niallk

I go to a parking area at a beach on the coast here, or up near a cliff walk. No weirdos (yet!), but there has been a couple of times when there was another car there with some amorous activity going on I disturbed them, rather than vice versa!!!

Hi, I can only echo what John & others have already said. I got a 10" dob initially and over the years added stuff. The order i did it was: 1. Telrad - cheap. 2. A couple of EPs - my first update was a 13mm Nagler T6, then a Pan24, and I went with a 2.5x Powermate. There are cheaper alternatives that perform very well! 3. Lacerta Dual speed focusser upgrade (great value for ~€80). Love it - transforms focussing. 4. O-III filter. Later i also got a UHC, both Astronomik. I possibly have darker skies, and if i could only pick one it would be the O-III for nebulae. And if the sun ever picks up activity, Baader solar film for lots of fun white light observing. For me, I spread getting these over several years, but highly recommend a Telrad as soon as possible All the best, -Niall

I stand observing DSOs (moving anywhere across the sky), but sit for "serious" planetary observing. I find my daughter's bicycle useful to perch on - even on the handlebars with the planets so low over the last while. I find sitting (or propping myself) good for teasing out fine detail at >330×, eliminating my natural sway when standing.

Wow!! Enjoy your trip Can you glimpse the Large Magellanic Cloud from there?? I went on a trip to Australia and went camping in some remote spots... before getting into astronomy!! Man I'd love to go back with some binos now

Congratulations!!!

Good point - I too replaced the helical focusser: in my case it was for a dual speed Moonlight, which makes focussing a pleasure.

I've a wonderful pressure tuned LS50THa - love it. So much so I took the plunge on a double stack... and highly recommend it. Costly though... I would however ask a question about spending money on tracking - maybe save for a DS etalon? I use a SW Az5 with manual slo-mo controls. With the Lunt, I use 15mm to ~9mm EPs (actually, I use a zoom now). Here's the thing: you will want to move and sweep different parts of the disc across sweet spot regions within the FOV. It won't be constant and uniform, and don't let that put you off either! I'm constantly adjusting, and fine tweaking the pressure tuned etalon. Filaments, plage, granulation, proms all respond to subtle tweaking of the passband centre frequency / Doppler shifts. It has given me spectacular views - they are a wonderful instrument imho. No problem manually tracking with slo-mo at the powers that are going to be practical - from experience using 52°plossls

Just wonderful Can't wait to see the pics when activity picks up!

Started with the 10", then took the plunge on the 15", and have recently given away the 10" to a good home there at Xmas.

I've a 15" Classic, so no direct experience of Obs UCs. I have read up on them (many posts on CN), and mostly read comments re collimation shift in the 18" model, and that the 15" & 22" exhibited less of an issue. The free DVD you can request from the website is worth getting, if you haven't already.

Hi, Have you come across Astronomy Cast? Really great series of podcasts - give them a try : http://www.astronomycast.com/ It's from some of the some folk behind https://www.universetoday.com/ who in addition to articles, have a wonderful series of bite size Youtube videos on a wide range of topics. All the best, -Niall

Sorry for my ignorance!! Are you into HAM radio, and is it that with solar activity you can reflect signals off the ionosphere, and get confirmation from others around the globe that communication was established? If so, cool! If I'm understanding, the level/type of activity affects what freq bands "work"? What sort of Tx power do you run at, and what sort of Rx sensitivity do you achieve? What sort of modulation do you use?? Sorry for the Qs - just interested

Nice one Magnus! I thought I was doing well getting out 2/3 clear nights I got dewed out of it, but standing back at the end of tge night and using just the naked eye was still good for soul

Nice one! I too find it fascinating to read older books, and compare to what we (think) we know now... the pace of discovery is astounding. My wife likes to tell people that I'm into astrology She thinks she's very funny ... I don't!

I lost my primary to dew last night - left the shroud off because there was a hint of a breeze on the coast... silly me!!