mikeDnight

That's really sad, and shame on them for not having a system in place for informing the clan. If it makes you feel better, I've seen some spectacular Aurora from the Lancashire/Yorkshire border on more than one occasion. I can pretty much guarantee this though - If you leave us all your phone number, I'm sure you'll never miss any astro event, or indeed have a full nights sleep ever again. ☎️

Now I've a mental picture of you wearing "no thermals - nothing"!

In 2005 I arranged to meet a couple of friends at a dark sky site a good number of miles away, and so loaded my FS128, Celestron/Losmsndy G11, power supply and eyepieces into my car. I put on my full length quilted, waterproof, windproof gear and Yeti boots, and set off. On arriving I set up the tripod and mount, connected the power supply, then before attaching the FS128 tube assembly to the mount I searched for the counterweight. No counterweight! I had to spend the night begging to take a sneaky peek through the eyepieces of my friends scopes, while my superlative FS128 lay shivering on the back seat of my car. (I only made that mistake once)! On another occasion I was observing with Paulastro from his garden, I left the lid of my eyepiece box very slightly ajar throughout the night. At the end of the night I closed the lid, drove home, and didn't look in my eyepiece box again until the next clear night which was several days down the line. To my horror all my beautiful XW eyepieces were swimming with the dew that had formed on them several days before. They were capped of course, but the eyepiece bodies and the foam were now wet and needed to be dried thoroughly. (I've only made that mistake once)! Again, while observing with Paulastro from his garden, I carelessly placed my eyepiece case containing Naglers, Ethos, and XW's on the driveway. Part way through the night Paul's darling wife drove into the driveway. We both watched, as if in slow motion she used my eyepiece case as a chock for her front passenger wheel. If youve ever heard a woman scream - well that's what I sounded like, as Paul fell about laughing - again! Fortunately the case and its contents were unharmed. Paul's wife said she hadn't seen the case and then told my "well it's a silly place to leave it anyway". I couldn't really argue! Deep down though I've wondered if she did it as payback for all the lip I've given her over the years??? (I only made that mistake once)! One mistake I keep on making however, is listening to my best mate and fellow visual observer paulastro. One evening Paul phoned me to tell me that Takahashi have once again started production of their 4" fluorite refractors. He went on at length about how wonderful they'ed be, knowing full well just how much I love Tak, and then added "I've ordered one"! After the phonecall ended I went on line to read about this new fluorite scope, then thought "If he's having one then so am I" The problem was that I'd no spare cash and so to fund the venture I'd need to sell a lot of my gear. Within 24 hours I'd sold everything but my XW's. Then the phone rang - It was Paul. "What are you selling all your gear for"? I told him that if he's having a Tak then I'm having a Tak, and that the only way I could do so was to pretty much sell everything. There was a deathly silence followed by an explosion of uncontrolled laughter. Then in a Brummi twang "I was only joking, I haven't really ordered a Tak. I just wanted to see how you'd react." I can't remember what I said exactly but it probably would need censoring. It's really hard to be angry at someone who is laughing so uncontrollably that they're almost losing consciousness, so I ended up laughing along with him until my sides ached and I got cramp in my jaw. (Will I ever learn? Probably not!)

Identical twits!

It must be around 23 years since I first met Paul. I've tried blocking the memory of it, but he just keeps appearing suddenly. The photo below from quite a few years ago recently fell out of an old observing log book I was browsing through while waiting for the clouds to clear. It scared me to death to suddenly see his beaming face looking back at me.

Hi Elrond, I have an old Vixen Polaris mount that has a similar design as your mount. ADM make a V shaped plate that will bolt to your mount while a dovetail clamp bolts to the V shaped plate. I'll try to remember to post a detailed view over the next couple of days.

If the RA moves freely when unlocked, I'd suspect it's the worm pressing too tightly against the gear wheel. You can adjust the contact pressure by loosening the grub screws, or by turning the brass bearing slightly through which the worm rod passes to disengage it a little. Too much and you'll get backlash, so it may need a little trial and error, but I doubt you'll need to dismantle the mount.

*

Hi Jcha, A SkyWatcher 150P Dobsonian would be a nice scope that would give great views of the Moon, planets and many deep sky objects. You would need to budget for two or three eyepieces as they don't come with the scope. I'd suggest something like a 25mm, 18mm & 5mm BST Starguider eyepieces as a nice starting point.

Thanks Dave. I'd measured it earlier today and realized the FS128 was a different thread size, but thanks for the information about available Baader adapters. Baader world can be confusing. Come to think of it, most things are confusing to me these days.

That's quite an adventure and a nice read. It's a nice collection of lollipops you managed to bag throughout the night. I love that you saw the spiral arms in M81 and the notch in M82. I'm jealous you saw M65 & 66. I tried for them myself last night, but after searching for some time found that I was enshrouded by mist. Then on packing up I also found that my lens had fogged over too, and so had to leave my scope uncapped over night to dry off. It's really nice also that you're enjoying your Tak.

With the way fuel prices are going, I think well all be returning to that mode of transport soon.

Sadly not, although I didn't ask. I was just happy to get my hands on one. I had first light with them last night. I found that my 35mm Ultima's don't quite reach infinity without the use of a gpc or barlow, but that's not the binoviewer or the eyepiece, it's the Takahashi visual back. I'll need a low profile Baader click lock so I can use them at their native focal length. They should be awesome, as when I used my 25mm Parks Gold the view of the Pleiades and the Orion Nebula were every bit as good through the Maxbright as through a single eyepiece. I struggled with the Maxbright at first. I found the diopter adjustment to be a bit too firm and am hoping it will ease over time. I suppose its like driving a new car and just takes a little time to get used to the peddles. The only other issue I had last night was that the left hand eyepiece holder was a bit tight when inserting eyepieces. I've yet to see if I can find the cause and if it can be rectified easily. Optically, after I'd messed around getting a precise focus and setting the viewer to my eye seperation, I had some very pleasing views, I caught a brief view of Venus early on, but once properly dark I first tested out my new 30mm Ultraflat by first checking out the Pleiades, then M42, and then to assess the clarity of the night as much to test the eyepiece I turned the scope to look at M1. Immediately the Crab nebula revealed itself, so I knew I had a good night for some brighter deep sky. I wanted to make a sketch of the Leo Triplet of galaxies for Gerry (Jetstream), but first I spent my time just playing with the Maxbright and my eyepieces. Mars looked very good to begin with but the seeing started to become a little turbulent and definition was lost. I then turned to Leo to try and find Gerry's galaxies, but to no avail. A halo of mist now surrounded me as the temperature dropped. Returning to the Maxbright again, I began to notice red fringing around stars. I was a bit disheartened at this point, and as I was frozen to the bone I decided to call it a night. Only after closing me observatory roof and before capping my scope, I took a look at the objective while using a bulb blower to remove any dust, then noticed the lens was completely dewed over. I brought the scope back into the house uncapped and let it dry out overnight. I was happier now I knew the red fringing wasn't due to the binoviewer but to the moisture on the lens. I was impressed by the brightness, clarity, and sharpness of the Maxbright on stars and some deep sky objects. As yet though I haven't given it a proper lunar and planetary test drive, so for me the best is yet to come - hopefully!

Thanks Paul. I ordered mine yesterday as you know, but some sneaky, inconsiderate person bought the last one only minutes before. Anyhow, mine is due to arrive sometime next week. 😁

So did I, but it was all designed to lead me into a false sense of security. There were a few "under the counter" Mark ll's at WideScreen.

Not exactly what the post man brought, but more like what I was "encouraged" to buy by some rather persuasive SGLers. Effectively they bought for me while I paid! Never the less I'm very pleased. Maxbright II Then of my own free will I bought a 30mm Ultraflat and 2" mirror diagonal. Then i picked up some lovely free journals from The Society for the History of Astronomy. And finally a Webb Society beanie hat. (I am a member despite using only a 100mm refractor)! It was a long journey, and costly, but getting some nice new toys and meeting a good number of very nice SGLers, all in all it was a great Day.

Some binocular viewers use a locking screw to secure the eyepieces, and the screw can push the eyepiece askew which emerges the image. There are usually three screw holes to choose from, so it might be a case of trial and error, but once set for your eyes it should be ok forever. Binoviewers tend not to be friendly towards multiple observers as they are usually set for one observer. If altered to suit another person's vision they can take time to readjust again.

Hi Starsailor, Quite a number here on SGL use binoviewers and love them. It is true that they add weight to the focuser end of the telescope, but not so much that it becomes a problem. Simply slide your tube up the rings a little and all will be well. The good thing regarding eyepieces is that simple designs such as Plossl's and Orthoscopic's work really well, and can even outperform top end brands that are used in mono. Mostly, binoviewers are used for observing the Moon and Planets, and yes there's a real 3D effect. You also don't need to use short focal length eyepieces, as with a 2X barlow on the nose of your binoviewer you'll get an approximate 4X amplification. This adds greatly to the pleasure and ease of use, as longer focal length eyepieces having greater eye relief yet producing high power views allows for relaxed study of fine and intricate detail. Also, using both eyes increases sensitivity to fine detail because you're using both retinas and the brain receives double the information it would receive from just one eye.

Hi Gerry, It's been a long time since I observed the three galaxies in Leo and I'm not sure if I've ever sketched them, but I will now. I've drawn M81 & M82 many times over the years. Below are a couple of sketches made using the Tak FC100DC but on different nights having different seeing conditions and transparency. (The seeing scale that I use is the Antoniadi I to V rather than the Pickering scale, and where I = perfect and V = completely hopeless). In both instances the sketches represent a prolonged observation using averted vision and with good dark adaption.

FLO offer an Astro essentials soft case, but while at Kettering last Saturday for the Practical Astronomy Show, I noticed that WideScreen had a nice WideSky soft case. I've attached a poorly aimed pic, but i think it will give an idea of its size and style. It looked good, made of what appeared to be durable waterproof blue nylon, cost less than £50, but had pre cut holes. I like to cut my own holes! Well worth the money in my view.

Yet they are a work of art internally, showing there's been an awful lot of careful thought gone into, not just the optics, but also the engineering. And they add value to your eyepiece collection, much in the same way that returnable glass bottles add value to your house if you throw them into your garden. The HR's are great for observing double stars, though a tracking mount would be required, especially with the 1.6mm and if you're adventurous, or crazy enough, to try and use a barlow. Imagine trying to make one of these even with the engineering skill. And I've Got The Set!

A 130mm or 150mm Newtonian or Dobsonian will show both lunar & planetary, as well as many brighter deep sky objects, and serious enough to last a lifetime. Another superb scope would be a Skywatcher 127mm Maksutov Cassegrain, which will give wonderful lunar and planetary views, but has a narrower field of view. Some deep sky objects are very large and benefit from a telescope capable of giving a wide field of view. If you chose a Newtonian or Maksutov Cassegrain you'd also need a mount to attach the telescope to. Dobsonians have a built in mount. Some scopes come with eyepieces so it would be worth enquiring before purchase.

Here you go Jeremy. I hope you appreciate this, it took me ages - in photo editor.

We could all meet inside, around and on top of the Pulsar Dome at 11am. Whatever happens, don't let Saganite, Telescope40, or F15rules see you admiring anything expensive. They have an uncanny way of talking you into buying things!

Tibees provides fascinating insight into some great minds like Einstein, Tesla, Newton and many more. I love her relaxing style and watch her short posts on U-tube regularly. Her voice is relaxing too, and is easy listening despite some of her topics touching on the mathematical.