Les Ewan

Viewing conditions for Jupiter went beyond being excellent they were exquisite.(Cant say that too often)! Fine detail normally only seen fleetingly in the blur were interrupted without a quiver. Annoyingly the cloud moved in before midnight. The Moons in the image are(l to r) Io-Jupiter-Europa-Ganymede. This image was taken around 23:30 GMT with a driven Skywatcher 400P 16" f4.8 Dob.The camera was a Nikon 3200DSLR coupled to a 21mm Celestron Duo plossl and Celestron X2Barlow. Camera settings were 1/100 sec exposure at 800ISO.

The trouble with starter scopes is they tend to be difficult to use especially for starters! Starter scopes also tend to have sub standard finders and mounts -but having said that with practice and patience in honing your observing skills you will slowly get better results. My first view of the Ring Nebula was back in early 70's 1 km from the centre of Edinburgh with a rickety 60mm refractor with undersize 0.96" Huygens eyepieces and barely usable finder. (Common of the era). So it is possible to see stuff if you are aware of the the scopes limitations. When hunting faint objects be aware seeing conditions at the time may not suit the type of object your looking for. Nebulae are not called faint fuzzies for nothing and when conditions aren't good even larger scopes would toil, so on these nights its better to turn to star clusters and double stars instead. Using binoculars beside the scope can also help in conjunction with the finder in locating objects(remember to use your lowest power eyepiece) . Also the old trick adverted vision helps bring things into view on really transparent nights. These things have to be learned but it's a skill everyone can achieve with with practice.

Great stuff I'm envious. I tried a similar video but my camera stopped recording after 30 seconds so didn't capture the actual ingress. Maybe a faulty SD card but my NIKON 3200 tends to do this at the most inopportune times!

This was a beautiful event through binoculars the paleness of the Moon contrasting wonderfully with the dazzling pure white Venus against a blue sky.(For a change)!! My image was obtained with a Nikon 3200DSLR couple to a driven 16" f4.8 Dob at prime focus.

Just packed up due to constant fog banks drifting over my site from the North Sea and the mouth of the Forth. Even when it is was clear I spent as much time in anti dewing measures than actual observing🤬! Last night 17th was much more successful with ideal conditions for both double star and DSO work until thick fog rolled in at 3am. At 1:09 am I just happened to raise my head from my eyepiece while viewing a faint galaxy when I caught part of the track of a bright green meteor (around magnitude -5). I didn't see the the start of this event just as it disappeared behind the house shooting westwards through Gemini. Just pure luck I witnessed it.

It was a great evening for doubles with almost pristine separations not the usual looking through a bubbling blob! I think the high pressure and the low radiation rate from the ground helped (the temperature at around 2C). My targets were Tegmine,Castor,Algieba,Porrima and Izar. I used my old trusty 20mm Kellner and a X2 Barlow for the observations, giving a power of 180X on my Skywatcher 400P. Then as predicted low cloud extended off the North Sea around 23:15.

I have a TAL 2 150 f8 which I bought in the early 90's stored at my sisters house and you've encouraged me to collect and set it up again. I know she is using the main pine box as a coffee table so she might not be too pleased! These scopes are built like tanks but the main draw back is the pillar tube vibrates when the motor is running reducing resolution at high powers. It also has a spherical mirror but I didn't find it a major setback with low to moderate powers. I don't know about your scope but mine has oversized eyepieces so a adapter is needed to fit standard 1.25" fittings. It also has a rather odd looking X5 barlow giving powers up to 315X which is a bit beyond the spherical mirror. Mine is ready to be set up and go but the main mirror needs a recoat.

I was attempting to photograph the 1999 fireball display of Leonids and would have done so too only when I developed the film every single frame was completely out of focus.🤬 I really rue that mistake as to this day I have still to capture a meteor.

Although I've been observing and using a multitude of telescopes for 50 years I made a really stupid mistake only yesterday in the early hours. I was setting up my Synscan and decided to use Pollux as my first alignment star. Without really thinking I slewed to Pollux (or so I thought). After centring my it on my target with the finder try as I might I couldn't focus in on it in the main scope. Then I realised the dot looked a bit like Mars complete with a white cap! Then it dawned on me it was Mars! In my rush to get the annoying alignment process done I mistook Mars and Al Nath for Castor and Pollux even though neither are even similar in magnitude(although to my credit the gap is about the same). At this moment I'm still in two minds on whether to submit this embarrassing rookie mistake but here goes....

I was out in the early hours of yesterday during particularly transparent skies,with virtually no wind. Using my Nikon D3200 DSLR attached at prime focus on my driven 400P Dob I captured what the Sky Atlas 2000 Companion describes as the NGC 3190 Galaxy group. Just a couple of degrees above Algieba this group is easy to find. From the top is the spherical NGC 3193,then NGC 3190 itself with its dust lane and next to it on the right NGC 3187 which is interacting with NGC 3190. Below NGC 3185 is a face on spiral. All four are visible visually at the eyepiece but not the dust lane even with the 16".At least not to me)! The exposure was 20 sec at 1600ISO and some tweaking using Faststone.

Taken with a Nikon 3500 attached to a Helios 200 Explorer 8" f5 Newtonian .1/180 sec exp at 100ISO about 5 minutes before disappearance.

Nice sequence. Ideal conditions too.

Saw the GRS last night (4 Nov) and is not only prominant but a beautiful orange colour. It looks a completely differant feature to how it looked in July when I noted it as pale. Jupiter is full of surprises!

Its a little difficult to quantify because does a telescope in bits count? In theory I have seven telescopes. One is totally dismantled a 6"Reflector dating from the 70's with tarnished mirrors which will probably never be used again, Revelation 12 Dob which is in a similar condition a f5 8" Helios Newtonian TA which is sevicable but with no mount a 6" Russian f8 TAL 2 from the early ninties which I plan to get back into use when I have space for it(its being stored at my sisters house at the moment complete with wooden crates) but it needs its mirrors re coated. I also have a 12" f5 Newt on a EQ6 mount which is can be assembled at any time. My two other scopes are in constant use now a Skywatcher 400P 16"on a driven Dob and finally a Skywatcher 90mm f10 refractor on a driven EQ2 which I use for Solar work.

Hi Polly, I'd be very wary, I've never heard of that brand. It maybe OK but there's a minefield of trash telescopes out there. Remember its not just money involved it could be the death of your grandson's enthusiasm if he's confronted with a substandard telescope. It's not worth the risk consult a proper astronomical dealership even if its just for a decent set of binoculars.

I assume when you say 70 you mean £ 70. If so its fair to say your options are not great. However if you can stretch to £100 you could do worse than the Skywatcher Astrolux. Its a small Newtonian of 76mm on a altaz mount. It will have limitations due to its small mirror but if these are appreciated there will still be plenty to see and at least its a quality instrument and easy to use. Also being a Skywatcher the quality is there to warrant upgrades at a later date such as better eyepieces and even fitting a simple equatorial mount. A small refractor is another option but in my opinion they can be awkward to use because of the low eyepiece angles,I'm biased though I don't like refractors much! Good quality binoculars of 7X50 or 10X50 type would also be a option if your grandson doesn't already have access to a pair. Whatever you decide get the instrument from a astronomical dealer not from a department store I think most experienced observer would agree there.

Amazing. I didn't know that thanks for the info.

In the early hours of 5th January 2003 Saturn crossed in front of the Crab Nebula and I was lucky enough to have good seeing conditions at the time. Not that I saw anything however. Using a 8" Newtonian the Crab was totally blotted out by Saturn's glare, but even so the negative result of seeing nothing of the nebula was still interesting.

As Merlin said earlier Nortons is a great first Atlas after a budding observer has past the rookie stage especially the Gall & Inglis versions of the early 1970's. Norton's were the bible back in the day. At least one addition wasn't so good where all the DSO's were all bracketed under the same symbol a kind of flower pattern of dots which was a bit naff! Nortons are cheap and plentiful on Ebay and I have a couple of them and they are quint to look at and are full of useful tables and old fashioned observing tips. My main Atlas now is the SkyAtlas 2000.0 spiral bound laminated version which is great out in the field and is just about indesructable and impervious to dew with no paper pages to blow about! The laminated edition is white stars on a black background which is not that pleasent to the eye but great for under the night sky.I also have the spiral bound desktop version which is great for just browsing or planning observation sessions.

Last night around 10pm until it clouded over around midnight, I had the best viewing conditions for weeks😎. Of course Jupiter took most of the share of observation time. Using my 16" Dob I manage to use powers up to 171X. Fine detail of all the belts snapped in and out of view (mainly in on this happy occasion) with a small white spot in evidence. The northern region of the disc had a dirty off white hue. The main interest was the Galileans all four had a discernible discs and raising the power to 360X (using a 10mm plossl and a X2 barlow the disc of Callisto was very marked and stood out. The resolution of Callisto seemed enhanced by the close proximity to the bright Jovian disc. Of course this power somewhat washed out Jupiters cloud belts. I've managed to just resolve Ganymedes disc in the past using a 12" Newt but this is the first time Jupiter has been high enough to be a viable target since getting the 16" in 2018.

White light images of the eclipse using a 90mm f10 refractor at prime focus. The camera used was a Nikon 3500D 1/100th sec at 100ISO

Conditions on the evening of the 24th was the best its been for some time. Here is a DSLR image of Jupiter and its satellites strung out in a attractive aspect. The image had to unfortunately be heavily processed using Faststone in the attempt to get the cloud belts and moons appear together. Taken with a Skywatcher 400P driven Dob. The eyepiece used was a Celestron 21mm Ultima Duo and a Celestron X2 barlow. The camera is a Nikon 3500D DSLR. From the left Io,Europa,Jupiter,Callisto,Ganymede.

Although I've had some clearer spells recently lately observing conditions have been very poor for Jupiter not managing to go over 120X before the image degrades into a shimmering mess. I don't know why my local conditions are so bad so often for planetary work maybe I'm under the jet stream more here in Central Scotland.😡

Hi Stu, Its certainly worth while a whole parade of planets around 03:30.😎 I didn't see much detail on Mars using a power of 144X the biggest feature is the distinctly gibbous disc.

Took this image as it was getting light I used a Nikon L29 Compact attached to a 26mm Plossl using a digiscoping bracket. The telescope was a Skywatcher 400mm f 4.8 driven Dob .