JeremyS

Splendid 👍🏻

Looks like a SAR (Stable Auroral Red) Arc

Cracking images Danny👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

With some used copies advertised for hundreds of pounds, interesting to see a second edition coming out on March 28: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Atlas-Messier-Objects-Highlights-Deep/dp/1009364065/ref=asc_df_1009364065/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=676254667576&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17469961942042792447&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046502&hvtargid=pla-2274295531430&psc=1&mcid=b34805ab066a3a99a579cd6ff30ebd8e&th=1&psc=1&gad_source=1

On 01/03/2024 at 12:13, mikeDnight said:

The longer you study them the more subtle the detail. Mallas was more of an inspiration to me in a way, because I saw things that I considered to be easily discernable, but that he didn't record. Mind you, his Unitron eyepieces were far removed from what we use today. Steve O'Meara on the other hand, although also using a 4" refractor, makes too much of a big deal about observing from the slopes of a Hawaiian volcano. This has definitely led some to imagine their own more mainland suburban situation is hopeless for Messier hunting, which is simply untrue!

Here are just a few from the suburbs of a misty, often cloud plagued, north of England mill town.

M1 (5" refractor)

M45 and the Merope nebula (4" refractor)

M57 the Ring Nebula (4" refractor)

M27 the Dumbbell Nebula (4" refractor)

M97 the Owl Nebula (4" refractor)

M33 spiral galaxy (4" refractor)

M78 nebula in Orion (4" refractor)

M82 edge on galaxy  (4" refractor)

Mrs the Great Orion Nebula (4" refractor)

M81 face on spiral (4" refractor)

 

 

Since when did you get a Seestar, Mike? 🤔

That was the 15th century equivalent of Turn Left at Orion.

I think @Peter Drew bought a copy when it was first published.

27 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Absolutely no problem here.

Uh oh! 🤣

Is that Armagh Obsy, Malcolm?

3 hours ago, MalcolmM said:

I had another go last night and the scope was cooling for 2 hours. The hairyness did improve a bit, but definitely not as good as my refractor (though I did not have the 100DC out to do a direct comparison).

I did a star test on Polaris and tried to get photos, but my phone lacks the ability to alter the exposure much so the pics were either way over exposed or totally blank. However, the defocused star was moving around a bit; sometimes it looked spot on, sometimes it looked a bit off center. Again lacking experience here so I don't know if this is to be expected, or if the seeing was poor. I was able to split Alnitak, a gap between the two components, but again, a more difficult split than in the 100DC, and I'm not always able to split it.

This scope has shown me stunning views of Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon; better than the 100DC, so I suspect if the collimation is off, it's not off by much. That being said, I really need to learn how to tweak the collimation, so I'll probably give it a go! 

Thanks again everyone for your help and advice.

Malcolm

If the star was moving around the seeing must be poor. Wait for a better night to check collimation 

All well here 👍🏻

14 minutes ago, josefk said:

Unfortunately sometimes eventually needs a helping hand to maintain perfection 😔

I fear I might need to do the same

15 hours ago, Saganite said:

As usual Dave's observing skills proved superior to mine. He spotted the minute detail that a remote trigger was an option, and I missed it... 😄

There’s a remote trigger?
Phew, I found one in the box👍🏻

10 minutes ago, John said:

They are a bit special - it feels like a little "event" just carrying it out and putting it in the scope ! 😁

I’m thinking of using it to build upper body muscle strength instead of training weights.

I seem to remember someone on here saying these aren’t too shabby, so thought I’d try

Hairy stars sounds like a seeing issue.

I use Polaris to check collimation. It’s at a decent altitude and doesn’t move. It shows diffraction rings.

Now, on the donut. It should be central when defocussed. But only on stars at the centre of the field. This is key. When tweaking collimation, you need to re-centre Polaris before the next adjustment.

More here https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/283204-mewlon-210-finally-arrived/

and https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/354729-best-ever-collimation-video/?p=4548838

13 hours ago, Louis D said:

There's also the 11mm Tele Vue Apollo if you can find one used and afford it.  I believe the limited edition production run ran out.

I’m not selling 🤣

Yes there are regularly scare stories about whether water might damage fluorite lenses. But that’s what they are: scare, disinformation and not backed up up by facts.

53 minutes ago, Stu said:

 so that is more compact than the 100DC. Obviously it is thinner too so more can be packed around it.

but fewer pairs of Speedos inside the tube

3 minutes ago, Mumia said:

Recently I also found such a setup made by a guy from CN. Double extender cq 1.7 giving F/21.6 😅

With a setup like that I can understand why his Questar remains on the shelf 😊

We have great posties delivering to us. The problem is we’re lucky if we have 3 deliveries a week. Parts of Cheshire seem to be struggling similarly: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68382286

That’s a very fine scope you have there.

It’s often claimed that the FS 102 is a Mars killer, perhaps due to the optical qualities you describe. I’ve not compared my FS 102 side by side with my FC 76DCU ( or FC 100DZ for that matter), but I had some of my best ever views of Mars with the FS 102, during its 2003 perihelic opposition.

More food for my Lovell/Jodrell obsession 

On 09/08/2023 at 21:15, JeremyS said:

It’s pretty annoying how ABS allows the term “kit tester” to be used by traders 

Looking at ABS these days, there’s certainly a lot of kit testing going on. I’m surprised they have time to do anything else 🤔

My Leica Zoom was made in Portugal.

I was mortified to discover Baader are made in China.

I try to avoid EPs from PRC, but sometimes there is no option, like the SVB 3-8 zoom.

51 minutes ago, MalcolmM said:

I'm going to respectfully ignore your suggestion on this occasion. No red wine after 6! You must be joking! I once came home after a night out on the town, saw Jupiter and thought it would be a good idea to get the scope out. Much banging and scraping later (before my Tak days thank goodness), I was set up, but lasted only a couple of minutes before discovering I could not stand still enough to observe (before discovering observing chairs)

Malcolm 

Red wine doesn’t count, Malcolm. It’s a health tonic 👍🏻