N3ptune

9 hours ago, Fraunhoffer said:

Ive not tried an 80a. 

You might like it! On the moon it's removing some brightness while observing with enough light around, increases comfort but the glass is invisible on the optical train and made of very good quality. (that was it's main purpose yesterday)

Lumicon 80a is good on Jupiter, according to my observations, it will highlight small darker features blended within a pale background, it darkens and sharpens further these features that are already darker (in the color palette of Jupiter.) The filter makes it much easier to spot white ovals by increasing the strength of its darker surroundings, it will also increase the visibility of the faint blue festoons blended inside of the pale equatorial region.  It's very interesting to use.

Lumicon 82a will to the same thing visually but differently because it's much lighter, it's easier to use for me eye and it will retain the original color of Jupiter with much greater fidelity, the planet will have a cold hue but it won't be literally blue like with 80a. I find it a bit superior to look at the NEB and SEB for the inner details, it will bring out a certain feature granulation detail at a higher level because the filter it's lighter. 80a and 82a are extremely interesting on Jupiter depending of the specific target.

I need to make more comparisons on the moon between these 2 and the Baader Neodymium as player 3.

Hello, I am just back from a quick observation (and back here after a while too) with threatening clouds around and I made this fast sketch of "Fra Mauro" and friends. It took maybe 15 minutes total using my 1000x200 and a 6mm 167x eyepiece + a nice 80a filter. Transparency was poor today, it was freezing and this is the result of a fairly difficult operation where the PlayStation 5 was calling me and I went outside anyway, to sketch.  😄

This is totally unexpected and a complete discovery.

The observing conditions outside with the low full moon gave me the idea to take out my 6" Newtonian outside, for ease of use, for a quick low power star observation, just to say that something is possible in less-than-optimal conditions and maybe an opportunity to draw one quick star sketch.

I took out the 6" and remembered that my 12" came with a 8x50 straight through finder, instead of using the original 6x30. I had to sand the paint out of the 6x30 for it to fit into the shoe on the scope and I tried another 8x50 in the past that would not fit either, to me it was hopeless situation where nothing would fit in that mounting base.

Then today surprise, the GSO 8x50 will slide in the base like a charm, no sanding required, how about that? 🤩

I am pleased to appreciate the fact that the 6x30 will retire into a drawer, maybe forever. 😄

Just wanted to share that happy moment, these finders are not the most popular but it's sweet anyway! 

On 03/06/2023 at 12:45, mikeDnight said:

These are terrific, and really enjoyable to look at. I like them all and can't really pick a favourite, as each has something different to offer. Thanks for sharing. I'm sure they will inspire for a long time to come. 🏆

Yeah? cool i am happy for that then ((; These sketch tell me that I need to deliver extra efforts on the contrast, more pressure on the pencils for the darker regions.

@josefk 👍 Mission accomplished.

@Ratlet @glafnazur @bosun21 Thanks it's appreciated.

Tonight for me is going to be a low power wide field sketch of stars or a low power sketch of the moon.  I really appreciated the May 2023 moon!

Hello everyone, this is a collection of sketches from the last 2 weeks, there is not a lot to say really, the conditions outside were good, not too much rain and clouds, more opportunity to get out and sketch then the usual. Pencils: 4B, 3B, 2B, B, HB, 4h on 95 g/m² rough sketching paper.

I'd say I am happy with the 2 last weeks of moon observation.

For Plato, my 12" telescope was used with a view to seeing the smallest cratelets possible,  I'm not sure the exercise was really conclusive, only 4 small cratelets were visible to me, I would have expected a much better result, the 12" mirror usually resolves many more fine details on the moon than the 8". 🤨

To be tried another time.

I hope this gives you a little motivation, thanks for looking.

Sweet scene on the moon there and I liked the the observations also, all interesting and a big motivation booster. It must be a unique experience to look at the moon with a 635mm mirror and 300x, the amount of very small stuff you must be able to resolve with such a mirror, I can only imagine.

Cool sketch, quick satisfaction. 👍

Thanks for sharing

Very nice picture, very sharp and nice color.

I don't know about the technicalities but the images are absolutely beautiful Rodd.

👍

On 25/05/2023 at 02:38, josefk said:

This is a ~25% illuminated 4.8 days old crescent moon sketched sitting in the lovely Burghley House deer park.

Sketched between 21:00 and 21:45 in a bit of a race as lovely soft twilight details hardened into high contrast black and white details as darkness came.

Fracastorius with Fracastorius D sitting on its nightside rim looked fantastic (if i've identified it properly).

A great pity it was a "school night" as it looked like seeing was going to be fantastic. Even bright Venus looked sharp and clear in my little bird spotting scope; ultra clear phase and only a little bit of glare and prismatic colour.

You did it in 45 mins, it's amazing if you can produce something very good looking like this in so little time 👍. It's often a "Work night" for me too when the seeing and transparency are premium

I like this sketch with the lovely earth shine.

Thanks for sharing.

The sun was in an interesting state, a lot of spots to fill your sketch. 👍

Nice sketch thanks for sharing, cool sun filter also, it's a fun hobby to build these as well, yours look well made.

13 hours ago, Alan White said:

Welcome back @N3ptune, as they say absence makes the Heart grow stronger.
Sketching is still going strong here, and I can still sketch as badley as ever, think like a 5 year old.

Sketching is so rich, I don't see me stopping that or stargazing, most of the positive energy comes from the effort delivered into doing the sketch and the deep observation. Seeing the sunset just before the observation, these nice colors with Venus these days. 🤩

There was a huge Aurora Borealis for me last time.

Thanks people.

@edff3d I noticed that reading about it helps to keep me motivated, being exposed to motivated people. 

23 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

 I hope you'll share some of your sketches in time. May be even join in the next SGL sketching challenge. 

Oki I consider it, could be good for me to push myself a bit harder.

Thanks (; @mikeDnight yea something like that, 4 years.. 🥲 But the content of my sketch binder is thicker, at least.

Thank you for your welcome Stu, Bosun21 and MikeDnight

Hello,

I am trying a get back after an absence of 4 years, I have good memories in the report, observation and sketching forums especially, I missed that a bit and wanted to participate again.  I haven't stopped stargazing in the last years, the passion is not fading away as most people here, it's amazing. From Quebec Canada,

I'll do my best.

I am a Newtonian user, my primary instrument is my 1000x200 F5 on the EQ5, and I also own a 1500x300 F5 solid tube manual Dobson for a bit more then a year now. Both instruments give me plenty of joy for various stargazing trips!

🫠

Your dot technique is amazing, it's the first astro sketch I see using such a technique, the result is high.

Very nice flame Acr  (:

What kind of paper are you using? I want to try a new kind of paper myself this one looks rough, I like that. Can it be used with graphite pencils do you think ?

Very original I like it too.

On 23/05/2018 at 14:12, John said:

Some planetary observers, when observing in darkness, shine a white light on a piece of white card and stare at it for a short while to provoke the opposite of dark adaptation, and improve the contrast and colour of their intended targets.

If they are observing next to deep sky enthusiasts, there might be some "discussion" about this technique I reckon

 

I had a strange experience like that a few days ago. I was dark adapted while  observing the Pinwheel galaxy, then, I used my red light (which is in fact too strong) to sketch the faint galaxy for a few minutes looking at the white sheet. When I finished, I looked up and all the stars were green like looking at them trough my #56 Light green wratten, Jupiter especially remained green for more then 30 seconds.

A strange experience and a bit scary too.. I usually use my very faint red light to sketch, not the very strong one.

I did against all advice myself and I don't see a problem with cleaning the mirrors once per 1 year and something when they have dust on them (maintenance cleaning more then heavy duty cleaning). For my 8" mirror the, price for recoating is about 200CAD with taxes which it's not very expensive... so I keep my mirrors free of surface contaminants, the views are at their best all the time.

I cleaned my primary twice in less then 3 years, last clean up was 14 months ago and it's still clean enough has I looked yesterday. Some people say just putting water on the mirror will remove some aluminides out of the surface.. but I visually can't see any evidences of that. The mirror is not perfect from the beginning, if you take the primary out and look at the back pointing a strong light, you will see pinholes and the light passing trough the glass, that's normal.

Pouring water on the surface of the mirror doesn't seem to do any damages at all. I put mine in a bowl with mild temperature tap water and a tiny drop of dish soap, let it rest for 1 minutes or so. Then with the mirror inside the water, I pass a medical cotton on the surface to remove the remaining dust, at each pass, a new cotton. Sterile medical cotton without lotion in scaled packaging, with no abrasive inside.

Then rinse of the mirror with tap water and final rinse with distilled water, like 2 liters or so. After that I blow some air on it to move the remaining drops of water out of the surface.

The final result is always impressive, without scratches and the views in my telescope are always optimal too.

Different school of thought, I think dirty optics will eventually cut the resolution in the views. Usually after a bit more then a year of using the telescope once per week, it's full of dust, pollen, cat's hair, etc. With a cleaning per year and a half or so, it will prevent coriaceous dirt accumulation, it's very easy to wipe out everything out of the surface, and the optic look like new all the time. 

--> I speak for a commercial SkyWatcher mirror with a protective coating on it.

Inspiring work, your platform is simple and it looks very good too. (paint matching your telescope)

Thanks for sharing this awesome work!? I keep it has an example for my own equatorial platform project one day.

Thanks I have an EQ plateform project in mind too, for a dobson based I don't have already. ?

I'll actually spend the time reading your document you published there, it looks complete too wow, thank you very much.

On 25/05/2018 at 10:21, AndyH said:

I've also seen people use cut pieces of bicycle inner tubes as eyeguards. I think you slip the tube on the ep then fold the rubber back over itself, creating a nice comfy fit which can also be adjusted up or down. Quite good for the rare ep's which have overly long eye relief.

Andy.

That's a very good idea ?, I want to build my own eye guards with inner tubes, they come with special glue, the one used to patch the tube in case of a puncture? I believe I can build some good eye guards with that and self adhesive felt.

Thanks for that Idea. ?

Hey it's my big cat again! Hello! ?

@F15Rules No I don't have any special eye guard like the Baader but taught of conceiving something myself with a simple shape like some kind of a soft extension ring made out of rubber.. 

I see they sell eye guards on Agena's website $2.25 each.

https://agenaastro.com/agena-eye-guard-1-25-eyepieces-id-28-4mm.html

You can remove the eyeguard of the BCO and install it on a Fujiyama? it looks very custom made for the Baader EP.

?

I tried my new 6mm HD-OR today (for almost 2 hours) and it's exactly what I was expecting and even more. It's a very good eyepiece, super sharp on the moon, it will reveal faint surface details far better then my 4.7mm, the overall sharpness and total resolution is just amazing. It's the power sweet spot for my telescope 166x probably. 

I could see a blue festoon on Jupiter, getting out of the NEB and spreading into the equatorial region, that's the most impressive blue cloud I have ever seen with my telescope so far.

? I am impressed and what luck? to be able to test the new eyepiece on the very same day? ? thank god

My only low power EP with a large eye lens is the ES 4.7 but it's not a popular reference of comfort. My 7mm orthoscopic is at least equal and perhaps more comfortable then the ES 4.7 with a minuscule eye lens. I never tried a high power comfortable eyepiece yet, with a large eye lens.

? Vixen HR looks like a very good eyepiece, they say they are good for fast scopes too.

https://agenaastro.com/vixen-3-4-mm-hr-eyepiece-37135.html