paulastro

4 hours ago, Viktor_L said:

Wow, I didn't expect such a warm welcome, thanks so much!

I do recognize I may have overdone it with this telescope, and my wife was trying to convince me to start smaller as I've been known to abandon hobbies :D. This one is different though. The first time I had the scope out I was up all night trying to find as many as I can of the objects in Sky Safari's Tonight's Best list. Then a couple of hours before sunrise, Saturn came up, and seeing it for the first time is probably the second best nature experience of my life, second only to seeing the April 2024 total eclipse (which is actually what started my interest in the celestial). A crescent moon followed shortly after, and seeing the craters in such detail was just incredible. Nothing prepares you for the experience.

Since then I've been quite addicted. I would use the scope daily if I could but because of weather, and the fact that I have to drive quite a bit to get reasonably dark skies mean that I could realistically only do it every couple of weeks. Wish there were darker skies close to me - had to drive 12 hours total to get to Bortle 2 at Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania and 7 hours total to get to Bortle 3 (I think?) in the Catskills in New York. Just last weekend was the first time I saw Jupiter and Mars. I think I saw Neptune and Uranus too but could not resolve the disc using 10mm eyepeice, so I couldn't be sure.

I am sure you guys understand the feeling when you started out!

 

Viktor, I still have that sense of amazement and awe, after over fifty years observing the night sky.

Welcome Viktor.  Nice scope to start with, and the digital setting circles will certainly help.  I 'cheated' and bought a Celestron Starsense Expolorer Dob😊.

Sun still showing a lot of activity, also in HA.  

Quite cloudy, 'observed' with Seestar.  A bit lazy, but quicker to set up Seestar rather than my 80ED in adverse conditions.

Single frame at 2.52, before losing the Sun. Info courtesy of spaceweather.com

A lot better seeing than I had this afternoon Steve 😊.  Nice shots.

21 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Thanks so much Paul, and that’s a great thumbs up if it can carry your 5”! Amazing - though I know the SM 125 is extremely light for its size.
The Sightron easily handled my 4.5kg 85mm and binoviewer. It’s also stable at reasonably high powers - I’ve just split Izar with TOE 3.3mm at around 180x. So much easier to follow the target with slo-mo.
The only potential issue is the slo-mo controls can be slightly awkwardly positioned at some angles, but so far it’s not been a problem. 

Long slow motion controls might help but I've not tried it.

Also you can turn the arm to face out from the mount.  The arm is in two bits held together by a bolt joining them at the mid point. (Take it out and flip the top of the arm the other way and replace the bolt, also reposition the altitude clutch knob.) Though if you have a heavy scope it will be less stable.  

Or, you can just turn the arm the other way, using the ratchet adjustment knob, so that it attaches to the other side of your scope. 

I'm not sure if either of these things will help, but may be worth trying them.  

When I used the SM with the mount it moved so smoothly on the two axis by just pushing it from object to object, when the clutches were set right, that it didn't bother me that I couldn't reach the knobs.  It worked very well.

2 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Good question - I’ll see if I can test it tomorrow

I don't think you'll have much trouble Mark.  I gave first light to my Sightron mount on Friday/Saturday night for approaching three hours.  It was good enough that after a while I forgot I was actually testing the mount and just enjoyed the session.  

The scope I was using was my StellaMira 125ED f7.8!  I won't say anything else now as I'm going to post a review on SGL and  don't want to spoil the ending 😊.

PS Have a great holiday Mark, I hope you have a week of clear skies.

Single frame with Seestar at 3.38pm.

Very nice visually.

1 hour ago, scotty1 said:

https://www.spaceweather.com/

 

Great news, hopefully 😊.

Well for this cycle, now SN is up one to 276.  Not terribly exciting visually, but had to take a pic following yesterday's.  It would be nice if it reached 300 before the end of the cycle.  

Single frame (and crop) with Seestar below taken at 8.02am, rather hazy views all day.

At lunch time, I noticed on spaceweather.com that today the Sun has a record sunspot count for the current cycle of 275 -  so far anyway! Interesting to see if it can reach 300 before it starts to drop.

Below is a single Seestar image I took earlier plus two crops of it.

Out from 11.00 to 1.30  (16th/17th) with the StellaMira 125 f7.8 and Starsense Explorer. Not great conditions, clouds and haze increasing and quite windy, but still had a great session.

Observed quite a few Messier and other objects, and observed several nebula, usually considered more photographic than visual objects. These included the Elephants Trunk. Bubble Neb, Cave Neb and  Cedablad 214.  All with my Morpheus 17.5mm.

What surprised me with these objects was how much of their nebulosity I could actually see  - and I wasn't using a filter.  On the Starsense display you can zoom in and you get a reasonable representation of their shape.  The bullseye targer shows you where you are observing as you move the scope so you can actually be aware of where you are.  This enabled me to check the accuracy,  or not, of my observations.

Clearly they are not colourful and not so intense as images, but I'll certainly be revisiting them with a filter to enhance the views.  Better than I expected, though the SM does give very contrasty views.

The highlight was coming across the Garnet Star as I went from M52 to the Elephent Trunk where it is located.  Wow, I hadn't looked at it for a long and had forgotten how intense the redness is, it was a wonderful sight in a very nice field.  

I had two surprises too.  At 11.18 I saw a bright meteor, about -3, pass slowly from Hercules to a few degrees below Altair.  A short train followed it which varied in brightness before it faded further to the E.  Then at  ll.42 I caught the ISS also heading toward the E.

Finally I had a surprising good view  of Saturn at only about 15 degrees altitude.  I used my binoviewer with 24mm and 16.8mm Orthos, plus x2 barlow.  In better moments the image was very sharp with no CA or any other defect.  The disc showed a couple of belts and some other variations.  Much nicer than I expected in the conditions.

A really enjoyable session.

1 hour ago, RobertI said:

Yes I’ve done something similar with mine, but just one extra bolt as I use the panning handle - it’s worth doing for that extra peace of mind!

Nice solution, perhaps a picture of the Starsense in place just to complete the picture? 🙂

Pics added.

I already use the SM with Starsense Explorer, but I wanted to move the phone holder away from the finder mounts  near the focuser. (I added a second finder foot as soon as I bought the scope). Even on night mode and low brightness it's distracting so near the eyepiece.  Also it has no/or little affect on balance if mounted near the balance point.

I bought an Askar 150 Multi-Connectuon Plate (to replace the supplied handle) and an Askar 30cm Dovetail Plate in place of the original dovetail.  The Askar dovetail is much better quality and longer which  makes it more helpful in balancing the scope.   

Fortunately Askar make both pieces in red, so they match the red accents on the scope 😊.  I also have the Askar 103 triplet which is supplied with both of these items, and they make it very easy to use Starsense or anything else you want to add on.

The pics are taken on one of my two AZ4s.  I occasionally use it as a grab and go with the SM, and also store the SM on it indoors when not in use.

In the last pic, you can see two extra bolts I use with the AZ4 to help secure the scope, in the holes meant to be options for positioning the supplied handle which I never use.  Also to prevent marking the dovetail there is a strip of (the fluffy side) a strip of heavy duty stick-on Velcro.  This works well, it stays in place, but also is easy to remove or replace without leaving any debris behind. The mount I usually use with the SM is the StellaLyra Dual Altaz Mount which is an excellent match for it

Following a request, I've attached some more pics of the Seestar phone holder insitu on the telescope.  The orange 'T' piece was 3-D printed- not by me! The top is easily bolted to the bottom of the the phone holder, and the bottom will fit onto any scope with a Vixen type finder shoe.  The multi finder  base in the first pic is to turn the phone holder up by ninety degrees.

10 hours ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

ordered off ali express 5th july for £15 inc postage. now just waiting on a pack of 5 m6x10mm countersunk bolts from ebay so i can attach it to top of my ota rings. hopefully 10mm is long enough. i checked already, the foot of my zwo guide scope slides in nicely. 

Can you post a link of where the listing was for this please?  Many thanks.

52 minutes ago, icpn said:

there are many sugegstions out there that this analysis is not correct. A3 is unlikely to be the bright object predicted but the light curves currently do not show it disintegrating.

I hope you're right! 😊

Wil Tirion's maps have been part of my life for so long, it feels like I've lost a friend.  Thank you Wil.

I meant to mention, Artcise and Innovel had tripods very similiar when I was looking for one.  I found some helpful utube videos for both makes. You just need to check what comes with each one as it does vary.

I have the Artcise AS88C - its possible it may be clonned as one of the tripods you mention.

I bought it for similar reasons you mention.  It has a 75mm bowl (plus a handle to move it and lock it in place if you want to use it) , load capacity is 36k/77lbs, max leg tube size 36mm. Weighs a little over 2k. Can't speak highly enough of it.  

Has spikes if you need them and a net slung  underneath for some kind of weight  if you need it, but I usei it for for  astro bits and bobss - weights not been necessary.

I use it with the Seestar, AZ5 with scopes  including an 80ED F6 doublet, a 103mm F7 triplet and a StellaMira 125mm ED doublet F7.8.

I bought it from Amazon over a year ago, costs £269.  It has a bag as well.  It's one of the best things I've ever bought.

Posted this in the "Lounge', though perhaps I should have posted it here.

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/423740-bad-news-for-comet-tsuchinshan/?do=findComment&comment=4498200

This is bad news if true. Taken from spaceweather.com

Out last evening, July 7th-8th from 11.20 - 3.15 am. Using the StellaMira 125mm f7.8 for visual and the Seestar for taking pics whilst observing.

Tried for Comet 13P/Olbers  early on, but too low by the time it was dark enough.

Used the SM set up with Starsense, I observed numerous Messier and Caldwell objects, plus a few doubles.  The conditions  not being good enough for more challenging objects.

Visually, the highlight was Saturn which I picked up at 2am, by 2.20 it was around 20 degrees altitude.  The seeing was surprisingly good and enabled me to usefully use all the settings of the SVBony 3-8mm zoom, x122 to x325.  At low power it looked like a ball of wall with a thin needle through the middle of it!  At higher powers the equatorial region was bright with a dark belt in the N hemisphere.  The disk showing hints of other detail in the best seeing.  Very impressive.  It bodes well for the Mars opposition  early next year.  Also observed Neptune nearby before packing up

Below are two Seestar pics, M17, plus a crop, and SH2-86.

I have had the StellaLyra version a few months, and have been very pleased with it.  I think the saddles are better than those supplied with early SkyTee versions, but I did add an ADM clamp to one side.  It wasn't because I thought there was anything wrong with the supplied clamps, but I find it quicker to balance with a longer clamp.

I have only used it on one side, and have used it with up to about 7 kilos load, and don't need to use either of the weights.  Very smooth motion.  Don't forsee any need to replace it at any time.

Attached is a pic with the StellaMira 125ED f7.8 on board.

1 hour ago, Rob said:

Looks like a good mount & good deal from FLO also there!. Quick question.. Does this version of the AZ4 have a M10 thread on the mount?. Just asking as if it does it could either sit on the Aluminium tripod or be transfered to a EQ5 steel leg tripod also.

Rob

Yes it does Rob.  Compatable with EQ5, SkyTee, Vixen GP tripods and similiar.  

It also comes with the 'L' shaped bracket so can be used with spotting scopes and the PST or anything else with a photo thread that needs to be supported from below.

Well yes there is!  I use my Askar 103 triplet on my AZ4 as a grab and go.  Currently FLO have reduced the mount on the lighter aluminium tripod from £139 to £99.  Only 21 left in stock.as I write this post - so don't hang about if you want one.

Its easy to adjust the altaz tension knobs on both axis so that the scope can be positioned on any object from nought to ninety degrees altitude and then follow the object without having to readjust the tension. A tap on the tube and any vibration will die down in 2/3 secs.

I've cheated in that I've taken off the the 4inch removable tube section to make it shorter, and use a 35mm and 2inch extension tube so it can still focus at infinity. Though, it would probably still work fairly well at full length.  The Askar 103 weighs around  5.5K depending how it's set up.

In fact, when I bring my StellaMira 125 f7.8 inside after observing, I put it on my AZ4 to dry off.  It stays there until it's next outing.  The SM weighs about the same as the Askar  (fibreglass tube).  I've used the SM on the AZ4 too, and it works quite well

There's much written about the AZ4, but suffice to say it's useful for up to all but the longest 4inch refractors and takes a 6inch f8 reflector very well - it was  (and may still be)  sold in this configuration. It's also very handy for Maks and SCs up to 6inches, I've even tested an 8inch Mak on one years ago.

The AZ4, only has one knob to keep the tube in place, but there are two additional 8mm holes that can be utilised.  They are meant to be options to use the supplied handle, which I have never used in all the years I've had an AZ4. Knobs with plastic heads can easily be found on-line.

Personally, I'd say every  astronomer should have an AZ4 - they are so versatile.

Going on how my phone has been vibrating and  buzzing today thanks to AuroraUK, there may be auroral activity tonight in some parts of the UK.