Pig

One to look out for 😀

13 hours ago, alan potts said:

It's like that for me most nights .

Alan

It’s  looking good again tonight Alan 😀 I am going to sit back in one of the lounger chairs and just stare 👁

1 minute ago, estwing said:

Enjoy mate.....nights like that are rare. 

Cheers Calvin..... they sure are 😀 I think I will be coming here on holiday with the scope at some point in the near future 😀

I am on a work related visit to the outskirts of Gyor in Hungary and one useful thing I noticed earlier in the daytime is that there are very few street lamps and even fewer main roads 😀 As a result I had been hoping all day long that it would be clear tonight, and as luck would have it clear is an understatement. 

For reference Cassiopeia is directly above my head and we all know what streaks through Cassiopeia... yes you got it, it’s the Milky Way. I can hardly believe what I am seeing with the unaided eyes, it is just such an awesome sight.

In fact there are so many stars and smudges I was having trouble identifying very obvious targets such as Vega, Altair, the Plough and even Cassiopeia for a while. The sky is completely covered in diamonds and there are so many that I know very few of them. 

I can only sit here and imagine what looking at them through the scope would be like 🔭

@Trikeflyer I somehow ended up with 2 handsets 😀 so hopefully this may get me by as I am sure the original hasn’t  been upgraded. I am glad you mentioned a second handset 😀

you can enter the SAO  on the Ioptron 😀 that’s what I use now the interface is messed up.

Yes ... mine has simply stopped working on the iPad and iPhone and I cannot get it to work 🤔  I had a similar issue a year ago and SS said it was an issue with the new iPhone. However, it started working when SS was updated. As a result I came to the conclusion it wasn’t  the phone. 

Maybe SS should consider past lessons learned when they update !!!!

1 hour ago, Trikeflyer said:

Sean,

Have you got the latest software and firmware? Did you upgrade from the original firmware?

Steve 

I have version 6.5. 😀 I have done several updates, not so sure about upgrades, and I have discovered tonight that it is not working 🤔

I use mine with SkySafari with my apples and it is seamless 😀

32 minutes ago, Woking said:

Have not mastered the balancing yet. The manual says to also check the spirit level as the mount rotates during the auto calibration. It's always off for me and I've tried an additional spirit level too. Can never get the spirit level centred for the full 360 and this probably explains the above resynch when say going from a south to north objects.

I did have issues with this to start but I found any amount of over tightening of the main rod had a negative impact. However, if your set up is silent in both planes, or a similar sound level to each other, this is a good indicator of all being ok. 

The battery has always lasted me for a full nights observing so I am not to sure on how long it actually lasts, I have 8 hours in my mind for some reason. I do charge it after any session over 4 hours thus I haven’t noticed any power drain. I did have to change the battery after a couple of years. 😀

Hiya David, I have had mine for a couple of years now and I find it excellent. Once you have “synced the target” object I find it very accurate indeed. Enjoy you mount and if you have any questions please feel free to message me and I will be happy to assist.

Oh yes...... keeping your eye /  head steady whilst looking through them can be quite tricky, and believe it or not very exhausting 😀

I can only Echo the comments made above 😀 I also use it with my TAK 100 DF mainly for splitting very tight doubles (2.4mm), excellent build quality too. The only real negative to all high power eyepieces I can think of is, if you are affected by floaters they can obscure the finer details, such as the contents of craters 👁 

Hiya Nick, nice report etc....not much joy here with the cloud cover of late.  I found a hedgehog that had wandered into my shed at some point, I don’t know how long it had been in there, but it made short work of the snails that I gave it 😀

Nice one Nick, I also got clouded out which was contrary to the forecast ( no surprises there 😀) but there was about 30 minutes of clear sky so some nice little doubles were about, fortunately not a complete waste of time. Rasalgethi was pretty bright 😀

Great addition to the post 😀

Nice one Patrick, very impressive indeed 😀

LoL @ plan C ..... I guess whatever happens it is better than working 😀

Well it looks like my holiday is going to be another astronomy non event, even though the forecasted black clouds and thunder storms have now disappeared from the weather map it looks like only Thursday night will be clear, and there’s plenty of time for change yet.

So far out of my eleven days I have had zero stargazing time with 4 nights gone and 6 remaining and zero clear skies forecast for the remainder 😀 on the bright side I have a trip to the amenities tip to look forward to today  !!!!! I am seriously contemplating selling my Astro gear as it has now become an hours session every couple of months.

I was trying to look at the whole pattern to see the swan, but now it is now apparent that it is the white area only and it does indeed look like a swan .... silly me 😀

Well you seem to be doing very well for just 6 months, the image is very nice indeed 😀 with regard to the kit you have, at least you have it and it is nice gear. Folk do seem to always want to purchase for next to nothing these days !

Nice one Alan, I did not realise you were into AP 😀 I can see a trussed roast chicken, but no Swan.

Yes, paint can give a surprisingly tight bond especially on clean surfaces.

11 hours ago, Piero said:

Yes, those right angle clips on the vertical supports are attached with an Allen screw. I unscrewed them in order to take off the right angle clips and found out that these don't come off.. it is as if they have been glued to their vertical support. Maybe the paint went in.

A quick firm tap with a large hammer should do the trick 😀 I know you know I am only joking Piero.

Nice report Geoff,

300 X mag for observing Jupiter is very impressive, I find anything above 200 and the view starts to get very soft indeed  😀