clarkpm4242

I wonder which village that was? We also had an early Xmas Eve evening session before moonrise TMB 92mm f5.5 APO. Comet 46P, M31, Milky Way etc. The relatives were entertained! NV is not a usual accessory for our SQM 21.4 sky pity about the moon...glad you were successful! Happy New Year Paul

Nice work... ...apart from the chocolate bounty, disgusting!!! Coconut hating Paul.

For deep sky try the RASC Finest NGC objects. Chosen for visual appeal. A step up in difficulty from the Messier list. The H400 has many unappealing objects. Good luck Paul

Says 21.6 for us up in Swaledale. Recent meter reading managed 21.4 in the early hours of a really clear night. I am very fortunate! Paul

...and Jupiter on the horizon right of the 3 Sisters. This morning about 07:15. Welcome to 2019. Paul Canon 7D MkII Sigma 24mm at f3.5 1/5th sec iso 400 LR and CS2. 24mm at f3.5, iso400 and 1/5 sec RAW in LR and CS2.

Cool engineering. I made an airline 'carry-on' 10" using marine ply. Nowhere near as sophisticated as your solution! Flew it to the Canaries severl times Hope you get good views!! Paul

Another explanation was that they used very long focal length scopes with small exit pupils. This caused the blood vessels on the back of the eye to become 'visible' to the observer as a network. Cheers Paul

Make more use of the kit that I have! Hopefully aided by an astro-shed for easier deployment of dobsonian and my imaging setup. Another trip up to NW Highlands Do a few more outreach sessions. Have 2 booked so far. Hope you all have a fulfilling astro year. Paul

Yep. As the above 2 posts. It is a very rich cluster! Works well through a range of apertures and magnifications. Must be a LP issue...or Specsavers Cheers Paul

If you look at the V magnitudes here, in green. http://wirtanen.astro.umd.edu/46P/46P_status.shtml You can see it is peaking around 3.5. The predicted curve suggests it will remain 'bright' for a few more weeks. Should be OK for the next period of moon free dark nights. Fingers crossed. Paul

Grabbing frames twixt the clouds. Canon 7D MkII, Samyang 16mm at f2. 15s, ISO 1600. Cheers Paul

Thanks Gordon. My problem is probably down to trying to make do with a cheap Pan/Slide/Tilt solution. Cable management issues have caused some jerky motion on the vids. Am looking to get an 'on board' solution... ...maybe. Cheers Paul

You've put in a lot of work!!! Hope you are happy with the outcome. What approach do you take to manage dew? Thank you Paul

Yes. I use the circle of stars in Cetus to orientate myself. Just to the right of your map. Good luck!

Naked eye object from Swaledale this evening. Appears as a fuzzy patch 'attached' to a nearby mag. 5 star. Paul

Last year the forecast was rubbish however, a call of nature woke me about 4 a.m. In a fully clear 'window' of 30 mins and part clear of 30 mins I saw about 40 geminids and imaged 15+. Will be up early hours Friday, just in case. Good luck everyone! Paul PS Looks like some clear this evening (Sunday).

Hi I have done this before with similar OTA size and weight. The OTA does fit within carry on limits, you may get queried at security but I have never had a problem. Mount separate, carried on by partner. Big eyepieces in pockets if necessary. Tripod (sometimes partly disassembled) in hold baggage. Hope it goes well. Paul

Processed up a single frame.

I was in the Elan Valley on Monday night. Clear sky with a hint of Zodiacal band visible. I had a good trawl of the Loop as Orion was highest in the south, about midnight. TMB 92 f5.5 APO, Televue 31mm Nagler (FOV 4.8 degrees) and 2" H beta filter. The brighest portion of the northern segment was visible without the filter. Using M78 as the centre of the clock I could follow the loop from 1 thru 12 to 8 where it seemed to fizzle out in line with a projected line SE from the 3 belt stars. Disappointed, I wandered further round only to pick up wavey somethings comprising parts of the southern element! A nice surprise. Excellent conditions and the perfect equipment combo The California Nebula was stunning! Good luck. Paul

Rain stopped play...

I have these as my ultra portable astro optics. No tripod needed. There are many bright southern DSOs to be seen with them.

Have you checked the phases of the moon? New is 7th Dec, full a couple of weeks later. This might impact how dark you are on the island. I suggest a good pair of 8 x 40 binoculars. Portable and useful in the daytime for seeing the native fauna. Hope you have a great trip! Paul

Pease 1 is resolved...though it's character is not apparent. Nice one. Paul

Nice one!! I had a go at visual observation of globular clusters in M31. Used the Hodge Atlas. Amazing what the eye and more so CCD can pick up Good luck Paul

I was fortunate to be under a Bortle Class 1 sky last dark moon, in the UK!!! At 58N, in Coigach north of Ullapool in the NW Highlands of Scotland. In the evenings M33 was a direct vision naked-eye object, the zodical band and gegenschein were clearly visible. An early morning call (because of a dog with bowel issues!) meant Orion was just past south and I had 5 hours worth of dark adaptation... Barnard's Loop at 12 to 8 o'clock from M78 was an 'easy' object through 15 x 50 Canon IS binoculars. The combination of wide FOV and sky quality. The zodiacal band continued on through Gemini, Cancer and Leo soon to be met by the dawn Zodiacal light. The sky quality is so good up there that you realise how 'bright' a truely dark sky is. The winter Milky Way as bright as the summer, the summer Milky Way seeming to light up the ground. Many other DSOs were enjoyed Wishing I was still there. Paul