Whistlin Bob

Funnily, it depends on the season.

In winter, sometimes de-caff coffee, sometimes herbal tea. Whichever one it is, there's something wonderful about a mug steaming away on a freezing night.

In summer, if there's a late observing session, perhaps just an hour or two, then a cheeky beer seems very civilised.

Oh, go on. Let's re-balance this a little... £2k? I can build a fantasy around that. The fantasy bit being around time and skills. Maybe one day...

Wait for a nice big old second hand mirror to become available- let's say 20" or 22", and ground by one of those craftsmen who really knew what they were doing, but who forgot to sign it, keeping the price to maybe £500. Then build a Dobsonian mount around it. Whilst I like those ultra light jobbies, I think I'd prefer to build something wooden - varnished to a dark brown sheen, but with the grain very obvious. The trusses would be matt black, matching the light shroud and the counterweight bar I'd add to give me lots of eyepiece and binoviewer options. I wouldn't bother with any electronics besides a reflex finder, but I'd use a 72ed or similar to double as a finder and rich field instrument. 

Because fantasy me is more skilled than real me, the scope would be perfectly balanced and would have buttery smooth movements in alt and az. It would live in my garage and some detachable wheelbarrow handles would enable me to move it and set it up in minutes. The spider would have three vanes for a bit of JWST chic on bright stars, but if I was getting serious about doubles or planets of an evening, then I'd use the matching, and magnetically attached, aperture mask for around 160mm unobstructed and naturally colourful f12 or so light grasp.

Why so cheap on the mirror? I think building this properly would cost a few quid, and I'd want £500 for a paracorr to take some biggish eyepieces and enjoy some wide'ish views (and stuff I mention that the mirror was pretty fast) Obviously I'd need to put up with a few comments about steam funnels and shaving mirrors, but I suspect exploring the shapes of galaxies tens of millions of light years away would be adequate compensation 😃

Some terrific answers in this thread; my own answers are similar to several on here. Astronomy/stargazing was something I discovered in my forties- I keep doing it because it has brought me joy and wonder, and because between observing and imaging there's so much to do, and I barely feel I've scratched the surface.  I've put a lot into it, but it has given so much more back.

I don't share some of the fears about change, though. Yes, the skies are getting worse, and as a hobby for the young, the appeal of sitting in the cold and dark, seeking faint fuzzies in the eyepiece struggles to reach the Xbox/Minecraft/Insta generation.

But technology is touching our hobby too, and over the last year or so I've seen a generation of people join my local club thrilled with their SeeStars and imaging kit and wanting to share the experience with the like minded. They want to learn more about what they're finding and how to get the most out of it. We've got a special interest group to include them and it's growing fast, with an average age much lower than the club as a whole. I think this is all brilliant, and I think we're seeing only the beginning of this- these systems are only going to get better- and hopefully bring many more into our hobby, albeit in a different form to what many of us may be used to.

A couple of the guys at our club gave a good talk on fracs on Friday night- and it was just the inspiration I needed to get my 127l out, and remind myself what an excellent scope it is. Started off on Jupiter and had some lovely detail despite the iffy conditions, then slid across to Orion trying various EPs from 8-35mm on m42. Really appreciated the nice sharp stars, and didn't think the nebulosity was too much dimmer than my 200p newt. Then jumped up to the Pleiades- at 35x it was a terrific view, lovely crisp stars and clear enough to catch a good bit of reflection. 

Really ought to get it out more often!

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.

4 minutes ago, John said:

20 inch plus dob for me as well.

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!!!

On 09/01/2024 at 02:03, cmanley134 said:

Question regarding replacement of the secondary spider

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!

6 hours ago, Franklin said:

Get something like this.

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 😃

26 minutes ago, alacant said:

Why not the SW Quattro monorail?

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.

11 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

What did you end up using or recommend for imaging?

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!

1 hour ago, Mandy D said:

I'm considering an OVL 2 speed low profile

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 👍. 

1 hour ago, sagramore said:

a nice long dew shield could also help

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.