Saganite

Ok, thanks John.

Our Astro society has a meet on Sunday at a location out of town which has the same Bortle 4 sky as home, but no blasted light pollution close up so I will take my dob there I think, along with a 13mm Nagler (92x) and have another crack at it...🙂

Well, I tried last night with my 6"  frac and my 12" Dob for at least an hour, probably longer , I didn't look for anything else , and failed dismally !

To be fair the fog did set in half an hour after I gave in so the transparency wasn't great, and once again my neighbour left her outside light on all evening....

I was using my APM 20mm 100 deg ( 60x ) so I can't have missed the area.  What sort of mag. is needed for this one ?

To be continued.............................

Me neither....😟

14 minutes ago, Stu said:

 Anyway, in the 128 it was definitely clearer to my eye than this, with two separate disks and a black line between them.

Ever the pessimist , on Monday evening  with my 152, I saw a thick black line with a disc either side.....

Thanks John  very helpful ,particularly  the link to your previous observation of it.  The forecast here tonight is clear from about 8pm to 10 pm, getting foggy by 11pm which suggests the atmosphere will at least be calm though the transparency will worsen as the evening goes on, but being so high I will be ready to have a go from early evening.  I will put the dob out but I intend as always to observe it with the ED152, so it will be an interesting challenge ..

Being able to observe definitely helped through that terrible year  as you point out.

Excellent image, thanks !

11 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

Nice little session on Sunday 3rd March that included testing/trying out a secondhand Astronomik OIII filter which had just arrived in the post, well, on the very day, from @bosun21. It arrived with some clouds, but not enough to completely stop play! This to add to my Astronomik UHC, also purchased secondhand from SGL. And to make things more interesting I chose a target I hadn’t successfully seen.

I’d not yet been able to see M97 - the Owl Nebula - from my light polluted Bortle 7 back garden, which is the only place I’ve tried. Conditions on the night weren’t great with poor seeing and below average transparency. But at least the moon was out of the way and M97 at a good altitude. I used the PushTo feature in the smartphone app PS Align Pro which always gets me on target. But looking through a low power eyepiece M97 simply wasn’t there. I tried averted vision and at one point, but only for a brief split second, thought I could see something. Mind, I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t my imagination. But, when I tried the OIII filter there it was -  M97 - right in the centre of the FOV. Sure, it was just a faint fuzzy circle without detail, but no averted vision necessary. Really surprised that it would make the difference of not seeing anything to seeing something. Looking forward to trying it out again & experimenting (plus the UHC). Hopefully at a dark(er) site too.

I was going to play around with different eyepieces, but clouds were coming in and I decided to try and take a smartphone image. First without the filter and then hopefully with. I did this via the AstroShader app which I’d last used properly and described here way back in May. Using the apps live view quickly showed the outline of M97 on the phone screen. It’s like a simple EEVA and in this case showing something that I couldn’t see without a filter. I took a shoot using a few subs, but that clearly wasn’t enough, so took a few more and by luck got a decent image. I’m still not sure on all the app settings. And I could see the “eyes” of M97 in the image! A bit of editing in the app and on the phone gave the resulting image. Honestly I’m pleased with that. I don’t think It’s an easy smartphone target! 

Unfortunately thicker clouds soon rolled in and I called it a night. I had work in the morning, so probably just as well. Would the image be any better using a visual OIII filter? I’m not sure. 

03/03/24, Southampton urban back garden, Bortle 7. SkyWatcher 200p Dob on DIY EQ platform. BST StarGuider 25mm. iPhone 14 Pro on no-brand smartphone adapter. Image taken via the AstroShader app. Cropped plus basic editing only on the phone using AstroShader, WaveletCam & Lightroom. 

That's a lovely image Peter, and amazing that you got it with a smart phone !

  I tried to see this on Monday but failed , transparency simply not good enough.

8 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

After a long day at work I just had enough energy left to haul out the 10 inch dob and have a quick 1hr session targeting Orion and Cancer.

I was pleased to find open cluster NGC 2175 in Orion for the first time. It's a rather broad and scattered cluster. It's meant to have some nebulosity associated with it but I couldn't see it. A quick check up on Cancer revealed M44, M67, NGC 2775 and Tegmine.

I also tried for one of my nemesis objects, NGC 2419 the Intergalactic Wanderer/ Tramp 😂 in Lynx but no luck yet again. 

I had to look up NGC 2419, as I don't think I have ever seen this one, so now I know I am keen to have a look.   Many thanks...

At  mag 10.5  I may have to set the dob on this one 

Totally unexpected session with varying cloud cover which, by 10.15pm,  was too much so after getting lovely splits of Rigel, Alnitak, Algieba, Almach as  well as Zeta Cancri, an early night, but great to be out with a scope for two consecutive nights.

Another clear night, seeing pretty good , Pickering 6 to 7.   Earlier views of Jupiter at150x were very good in glimpses through cloud for maybe twenty minutes and then lost, but the sky has cleared now.  Again I have taken out just the Svbony 3-8 For the ED152 and it has given a beautiful triple split of Tegmine. Lovely sharp Airy discs with  intermittent  diffraction ring at 400x. The close double actually split nicely at 240x, a very clear  and sharp black line between them.

Our postie always rings twice...

Welcome to SGL ..🙂

12 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Provided you don't need long eye relief, I think it's probably one of the best options for a planetary eyepiece.  It covers such a vast range you don't need to worry about having too much power for the seeing and you are unlikely to stump out when you have great seeing.

This I found again last night, and apart from a bigger FOV I saw nothing to complain about when I compared it to my Vixen LVW 3.5mm

Double star observing is one aspect and the 3-8mm zoom excels, but I have also had very high power views of the Moon with it, across its range, and I so far cannot fault it. 

Unable  to get out until 11pm last night I missed the best of Orion thanks to a neighbours tree so started with the lovely pair of Galaxies M81 & 82 both showing very prominently in the ED152.  The nearby NGC3077  is normally visible in the the same FOV but was not, so my initial thoughts on the sky transparency were borne out.  The Owl Neb M97 and M108 were not visible either, but M51 The Whirlpool was, just. With averted vision I could see a little detail, and certainly the bright nuclei of both elements.

I was a bit disappointed as this was the first dark sky session since the Moon was out of the way.  Moving to Leo I went straight for the triplet and could see M65 and M66 well, but not The Hamburger Galaxy NGC 3628. I settled down to averted vision, wanting to 'get' the triplet when the sky was obliterated !

My otherside neighbour recently acquired a small dog and when it goes out the 1,000,000 candela searchlight comes on and bathes everywhere in light. The large Birch tree in the garden behind me, which until now had been a ghostly silhouette just to the side of my FOV now stood out in stark relief.  My  unintended expletive of Oh ****  I hope was not heard ,but the light stayed on for half an hour after the pooch must have been back in its bed.  To be fair my neighbour is aware of my interest in the night sky and does try to accommodate. 

There was no point in continuing in the Southern sky so I swung the scope to the West and enjoyed the star clusters in Auriga. When the light went out it was like that moment early on in the Close encounters film when the alien craft switches of its beam as it flies over Richard Dreyfuss....... a thunderous silence !

I returned to Leo and in the darkness , was rewarded with a very prominent pair in M65 and M66 and now, NGC3628,  The Leo Triplet.  I forgave my neighbour !

As well as the ED 152 I have the recently acquired Lyra Optic 102mm f11 mounted on the AZ100, both aligned and balanced and so with a zoom set to 7.7mm in the 152 ( 156x )and 7.2mm zoom in the f11 (156x) I compared images of Algieba  (Gamma Leonis).  Both scopes rendered a beautiful split with tight Airy disc and diffraction ring, but I found the F11 image was neater , tighter, just that bit nicer .

Apart from the obvious benefit of a Pulsar dome, it does shield you from unwanted light intrusion, so it is possible to preserve night vision much more easily.

 Again with averted vision I could just make out M95 and M96, but should have been able to see them well from my garden , as I have so many times in the past, but the transparency had not improved , in fact, I think it had worsened. I saw little point in looking for the Virgo galaxies, so I had a look at the Globular Clusters M3 in Canes Venatici and M53 in Coma Berenices, as I moved to Bootes. Here the target was of course Izar a beautiful binary  star which at high power ( 300 x using the Svbony zoom ) gave such text book images, a tight white star with a vivid blue companion. 

Two more Globular Cllusters M13 and M92 rounded of the session at 1.45 am.

27 minutes ago, IB20 said:

I sometimes wish I couldn’t access it, would save me a lot more money!

I know the feeling...another parcel arrived this morning from FLO and of course it was on time !.......🤣

Absolutely no problem here.

As usual Dave's observing skills proved superior to mine. He spotted the minute detail that a remote trigger was an option, and I missed it... 😄

I would have watched SPM talk about watching paint dry, I adored him and his presentation style , which is why I have seen just a couple of episodes of The Sky at Night  since he left us.  Nothing wrong with the current format or the presenters but I choose to find anything that I wish to know  by others means now. It ceased to draw my interest in 2012.

I think that  your thought process is spot on Neil .   Berlebach tripod, AZ75 and FC100 is a perfect combination.  I have the AZ100 carrying two scopes and I will not chuck out any more superlatives about it.  The AZ75 will have the same superb quality of build, so I would not think twice, in fact, as soon as I can afford it I will be getting an AZ75 for my Planet tripod.

Go for it and never think about mounting your FC again....

1 minute ago, Coco said:

10,  15, 18 & 24 UFF.  would love to see a 13 & 21 added... 

My OCD needs balance.. 

You will need the 30mm as well then.....

A driven AZ100 is equally fuss free, you just plonk it down, point it South with the tube level and switch it on....🙂

Most things through the post I don't care about but my Astro stuff from FLO always arrives when it should, often next day, with whichever delivery service they use.....🙂

It does seem to depend on one's postcode.

Several times over the last 11 years of retirement to my village home in a Bortle 4  area of Cambridgeshire. 

First time was with Andromeda my 5" F15 refractor and subsequently  with my APM ED 152mm refractor.  Each time the seeing was excellent, maybe 7- 8 on the Pickering scale.

I remember  well the first time because I was conversing with Dave (F15Rules) on SGL , and he was seeing it at the same time with his FS128 . 

I have had a lot of stuff from FLO delivered across the the last several years and nothing has taken longer than the expected time.  The Royal Mail is fine as far as I am concerned.

I think it is a fine image and I would be proud of that if I practiced  in the dark art....