Sunshine

I hope they all have some catastrophic software failure or something of the sort and the whole project sinks.

I am surprised it survived this long, imagine the upkeep of that behemoth to keep nature from overrunning it.

Smashing image!

A beautiful image!

Welcome to SGL!

The 150P is a great little scope, you will both have fun for a long while with this scope.

I cannot fathom exactly what martian features Lowell could have confused for canals, i have wondered about this since i was a boy watching  Sagan's Cosmos way back in the early 80's.

Good topic for a thread.

2 hours ago, rickwayne said:

Enjoy your plunge down the rabbit hole.

I liken astrophotography more to a supermassive wallet sucking black hole but, rabbit hole sounds friendlier.

Big welcome to SGL!

If you can manage the 5mm XW you won't regret it, i say just dive in.

All eyepieces mentioned are great, I have a 5mm Pentax XW,  I love it but it weighs as much as a hand grenade and about the same size lol.

20 minutes ago, TerryJ said:

Yes indeed, after much reading on this forum and watching Youtube videos

Looking at it again, i can see your collimation was bonkers the first time, those stars looked like comets! 😁

I love observing doubles, most recently i was finally able to conquer Zeta Herc which was amazing after months of trying. SkySafari is great for hunting doubles as you can set it to point out doubles

as you scan the sky in real time. Keeping notes is something i enjoy too.

Going back through time i would have to say Hyakutake, Shoemaker-Levy 9 and, most recently would be my first image of a planet. When i first began playing with those sliders in Registax and seeing those bands on Jupiter jump out i was a bit over the moon. 

A night and day difference, indeed.

The fate of the universe will be its heat death, in about this many years....

10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000...years squared, it will be a while longer so you need not worry.

The fate of the universe will be its heat death, it will be a while longer so you need not worry. There's still loads of heat within it.

A big welcome!

Those flip mirrors are flipping handy!

That is amazing, I see why my 3 second exposure isn't quite as detailed.

My curiosity is peaked, a local buy/sell ad lists an antique scope, it certainly looks legit but, apparently there are no markings. Does anyone recognize this scope? I would like to see it in person, this could be a restoration project.

It is absolutely beautiful!

Wonderful!

I am no critic of AP work but i think its great!

I find that my tetrad is all i need when targeting objects, it helps greatly to know and identify the constellations containing the objects you are targeting as well. Using an app like SkySafari makes this a lot easier, once you've identified the constellation you can more easily position your scope through the tetrad (or other reticle finder) to where the object is relative to the stars of its host constellation. It takes some practice but, you will catch on fast, i can point my tetrad to a spot and almost every time, the object is within the fOV of m eyepiece, objects i cannot see naked eye. If you believe the object is close but cannot see it, slowly pan around gently guiding the scope, also, always start with a low power eyepiece when targeting. Using a high power eyepiece to target is like trying to spot a fly through a straw.