Whistlin Bob

Lots of lovely pictures on here. Here's my effort- this is the Monkey Head taken on 18th January. It was one of those rare long clear winter nights when you can set the scope running and let it go for the night. I got 3 hours on each channel, of which I retained roughly 2 as being the best quality (I think it got hazy later on whilst I was catching some zzzz's). I did grab 30 minutes RGB for stars, but I've not used that here- instead I did a star removal on the NB channels and combined them HSO. There was a bit of magenta in there so I inverted the image and ran some SCNR over it. The nebula image I then combined using Foraxx utility, and applied the Dark Structure Enhance script to try and pull out some of the dark lanes and structure around the chin. Originally used the Foraxx utility, but then decided I just wasn't so keen on it, so have used SHO instead. I used to be indecisive, but I'm not so sure now. Image was shot with a 150 Quattro, Baader UNB filters and an asi1600mm.

Yes- and fast so I didn't need a step ladder, but with a Paracorr to sort out the coma. And a quality 3 inch refractor for a finder. One day...

Wow, that's a heck of a deal. I had a side by side opportunity with a mates Bresser v my SW, and the Bresser was very impressive indeed; an excellent scope.

After weeks of cloud, life really got in the way of some clear nights this week, but I did get one in on Wednesday with 14" dob. Rushed home to get started and after a first hour on Jupiter and the moon, I had 3 hours of Orion and environs. Just a total joy. After a good while gawking at m42 with every eyepiece and filter combo I possess I tried a couple of challenges: Pup of Sirius- nope, but I had fun trying. Only ever managed it once, man it must have been still that night. The Horsehead - success! The winning combo was an old 17mm Synta ep with an Hb filter. I think I've now managed it once a season for the last four years. Had to get to bed shortly after, due to a work trip to London with a 5.30 start- but at least I went with a sloppy grin 😀. Avoided SGL because that would have been yet more lost sleep!!!

I'm afraid I can't answer your question, but I do wonder how necessary they are. I wasn't happy with the appearance of the stars on my 150 Quattro, but used some calipers to ensure the vanes were precisely adjusted. They've stayed true for about ten months so far.

I've not been posting too much here lately, because back in March I decided to double down on the little SW Newt concept and got myself a 150 Quattro. However, once I'd got the new scope bedded in I then mounted side by side with the 130pds, and for broadband imaging I use the 2 together- the 130 has a Canon 550d with Homebrew cooling which I use to get the RGB, and then grab the L with the quattro and an asi1600. Here's what it looks like: I would have to say I'm having a ball with this setup. Getting the 2 scopes aligned is tricky (especially as collimating either of them moves them out of alignment- I've just bought an adaptor to help with this), and the quattro is a more sensitive beast than the 130, but once they're both tuned in, the rig really hoovers up the photons. Hopefully no-one minds me posting finished images here- half the data is still coming from the faithful 130 after all Here's the Cocoon Nebula: Here's my take on the Iris nebula: This is the Cosmic Rosebud- a reflection nebula in Cepheus: Here's NGC891 - an edge on spiral in Andromeda: and this is probably my favourite from the rig so far- M33. This was from a 90 minute clear spell a few weeks back, so I got 3 hours data:

Vixen x-y adjuster- courtesy of @Franklin. Will be very handy for my little dual rig - a lot easier than the shims and tweaks I have been using!

Don't want to wander off topic, but could you post a link to this? I've a dual rig and it could come in handy...

Nice early doors session tonight. Sky was nice and clear at 6pm, and it wasn't too cold either!!! Out came the big dob for the first time at home since September, and got straight onto Jupiter. Lots of stunning detail; lost count of bands, with detail in the bands clearly seen. Awesome. Tried my binoviewers, but tonight the best view was with Celestron X-Cel 7. Next I went wide on the Pleiades with 30mm (50x with coma corrector) - gorgeous view; diamonds on a shimmering granular sheet of nebulosity. Blue and orange star colours readily seen. Lovely. M31/2/110 very detailed views, 110 just about there with direct vision. Dark lanes quite nice and prominent NGC7129 and environs. I went for this one because I had the imaging rig working on it, and it's always good to see what they look like in real life. A couple of pretty little clusters popped into the eyepiece; no nebulosity seen. The highlight of this view was the hop across from Alderamin: lots of lovely little clusters and asterisms. Definitely a neglected part of Cepheus for me. Almach. Gold and white and gorgeous. And then it clouded over, but a really nice few hours 😃

Seconded! It's an excellent focuser 👍 Not been on this thread for a while- great to see yet more great images coming from the little newt.

This was on a 200p- I went back to a single speed sw Crawford, spent a bit of time adjusting it to make sure it was tight and then fitted one of the old school electric focusers to it (the one with a control box with buttons). Seems to work ok, but doesn't look great!

Do you mean this one? https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/ovl-dual-speed-2-low-profile-crayford-focuser-for-newtonian-reflectors.html I tried to use this for imaging and the design made it difficult to control tilt so I wouldn't recommend it for that purpose. I then swapped it to my dob and it's excellent for visual (let's me use binoviewers on my dob).

From various noise about this, I suspect it's not as simple as EU v Non EU. Mine came from FLO last March and has the better focuser. From comments elsewhere it seems as random as "some do, some don't". It's a shame there isn't consistency, because it's a terrific scope.

Welcome to SGL! I never quite made it to Stewart Island- Invercargill was as close as I got, and I just remember a lot of beauty and all of the trees only having leaves on one side, due to the wind on the coast there! A 12 inch mirror at a dark site is a wonderful thing- really look forward to hearing about your adventures in the night sky with so many objects that we can't see on this side of our little ball 👍.

Yeah- I had a few problems with misting up. I made a long (300mm) dew shield out of an old foam camping mat and duct tape. It looks a bit agricultural, and the plan was to buy a proper one if it worked, but it actually works so well that I've not replaced it. If you're not worried about appearances, I would definitely recommend as a solution.

Lovely evening at Rosliston Forestry Centre. First an excellent talk from Paul Money, who never disappoints, then emerged to excellent conditions. I set up my 14" dob and had the immense gratification of sharing views through it with around twenty other people, including several for whom this was their first view through a telescope. Jupiter was the most popular object, drawing lots of wows, but I also shared the Pleiades, M31 and M42, all of which got a lot of appreciation. A few brave souls even joined me in hunting down and finding M1. A wonderful time 😃

Thank you! Yes, it's the Rosette 😃

I did this a couple of years ago for an exhibition at my local club. The scope view version was based upon what I can see in my 14" dob under dark skies.

Lovely report. The Veil is completely bewitching, isn't it? It's one of those objects that you can just keep going back to again and again. I've had a few nights camping around Edale, and also further south between Buxton and Ashbourne and found the skies to be so much better than at home. Yes, the light domes are pretty awful, but that also marks the contrast with how dark the skies are looking up. If, like most of us, you're used to working around light pollution with your observing then, for me at least, it's really wonderful. I've taken my scopes up there a few times, but they seem to attract the clouds

Wonderful report, nights like that are so few and far between, but the memories last forever!

Interesting thread. I have the 4mm Nirvana. In my f6 200mm dob, with good seeing, it's ok but a touch soft on planets but spectacular on the moon, sharp right across the fov. Always find this slightly odd, but this has been repeated on several different nights. It's a keeper because of how it performs on the moon.

I know this is a super popular target, but its position in the sky makes it super tricky to get any decent time on at home. I'm in a group that hires a pier at Roboscopes in southern Spain and obtained this data through that route. The scope we use is a WO 132 Frac with an ASI294MM. This image is an hour of Ha and then 2 hours from 3 of Oiii and 1.5 from 3 of Sii. Even Spain has clouds!!! Here's an SHO version, composed with Narrowband Normalisation utility in Pixinsight: And here's a version that has Ha in the red channel and then combines 50/50 Oiii and Sii for blue and green. I think I prefer this

This is the last one from me, I promise! Everyone raves about Orion, but for me, Cygnus has a bit of everything- I never get bored exploring its riches. This is an SHO treatment of the Butterfly Nebula, with some RGB Stars, including Sadr. This was taken over 2 nights in early September, and I managed to get 3 hours per channel (plus 30 minutes for the stars). I used the same kit for acquisition as my Tulip above, so a 150 Quattro on an NEQ6 with an ASI1600mm and Baader UNB filters.

Here's my Tulip nebula. I took this with in the last week of August, but wasn't very happy with the processing. So I've left it- in the interim I downloaded the Narrowband Normalization utility for PI that @Luke Newbould highlights on his YouTube channel which really helped with bringing out the Oiii in this image and highlighting the bow wave from Cygnus x1 that you can see just above the Tulip. So, thanks Luke! I'm much happier with this version. I captured this over 2 nights- it's 30 mins of RGB for the stars, 90 mins of Ha, which came through lovely and strong, plus 2.5 hrs each of Oiii and Sii, which were more of a battle, as usual! Kit used was a 150 Quattro, with an ASI1600mm and Baader UNB filters.

What? It's a control knob? I thought it was for generating clouds over the face of the sun. That's what mine does!