Geoff Barnes

Just setting up again at 8.30pm as the sun is setting. A balmy 25 degrees and clear as a bell, something rather pleasant about observing in t-shirt and shorts! I'm determined to get my first ever view of Uranus tonight, narrow window of opportunity before it goes behind the trees following the crescent moon, but should get half an hour on it and will give it up to 300x and see what I can see. ------------------------------------------------------ Edit: Did I see Uranus? Not sure to be honest, sky was still too bright at first and then got called in for dinner and by the time I got back out I could see a dim object but not really blue or green and then behind the trees it went. Hmm, will have to try again from a better position to see it later when the sky is darker. Consoled myself with a good look at 45 Tuc, surely the best globular cluster bar none.

Hi @Marvin Jenkins I'm always on here having a look but haven't had the scope out for about 3 months what with summer light and of course a lot of smoke in the air from the fires. Much cleaner air now after lots of welcome rain recently and the viewing last night was as good as I've ever had from home. Astro advice for down here? Good grief, where to begin! Some of the truly great heavenly sights await you with highlights such as the Carina and Tarantula Nebulas, Omega Centauri and 37 Tucanae Globular Clusters, Crux the Southern Cross with its Jewel Box Cluster. Tassie is a wonderful place to visit, still full of remote and unspoilt wilderness areas where dark skies abound. Have fun!

Aaah, so good to be back in the game again! It's summer here of course so not fully dark until late, but signs now of the evenings starting to draw in and dark by 9pm at which time our old friend Orion is clearing the tree tops . Just an hour or so under the stars in perfect warm, still conditions, even Sirius wasn't twinkling at all. No point messing around, within the first 10 minutes I had bagged Sirius Pup, Rigel B, and Orion Trapezium E and F. Had a bit of fun splitting a few doubles and spotting a few globular clusters as well, the highlight being the 37 Cluster which was really showing well. Could have stayed out much longer but alas work beckons in the morning but at least my viewing sessions are under way again at last.

Yes me too. What were you looking at that was the bright white object in your photo andib479?

No, I didn't have it at last year's opposition unfortunately. Will definitely give it a whirl when Mars is in a better position later this year, and will use it on my 4mm SW Planetary for as much mag as I can get.

...aaand there's another one! For you poor starved solar lovers a new (old) spot has appeared. One of the remnants of Cycle 24 which may not last long, but hey, it's something! . https://www.spaceweather.com

I did a fair bit of research of filters for plantary viewing and read lots of reviews. I think it was after reading our fountain of knowledge @Stu's positive reviews that I plumped for the Baader Neodymium filter last year. The difference it made on Jupiter was very subtle to be honest, a marginal intensification of the equatorial and tropical bands, but it imparted no noticable false colour at all which pleased me. As a result, what I do now is leave it permanently on my Baader 8-24mm zoom and use it just as you would use a UV filter permanently on a camera lens as much for protection as much as improved viewing It seems to impart no colour cast on any subjects, be they planetary or deep space.

@John I must make a point of inviting myself to dinner next time I'm in the UK!

Reading this has prompted me to order the Baader Wonder Fluid and Cloth Set from FLO. Been thinking about it for ages and I do already have a cleaning set, but I look forward to seeing just how good the Baader product is.

I'm pretty certain that it is the low altitude and poor seeing conditions that are causing the problems for all you poor folk up north. I wouldn't say it was easy, but I rarely failed to spot the pup whenever I tried last year with my 12 inch Dob, with Sirius being quite high in the sky down here. Apart from the glare of Sirius I found the diffraction spikes to be my main obstacle to overcome.

Ah well Will, look on the bright side, now you can start to use the services of FLO, the best astro supplier bar none!

There's not been an awful lot of interesting things to see lately in my limited northerly view here, which is just as well, given we've been shrouded in terrible smoke from the bushfires in eastern Victoria. You look out the window and you'd be forgiven for thinking it is just thick mist and fog, but as soon as you step outside the smell of the smoke really hits you. At least we're getting good rains now and the forecast is for a major rain event early next week so fingers crossed things should improve dramatically soon, and Orion is gradually moving into prime position too!

Hi @Barry-W-Fenner John is In Australia but you can get your solar film from our sponsor FLO here.... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/solar-filters/baader-astrosolar-safety-film-nd-50.html.

Yes, doesn't it need a minus symbol before the longitude figures?

Agree @F15Rules I'm one of the lucky ones and have avoided taking the long and expensive route. I don't have very deep pockets and have tended to buy the cheaper, well regarded eyepieces such as my SW Planteary 4mm and 5mm. They have been absolute bargains and have reassuringly held their own against my Vixen SLV 4mm, ES 4.7mm and my TV 3-6mm zoom, both of which I bought purely to compare with my SW's. My favorites are my Baader Morpheus 6.5mm and Hyperion 8-24mm zoom which I find so comfortable to use, and I won't consider spending more than the Morpheus range again. I will sell my ES, TV and Vixen Ep's to recoup some funds, the Morpheus 4.5mm is the only one now that I really covet.

@bluesilver The Lumicon filters are mainly available from the USA suppliers, but many don't ship to Australia. You could try https://www.astroshop.eu/ as an alternative, they ship worldwide. Alas, good though it is, my Astronomik 0lll filter shows the Veil fainter than your image on the left @John Too low on our light polluted horizon from here - very frustrating.

I'd be happy with that. That's how mine looks and then I just finalise with a defocused star test to confirm and everything looks nice and sharp.

My first thought was that the moon is nearly full so there will be few if any shadows to give a detailed view. Better to view it in a week or so when the shadows along the terminator edge will be strong again.

We are entitled to the occasional "senior moments" at our age John!

With Jupiter being so high in the sky here I was able to see Io disappear and reappear at least on two separate occasions last autumn here. Took about 3 hours as I recall.

I completely agree with the above, once I got my secondary mirror set perfectly with my Cheshire and locked it into place, I now only use a star test to finalise my collimation each time I set up as I know the secondary is right. It almost always needs a slight tweak of the primary screws each time to get that set perfectly, but it is a one or two minute job at most and away I go with everything looking sharp. I check the secondary with the Cheshire maybe a couple of times a year but it rarely needs adjusting again.

How long have you waited for the dongle wifi signal to appear on your phone? I find quite often it can take one to two minutes to show up on my wifi connections on my Samsung phone.

Hi midatlantic61, I'm not aware of any such products in the pipeline from Baader. Maybe get in contact with them direct, though I would think any new developments would be top secret until ready for launch... https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/contact-us/

Yes, at the high powers I've been observing it would be hopeless without the tracking feature of my GoTo Dob, which is precisely why I chose it.

...and what is today's mystery object pray tell?