Littleguy80

Ignoring that pessimistic weatherman and trusting in the blue sky above me, I put the dob out to cool around 9:30pm. Returning to it around 10:45pm, I performed a quick collimation check and then took in the constellations available to me. Vega caught my and proved useful for aligning my finders with. Where to go? What to see? M57 was the answer. The little ring of cosmic dust tells the story of the death of a star. Moving closer in revealed a faint star on the outside of the ring. The central star too faint for my telescope. In complete contrast, the great globular cluster of Hercules contains hundreds of thousands of stars. At high power, I can almost fill the entire field of view with stars. My eye doesn't know where to focus, there's almost too much to see. Drifting down, I find a faint grey smudge. This is the galaxy NGC 6207, which I have never seen before. I make eyepiece changes to slowly reduce the magnification bringing the galaxy and the globular cluster into the same field of view. The galaxy has always been there, I just never thought to look for it until tonight. I go in search of another globular cluster, NGC 6229. Again thousands of stars but it seems so small after the previous expansive cluster. Higher powers do reveal the granulation from all those stars at its core. Overhead a bright light starts to move across the sky. The ISS! I decide to chase it with the scope. Initially, just managing fleeting glances and then starting to track it. Soon I am following it at 133x magnification and tweaking focus as I go. I can make out the basic outline of the space station. As it disappears out of view, my heart is racing from the thrill of the chase. Pointing the scope high overhead, I find a pattern of three stars in Ursa Major. Next to these 3 stars are 3 galaxies. Two are very close to each, NGC 5353 and NGC 5354 and a third, NGC 5350, is a bit further away. Within one of these galaxies a star has gone Supernova and the light is only now reaching us. The galaxy, NGC 5353, is 119 million light years away. I reach 200x magnification and begin the process of letting the pair of galaxies drift through the eyepiece. The supernova appears out of range until a chance knock of the telescope gives a slight wobble and briefly the faint point of light is seen. Encouraged, I continue to search and after a few minutes I have learned where to place my eye to see the supernova with averted vision. It is my second time observing this supernova but it still feels special. An event that will pass most of the planet by unnoticed. I lose view of the galaxies and look up to see that the weatherman's clouds have arrived. Before the sky is completely lost, I enjoy a close pair of stars known as Izar. The tiny blue companion star is a favourite sight of mine. Time now to come in from the peace of the universe and reflect on just how nice it is to look up.

Thank you. It's only when using it with the Baader VIP barlow that it doesn't reach focus. I suspect it would be fine if I got the dedicated barlow.

Yes! There’s a lot of truth in this! It’s not often that I’m out observing and I think about another eyepiece or filter that I want/need. It’s those long, quiet, cloudy nights where my wish list gets filled.

I know I should have long since have accepted this but the the desire to purchase new equipment seems never ending! I’ve spent most of the last two years being one or two purchases away from having “everything I want”. Despite having spent a fair bit on my travel setup, that I’m very happy with, I’m now thinking about a Nagler 3-6mm Zoom. It’ll work well with both my scopes. I’d like to think that after that I’ll find peace and serenity with two great scopes and a full eyepiece case but I know that a Pentax XW 7mm would make a nice addition to the collection. Those Vixen HRs seem right up my street too. Has anyone ever reached the end of the equipment buying road? I need to know there’s light at the end of the tunnel as I’m running out of kidneys!

Once I get the ND3 filter, I can try this with the TS wedge. It has an ND3 element stacked in the same cell as the continuum filter. It’s relatively easy to remove that ND3 element though. With the separate ND3 I can reverse the order and try this.

Funnily enough that’s one thing that does go through my mind when showing friends and family the Sun. I’d rather have more natural views for them. No one but me seems bothered though so I probably shouldn’t worry. I’m the same with planetary. I was never keen on coloured filters. The Neodymium filter is useful though.

I’ve only ever seen the Sun through the TS Wedge so a green Sun is all I know. I quite like the white light images taken without a continuum filter through the eyepiece. Once I’ve tried it, I’ll have a better feel of what I’m losing through not using the continuum filter.

Fantastic report, Geoff. I’d love to see Saturn at that elevation with so much detail on display. I quite agree on eyepieces. I have some great widefield eyepieces but for planetary my secondhand orthos costing around £50 can’t be beaten.

Congratulations! Excellent achievement under challenging conditions. If you ever get the chance to try your scope from dark skies you’ll be blown away!

Tube rings sold

The TS also comes with a circular polarising filter. The Larcerta requires the polarising filter as an extra. One question for my own understanding. The filter with the TS is described as a circular polarising filter. As you turn the eyepiece with the filter attached the view dims or brightens due to the polarising effect of the filter. When buying a polariser for the Lacerta, does it need to be a "circular polarising filter" or will a normal single polariser work? Normally you need two polarising filters stacked to get that effect.

No this is my first solar setup. I bought it off @johninderby so I’m sure he could give you an idea on how it compares to the Lacerta.

Dovetail bar now sold. Open to offers on the tube rings

Yep, been very pleased with mine. Amazing detail. Well beyond my expectations. My only (very minor) gripe is the continuum filter is stacked with the ND filter in a single cell meaning you have to use it. The continuum filter means you have a green sun with no option of a more natural colour. This is very much a personal taste issue. I’m going to buy a separate ND3 filter so I can swap back and forth.

For the Lunar 100, I'd really recommend this atlas. It's the only paper atlas that I actually take outside and use at the eyepiece. I use SkySafari for everything else. https://www.amazon.co.uk/21st-Century-Atlas-Moon-Charles/dp/1938228804