paulastro

I managed to o serve these two briefly early this morning and yesterday after AR2965 came round d the E limb on 9th. They are still well worth observing in WL and HA. According to spaceweather.com AR2965 is currently the most active sunspot, crackling with C-class solar flares. The two single frames below in WL were taken at 7.59 on 10th and 7.49 on 11th. Both taken with the 102ED F7 and Olympus camera.

There you go again Mike, posting up a picture of yourself. By the way, you forgot to mention your clogs, cloth cap and that smelly ferret you used to keep in a cage in the back garden. And you're one of the more 'normal' friends I have 😁.

Moi, I've never hogged an eyepiece in my life! 😅

There's always a choice with any interest or hobby as to if you share it with other people or not. Just about any interest will have societies, chat rooms, exhibitions, facebook groups etc etc. If not, you can start your own. It's entirely the individuals decission if they want to follow any of these up. If there are any 'lonely' astronomers out there, it's probably because they choose to be. I have several friends who are long standing astronomers of at least 20 years who don't belong to any astro group of any kind - not even SGL !!! In fact, I'm not a social media enthusiast myself, and managed to ignore SGL for ages before I (against my better judgement) joined. I have to say though, I'm glad I did 😊.

I was lucky to have some clearish skies this morning for a while. AR2960 nicely centred on the disk and new AR2965 coming over the E limb with some nice faculae looks promising. In total six ARs on show, the others being AR2963, AR2964, AR2957 and AR2962. My single frame taken below (10.13 am) with the Tecnosky 102ED F7 and Olympus E-M5 Mk11 shows all six. Though you'll have to look VERY carefully to spot the single spot that us AR2962 in my pic.

Thank you Alan. Yes a PST does give a full disk view with the right eywpiece. I generally use a EF 19mm and a x2 barlow. If I want a higher mag I use my Baader zoom. I think it's supplied with a 12mm eyepiece, but a larger image enables you to see more detail.

Great posts Stu. I had some views about 2 to 2.30pm today with the PST. The GONG pic below was grabbed when I came indoors. Very spectacular and a wonderfully 'busy' surface. What time did you take your first pics?

Thanks Stu, that's great. I just posted a similiar post on the solar observing forum a few minutes ago. I share your solar enthusiasm, great views 😊.

I had a good session this morning using the Tecnosky 1O2 ED F7 for WL and the PST for HA. I was a bit too keen and the seeing early on was poor (at 8am!), though it improved after 9 am. In WL ARs 2960 and 2957 are the main interest. Newly named AR2962 showed a fair amount of faculae, though I could only see one small spot. I couldn't see anything of AR2955 and 2958. In HA its another matter with 2962 showing g a lot of strong activity in the PST, spaceweather report it as crackling with C class solar flares. AR2960 and 2957 are also showing a lot of HA, activity, as well as other smaller areas being visible. It's well worth looking in both WL and HA. Even in a PST there is plenty of disk details with the AR activity, numerous impressive filaments, and prominences. The dusk is crammed with detail. Take a look if you can. Below is a single frame in WL with the Tecnosky at 9 07 am, a GONG screen grab and one in WL from spaceweathwr.com.

A fine crescent Moon this evening. Observing with the Altair 80 ED- R. Mare Humboltdtianum nicely placed on the NE limb, and going S the craters Messala, Longrenus, Vendelinus, Petavius and Furnerius. Single frame below taken with the Olympue E -M5 Mk11 at 6.16 pm.

Out early to catch the early sun as I had to out for most of the day. I particularly wanted to see new arrival AR2960. It includes a nice large main spot which will hopefully develop over the next few days. Also the other two ARs 2957 and 2961 together cover a large area and areworth keeping an eye on too. A single frame and crop below taken at 8.09 am with the Altair 80 ED-R and Olyympus camera.

Thanks Alan. No problem, I thought it was quite funny. I do like deep sky, but I go to Kelling every Autumn for my deep sky fix. The trouble is, when I'm back home even my best nights aren't a patch on Kelling 😊.

I went to the last one, it was a great show. Far more room for exhibitors and attendees than Astrofest. You can park on the doorstep, so easy to load any large purchases into your car 😊. I'll be coming, suitably badged if anyone wants to say hello. Traveling down with Peter Drew and Andy from The Astronomy Centre.

Fabulous pics Stu, can't wit to see it.

Thanks Stu, I saw this on my daily GONG check, though I've no chance of seeing it myself today. I'll also be observing in WL as soon as I have some sun (possibly tomorrow or Sunday) to observe AR2960 which is coming over the E limb. It looks as if it could be a belter!

Well Alan. My main interests have been planets, plus particularly the sun and Moon for years, though not exclusively. Though of course, some may say the same thing about exclusively deep sky observers - particularly those who wish the Moon would vanish from the night sky. Don't worry on my behalf though Alan. Despite my 'limited menu' of interests, I'm sure there will be enough to keep me occupied for the remaining time I have left to observe 🤣.

That's fine if you're happy with it Paz. I just wanted to be sure you were aware of a potential problem.

Paz, did you replace the tube clamps on each side? I had a Skytee many years ago and found the tube clamps were an accident waiting to happen. If opened too far they would literally spring apart and drop the telescope! Perhaps the Skytee 2 has better clamps than mine had?

Youre welcome. Yes, that is a bit far to pop across and try it out 😂.

One of the scopes I use mine with is the Tecnosky 102ED F7, and it works very well, MUCH more steady than the AZ5, (which I've also had) and much better engineered. The Mount Zero axis knobs are much easier to use than the small 'screws' on the AZ5. You hardly have to tension the knobs once the scope is balanced on the mount, and it's then easy to push the scope into place or use the slow motions fior the rest of your session without touching the knobs again. I don't know where you live, but if you can get to Oakworth, West Yorkshire you'd be welcome to come and try it for yourself.

I bought one used and its excellent, I use both my 80 and 102 refractors with it and a PST. It's always worked perfectly, I love it. I've used many altaz mounts over the years, and consider it to one of the best . It would have been a bit pricey for me new (as a poor pensioner ☺️) which is why I snapped up the used one when it was advertised. Its well made and a good mount and I would consider it good value if the money isn't a problem. I have read about other people's 'problems', though personaly I think those indicating the two nuts on the axis needing adjusting as being a minor thing. Personally, I wouldn't consider this as a problem, many pieces of new kit arrive needing some minor adjustment. Some pieces of new kit, as reported on SGL, arrive needing what I consider to be unacceptable changes to be made and think this is OK - even occasionally if it needs engineering skills and a workshop to do it! Now, that is a problem. If something is actually faulty with the item, and it's been supplied by FLO or any other reliable supplier, there's no worry about getting a refund or a replacement anyway.

That sounds like a great session Stu, thanks for sharing it.

Thank you Mark. I did put an alert on the Celestial Events Heads Up forum, but it was a bit late I'm afraid. I didn't put it on until around lunch time yesterday. I did mean to put iton earlier.

I managed to observe the event. I've put a post here....

I set the alarm at 5.40am to catch this event and was outside by just turned 6am. A brilliant Venus at m -4.6 was shinning above the SE horizon. 5.25 degrees to the S of Venus was a much dimmer Mars, m +1.3 visible in my 10x50s. Because of the brightening sky I couldn't see Mars with the naked eye. No Moon visible yet. At 6.18 I could just see the N cusp of the crescent Moon peeping over the horizon and watched it and Venus as the sky continued to rapidly brighten. I was pleased to see the conjuction and especially my first Mars view of the apparition! Below is a screen grab ftom SkySafari and some pis of the Moon as it rose, taken between 6.24 and 6.30 through the Altair 80 ED-R and Olympus camera.