Nyctimene

Was out under 4.9 NELM skies this evening with the new APM 16x70 and the Heritage 130 P. Spotted with both R Leporis, ("Hind's Crimson Star") (report in the "Double and Variable" section). A short stop with the 130 P at M 42 showed the Trapezium stars quite sharp, but no trace of stars E or F. Over to Orion's shoulder to revisit the 11.7 mag planetary NGC 2022, the "collarbone nebula", a personal favourite. With mags of 100x-150x (Seben Zoom+2.25 Barlow), it was not easy to make out this evening, and I needed continuously averted vision to make out the 25" disc, that didn't show any details. I finished after 1h30min with the comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), close to Orion's shield; already considerably fainter in the 16x70. Thanks for reading Stephan

Spotted R Leporis under sub-average 4.9 NELM (UMi) skies, first with the new 16x70. Starting from Rigel, I found it after a short star hop to the S, using SkySafari, within a few minutes. As Nik271 describes, it's really dim in binoculars, but still to make out with direct vision, the colour appearing to me as a medium red (not quite traffic light red). The follow-up observation with the Heritage 130 P Flextube with mag of 108x showed the colour markedly better, especially after prolonged observing (mirroring Nik's experience). Have to repeat this during the next days with the 8" or 12". Always a pretty target! Stephan

I'm quite pleased for my 16x70 APM binoculars (2.25 kgs) with a Manfrotto 701 HDV video fluid head, attached to a vintage lightweight photographic tripod with a center crank column. The medium size fluid head allows very smooth movements in both axes, and (it's rated for 4 kgs load) handles my vintage Wachter 14x100 (3.1 kgs) as well without problems. Sitting on an ordinary garden chair, or on my Füssener astro-chair, I can reach, extending the center column and leaning back, easily altitudes of 75°. The total weight of the tripod/head/binos combo is below 5 kgs, Moreover, I can swap the binos for the 80/400 Vixen frac, e.g. for solar white light observations. Stephan

Spot on. The E region you marked seems to be the only area without nebulosity in the whole central Pleiades. As I learned today, (from Ph. Harrington's "Binocular Universe" Nov. 2013), the term "Ally's Braid", the "flowing locks of Lady Alcyone" was coined by amateur astronomer Stephen Saber (never heard of him before). Looking at his website, he seems to be a very avid amateur, running Messier marathons without charts, just out of memorized positions and sequences - incredible! Have a look: https://saberdoesthestars.wordpress.com/ Stephan

I bought the Vixen SG 2.1x42 some years ago, and have to confess, that it's my least used optical device - and I don't know, why. The optical and mechanical build quality is excellent, and it should find it's use under my SQM-L 21+ skies. I guess, the view it gives is for me too close to the naked eye view character. When I'm pressing something against my eye sockets, I subconciously am expecting something different, in the direction of telescopic view. I several times found me reaching, after the use of the Vixen, to my smallest optical device, the excellent Docter 8x21, and pushing it to it's limits (e.g. spotting the NAN (easily) or M 82 (doable in good nights; M 81 is always in reach)). My ultra grab-and go binos are 7x50 Fujis. Maybe, it's a "Marmite" variety thing. If I'd go lightweight for Bortle 3 skies, I'd get a 7x35, or a small IS bino. Btw., the use of glasses will restrict the TFoV to about 18-20° (compared to 28° without glasses), IME. No problem with myopia or hyperopia in moderate grade (up to -3/+3 dpt, IIRC), but with astigmatism. Stephan

May I give an answer ( perhaps Gerry is still asleep in Canada 😉) If you think, you've spotted the nebula, you can confirm your finding by comparing both sides of "Ally's braid" - that's the pretty star chain, extending from Alcyone to the S. The eastern side of the star chain is completely clear and dark, without a trace of nebulosity, whereas the W side will be filled with the roughly trapezoidal shaped/irregular Merope nebula. (quoting from a post in October, concerning the observation of the Merope nebula) Hth. Stephan

Astro Baby's Collimation Guide will help you; have a look: https://www.astro-baby.com/astrobaby/help/collimation-guide-newtonian-reflector/ Stephan

Your Skywatcher Explorer 130 is, IMO, well suited for both target groups - planetary/moon and DSO's. Most important is, that it comes with a parabolic primary mirror. I'm owning the Skywatcher Heritage 130 P Flextube (same aperture, but shorter focal length of 650 mm), and can make out a lot of planetary detail with it, e.g. Jupiter's Great Red Spot (as Neil already mentioned above), several cloud bands and zones, sometimes with details, shadow transits of the moons. The Cassini division of Saturn's ring is obvious; three moons should be in reach. And you will, under a dark sky, spot a lot of DSO's. All the Messier and Caldwell objects will be accessible, as well as many NGC ones; the aperture is large enough. I'm using the 130 P with the same 8-24 mmf zoom (Seben clone) as Justin, which is astonishingly good, and crank up the magnification with the Baader Turret 2.25x Barlow (a shorty Barlow) up to 183x without problems. Have a look: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p5503_Baader-1-25--Q-Turret-Barlow-and-photo-converter---2-25x-und-1-3x.html The supplied standard Barlow often seems to be the weak point. The Baader Orthos always get excellent reviews; so the choice will depend on your preferences and budget. Just looked up your location Congleton here; there seem to exist some smaller dark areas 20 kms to the W; and ,of course, Wales, not too far away: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=8.48&lat=53.0173&lon=-1.9697&layers=B0FFFFFFTFFFFFFFFFFFF Enjoy the journey, and keep asking and reporting! Stephan

Spotted the conjunction under unfavourable conditions - high clouds and haze coming up. With the 8" f/4 Hofheim traveldob and the Docter 12.5 mmf, Neptune was just visible as a tiny spot at the limit of vision at 19.00 CET, vanishing in the clouds soon after. NELM just 4.0 mag thirty minutes later. Comforted by a short look at Jupiter, and M42. Stephan

This evening, Febr. 15th, Neptune is very close to Venus - just 15 arc min to the west. Tiny disc of 2.2 arc sec. Short time window from 18.45 to 19.30 CET. Good luck! Stephan

Spotted Sirius B for the second time in my life yesterday evening, again with the 18" f/4.5 Obsession. The seeing was quite promising - Sirius twinkling just slowly; and in M 42, the E and F stars could be made out easily (E) and with a bit of effort (F). But the Pup was a tough target. Trying a variety of magnifications, up to 400x (10 mmf Ortho+2x Barlow), for more than 45 minutes, I was unable to split the double. Relaxing in between with M 42, M 35/2158 didn't help.Finally, almost desperate, I put Sirius A just outside the western edge of the field of view, tracking continuously very carefully (you can do this, at 400x mag, with a well-kept Obsession!), and got the Pup into view, repeatedly for just a second, and with a clear dark gap to Sirius A. The colour I noticed was slightly green/blue. Helpful with finding the correct direction was the 11.2 star GAIA 29470.... (19-digit number), 1.9 arc min to the E. Very pleased, I finished with the galaxy NGC 2903 in Leo's head, always a nice spring harbinger. Thanks for reading Stephan

My Explore Scientific 26 mmf/62° LER. Bought this for the 130 P Flextube as widefield eyepiece; and it works very well with this f/5 scope and my 12" f/5. Very clear, neutral coloured views, very good sharpness on axis, deteriorating slowly starting from 80-85 % of the eyefield radius, little distortions. What I love most, is the very relaxed viewing, with or without glasses. No kidney beaning, no searching for the best distance between eye and eyepiece. Less weight than the alternative standard ES 24 mmf/68° (235 vs. 340 g); and cheaper (125 vs. 185 € here in Germany). True Field of View with the 130 P 2.48° with the 26/62° and 2.51° with the 24/68°, so almost the same. Stephan

Just controlled the weight of my 130 P Flextube with the kitchen scales - 2996 grams, with RDF (and PTFE tape ;-)), but without lid or shroud. Really lightweight for 5.1" aperture. Stephan

Made use of a special offer by Markus Ludes and ordered a binocular - the famous APM 16x70 MS ED, that arrived yesterday, perfectly packed: Had it out last evening under abominable hazy/cloudy (3 mag NELM) skies; the main stars of Orion just visible. Still a great first light (on a lightweight center crank column tripod with a Manfrotto fluid head). Stars tack sharp over almost the whole field of view, no distortion, vivid colours (Mars, Beteigeuze). Gazed in awe for 15 minutes at the Pleiades high up. Jupiter's disc, but no moons visible. Auriga's "Flying Minnow" and the "Cheshire Cat", but no trace of the three Messier clusters. After half an hour, the clouds thickened; but the first light was a full success, and very promising. With an Adler index of 134, this binos will come close to my ancient Wachter 14x100 (Adler index=140); but I will keep those (AP of 7mm good for galaxies and nebulas). Stephen Tonkin, our binoculars guru, was quoted by a member of CloudyNights: If he would be allowed to own only one binocular, this would be the APM 16x70 MS ED. I can understand him already now. Stephan

Congrats to your choice; I'm sure, you both will have a lot of fun with that capable scope! To answer your question about the 32 mmf Plössl: The supplied 25 mmf Kellner will give you a true field of view (TFoV) of about 1.9°. That's slightly less than four full moon's diameter (compared to the five moon's diameter with the Plössl). Even with 1.9° and a magnification of 26x, it's easy to find the brighter celestial objects. I'm with Giles_B's opinion - make your first steps with the supplied eyepieces. Of course, the optical quality of the Plössl will be better; but you can wait and have a look at the second-hand market to get one. Here is a link to the huge thread on the optical almost identical (130/650) AWB One Sky Newtonian; you can take hints from there: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/463109-onesky-newtonian-astronomers-without-borders/ Btw., where (roughly) in Portugal will you be observing? A rural area, or under city lights? Here's another link, helping to locate dark sky areas close to you: Light pollution map Enjoy the journey! Stephan

I can understand your apprehension quite well - it's for many beginners the reason to consider a GoTo or PushTo mount. But, as CarbonBrush mentioned above, a considerable amount of money will go into the electronic parts of such mounts - and you have to learn some basics anyway (polar aligning, star aligning etc). Neither your daughter nor you have to shy away from "learning the ropes" of stargazing. An eyepiece like a 32 mm focal length Plössl will give you together with the 130/650 Bresser a true field of view of 2.5°. That's five times the diameter of the full moon! And it's easy for your daughter to point the Red Dot Finder (RDF) at bright and conspicuous targets, as the moon, planets, bright double stars (Albireo, Castor), and Deep Sky Objects (DSO's), e.g. the Pleiades, the Orion nebula, the Double cluster, Andromeda galaxy etc. You can get good maps/atlases (Sky+Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas PSA; link below), and, even better, apps as Stellarium or SkySafari. You can configure the display of your smartphone, so that it matches exactly the view in any of your eyepieces, which makes star hopping easy. And these apps will give additionally a lot of information about any object. Of course, there will be a learning curve - stargazing is a learning hobby (or way of life). But you can take yourself a lot of time, and try to enjoy the shared journey. The stars won't go away, and every year the constellations will return. And this learning curve will be much more rewarding than learning how to deal with flimsy mounts, dying electronics, aligning hassles.....you get the point. Take yourself time with the decision; and keep asking. https://shopatsky.com/products/pocket-sky-atlas-second-edition Stephan

+1 for that. I'd vote for the Bresser Messier version; the same parabolic 130/650 optics, but a solid tube; tube weight 3.1 kg, mount 3.5 kg, so easy to handle. Your daughter will take her first steps watching the moon, planets and soon will have found out anything about tracking, focusing, changing eyepieces etc., and will move later on to more difficult targets quite naturally, so, IMO, no electronics needed. These boys, eleven and seven (light blue shirt) were able to handle the Skywatcher Heritage 130 P Flextube on their own the second night during their holiday visit in summer 2018: Stephan

Another binocular observation of C/2022 E 3 (ZTF) through a ten minutes cloud gap this morning 06.15 - 06.30 CET, using the vintage Wachter Gigant 14x100. Found the comet, still well positioned in the Corona Borealis curvature, immediately, as a still small, but distinct cloud, slightly N elongated. The brightness I estimated at around 8.2 mag (comparison using the Sidgwick approach with 7.8 mag HD 142243 and 8.2 mag HD 142418 close by). The coma diameter was around 7 to 8 arc min; the degree of condensation (DC) about 5 or 6. No tail visible. A nice target, that looks promising for the next weeks. Stephan

Welcome to the forum from a German Dobsonaut and 130 P Flextube owner! A wonderful scope and a lot of enthusiasm - a good mix to have fun. You've made good decisions already, as to get the 32 mmf Plössl eyepiece. Your four eyepieces, together with the 2x Barlow, will give you 8 magnifications from 20x up to 162x, a very useful range. I'd suggest a smartphone app as SkySafari or Stellarium, which makes star-hopping a lot easier. Later on, a UHC filter, and a small step stool. And start to record your observations and experiences in a little notebook (paper version); it's nice to read later in cloudy nights. Keep on posting here! Stephan

The beauty queen of my five Dobsonians, the 12" f/5 Hofheim Instruments traveldob: A slender lightweight (12 kgs in toto), now out of production. Baltic birch plywood, stained, in combination with aluminum parts. Shown here the first version with metal altitude bearings; later improved by substitution of wooden bearings milled hollow, so less prone to vibrations. As I wrote in an earlier post, a somewhat "sensible plant", but very capable. Spotted Neptun's moon Triton with it. Stephan

Thank you for the hint! Never heard of this up to now - a three-volume opus magnum of 1680 pages, first published 2020. Amazing look and excellent reviews.The perfect Christmas gift... A review here: Stephan

https://www.saguaroastro.org/sac-downloads/ Stephan

I've never used the 150 P, but I suppose, it's not a big difference in image quality, but a (minor) improvement in brightness and resolution, as mentioned above by cajen2. I made a plywood "T-frame" , about 15 cm height, that is attached to the Dob's ground board by Velcro, so I can take it out with one trip. Scope in one hand, small step stool and accessory case in the other one, setup time two minutes. Here a photo of the setup, scope and T-frame placed on an Equatorial platform: Stephan

You've mentioned in your earlier post rather dark skies in your garden, and your husband's "obsession" with astronomy. Given that, I'd choose the Heritage 150 P Flextube. Easy to store, setup and handle, and very capable, so that your husband will not want to upgrade during the next year....... I'm very pleased with it's smaller brother, the 130 P Flextube, as many on here. It's used as often as my 8", 12" and 18" scopes, and is my best "grab-and-go" scope. Stephan

Don't forget the dew shield for the finder, as mentioned above (unheated, aperture 2x = length). I've even made dew shields for the RDF's of two scopes. If finder and RDF both are dewed up, you are out of business, except for moon and planets. Stephan