LukeSkywatcher

About an hour ago, I arrived home from an Ed Sheeran concert in Dublin. When I got out of the car I saw 3 white light in the sky roughly traveling in a SE direction. They were spaced out from each other. 

As I watched, the central light kept going in a straight line, while the outer ones on either side veered of course (one to the left, one to the right). They didn't do 90 degree turns. They just slightly changed trajectory in a curve and went their separate ways.

Definitely wasn't birds being lit up on their bellies. 

It was pretty cool.

Wow!!!!. Lovely group. I may have to take the Quark Chromosphere out tomorrow (clouds permitting).

On 05/10/2020 at 17:15, Merlin said:

I use a laser pen on my bins on the homemade binocular mirror mount and discreetly. We might as well ban kitchen knives too if lasers pens are regarded as a bad thing. We are not the types who point lasers at aircraft.

A problem I have with laser pens is finding one that doesn't wilt in cold weather. Can anyone recommend a good supplier? 

Laser pointers really don't like the cold. The batteries die very quickly. They won't last long at all if you keep the power button pressed down if using as a "dot finder". 

On 18/04/2022 at 08:45, Stu said:

I was just reaching into the crisping drawer of the fridge to pull out my finest lettuce when I realised I had misinterpreted the title of the thread….🥬🥬 (those are cabbages but I couldn’t find a lettuce emoji, surprisingly)

Rather more seriously, I enjoyed using these little Orion 8x20s for a while, handy to always have something with me and quite surprising what they would actually show under a dark sky.

Boba Fett's jetpack.

LOL

I bought a lovely set of 2.1x42 bins a few yrs ago. Identical to the Vixen above, but about half the price. I can't remember what brand (possibly Omegon....I haven't used them in a long time). The low powered wide views are gorgeous. A lot of people on here said that they tried similar bins but didn't get on with them. I've had no issues. 

I must dig them out soon and get lost in the vista.

5 hours ago, niallk said:

Sounds class!! - and a big congratulations to you both on your engagement 🍾🥂

We've been engaged since 29th Feb 2020 (Leap year). Tradition dictates that on a leap year, women can propose marriage. Lorna did exactly that. Our wedding is set for 9th December 2022.

The southwestern lobe looks like a monkey skull, but I think that name has been taken?. 

Myself and Lorna are discussing where we want to go on our honeymoon. We've thought about Japan or Australia. Lorna's SIL is Australian (but lives in Ireland) and Lorna has been there 2-3 times over the yrs, so not exactly a dream destination for her. 

I got to thinking that the 2024 eclipse would be perfect as we both have family and friends living there and neither of us have ever been. 

My bestman for the wedding lives in Syracuse (NY) and is right under the path of totality. We are thinking "Kill 2 birds with 1 stone". Fly over for however long (staying in hotels), view the eclipse and maybe visit family and friends. We'd obviously rent a car so we can do some touristy stuff.

Hopefully our plan comes to fruition. If Lorna is lucky, we may even fly 1st class.

On 29/03/2022 at 10:35, KevinPSJ said:

Highly recommend naked eye and binoculars to start with. If you have not done any astronomy before and especially if you don't have someone with you to talk you through things like using finderscope, starhopping and generally finding your way around, then jumping straight in with a telescope will be very challenging and more likely to lead to frustration and disappointment than joy and wonder

If you are starting with no experience then I definitely think a pair of 10 x 50s or even 7 x 30 binoculars and a tripod will be money well spent. You can get some really quick wins - the moon looks amazing and is very easy to find! Scanning the milky way on a summers night with binoculars is always an amazing experience - I never get tired of that. Spotting jupiter's moons is easily within reach. You can see globular clusters, open clusters and, if you have a dark sky, galaxies and nebula. The other advantage is you don't need to worry about finderscope or inverted or mirror image views so locating things is considerably more straight forward.

If you are still interested after a season or two then adding a telescope to your equipment doesn't mean you won't stop using the binoculars - they will always be useful and enjoyable for astronomy. And if you lose interest in the hobby they are still a handy thing to have whenout walking or on holiday - same can't be said of an EQ3-2 mount  

I can't agree more. I've been observing for 42 yrs. I started out with a pair of 10x50 bins. I didn't buy my 1st scope until 2007.

Since then, I can hardly remember what scopes and bins I own:

8Se is a great scope. I have one in my arsenal.

"By no stretch of the imagination". That's a measurement that is so large that our imagination can't comprehend it. 

Think I just confused myself.

Gnats private parts are the new microns, don't you know.

Don't watch it since SPM passed away.

Sounds like CA.

Nestle meteorite samples.

Sorry, I can't believe it. 

I bought the SW AZ5 tripod and mount about 4 yrs ago. I've never had any issues with this combo. I typically mount a Bresser 102 refrac on it for solar observing (with a Quark Chromosphere). The AZ5 is a thing of beauty. I love the green and white, and also the sleek curves. 

My rule of thumb:

If it looks like a cloud, it must be a cloud.

Happy Birthday Pluto.

2 hours ago, Fegato said:

I put a throw on it...   but it's not really big enough

Perfect.

34 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Doesn’t work

Looks good to me. Just a coat hangin out in the corner.

The simplest way to hide a scope is to hang a coat on it. SWMBO will never know.

Damn!!!!

32 minutes ago, Dave scutt said:

This is our summer 🤣

Christmas Day, it absolutely chucked it down with rain. We still had Shrimps on the bbq and crab meat on lettuce with Mary Rose sauce because the SIL is a true blue Aussie.

On a serious note, Lorna would love to be my wing-person while observing. She's never looked through a telescope. She has a passing interest and it would be lovely to star gaze together. Molly the dog too would be with us roaming the garden, protecting us both against any furry critters, but basically barking and annoying the neighbours. 

Where Lorna goes, Molly follows. They are inseparable.

13 minutes ago, Dave scutt said:

Just the thing for Ireland 

Usually. The weather over the last 2 weeks had been very mild. We have the back door open most nights and no heating on. I'm sitting in the kitchen as I type, door open and wearing a t-shirt. 

We'll pay for it in Feb/Mar I bet.