niallk

I have push to on my 15": I definitely feel like I'm cheating I did used to get a great sense of accomplishment with my 10" finding a new target, and I'm missing out on that. I was also getting more familiar with the sky throughout the year. Now: I see lots more, and I spend more time on individual objects. I can pick out fainter targets from my deep sky atlas, and get straight on them. I've moved from spending most of my time finding, to most of my time observing. I'm going to keep on cheating...

Yep, that map is quite depressing!

Had a quick gander in Ha - nice to get a few mins observing: it's been a week or more since my last chance! That new AR looks nice, some plage, a nice filament and some looping prominences visible. Got my 6E to focus by pulling it out a couple of mm in the EP holder - nice fov! I've a moonlight focuser incoming - bought direct - much cheaper, looking fwd to trying it out.

Great review Piero, and fascinating thread to read

Lovely!

Wonderful!

Got to look through a 20" Obsession at the SSP Very sound owner - generously sharing the EP with all!

Congrats Mark - beautiful! I looked through an LS60, double stacked with a 50mm front etalon + binoviewer: jaw droppingly superb views. With a 60mm DS... Wow . Clear skies (and a violent sun), -Niall

What a scope! Yeah I dream of stepping up to a 22" or so, and I used to wonder if I should have gone for an 18". But, I'm pretty happy with my 15" - it is no fuss, fits me, and I almost 100% of the time select it over my grab-n-go 10". That's hopefully a measure of making a good choice. I watched a large dob being set up and dismantled recently, and was privileged to get a look through it. Right now, I'd be very happy to just get out observing more often, and see more of what my 15" can show me: with good weather, around weekends, around the new moon - and getting the freedom to head off!!! Not asking for much, huh?

That's where the Skellig Star Party is based - held late August. On a clear moonless night, the sky is astounding down there. Beautiful to drink in naked eye, and magical in my 15" dob. As with anywhere in Ireland, weather is a lottery though It is a stunning region filled with things to see and do during the day. Ballinskelligs is where we go and pitch a tent on the dunes by the beach. Great for cycling too. Love it down there: need to get the dob there more often - it's about a 3.5hr drive for me.

I've had a €50 Solarscope for several years now: its performance belies its price! It features a glass lens plus a special convex mirror. Worth every penny imho

It was a very poignant moment watching live as the signal flickered and disappeared from first one, then both bands. Very sad, but what a proud moment for the engineers and scientists - so much achieved. I will always think of Cassini when I view majestic Saturn in my humble telescope in the dark peacefulness of the night. How lucky we are to be alive in this golden age of exploration!

Wonderful!!

I use 100° Ethos EPs in a 15" manual dob: my base set is 17/10/6mm. I picked up an 8mm, and recently added a 31mm Nagler for 1.6° tfov. 5 EPs is a bit overkill, but they do all get used - depending on the target, sky darkness and seeing. I leave a Paracorr 2 in the focuser for these EPs.

Great report! I caught good conditions last year when observing the Omega neb - it was almost photographic with intricate details visible in dark dust patterns. A wonderful target! On the same night, I too found that the Eagle was trickier.