Knighty2112

Nice try, but no cigar as they say!  

I’ve just got a pair of Celestron Skymaster 25x70 binos in the UK at a steal of a price, and they work excellently too. Bring out plenty of fuzzies up there, even in my light polluted back garden.  

1 hour ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

A huge fat check. Life changing money. Part of my inheritance.

OK, party at your house then! I’ll be there in 5!  

3 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

Nice sharp captures 

Thanks. Yes, I was surprised they came out as good as they did as I wasn’t sure if I’d got the focus right.

I always got/get better stars so hence better double star views in my refractors.

From Skysafari this gives a good indication of the size for the transit.

Seriously, was there a sun spot up there today? Been so long since the last one!  

If your scope is quite long then you can take one of the knobs off on the slow motion controls on the Skytee 2 and fit these instead which make it easier to adjust if the scope length is an issue to reach the slo mo controls.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/flexible-slow-motion-control-cables-for-sky-watchercelestron-mounts.html

Max size as below;

If bigger than that then you need to compress it down to a smaller size, then should be hunky dory! 

Well done Charl. That f11 scope still serving you well I see!  

Hi Don. Welcome to the site. Love the name of the city where you live. Enjoy learning the dark art of photo astronomy. I dabble a little in lunar and planetary imaging, but not any DSO’s (although that might change next year).

Cheers,

Gus  

4 minutes ago, Seafury said:

Hi, getting dangerously near to being released into the wild,the Lyra with ED objective fitted and original Kumming focuser,please excuse the mess

 

 

cheers Gordon

If you think that’s a mess wait until you see my place!

BTW: I used to own an AA 102mm f11 ‘frac. Great scope, which I regret selling on now. 

One thing that stood out even to the naked eye, and that shows in the photo of Jupiter, is how much darker the north equatorial belt is compared to its southern counterpart. 

Well done Alan. Always nice to see the GRS. Used my 80a blue filter when viewing it visually and it stood out like a sore thumb!  

First time to try my Skyris 274C camera bought off here a few weeks back. Attached onto my Celestron Omni 120mm ‘frac. Untracked AVI videos taken. Processed with PIPP, Registax, PS and also on Ipad. AVI video frames approx 1200 of Jupiter, and 800 of Saturn. GRS visible on Jupiter, and nice details in Saturn too, so well chuffed on first images taken. Images flipped for correct orientation.

20 minutes ago, Stu said:

Good to see you back observing Gus, and great that you've got a setup that you can make work for you. Sounds like an excellent session!

Thanks Stu. Yes, slowly getting the passion back for it all again!  

41 minutes ago, mark81 said:

That was a nice session and a good read.  I havent come across those bins before but I will go take a look. I've always thought that a pair at x25 with 70-80mm are perfect for picking up fuzzies and let's not forget all of those great clusters.  The only problem is, when you mount them, your mind starts thinking about a bigger pair.... Like those 100s.... I've looked at so many pairs but as you said, maybe next year..

Mark

Yep, always something else there to tempt blowing the hard earned cash on in this game!  

Seeing nice and clear. GRS easily visible with 80 ED ‘frac. Comes out great with a filter too. Going to try my larger 120mm ‘frac now too.  

As my home astronomy viewing has been blighted by new LED street lamps been fitted late last year, I have just returned after a hiatus from astronomy mainly because of this. As a workaround to help see some of the fuzzies still from home I was looking at acquiring a larger pair of binos than my current 7x50 Strathspey, which although give good results, don’t have the light grasp or power to pull out much unless at a nice dark sky sight, which was going to be a rarity to do due to work and location etc.

After looking at various sites at binos ranging from 56mm up to 100mm, I saw the Celestron 25x70 been offered up a great price. I had previously owned  a pair of the same range smaller magnification binos at 15x70 a couple of years ago but sold them on after slimming down my equipment, and whilst there are certainly better binos out there, I knew that as long as there was no problem with alignment between the two barrels of the binos, then acceptable views where available from them. As the 25x70 were on offer for only £2 more than 15x70 Skymaster binos, it was a no brainer to take a punt on the 25x75.

Afetr re-aquiring my Orion binocular mount, which I’d sold to my brother at around the same time I sold on the 15x70 binos, I got the new 25x70 Skymasters out last night for their first light under the stars on the Orion mount.Jupiter came out real well in the 25x magnification, along also with a smaller Saturn too. However, as these binos where bought to scoop up fuzzies rather than planets I then turned my attention to some of them; as it was only just turning dark, I went first off for M13. After a minute of getting in the right area I saw M13 swing into view. And boy was it easy to see, even at around 9pm in my light polluted back garden, with a nasty LED streetlamp glaring away at me just 25 feet or so away, I could make out the great M13 with no problem nice and large. M92 next after moving up and to the left in Hercules brought that globular nicely in view too. Lower down near Saturn, I tried for M22 which I’d seen gloriously down in Cornwall just a couple of days earlier with my 7x50 Strathspeys. To be honest I wasn’t expecting it to be viewable above the rooftops and lower down in the murk, but these babies pulled it out of the skies still.

Next, I aimed for both Bodes over in Ursa Major. After a few minutes I got them both sweetly in view and showing pretty easily, M81 been the easier to see out of the two, but both nicely there none the less. Well chuffed, I then took the binos off the mount to go and view M31 from my front garden. Andromeda was a joy to see in these binos, the largest I think I’ve ever seen it, even against the views from a C8 SCT I’d owned previously. The weight of these binos are not that much different to the weight of the Strathspeys, which with been Marine binos are solid, so didn’t have much problem holding the 25x70’s up by hand. However, these excel best on a mount, so I returned to the back garden again and put them back on the Orion mount and went in search of M27 in Cygnus. Again after a little searching, the dumbbell swam into view majestically. Even though still not fully dark the contrast between sky and nebula was very good, so it was not just large to see, but stood out very well. I’m thinking with a real good dark sky view you probably would be able to see the Veil to in Cygnus with a bit of luck.

M57 next, which although very small in these binos, was still quite easy to pick out agaist the other stars in Lyra. M56 was another globular that was easy to see too, even if not as spectacular as M13 or M92.

All in all I am very chuffed with these binos, which will get much more use looking for fuzzies later on in the year when darker skies arrive back. Looking forward to trawling through Leo with these. If these pull out more in winter time that may also nudge me next year to look at a pair of 100mm binos perhaps! Watch this space!  

11 minutes ago, John said:

I've just changed the post title to correct the date Gus

Ta! Wow, a month behind eh!  

Heads up if your skies are going to be clear later on tonight; the GRS will be on show on Jupiter, and will be at the mid disk position at around 8pm UK time. Hoping to get some images with my Celestron Skyris camera, so fingers crossed!  

Have you got the correct location set for the app you are using to control the mount? Had similar issue with my old Celestron goto mount if location is not set correctly.

Only a matter of time and then you’ll get some great views. I just got some 25 x 70 binos for viewing due to similar circumstances. Just peeked at Jupiter with attending moons through them and got the best ever bino view I've ever seen of the planet, so hoping to nab some fuzzies later on if possible.

Away for work near Indian Queens down in Cornwall. Took my 7x50 Strathspey binos with me just in case, and tonight there was some clear skies, so nipped out to a dark dead end road near to where I’m staying and had a great hour from 9pm till 10pm. As I was well away from any main LP, the skies where nice and dark. Managed to nab M13, M92, M31 was showing very well, M2, along with nearby M25 too. And to top it off I could just make out both Bodes galaxies too. As the sky was that clear the constellations where easy to pick out, and the milky was the best I’d seen it for a while.

I would have stayed out a little longer, but my neck was beginning to ache, so called it a night. All in all a wonderful wee bino session. Only wish I got nice dark skies like this at home!  

Just finished a quick 30 minute session. The plan for tonight apart from some brief observations of Jupiter and Saturn earlier on in the evening, was to bag double star 16 Cygni, and the Blinking planetary nebula NGC6826. These two lie close to each other, so I worked out that I should be able to grab both in my 5mm Celestron Duo EP at the same time. After setting up my Sabre mount and my AA Starwave Ascent 80 ED ‘frac at 22:15 I realised that these two targets where pretty much at zenith, which due to the location of where I was viewing to dodge the street lamps it made it very awkward to view through the finder viewfinder well at this angle. But after about 5 mins getting in the right area, and sweeping around I got the likely candidate for 16 Cygni in view. Both pretty much matched at mag 6, I was sure this was the double. So carefully moving the double to the left side of my view I reckoned that NGC6826 should blink into view by moving to the right a little as viewed from my EP, and hey presto at the 2 o’clock position in the EP it did indeed blink into view. I slotted in my 8mm Duo EP which gave a nicer view to look at both in the fov also.

After admiring the view for about 15 mins or so, I thought I’d finish off the brief session having a scout for the dumbell nebula, which I’d tried and failed with the other night. This was in a better place to observe from, so swung into the general area with my finder and nosied around a minute or so & M27 sprung into view in my 8mm EP. It stood out pretty well considering I wasn’t using any filter, and the sky wasn’t at its darkest yet still.

Would have liked to stay out longer for the session, but with work beckoning tomorrow I called it a night at 22:50. It was nice to see some old friends again up there, no matter how briefly!