paulastro

Well I managed to see the Uranus Occultation, but only just.. Out by 10.05 and I could see the Moon well enough, through varying thicknesses of cloud. No sign of Uranus though! Using the 8inch Starsense Dob, it wasn't until 10.14 it popped into view, though only for a couple of minutes. A lovely light green disc to my eyes. I was lucky, as it came back into view about a minute before it was due to be occultated. After a minute or it went behind the dark limb of the Moon - phew, a close call. Almost immediately the cloud thickened and the Moon itself was completely hidden from view. I waited for the reappearance, but although I could see the Moon's limb, the cloud was too thick to see Uranus. Still, perhaps I was being too greedy expecting to see both phases of the occultation .

Great Mike, I'll expect to see a sketch. See you next year .

Well I managed to see the Uranus Occultation, but only just.. Out by 10.05 and I could see the Moon well enough, through varying thicknesses of cloud. No sign of Uranus though! Using the 8inch Starsense Dob, it wasn't until 10.14 it popped into view, though only for a couple of minutes. A lovely light green disc to my eyes. I was lucky, as it came back into view about a minute before it was due to be occultated. After a minute or it went behind the dark limb of the Moon - phew, a close call. Almost immediately the cloud thickened and the Moon itself was completely hidden from view. I waited for the reappearance, but although I could see the Moon's limb, the cloud was too thick to see Uranus. Still, perhaps I was being too greedy expecting to see both phases of the occultation 🙂.

Great Mike, I'll expect to see a sketch. See you next year 😊.

From Jan AN.

Out last evening with the 8inch StarSense Dob. I went out paticularly for the Moon. Set up by 5.50pm. Surprisingly, the seeing was excellent. Close to first quarter, the detail near the terminator was quite jaw dropping. There was great detail on show, but the sharpness and contrast was exceptional - and unexpected with strong winds which made me keep a firm grip on the scope. The large knob at the eyepiece end and the handle on the tube were very helpful in this respect. I also wasn't using my binoviewer as usual, but my Baader Mk111 zoom, which made the quality of the image even more impressive. Set at 8mm (×125), the view would have convinced any doubters about how well a good zoom can perform. Indeed, it was as good as you could expect from any fixed focal length eyepiece. Alas, I only had a 35mt session until the forecast cloud consumed the Moon. Well worth the effort though, and a session I won't forget.

I meant to say hard knock!

cajen2, you'd have to have given it a knock to put the collimation out, particularly as it sounds as if you were a bit over enthusiastic on the tightening front when collimating it. Just easy them all off and recollimate if necessary - you don't need them to be tight.

I went out with the Celestron 8inch StarSense Explorer dob from 10.15 to about 11.45pm when cloud came in. I had some nice views of Mars, Syrtis Major, Sinus Sibaeus and Aeria being the main features on show. Also looked at a few deep sky objects before the sky came in. The Orion Neb looked particularly fine due to a very transparent sky and steady seeing conditions. The best view since returning from Kelling in October. Beautiful views of M35, zooming in and out with the Baader Mk111. Castor looked great, just like two headlights looming out of the darkness. M1 and M41 looked good, and I just had to say goodnight to ET before the cloud came in 😊.

Mm, I'll have to sort something else out to sell 😊.

Nigella, whatever people have answered to your post, the real answer is more money than sense 😊.

I wouldn't touch this eyepiece with a barge pole if I were you Giles. Its clearly been abused.

Greymouser. I couldn't agree more as I've got older I wonder about how the things I value can be passed on before I pop my clogs. Not in a morbid way, Id just like them to go to people who might appreciate them - rather than end up in the wheely bin or a charity shop. Like yourself, I also try to spend every day making the best possible use of my time.

maw lod qan. Yes, I'd thought about that. Whenever I find a few less common astronomy books together in a used book shop I wonder how they came to be there.

A bit came up for auction at Sotherbys some years ago, and it's reserve was 120,000 - 160,000 US dollars.

1 certainly wouldn't have wanted to be underneath it when the 20,900 lbs bit came to earth 😱. I wish I could go back in time and watch it as it came down, it must have been a tremendous sight.

Not yet happy-kat, the box isn't sealed though.

Yes Mike, of course, that's much fairer than other deals you have done with me. You're getting generous in your old age 🙂.

No baked beans sorry! 😊

I find visual observing is in having some knowledge about what I am actually looking at. It doesn't depend on the objects looking particularly spectacular - though in my view there are countless thousands that are really beautiful to look at and some spectacular in my 8inch reflector. All visual astronomers are also time travellers and we have a direct connection with objects as they looked often millions of years ago. That 'fuzzy smudge' in the eyepiece becomes immeasurably more interesting when you know how far away it is, how big, how old and how many stars it contains, and that it was discovered by William Herschel in a garden of a terraced house in Bath in the latter years of the 18th century.

Forgot to say, the three pieces weigh 32g in total

fwm891, I'm sure you will be delighted with the outcome - it will be good to hear how you get on with it.

Rising through haze, 8.08am, Altair 80 ED-R, Olmympus E-M5 M11.