Littleguy80

One of the wheels I turn to focus on my Baader Newtonian Focuser is now loose. It makes a horrible noise when I turn either of the other focusing wheels as it’s slipping. I think this is the previous version of the Focuser to the current steeltracks. I’m guessing I need to move up the gold fine focusing wheel by loosening up the screw circled below. The black wheel arrowed is the loose one. I don’t have an Allen key to fit that screw. Does anyone know what size Allen key I need or if that’s the correct thing to adjust to fix it?

I’ve had a the Astronomik OIII in both 1.25” and 2” versions and have been very pleased with it. The 1.25” was effective even in my 130mm reflector. I’ve used the 2” to see the Veil in my 80mm frac though it was very faint. Both of these I got secondhand. It’s worth posting a wanted Ad if you’re looking to save some pennies You may well have seen this link before but it rates the OIII filter and a couple of other types against a number of nebula. The ratings will give you an idea of how much improvement to expect against some specific objects. https://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/filter-performance-comparisons-for-some-common-nebulae/

I got some fleeting views through the cloud in the end. Nice view of Tycho with the Moon a pale orange. Picture doesn’t show the colour or detail through the eyepiece. I’m pleased that I managed to see something of it though

Looks like it’s going to be a cloud out in Norwich. Sad face!

Really looking forward to this one 😁

I personally like my Cheshire. Takes me one to two minutes to collimate the primary at the beginning of a session. Easily done with a red torch in the dark. No batteries required. I’ve always been put off by the fact that laser collimaters require collimating themselves. The pictures below isn’t the best but gives an idea of easy it is to see if you’re properly collimated. Might need to zoom in a little. There are plenty of better example pictures on here.

Aaah rubbish. The cruel irony is you probably needed a beer cheer yourself up after that 😉Last week was excellent so I shouldn’t complain even though the scopes have just sat gathering dust this week.

Looks like another cloud out in Norwich. Will be looking forward to all your reports though. Enjoy

It’s very tricky. I’ve dabbled with it. Do you use a tracking mount when you sketch? I always feel like I need about 3 pairs of hands to hold everything! Looking forward to seeing more sketches from you

Nice session, Doug. Been clouded out all week here. Is sketching a new thing for you?

Thanks to @Freddie for highlighting this with his excellent image. I have this is white light right now. Very small but well worth a look if you have some clear skies.

Got it visually in white light Looks like one small spot with two even smaller spots next to it on the limb side. Are these pores? There’s also a lighter region around the spot. Almost looks like a fries egg with the spot being the yolk. Is the lighter region what’s called plague?

I’ve estimated my skies at home to be around NELM 5-5.5. With an OIII filter, I can get both of those targets. Similar to John, I can trace the Milky Way once it gets past midnight. It helps that Cygnus is near the zenith when the sky is darkest. With the Veil it’s only the Eastern and Western sections, no Pickering’s Triangle from home.

Fab report, John. I love all of those nebula. A night in Sagittarius with the dob for me this evening. I would have liked to have stayed out longer but tired eyes have gotten the better of me. It’s been a great week of observing.

Haha you joke but it has crossed my mind to put some wood across the top and use it as a dob platform!

Thanks Stu. I’m definitely finding the little frac better down low. Going widefield is really nice too. Totally different experience to the dob and fits really well with the relaxed nature of these summer observing sessions. I had read that report before but had another read. It’s a great report. I was really impressed that you got the Triffid with the Genesis. I remember struggling with that in my 130mm scope.

Thank you, Mark. The Heritage 130P should give some nice views of M6 and M7 if you can get on them. I just checked and I only have M55, M62, M69, M70 and M83 to go. By the end of the summer I could be down to just M83!

Thanks John. I think you're right regarding Pluto. If I'm getting close to something I'll normally have the occasional flicker of a view in averted vision. Not enough to call it an observation but a hint. I got absolutely nothing with Pluto so I suspect it's well out of range. Worth a shot from dark skies as you say. The hunt is all part of the fun even if it's ultimately unsuccessful.

Experience has taught me that I enjoy my observing more if I keep my plans loose. I keep track of what I've seen on the Messier list and a couple of others but I don't set goals around completing lists. That's just what works for me. Having said that, a scan of the objects I haven't seen showed that I was mostly missing the southerly Messiers. I love my dob but it's quite heavy which doesn't lend itself to moving around trying to find the best spot to get low down towards the horizon. Now that I have a light refractor in the form of an Equinox 80, I can easily move around to find the perfect viewing spot. Whilst out observing the Europa shadow transit on Jupiter Tuesday night, I realised that I had a chance of observing M6, the butterfly cluster. I did some Feng Shui in my garden, which involved dragging a 12 foot trampoline out of the way, to get the right position but was then beaten by clouds. The idea was now set in my mind though, ready for Wednesday nights clear skies. With the preamble out of the way, on with the observing! After a short power nap, I headed out to observe around 23:30. My first target was M8, the Lagoon nebula, which even filtered, was showing some nice nebulosity. I now jumped in with trying to observe M6 but just couldn't find a position in my garden that didn't end up with M6 behind a tree. There's a large green out front of my house but there are also street lights which isn't ideal. Carrying the light frac round front, I set about searching for M6 again. This time I was able to find a good spot to observe it. I was using my ES68 24mm eyepiece which gives a 3.26 degree TFOV at 21x magnification. M6 was not obvious in this with around 5 of the brighter being visible. I retrieved my Baader Zoom and started to increase the magnification. On the 8mm setting, I could more of the fainter stars of the cluster giving a much more satisfying view. I'd like to see M6 with better skies or in the dob but there was a definite sense of achievement at finding this. Why stop there I thought! Let's try for M7, Ptolemy's Cluster, which is even lower. This time my challenge was arriving at M7 without a Chimney stack being in the way. I moved position several times, gave up, looked at M6 again and then decided to try one more time for M7. This time with the Zoom on the 24mm setting, I could see the main stars of the cluster just above the roof tops. I actually had the chimney stack in the FOV at this point. Clicking up the magnification a little showed me the core of M7 with a few more stars revealed. I felt very pleased with myself! A car pulled up close to me and I felt quite inconspicuous with my black observing hood on and my telescope pointing just above the houses. My wife has expressed concern that she may wake up one day to find I've been arrested on suspicion of trying to looking through people's windows! For the record, I have never done this! I decided to return to my back garden before the police arrived following reports of a shadowy figure on the green. I now sat down with my dob and decided to have a try at observing Pluto. From my garden, Pluto only rises to around 15 degrees and is mag 14.2. It's very close to a star listed at mag 11.79 in SkySafari. Using my 3-6mm Nagler zoom, I let that star drift through the eyepieces several times, trying different magnifications, looking for any hint of the dwarf planet. I had no trouble holding the star in direct vision. Like the hedgehog I could hear rustling around nearby, I knew Pluto was there but I couldn't see it. Perhaps when the skies are darker I'll have manage to glimpse it. I turned my attention to Saturn now. The view was simply stunning. I picked out 2 or 3 of the tiny moons around it, the Cassini division was clear as day and the planet itself was showing some lovely banding. Superb! My thoughts now returned to those southerly Messiers. I re-positioned the dob and the trampoline, and went after M54. At low power it was tricky but I just managed to spot the globular cluster about the tree tops. Increasing power gave a more satisfying view of a dense core. I started to look for M55 but soon realised it was hiding behind a tree. The Milky Way was showing quite well under my surburban skies and I noted that Cygnus was close to the zenith. I decided to return to the frac for some widefield views. Using an OIII filter and my APM HDC 20mm (4 degree TFOV), I could just make out something of the western veil but it was a struggle. I then managed to find the curving nebula of the Eastern nebula. This was much clearer to see. I decided to try my ES82 30mm eyepiece. This is a big heavy eyepiece and I really wasn't sure how usable it would be with my light setup but I was pleasantly surprised. The still challenging western veil could be seen in the same FOV as the brighter eastern veil. This really needs darker skies but I was very happy with what I'd managed to see given the lack of astronomical darkness. It also felt liked an achievement to see the veil using an 80mm scope. For a final flourish, I went for a widefield view of the Andromeda galaxy. M32 was an easy spot but I couldn't see M110 on this occasion. The sky was getting quite bright night so it was time to head in a grab a few hours sleep before work. I really love summer observing!

Thanks Stu. Was an excellent unexpected session this evening. Jupiter and the transit was superb. Got Cassini Division on Saturn. Also picked up M4, M80 and M8 before the cloud arrived. Thanks again for posting. I really enjoy these threads where a few members are observing an event all together. It’s like a virtual star party

Sorry to hear that, Geof. It wasn’t far past 10:30 that I went out. I only intended a few minutes to spot the shadow and possibly the GRS. Stayed out until 12:30 though it was mostly clouded out at 12:15 or so. Tomorrow night looks good though. Fingers crossed for that

It was looking so good that I got the dob out. Not fully cooled but with a 7mm Ortho I have the shadow, festoons and the GRS coming round the corner too. Awesome!

Couldn’t agree more, on all accounts! Cheers Stu!

Just popped out with the Equinox 80. The shadow is very clear. Seeing seems quite steady tonight. A hedgehog just came to keep me company. Summer observing at it’s best!

Fantastic report. I have been known to punch the air in excitement at finding something. Sounds like a superb session. Keep on sharing. You’ll find no shortage of people to share in your excitement here