JOC

That is quite superb - I must have missed it previously, well done. I bet you were pleased with the final result.

Is that real or photoshopped!

What a train of disasters! I like the idea of the light on the outside of the building and think theidea of the use of the lamps that are used on tailboards could be really useful as they are surely waterproof!

Many thanks for the offer - I've got a busy day today, but I'll have look when I get a few minutes and get back to you once I've found some to use. 🙂

Hi There, that's great - many thanks. Sorry I didn't realise that anyone had posted - I'm used to getting notifications instantly when starting a new thread - now I see that I have to switch on 'follow topic' which I hadn't done. Good job I checked back anyway 🙂 Yes, those are the sorts of things I had in mind. Also, those things with funny 'everyday' names, like the triangulum galaxy above (I love that it's not a triangle!) and as noted above those nebulas with everyday names like dumb-bell, horsehead and catseye - yes and the crab as noted above etc. Anything along those lines would be great. As I note above I don't think many people realise that such pictures can be obtained from earth from peoples own kit - I certainly didn't realise until I joined SGL.

Just make sure that Daylight savings time adjustments don't mess up any timers LOL!

If you haven't already done so I'd commend at the very least looking at the pictures on the first page of this thread: Then remember you have a far smaller scope that the 8" that is often used for comparison. FWIW you might benefit from looking out for a second hand Skywatcher 150P or 200P Dobsonian telescope which are often recommended for beginners.

As many of you will be aware I am a STEM ambassador. Due to lockdown the STEM Ambassador group are making online quizzes about all sorts of science based things (doesn't have to be national curriculum). The quizzes are being done via a Powerpoint platform and typically take the form of a question, 3 options for answers, then the answer given and perhaps a brief factoid about the answer. There are generally about 10 questions per quizz. The thing is any images used really need to be sans copyright or with permission for them to use them (I think they OK with citing sources on the slides though) so please note this. I am constantly amazed at the detailed images all you imagers get of the remarkable deep sky objects and wondered if some of might like to help with the quizzes. Possibly as in what is the name of this DSO (and possibly even targets on the sun and moon - such as what is this bit of the sun, or where is this crater/name on the moon) or even names of constellations. (There may even be three quizzes here!). I don't think we need your most hi-res pictures (the Powerpoint slides need to load in YouTube), so obviously pics that would render well in the Powerpoint slide environment would be sufficient detail. What do you think, could anyone help with either a joint or solo effort to help bolster interest in the night sky, esp. if it is pointed out that all this has been done from amateur telescopes in people's back yards? I am constantly amazed at what you all manage to achieve.

Oh, look....... I woke up this morning and had remembered that my parents sundial has an 'equation of time' printed on it to adjust the shadow position by a certain number of minutes at different times of year and that this was an uneven wave of changing magnitude. I wondered if this was due to the Analemma effect and it was - the shape is drawn on the graphs here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equation_of_time#:~:text=The United States Naval Observatory,sun the sign is negative. I just thought this might be of additional interest.

This is today's thing learned. I had no idea it made that sort of shape. In fact if it was April 1st I'd surely be wondering, but as it isn't it must be today's thing learned!

Same story as above, I didn't have any problems with my non-branded Canon replacement batteries that I bought many years ago, when I need them too they still take a charge even now. Mind you I still try to use the Canon ones of which I have enough when I can dig them out.

Many thanks, yes - I'd already found them, but it's nowhere near as convenient as having the obvious buttons on the bottom of the post.

It's been mentioned above, but could we please have the edit button back at the bottom of the posting? I use the edit button a lot and its a PITN to have to click the three dots to find it. FWIW I'm also not keen on the list of stats that have started to appear at the bottom of the screen when I visit a new thread - is there any way of turning that off at a user level please? Please also the same request for the facebook, twitter, youtube icons that have appeared in the top menu none of which I would ever use. Perhaps we could have a new view and a legacy view option that users could select as tbh. I much preferred things before the changes when I fancy you could fit more on the screen.

It might be worth a posting in the SGL wanted section. 200P Dobsonians with the rocker mount are really popular and it's not unheard of for folks to go the other way and taken them off their rocker mounts and put them on tripods.

I might be barking up the wrong tree here, but if you have a 200P wouldn't a quick to use mount be to get hold of or make a Dobsonian rocker box style mount?

I couldn't resist commenting based on what my first thought was on seeing the thread title: Backlash is what you get when the other half finds out you've ordered more astronomy gear!!

There are not many reports on SGL of people that have tried them and not liked them. From what I read of ranges of EP's many of the decent types appear to have a couple within the range which are superb and others which are just very good, I see relatively few reports on SGL where decent brands of EP's have sizes which seem to drop into the 'good' or lower category. I suppose then it becomes do you covert a matched set of EP's (guilty as charged)? Or, are you prepared to own a box where you cherry pick the one or two 'superbs' from each line, but will never get a matched set?

It is worth a look at the pictures on the first page here: As written above there is a theorectical maximum magnification for a telescope. In the UK under our often poor viewing conditions I tend to find with my telescope that the practical viewing maximum is about half that of the theoretical maximum. Thus, for my 1200mm reflectors I find that anything above about x200 is pushing it. Saturn and Jupiter might also be sharper at lower magnification and sometimes sharper and smaller is better at seeing things than less sharp and larger. As written above a 9mm or 10mm Eye piece is probably sufficient for you to see what we all want to see - those rather smart rings around Saturn. Just because telescopes are sold with all these fancy attachments, ridiculously small eyepieces, x some amount converters and massive spiels about what this might allow you to see, the reality is probably not anywhere close! Lower your expectations and leave half the kit in the box and you might get somewhere.

Frozen padlocks and catches on gates here too. Where possible the solution is to warm them in gloved hands for a few minutes. A one off solution is to tip hot water over them, but you have to be mindful that this then adds water to the situation esp. padlocks which can potentiate the situation the next morning. Mind you a good squirt with WD40 or similar water resisting oil does help a lot and is a good protection measure. If you can keep a surface of water from forming on catches or in padlocks then things won't freeze solid. W.r.t. car doors, although there is a school of thought which suggests that the addition of oil type residues can affect ultimate their longevity, it is usually water in the door seals which freezes car doors solid. Some cars like MKIII Octavias! are more prone to getting water in their door seals than others, but as a one off solution every now and then I do treat my door seals with something to expel the water. Things like a rub with silicone gel, a squirt with silicone aerosol, a tiny amount of vaseline, etc. might all be worth investigation in your own situations as all might help prevent car doors seals from freezing. The trouble is once frozen you can exert a great deal of pressure when opening a car door and if you rip a frozen seal they be awkward and costly to fix. I hope these ideas help.

NB. The OP might find it useful to have Astrobaby's definitive work on collimation to hand http://www.astro-baby.com/astrobaby/help/collimation-guide-newtonian-reflector/

My thought on looking at the photo was wondering if the focusser tube had been put in upside down?

You saw E and F - wow!

My telescope is performing well when I get a hint of bands in Jupiter - no real colours - possibly brown, maybe a hint of pink in Mars. No, as mentioned above I saw the same relative sizes as in your photo's. A hint of the split between the ring and the planet in Saturn and a line of Jupiter moons. I've look at some photo's and you can't see the Jupiter moons, but in yours I can - it looks quite similar to what I saw at the EP.

Yes, that's like I saw visually 🙂

Well this was worth getting the scope out for. We viewed at around x100 with the Morpheus 12.5mm in the 200P - beautiful clear view SW at about 1730. To the naked eye I could only see one point of light. Initially I eyeballed the location with my x50 birding bins and that magically provided two points of light one clearly larger than the other. I checked the encroaching cloud situation and decided to grab out the scope which sits fairly cool in the unheated porch. And dumped it about 5m from the back door. Then after remembering how to set it up and some initial fiddling to find them with my 32mm omni plossl and optical finder I heaved them into frame and x100 seemed about spot on. Very pretty and all the household except my 83 yr old father came out to look. NB. At the time we looked we also had 5 of Jupiter's moons in view all strung out in a straight line, one to one side and 4 to the other. That somewhat added to the effect 🙂