Nakedgun

3 hours ago, ONIKKINEN said:

These images capture the feeling of looking straight up during the auroral display very well. Almost like the sky is splitting in half, i wonder if that's just an illusion in the sense that when looking straight up there is the least amount of atmosphere in the way and so it looks like there are holes in the sky.

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Your location relative to the center of the north magnetic field, I think, is producing this effect for you and Sunshine. Energy from the Sun's flare is channeled down those field lines, concentrated on the center. Would love to experience it for myself, sometime.

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28 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Based on my luck in seeing all of last nights Aurora as I was out observing,

Well my run of luck continued today with my telescope given a lucky blessing while solar observing 😉

 

So another first, cleaning bird guano from my telescope!

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Is the operative word here, "while" solar observing?

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Curt, didn't know you were over here.

One of the youngest Moons I've shot - 23hrs. 56mins.

A few minutes later.

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10 hours ago, DirkSteele said:

A few posts back I showed that I had purchased volumes 2 and 3 of the The Night Sky Observers Guide. I mentioned the need to complete things left me somewhat exposed as Volume 1 appeared to be out of print. Well it did not take long to post a wanted advert in the SGL classifieds. It was answered quickly. big thanks to @Plantins.

Now I just need to pick up Volume 4.

 

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Going to be keeping mine, sorry! 😁

Good luck.

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Published last year, arrived today.

Can't have too many Lunar atlases!

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I do no imaging.

Lunt 100 Universal in single-stack mode.

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Anyone used these, and what is your experience with them?

Thank you.

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The second video looks much like man-made junk disintegrating. Keep your hard-hat on.

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14 pages on this one eyepiece? 

Brother!

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Buy once, cry once.

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10 hours ago, DirkSteele said:

Big delivery of books to add to the Astronomy library. 

 

The one I most excited about has recently been published. The Binocular Handbook by Holger Merlitz. If you know binocular reviews online you probably consider Holger a preeminent reviewer of them. A scientist by profession, he brings a lot of technical know how to the table. Hoping to learn plenty of new things to improve my own ability to review optics.

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I would be grateful if Springer would publish a less costly paperback of Merlitz' work.

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Wrong forum?

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32 minutes ago, fifeskies said:

This will live on a permanent pier in a dome so it's not such an issue for me. 

Would not want to be setting this up and taking it down each time.

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Hardly anything compared to the C-14 I used to heft up onto a G-11 every use. That one is gone about 20 years now, and my back is grateful.

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I like the 3.7 best. It's the only one I own.

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An Ultima by any other name....

Forgot about my wife's binocular kept in the toy-box trailer. I bought these in the mid/late 90s.

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Here are my only Ultima binocular. I don't remember when I bought them.

Optically excellent, the glue securing the leatherette covering is beginning to fail.

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3 hours ago, Petrovich007 said:

 

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Um, let's just say it involves plumbing/apparatus function, and leave it at that.

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Can't help with dating this branding, but Celestron marketed a line, also called Ultima, which appear identical to your unit. They were discontinued some years back when virtually all production shifted to China. I seem to recall the Celestrons becoming scarce around 15 years ago. But, memory being the second thing disappearing with age, I could be mistaken.

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My adult pursuit of this hobby began just a quarter-century ago, so I haven't been collecting astro-books very long. 

The artwork of Chesley Bonestell prompted me to get a copy of "The Conquest Of Space" written by Willy Ley.

My copy published by Readers Union with Sidgwick And Jackson, London, 1952.

Edit: I just found on my bookshelf a 1935 2nd edition of "A Guide To The Constellations" by Barton and Barton, autographed by Samuel G. Barton 14 NOV 35, to Sarah Lippincott of Germantown, Pennsylvania, who purchased it a month earlier for $25.

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03 APR 24

Pons-Brooks in Tasco No.216 10x50s. It was brighter tonight than my 21 MAR 24 sighting of it. M45 was perfectly framed with the Tasco bino.

Also had a look at the comet through my Zanzutsu (Japan) 60mm f/13. M42/Trap also viewed. The Pup undetectable through it, however.

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A place to start:

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/how-to-collimate-binoculars

Me? If they are out of warranty but worth the expense, I send them to a professional. 

Good luck.

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17 hours ago, Chaz2b said:

 

The peculiarity of the Ranger if you weren’t aware, is the focuser, unlike the usual rack and pinion or crayford type, the ranger has a push pull arrangement for coarse focusing and a helical focuser for fine tuning, I love it!

 

 

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The draw-tube/helical focusing on the Ranger is also present on several Borg scopes I've owned. I never had an issue with the Borgs, but my Ranger's helical was always rather stiff during cold weather.

Unlike you, I never got on well with the Manfrotto pistol grip head no matter what I had mounted on it, so I adopted their #410 mini geared head for lighter weight optical units.  

Always liked the white Ranger better than green.

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10 minutes ago, Flame Nebula said:

🤪, well, I've had the luxury of time, in that I have been slowly saving, but the day of final decision is 6 months away. As mentioned, I had really decided on the C9.25, but too many reports of mushiness have put me off. So, forcing a rethink now. 

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I do no imaging so cannot comment on that aspect, but the best views of Jupiter I've had were through my C-Nine-Two-Five.

Which means seeing is everything.

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23 hours ago, russ said:

 the ED120 Pro is not heavy. If I can't be bothered lugging out the NEQ6, I'll use the CG5 and it works well for visual.

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Agreed.

For outreach, I mount my SW120ED on a CG5, and it works fine.

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So does this interviewee.

https://thehighwire.com/ark-videos/unpacking-climate-engineering-with-jim-lee/

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