Nyctimene

Binoculars in the house; the scopes live most of the time in the shed at ambient temperature (sometimes changing their place to other locations in the large barn housing the shed ). Stephan

According to many mentions in the thread suggested by Zermelo above, I'd vote for the Skywatcher 100 P or it's larger brother, the 130 P Flextube. Very compact, easy and intuitively to handle. The optics are excellent, the mechanics (Dobsonian mount) sturdy. Holds collimation well and will give very good views of every kind of celestial objects. I bought a 130 P Flextube three years ago, and it's my most used grab-and-go scope. Many pleased owners on here. Stephan

July 18th, 2013, I observed Campbell's Hydrogen Star with the 18" f4/5 Obsession. Cranking up the magnification to 341 with a 6 mmf Ortho showed an intense orange coloured star, but not the halo (just moderate seeing). No filter used. One of the few objects that show hydrogen radiation. The starlike planetary is visible with 4"; colour can be seen up from 12" aperture (according to a German observer's handbook). Here some infos from the Deep Sky Forum: deepskyforum.com/showthread.php?178-Object-of-the-Week-July-22-2012-%96-Campbell%92s-Hydrogen-Star So, give it a try with your 6"; happy hunting! Stephan

Hello, Mark and Peter, attached two pictures showing the Wachter Gigant - a straight-through binocular (no angled binos available then - the first ones were the Miyauchis). With a pupil diameter of 6/6.5 mm (age 68!), I can still use it's huge exit pupils with only a slight loss of light (equivalent to a 14x84 approx.).The front lenses were never cleaned. Still rewarding under SQM-L 21+/Bortle 4 skies. M 31 fills the field of view. Stephan

Some cloud gaps this morning prompted me to take out my trusty Wachter Gigant 14x100 binocular, bought in 1979. Mounted on a tripod with geared center column and a new Manfrotto fluid head, it was a joy to scan the rising winter targets. The Pleiades were nicely framed within the 3.1° field of view; no nebulae visible due to the sub-average 5.0 NELM skies. Over to Davis' Dog; the Hyades; followed by the Auriga Messiers. oc NGC 1907 close to M 38 was distinct, as was the oc 1892 SE of the "Flying Minnow", with it's unmistakable three-armed shape. From M 36 to M 37; then to M 35 - just joyful sweeping. Orion had risen, so to M 42, that filled almost a third of the field of view with it's bat wings. A short star hop from T Lep to Hind's Crimson Star R Leporis, appearing to me this night in a deep orange hue. The Double Cluster, almost at zenith, and finally M 33, M81/82 ended the session - still enriched by the nightly fragrant flowers (no frost here up to now!)-, after an hour of relaxed sweeping at 02.45 CEST. In former years, I've observed many comets with the 14x100, then the biggest binocular available on the German market. Produced by a renowned German manufactury, it is still (despite it's simple blue coating, and the short eye relief), a very capable instrument, that resided for many years in the shadow of the two big Dobsonians. Now, easier to use with the very comfortable fluid head, I will give it more opportunities and explore the southern parts of the Winter Milky Way. Ageless instrument, ageless awe and joy under timeless skies. Thanks for reading Stephan

A 42"/107 cm Dob in Germany : http://www.herzberger-teleskoptreffen.de/news/ds06.php (English text and pictures in "Dobson-Teleskop") Stephan

Under 5.5 mag/SQM-L 21.1 skies, I've spotted M 33 repeatedly with my tiniest optical device, a Docter 6x21 monocular (excellent optical quality - Zeiss). 130 mm aperture are more than enough under decent dark skies; give it a try, and have patience; good luck! Stephan

As a rule of thumb, a reflector telescope (Newtonian, classical Cassegrain) will need about 5 minutes cool down time per inch of aperture; a 41/2" approximately 20 min. , a 10" almost an hour. That doesn't mean, that you cannot observe within this time - use low powers to sweep star fields and open clusters, or start star hopping to your target of the night. With progredient cooling, you can use higher powers. Storing your scope at ambient temperature (garage; garden shed; barn etc.) eliminates any cool down problems. Stephan

When using the Light Pollution Map, you can enable in the toggle menu "feature", and in this the options "SQM" +"SQM-L". You will now find in the map, shown as coloured circles, a whole bunch of SQM/SQM-L measurements by amateur stargazers, that represent the more accurate "down-up" perspective. You can add your own measurements as well. A lot of gaps between the different places, but gives a rather realistic view of the local light pollution. Stephan

Not cheap, but might be a lifetime investment: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p891_Tele-Vue-Astigmatism-corrector---0-25-dpt---DRX-0025.html Stephan

Welcome to this friendly forum, and the best wishes for your reconvalescence. To quote Marty (avatar "bumm"), CloudyNights forum : "This hobby has thrown me a lifeline during much worse times of my life. What would I ever have done without the stars?" Stephan

Coloured double stars have been mentioned above. You might also give the Carbon stars a try, that shine in various pink-orange-red hues. Herschel's Garnet Star; Hind's Crimson Star in the constellation Lepus south of Orion (deep red - the "Vampire Star") and La Superba in Canes Venatici would be great starters even under light-polluted skies. There are various lists in the net. Stephan

Two nice reports, orions_boot, that show your growing enthusiasm and skills very well. The star fields you memorize now will come to good use later, when using a (finder)scope. A 10x50 is a lifetime companion, complementary to any scope. Btw., have a look at the wonderfully deep orange star TX Piscium, in the eastern part of the Pisces "circlet ". The colour of this 5 mag star is a joy to behold in my 7x50 Fujinons. Stephan

You haven't to wait for the perfect skies. Was just out under very hazy skies, NELM 4,7 (47 Cyg close by), SQM-L20.85. M 31 near zenith barely visible. With the 8" f/4 and the ES 24 /82, together with an. Astronomik UHC, the Veil could be made out with direct vision (33x mag), even the fainter western part. Not much detais as filaments in the "claw", but visible as the well known arc, Stephan

I had this in mind, Gerry, as well as Stu's report with the 72 frac, when I took out, just for fun, the "Blue Penguin", a 76/300 Skywatcher Infinity 76 N, to chase the Veil. Conditions were sub-average with a NELM of just 5.0 (UMi). I started, as usual, from 52 Cyg, using a Baader UHC, that fitted quite well into the rubber eyeguard, and could make out the eastern part, partly with direct vision, but clearly with averted vision, as a faint arc, without details (15x mag). Switching to 30x made the view too dim. Intentionally, I did not use any map, memorized the star patterns, and compared later to SkySafari - a perfect match. The western part remained invisible, due to the sky conditions. All this with a "children's toy scope" (-which it is not, it's with 15x mag and 3° TFoV a very capable and affordable RFT). So, all you users of small(ish) scopes - give the Veil a try! Stephan

I' m using both Barlows, the legendary 2x Zeiss Abbe built to Zeiss specifications by Baader, and the 2.25x Turret Barlow. Both are excellent - you forget their existence, once inserted. To be honest, the 2.25x isn't much behind it's famous brother and works well with all my scopes down to f/4.5 ratios and all eyepieces. Very sharp, without edge distortions, neutral colour, lightweight. The 2x is slightly better with my 8" f/4; and I like the Clicklock for 11/4" eyepieces. You will not be disappointed by the very affordable 2.25x Turret Barlow. Stephan

Spotted the Veil with the Heritage 130 P Flextube several times during the last three years. At least the eastern part was almost always visible, even under sub-average 5.0 mag/NELM 20.0 skies, through an UHC filter, in better nights even without filter. Good luck for the hunt with your temporarily available 130 P! Stephan

Agree with John. 8" - 10" Dob, Orthoscopic eyepieces, UHC+O III filter, RDF/RACI finder combo, Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas, SkySafari Plus. Decent observing chair, warm clothing, winter boots. Stephan

Was out with the 18" Obsession this morning under hazy 5.0 NELM/21.1 SQM-L skies, prompted by a freshly released German observer's handbook "Beobachteratlas für Kurzentschlossene" to spot this chain of 9 members, close to Mirach. Starting from there, I was greeted by the very obvious and well detached galaxy NGC 404, "Mirach's Ghost". After a short star hop with the 18 mmf/82° Maxvision, giving 114x mag, the brightest member, 383 (12.4 mag), was immediately visible, almost round, with a brighter core region. N of it, the galaxy pair 379 and 380 (12.5/12.7) was obvious. The slightly fainter pair 384/385 to the south was visible directly, when I switched to the 10 mmf Zeiss Ortho. After several minutes, I was able to make out the much fainter 375 (14.3) to the west, with averted vision for about 30% of observing time. The fainter members remained invisible through the haze, but I'm sure, that they all are accessible under 5.5-5.8 skies. A pleasing view with 205x, and a rewarding target, for 12" or even 8" scopes. (Have a look at the Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas, chart D11). The warm late summer night was enriched by the scent of several nightly fragrant flowers, that I had sowed close by. I don't listen to music, when I'm observing - too much distraction for me. But these little summer greets were a nice addition; and so, after 1 hour of observing, quite content to bed at 04.20 CEST. Attached a picture (from the net): Thanks for reading Stephan

Have a look at this, a 150/750 Newton, Dobsonian mount: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p12279_Skywatcher-Dobson-Telescope-Heritage-150P-Flextube---150-mm-Aperture.html This scope, a shortly released slightly bigger brother of the excellent Skywatcher Heritage 130 P Flextube, gets good reviews (do some research on here) Teleskop-Express will also ship to Portugal; a very reliable partner. Stephan

+ 1 for that. Holds the collimation very well. Can be used very intuitively; uncomplicated; excellent optics. Stephan

Another one here attracted by the bisected Mare Crisium. Observed with the 5.1" Heritage under almost clear skies; average seeing. Found the Dorsae quite prominent; attractive was the crater trio Atwood, Bilharz and Naobonu, the first two displaying as well lit rings under the low sun. Gutenberg; Goclenius (the Rimae not visible); Colombo; Montes Pyrenaeus. Nice crater pairs of Colombo/C. A, Magelhaens/M. A. and McClure/Mc C. Slightly N of McClure C, I stumbled, pointed by LunarMap HD, over the concentric crater Crozier H. With mags of about 150x (Seben Zoom+ 2.25x Barlow), I could make out it's oval-pointed outer crater, but not the concentricity. Seems of similar difficulty as the concentric crater Marth; Hesiodus A is way easier. A nice detection; should be doable with the 8". - Mars with the small polar cap, and the darker "band" John mentioned. 45 minutes of pleasure in the early morning hours, ending 05.20 CEST. A comprehensive introduction to concentric craters here: https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/celestial-objects-to-watch/crazy-about-concentric-craters02252015/ Stephan

I fully agree with John's statements mentioned above. For more than ten years, I'm using the Baader Hyperion Mk III with all my scopes, and, combined with a widefield 25 - 30 mmf eyepiece and a Barlow (in my case, the Zeiss Abbe 2x Barlow), it fulfills all the needs for observing the vast majority of celestial targets. Very sharp, neutral colour, good build quality, reasonable eye relief. Refocusing (only minor adjustments) isn't an issue. For very detailed views, I always rely on good Orthos. Stephan

Hi, Adam, I had not realized that, sorry. But a nice image of M 45, with all the nebulosities well to make out; thanks Stephan

Hmmm.... I would not have expected, that the Merope nebula in the Pleiades extends that far - must be some of the astrophotography magics. But, as a purely visual observer and a complete neophyte to AP, I am wiser now. 😉 Stephan