Littleguy80

By this site it's dropped to mag 8 now. They update daily and generally seem to be pretty accurate. It was Mag 6.8 by them earlier in the week. http://astro.vanbuitenen.nl/comets

I agree, Michael. It seems very sensitive to conditions. Even with a 10” dob success is variable. Last night I tried and failed to see it. First attempt I left feeling like I was saw it but not totally confident. Second attempt, with good transparency, I was had much confidence in my observation.

Thanks Iain. I thought it was quite close to the appearance through the eyepiece too. Good suggestion on posting in the imaging section. I did go back and forth on where best to post.

Nice one, Paul. It was a really lovely evening Sunday. I had some fun observing these and took some pics too. I was pleased that Marxist showed up in the first photo.

At the beginning of the month my wife bought me a Canon 250D DSLR for my birthday. I've always enjoyed taking photos through the eyepiece for some fun. I bought the Baader T-Ring so I could use the Canon with my scopes. I've been playing around to learn how to capture some images and process them. Over the weekend I decided to have a go at M81/M82 and Comet C/2017 T2. Here's my cobbled together process. I used my Equinox 80 refractor. I figured out I could take 1 second exposures without star trails. I don't have a tracking mount so I'm a bit limited. I set the camera to take 10 consecutive images on M81/M82. Finding them manually through the camera was quite tricky! Next I moved up to the Comet's position. I increased exposure time to 1 and a third seconds for this and took another 10 images. I'm a Mac user so my processing software options are a bit more limited. I used the Canon Digital Photo Professional software to convert the RAW CR3 files into TIF's. I then used Siril to stack them. After that, it was Pixelmator to fiddle with the levels and stitch the two images together. I manually aligned them and I think, hopefully, that I got it right. For my first try at something like this, I'm pretty pleased with the result. The dark lane in M82 is my favourite part. I was also pleased that NGC 3077 put in an appearance. I've seen much better images of this but I'm happy to have an image to call my own. Any suggestions for future improvements gratefully received

Over the weekend I got my first views of Comet Swan, my 12th Comet since I started observing in 2007. Sunday it was a really tricky spot and I left not feeling totally confident in my observation. Monday night but was much better. It’s quite diffuse but it’s dim glow was showing up. I’m sure it’ll be better as it rises a little higher.

Great report, John. After the disappointment of the launch being postponed, I decided to have a look at the Moon. Using my Equinox 80 and Nagler Zoom. The skies were really steady. The views were ever so sharp. Some of the best lunar views I’ve had. Bit of cloud dodging but really enjoyable.

Thanks Stu. Mrs LG got me a DSLR for my birthday earlier this month. Just starting to learn my way around it

After being totally clouded out last night, I was even more keen to try and grab the chance to see Mercury and Venus together this evening. More cloud around tonight but clear lower down. I kept scanning the thinning cloud with my binoculars. In the end I first spotted Venus through the finderscope on my dob. As the planets descended beneath the clouds I started to enjoy some lovely views. The crescent of Venus next to the pale orange of Mercury. My Dad and his partner arrived for a social distanced visit. The first time I’ve seen him in person since March. They both enjoyed the views adding a nice little bonus to the evening. Grabbed a photo through the refractor with my DSLR to remember the moment by.

Just rushed outside and caught a quick look at them. Awesome to see them both in the same FOV. Venus clearly showing as a crescent. Next couple of evenings should be even better!

Well done, John! Two supernovae in a night, what a result! I took another look at sn2020hvf this evening. Seemed a bit brighter although conditions were better tonight with no Moon to contend with. I didn’t go back to M61 but will definitely give it another shot later in the week. Thursday’s forecast is currently looking very good.

Thanks John. I remember reading your excellent BCO review whilst trying to decide on a eyepieces in my early days. It led to purchase a 6mm BGO as my first ortho I only have the 25mm TV Plossl which I bought specifically for observing the Horsehead. It has proved successful for this showing it’s quality! I’d like to try a Delos for comparison.

Thank you, Mark. The BGOs, without doubt, are better on fainter objects. The small FOV can make them tricky to use with my manual dob but they’ve been the difference between observing an object or not on multiple occasions. I noticed this the first time I observed Stephan’s Quintet. I purchased orthos when I was new to the hobby and wanted good eyepieces on a budget. I hadn’t expected them to outperform the APM and Lunt widefield eyepieces that came later. I recently started a thread on the topic of finding the middle ground of best performance with a wide FOV. TeleVue Delos seemed to be the most recommended for this.

Thank you 😊 No sign of the host galaxy. It’s listed as mag 14.6 in SkySafari so I wasn’t expecting to see it.

I successfully observed SN 2020hvf this evening. I identified it fairly easily at 133x (Lunt XWA 9mm and 9mm BGO). At 200x (6mm BGO) I could see the mag 13.2 next to it which gave me confidence that it was indeed the SN I was seeing. After failing to see 2020ftl a few weeks back, I am extra pleased to get this. It took me a little while to match up the image above to SkySafari. I’ve marked up some stars below as a guide. I was using these as guides to identify 2020hvf. I did hop over to M61 too. However, SN 2020jfo seems to be holding around mag 14.5, putting it out of range for me from home.

As it occulted it passes a large crater where a small peak could be seen rising just above the crater wall. I think that was sat slightly closer to the terminator than the labelled craters. I’ll have to get the Moon Atlas out later to see if I can figure out which crater it was. Very much enjoyed the occultation. Thanks for the heads up!

There’s a near set of craters on the terminator close to where 80 Vir is heading. Haven’t identified them yet though.

Thanks for heads up, Stu. Inspired me to head outside with the frac. It’s like seeing the small speck of an X-Wing next to the Death Star 😂

More info here http://astro.vanbuitenen.nl/comet/2020F3

Thank you. Yeah, the rattle concerned me until I read that. It just doesn’t quite make sense. It’s diameter is too small to put lay it on top the filter as the instructions to seem to imply. How have you got this ring placed on yours?

I’ve just gotten this to attach my Canon DSLR to my refractor. I got the version with the clear filter. When I opened it there was a rubber band going across the front of the filter. I think this is the temperature compensation ring. I’m not sure what to do with this. It’s quite small making it tricky to get around the filter without it coming off as soon as I try to put it in the t-ring. The instructions make it sound like it should lie on top but it’s too small to do that. Can anyone help with what I should be doing with this please?

Have a read of this. You may be surprised at what you can see with a 10” dob

Got a brief break in the cloud just after tea so managed a quick look. Managed to see the two AR’s though drifting cloud was a problem. A couple of nice moments of clarity where some nice detail could be seen. Friday marks one year since I got my white light setup. I think this is the first time I’ve seen two AR’s at the same time. Really looking forward to cycle 25 properly getting going. Thanks for the heads up, Mark!

Very true, John. I’ve been using the Nagler Zoom. Normally sticking to 100x - 125x. Every now and then I get a good spell of seeing and have some really stunning views at 167x. In those moments I’m left wanting the 2-4mm Nagler zoom that you have for the extra mag! Might have to get the Baader VIP Barlow out.

Quick snap through the eyepiece