Roy Challen

2 hours ago, Paz said:

Eye placement with binos was difficult due to the huge eye relief being pushed back by the Quark barlow, and hanging back from the eyepieces meant glare was tougher to avoid but those are things that I can fix.

I realised when packing up I had the Quark dial fully anticlockwise by mistake. I wonder if that had an impact on prom detail. I had been testing which way was hotter and which was colder (clockwise calls for more amps so I assume means hotter) hence the setting.

I was under the impression that the Quark uses a telecentric design so shouldn't affect eye relief. 

When tuning, I usually turn the dial  almost fully anticlockwise for proms. As the scope heats up from exposure to the sun, I dial it back down one or two clicks.

Very impressive, Neil. Nice to see the old achros can still produce great images.

Sounds fantastic, just like my first light with my Daystar. Since I bought, it's been used more than the rest of my scopes combined.

Excellent images, particularly the first two - amazing detail.

Nicely done

Love this, great idea and execution!

On 02/04/2022 at 17:49, IB20 said:

Excellent. Thanks Malcolm. I must admit, I have a 76DC so I feel a TOE would be a perfect match. Nice and light and no undercuts, just how we like it.

SLVs are also undercut free☺️

5 hours ago, Stu said:

My advice is, don’t give up on astronomy if you can’t get to a dark site regularly. Instead, modify your interests and targets to get the most out of it and take any chance possible to get under those darks skies when you can. It’s all a balance.

I couldn't agree with this more. A lot is made of the levels of light pollution in the UK, and for imagers this obviously is a problem. However, I only observe the moon, sun, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and on occasion, Venus and double stars. None of these are affected seriously by LP and observing only these objects does not detract from the pleasure of visual astronomy.

I do have the opportunity to visit some of the darkest skies imaginable. I don't know SQM value, but the nearest village is about 5 miles away, nearest city is more than a 100 miles away. Also, this place is shielded on all sides by mountains, is 2000+m ASL, and nowhere near any international flight paths. There is zero light pollution, as such, binoculars meet my expectations for deep sky viewing, which if this happens once every five years, that's good enough for me.

So, I guess the answer to the OP is; it depends on what you want to observe.

Nice report Stu, most of these targets are disappointing if not outright impossible from my garden, so it's good to read other's impressions of them.

Great images Victor, visually my Daystar is superb but I never seem to get anything other than a pink circle when trying to image with my phone.

Great report, well told. You mentioned sketching, that's something to show people that doesn't require a camera! I sketch my solar observations, not yet tried night time drawing.

They did indeed look spectacular, prom activity was good too.

Here's my rudimentary sketch.

I use these. Big enough for eight orthos, (maybe), not more. Tough ABS construction but you'll have to source the foam yourself. If you want one, PM me.

It has been years since I last posted here. Been through dozens of eyepieces since then but the case remained the same. These days I have a need to keep things small and light, so here is the latest (last?) iteration.

Full set of BCOs and a Meade RGO

I can't believe I haven't posted on this thread before! 

As it was quite windy this morning, I put my Daystar on the Polaris. Did I say it was windy? Couldn't tell through the eyepiece. Such a great mount.

Still looking good, grabbed 30mins before the clouds arrived

Nice, glad that Sky-Tal is working out for you.

Aargh! It was snowing in Watford today, hopefully it'll still be there tomorrow - the prom that is, not the snow!

I've never been to a star party, hope to do so sometime in the future.

Super list, I ticked off a couple of them last night too.

Did anyone see the prom that abruptly appeared at about 10:50 and disappeared by 11:08?

My sketch shows it by the arrow. It's the second time I've seen dramatic real time changes while observing.

It really did impress me how quickly it all happened. Might be a sign something big is coming round the limb?

My most photogenic telescope - the Skylight 76mm out double star spotting. 

Sorry about the not so photogenic garden...

On 23/03/2022 at 12:32, Highburymark said:

 

Must say I don’t understand the Solar Scout design at all. Quarks operate best at F/30 and over, so the superfast Solar Scout seems built to produce a wide bandwidth and lower contrast. And the fact that the quark/etalon is not detachable (though some enterprising owners have succeeded in separating it and using it more like a real Quark) means you can’t slow down the system with an extra extender or barlow. The fact that it’s advertised as having ‘double stack’ performance is marketing nonsense.

I made an aperture mask (30mm approx, effectively f/30 or thereabouts), this greatly improved contrast. Resolution is very slightly lower but not enough to make an impact for full disc visual observations - to my eyes at least. Also for visual, eyepiece choice can make a huge difference. The recommended Televue 25mm plossl is easily outperformed by both Vixen 30 and Baader 32 plossls, very much so in the latter.

Sorry, just read the OP, this thread is about imaging, disregard my comments in that respect.

The seeing was fantastic in Watford between 10:45 and 11:30ish. I was observing in Ha, with a newly acquired Baader BCO 32mm Plossl, the views were the best I've had, detail over the whole disc simply amazing. For solar, in my Daystar, the Baader bests both the Vixen 30 NPL and Televue 25 Plossl.

Even stopped down to 30mm, there was a lot of detail seen in 2975/6. 2974 seemed exceptionally bright this morning too. Best session this year so far!

I too wake up early, leave the house at 4am for my 72 mile drive, also to North Kent. If I decide to fo astronomy on a school night, I'll just get up at 2-2:30. Not only is it quiet, most street lights are off, and the seeing is often much better.