Sunshine

4 hours ago, Floater said:

Tut, tut! The sort of statement that makes astronomers shudder! 😱

 I would be willing to bet that if they had the capability to visit us from another system then they MUST be technologically superior. Unless we are really missing something about interstellar travel that is under our noses and we don't see it lol. 

Impressive! sort of lends credence to the term "your best scope is the one you use most" as you mentioned you wouldn't have "plonked" 😄 any other scope out given the circumstances.

I better not keep such a record as it would make me want to cry and sell my telescope in a fit, I would rather fool and convince myself that I was out more than I was as my memory is the pits anyway, ignorance really is bliss.

3 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope’s albums | Flickr

Great series of albums with pictures of the JWST at various stages of its development.

On another note I thought they'd be broadcasting the main mirror wing unfolding but seems that is not happening today.  Hopefully NASA are not having a POETS day ( I am sure you know what that stands for 😂)) .

Looking at these photos I can’t help but to be in complete awe at the level of planning, engineering, testing, and the years of troubleshooting it must have taken. When considering all this, I imagine an alien ship on approach to earth wondering what our species is capable of technologically and examining JWST thinking we’re capable of some amazing things. JWST in my opinion would make a great example of what our species can achieve. Even though they would be light years ahead of us I think they would be impressed, the same way we look at the Antikythera Mechanism as an example of what our ancestors were capable of.

Welcome to SGL Andrew!  fantastic introduction I might add, I enjoyed reading that. In SGL you have found a whole lot of people just like you, enjoy meeting 

others and most importantly have a great time!.

It’s been months since I have placed my order for a Baader BBHS mirror diagonal and inquiries as to delivery time are met with “we have no idea when we’ll see them” 🥲 I have seen in a local classifieds an ad for a 2” WO Quartz dielectric diagonal made in US and now out of production which is absolutely mint as the seller is a collector with an enormous collection of extremely high end refractors and gear. Has anyone used this diagonal? should I be jumping on it or wait for my BBHS to show up just in time for my retirement? Lol.

20 minutes ago, gorann said:

Had quite a few clear nights here at 60°N in Sweden over X-mas and New Year but tonight seems to be the last one for a while. Right now I have my dual-RASA8 rig aiming at a very dim nebula known as MBM13 near Auriga. I got a Samyang 135 piggybacking, so three ASI2600MC collecting data. And I play it safe so each one got its own laptop - never had any luck with having one laptop connected to two cameras.

PS. The towel on the counter weights is to stop any dew dropping into the laptops  - I had a close call.

Cheers & CS

Göran

Whoa! this is AP hysteria! never saw dual RASA rig and your laptop setup rivals NASA mission control! you have patience, my friend.

What a catch, that looks killer! the last wide image is outstanding! I guess the golden light of the setting sun is making that contrail look orange, fantastic!

3 hours ago, Stu said:

I just managed another quick session this evening, this time using the extender module. The crescent Moon looked fab hanging in the sky, with earthshine very bright as it got darker. I missed Mercury, so had a look at Jupiter. Early on it was fairly washed out, but a little later on the views were much better. It took x161 (6mm Setting on the Nag Zoom) well, and showed nice detail in the equatorial bands and a surprising number visible beyond that.

I subsequently put the LZOS out but of course it has now clouded over 🤪.

Is this ever a beautiful looking telescope in that golden light of dusk, those tube rings are eye catching with the gun metal sort of finish they have, a wonderful setup!

Now I must ask where you got those tube rings? I can feel a purchase coming on! one more thing I am awfully curious about is the OTA length as in the first image (night image) you've posted the OTA seems shorter.

Looking at the most recent one I notice a second black joint which seems like a threaded extension has been added? it confuses me a bit lol.

Welcome to SGL! as mentioned above, a bit more info regarding what you would like to do would help us help you better.

Looks like secondary is fully deployed!

14 minutes ago, Stu said:

Not bad getting a mag 10 Galaxy in a 3” scope.

Great! I'm almost sure this is possible due to the superb contrast a Tak can demonstrate, and don't forget to pat off your backside as I am sure you may have some puppy hair down there!

It seems I have figured out how to interpret the graph!

13 hours ago, John said:

Or this ? - I've no idea myself

I think we are into colour crossings here, which is well over my head !

 

I don't understand how to interpret these graphs 🤔😢 

You said I was smart, mom!

Great write up! and congrats on your new scope, as you mentioned I guess using a newt on an EQ mount would be a real neck bender! and I must add, that is one long frac you have there! 

Congratulations on first light even though conditions made it a bit underwhelming, I am as sure as the sun rises you'll enjoy the full potential of this scope soon enough and wow! four new XW's is a treat to say the least!.

If my eyes are working well I see a feather touch and a Baader diagonal, you've spared no expense for this little gem.

Amazing! I listened to it streaming in my company vehicle which prompted my partner to ask "dude what are you listening to" 

What is this false color I'm reading about? 🤣 kidding aside, I don't believe any scope can be 100 percent devoid of false color, maybe less than what our eyes can perceive, I guess.

2 hours ago, Jiggy 67 said:

My only concern would be the quality at that price, seems too cheap to be good……but I hope I’m wrong 

You do bring up a good point, and I pretty much stopped using ancient Ebay years ago after a string of horrible quality item purchases.

Oh nice! this would not be how I store eyepieces but as a way of holding them while observing it sure seems handy. My only concern would be bending over and an eyepiece falling out, constantly unzipping and zipping would be a pain, I would make a small modification to it so it could be shut quickly with Velcro. Please include the link as I just may get one.

Well this is just beautiful isn't it! those stars are tighter than snare drums, contrast and detail are beautiful and colours are just wonderful.

It is cool! you hardly ever see shots of objects with something in the foreground except wide field but then Andromeda would be a smudge anyway, this is different.

Welcome to SGL!

A big welcome from just around the corner (of the planet) in Toronto Canada!

Ten thousand and counting! congratulations on this awesome milestone!