cletrac1922

John Welcome from Land Down Under We also have amazing skies where I am as well, although some of the mining areas, not producing light pollution never had before John

First of all welcome from Land Down Under Send the rain our way, have had hardly any last four years, rural area suffering, hand feeding live stock, been over a million fruit trees removed, fruit orchards near where I am You have to study the sun, to get the full pitcher Everyone is blaming global warning current climatic conditions Current in sunspot minimum What this means, northern hemisphere goes in extreme wet, even freeze if prolong longer enough Southern Hemisphere goes into permanent drought, which we experiencing currently If you monitor Spaceweather everyday, continual updates solar minimum https://spaceweather.com/ Had our first sunspot in the last 132 days yesterday Use small concrete pavers under legs f your mount John

First of all, welcome from Land Down Under I am out a couple of times per month, with my club, doing presentations in schools and scout groups I am currently insured through my local automobile association, and I have declared my equipment on my existing house and contents insurance Costs me an additional $A20 a year on my policy, and covers been away from home Initially insurance company previous with, tried to say, telescopes are sporting equipment, and not covered away from home I went back to them, and said not sporting equipment, rather scientific instruments They accepted that, and fully covered away from home as well Our mobile phones, and Android tablets also covered, and they recorded serial numbers Hope been of assistance Happy viewing John

Firstly, welcome from Land Down Under What sort of scope and mount you have, as hard to identify pic you attached I have 10" Flex Dob, and out couple times of month with my club, doing presentations in schools and scout groups Easy to store and transport Also have a ED80 on a EQ5pro mount, and again easy to set up and transport Also use Solarmax11 on the EQ mount as well Permanent location, depends on what you intending to use scope for Observing, or AP Last night had Dob setup, as my neighbours have his parents visiting from UK Viewed Saturn, Jupiter, moon, which were directly overhead Last night also had conjunction of moon with Jupiter, and Scorpio was also adjacent Use laser pointer to highlight Scorpio Main thing, get out there, have fun, share with your neighbours and friends John

Matt I am out a couple nights per month doing presentations in schools, space badge joeys/cubs, scouting movement with my club Only takes a few minutes to set up, and I lay a laser pointer along mount for finderscope, to aim where want to view The mount and scope fit on back seat of my SUV, easy to transport Occasionally have to do a collimation of primary and secondary mirrors, and I use laser collimator to do that Again takes only a couple of minutes, as done so often Have had my 10" Dob now for over 10 years I also put a small tarp under the mount, as base is chipboard, to protect the bottom of the base from any moisture in the ground John

Mark Welcome from Land Down Under You travel the universe in this forum John

JS 303, is that rule 303, by which rule you execute me, Breaker Morant There is 2 simple rules when coming to purchasing a new scope for the first time What do I want to use it for: Observing planets, moon, other Deep Sky Objects, to want to into Astrophotography If just for observing, then cannot go far wrong with s SW 10" Flex Dob For AP, then you will need a scope on a equatorial mount, such as a SW ED80/120 on a EQ5pro, or HEQ5 mount Have attached pics of both of mine, and with correct Baader filters, can also do solar viewing You can now also get a WiFi adapter for SW SynScan controller,which uses a SynScan App John

Graham I have an EQ5pro mount, with SynScan control The load weight is 10KG, and I have a SW ED80 on that I also use the mount with my Solarmax11 I now have the WiFI adapter, and use the SynScan App With the WiFi adapter, takes the guess work out of setting up the SynScan controller, as detects GPS, Date/Time from your mobile device The EQ5Pro mount is also fairly light to transport as well

Lily Forget to add to my previous With the Dob, can also use for solar viewing All you do is with hard plastic cover, there is a small detachable cap Underside of the cap, is sticky tape some Baader visual film, and attached hard cover above the secondary mirror Have also attached pic of my SW ED80 on a EQ5pro mount You can also now get a WiFi adapter for SW SynScan controller Takes the guess work out of setting up SynScan controller, GPS, Date/Time, as sets automatically from your mobile device John

Ziggy Welcome back from Land Down under John

Hi guys Down under we have a different assortment of open clusters Jewel Box located within the CRUX, (Southern Cross) Beehive, M44 Omega Centauri NGC5139 Butterfly M6 Pearl Cluster NGC 3766 Attached link gives list of open cluster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_clusters John

I am out a couple of times per month doing presentations in primary schools, space badge joey/cubs, scout movement Occasionally I have to do collimation of primary and secondary mirrors, alignment, and I use a laser collimator to do that, and only takes a couple of minutes As you see from the pic, the base of the Dob is made from chipboard, and you can disassemble to transport I use a small tarp under the base, to protect from moisture, dirt, under the mount My youngest daughter and her partner has just returned from over there Went to west coast US, Canada, cruise through Alaska, for 3 weeks on their honeymoon My other club is https://sas.org.au/ Click on event horizon, which is clubs monthly magazine You both can private chat me to know more John

Lily Welcome from across the ditch, Pacific Ocean Portability is a big issue, and also depending on where you want to just view, of further down the track, venture into Astrophotography For viewing cannot go pass a small Celestron, though Skywatcher 8" flex Dob, be ideal as well, depending on type of vehicle you have, and whether you also camping out under the stars, as well, and have lot of camping gear to transport as well Attached pic is of my 10" flex Dob The scope in background is 8" flex Dob, and one in the middle is a Meade LX90 If you both ever make it across the ditch, only too happy show you both around, and view overhead, where I am John

Welcome Lee from Land Down Under You travel the universe in this forum I am out a couple times per month with my club, doing presentations in primary schools, Space Badge, Cubs, scouting movement The harvest moon, last friday night, was set up park, foreshore near home, and was using a 25mm 1.25" eyepiece, with my 10" Flex Dob, and nice full eyepiece view When showing Jupiter and Saturn, went up to 15mm wide-angle 1.25" eyepiece. Rings on Saturn stood out nicely, so did bands on Jupiter, and moons around Jupiter as well The upper atmosphere was a bit hazy, due to severe bushfires had during the week When the moon came up, was a bright orange, due to air pollution from bushfire John

Ralph I am also using a 10'' Dob at a Bortle 4-5 site. Have perfect clear skies Last few weeks, when leaving home for work aropund 4-30am, have Orion overhead Attached pic taken about a month ago, with Android phone Had crescent moon, with Jupiter and Venus Unfortunately Android phones do not like poor lighting conditions John