Sunshine

7 minutes ago, markse68 said:

something pokey

Yes! I was just thinking something pokey should do it (insert laugh emoji) which doesn't work for some reason.

15 minutes ago, imakebeer said:

I just split my first binary star and literally gasped like a little kid the instant I saw it and jumped up and down excitedly! 🤣😊🤩

I went out for an hour or two earlier this evening, dodging clouds and determined just to do some visual. Pointed the scope at Almach and there it was, bang in the centre of the FOV, the big yellow one and the smaller blue one staring back at me.

(Apologies if I have the whole double/binary star terminology wrong for Almach, I'm aware there's a difference - Stellarium says it's a "spectroscopic binary")

I'm intrigued to understand more about the two stars, what the colours tell us about their size etc. as I'm only vaguely aware of the science 

I also had a look at the Hyades which I've never really looked at before - it's like a triangle of 3 pairs (double?) of stars and reminds me of The Predator's laser sight! 😂

My daughter also joined me - she loved using the Synscan controller to point the scope. We had a look at Jupiter and looked up which moon was which, then Mars, and then we looked at Uranus and Neptune, neither of which I've ever actually looked at before. Neptune is so faint, but there's a star just up/down from it that is marginally brighter.

Alas, the clouds rolled in again so I called it a night, but that was fun and I'm pleased to have shared some of it with my daughter 😊

You split stars, saw planets, and more importantly you had a great time with your daughter, you can't ask for better.

wonderful image! it's so detailed, especially those tight dust lanes circling the core, great work!

Greetings! and welcome! from just a couple hours south of you in Stouffville Ontario, thanks for joining this awesome bunch, you'll find all the helpful advice you need here on SGL.

Clear Skies! how lucky you are, I've seen those Muskoka skies many times, stunning!

While at my local star party this past August I met the owner of Starfield, very pleasant fellow, he had the 115 on display and mentioned they come with test report (though I cannot say if that costs extra by request). Upon handling the scope for a good while I was impressed with its smoothness and construction, the focuser was very smooth, I was tempted. Below are a couple of screenshots from a video clip I took, maybe it will be of use to someone considering this scope as it includes a closeup of the focuser. Under the dew shield is the paperwork including the test report which is provided with the scope as I was told.

The skymax 150 or 180 are planet/lunar killers, I had the 150 and loved it but I sold it to fund something else, now I want one again for planetary imaging. Like others have said, it does take a good hour to reach temperature an has a narrow FOV but once it reaches temperature you'll be surprised at how good they are. There will be no comparison between your 80ED and the skymax 150, the 150 will vaporize the 80ED on planetary/lunar.

30 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Regarding threads being a bit "screechy", I found that applying a very small amount of Lithium grease, with my little finger and rubbing gently around the threads so almost you can't see it, and then turning the threads gently a couple of times to distribute the grease across the threads should remove the noise👍.

 

I did this exact thing with the focuser on my 102, when I removed the unsightly moonlight focuser it had and replaced with original focuser  unscrewing/screwing sounded like a train coming to a stop (well not that loud) 🤣A bit of lithium grease on the threads fixed it nicely.

53 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Great job, Stu..👍

I was immediately reminded of a few years ago, when I acquired a Vixen ED103s apo whose owner had died some while previously..the scope had sat unused and uncovered in a dusty shed for some time, and so was filthy..

I took a punt on it and spent an hour or so giving it a good, gentle clean with Baader Wonder Fluid and polishing with Renaissance Wax..it came up very nicely, and she now happily with Steve @Saganite..

Dave

 

I love how you chose your telescope to match your kettle! it looks great on the countertop!.

This is contagious, now I want to clean my lens but it’s pretty clean so I’ll resist temptation.

Welcome back! I would suggest returning the refractor as we've had enough clouds as it is 🤣

Welcome to SGL!

I'm curious about why you removed the lens cell to clean, is there not a risk of misalignment when reinstalling? 

WOW! beautiful bino! beautiful mount! beautiful images! BEAUTIFUL!

Welcome!

My alt-az mount never had a handle, I was able to move it by hand by moving the diagonal but I wasn’t keen on applying force to the diagonal while viewing, I wanted to be able to hold a handle just like one would with a fluid head video camera head. Then I noticed the bottom of the saddle has screw holes so I got a length of tubing and drilled a couple of screw holes in it. Once I installed it I realized I had cut it too short so I epoxied on a shorter section of slightly larger tubing to fit into the original tubing then found a rubber hand grip. It isn’t the most beautiful of my works but it functions perfectly. It seems a bit long but if you can imagine me sitting and leaning forward while looking into the eyepiece, this handle allows me to have by elbows resting on my knees while I am gently moving the handle, it eliminates my having to hold my arm up to move the handle, a much more stable motion.

Nice, fits on there nicely.

+1 for crop, I usually like nebulae set in wide field but this is so contrasty and beautifully detailed it needs to be appreciated closeup.

i'm not sure about whether the skywatcher can be collimated or not but I would choose it simply because I have no idea who Ursa Major is, Skywatcher is very well known.

The last shot in particular is totally amazing, love full disc images.

Wait a min, aren't the Tachyons a nasty bunch from Star Trek TNG? 

I would like to try a Tak eyepiece, not sure which one, but I hear they're sweet planetary eyepieces.

This may have something to do with the fact that they are now owned by Explore scientific, or something like that.

Nice scope in your avatar!

Welcome!

Hello Nigella! which blocking filter do you use with your LS60PT, is it the  B1200? also, do you shoot with a mono camera then colorize after with software? thanks, I am inspired by your work.

A fun read! I do love the christmas tree cluster, too!