westmarch

The Leeds Local Gov. website showed a google map that gave the code for each lamp post. I contacted the tel. no. and spoke a call centre for the sub contractor. I must confess that I said it was due to light trespass into a bedroom window, even though the lamppost is in front of my neighbours house. They said that the council would review it and authorise a shield. She said that normally they do it within two weeks. The cherry picker showed up the following week and the job took literally five minutes. I spoke to the engineer and he said that he fitted several a week. Maybe its COVID but nobody seems to be looking too deeply into the reasons for fitting. My advice @Aramcheckand @ScouseSpaceCadetis to get a request in - what’s to loose? Good luck. John

Having read this thread, I finally contacted Leeds City Council to have a shield fitted to the lamp post that shines into our garden. Online form identified the offending lamp post and call to an attached tel. no. resulted in a shield fitted the following week. Superb service. John

Hi there, welcome to the forum. Have loads of fun with your Dob and those dark skies. BW John

Great post. I am not sure I have heard the word easy used before to describe finding Pluto. John

Lovely report, M81 and M82 are one of my favourite combinations in the FOV. I recommend the Leo galaxies, in Spring, as a treat to look forward to. Don’t you just get such a sense of achievement star hopping to find your target popping up as planned? I was looking at the planets last night and after looking at Jupiter and Saturn, thought I would star hop to Neptune, while waiting for Mars to come from behind a tree. Couldn’t see much below Pegasus due to the light pollution from an industrial estate but starting off at Markab in Pegasus, I was able to star hop down using the FOV of my 40mm plossl. Took about 20 mins but lo and behold up it pops as part of a tight little asterism in Aquarius. Its low tech but not much to go wrong. 😀 John

Hello and welcome to the forum. A dark sky is worth many inches of telescope aperture. Of course you also need clear skies, here’s hoping you have many. John

Hi there, welcome to the forum. John

Hi there, On the other hand, nights are longer there in the winter. Welcome to the forum. John

Hi there, welcome to the forum. Loads to learn but we were all you at some time. Enjoy the journey. John

I sympathise with the OP and have always struggled to make out any detail on Mars. I chanced to wake this morning at 04:15 and noticed Mars prominent to the south. Not wanting to wake my wife, I couldn’t drag out the dob and instead used my old ETX 90 from another window. The sky was very transparent and seeing was also remarkably good. Indeed, I was able to push magnification up to x280! I could clearly see the South Polar Cap and a darker southern hemisphere corresponding to Mare Serenum but I agree with: I broke my duck with Mars this morning but it required patience, good conditions and 45mins of sustained viewing to tease out the features. I tried a variety of filters but in the end settled for unfiltered vision. Good luck and persevere. John

Hi there, welcome to the forum. Wishing you clear and dark skies with your new telescope. John

The first telescope was someone looking up through the bottom of the bottle wondering where the contents went. John

Hi Richard, welcome to the forum. Hope you find something nearby. John

Moderators, This offer from Neil deserves to be highlighted rather than buried in a thread. John

Im not too far from Harrogate and, like you, was surprised how hard it is to find a good spot. Sutton Bank is my nearest dark site, though you can find yourself stranded atop it on a sub zero night before the gritters have been out. 😱 John

Hi there, have you considered contacting your local astronomy club? Most have preferred viewing areas and regular viewing sessions (at least pre COVID they did). John

Like Kerry, I was up for a view of the comet with the bonus of Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn also visible in a clear sky. I must confess, despite trying over a number of years, I have yet to get a decent view of Mars that shows anything other than a reddish disk. I am looking forward to later this year as a chance to break my duck but would appreciate any recommendations re filters, etc. I often get confused with whether the detail that is described is a result of AP processing or a visual observation. John

What a beautiful piece of restoration work, a fitting tribute to a classic piece of engineering. John

Shane, welcome back. Your posts on equatorial platforms were pinned on my desktop as a tutting reminder that I needed to get my finger out! Best thing I ever did! 👍 John

I frequently see posts that decry the use of apps or astronomy VDUs on the basis that any display, no matter how dim or red, will ruin your night vision. Presumably those who use print outs need a red light to see them. Has anyone conducted a rigorous assessment, with a photometer, to compare the light output of the two methods? Or is this a bit like wine tasting? 🤔 John

Great report and love your star hopping skills. It's something you never need to reboot, upgrade or polar align. John

To try to inject a note of hope into this, is it not likely that imaging software will evolve to remove the noise of satellites from images. Is it not just about software consulting a database of satellite position and time? John

My Lightbridge 250 Truss Dob has grown old with me and has had its own surgical modifications. The grab handle was the first but the home made shroud, dew shroud, RACI finder, red dot finder, bike chain counterweight, fan battery mount, eyepiece case holder and equatorial platform have followed as tinkering days outnumbered viewing nights! John

Alternatively, attach a heavy biker’s chain to the rear end of the dob. The lower the scope elevation, the greater the amount of chain suspended to balance the increased moment from the eyepiece end. John

I wish you many happy hours using it. John