avtaram

I noticed those streaks as well John. I've been looking at the Aristarchus Plateau area and have been facinated by it's colour, a slight purplish brown that stands out as a square from the surrounding grey. I was using my 12" Dob with a 17.5 Morpheus and a 14 Delos. Has anybody else noticed this or am I just imagining it. Avtar

Arrived today, Ethos 21. Thanks Gavin.

I have Bortle 8 skies but there is still plenty to see. Double and multiple stars, open clusters, globular clusters, planets, the moon, asterisms. Enough to keep one busy for a lifetime. Avtar

This is what I would do. Avtar

I went out into the darkest part of my garden at 8pm tonight and let my eyes adjust for about 10 - 15 minutes and spent about half an hour looking at Orion. I only counted 8 stars, these included the 3 belt stars and the remaining 5 stars were all observed below the belt. I did not see any stars above the belt. Avtar

The XW 3.5 arrived today in excellent condition, thanks Mike. Avtar

I would have bought the 10 xw if I didn't already have the 10 Delos. Avtar

I find that my 12" Dob and 150 newt are pretty much grab and go as I keep them in the summer house and just need to move them to the patio in front.

Could I have the 3.5 please . Avtar

I found this book very useful for learning the constellations. Avtar

Has anyone used one of these mounts. I am looking for a light weight mount for my Tak FC 100 DC. At the moment I am using an AZ5 on an EQ5 tripod but find that it's not steady enough especialy at high powers, the stars are jumping around all over the place when trying to focus. Any feedback would be much appreciated. Avtar

Thanks Stu, I'm looking forward getting the Tak out, its been a while since I used it. Avtar

My Celestron NexYZ smartphone adapter arrived yesterday. Last night was cloudy so there didn't seem any prospect of trying out the NexYZ but when I looked out of the bedroom window I could see the Moon peeking out from a tiny gap in the clouds although there where still some wisps of cloud floating across it's face. I quickly grabbed my 102 mak which I keep mounted on a photo tripod in the study and pointed it at the moon through the closed window. Mounting my Xperia phone on the NexYZ and attaching it to the eyepiece was straight forward. the following pics were taken through a 24 Hyperion and a 17.5 Morpheus. there was more wispy cloud across the face of the Moon when it came to use the Morpheus. Soon after the Moon disappeared behind the clouds. I just used the auto setting on the phone as there was no time to try different settings because of the cloud. Avtar

Looking forward to taking some pics with my smart phone. Avtar

Yes it's a really lovely pair. This is a sketch I did about 3 years ago. Avtar