Nyctimene

During the last evenings, the sky got increasingly worse with high cirrus clouds and haze, putting down the NELM to 5.0 or even 4.8 (UMi). What to do to make good use of these otherwise very warm and balmy late summer nights? Go to objects with a high surface brightness - for a DSO observer, planetary nebulas are nice targets; and Aquila, close to the meridian, shows some of them. With the 18", 12" and 5.1" scopes, I visited the "Glowing Eye" nebula from the 21. to 23.8. The 11 mag round, (with 18" slightly darker in the middle), nebula was easy to find at the outer curvature of the "Sickle", that leads to M 11. No further details could be made out. I forgot to take out the O III filter, so I could not see the 13mag central star. Even with the smallest scope, the Heritage 130 P, the nebula was easily visible. Close by is the wonderful star V Aql, shining bright in deep orange. Yesterday evening the sky was mostly cloudy. But I was determined to make my way to another planetary NGC 6818, the "Little Gem Nebula" in Sagittarius. With the 12" and the 30mmf/77° Wild Heerbrugg, giving a TFoV of 1,5° (!), I started from the just visible Beta 1 Capricorni. With the wonderful tool SkySafari, I star-hopped through clouds and haze, feeling like a sailor navigating a boat in the fog looking for lighthouses and sea marks, for about ten minutes. All went well, and I arrived at the nebula, which could be seen with 50x mag easily as a round uniformly bright disc. The O III filter blink confirmed the planetary's identity. Switching to the 18 mmf/82° revealed no further details. Now the clouds were thickening rapidly; but I was content having found the nebula for an additional reason. It's in the same field of view with the famous Barnard's Galaxy 6822 just S of the nebula - a tricky target, despite 8.7 mag, due to it's very low surface brightness of only 14.8 mag. I will have to wait for clearer skies to spot this Dwarf Galaxy (the brightest of the Local Group). Two rewarding targets! After 90 mins, I finished the observation with short looks at the Veil, M31 with 32 and 110, and M 81/82. Thanks for reading Stephan

Observed last evening the Snowglobe Nebula, an 11.4 mag planetary in Aquila, with the 18" Obsession. With 133x mag (Maxvision 18/82) and the trusty Thousand Oaks O III filter, the nebula was easy to make out with direct vision. It showed as a round 2' disc, with a slightly brighter S and SW rim, and occasionally darker inner area, extending to the N. Increasing the magnification to 164x (Docter 12.5 mmf) showed no further details. The 16.2 mag central star could not be seen. The planetary was not difficult even without a filter (even during astronomical dusk). Should be visible in any 4"; rewarding. Stephan

I love the story of the guy, who was observing in a graveyard. At a second glance, not as appalling - people under your feet are quiet, never annoying or harming (graveyards are very safe places, especially at night), absolutely no curious visitors, total darkness. And if there's a light, it's always coloured red! Water supply guaranteed; and in case of emergency, you just have to point the ambulance to the cemetery of....;-) Stephan

Was out yesterday evening under mostly cloudy or at least hazy skies with the Skywatcher Heritage 130 P Flextube. Good seeing conditions; so I was able to split once more Pi Aquilae (1.4"!) with mag 183x and better with 225x, with a clear dark gap in moments of stable air. When observing M 57, the 13 mag star close by to the East (GAIA 2090....) was flashing up several times. A mighty little scope; best grab-and-go scope I ever had. Stephan

Exeter - surrounded by many dark sky areas; have a look (global orientation): https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=11.00&lat=50.7236&lon=-3.5275&layers=B0FFFFFFTFFFFFFFFFFFF Regarding anxieties: you are not alone....: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/790336-ever-feel-spooked-observing-from-remote-dark-sites/?hl= women Stephan

A big advantage of the Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas (IsDSA) is the gradation of visibility for scopes of different sizes. Four grades are represented: scopes of 4", 8", 12" and larger. Fonts of different line thickness and colour intensity (all well visible with red light) are used, so you get, at a glance, an impression, which targets will be in reach of your scope. Additionally, you will find suggestions for the use of different filters for special targets (UHC, O III, H beta). I'm relying on a combo of Pocket Sky Atlas (rough orientation, esp. with binos), IsDSA, and SkySafari for use directly at the eyepiece. RDF/Rigel and RACI combo, as already mentioned above. For your 130/650 Dob, IMO, no RACI needed - the 32mmf Plössl will do. Hth. Stephan

Continued the observation yesterday evening with the 18" f/4.5 Obsession under sub-average skies (NELM 5.0; SQM-L 20.52). After a short look at Pi Aql (split with 155x), I visited the most famous Cygnus nebulosity, the Veil, with a 24 mmf/82° Maxvision and 2" Astronomik UHC filter, giving 85x mag and a TFoV of just 1 degree. For almost half an hour I enjoyed scanning the different parts of the E and W Veil; the Witches' Broom was clearly split; Pickering's Triangular Wisp was obvious. Many fainter parts of the complex to the S and SE were visible. Upcoming high haze and some clouds prompted me to choose another target - the Pegasus galaxy 7331. With 155x mag (Docter 12.5mmf), it was already slightly washed out, and the accompanying smaller galaxies, the "fleas", could not be made out, so I had little hope to spot Stephan's Quintet close by. To my surprise, four of it's members were just visible with averted vision, without any detail. I finished with Saturn, with it's clearly visible Cassini division, a "belly band" and four moons. Very pleased with the pleasures of a big dob under appropriate skies, and so to bed after 1 1/2 hours at 23.30 CEST. Added: a guide to the Veil: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-blogs/explore-night-bob-king/explore-veil-nebula/ Thanks for reading Stephan

Some nice ideas and hints can be found here: https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/articles/observatories/refining-you-home-observing-site-r1631 Stephan

Welcome to this friendly and helpful forum! Many good recommendations already given above. A ST 80 or a Skywatcher Heritage P Flextube 130 or 150 would be good starter scopes, that might serve later as excellent travel or grab-and-go scopes. Cheap enough, to add some accessories - red torch, UHC filter, Barlow lens, star atlas, planisphere, binoculars, apps for star-and moongazing... If you are bitten by the bug of visual observing, these things will still be useful, when you are upgrading to a bigger scope. There seem to be some nice dark sky areas about 20-30 kms to the West (Greenfield; Turkdean); have a look: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=11.00&lat=51.6444&lon=-0.7964&layers=B0FFFFFFTFFFFFFFFFF Take yourself time with the decision; read a lot, and have fun! Stephan

I'm assuming, your 8" Dob has a focal length of 1000 mm (focal ratio F = 5) or, more probably, 1200 mm (focal ratio F=6). My Seben Zoom 8-24 mmf (seems to be absolutely identical with the Astromania zoom pictured above - even the slightly out-of-time plastic package!) works quite well with both of my F=5 Dobs (5.1" and 12"). It's lightweight and gets into focus with both scopes; good for grab-and go- situations. Add a Baader Turret Barlow 2.25x, and keep your 30 mmf, that's all you need. Stephan

Try to maximize the number of observations by taking even the slightest chance of gaps in the clouds. That means, keep your equipment stored at ambient temperature, with easy access to an observing spot; check the weather forecast - and get used to observe the moon, even the full moon (crater rays; concentric craters). The same goes for the sun in white light (using a filtered off-axis mask). For observations of just a few minutes (often astonishingly rewarding), keep some binoculars ready. TOMDEY, a forum member of CloudyNights, posted his experiences of decidedly maximizing his observations during a whole year, and came easily to a three digit number, while others were complaining about the unusual bad weather that year.... Stephan

Unfortunately, the very small company Hofheim Instuments (actually a couple) is no longer in business (since 2021); but their website still exists (in German only): https://www.hofheiminstruments.com/willkommen.html Maybe, you could get a used one from the second hand market; more probably the 8" (browse mainly websites of the German speaking countries); not cheap, but very recommendable! Stephan

Agree. I'd suggest to go more in the direction of "extremes", that means, a small frac of about 70 - 80 mm aperture, preferably with ED optics, and a 200 mm f/5 or f/6 Dob. Considering your location in Cornwall (usually associated with dark skies, at least rather close by), you could also get a larger dob of 250 or even 300 mm aperture, if storage (at ambient temperature) and transportability are no problems for you. A good 10"-to 12" Dob is a very capable planetary scope with high resolving power. With my 12", I was able to make out Neptun's moon Triton last year - one of Phil Harrington's "Cosmic Challenges" (an excellent book btw.). Stephan

After the last observing session, I've been considering such a solution. For balancing the scope, when using heavy 2" eyepieces, I have to add a variable plug-on counterweight to the rockerbox anyway, so this shouldn't be a problem. Which brand/model 6x30 RACI of good quality would you suggest? Stephan

It holds collimation quite well - ok; it's not always assembled before observing, but rests in full ornament in the shed at ambient temperature, together with it's mates. Primary adjustment once, with minor corrections, every 6-8 weeks. Stephan

The same for me at the moment with the 12" traveldob, A beauty, with excellent optics and smooth working mechanics, but, at the same time, a somewhat sensitive plant (focus issues with many of my eyepieces, balance problems, wind vulnerability, no real finderscope etc.). Constantly learning with it, but very rewarding. The weight of just 12 kgs in toto has it's price. Have a look: Stephan

Astronomical darkness has returned here in SW Germany (49.36° Lat.) for already almost three hours; enough time to revisit some targets high up in Cygnus with the 12" f/5 traveldob. The sky was rather dark with SQM-L 21.1, but transparency was not quite correlating with just 5.2 NELM (UMi). Aiming directly at Sadr with a Rigel Quikfinder was too much stress for my aging neck, so I started at 01.15 CEST from beautiful Albireo and worked my way up with mag 50x (30 mmf/77° Wild-Heerbrugg). Star-hopping was not easy along the dense Milky Way starfields, even with 1.5 TFoV; and I skipped Minkowski's Footprint and Campbell's Hydrogen Star. Finally arriving at the Crescent nebula NGC 6888, I was able to make out very faint nebulosities around the three embedded stars. Adding a Astronomik 2" UHC revealed the oval shape, moderately bright, and most prominent in the NW part. Basel 6, a nice open cluster with a triangular form was in the same field of view. Passing the SW part of the Gamma Cygni nebula complex, I found, with the UHC,, the two eastern parts quite obvious and well structured, with a rather dark "sound" between them both. A nice contrast was the open cluster 6910 (the "Rocking Horse" cluster, as I learned later) with three star chains; the same went for oc M 29 the "cooling tower" 2° S of Sadr. Over to the North America nebula; huge and bright, with a very prominent "golf" region. The sky was slowly brightening, so I postponed further observations for darker skies and finished with Saturn at the meridian. With 167x mag, the Cassini division was quite obvious during seconds of better seeing; no surface details. Titan, Rhea and Dione. Finished at 02.45. Nice to observe again in light clothing - and awaiting the longer autumn nights coming. Thanks for reading Stephan

Was out with the 8" f/4 Hofheim traveldob this morning under 5.0 mag/21.04 SQM-L skies to revisit the nice galaxy chain extending from NGC 5846 in eastern Virgo. Starting as usual from M5, the 10 mag galaxy close by was found easily with direct vision and appeared round with a brighter central region. It's neighbour to the east, the barred spiral 5850, was more demanding and only visible with AV at 124x mag (Docter 12,5 mmf+Abbe 2x Barlow). The fainter 5845 and 5839 to the west could not be made out under the slightly hazy and slowly brightening skies. Three years ago, I had a good view of this chain with the 13.1" Coulter Odyssey (posted here). Finished after an hour with another visit of M 5 at 02.30 CEST. Stephan

A lunar light - shadow phenomenon, the Hesiodus Ray, will be observable for the next hours. A cleft in the neighbouring crater Pitatus projects a triangular light ray across the floor of crater Hesiodus. Time (UT): May 10th, 00:12:14 More info here (a very useful tool): www. lunar-occultations.com/rlo/rays/hesiodus.htm Next occasion will be July 7th, 23.59 h UT Good luck ! Stephan

Was successful this evening to spot this elusive structure with the mighty Skywatcher Heritage 130 P Flextube under slightly better seeing conditions. With the root point at Schroeter T, a N-S-line extended to Schroeter W/A, the "herringbone" or "leaf vein" pattern, with two or three straight brighter lines on each side at a 45° angle was faint but distinctly visible in moments of better seeing with 183x mag (Seben Zoom 8 mmf+2.25x Barlow). The branching lines appeared straight and somehow artificial, resembling a child's first drawings of a tree with branches. The "Wallwerk" is small (approximately the diameter of Eratosthenes close by - 60 km) and faint, but the Heritage showed once more it's capabilities. Very pleased with the success. Stephan

Tried to spot the rille this evening with the Heritage 130 P Flextube under moderate to good seeing conditions (Hesiodus A concentricity visible for 50% of observing time). At 187x mag (Seben Zoom 8 mmf + Baader 2.25x Barlow), I was able to make out the two craterlets between B and C (mentioned above) repeatedly in moments of good seeing, but not the rille itself, during 30 mins observing time. As a compensation, the Marius Hills field (300 volcanic domes; Lunar 100 No. 42) were optimally illuminated, as was the sharp line of the Agricola mountain range near the Aristarchus plateau. - Will give the rille another try with the 8", as I felt, it must have been just a tiny bit beyond the limit of vision. With good seeing and mags of 200+, it should be visible. Stephan

Observed the moon yesterday evening with the 12" f/5 traveldob. Tried to spot the inner ring of the concentric crater Marth (outer diameter 7 km) in Palus Epidemiarum, to no avail, due to the sub-average seeing. Close by Hesiodus' A concentricity could be observed in moments of better seeing. No views of Rimae Ramsden or Hesiodus. Spied finally for the first time Kies Pi, a lunar dome (Lunar 100 No. 60) following a photography in the 21st Century Atlas of the Moon; small, but clearly to see (not the tiny top craterlet). Mags from 100x - 183x (Seben Zoom). Stephan

Yesterday evening I tried to spot this feature, located in Sinus Aestuum, with my 8" f/4, using a favourable illumination close to the terminator. The "Wallwerk", seen by Gruithuisen with a 2.4" Fraunhofer at 90x mag almost exactly 200 years ago (July 12th, 1822) is located N of the crater Schroeter (between Schroeter W/A and Schroeter T). It's described as a "herringbone" pattern, with rows of hills "branching out like the veins of a leaf from the midrib" at an angle of 45°. Rükl's map No 32 shows it quite well; in Wood/Collins's "21st Century Atlas of the Moon", chart 17, it is hidden by the label "Aestuum Pyroclastics". With mag 133x, I could just make out the double crater Schroeter W/A, but, due to the bad seeing, neither Schroeter T nor further details. The seeing left even other features invisible, e.g. Thebit D at the N end of Rupes Recta, and Catena Davy. So I finished the observation after 45 min at 21.00 CEST. I'll wait for better seeing conditions and give it another try. Has anybody observed this region, and what were the impressions? Here's some additional information from the CloudyNights forum, including Gruithuisen's drawing. (N.B.: Carol's photography (comment No.5) sees to be left-right mirrored, contrary to the given compass directions; and comment 12+13) https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/85504-gruithuisens-lunar-city/ Thanks for reading Stephan

That's, IMO, like fire and water. I guess, you would be very disappointed by the mechanical "quality" of the mount. If you want to get a really sturdy mount, I'd suggest to rely on a Dobsonian telescope. If you don't want to delve into the dark arts of astrophotography, manual positioning and tracking can easily be learned and becomes second nature. For the price of the Capricorn refractor, you can get a 4" f/4 Dob, with accessories, like this: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p6827_Skywatcher-Heritage-100P-Tischdobson---100-mm-f4-Reiseteleskop.html or, if you'd stretch your budget a bit, this one: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p2705_Skywatcher-Heritage-130P-FlexTube-Dobsonian---130-mm-Parabolic-Optics---6years--.html But, as has been said, take yourself time, and consider to start with a decent pair of 7/8 x 30/40 binoculars. Keep reading and asking here - and welcome to the forum! Stephan

Well, it's a bit like observing with a Zoom eyepiece. At the default setting, with the longest focal length, there is a certain True Field of View and an according Apparent Field of View. The next step (=first drink) will show you a larger AFoV, but in reality, the TFoV has narrowed down. This divergence will increase with the next steps (=drinks, not recommended with a 60°!). OK; with higher magnifications you will be able to see smaller and fainter objects - but the general brightness of views will be dimmer...... and so on, until clouds are rolling in 😉 Stephan