twitter.com/ukmeteornetwork?lang=en Cheers