Littleguy80

Great report, Nick. Every time I read one of your reports I’m reminded of great targets to go for. The ‘White Pea’ is the example from this report. Thanks for posting!

Completely agree with this. It propagates from here too. As a result of this post, I’ve shared details with my local astro group and posted on their public Facebook page. The internet can be a very positive thing.

Thanks Iain. Chasing the station sure is tricky. It helps if you catch it on a longer pass so you a minute or two to get your eye in. Fingers crossed that you’re able to have a dark sky trip soon.

Thank you! Yes, I’ve seen quite a few in the Coma cluster. I think that may well be my target next time I head to the dark site

Thanks Barry. It’s a few miles outside of Norwich and run by the local astro society. We’ve had SQM readings up to 21.6 on the best nights. There’s quite a few galaxies that can be seen from suburban skies. At home I get around 19.7SQM and can see all the galaxies in Virgo in this report with my 10” dob. M81/M82 are well placed at the moment.

Thank you. Yes, it did make me a little nervous. I always take it careful when I have precious cargo like my telescope or family aboard

Just adding my picture from Monday night to this thread. Was a fun feature to hunt down. Thanks for the heads up

Thanks John. I’m very lucky to have a site like this within 30 mins drive of home

It's been months since I've been able to visit my local dark site. Thanks to the reduction in lockdown restrictions, an opportunity came up last night to go which I jumped at! Arriving onsite around 8pm with the sky still fairly bright, I was able to take my time setting up, carefully collimating the 10" dob and aligning the finders. I started off observing the Nova V1405 in Cassiopeia. I've viewed the Nova many times over the past 10 days so it felt like familiar ground. M52 really popped under the darker skies. I popped the 10mm Delos in for a closer look. This really brought it to life with many more stars visible when compared to what I can see from home. Winter observing has been a bit of write off with few opportunities so it was particularly nice to spend some time with M42. An OIII giving an increased sense of texture and depth to the Nebula. At this point, I spotted the ISS rising and decided to play chase the space station! Using the unfiltered Delos, I got a few fleeting glimpses of the ISS in the eyepiece to start with. Repositioning, I managed to keep it fairly well centered for what felt about 10 seconds but, in reality, was probably more like 2 seconds! It was enough to get a real sense of the solar arrays. Pretty good going at 120x and a 0.6 degree TFOV! Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to get a Docter/Noblex 12.5mm eyepiece. I've been really looking forward to trying at the dark site. M51 was the target of choice for the Docter. The view was superb, beautiful spiral arms could be seen. Some of the best views of M51 I've had. The Leo triplet just fit into the FOV. Concentrating on NGC 3628, I felt like I could pick out the bar through the center of it. Virgo had now risen above the trees so, after a brief visit to M53, the galaxy hunt continued. Starting off at Rho Vir, I picked up NGC 4596 and then onto the Siamese Twins. I love this pair of galaxies which form something like a butterfly shape. From the twins to M58 and then Virgo A/M87. 3 more small galaxies filled the FOV of view around one side of M87. Virgo is simply bursting with galaxies. I have no idea how many I missed journeying through Virgo. The crown jewels of Virgo, Markarian's Chain was my next stop. Still using the Docter, I moved slowly down from M84/M86/NGC4388 to the Eyes Galaxies to NGC4461/NGC4458 and then NGC4473/NGC4477. I then used the APM UFF 30mm and APM HDC 20mm to get the complete chain into the FOV. Leaving the chain I passed NGC4459 and then enjoyed views of 3 more Messier galaxies (M98, M99 and M100). The Moon was now starting to rise so I decided to try for one of my galaxies goals! I'd never been able to observe the Antennae galaxies in Corvus before. With some careful star hopping and study of SkySafari I landed in the correct location. The Docter was again deployed. With averted vision, I could just detect the faint grey pair of galaxies. It was by no means I spectacular view but I was really chuffed to finally see them. A revisit will be required without the Moon starting to peak out to properly enjoy this pair. My attention moved to some brighter targets to finish the session. The Ghost of Jupiter planetary nebula was an easy find. With an OIII it had a distinctly mottled look to it and just invited further study. A quick observation of M1 was unremarkable so I finished up with the Eskimo nebula. I always enjoy this best without a filter. I packed up and headed home a little before midnight. On the way home a group of eight to ten full sized deer crossed the road in front of me. A nice little bonus to end a lovely night on.

Excellent report, Stephan. I will be looking for the Maiden in the Moon now! I also got a Docter recently. I used it last night with the Baader VIP Barlow to observe the Barker's Quadrangle feature in Mare Crisium. It's given me the best views of M51 from home that I've ever had. Can't wait to try it at my dark site! Here's the thread on Barker's Quadrangle

I think the weight quoted is the shipping weight. The eyepiece should be a lot less than that. The APM UFF 30mm is also quoted at 1Kg but actually weighs only about half that.

It has the potential to be a very good eyepiece. Would definitely consider replacing my Baader zoom if the reviews/reports are good. The Leica always sounded great but very expensive.

Excellent. Thanks for confirming, Stu! I’d not heard of this before the heads up. Your image matches what I was seeing in eyepiece

I think this is it

Looks to be visible to me now despite the seeing not being the best. Very neat. Thanks for the heads up

I enjoyed some nice views of the Nova with the 10" dob this evening. Popped the DSLR onto the dob and grabbed an image. M52 is quite clear as is the coma

That’s ace. Really nice work, especially given the tricky imaging conditions. Thanks for sharing

Some interesting responses on here. I’m keen to try some H-Alpha observing at some point myself. Very much enjoying white light with my 80mm refractor. A Quark seemed like a good option as it doesn’t require an additional telescope but sounds a bit hit and miss on getting a good one. Something like the Lunt 50mm currently for sale also seems like a good entry point, though Brain’s and Nigella suggest some variation in the Lunt experience. I’d not heard of Solarscope until today but they sound interesting though possibly an expensive option. I often see the Coronado PST’s for sale at very reasonable prices. There doesn’t seem to be an obvious favourite amongst them.

Just back in from a short session. Ticked Bailly off, which is number 37 on the Lunar 100. I was never quite sure which crater this was from my Atlas but it’s really well positioned this evening. Started off with viewing the Nova. I’ve managed to observe it every night, other than Monday, this week. My first observation was on Sunday. I don’t think I’ll ever need to look up where M52 is again!

Couldn’t agree more, John. Didn’t feel like we had many good nights this winter so it’s great to have some now with the added bonus of the Nova. I’ve really felt my enthusiasm for observing come back in recent weeks.

Out with the 10” Dob tonight. Started with the Nova and M52. Got the concentric rings in Hesiodus A. Gassendi looks stunning. Great thread btw!

Great idea. That should work perfectly. Thank you very much

I use one of the Baader 47mm Clicklock extension tubes (https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/baader-2-inch-click-lock-cl-extension-47mm.html) with my 10” dob. Works great. A recent eyepiece purchase hits focus right at the limit of my Focuser with the extension tube. I’m trying to find a way to extend the optical path by 5mm or so. The extension tube is essentially an SCT Clicklock with an S52 2” nosepiece screwed in. I’ve not had much luck finding a way to extend the optical using this thread. Thought I’d see if anyone out there has a clever way to do this? I’d prefer not to have the eyepiece or extension only partially inserted as a workaround.

Thanks for these posts, John. I enjoyed an ISS pass early on in the evening. By the time the kids were settled, I was feeling really tired. A scan of this thread, plus reminding that part of the reason for getting an 80mm frac was to allow for quick grab and go sessions, was enough for me to decide to go out for 10 mins. Enjoyed another view of the Nova. With a 12.5mm eyepiece I could just eek out a sighting of M52. It was a similar story with Caroline’s rose. The Owl cluster was fun and really suits a refractor with those nice pin point stars. Spent some time on the Moon after that. Wasn’t able to get the centre ring of Hesiodus though that was probably down to the seeing dropping off. My 10 minute session was closer to 40 minutes in the end. Felt wide awake after that!

Great report. Lots of good targets there. NGC5053 is a surprisingly tricky target, even under good conditions. It’s one of those targets that looks quite achievable in SkySafari and then has you scratching your head wondering where it is at the eyepiece!