Luke

I have that book to get too as well David! Maybe when I have finished with multiverses.

What, Easter is looking bad too? Can't remember so many iffy weekends in a row :-o Snap on the book, David :) I guess I'll try and catch up on my processing a bit and finally get around to some jobs at home that need doing. I did manage to see the sun today after all, must be nuts to have set up out there. I got rained on for my troubles and was rewarded with some really poor captures. Serves me right for being greedy! Nice quick view though the eyepiece and on the lappy screen th...

Spending the evening playing Tilting Sun, image presentation format and sketching templates. The most fun I can have without my solar filter on :-0

Nice one, Shaun :)

Luke, we get 300+ days of sunshine a year and you can guess which week is the cloudy one. Honestly Friday is not looking very good at all. I may cry.

Friday isn't looking too good down here either, Luke. Looks like it may rain all day. Oh well :-(

Those hot & sunny lazy solar days are fantastic, especially so when combined with the wine marinated melon cubes aaaaahhhhhhheaven :-) I cant wait

I thought you were off the grape juice, Shaun? :D I have really missed observing Sol in warm conditions, it's just bliss and I can't wait. This year I will make sure the cat does not eat my breakfast, that was a bit of a low point of last year :-o Wonder how many times she'd had a nibble before. Ughh, sorry folks!

I will resist only until summertime Luke :-)

Taking a mauling here! Multiple layers multiple speeds and directons plus the dreaded little magnet cloud that sticks to the sun, I wwait the four jet contrails when a gap arrives :D

Just been hailed on, I give up! :D Hope you caught a few gaps, Shaun!

I got hailed on also Luke... a few bright gaps but no joy yet

Nice one Luke :) I hope mine isn't far behind

Hope it arrives shortly for you, Shaun! Looking forward to your first light report. Just finished up observing tonight, what a fab session, I think M42 was the best I have seen it!

It has been a Lovely starry night :)

I hope I haven't been too mean to the SM60, it still has some advantages over the Quark and we are probably keeping our remaining SM60, it's been a fab scope that has shown us incredible views! The best thing I like about it is how quickly you can get it up and running at short notice! I also like the relatively short focal length, very handy for full disc imaging and for non-tracked imaging!

I definitely agree, I find it handy to just grab and get full disks. However for close ups, particularly mega detail close-ups the Quark I think is unparalleled at the mo :)

I'd have to agree, the day before I heard about the Quark I'd given up on a larger solar scope than my SM60 because of the cost. I really wanted 90mm aperture upwards and a PST mod was a non-starter after my two failed DSLR mod attempts - I couldn't even get the screws off the DSLRs(!), so decided to leave the potentially dangerous solar tinkering well alone! :-o

I managed 8 panes before bedtime routine, then it clouded out.

Sorry to hear that, Earl. How many panes were you going for? I hope I have grabbed a full disc in three tiles with my Edge 8. I have tried using the 0.7x Celestron reducer double stacked with a 0.5x reducer on the camera nosepiece. It looked okay on the lappy screen at the time, though it was late and I had to test some rum first. Was a bit nippy out, shoudda had the rum after!!

Unfortunately I didn't get time Luke, the weekend is looking promising though :-)

Don't think it's gonna make it in time before Sol dips behind the rooftops. Looks like it will be lunar imaging then!

That's harsh Luke, feel for you.

Thanks, David! The clouds timed it to perfection! Sol right on the chimney pot when it cleared! Managed to find a place for the mount where I could catch the sun between houses though, so I was very lucky indeed considering! Hope everyone had a chance today. Got a quick grab of the moon too but no stamina for getting the SCT out after all the fun and games of the day :D

That's good news Craig. That's it's clear I mean, not the dust! I have a Greenwitch scope cover that I keep on the dob when it's stored. Just as well, it would have been mucky by now :-o So excited, just hope there is no stealth fog etc.

All clear here luke, im picking up my 400p goto next week, Christmas has come early for me.The cpc is out cooling jupiter with the bino viewers for me tonight.

Good luck, Matthew, and congrats on the 400P goto! The goto really impresses me, if I take a little care to level it, it's fab. Especially now I use little plastic height adjusters to get the height right instead of cereal packets :D Cor, 11pm for Orion nebula is going to feel like an age, it's been so long since I had the 400P out that it feels like Christmas!

Hope you get the top-up, Jarrod! Looks like it might be game over here today and not so hot for the weekend either, but I'm just glad I got three days! I almost feel like giving up on DSO's though, my 16 inch dob has not been used for 2 months and it's not looking good! The first time really that I am losing faith in DSO observing! I wonder whether just to focus on solar and keep the fracs and the SCT for lunar.

Did get out in the end, it's still 20ish degrees in the day here. Not sure how long that'll last. Seems like there is a bit of shuffling in a few heads lately re their kit. A 16" dob sound like it's worth hanging onto though, tough call!

Glad you made it out, Jarrod! I did manage to see some DSO's for an hour last night with my trusty 10 inch dob, despite fog/patchy cloud. WOW! I had forgotten just how stunning the jewels are up there. Ahem, might just keep that dob :D Just the usuals, Double Cluster, Auriga Clusters, Owl Cluster, Orion Neb (hurrah!), etc. even an iffy view of Jupiter in the heat haze of a roof before I called it a night.

You should be so lucky.

Nine chances and I still didn't get one :-o

Damn! :(

Been mulling over a Quark so would be interested to know about the problem you've had.

The main problem with my one is there are three little indents on the inside of the red filter (which I guess is the blocking filter?). I get some blobs in the view with the eyepiece. I think I just got unlucky, most folks seem to have a nice clean filter :) The device itself, wow, amazing! Bar the faults, best thing I have ever bought for astro :) There's an image of the main problems with my Quark here:

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2913/14517687944_203dcf28e8_c.jpg

PS Buy one! :D

Lucky you, Shaun! :)

The cloud did shift after about half an hour, though I had set things up on the wobbly deck to try and start 30 mins early!! :D

Hope you both got some nice views in, hope the bottle of wine was nice, Shaun :D I did try some vino and solar the other week, very nice! :)

The wine was lovely :-)

:D

Luke if you take her order before she is in bed tonight maybe you could have it ready on time...Just a suggestion :-)

What's the saying, 'Dogs have owners, cats have staff' :-)

Shaun, I don't want to encourage her :-o Stu, that is so true. While we ponder our place in the Universe, cats know their place, Masters :-o

Sods law I'm afraid.

That will teach me not to pad out the order to make the postage not seem so much for the little thing I wanted! :D Oh well, at least I won't be running out of Baader Wonder Fluid and the magic Baader cloth any time soon! :D

LOL, been there!

Hello Luke

I hope you didn't get into too much trouble and are allowed to come along to SGL10? Best regards, Hadyn - IOM

Hi Hadyn, I trust you had a good trip back? I'm not sure we'll be able to make it to SGL10 (sob!) with our son at school next year and it's a bit of a trek for us to go for the weekend only. I did joke to Sarah that I could still go for the week, but I was met with a somewhat frosty look :D

Nice position to be in Luke :-)

Thanks, Shaun :) Which is your fave eyepiece from your set?

Excellent Luke, the Moon is excellent along the termination :-)

I am glad you enjoy the eyepieces :-)

Thanks, Shaun :) It's good to have a bit more oomph for the fracs now without the need to Barlow. It's amazing how much detail you can see on the Moon (and Sun) with relatively small scopes :-o

I must agree Luke I was amazed just how good the small Fracs are. The Moon detail is stunning and I cant wait to use the 2.5mm on it.