FenlandPaul

Happy to lend you my Nagler Zoom on nights of good seeing! 😀

Wow! All these beautiful new dobs in here over the last few days!! Looking great Gerry - video tour of it requested!!

Beautiful!!

Love it! It looks gorgeous, Piero! You’re going to have a lot of fun with that - although I suspect not until Thursday at the earliest!!!

And here's a close-up of the patch as it was forming.

Having missed Friday night's "epic" display, I was excited to see clear skies forecast here on Saturday, so I headed into the nature reserves near us in Cambridgeshire in the hope of snapping some noctilucent clouds. Found a lovely spot on the south edge of a peaceful lake. As it got darker, a small display could be seen forming - nothing epic, but NLCs nonetheless. I realised this is my first ever post in the imaging section!! Hoping to explore using my DSLR a lot more over the next few months. I know these aren't top-notch images, but it's fun to be able to capture something so simply. The first was at 23.20 (2.5s exposure, ISO 800) and the second was at midnight (4.0s exposure, ISO 800).

So pleased for you Gerry. Sounds like a promising first light even in less than ideal conditions. Can’t wait to read about you pushing this beast to the limit!! Paul

That’s very good news - I hope! My subscription has proven quite unreliable so I hope to see an improvement in delivery! Not sure what resources the AAS has to inject into S&T if it’s needed, but I’ll definitely be cheering them on to produce a high quality, long term sustainable publication.

Looks like a great day, Mark! Nice varied array of talks and speakers. Hope it goes well.

Great topic! This is one of my nearby sites, or rather it’s 50 yards down a path from it, but the views are the same. Red is approximately north and green is approximately south. The edge of the Fens give wide open skies, but it can get a little too breezy for dob. There is occasional direct light from an aggregates yard to the north, depending on whether they’ve been left on; if they have then I park my car to block it. I get light domes from Cambridge (9 miles), St Ives (4 miles) and Huntingdon (7 miles), and an ever growing threat from the A14 upgrade and the new town of Northstowe. This is a 3 minute drive in a 4x4 from home. I have another sight that is better protected from northerly winds on the other side of my village, but the light from towns is worse. My back garden is like many others - convenient, with no direct light, but a fair bit of ambient light and houses / trees meaning my window of sky is limited, but usable. Paul

These are rock solid on my prized 12”. Recommended by a fellow SGLer: http://www.wdsltd.co.uk/product/3851/bridge-handle-with-steel-or-brass-insert-wds-8532/?sku=34461

It’s the Webb Deep Sky Society annual meeting next Saturday in Cambridge. Good line up talks, which you can find here: https://www.webbdeepsky.com/annual-meeting/year/2019 This will be my second time of attending and I’m very excited: a great crowd and if you’re a visual deep sky observer the book stand is a treat (reminder to self: need to replace mug, which hasn’t withstood 2 gruelling years in the work dishwasher). Anyone else going? I’ll be there from lunchtime (children-related commitments mean I miss the first two talks ☹️). Paul

Great video - very exciting. I worry a bit that the Moon is going to be relegated to the equivalent of Exeter Services on a trip to Cornwall, but without the advantage of a Greggs.

I’ve had repeated problems, but have always tried to get it delivered to my house (I hear those who preorder and collect from a local newsagent have better results). I can get the digital edition, but just don’t enjoy it as much.

Well I was genuinely surprised by this delivery, given I’ve only received about 3 over the last 12 months!

Very interesting. At £129 these things aren’t cheap. There are some cheap phone apps available purporting to do the same thing; has anyone assessed how accurate they are? It would be very interesting to be able to compare skies more objectively. And use other people’s data to find sites that are good’uns mor easily.

Well done John. I believe I bagged it last night as well (if you can really call it bagged - it seemed it was always trying to slip through my fingers). On first attempt the bite would come and go and I couldn't be certain. But returning to the eyepiece later, IC434 seemed ever so slightly more obvious but ever so slightly less obvious to the east and slightly south of the two stars (one of them is HD37699) that were my guidepost. The "bite" was real. Used 22mm Nagler with H-Beta filter, giving x69. Whilst I was thrilled to have a positive sighting, I would be disappointed if I wasn't able to have a more convincing view at some point!! But I can now confirm, at least, that the HH really does exist!! Paul

Many congratulations, John. I had hairs raised on my neck reading that - I was with you all the way. I was hoping that this would be my season for the horsey too, but so far work and travel have rendered my observing a complete afterthought. I'm not complaining - but I'm so looking forward to when I too have an evening when it all comes together like this!! It'll be worth waiting and persevering for!! Paul

That's right, John. It's a very lightweight aluminium job by with a plastic tray / brace that clips in and out. The tripod as supplied with the AZ5 also comes with the short (guess 5 or 6") extension pillar. My view is that this tripod would be adequate for smaller scopes but inadequate for larger scopes at high power. I used to occasionally put my old ST150 on an aluminium-legged AZ4 with a 16" pier and it would (just about) cope; I couldn't imagine putting the same scope on the AZ5 standard tripod.

I think it will be adequate for smaller scopes, John (I tried my Starwave 70 on it today), but I agree there would be too much flex for a bigger scope. The advantage is that it collapses down quite tightly, more so than the SW aluminium legs, although I have both so will be able to do a side by side. I know it's a pathetic reason, but the sound the SW aluminium tripods make when you extend the legs really grates on me!! One other (trivial) observation about the tripod and extension is that the colours look great with the head. It was a very aesthetically pleasing mount, which of course will really matter when I'm out at night! Paul

Very interesting thread. I have just ordered the AZ5 with the Skywatcher tripod today; should be with me next week just in time for a trip to France with my Starwave 70 packed between the children's seats. I managed to take a good look at the AZ5 at the Widescreen Centre today. It's a nice looking, well-engineered bit of kit with the one caveat that I've not used it in anger yet. The motion seemed very smooth and the whole assembly seemed a lot less fiddly than the Altair Astro mini AZ, which I also looked at. It was clear with the mini AZ that good balance was essential, which is all very well until you swap from a 31mm Nagler for smaller ordnance; I got the impression the AZ5 would be a lot more sympathetic to those sorts of changes. The three screws that secure the head to the tripod are a little too easy to undo accidentally at night, but I suppose it's unlikely you'd make the same mistake 3 times. The slow motion controls are a great addition, and I liked the fact you could have them in "wheel" mode, without the extension cables, or have the cables fitted if you've a long scope and aren't related to Mr Tickle. Unlike the old AZ1 there isn't a stop on the slow motion so you can keep tracking for as long as you wish. It seemed pretty clear to me that this was going to replace the AZ4 over time. I shouldn't wonder if there are some cracking deals on the AZ4 coming up as a result. I hope to write a more full review- particularly of the matching tripod's suitability - once I've played with it under the hopefully clear and dark skies in the Charente over the coming couple of weeks. Paul

I did quite a lot of research on the Zhummel 12 before I bought my Revelation 12". Apart from minor accessories they are identical scopes. I have been thoroughly impressed with my Revelation 12", which was an upgrade from a 220mm Beacon Hill Newtonian. My mirror seems pretty good (although I've never done a side-by-side comparison to, say, an Orion Optics) and the mechanicals are all sound as well. I've upgraded mine with handles for the OTA, stiffer springs and a RACI and Telrad, but this is merely tinkering to my taste. In my view they're great value for money. It really is astonishing what you can buy nowadays for a relatively modest outlay (and I include SkyWatcher and many other brands in that statement). Paul

Thanks John - hopefully now I can get the benefit from it. About a quarter of the field was smeared and I didn't have the guts to try to deal with it myself. Originally I thought it was condensation inside but thankfully Simon at TWC confirmed that the eyepiece hadn't been taken apart and that in fact the problem was on the outside of the lens. The perils of buying used (I hasten to add it wasn't from someone on this forum, and I don't believe there was any malice involved).

Thanks Piero - it's taken me about a year, but finally took the plunge!