Luke

Very nice, well done!

Thanks for the alert, Charl! I'd forgotten to check Gong today, and rushed to Gong after seeing your heading, then nipped outside sharpish!

Mostly patchy cloud here, but Sarah and I each caught a view. Sarah struggled to see it and switched to her left eye, and suddenly she got it! She was then able to see it with her right eye. Maybe I should try this trick sometime!

To me it looked like a raging fire with a load of smoke blowing in the wind. It looked an absolute whopper to me, though faint to my eyes. The main active part on the disc that you've captured so beautifully was nice and clear at the eyepiece.

Nice to see the sun putting on some fireworks recently! If it clears here I might have to give the white light a spin. Hoping for clear for everyone.

Great report!

The 7th was very kind to me. Lovely views of the sun in white light and h-alpha, with really interesting sun spots and a whopper prom. Then I loved a gentle evening - a start to the new season here as well - with my wife and son, taking in Saturn, Jupiter, M13, the Ring Nebula, the Owl Cluster and Alberio. The tilt of the rings on Saturn is lovely!

We were doing a mini shootout between an 8 inch Edge SCT and a 120mm Skywatcher Equinox refractor on the planets. On the night they seemed pretty close, and we'd like to compare them on a few more nights to see how it pans out. I did think the Edge would have the edge, but the 120mm frac was coming out close to even for us from a casual session. Both scopes are lovely and keepers with different strengths, it's just a bit of fun for us to compare them.

PS I'm glad we kept our 120mm frac. I was up for selling it at one point (after giving up solar imaging due to poor solar h-a filter replacement) but I think it will be the biggest frac I stay with, as tempting as a 150 is!

Thanks for the lovely views!

Cor, love the second shot especially!

Wow! I think my fave is the second picture. Stunning! Thanks for the views.

For me it's a bit of everything, I suppose. I did have a strong preference for the sun for a while, and got quite hooked on solar imaging and a touch of lunar. But then I had a problem with my solar filter and the replacement wasn't as good (which taught me a long warranty is not always as good as it sounds) and I gave up on the imaging. Quality h-alpha filters for medium-sized refractors don't come cheap, alas!

I'm still very fond of the sun but got back into the night time stuff last year and I am really looking forward to the new season. We got some nice views of Jupiter, Saturn, M13, the Ring Nebula and a few other targets the other night. A little shootout between an Edge 8 and a 120mm Equinox frac. I was surprised how well the frac did and would like to compare them again a few times this season.

Well done, Tony, to my untrained eye it looks a stunning image, with a lot of depth to it! Quite amazing what's possible.

I really enjoyed viewing the sun on the 7th! The sunspots were really interesting in white light and there was the big prom in h-alpha. Two of the fragmented spots looked to me like they were facing away from each other, with a little band connecting them together.

I think I'm enjoying white light more than h-alpha these days. I just really appreciate the clarity you get with white light.

It was a lovely day here, enjoying viewing the sun with my wife and son. Then we moved onto Saturn, Jupiter, M13, Alberio, the Owl Cluster, the Ring Nebula.

I miss seeing the Milky Way clearly on hols in Dorset! We've not been away this year or last. I could just make it out faintly our way last night, which was nice but it made me think of the darker skies in Dorset! Next year, hopefully! I think I miss cream tea even more though 

I think once you've seen the Milky Way under darker skies, it's easier to make it out under slightly less favourable conditions. What a view it is when it's good!

Very nice, Charl. It was lovely to see the sun put on a show. We had a fab day here. This great solar activity, then Saturn, Jupiter, M13, the Ring Nebula, Alberio and the Owl Cluster.

Wow, that is impressive! Well done!

Great job, Luke! I really enjoyed seeing this big prom at the eyepiece, and it's fascinating to see it animated.

I currently have two bins, Hawke ED Frontier 8x43, which I picked out after trying multiple pairs at Greenwitch. And I later picked up a pair of Minox BL 10x42 BR. I think someone had a pair at a star party and I was impressed and got a pair from Altair Astro.

One thing I like about the Hawke is it has dust caps front and back, whereas the Minox has caps for the eye side only. What I like about the Minox is I preferred the view with it, and it's more compact in the case, so takes up a little less space out and about.

My son, who's nearly 11, could do with a pair of bins. He enjoyed looking through mine the other day. I could give him one of mine, do I really need two pairs and these are both very good. But on the other hand, I'd rather he picked his own new pair. I suppose I could try selling one pair to help fund some of it (am currently out of work, alas, funds are tight). No rush I guess as ideally I'd like him to try some at a shop and pick his favourite. Or maybe I could lend him a pair until I get a new job.

4 minutes ago, vineyard said:

Great minds clearly think alike @Luke 😂 - couple nights back out of curiosity I tried my old TV76 w a 2.5x powermate and an old 12T2 (so 100x).  It was hilarious, like an L.  Hats off for putting a BV on that - braver than me!

Sweet! I think that eyepiece is a nagler? I regret selling my 13mm Nagler, my wife didn't get on with it, but I loved it!

Ah yes I forgot that I also put a chunky red dot finder, the Baader Sky Surfer V, on the shield of the Tele Vue 60!!! I had to keep it straight up or it would swing upside down. 😆

I suppose the dob mob might wonder why I need a finder for a 60mm... 

Nice one, Charl and Harvey! The reprocess looks better to my eyes.

My son Matthew has enjoyed doing a bit of solar and lunar image processing recently, I think my wife Sarah should let him get a camera, haha! Nice little ZWO maybe! 😀

Nice one, Roy! I've had to skip the solar fun today as I've been feeling a bit ropey following my vaccine jab last night. I hope/feel like it's starting to lift a bit now (not the prom!) I did manage some lovely lunar views though last night, still buzzing about those.

It took me a while to appreciate how quickly things can develop on the sun.

Very nice, Charl. I enjoyed the lunar views last night with my 60mm and 85mm scopes. I think my old faithful's are 10 inch dob and ED100. I miss the 16 inch dob but my back and knee don't!

Very nice result from 63mm of aperture. I enjoyed some views with my little Tele Vue 60 last night. I put on the binoviewer and it was almost as tall as it was long!

Thanks for the sweet views. Delightful!

Nicely done, I shouldn't look as that camera is very affordable! It's amazing how many ways you could process the moon. Just the sharpness. Then the contrast. What colours you use or don't.

Very nice! The detail looks sweet to me. Nice to see some images from an F14.

Looks nice, thanks for the view. It was one of my highlights touring the moon last night with my 85mm and 60mm. Of course one hopes for good seeing but in its own way I sometimes like a bit of Earth or other imperfections in the image.

Schickard was a lovely sight! And I really enjoyed Babbage and especially the Aristarchus Plateau. I was wondering whether to observe tonight, then my wife made me do it by saying "What about using the Tele Vue 85?" I paired it up with the Tele Vue 60. It's been fun mixing things up this month, I've used all my scopes I think with possibly one exception - I think we might have a Telescope House 66mm up in the loft. That little frac had a lovely stock focuser, I can't imagine I would have parted with it.

I jumped a bit though when I used my 8mm Radian. I'd forgotten it had a solar continuum filter on, so I was greeted with a green moon!

Nice one, Simon. I am in this crater's fan club too.