Swoop1

Whatever- my bad 😉 It WAS M57. Whats in a name eh? I'll stick up a poor image or two later for confirmation.

I decided to do a little bit more imaging tonight, trying to capture M57 The Bubble Nebula. I set the mount and scope up around 8:30 p.m. and waited for darkness to allow alignment. I went out at around 9:15 and spent some time polar aligning then longer doing a 2 star alignment ready for goTo. Once everything was pointing where I wanted it to I entered M57 in the handset and had my first ever view of The Bubble. Beautiful. I then deployed the camera and spent some time imaging the target. I am still doing single frames so after a few minutes with some quite pleasing results I had a quick go at Saturn, grabbing a few more frames. I then dismounted the camera and fitted my 8mm EP for a visual. Very nice. Having done Saturn for a short time, I decided to have a wander, swapping between the 8mm and 25mm EP's. M13 looked good as did M31 and 110. I then went for the Silver and Gold of Albiero (or thats how the colour appeared to me tonight). I was only out for a little over an hour as I have things to do quite early tomorrow but it was very enjoyable. It wasn't really until tonight, using the GoTo that I realised how frustrated I was getting before, strauggling to find my way around sometimes. With the new mount, it appears I got a big delivery of mojo!

Last night with my Sony a6300/ Tamron 70-300 zoom, piggybacked on my Newt mounted on HEQ5 Pro. Both ISO3200 15sec f5 exposures, first at 70mm, 2nd at 210mm

An effort from Monday evening- this time with the dew shield fitted. 19/08/2019 22:03. Celestron C6 XLT, HEQ5 Pro, Sony a6300 prime focus, 25 sec ISO 3200. Untweaked.

It worked!

Thanks guys!

Thanks Paul

Does the mask have to be on the very front of the scope or will it still work if there is a dew shield in place first? Thanks Matt

Another from last nights learning session with the C6 XLT. One of the things I learned was that the C6 dews up a lot quicker than my Newtonian. I discovered this after wondering why focus adjustment made little difference to the image sharpness- quick peek at the big bit of glass at the front- Doh! Sony a6300 prime focus,ISO 3200, 25", HEQ5 Pro

Shot last nigth as I started the learning curve using the Celestron C6 XLT for imaging. Sony a6300 prime focus. ISO3200 25" exposure. SW HEQ5Pro. I know focus is off a touch but next time I shall deploy the Bhatinov.

Along the top line, towards the right you will see your name with a down arrow. Click on this to open the menu. Choose profile, the edit profile. Top left will be your name with the generated avatar. There is a little box- lloks like a mountain image- click on that and it will open the avatar screen.

Got out tonight and tried a bit of single frame imaging with the new C6 and Sony a6300. A couple of poor shots of Jupiter then a couple of M92 followed by M13 which looked a bit hazy despite my best efforts. I then realised dew had misted the objective on the C6 so packed it all away. I will be importing the product tomorrow so will get a better lok at the outcome then.

I recently recieved my Skywatcher HEQ5 PRO from FLO. Today has been the first opportunity to check that the polar scope reticle was properly aligned. Previous experience (DIY upgrading EQ3-2) meant that I approached this task with trepidation. It took hours and caused more grey hair and less total hair volume as I struggled to align the polar scope that time. Today, I picked my target, centred the reticle on the target and then rotated the axis by 180 degrees. The reticle didn't wander an iota. To quote a couple of cartoon characters I know- Happy Happy Joy Joy!

No picture of Miguel in a high backed swivel chair stroking a long haired white cat..........

Well, tonight was much improved. First order of business was to try the mount with my SW 150P Newt. Set the kit up then messed around for half an hour getting alignment sorted (practice WILL make perfect) and then I decided to try M92 using the GoTo. Straight to it and very nice it was too- got to it just before the moon popped above the rooftops and made life difficult. I then did a bit of casting around but the moon won out so I dismounted the Newt and deployed the C6. After a little while for it to cool down, I went to the 10mm EP with an ND filter. At first I thought the focuser was faulty but I soon realised that the magnification of the EP and scope combination was stronger than I was used to and I was looking at the heart of the moon which was bright enough to wash out most features at first. Slewing to a limb allowed me to refine focus and, well, wow! Roll on some more stable seeing and a newer or older moon. The detail visible around the limb was much stronger than I am accostomed to. I can't wait to get the Sony a6300 on it. Afet a while exploring Luna, I slewed round to the west and hit on Saturn for my first look at this target this year. Too close to a neighbours roof for much detail but, I can see that, once conditions are better, I will be able to discern much more.

Am I right in thinking that the summer ecliptic is lower in the sky than in winter? If so, is this due to the fact that in the summer, the axial tilt of earth is towards the sun for the northern hemisphere, therefore the sun is higher in the sky by day and the moon/ planets lower by night?

I was on duty but at the police station next to where I lived in Marlow, Bucks. I managed to sneak out and brought my two sons round to the car park where I set up a pinhole projection for then to see the partial. They loved it. Watching the sky darken and feel the temperature drop intensified the experience. Also seeing the partial being 'reflected' in the shape of the shadpw of leaves etc was quite stunning.

A bit of a let down tonight. I deployed the new combination for the very first time tonight. Since recieveng my goodies, either the conditions have been poor or work has meant not having time (4 days as an exhibitor at Countryfile Live, Blenheim Palace meant I was a bit pooped). After about half an hour messing about with alignment etc. I slewed to a couple of objects (M31, Double Cluster and and NGC globular). None were particularly striking however, I believe this was mostly my fault- insufficient dark adaptation, poor set up etc. I have a feeling the rig and I will need considerably more time to get used to each other before I experience its joys properly. I also think I need some targets a bit closer to get the full benefit of the C6. The HEQ5 PRO will probably come into its own for DS withe the Newtonian on board.

So, our microscopic selves could be sharing a quiet moment on the martian surface, when I turn to you and say "James-I can see your obsy from here".....

I got a bit of a surprise tonight. I got home from work and my wife handed me a Mars Rover 2020 bording pass. Apparently, my name (along with several thousand others) will be etched onto a microchip fitted to the rover😎 She could be planning a one way trip for me though? https://mars.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/

More Yay! A bit of Boo however as one of the counterweights has a chip in it and the thumbscrew is cracked. I know FLO will sort me out so still Yay!

Not used binding posts (apart from when fitted to equipment I bought but, could you construct some using suitable small bolts?

When I was a school caretaker for a couple of years aftyer leaving TVP, I found that the Turbo Gold screws were brilliant. Our facilities manager sourced some with Torx heads and they were the best.

Yay! Boo! Sorry folks. Clouds are all my fault.

Don't hold your breath (for the nice element of your expectations......)😉