mikeDnight

Lovely Pic's Stu. It was cloudy here so I missed it this time round. Thanks for sharing.

Truly awesome! 🏆

I quite enjoy looking at images posted on the observing section and often find them helpful and reassuring. I do a lot of sketching at the eyepiece and try my best to see as much of the subtle detail as I can while staying as truthful to the over all view as I can. This means that some of the detail I record in a sketch can be right on the borderline of discernability. When I see an image of something like Venus that shows what I believed I saw through the eyepiece, it confirms in my mind at least, that I'm not completely nuts.

Rhubarb will be three years old in August. His front paws are enormous and he puts them to good use when we're gardening together. He loves to dig! He also slides his clod-hopper feet as he walks about the house much like a fed-up teenager. He couldn't sneak up on you if he tried. I've just spent the last 30 minutes chasing him around the garden after he pinched a scrunched up plastic bottle that I was taking to the bin. I was worried he might swallow the plastic cap, but the more serious I became, the more he seemed to find it funny. I eventually managed to get the bottle off him after I asked if hed like a "tastey breakfast"? This morning I had to make him scrambled eggs.

They are amazing and Rhubarb is our fourth. Our first we called Mintie, and she was a small sweet little girl. My mother said she wouldn't come to our house if we bought one of those dogs, so I took the dog to her instead. It wasn't long before she fell head over heels in love with her. Mintie our first Bully. Mintie had 9 puppies, and we sold all but one. The one we didn't sell stood out from the rest (third from the left above), as he cried every time he was away from us. He longed for human contact and rapidly made himself one of the family. We named him Rumple, a black brindle male. He was my best friend and never left my side. It's 20 years since I lost him age 14, and it still breaks my heart. Rumple. Our third was another girl, a fiery one who we called Inx. She was so loving but we made the mistake of buying her when she was six months old. She'd been brought up on a farm with other bull terriers and had learned to be a bit more hands on than the others we'd had. She wouldn't start trouble but was definitely capable of finishing it. Don't get me wrong, she wasn't nasty, just willing to stand her corner if she thought she needed to, but gentle at heart. Inx Rhubarb is very much like Rumple in his personality. He's the most vocal and heaviest set bull terrier we've had. Hes like a high speed bag of cement, and the most vertical. Where Rumple was a water dog as he loved rivers, Rhubarb is a climber - furniture, walls, trees and people, he doesnt mind. When he was tiny I made the mistake of letting him sit on my shoulders. He still does and he now weighs 80+ lb's. In Rhubarb's world, ears shouldn't be attached to our heads. Rhubarb.

I have a pier mounted set-up that I use most of the time, yet I still keep various tripods for field or garden use. I would never want to be without at least one seriously good tripod. My favourite is my old tall Vixen AL tripod which has a lovely wide spread and is amazingly solid when carrying a GP or AZ4 and a 4" refractor. I also have an Orion field tripod, a tall wooden Vixen tripod, and a tall WWII steel tripod that is simply awesome to list just some. No matter how good the mount may be, if the tripod isn't up to the job it's useless, so I'm reluctant to let go of such potentially precious components.

A face it's impossible to say NO to! 💕

It looks fantastic Peter. A real classic blast from the past, and I wish I'd bought one back then, but I was young and a bit dim. I'm older now of course!

Thanks Neil, I wasn't the only one. There were winners across a range of subjects I believe, which I think is brilliant.

I had to pop out for a couple of hours around lunch-time, and inevitably a parcel was delivered while I was out. On my return I found this behind my front door. I've no idea how this got so badly damaged just falling through my letterbox, so I asked Rhubarb my English Bull Terrier to see if he'd noticed anything unusual going on, but all I got was a look of complete innocence and cluelessness. I decided I'd take the evidence to the central post office tomorrow to see if they knew if I had a parcel to collect, but at tea time while taking my scope out to the observatory, I noticed a small box hidden behind the bird bath. I had a nice surprise on opening it as it contained a lovely Stargazers Lounge Sketching Challenge mug. This is the first thing I've won since I was eight years old when in junior school I was awarded a mustard coloured Papermate pen for coming third in a comprehension competition. I'm very grateful for this award which also has a pic of my sketch on one side, and I'd like to thank SGL for this kind gift.

That's a great sketch. It's been years since I've made any sketches of Saturn simply because it's been too low to show much detail. Your sketches have inspired me to get off my lazy rear end and give it another go. Thanks!

I see uou finally bought that goat Stu, or perhaps managed to get your mower repaired. It looks good anyway, especially with your 128 soaking up the Moon beams. I've never used a GPC and wonder if there's any noticeable advantage over a barlow, other than the barlow giving greater amplification? I've been enjoying observing the Moon at low power over the last few nights using the FS128 and Maxbright ll's, but without a barlow. There's something quite beautiful about a low power moon through a binoviewer. To reach focus without a GPC or barlow I connect the Maxbright directly to the prism. The images below show my 25mm Parks Gold, but using the Baader adapters on the Tak draw tube, even my 35mm's come to focus with a little travel left.

We were out of cheese and it was a bank holiday. I really didn't think we'd be noticed!

Very nice Paul. Now with your 8" upsidedowny scope and a camera, you're becoming a talented imager.

I'd suggest a Tak prism as they have a short light path and are very good optical quality and with a strong body. Not too badly priced either considering they are Takahashi. I've used Tak prisms for years and love them. The 1.25" Baader/Zeiss BBHS prism is another diagonal I use. It isn't cheap but it is superb!

Great observation and its also wonderful to see you using your vintage 60mm refractor. I really enjoyed looking at your sketch.

You mentioned in your first post that you use 10X50. Is this 10X50 binoculars or a 10X 50 telescope? Although binoculars are wonderful instruments, they are a bit low power for yhe Moon and a small telescope might be a better choice, giving more detailed views.

The seeing has been pretty poor lately due to fast moving air, so the Moon hasn't been all that great. Tonight however in my 5" refractor, despite the moon still being a bit wobbly, the detail is much sharper and the Alpine Valley is looking good. The dark thread-like rille crossing the valley's width about half way along its length is easily visible. This feature is often overlooked despite it being an easy catch on many nights. Running along the length of the valley floor and slightly nearer the south wall is the famous central rille. The central rille is generally seen visually as a bright often broken linear feature. Tonight both these features are nicely on view, but require a steady image at the eyepiece, and are visible in a sharp 4" scope.

Much depends on the lighting at any given time. For example, when Tycho is close to the terminator, the boundary between day and night, the shadows are dominant craters can look very similar. However, when the Moon is nearer full, Tycho becomes very evident as in the picture. It's best to observe the Moon throughout a lunation to see how the features change. In time you'll become familiar with the terrain and be able to recognise which crater is which.

I understand why you might feel that way about the CA. It was definitely evident but wasn't as bad as I'd expected, so the initial impression for me was one of relief. Around that time a few of my friends bought different versions including the 150 F8 and 150 F5. Using several of these and using a ronchi eyepiece, It soon became evident there was significant variability in figure and SA levels. It was a bit of a lottery as to whether you got a good one or not. Among the group of local observers several of the Helios scopes had to be returned and replaced. The replacements did offer an improvement, but at the time none of us were particularly interested in the Moon or planets. My own interest was in comets, and so the 120 F8.3 and 150 F8 were ideal, and CA wasn't a big issue. It wasn't until January 2003 that I had opportunity to observe Saturn through a 150mm F8 Helios achromat and a 102mm Vixen Fluorite. That was the night when my world was turned on its head, and I never used my Helios refractors after that night. It was also the night when my interest in planetary observing was ignited. Looking back, it was the best possible year for that to happen. I bought a Tak FS128 and all the planet's were riding high in UK skies, and Mars was at its largest and was spectacular. By the end of the year my enthusiasm for planets and for fluorite refractors was on fire.

I talked a friend into buying a Helios 100mm F10 achromat back in 1999. I was very impressed by its performance on star fields and brighter deep sky and decided to buy one for myself. After placing the order I had a change of mind and ordered the Helios 120mm F8.3 achromat instead. I didn't really notice any distracting level of CA in the 100mm, but I expected significant CA in the 120mm. When the telescope arrived I was thrilled by the good quality equatorial mount and the silver top plossl eyepieces that came as standard. That first night there was a first quarter Moon and a clear sky. As I aimed the scope and brought it to focus I expected the F8.3 would show a chromatic glare, but to my amazement it wasn't there. Don't get me wrong, the scope did show some chromatic aberration but it wasn't destructive or distracting. For the price, the 120mm achromat was awesome and a nice all round performer. The 100mm has slightly better colour correction due to its greater F ratio, but you'd be hard pushed to detect the difference visually. It's when you get to the 150mm F8 that the CA becomes a problem, but really only on the moon and planets. For deep sky the 150 F8 was a wonderful scope. Over the years I've had them all, and the greatest concern for me is that there is variable quality in the figure of the objectives. If you get a good one you'll have a nice telescope with a 100mm achromat.

I hope you'll share some of your sketches in time. May be even join in the next SGL sketching challenge.

Can't believe its been 4 years. Glad you're back and hope the good memories keep building!

I think your scope is probably fine. A couple of nights ago I observed Venus in the best seeing I'd had for a long time, I was using my FS128, and the limb was sharp and cloud detail as obvious as I've ever seen it. There was also no real CA other than some minor atmospheric dispersion. Last night however, the seeing was abysmal and the whole planet was bathed in colour. I was using a Baader BBHS prism and a Maxbright binoviewer on both occasions, so lots of glass in the light path. I suspect the issue is due more to local turbulence causing your Image to constantly flit in and out of focus, and possibly the low angle of the planet. Looking through miles of turbulent atmosphere while studying possibly the single most demanding object in the sky is always going to challenge any telescope. I used my Vixen 3.4mm HR also, and saw some colour in the view of Venus. The brilliance of the planet is a problem, so you might like to try observing it while its higher in the sky and set against a brighter sky background. Personally I find this more pleasing, especially with regard to atmospheric dispersion and turbulence. It's also worth noting that some wide angle eyepieces can add their own colour problems. Something else that's worth paying attention to is focus. Venus moves at quite a rate and as it gets lower you see it through a rapidly growing depth of atmosphere. I find I have to refocus two or three times every minute so as to keep the planet as sharp as possible. Coloured filters such as #15 yellow, #21 orange and #80A blue can also help, not only in the revealing of subtle cloud detail, but also in steadying the effects of turbulence. So I don't think your scope, or your prism is causing a problem. The DC/DF is a vibrant refractor that can deliver awesome views of the planet's and Moon, but the seeing is so temperamental in the UK that we don't always get the best from our telescopes.

It might have slipped my mind about telling her about the paint. Come to think of it, it may have also slipped my mind to tell her about the FS128. I'm not even sure she'd notice the difference between the FC100DZ (which she still thinks is a FC100DC), and the FS128, if I carry it past her quickly enough?