michael.h.f.wilkinson

Nice catch!

That is stunning

Lovely result! Great detail

This little package arrived just now. Hopefully I won't need to wait too long for first light

Got it! Very easy star hop from M11 in Scutum. It showed up neatly in both the Zeiss 10x42 and the Helios 16x80s. It is not naked eye in my back garden, but close in brightness to some nearby mag 5 stars. Didn't have a comparison chart handy, so no proper estimate this time. Still, chuffed at bagging my 5th nova

I will have a go with my bins tonight

My ultimate travel set, featuring the APM 80 mm F/6 triplet and EQ3-2 mount, here seen in action in Glendo, Wyoming, with Ca-K module, ASI178MM, a dual mount bar and Canon EOS 700D with 100-400 mm F/4.5-5.6 L IS USM zoom. Edit: the image was taken during set-up, with the Herschel wedge rather than Ca-K module. I later switched them out Got me these images and a Best Eclipse Image award on SGL. That makes the APM 80 mm my ultimate travel scope.

I will see your C90 and raise you a Vixen VMC-110L (not that I have one, but I am tempted)). It has 20mm more aperture, a shorter focal length, so a bit wider FOV, and weighs about the same.

On Saturn and Jupiter, saturation isn't an issue, but on the moon, the sun, and Venus it has happened. Actually, many of my best images of sun, moon, and planets are taken at slightly longer exposure times than the critical rate, depending on conditions. Furthermore, to get optimal focus, especially in solar, where you cannot use a Bahtinov mask to get focus on a star, I push gain up high enough to get good enough contrast on the screen to judge focus. This does mean you have to beware of possible saturation. In the case of lunar imaging, I generally focus on the terminator, as it provides most contrast. I then start imaging panes of a mosaic from there, but that does mean I have to check for saturation as I move from terminator to the other limb. In solar imaging, areas which show flaring or bright plage can saturate the ADC at gain settings that work fine for most of the disc.

Nice work Neil. I have yet to get a chance to image the giants

You don't want to push the gain high enough to saturate the ADC. The histogram will tell you that. I always check I am not saturating any of the bands (I am looking at you, Menelaus and Aristarchus) using the histogram.

Very good results, especially for mediocre seeing (which is expected with the planets so low in the sky)

Superb collection. Practice makes perfect, and additional aperture comes in handy too

Lovely looking scope, pitty about the price. I will stick to the little APM 80 mm F/6 triplet for now (although the big Celestron C8 has travelled with me quite a bit as well).

Congrats too all the winners! Great stuff

Sorry to hear of your troubles, glad to have you back Niall!

That just looks like superficial dust, which should be easily removed. Great EP. I already have such a "Panzerfaust", so wasn't tempted. It is one of my favourite EPs.

Congratulations John! An innings to be proud of, and still going strong! Clear skies!

Welcome to SGL, and welcome back to the hobby! An 8" scope is a great tool. My Celestron C8 is over 25 years old and still shows me a lot of new stuff. An 8" Dobson is a great choice.

The C8 on a Vixen Great Polaris is also great for planetary imaging

I rather like my Celestron C8, both for planetary and DSO observing. Very light OTA for its aperture. It sits very nicely on my Vixen Great Polaris mount (the EQ-5 is a clone of that mount). It should work very well on your EQ-5.

I did have a brief look visually. Again the FOV is a bit restricted, but the image quality was great

The 4.5x is for the 80mm F/6 for H-alpha solar work, I have a Baader TZ-3 for the Triband SCT. The 1.3x is for planetary imaging with the Celestron C8

Managed to get the Triband SCT out in glorious sunshine. white light configuration Ca-K H-alpha Seeing was up and down, but the detail in WL was certainly good: This is a crop of the full image of obtained with the ASI183MM Ca-K was a bit less convincing This is to be expected H-alpha shows a ton of detail, but with my rather older model Solar Spectrum filter, which has a small clear aperture, the FOV is a bit restricted. Will almost certainly order a bigger one Still, quite pleased with the result

Slightly rarer items: two Siebert Optics Tele-Centric Barlows, a 2" 4.5x, and a 1.25" 1.3x. Very workmanlike fit and finish, feel very solid. Nice little touch:some spare nylon thumb screws included