Beulah

15 years I have been on SGL!! Where has the time gone? I don't post much here any more but do drop in frequently during the week.

The year I joined was the very year I got seriously back into astronomy after being an unaided-eye observer pretty much all my life - 2009 - the International Year of Astronomy. It felt like then, the market had exploded with budget, good quality telescopes; the likes of Skywatcher, Celestron, etc, suddenly being available to mere mortals like myself. 

Having Stargazers Lounge as an introduction to deep sky observing was an excellent bonus, reading people's observation reports and deriving inspiration from the objects they described. All those events we also enjoyed collectively, whether there were Martian probe landings, auroral activity, supernovae and comets helped the camaraderie and furthering this great community.

Today, part of my profession is actually teaching folk about the night sky by running stargazing outreach events, holding talks and planetarium shows. It's a great part of my job (sadly not full time).

I am certain that this would not be possible without the enthusiasm and generous education of this wonderful community. 😊

My rough calculation is an increase of 2 inches of aperture for 1 Bortle reduction

For example, a 12 inch telescope in a Bortle 4 sky is more like a 14 inch telescope in a Bortle 3 sky...

That's was no mean feat. There's something so 'warm' and nostalgic with these images - can really appreciate the challenges of capturing these objects with film. 

Ah stunning. Airglow is very apparent in the second image. 🙂

Zodiacal light is present too at the moment - about an hour after sunset. Look to the west. It will be very easy to capture under those dark skies.

This is a comparison of Newtonians on a Dobsonian Mount between two brands, basic models that are pushed 'the old fashioned way'...

I currently own a 300p Skywatcher Skyliner solid tube, a 300p Skywatcher flextube and a 12" Stellalyra dob. (don't ask...😁)

I would agree that some dobs are more equal than others at the same price point. When I bought the Skywatcher models, they were pretty much the best of the bunch in the budget models - functional, did the job, etc., but with great mirrors - I spent many a happy year studying all kinds of targets and was surprised at how great Saturn and Jupiter looked when the skies settled for those brief seconds...

However, when I bought the Stellalyra dob, I was very surprised at the build quality, which seems far superior for something £210 cheaper than the 300p. Granted, the base is made of the same particle board, but the sensitive dual speed focuser is a dream to use. The altitude bearings are also machined aluminium as opposed to the Skywatcher's plastic alt roller bearings fixed with m6 screws (but somewhat elegant).

Visually......I run a lot of astronomy events and have used different telescopes over the years - the "wows" started increasing more when we bought the Stellalyra dob for outreach. It just seems to be quite an improvement in the lunar and planetary department and pretty much equal to the Skywatcher in the DSO department.

I've not found much actual research into primary mirror quality between Synta (skywatcher mirror manufacturers) and GSO (Stellalyra) but my feeling is the GSO seems more superior in general visual quality and resolution. 

It seems such a biased write-up but frankly, why would I spend more money on a telescope that doesn't match up to a competitor who are offering equipment that is visually superior and just engineered better?

As a caveat, there needs to be a few post-purchase tweaks on the Stellalyra, such as the mirror springs (factory ones are a bit weak but tolerable), but there are always modifications required...

By the way, Stellalyra, AstroTech, Zhumell, Lightbridge, Antares are pretty much  made by GSO.
You also have Explore Scientific....And Orion Optics...

And Skywatcher...

What a great time to be living with so much choice at the consumer level!

2 hours ago, Kilohertz said:

Thanks guys!

Just under 2 months back into it and knee deep in the hoopla, and $3,000 is missing from my bank account, but I'm having fun and learning LOTS! Now I just need some clear skies, over a month of clouds, totally abnormal for this area.

Cheers

I feel your pain! Very cloudy across the pond too; the number of full, clear nights since August I can count on one hand!

12 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Welcome back Nick. I reiterate Stu's point did you approach Admin about getting your old profile back.

Yeah, thirded!

C6rrules doesn't quite have the same gravitas than Cotterless... 😁

1 minute ago, Moonshed said:

 

PS Totally agree with your comment about the summer Milky Way and a pair of binoculars etc. You can’t beat it! So glad now  I sold my heavy scope and instead can pop outdoors at a moments notice and start observing immediately, something I have missed for many years but didn’t realise it.

Clear night hikes with binos are an experience not to be missed. 

For a free and excellent resource I highly recommend Steve Tonkin's Binocular Sky https://binocularsky.com/

There are also monthly newsletters with the best targets to look out for. 

The mobile versions already contain comet data (I have Stellarium +). It's only the desktop version that elements have to be imported. 

The weather has been absolutely awful during the late summer/early autumn season. I have never known a time where so much cloud has been present and any clear skies are very short lived. Give the bloke who invented binoculars a nobel peace prize! 

There are some real gems to be discovered using binos.. I've particularly enjoyed the blue-and-orangeness of Omicron Cygni and 30 Cygni in Cygnus which appears in the field of view as if it is a  beautiful double. Plus some open cluster goodness in Cassiopeia, Kemble's Cascade, etc. 

As with all things, these clouds will pass and hopefully I can clean the dust off the photon bucket to a clear sky one day....😁

Congrats on your purchase; the 200p is a fine telescope. Absolutely fine to carry; just make sure the alt bearing handles (those side handles).are tightened to stop the tube from moving about and be careful with not jolting the scope -mirror alignment (collimation) holds pretty well with the 200p but knocking it about can cause the mirrors to misalign.

6 minutes ago, Rodd said:

Thanks Beulah. Not sure what HP 150998 is. Is that a catalogue reference?

Sorry, HD not HP. It's that lovely red star next to M13.

Beautiful; Lovely composition with HD 150998. 

I haven't seen M13 this year due to exceptionally cloudy nights. It's usually a visual staple for me. 

If the shed is well ventilated and dry, then yes.. and damp proof membrane is your friend. I accidentally discovered this when building a shed on a level platform structure to defy the 1:3 slope in the garden. If you are leaving the tube open, a shower cap fitted at the mirror and the open end prevents spider poop and webs from forming in the OTA and on the primary mirror. Make sure the eyepiece cover cap it fitted too.

I used to store scopes in sheds but there's a few light-fingered folk around even in these quiet parts. Now, they just have an overnight stay so I don't wake up the household by crashing around as you do with large dobs... 😁

Clear skies are so infrequent where I live that I keep revisiting 'old friends' DSOs just so that I can remember where they are! 

2 hours ago, RobertI said:

 

Yes, I have to say I did think briefly about what it would be like to own a big dob, but given the trouble I had pitching my tent, I think erecting a huge dob is probably a step too far! What it has done though, is made me question the value of a getting a 12” dob, which was my original plan - it just doesn’t seem that big any more! I guess I will need to look through one next time out and see what 12” can do.

 

You won't regret upgrading to a 12 inch dob. Plenty of aperture with relatively easy portability compared to a 16 incher. Two secrets to teasing out great details in DSOs are: Dark skies and a trained observer's eye that comes from plenty of experience at the eyepiece. Anything larger and portability, collimation and weight may become a problem. In addition to needing a step ladder depending on focal length or the observer's height.

Aperture fever isn't a rational disease though... 😁

Sometimes, those early morning wake-ups are rewarded with some of the most brightest star scapes I have ever seen, which somehow isn't replicated when observing earlier in the evening. Perhaps the eyes are so incredibly well dark-adapted after a sleep, even though it is thought that 40 minutes is all it takes for the eyes to adapt.

59 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Getting handheld phone images up to eyepiece can be very tricky amd requires patience and the right combination of eyepiece and camera settings. My eyepieces are fairly wide angle and have a large lens up top which makes it easier to align the phone camera but one must remember that the sensor on the phone camera is tiny and alignment of image coming from eyepiece with a tiny sensor can be a pain. If shooting handheld without a phone adapter, i form a ring with my index finger and thumb then rest this ring on the eyepiece then rest the phone camera centered over the ring. This helps stabilize the phone above the eyepiece   While I use my other three fingers as support against the side of the eyepiece so I can slowly raise and lower the camera above the eyepiece to get image centered, zooming in a bit also helps to fill the FOV on the camera screen instead of it appearing as though the image is at the bottom of a cylinder. Once image scale is achieved i then gently tap the image on the phone screen to achieve focus and exposure, one focus is set, one must quickly and repeatedly tap the shutter, its lucky imaging really, you may shoot twenty images and get one decent one. Below is an example of what I can do handheld with practice and patience through much trial and error but I now can repeat these results fairly consistently. If one zooms in one can see it is not as sharp as it seems, it is about as good as I can do handheld which I think is quite good considering the difficulties involved.

That's a superb image.

Visit the property at night to see how bad the neighbours' exterior lighting is. Plus check to see if there is any street lighting... sometimes the fixtures are changed in between Google Street view visits! No street lighting is optimal but neighbours' lighting can be just as bad!

You could also check the council's street lighting policy...LED colour temperature (sub 3000 Kelvins) part night lighting, etc.

South facing aspect with a low horizon to access those beauties in Sagittarius.... Properties in valleys restrict low-placed targets but can shield light pollution from nearby habitations.

Properties on hills can suffer from wind exposure. 

Another think about is access to darker skies ...is the property near any potential prime stargazing areas within a short drive? 

Rural and isolated is the best but there has to be a happy place between being able to access services/work,etc. We had an opportunity to live in a remote off-grid property a few years ago but had to compromise because of being able to get to work, etc!

Good luck!

Glendale app is pretty good too. It's more like a shortcut to a web page that you have on your phone. There's a lot of data to browse, including an IMF chart which predicts activity between 1-3 hours.

I bought the pixel 6 pro on the back of @Stu's hearty recommendations and have been very very impressed with it so far. Taken earlier on this month 

Straight out of the phone

Quick edit in photoshop (no noise reduction applied so it is apparent in the landscape)

Ah sorry thought you meant the icons. Yes, those moving blobs are very much still there! 

Press menu button at the bottom left hand side of screen.

Long press labels at the bottom and slider down

I have had some experience with this product and we came to the same conclusion that you need a good quality camera on your smartphone for the software to work properly.