Nicola Fletcher

I have brand loyalty to pretty much everything. I’ve always been like this, and feel I’m in good company since I got into astronomy! My telescopes are all Takahashi apart from my Altair Starwave which is the oldest one and has great sentimental value. My eyepieces are all Televue apart from one which is the Baader 8-24mm zoom. I use Takahashi and Baader diagonals. No binoviewer yet but I think that may be my next investment! I recognise that other brands may be just as good, but like my favourite clothing brands, the Astro brands I like suit me and I have been very happy with them. I appreciate the quality of Televue eyepieces, and after buying my first Tak, the FC76-DCU I was completely hooked. I will be making a pilgrimage to Takahashi Mecca, the Starbase shop in Tokyo, next month and will be sure to send photos!

Wishing you the very best of luck with your interview @Emperor!Takahashi!! I also used to work in London in a stressful job. While I loved London, I also didn’t really observe there although I had the benefit of weekend trips back home to the dark skies at my family home. Getting out for some quiet time under the stars is very important to me, and I hope you find a fulfilling job that gets you back under dark skies.

Thanks Magnus for a great and inspiring report!

Yes, I think you’re right Magnus. Often I go outside for a look around 10.30 or so and it’s still quite bright. It’s easier to go to bed, especially if I have to function the next day! I think I just need to make more of an effort - the answers are overwhelmingly in support of summer observing!

Thanks everyone - glad I asked 😊 This is excellent, I will get off the couch and get out to have a look at some doubles, variables, globs and the Veil. I can even put some observing lists together while we wait for the clouds to clear….

I was listening to the Actual Astronomy podcast this week and was really impressed to hear that Chris and Shane still go out observing in the summer, despite the short nights and lack of real darkness at higher latitudes. I usually just give up on astronomy in June and July. I know lots of people like solar observing but do many people still get out observing at night during the summer? Maybe I should rethink it since I’ve a beautiful new Mewlon sitting doing nothing!

Brilliant, thank you very much!!

Sounds great - it’ll be fantastic to have a dob to use under those skies. Yes I agree, Southern Gems is an excellent book. It has been really useful when planning out my target list. The summer objects in TLAO, as well as the southern sky section, is also very useful. SkySafari has been great when planning out which objects will be best placed earlier or later in the evening. I can see myself not getting to bed at all!

Brilliant list and it’s a great idea to organise them by the times for best viewing. I am going to restrict my list to the showcase targets that I can’t see from the northern hemisphere. I don’t know how many clear nights under dark skies I’ll get so don’t want to get carried away with long lists. I’d also like to try to get some sketching done if I can. May I ask where you can rent telescopes? That sounds like a great idea.

I think mine are similar enough. I’ll have a 24mm Panoptic, 13mm Nagler, 9mm Nagler and 3-6mm Nagler zoom. This is my normal kit except I don’t usually bring the 13mm. I would absolutely love to go to Namibia - maybe some year!

I agree 😂 After you fit the tripod and mount head in your checked luggage, and then I am bringing the Tak, eyepieces x4, prism diagonal and RDF, camera with ultra wide lens and normal lens and binoculars, there won’t be much room for clothes. I did forget to say, my next step is to re-read @DirkSteele’s observing reports which is my favourite part of the Alpha Lyrae website, and add to my observing list that way. It also occurred to me that many targets in Sagittarius and Scorpius will probably be well worth revisiting from that latitude.

Thank you for the map @MalcolmM, that’s excellent. I found an annotated image online (from Babak Tafreshi whose book is also wonderful) that is similar - it’s interesting to compare them: I would be really grateful if you would share your cheat sheets - I suspect that any amount of preparation will still leave me looking up at the sky in confusion for the first while! A member of my Astro club recommended trying to learn the placement of some of the major stars so it’s easier to orient myself, and I am planing on doing that. I believe the Gem cluster is also called the Little Jewel Box, and the Wishing Well is called the Pincushion cluster in O’Meara’s book. I’ve added that to my target list too, thanks! It would be great to have the Mewlon 180C, I agree. I still wouldn’t leave the FC76 behind though, it is a brilliant little scope and a complete pleasure to use. Especially when I’m unfamiliar with the sky, it is so easy to find targets with it. I think the widefield views will suit the southern sky perfectly. I will be stopping off in Tokyo on the way so am hoping to get to Starbase and might just have to pick up some accessories for it!

@MalcolmM, this is so weird, I was literally wondering the same thing! I’m also taking my FC76DCU to Australia in August, and I am just trying to put together an observing list. Mine so far are: LMC and SMC, Tarantula nebula, 47 Tucanae, Omega Centauri, M22, Jewel Box, Little Jewel Box (NGC3293), Coalsack, Eta Carina nebula, Alpha Centauri, the Southern Ring (NGC3132) and the Lagoon and Triffid nebulae. And of course the upside down northern sky. I think the scope will be very nice to just cruise along the core of the Milky Way. I am using Stephen O’Meara’s Southern Gems book, as well as his very nice book, Night Skies of Botswana which gives a good overview of the southern sky for those not familiar with it. I’m putting my observing list together using SkySafari, as I found this invaluable when observing from Monument Valley earlier this year. I’d be very interested to hear if you come across any other good targets!

I’m like a child in a sweet shop at the moment with three scopes under a year old. I have a 12” Explore Scientific dob that has been out approximately five times, a Tak FC100DZ and a Mewlon 180C that’s been out for two non sessions so far (clouds rolled in) so it hasn’t even had a proper first light. I’m mega excited about all three of them and just waiting for more clear skies when I’m not wrecked from work. However, the forecast for tonight looks excellent…. If I were to add to these, I’d love a larger refractor and an observatory to put it in. I’d also love a bigger dob. I can’t get enough of photos and videos of big dobs. The 20” Obsession would be a dream scope.

I went last week and absolutely loved it too. So interesting to see what the astronauts did with their ‘free time’ on the moon. I think I found the footage from the missions after Apollo 11 the most interesting- I had never seen it before! I am glad they’re extending the run - especially since it was made especially for that theatre!