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Everything posted by kev100
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...and any visual astronomers in or near Cardiff.
kev100 replied to azrabella's topic in Getting Started With Observing
There's a South Wales club here on SGL ... -
Can anyone suggest some nice clusters?
kev100 replied to Orange Smartie's topic in Getting Started With Observing
How about the Xmas tree cluster, or NGC 1502 at the end of Kemble's cascade? If you have a decent southern view, m46, 47 and 41... Kev -
Hiya, I've got a 20mm Myriad 2-inch EP, which weights just over a kilo. I use it with my 250PX dob, without a counterweight, though I do have to clamp up the handles pretty tight so it doesn't over balance the tube. The rest of my EPs are 1.25 inch, so I don't tend to swap them and the Myriad around too often. Kev
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Hiya, I found it useful to work my way through the Messier list one constellation at a time, and printed out a chart and kept it in my notebook. After about a year or so I had most of them ticked 🙂. Did the same with the Caldwell catalog ... kev
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Double Cluster in Perseus NGC 884 / NGC 869
kev100 replied to wibblefish's topic in Getting Started With Observing
One of my favourite open clusters is M46, as good at this time of year as it gets. The really cool thing is the planetary nebula in the foreground (ngc 2438). Well worth a look 🙂 -
Just chipping in here with a thumbs up for the drum stool. I wouldn’t be without one 👍 Also, M13 looks amazing whatever the magnification, be it with 10x binos, or at 200x and higher with a scope. It’s when you consider what it is that it really comes to life, a dense ball of in the region of 250,000 very old stars, possibly the stripped down core of a long gone satellite galaxy ... in more basic terms, with my dob I like using my 8.8mm, 82 degree eyepiece on it, the contrast is lovely, the field of view enough to also see the nearby galaxy ngc6207 as well, and the magnification of around 130x resolves the stars nicely 🙂
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Leo trio - how easy to find?
kev100 replied to Orange Smartie's topic in Getting Started With Observing
Hiya. I've seen two out of the three with my 10x50 binoculars, but failed on Wednesday with the 20x80s. I felt that this was due to humidity/very thin cloud to the north and east. In fact I failed with other galaxies in those directions, including M51. Looking east, M31 and M33 were obvious. On a good night, the triplet will be very obvious in your scope. Kev -
Apologies if this has been pointed out already, but I've just spotted (in Stellarium, where else), that there'll be a very tight conjunction of Ceres and Aldebaran on the 5th of November 2021, whereupon the dwarf planet will move through the Hyades over the next two weeks
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Hi there, it definitely should be possible to get the dot in the centre of the doughnut given the three way adjustment ... A couple of questions: have you changed the secondary adjustment screws? How old is the scope? Have you been tightening the screws really tightly? The reason I ask is that I had a similar issue. My 10 inch is about 8 years old, I replaced the adjustment screws to make them easy to tweak, but found that they were digging into the metal base at the back of the secondary, and I couldn’t get the dot centred (it would get close, but then just ‘slip’ to the side, like there was a groove worn in the metal ....). I found a set of replacement screws which had a domed end to the threaded part, and also put a couple of thin pieces of plastic between the screws and the back of the secondary, and it’s easy now to centre the dot ... Kev
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Yet another eyepiece recommendation post ....
kev100 replied to kev100's topic in Discussions - Eyepieces
Hi there, reading through my previous post again, plus a few others, I reckon it's going to have to be a 14mm ES 82 ... Cheers, Kev -
Yet another eyepiece recommendation post ....
kev100 replied to kev100's topic in Discussions - Eyepieces
Thanks @Vlaiv I've had a discussion here on the merits of the 16mm Nirvana here before ... but decided against in as I gather it's not so good with a faster scope ... the 14mm ES 82 does look good, but is a little over budget ... Kev -
Hi all, I've been looking to replace my 16mm, 68 degree MaxVision with a similar power but wider FOV (82 degree) item for some time now, and wondered if anyone could recommend something that'll be suitable for a fast scope ... The catch, though, is the budget is around the 100 quid mark ... Any thoughts?
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Celestron skymaster 20x80 or 15x70
kev100 replied to Nair al Saif's topic in Discussions - Binoculars
Hi there. This is, for what it's worth, from my blog re the Celestron 20x80s ... : https://theastroguy.wordpress.com/2018/10/18/celestron-skymaster-20x80-binoculars-review-and-first-light-observations/ Kev -
Hi Dan, it was nice to meet you too. Really enjoyed the evening, had some great views of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars (the latter was amazing, and looked just like some of the photos I've seen recently on Twitter!). Although I'd planned to make it a really late one, I decided to pack up around midnight. It was still quite blustery, and although it looked clear enough, I wasn't having any luck with the fainter galaxies. Top evening
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Finding explanations for visual 'issues'
kev100 replied to McEloff's topic in Getting Started With Observing
Hiya, The fact that dimmer objects appeared okay makes me think that Mars' brightness scattering through high cloud/haze could have been the issue. I was out on Sunday night, on what appeared to be a good and clear night. Whilst the stars and planets looked great, there was definitely some haze in the air as I had absolutely no luck when it came to faint galaxies ... Kev -
Finding explanations for visual 'issues'
kev100 replied to McEloff's topic in Getting Started With Observing
Hi there. You’re correct that any or all of the factors you mentioned could contribute to the issue you’re having. Collimating is probably the easiest thing to eliminate. Through the Cheshire, if you can see all the mirror clips equally, the cross hairs align and the centre spot is ... well ... centred, you’re collimated ... You could also check by looking at a bright star .... does it resolve to a pin point , with sharp and clearly defined diffraction spikes? Dew can definitely be an issue, but if you can’t see it on the secondary (it never occurs on the primary in my experience), then have you checked the eyepieces themselves, being the only other place it could accumulate? As the issue doesn’t occur on dsos, though you don’t mention which, I’d say dew is unlikely to be the cause. Be careful not to breathe on the EPs ... Stray light pollution/reflections could be the issue. Is your dob is a solid tube version (if not, do you use a light shroud?). Try a different/darker location.... (I know, easier said than done). I’d say the issue is some combination of atmospheric seeing conditions, plus the fact that Mars is incredibly bright at the moment, and all that light is scattered somehow (you could try fitting the dust cover to the scope and pulling off the small aperture cover to restrict the light coming into the scope...) I spent much of last night viewing Mars with my (same) scope and from a pretty dark site, and although it was bright and clear a lot of the time, it did shimmer and wobble around horribly at times, with stray light artifacts coming and going. My eyes were watering quite a bit due to the blustery winds ... Kev. -
Okay. Im aiming to be there for 9-ish ... can’t make it any earlier. Forecast’s still looking good 🤞😀
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Hiya, what time are you thinking of heading out?
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Sunday night’s looking pretty good at the moment, and as I don’t have work on Monday, I’m seriously thinking of a major (all night) session, what’ll probably be the last chance before the colder nights set in.... the question is whether to make it a back garden night, or head down to creech /steeple.... to be confirmed 😀
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<checks notes> nope ... not since the 19th of July! Always up for a social
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Celestron bins require collimating or possible repair
kev100 replied to Jiggy 67's topic in Discussions - Binoculars
Hi, I'd recommend contacting Celestron UK (there's a contact form on the website - https://www.celestron.com/pages/technical-support). I had an issue with a pair, and a chap by the name of Daniel Robinson was a great help. Kev -
Hi all. I'm sure I must have mentioned how much I love these binos before, but having had them out again last night (first time in ages, and just for an hour), I was reminded of how properly amazing they are. These are my second pair (replaced foc by Celestron after the first pair went out of collimation), and they were checked before being sent to me. Definitely think I've got a good pair! The Orion neb looked amazing (big bright arc of nebulosity containing bright, pinprick-sharp stars. Star clusters M35, 36, 37, 38, 44, 45 and 67 were fantastic, M45 showing definite nebulosity (not present when compared to the Beehive). Melotte 111 (Coma cluster) and the little cluster of stars around Meissa in Orion were very nice! Galaxies too: M31, 51, 65 and 66 were all variously-shaped faint fuzzies, but very bright and easy to spot just by scanning around. There's very slight field curvature, all but unnoticeable, but I'd say stars stay sharp to roughly the last 10 percent of the field. Definitely a recommended piece of kit! Kev