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Do we know if this a classic nova Jeremy involving a white dwarf and a close companion main sequence star ?

Hello and a warm welcome back to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL. That’s a nice first scope. Beginners are usually recommended to get the book Turn Left at Orion as a guide to what to observe during the different seasons.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Nice image. I don’t image myself but visually the double stack brings out surface details which I just do t see with the single stack.

Hi Gav. I was in much the same position as you last year. I am purely visual and wondered if the outlay for a double stack for  the LS 50 could be justified. I read in some reports that it dimmed the image too much and rendered the views of proms less detailed, while others said it was a great improvement. I finally bit the bullet and ordered a DS unit from FLO. It has turned out to be one of the best decisions I have made. The difference in the surface detail is night and day. Yes it did dim the image but not to any great detriment. As for the proms, it certainly does not make them any worse and on certain occasions I think it improves them. I also find that it enlarges the sweet spot and greatly improves low mag, whole disk views. Definitely one of my best decisions.

4 hours ago, Stu said:

I saw this again last night, this time in the Tak using a 24mm Panoptic. For some reason it took me ages to find because I got myself completely confused about the image scale I was seeing. I think I thought I was using some x7 binos rather than a scope at x30 🤪🤪🤪.

Once I sorted that out, it was easy enough. To me it was just a little dimmer than HD220770 and still a fair bit brighter than SAO20610, so I’ll go along with the estimates of around 8.2 ish.

Had exactly the same problem as you last night Stu. Decided to use the 8 inch Dob so that I could get a better view of M52. Found the cluster  no problem. Just could not locate the Nova. The upside down view just completely threw me. Took about15 minutes to find it. I calculated it to be 8.3, same as last view.

That is a set of images to be proud of.

It comes with guy ropes and pegs but no ground sheets. Not sure that it would hold up in a west coast gale, but I will try lol.

2 hours ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

Great chair John. I'm getting one this year...

The tent without a roof looks interesting. The spare room doesn't look big enough or necessary though tbh.

For me, the pull of the dark side is too great... A couple of accessories arrived for the used 450d in the post...

 

The tent does come with a tarp roof, but obviously you can not use it when observing or imaging. Both rooms are the same size. 5 by 5. This is a bit small I will have to try it out. The idea is that you set up to image in one room, with your computer etc in the other. I am purely visual and could set up 2 scopes .

No I was out until 2am. The seeing was not great however but eventually it was the cold that sent me indoors. Temperature was hovering about 1C and ice was starting to form on the scope tube.

I will give a review of how  useful it is, or not lol, after a few sessions with it.

DPD have just delivered a pop-up observatory tent all the way from Explore Scientific in Germany. This is part of a cunning plan to see the best site in the garden to set up a permanent Obsy and to persuade SWMBO to give that the go ahead. With foreign holidays looking unlikely this year, it will also be taken to a couple of dark sky site holidays here in bonnie Scotland.

First real session with the AZ 100 and ED 120.

Managed another look tonight. First clear sky for more than a week and it certainly was dimmer than my last view. Estimated it at 8.3 but seeing was not that good even though the transparency was very good.

At last a clear night. All set up to put the AZ100 through its paces.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

I  changed the helical focuser for the feather touch. Expensive but what a difference it made.

Hi Steve. I am not sure how you could align the mount during the day even if the Sun is in the database. I will check later and see if it is. But you could link the mount with sky safari and find it that way. The nexus unit comes with the mounting plate and the ball head mount for attachment to the AZ 100.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

At last a clear night. Set up the AZ 100  with the Nexus and my ED 120  and my ED 72. Linked the Nexus with Sky Safari and it all worked a treat. Located M52 in centre of the field and quickly found the Nova at 35 x in the Ed 72. Switched to the ED 120 at 90x. Estimated the the mag at around 7.8. Went back to M52 . At the lower mag it was just a fuzzy patch . At 120 x around 30 stars were visible. The AZ 100 was a joy to use, but unfortunately after a short session viewing some doubles it clouded over very quickly. Can’t wait to get another session with it.