ShrewView

Exciting times for you.🙂 If you haven't already, download Stellarium off the web. Its free planetarium software that will show you what is in the sky. Think there's a few clear nights this week so hopefully plenty of time to get used to things.

That's lovely. Time very well spent.

Thanks Yes its a good scope. Had it since the 80s so it feels like family. I think if there were a fire it'd be one of the things I'd rescue first!

With clear transparent skies and no moon in prospect my plan was to try a few of the faint fuzzies from the Messier and Caldwell catalogues with the 8" newt and to do bit of general browsing with the 80mm in between. It was only intended as a short dash to see how many I could do, and then I’ll come back to my favourites another day and take more time. Apologies in advance as this ended up being a longer list than I’d intended and there’s no piccies. 😧 I set up the newt pointing south; my darkest horizon, with the little frac free to wander. I’d planned a bit of a route to make it easier and so by 9.30 the scopes were cooled, and it was dark enough to make a start. Venus was a lovely if featureless crescent in the binoviewers. It is noticeably larger than last time I viewed it, and the crescent more pronounced. It’s due to get larger and larger over the next few weeks reaching over 50" so well worth checking in on when you can in order to see the change. Open clusters M37. One of the open clusters in Auriga and a good place to start my dsos. An appealing cluster with lots of pin sharp stars on a lovely dark background. M35. Naked eye from here, just. In the scope another cluster beside it - NGC2158 which is apparently the same size but 6x further away. Galaxies - mostly M65 M66 and NGC3628 the Leo trio. Still can’t see how Messier missed NGC3628 as its just as bright to me as M65. After that it’s into Virgo and up towards Coma Berenices. M61. Swelling spiral. Not a spiral for me but does show a hint of something rather than being an oval fuzzy. It's supposed to be one of the most pleasing of the spirals for the amateur telescope but I think I need a darker sky. local lights only go down after midnight here and do make a difference. M49. Easy enough to find but pretty uniform to me. As are M58, M59 and M60. Three fuzzy ellipses, not that exciting in my scope. M84 and M86 Markarian’s chain. Several galaxies in one field of view. All fuzzy patches but several fairly obvious ones besides the Messiers make this a view worth teasing more out of. M87 Smoking gun. Well, if you say so. O'Meara has it as one of the more massive galaxies known, with a central black hole of 3billion solar masses! M89 and M90 with 90 being the brighter and seeming to show a little structure maybe? I think that'll deserve more time. M91 faint, need averted vision to find. M88 faint. M85 faint but also something nearby. Think it’s NGC4394 M53 Nice little globular. Several bright stars nearby including a useful guide pair make it easier to find. M64 Black eye. Fairly bright elongated galaxy. Not much in same field with it. M3 Lovely globular. Easy in bins and scope. It’s now 2am and reasonably dark..for here anyway, at 20.5 and starts to resolve with a little patience. Lovely to study with a bigger mirror, but as it gets darker it's getting better. M63 Sunflower. Bright enough elongated fuzzy. Two faint stars nearby help locate. M94 Crocs eye. Bright elongated galaxy. M101 I find it reasonably easily. A definite large faint misty patch with direct vision, slightly better indirect with a hint structure visible? M51 Whirlpool and NGC5195 easy enough to see together with direct vision but no real structure. C21 a fairly obviously bright patch. C32 Whale galaxy. Yes. Decent sized bright elongated. Globulars and planetaries With galaxies out of the way it’s onto some easier targets. M5 Lovely globular. Resolves well with higher mag. It almost has fine wings of stars spreading to either side the more I study it. M12 M10 and M14. Three more but not quite to the same level, although M10 is good. M13 and M92 in Hercules. A favourite to begin my wind down as the sky brightens; whilst M92 is lovely too and oddly neglected in favour of its neighbour. Worth more time under darker sky. M57 ring nebula compact and clear planetary nebula with I’m sure a hint of colour, whilst M27 dumbbell nebula is much larger, grey and has less well-defined boundaries. C27 crescent nebula. It’s around 4am now and too light for dsos (sqm 18) so this one is a washout. Therefore over to the rising planets skulking behind the trees. Planets I started with a planet so only fair to see these to end with. Jupiter looked lovely with 2 moons to either side. I’d forgotten how much I missed the planets and the image is stable as it climbs higher so seeing is still good and in the little frac with binoviewers I can make out several belts. Good to see again. Saturn looks serene in the brightening sky, hanging at an angle, but too small in this scope to show much. Mars is small and wobbly so I'm moving on, but looking forward to autumn when it high and hopefully full of detail. Moon makes an appearance, low down and deep amber coloured. The crater Aristarchus brightly showing bright rays to one side is the highlight. I end at around 6.30. There’s been no wind, no frost, no dew and packing up in daylight is so much easier. Next - breakfast and bed! Summary and lessons learned. Plan a schedule and you get more in. I checked out around 50+ objects and even took a few photos on the way but that's really too much. I'm frazzled. 9 hours still goes quite quickly when you’re engrossed. My drive motors sound incredibly loud when slewing to the next thing at 2am! They say an 8inch scope can show you stuff for a lifetime and based on this session that’s true, but I can’t help feel I need a scope at least twice as big to be sure I’ve seen some of the hints of structure. Aperture fever is stoked by this kind of night. Either that or a move to darker skies but a scope is cheaper than a house in the country. 😀 Actually if you've struggled this far you deserve a pic. M13 through the 80mm. A few frames stacked. A starting point even if the colour is a bit off. Thanks.

Lovely. I had a crack at that too last night. Amazing how the details changed over time on the edge.

I guess with our weather that makes it a little tricky? Not often we get three in a row. I think the attraction of being able to pop the roof off an obsy and take advantage of an unexpected clear spell is one of the things pulling me in that direction. That and the time saved setting up and putting away. I usually end up with a dining room full of scopes, eyepieces and other clutter to pack away the following day after a night observing. At least I can move that mess up the garden if I do this. 😀

Humbolt is what I make it too. At least according to virtual and real atlas, which say it has a chain of mountains on the floor. Neither source do it the justice that through the eyepiece or these pics do though. Looks great.

Can only manage three then 😞 Although I do have my old 60mm tasco in the loft with its very basic tripod.

or one eye each on the same binoviewer?

Thanks Goran. Yes I'm thinking at the moment of a starting with a separate foundation for the pier and then building around it might be best. I was out last night under the moonlight working out the best spot. Double checking to make sure no house or street lights could get to where I intend to site it. Bet the neighbours will think I'm nuts wandering around in the dark, especially staring at the moon! 🙂

This is just brilliant. If it had been in black and white the music at the start reminded me of Harold Lloyd or something similar.

Great idea. Can't comment on the height but seeing your pic I can't help but think I shouldn't have thrown away the 4m long card insert my new carpet came on in January..... never throw anything away!!!

Some more great info. Thanks. sounds like a scope space around 8x8 is looking fairly likely to start with. Mike your obsy looks nicer than some of the rooms in my home! Lovely. My initial feeling was to go for a roll off roof and I had ideas of maybe a decking area under the supports for the roll off bit. just to use the space. I know the rubberised flooring is anti slip but we had something similar at work that actually was a bit slippy when wet, does dew cause any issues? James thanks, take your point about standard sheds, some are pretty flimsy with thin chipboard roof clearly holding the sides up. I suppose my thoughts on converting were based on what I did I with my dad when I first got into astro in the 80s, where we converted a shed to have a side that folded down. it lasted 30 years, but then that was only one side compromised. I think what I'm probably aiming for is a situation like yours where one scope can be permanently mounted and I can use it for either visual or if taking a few images, I can use another outside for visual. Gina, thanks. I do like the idea of a warm room, just as a place to shelter for a few minutes and to set up a laptop to check stellarium etc while I'm there. I'm more visual than imaging, at this point at least.

Some great ideas there thanks. More pondering required. I did at least clear the patch a little more today so have a better idea of space, even if I don't need it all. Skipper Billy. Love the obsy and a great website and images. interesting to see your changes in scopes and the mock up you did of the scope to check it fitted your planned build. great idea.

After some great nights for astro recently, I've again started pondering the benefits of having an obsy in the garden, especially as I may have some time on my hands this year. I normally observe from a spot near the house, which is good in terms of the views to the east, south and west. It’s also ideal for when I want to pop indoors for a cuppa or for when I want to grab another bit of kit or check stellarium on the laptop. The downsides to this are the neighbours’ lights and the fact that I must keep three scopes in the dining room and cart one or more out each time. I’ve identified a site which avoids any direct lighting from streetlamps or neighbours’ houses. Trees are a bit more of an issue though, so views will be more limited, although north will be better without my house in the way. Not sure of size but I laid out some canes that felt about right at 12x8 ish. So, onto my questions to you good folk. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the following? Building something Buying or converting something like a robust shed Just sinking a pier in the spot I’m thinking of and see how I go? My initial thought was to convert a bought shed but then I thought maybe I should build something. I can imagine getting hold of materials will be a problem for a while so I’m just at the planning stage really and I’m scavenging for ideas from the great build threads on here. My interests are probably a 70:30 split between visual and some basic imaging. I suppose my greatest reservation to doing this is the cost. After all I could probably buy a lovely big dob for the price of an obsy, but then where would I keep it?

They're good for the price. I like the 8mm. The 12mm is good too. Not keen on the 25mm though. Stars aren't great in any of my scopes except in the centre.

I actually use one of these. Bought it from the range for about £30 a few years back. Works great on my decking and hard surfaces. not tried on lawn though. Padded, so very comfortable and height obviously adjustable although not low enough if your using a frac at zenith, but then, you're into camping mat territory really 🙂

Bit short notice but stellarium tells me the ISS passes just south of both Rigel and Sirius in its next pass in about twenty minutes (8.51-8.52). At least as seen from mid uk.

With Venus in amongst the stars of M45 I took the chance to take a few images with the camera. However, the bright planet drowned the stars and was so bright I couldn't get anything I liked. So, out with the paper and pencil for a quick sketch. A very enjoyable experience. Definitely try this sort of thing again, as I've only previously sketched lunar and planets up close. I have to say the human eye does a good job under these conditions, being able to switch from very bright objects to very faint, pretty much instantly, and I could see far more than the camera picked up. Anyway, attached is my quick field sketch. I definitely need a sharper pencil next time; my stars are pretty ragged. Also how do people sketch such star rich targets, is there a method you use? The longer I looked the more I noticed and had to keep revisiting sections of the sketch to add ever fainter stars.

Think it will be still be worth a look tomorrow and in the same field of view, although not in amongst them. 🙂

Not bad here either at the mo. Moon in one scope is looking fabulous in the binoviewers. Venus phase clear in the other, but still a bit too light to see more than the brightest members of the group. Encouraging though.

I had a UPS delivery from Germany which arrived on Tuesday. It wasn't a UPS van though, just an unmarked transit. Maybe they are spread a bit thin or short of drivers? Also had a delivery via DHL this week. I got a helpful text with an estimated time of arrival and on their website could see I was delivery no 68, and what number the driver was at so far. Much better. At least this time.

Its another gorgeous crescent this evening. Great pics. Just seen a satellite pass in front of the moon and across the earthshine lit side. magic.

Not sure. Taken about 7.30 pm here. its now 8.45 ish

Lovely crescent moon here tonight with Venus blazing away above so thought I'd take a quick snap through the scope. Took some video too but I'll have to process that later. Doesn't do it justice really. One of those times when just looking with your eyes or a pair of binoculars is better.