Moonshane

It's fairly standard to ask between 50-75% of new depending on how scarce or in demand what you are selling and how quickly you want to sell. 

Great sketch. I do sketches in a similar way but the reverse the colours in the basic phone software. There are lots of sketches here which might give some ideas. I often do a rough one at the eyepiece with exaggerated sizes to help with a neater version done later. It's great fun and improves your observing too.

Here's my M45 if you click the photo it should take you to the thread.

I did what is suggested in this video and it improved the performance substantially

Made the other two roof panels today so looking more like a building now 😀

I pretty much use it on setting 4 for 1.25" and 3 for 2". Works for me.Might not be perfect but saves all the messing about.

More a star hope

haha yeah I remember that. I still cannot star hop as well with an eq as I can with an AZ!

Here's the mount in position (just plonked for effect).

It was indeed exactly that 👍

LOL

I am guilty of that too. I did the whole thing in a day which didn't help. The bucket is an attempt to prevent water going down the side of the concrete (i.e. inside the tube walls) as it might sit there and then split something when the colder weather comes.

I'll take some pics over the weekend no doubt.

If you are concentrating on solar system objects then I'd suggest that the scope is a secondary consideration. From my perspective, what transformed my planetary observing was a combination of a tracking mount and beginning to sketch.

Either an equatorial platform for a dob or a tracking AZ or eq mount would be a great investment. An eq5 with drives would be fine with eg a 120mm refractor or 150mm Mak. 

All that said, the planets are great but have seasons when they are in and not in accessible positions and it might be worth thinking more generally. In such a case then if funds are tight, you won't go wrong with a manual 8" dob but start saving or making an equatorial platform and it will enhance your observing experience no end.

hi Alan

The pier is poured! See above. It's rock solid. 

I'll be using a 120mm Equinox and a 100mm PST mod on the pier and will have 16" and 12" dobs on the other sides. 

Hope to get the other two frames done this weekend along with painting the frames and then sorting out the mechanisms. Plus the final trimming of the floor and fixing down (after bringing conduit and wiring through of course.Then I can clad etc. Should be finished by the end of October with any luck although I should be able to have a few trials before then.

my own pier cost about £20 in hardcore and recycled materials and freebies from friends. It's 140cm high and 10" in diameter.

In my. 100mm pst mod with binos I get visual images far sharper than the video both of proms and disk. I usually use 68 or about 68-85x occasionally 115x which is right in ratio for aperture re Peter's 150mm.

Yep totally. I think sometimes we obsess about getting as low in declination as possible but for visual observers in light polluted areas surrounded by houses there's often no point. Higher in the sky is darker and more stable. I have decided to accept my (somewhat self imposed) circumstances and make the best of it. 👍

PS I like trees and think there's a balance between a garden to enjoy and maximising observing.

I have an issue with trees and the fact my garden drops about 25 feet over its length. I have accepted that there's no point looking north as it's toward Manchester that way and light pollution rules out anything worthwhile. Towards the house and uphill is the best sky looking south, east and more or less west. There are a lit of trees and I cannot see anything below a 30 degree angle on the scope. However, even in these circumstances I feel an obs is worth it as I can access more objects than I'll ever get bored with and will not be (or should not be) affected by affected by local lights and will therefore have better quality of opportunity. I'd reconsider whether or not the patch of sky visible would be worth it to you.

Here's my (in progress) obs

to my mind it totally depends on the scope being used. In most slower scopes (f ratio of maybe f7 or more) pretty much any eyepiece will give decent views. Slower scopes f6 or less will start to challenge the cheaper ones. Other than extremely faint or subtle detail at the edge of seeing, no eyepiece even an ultra expensive one will show you something that a cheaper one will not (assuming the object fits in the field of view). However, the journey might just be a little more pleasing to the eye with a more expensive option.

I did a comparison a while back which might explain my own findings.

35 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

I liked your post very much and many points resonated with me. This last one, though, misses a key point about astrophotography and, more specifically, about image processing, which is (for me) the most rewarding part. Your choice of the term 'intimacy' is an excellent one, but it applies just as perfectly to image processing as it does to visual observing. It's a different kind of intimacy, sure, but it's a closely related one. Our data often contains the merest hints of signal just above the background sky and who knows what faint structures might lie, tantalizingly, within that signal? They might be tidal tails from ancient interactions, they might be vast extensions of better known and brighter nebulae, they might be ghostly outer spiral arms rarely seen or they might be traces of the Interated Flux Nebulosity. Then again, careful sharpening might find new structural details on the finest scales. The object becomes a friend, gradually revealing more of itself, providng answers yet posing new questions. What, for example, might the source of that particle wind which must surely be sweeping through Orion from the west, imploding the western side of Barnard's Loop and shaping the Meissa Nebulosity? No visual observation can know even that this phenomenon exists because it is both too large and too faint for any eyepiece yet for me, processing an Orion image, it became a source of fascination, an intimate interaction with that constellation. 

I don't feel I know an object until I've imaged it. Looking at someone else's image doesn't work.  I need to work through the data processing to feel confident that I know it.

Olly

 

Great post Olly.

Reminds me of

Will definitely need a central back to front cross member made of 2x 3x2s. I'll make it removable as it's only needed when snow is likely. Plus it will be blocking sky if fixed!

The frame albeit bare is actually a lot lighter than expected.

Getting excited now......

Between showers managed to make one of the roof frames.

Painted frame

There's lots in the forum often as starred permanent entries at the top of sections e.g.

For me at least I have limited time and I'd sooner spend it doing what I enjoy most. That is finally tracking down that faint object or that planetary/lunar/solar feature with my own eyes, relaxing under the skies. 

What has spoiled it for me is inconsiderate people and specifically poorly sited and directed lights. I can cope with ambient/domed general light pollution but other more local lights coming on really destroy the enjoyment. This is the main reason I have recently begun work on an observatory in the hope I can observe in (darker) peace.

I think Stu's point about communication is very apposite. Given the popularity of astronomy I suspect the numbers of visual observers is probably more than there has ever been but maybe they don't showcase obs as often and maybe as a percentage of total observers (also surely extremely high comparatively) the number is smaller than usual.

Some progress today. Not as much as I hoped but I have a pier!

Original length

Cut down by about 500mm

Also cut down the girder that's in the block.

Made some rough levellers

Fitted small brackets to bottom to prevent shift and lift when putting concrete in.

And in position. 

Pretty level. Close enough.

Made a fixed length piece to allow checking for centralisation

Used the sun at solar noon to confirm north position. Luckily bone of the frame uprights was in just the right spot

Checked with a plumb line to be sure

Marked position both sides

and filled!

Also painted the whole frame black. Next will be the roof. However, I may add the breathable fabric to the sides and front so I can use it (sort of). The pier will be painted with hammerite or similar. I'll probably powder coat and the top.