cletrac1922

Mark The attached pic is my ED80 on a EQ5 Pro mount, using solar filter Taken at recent club viewing day I now have glass solar filter, which find effective To project, something like a ZWO ASI290 MC which you will find useful with your other club projects such as AP John

Welcome from Land Down Under I have the Skywatcher 10" flex scope for over 10 years, and given me endless pleasure I am also out couple times per month with my club, doing presentations in primary schools, scout groups Find the flex dob is easy to store and transport Another little trick, solar viewing The hard cover has a small detachable cap, and if you sticky tape some baada solar film on under side, can use for solar viewing Remove the finderscope, or make up a cap for that as well John

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

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

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

J, welcome from Land down under My first scope was SW 10'' flex dob Has given me many years of faithful service, and I am also out a couple times per month with my club, doing presentations in schools and scout groups The hard cover also has a detachable cap, and if you sticky tape visual baader film on the underside, can use for solar viewing Ensure have finderscope removed John

With my 10" flex Dob, under small removable cap, hard cover, I have sticky taped baader visual film Have to take a pic and post on here Works well John

Mark I started out using badder filter on my ED80, then upgraded to glass filter Gave excellent views Recently purchased Solarmax 11, after using club PST I am very disappointed in it, for the money outlaid The focuser is just a slide tube, and locks in place with plastic, not metal thread screws, and scared will snap off, if over tighten The new Solarmax111, has a completely different focusing systen, with course and fine tune knobs With respect to Lunt solar scope Our club also has Lunt solar scope, and have no end of issues with the pressure tuner If not used for a while, the silicon grease around "O" ring pressure tuner dries out, and have to take apart, clean, and re-grease I use my Solarmax, on my EQ5 mount, which use for ED80 Pic of ED80 taken at a recent club public viewing day, before getting the solarmax11 John

Greg Check if has screw thread in base to take a filter From what I am reading you going to use a 6mm eyepiece Not sure what going to achieve with a higher powered eyepiece I use 17mm with mine, and rings of saturn are crystal clear Use it also on Mars, same eyepiece, with yellow filter, and able to see northern polar caps John

The non removable plastic cap, is designed to hold the removable one For solar viewing, sticky tape some visual baader solar film, underside of small hole in cap Remember to leave off finderscope John

Has always been a point of contention

piff The attached link might help explain lot of things with respect to Zodiacs and the Sun Just over 12 months ago, was in India, and visited Jantra Mantra site in Jaipur Considering was constructed in the early 1700's, site of scientific astronomical instruments Has a 62ft high sun dial, and the face is carved out of marble, faces towards Polaris, and even today is accurate to 2 seconds Another feature, was the zodiacs, and how the sun passes over each one, during the day Has two dishes set in the ground, with constellations marked on it One when sun is in northern hemisphere, other when sun is in southern hemisphere Has a cross wire, with a small circular disc in the centre As the sun or moon pass over, shadow is reflected, on the constellations The attached pic of sloping sundial, is double sided depending in which hemisphere sun is located Has a small steel rod, to cast shadow https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1338 There were actually four sites built northern India, and three still survive today John

Jim Main thing to consider is the load bearing weight of the lazy susan Needs to be at least 50% above load bearing weight of tube, and other support structures Be interested to see finished project Attached pic was taken at a recent club solar viewing day In background is pic of home made Dob mount, one of our members Might give you some alternate ideas John

Terry I use right angle 9 X 50 finder scope With my Dob, I just lay laser pointer along edge of the mount for the finder scope, and point Dob where I want to view Know most of my club members have ditched RSF, in preference to finder scope

Even though have to subscribe Pixinsight seems to be number one choice for processing John

Mike Welcome from Land Down Under Amazing pics using an EQ2-3 How many images you take to process, and what program you use to process John

John Have Scorpio now rising about 8pm Living in an area of very little light pollution, point out Antares using laser pointer doing presentation primary schools, joeys and Cubs, Scout movement Pointed out Scorpio to my neighbor other night, and she could not believe how much of the sky it takes up Scorpio rises just behind Southern Cross, also known as CRUX, and Omega Centauri sits between the two John

First of all, welcome to Land Down Under What sort of scope you have? Attached pic is of my ED80, with baader solar filter, taken at a recent club solar day Since then have purchased glass solar filter If using a dob, the hard plastic cover has a small detachable cap Sticky tape baader solar film underside, and can view Sol as well John