Littleguy80

I have both and use the Moon and Skyglow filter a lot more. The Contrast Booster adds a yellow tint which always bothered me. I prefer a more natural look when observing. The Contrast Booster is reputed to be very good on Mars. In 2018 I tried it and it gave it a deeper Red look. Due to the dust storm on Mars it was hard to say if it made any difference to the subtler features. I’ll be trying it again this year though.

Excellent sketches and notes, Mike. Shortly after seeing this I went out and had a look at Venus myself. I was using the Equinox 80 with Nagler zoom. I wasn’t able to see the features that you were. I’ll keep trying though, after all, there was once a time that it took 3 sessions for me to find the Beehive cluster! Practise makes perfect

Excellent report, Gerry. The 15” is becoming your grab and go scope! Personally, I would very much like you to continue writing reports. I find them to be a happy distraction from world events

It was a world I was very happy to be in You can all the fun and challenge of finding targets on the edge of what can be seen, same as you would with larger aperture. Good luck with NGC 3077!

I’m lucky enough to be on a short trip away at Thetford Forest. The skies here are quiet dark, listed at just under 21 SQM on Clear Outside. The Beehive cluster is a clear naked eye object. I’ve brought along my travel scope, an SkyWatcher Equinox 80. Sitting outside and considering my options for observing targets, I hit upon the downside of being in a forest. There’s a lot of trees in the way! Fortunately my first target was in Ursa Major which was unobstructed. I had a successful evening last night getting my first views of Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS). I was keen to return to this tonight. The comet is close to M81 and M82. I started out with my Aero 40mm eyepiece to try and see the comet in the same FOV but this was unsuccessful. I now turned to my Baader Zoom. I was getting hints of the comet but nothing more. Perhaps my eyes needed more time to dark adapt. I returned to M81 and M82 and spent some time zooming in on each. Even with only a modest 80mm of aperture these are lovely galaxies to observe. After awhile I decided to try for NGC 3077 which forms a nice triplet with M81 and M82. At a shade under mag 10 it was a more challenging proposition than the two bright Messiers. With the zoom on the 12mm setting, I found focusing to the right of galaxy put my eye in the right position for a nice clear averted vision view of this galaxy. Moving back to the comet, and focusing to the right of its position, as with NGC 3077, really lifted its prominence to my eye. The 16mm to 12mm settings on the zoom working best. I felt that the 8mm setting caused the view to deteriorate. I followed this with a look at M51. I concluded that I’ve been spoilt with too many stunning views of the Whirlpool galaxy in my dob to really appreciate the view of it in the little frac. Looking around at the sky, I saw that Leo was fairly well positioned above the tree tops. I went for the obvious first target of the Leo triplet. M65 and M66 were bright and obvious straight away. With averted vision, the thin grey bar of NGC 3628 came and went. A check of SkySafari confirmed its location matched what I was seeing. I moved onto another group of Leo galaxies, adding observations of M105, NGC 3384, M96 and M95. I then clocked up one more galaxy in the form of NGC 2903. A nice bright galaxy and easily seen under good skies. My eyes were feeling the strain from my previous nights comet hunting. However, I couldn’t resist one final look at the comet. It seemed much clearer now. I found myself wondering whether this was due to improving transparency or just good dark adaptation from all the galaxy hunting. One of the most satisfying parts of the session was that everything was observed using only try Baader zoom. A great piece of kit, especially when used as part of a lightweight grab and go setup. Another great night of comet and galaxy hunting!

I’m away for a short family break in Thetford forest. I brought the Equinox 80 with me. The skies are at step up from home, certainly 20 SQM plus. The beehive was a clear naked eye object. I also managed to see all three members of the Leo triplet. Under these lovely conditions, I was again able to see Comet C/2019 Y4 in the 80mm refractor. Location was as per SkySafari. Obvious with averted vision but visible with direct vision too.

Not a stupid question at all. I actually have a proper observing hood these days though I have used an old towel in the past. The observing hood I have is the one reviewer below. I can wholeheartedly recommend it!

It’s currently listed at mag 8.6 by the site linked above. The zoom is a good call. Last night it didn’t seem to mag as well as C/2017 T2 does.

Best of luck. They make a great challenge. This one is still brightening so definitely one to watch

Thanks Stephan. Glad to hear you saw it. The Heritage is a great scope. I also found this comet didn’t respond so well to magnification. With C/2017 T2 I go straight to my 9mm eyepiece (133x) with the dob. My 13mm (92x) was the highest I could go with this comet. It’s interesting how these objects all respond differently to magnification/exit pupil.

That’s annoying. I use an observing hood to help block all the light like that. It really does help IMHO.

How was the transparency? It was tricky early on but as conditions improved it seemed to become an easier spot. Probably improving dark adaptation helped too.

Thanks Andrew. Conditions really picked up as the night went on. Having the dob to compare the views with against the Equinox 80 really helped.

Skies picked up a lot as the night went on. I think I would have felt a lot less confident about what I saw in the Equinox 80 had I not seen it in the dob too. It helped to be able to compare back and forth with the two scopes.

I had a successful evening seeing the comet in both my 10" dob and 80mm refractor. Wrote a short report here:

Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) has increased in magnitude significantly over the last few days and was therefore at the top of my "To See" list. This evening presented my first opportunity to try for it. The weather forecast had worsened throughout the day but looked like it should be clear at some point. Around 22:15 I spotted stars on the horizon so I took my Equinox 80 refractor outside. The clouds were still covering Ursa Major, where the comet is currently residing, so I went and grabbed my 10" dob too. My plan was to go widefield so I could try and see the comet alongside M81 and M82. As the clouds cleared, I managed a view of the two galaxies but not the comet. I switched from 40mm Aero eyepiece to the Baader zoom. A brief pause to wait for the next clear patch and I was off again. Clicking up through the magnifications I caught the hazy glow of the comet. It was faint but I felt sure it was there. The cloud returned and I had a moment to plan my next move. Time for the the dob. After 15 minutes or so of waiting the clouds parted. Starting at M81/M82 I started to move towards the comet and hit upon a grey fuzzy but it didn't look like a comet I then realised that I'd found the galaxy NGC 2976. Shortly afterwards, I had the comet in the eyepiece. After Comet C/2017 T2 (Panstarrs), the new comet seemed quite large and diffuse but clear with the larger aperture. I found my APM HDC 13mm gave the best views. Clouds arrived again and it was another 30 mins before I could return to observing. I decided to try again for the widefield view of M81/M82 and the comet. The view was hazy and even the galaxies seemed faint. I returned to the dob and the Comet seemed clearer than ever. I picked out a mag 12.8 star which was close to the comet's core. Now I was confused, skies looked good in the dob but poor in the refractor. The answer was obvious, the refractor had dewed up. I took it inside and cleared the dew with a hair drier. Back outside and things looked much better. I was finally able to get the view of M81/M82 and the comet that I was after. My ES82 30mm eyepiece giving a superb widefield in the Equinox 80. Finally I decided to try for the comet with my 10x50 binoculars. M81/M82 were obvious with the bins. The comet was a maybe in averted vision. A night of cloud dodging but really rewarding and thoroughly enjoyable. I've now seen 10 comets since I started observing in 2017.

Awesome, Dom. I’m so happy you go it. It’s a great achievement with a 4” scope. Sounds like a really nice session.

Recently I’ve been starting at the Christmas Tree cluster, then observing Hubble’s variable nebula, 13 Mon and finally Rosette nebula.

Hi Dom. Great report The cluster, NGC2244, is quite obvious but the nebula is a bit trickier. It definitely benefits greatly from darks skies. I normally use an OIII filter with a big exit pupil (6mm) with a 2 degree TFOV. It’s quite a big target. SkySafari screen grab below shows it with my dob and ES82 30mm. When using a UHC/OIII filter don’t be afraid to go really low power to maximise the exit pupil. I had some amazing views of this nebula using a 40mm eyepiece in my dob. With dark skies this is a special target. Hope your back feels better soon!

Thanks to @Davey-T for bringing this to my attention. The Comet C/2019 Y4 (Atlas) has brightening, currently at mag 9.8. Some good info here: http://astro.vanbuitenen.nl/comet/2019Y4?fbclid=IwAR0zN6VDuvfvQoE95hneLgp5kcqkDoGvuRf5E2Qmh6f6kXy6nbAKLX3YIzE

Exciting! I’ll look out for that one. Thanks for the heads up

Conditions weren’t the best but I took on the challenge of observing this comet with my 80mm frac. It’s a whole different ball game to the dob. I started with the Baader zoom. On the 8mm setting I thought maybe. Switched to 9mm BGO and got another maybe. Then went to the 12.5mm BGO and, in averted vision, it started to come through a bit more decisively. A definite edge observation but they all count. I checked afterwards and the 12.5mm BGO gives the magical 2mm exit pupil which seems to strike the right balance for DSO’s. A good ortho helps too. The view through the dob of this comet is much more impressive but I really enjoyed the challenge of finding it with smaller aperture.

Hi Marvin. This is certainly a tricky comet compared to 46/P but I think it should be achievable for you. I’ve observed it with my 10” dob many times from my local dark site and from my back garden which is NELM 5.5 on a good night. I think the normal rules for DSO observing apply. Good transparency and no Moon are needed. I normally start with a lower power view to locate it. In my dob that’s 60x with a 4.2mm exit pupil. I then go to 133x with 1.9mm exit pupil to gain some contrast and get a clearer view. I would concentrate on the exit pupil values as opposed to the magnification. It’s a really nice comet which is starting to show a small tail, based on my last couple of observations. Best of luck finding it. I share your love comets. I’ve been lucky enough to see 9 since 2017

Well it took a nearly half 5.5 degree FOV but I managed to catch Venus and Uranus together in the eyepiece. Always neat to see two planets at once.

Thanks John. Very interesting results. Sounds like you a few steps ahead of me on this The Baader Contrast booster adds a yellow tint so I’ll give that a go first as I already have it. Maybe try the violet after that. I’ll be interested to hear how your journey with the filters continues!