paulastro

Many thanks Rob. I must admit I did overdo it a bit yesterday and had to rest up today - well worth it though! I'm glad you had a good transit, though at least I wasn't likely to get heat stroke .

Many thanks James. The weather was very dire, even worse than the poor forecast indicated. It was good fun though despite the conditions and we did manage to drag victory from the jaws of defeat .

Many thanks JOC, it was rather nice to arrive at the 'Snooty' and find a nice warm fire, as you can see in the pic I hadn't thawed out yet .

Mike took me and Derek to Penistone Hill outside Haworth for the transit. I'm most grateful to Mike as following a foot operation a couple of weeks ago I can't drive or walk very far so I would have been stuck at home otherwise. In summary, the weather was truly atrocious the whole time: fierce winds, rain and hail. I had to continuously wipe rain from the solar filter and my scope (72ED) was turning round on its tripod in the rain. We frequently had to shelter in the car along with the scopes, my tripod was blown over twice as well as chairs and anything else we weren't holding onto. I On arrival at the summit of the hill it was so ferocious we couldn't find anywhere safe to set up so we had to retreat further down the hill. Just after the start we had glimpses of the sun through cloud but we did see Mercury and I took some pics - all awful pics but over the moon we saw it, and delighted to have a memento. We left the site at around 2.30 but stopped on the way home to set up when there was a glimmer in the sky and we saw Mercury again nearly at maximum transit at 2.55pm. Despite the conditions, we thoroughly enjoyed the event, and very lucky to see what we did. Battling the elements on the summit of Penistone Hill. Derek and me with the 72ED and Mikes 100mm Tak. Sheltering from the tempest outside. Photo above taken at 12.40pm, SW 72ED Olympus E-M5 Mk11, 1/100 sec, 200 asa. Mike's Tak. Celebrating and warming up in the 'Snooty Fox' back in Oakworth.

10.15 now and completely cloudy with light rain. The sun has been out, and hopefully will come out again during the transit at some time. About 11.30 I'm heading up to Penistone Hill country park with my observing buddies Mike and Derek. It is only about 10mts drive away. It has a great 360 degree horizon with splendid views. We will be able to to observe it t until the sun sets if there is a break - so still hopefull. It's kind of Mike to come and pick me up as I had a foot operation just over two weeks ago, need crutches (or at least one!) and won't be able to drive for some weeks. Good luck to everyone 👍

Keep the faith folks, someone will certainly see it - if you don't buy a ticket........... NEVER give up until it really is too late. Good luck everyone

Unless it's a different scope, ENS has one of the Bresser Messier AR-102 F13.2 Hexafocus Optical Tubes for sale in hardly used condition for £170. From the comments made previously in this thread, it should be sold within two minutes max of this post going live! Link below. http://ensoptical.co.uk/telescopes/bresser-messier-ar-102

Excellent Stu, thanks for posting. Cloudy here, but couldn't go out anyway even if it was clear - incapacitated from an operation I had last Friday. Only my foot, but difficult to get out with a surgical boot on and using crutches. Hoping to be more ambulant on November 11th for the Mercury transit

I should think if it was dark green he may have got away with it. I wouldn't mind it overlooking my garden - as long as I was allowed to use it as well 😊.

Also a big thumbs up for the AZ4 from me. It comfortably takes my SW 120ED, I can use it at over x200 with the AZ4 - as long as it's not too windy. For me, except for very short scopes, the AZ5 is very much in the second division. Here's a couple of pics of the 120 on the AZ4 on a Pentax theodolite tripod - the tripod being a £10 bargain snapped up at Kelling. It's a vey substantial tripod and very easy to use the scope even at the zenith.

Mmm, I seem to recall that the last time I came to visit you Mike your wife banned us to the observatory - I didn't feel we had any choice but to leave your lounge! 🤣 Also you're wife accused me of trying to sell you the tripod I brought along that you were going to do a mod on for me, her actual words were 'he's not trying to sell you that pile of junk is he'. As if I ever would! By the way, that equatorial mount I offered to sell you at a great bargain price is still yours if you want to buy it . I have to admit though, your good lady does have an awful lot to put up with, she should be made a saint! By the way, the modified tripod works a treat - thank you my friend 👍.

I'll look forward to hearing how you get on in better sky conditions Geoff, thanks for posting.

A 'serious' telescope? Well, all my scopes, including my present brace, have been 'fun' scopes - I wouldn't want to be serious when I'm observing, I want to be enjoying myself.

Peter is quite correct, visual observing in a natural rewarding way to see the wonders of the night, and daytime, sky. As for imaging, wasting valuable eyeball time to play around with frustratingly temperamental electronic gadgets and computers, well, that's downright weird 😱.

Sorry Mike, but your claim as quoted below is not strictly true: What's imaging? Observing through the telescope is all i've ever done and almost certainly all I'll ever do. I'm fortunate to have a couple of excellent visual observers to associate with locally (good friends), so observing is very much alive and healthy in my little world. I do think the skill of observers is on the wane though, as many today just assume you need to either have a large aperture scope to see anything of worth, or you need to live on Hawaii - neither of which is true! I distinctly remember you posting a phone 'image' of the moon on SGL - I have a copy of it as I thought it was such a rare event! I'd also like to say it's a real pleasure being a 'member' of your local observing group.

I couldn't have said it better myself Paul - particularly with respect to the Moon.

I agree with you Mike. by the way I love your new profile picture - your eyepiece box with one of your Mars maps in the lid, good idea .

A 50mm finder makes a big difference compared with a 30mm Nige. If you do go for a 50mm finder, I would buy a 90 degree one with a right way round erect image to match any star/finder chart you may be using, Even if you can't see the target object, if you put the cosshairs of the finder where the target object should be with relation to the star field then the target should be visible in the main telescope. I'm pretty sure the version sold by FLO is a correct image finder, or you could try and get a used one. Just make sure you have aligned the finder during the daytime using a higher power as you can on some distant object.

Nige, I didn't think to mention it in my last post, but I also use a dark black cloth. Buy some black out material from the local market or what ever and get enough to cover your head and shoulders and it will keep out any lights. Also good to enhance the view of the sun in daytime. Makes a huge difference.

I've always primarily been a moon and planet man, though I do like really good views of the brighter deep sky objects. Alas at home, though my conditions are a lot better than many (also aided by a run off roof garage) they are often rather insipid compared with a very good dark sky location. I've been going to the equinox star party at Kelling since at least 2006, and this has always been my annual 'deep sky fix'. Even the poorer clear nights at Kelling are better than the best night I will ever get at home. Kelling skies enable my scopes to perform like a much larger aperture and the views I get at Kelling every year (of both the summer and winter constellations) sustain me until the following year. Even the views through my 9x50 finder can give me 'wow' moments. I still look at deep sky on the finest nights at home - while thinking of how good it would be at Kelling. However, it's not all doom and gloom. Star clusters and double stars are less affected by poorer skies and if you have a good quality optic with fine contrasty images, you can still get a comparatively black background to these objects. At home for instance I can always see the nebulosity surrounding the Pleiades on my best nights, and the Orion Neb and M27 can still be spectacular. It's a matter of choosing the right night at home along with the right targets.

A bargain even if you pay the full price, an 'out of this world' bargain at this price. Get yours now!

Well, at least that's what I thought when I glanced this new book/magazine amongst the new publications of WHS in town this morning. For a nano-second I thought how marvellous it was that WHS would have decided to stock suck a title in their stores. Alas, a second glance made me realise it wasn't quite what I thought it was!! 😄

The English translation of the Takahashi website seems to indicate it is as good or better optically than the other scopes in the series, including the f9 DL. Whether many observers, particularly inexperienced ones, would notice any difference in the real world of observing in UK seeing conditions is another question. I've used the other versions and can't see anyone not being absolutely delighted by their performance. https://translate.google.com/translate?depth=1&hl=fr&ie=UTF8&langpair=ja|en&rurl=translate.google.com&sp=nmt4&u=http://www.takahashijapan.com/ct-news/news_topics/news_19VII09_fc-100dz.html&xid=17259,15700023,15700186,15700191,15700256,15700259,15700262

It's later because the date the organisers wanted clashed with a forties weekend, also taking place at KELLING and it was given priority. Apparently it's a much bigger event. Hence it was moved to the next new moon. I'm rather pleased it now coincides with the Mars opposition. 😁

Many thanks for your good wishes everyone. We had to mop up quite a bit of water which came in after the storm finished. Managed to keep it out of the sleeping areas though. By 7.30pm we were out observing Jupiter and Saturn and have only just come in. Amazingly we've had four successive evening sessions. Despite the fact we've had the worse weather I've seen At Kelling everything except snow! Great observing though, and I'll be back next year for Mars 😀