Geoff Barnes

9 hours ago, Stardaze said:

How well does the tracking system work on the bigger dob?

Once the initial alignment is successful the tracking is really quite good. I have left it tracking Saturn and gone inside to have dinner and when I returned half an hour later it was still just on the edge of the viewfinder. No use for AP but fine for visual which is all I do anyway.

Just enter 1.13 degrees for your longitude and you should be good to go.

As JonC says, the Synscan app is much simpler to use if you have the Wi Fi dongle accessory.

Hello Stevie, by my rough calculation 113 degrees west and 53 north would put you somewhere in north Alberta Canada.

If you are in Nottingham it should be around 1.3 degrees west.

I built a very simple box to store my collapsable 12 inch Dob in.

As you can see it is outside on the patio but has a large "ceiling" above which is the roof overhang. This keeps all the weather off but keeps the scope at or very near ambient air temperature.

I use a simple wooden ramp to wheel it out and into position on the adjacent front lawn.

4 minutes ago, Second Time Around said:

What a gorgeous garden!

Thanks Steve, there's loads more pics of it in this thread if you'd like to take a look...

It has always bugged me that my view of Venus and Mercury has always been blocked by trees. 

I finally decided to do something about it recently, armed with my trusty long reach pole saw and lots of rope I carefully removed several branches from our offending silver birch and ash trees and opened up a small but significant gap right in the right place, allowing about a fifteen minute window to view through.

I've since had a couple of good views of Venus although seeing through the low atmosphere makes it less than perfect. I've never seen Mercury at all so am looking forward to getting my first view later in the year.

Here are the before and after views...

Via https://www.spaceweather.com/ Comet Swan is incoming and might possibly be visible naked eye in May.

Not getting my hopes up yet, Comet Atlas is probably not going to be visible down here.

From https://www.spaceweather.com/ today....

COMET ATLAS IS BREAKING UP: This could be the beginning of the end. Once-promising Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4) appears to be falling apart as it plunges toward the sun. Newly-released images from the NEXT telescope in China suggest that a "major disruption" of the comet's core is underway.

Uh oh, not good news!... https://www.spaceweather.com/

Hi Partha and welcome to The Lounge.

It looks to me like your telescope is simply way out of focus. You need to turn your focus wheel until Venus is as small and sharp as you can get it and the rainbow rings will disappear.

You can get a similar affect on any bright star by adjusting your focuser in or out of sharp focus and you will see such rings around the star.

1 hour ago, GordonD said:

Lots of Morpheus (any idea what the plural would be?)

That would simply be "Morpheuses".  

Was just about to start a new topic when I luckily saw this post.

From Spaceweather.com, This event kicks off a must-see conjunction between Venus and the Pleiades. During the next week, Venus and the Pleiades will inch closer and closer together until, on April 3rd, Venus is actually inside the star cluster. For full effect, binoculars are recommmended.

Interesting article at https://www.spaceweather.com/ today, showing its position.

Well below the horizon here, hoping it will become visible here in May as it nears the sun and its brightness intensifies.

1 hour ago, Whistlin Bob said:

If you loosen the alignment screws the whole thing comes out- it's quite easy then 👍

I tried that Bob but it wouldn't budge, perhaps I need to be a bit more forceful?

Edit; More force used and it suddenly budged, really was stuck hard though. Will put a little silicone on the rubber O ring to keep it from sticking.  

Two new goodies in one box from FLO today. 

A Vixen SLV 2.5mm EP and a SW RACI finder.

At 600x the Vixen will be far too much magnification for most views except hopefully the moon. I am keen to try to see the Plato Craterlets which I haven't managed yet, and also the Alpine Rille which I sort of might have seen at 375x but not convinced.

The RACI finder I've wanted for a while, the straight through finder is fine and being quite tall I can lean over the scope to look through it, but the darned upside down back to front view still throws me after two years.

I have a query, I've seen in folks pictures of their Dobs that their RACI eyepiece is turned towards the observer and would like to know if this is achieved by simply unscrewing the diagonal unit slightly a quarter of a turn, I can't seem to turn the whole finder scope in its holder.

6 minutes ago, Neil H said:

Could it be rate to low 

Could well be. Quickest way to find out if it is working is to press the slew speed button on the handset and then press a high number like 7, 8 or 9. Then press the direction arrows and the scope should slew fast, if nothing happens then there is some other problem. If it is working reduce the speed down to 2 or 3 for final aligning.

This can be done indoors at any time.

@Neil H Make sure your slew speed on the handset is not on zero, put it up to 2 or 3 for final aligning.

Just come in from an enjoyable session, during which I had a good look at Betelgeuse and can say quite categorically that it is already substantially brighter than it was a week ago. I have no technical equipment to measure the brightness but to my eyes there was no doubt it is much brighter now.  

Good to see so much detail already this year, please - no dust storms this year!!!

Mods - @Stu or @Cornelius Varley this needs moving to the planetary thread methinks?  

Great work Avani.

I have to admit I did have to Google the word "selenographer", not one I've come across before!

I am in awe of the skill of Wilhelm Lohrmann, amazing observation. Almost makes your work look easy Avani ! 😜

Hi Larry,

With what scope do you notice this CA?

William Paolini made reference to some colour aberration in his appraisal on CN of the Morpheus range. But only noticed it with large aperture reflectors.

3.d. Off-Axis Performance (Dob with Paracorr, SCT, and Refractors)

Star points remained sharp to the edge in all telescopes, without exhibiting any impacting field curvature or astigmatism, including in a standard 8" SCT which are more noted for their field curvature, and in the fast f/4.7 Dob with a Tele Vue Paracorr coma corrector in place.  The only aberration noted was some degree of lateral color, primarily on brighter stars when using the larger 8" and 10" aperture telescopes when the bright star or limb of the Moon was placed in the outer portion of the AFOV close to the field stop.  The smaller aperture of the refractors did not generate much of any noticeable lateral color compared to the larger mirrored instruments. The 14mm and 12.5mm showed the most lateral color, but still at a level I would characterize as well controlled, and starting at a point about 20% from the field stop in the Dob (oddly lateral color in the 8" SCT seemed less than in the 10" Dob).  Moving to the Morpheus focal lengths shorter than the 12.5mm, lateral color was even less, and only showing at about 10% from the field stop.  Overall good lateral color control for such a wide AFOV.

I still desire the 4.5mm Morpheus to use with my 12 inch Dob and am not too concerned about off axis imperfections. Just anxiously waiting for @johninderby to give me the kick up the rear I need, come on John!  

Amazing for a phone camera @Stu. My Samsung Galaxy J2 would have got the same result, but without the stars.  

And I thought my session the other night under perfect conditions was good but it pales rather feebly compared to yours, I feel exhausted just reading it, superb!

1 hour ago, Saganite said:

I will have to look you up Geoff next time I am there in Melbourne, visiting my Daughter and her family. I have been several times now and made do with my bins , which was pretty good. The last time we all rented a house in Daylesford for a holiday and the night sky there just blew me away.

Be good to catch up @Saganite

Just PM me when you're out here!

1 hour ago, F15Rules said:

How are you fixed next July Geoff??😁😎

Hi Dave, should be here. It will be mid winter, so no Orion visible, but darker skies and lots of southern goodies to see!

Give me a hoy if you're coming out.

Come down here for a holiday folks, you'll all see E & F easy peasy! 😀