Sunshine

A fine image! though I cannot see a bat or a squid I'll take your word for it 🤣

Last weekend while on a doubles tour (of you haven’t heard I just love doubles) I made a point to observe Delta Cygni. Seeing was pretty bad, a thin haze coupled with record daytime heat made for shimmering morphing star images. Despite seeing, I was easily able to resolve this double to the point where no matter how much the parent star shimmered, I could see the gap between its pup perfectly clearly the entire time while observing it. It seems this is a challenging double for small scopes, I expected to be foiled on a night of bad seeing but it wasn’t the case, I was surprised at the fact I could maintain a clear split in such conditions. 
 

A wonderful image with boat loads of detail! is this also known as the Iris nebula? 

1 hour ago, HollyHound said:

Or two or three or more even 🤣

Somewhere in Jeremy's home there is a room which is a shrine to Takahashi, when the door is opened classical music plays.

Enjoyed reading that, what a scope! I need a light bucket.

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

My Tak FS102 is 20 years old and still in good condition. One or two minor chipsonthe tube but you have to look close. Optics as bright as new. Just as well fluorite, glass and metal don’t deteriorate if well looked after 🤣

I take it that FS stands for fail safe? would be fitting.

When I bought my 102 from a seller I was curious to know when it was made. When I called Tak America they informed me that based on the serial number it was made in 2011. This is still young I guess, still many moons of fun lay ahead especially considering how I take care of it, I carry it like a newborn 🤣.

X-files is a series which is dear to me, I have every episode on dvd and can recite lines at will lol, pusher is one of my fav episodes along with HOME.

Welcome Cbear! I think it's fantastic that you are doing your best to nourish your daughters curiosity, I will repeat what was said already regarding local astronomy clubs. There is no shortage of them, in every state, your best bet would be to connect with one of these clubs in your area and even better, join with your daughter. Having her join a club with her dad would fill her with excitement and, members will be more than happy to help you both along your journey. Having said that, a small table top dobsomian telescope would be great as it can be carried anywhere and easily set up by a 9yr old.  In any case, we want to help going forward so don't be shy about asking questions, I felt just like your daughter around her age and, it was the same nourishment given by my parents which set the course for my life as a young boy.

Fantastic! also, your SGL name reminds me of X-files episode season 5 episode 8 of same name.

A simply beautiful image!

Great report and a superb instrument!

Saturn & Jupiter are wonderful tonight!

Great sketch!

Hello and welcome to SGL! 

1 hour ago, John said:

Hoping that the sky stays clear for some gas giant observing later. TMB/LZOS 130mm F/9.2 triplet on the T-Rex mount:

 

That is one big yard canon of a scope, should make short work of a gas giant.

LZOS=thing of beauty

Wow we already have an unboxing of one of these scopes. It looks impressive and big! can't wait for the first light report but, I bet a whole load of clouds came with that box.

4 hours ago, powerlord said:

Is there any time left for imaging after setting this up? lol.

When you get the bar you should start a  "what did the postman FINALLY bring" thread, I'm sure it will be a popular thread. Humour aside, we cant wait to hear all about first light with that awesome scope!.

8 hours ago, FLO said:

They are genuine carbon-fibre 🙂

Will these be available in North America? Local shops rather than shipped from UK, I mean.

Welcome to SGL!

These look great, especially the 16" with what look like carbon fibre truss tubes (most likely faux) to keep price down of course but, they look sleek and refined.

Welcome to SGL! as for the issue through the eyepiece I cannot say what would cause that specific issue, maybe collimation is off but soon enough others will weigh in.

Great images and welcome to SGL, keep those coming!

Whaaaaat!  those latest images are AWESOME! I have never seen images of Venus with such cloud detail in forums, just amazing!

5 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

This looks excellent Agnes. What a superb project. Congratulations!
I will be ordering a copy when available. For the field version, would be good to have heavy duty paper that can be used in a damp night without it going wrinkly. Not necessarily waterproof tho

 

Yes, Jeremy said it better than I, I didn’t mean waterproof or anything as I won’t be observing doubles from the bottom of the Atlantic 😂🤣 just some sort of resistance against elements would be ideal.