Roy Challen

Just before the deadline closes then, here's something new from me. I have hardly ever tried to sketch the moon, or parts of it - too much detail. Last night I gave it a go. The view below of Rupes Recta is not the eyepiece view, it's just a small part of it. I used a Hb to mark out the main features' outlines and 5/6b for shading. The scaling is slightly wrong in the lower left quadrant, but I'm still happy with the final result.

I dabbled in 68 and 82 degree AFOVs a long while back, but never stopped using orthos and plossls. These days, that's all I use other than my Hyperflex zoom. Lighter in the focuser and lighter on the wallet!

Hmm not sure about that, fluoride goes in toothpaste, fluorite goes in telescopes😜!

Nice setup, and fantastic drawings 👍

Depends on airline and destination

Yes, where you're heading off to determines what you'll take with you far more than what the airlines say you can take.

Possibly, if you're limited to what you can take with you, bins will be best. Wouldn't be the first time that's happened for me.

Agree with this. As a frequent traveler to places where most 1st world people don't go, I don't take what I can't afford to replace. More importantly, what I take with me depends on what I want to observe. However, it is a balance between sky quality, favourite objects, and equipment available.

The only eyepieces I regret selling were my Zeiss CZJs 6/10/16mm orthos and the 25mm Huygens. 😢

I do like it, but it's not a new concept. Takahashi do an extender and reducer for the FS60, and you can fit the 76mm objective to the FS60 tube. I'd be surprised if Borg scopes weren't at least as interchangeable too.

As I only tend to use filters to reduce the CA in my achro, I don't have anything fancy. Baader solar continuum, and Semi-apo, one for day time and one for night

From my garden; all DSOs

Yep, exactly. It can be a useful property with short focal length orthos and plossls.

All done now, there's some more action a little further south though, so I'll keep an eye on it☀️

09:09, very fast moving

Blatant plug, but is this of any use to you?

I need one of these, as good as my BCOs are, both natively and barlowed, they just don't have the reach in a short focal length frac. Or maybe a x3 or x5 barlow would work.

Yup, the brighter the object, the more likely it is to occur. My f/16 achro shows CA on the sun, using a solar continuum filter removes this at the expense of a green sun.

I looked at Mars last night too, with my FS60...the disc was nicely resolved but no detail could be seen. It's forecast to be clear tonight...and the Skylight is ready.

Very nice Mike. 6-7 mins per sketch, what do the dotted lines represent?

There's no 'want' involved. I report what I see, then find an explanation later. Since the moon is made of rock, I would be more surprised if it were monochromatic (do you know of such rock on earth?) than if some subtle level of colour were present. That fact that imagers often present the moon with colour backs this up. Full disc views highlight this much better than high mags. Moreover, if 'psychology' was a part of astronomical observing, people would be reporting things that aren't real. Oh, they already do. Have a look at Sinus Iridium at low mag and tell me what you see😜!

Thanks Mike😊. I bought the Daystar just over two years ago, it is easily my most used scope now. When I bought it, they were £695... I've just seen the price they are now🥺, still one of the cheapest Ha scopes though, and mine's a good one...I think (haven't looked through any others for comparison).

I never really been much good at drawing, but over the years I have enjoyed sketching the sun, both in white light and now Ha. There aren't many sun sketches on this thread, so here is my effort. The view this morning was fantastic, although there were long moments of poor seeing, during the still moments the clarity was exceptional. My Daystar doesn't pick out filaments all that well, but today they were very easy to see. Lots of nice proms too.

Me neither, the only scope I have a finder on is my Skymax 90 on account of its long focal length in a short tube. I do sometimes use a finder on my long achro when observing double stars.

Bit like asking which is your favourite child...😅