Geoff Barnes

30 minutes ago, Greymouser said:

Quite pleased, it is a good eyepiece, probably the best I have, certainly the dearest so far, but after a little test, I am just not sure how much better it is. Certainly diminishing returns. I need to think about future eyepiece purchases.

I'm in total agreement with this Greymouser.

I've been doing a lot of EP comparisons recently, with my relatively cheap SW Planetary EPs and more high end ones like Vixen SLV, Baader Morpheus and Televue 3-6mm Zoom. The Baader is my favorite, but if there are any advantages in the quality of views through the others my eyes are not capable of seeing them, no matter how hard I try.  

My last.purchase for a while, maybe.

I've read good reports about this filter,  I know Stu uses one a lot. I want to use it primarily on Jupiter which is fairly dazzling high in our skies, hoping it will make it easier to see surface details. Also going to use it on Saturn to try and tease out as much detail as I can.

Hilariously, it honestly took me a good five minutes to work out how to open the case. I'm used to lifting a lid on filter cases, tbis one has a sliding drawer that you pull out the front. How dim am I.???

23 minutes ago, robbymain said:

Don't recognise many other constellations!!!

Yes it's all a bit strange down here isn't it Robby!

Have you taken any kit with you for observing? Some of the globs and nebulas will blow you away!  

Ready for action!

Pointing due north, perfectly level, battery on charge and the best clear sky we've had for weeks.

I shall enjoy this evening! 

5 minutes ago, Rob Sellent said:

After a few trips around the Sun and looking at them a few dozen times, what then?

So a question for longer term visual astronomers, what maintains your interest and mojo?

Well according to my SW Synscan database I've got 42,900 objects to discover, I think that'll see me out!  

2 hours ago, PlanetGazer said:

Do all SW dobs come like this?!

All the ones I've seen lately seem to have it. It doesn't interfere with anything and never comes adrift, but you could take it out if it bothers you.

Your Dob must have clutch handles on the side of the base and on the bottom if it's a goto model, they all do.

A couple of things, 

Leave the foam ring in place, I think it's to keep dust etc. out.

Don't align to magnetic north as shown by the compass, align to true north.

Even when the goto misses its target by a large margin, once you have centred your target by manually pressing the handset buttons, leave it tracking that object for a few minutes and then send it off to another target, it should then be a lot closer to its intended target.

I've had all sorts of similar issues with my Dob, and to be honest still do occasionally, but usually it gets reasonably accurate results once it has been tracking something for a few minutes, it then seems to know where things are.

At completely the other end of the scale from John's, mine is just a very cheap padded and insulated lunch box. I keep the eyepieces in their containers and it works really well.

Yes that's what I thought Vlaiv, it's just that in the past Jupiter and Saturn were seen without the spikes, just clear blackness all around their discs. Very odd.

Bit of an odd one this. I've recently noticed during my last few sessions that I'm getting these strange light rays emanating from Jupiter and Saturn in a broad cross shape. I know about diffraction spikes from bright stars from the secondary support arms, but this is different. The light rays extend from the body of the planet at the same width and gradually fade as they extend out into space. 

It is happening with all my EP's which I keep spotlessly clean so I know it is nothing to do with them. I've also cleaned the secondary mirror which was a bit dirty but this has had no effect. The only thing left to clean is the primary, but that was cleaned a few months ago and is still pretty well spotless. 

I'm at a loss as to what is causing it, I certainly never used to see this cross of light from planets, so any ideas from you folks as to what it is?

I've done a quick sketch of Jupiter to give an idea of what it looks like....

Good grief, this makes me sooo glad I'm just a simple, stress free observer!

I do really admire your images though Rodd.  

My thanks to FLO.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think a little bit of green and black would be in my possession, but it arrived today. I had decided I just needed one more high power EP to complete my set for viewing the planets while they are so high in the sky here. It was a toss up in the end between the TV Delite 3mm or the Nagler 3-6mm Zoom. The zoom won in the end for the simple reason that if the 3mm FL of the Delite proved unsuitable then at least I had 4,5 and 6mm FL's with the zoom which I know are usable on the planets here with my SW Planetary and Vixen SLV EP's. Made in Japan too which instills me with confidence in its quality, even though all my Chinese made gear is excellent.

Also arrived is the Astronomik OIII filter which I intend to use on the Veil Nebula which is just arriving on the scene here in the late evenings and which I have never seen before. I know John has frequently sung the  praises of the OIII in the past for viewing the Veil so I thought I would give it a go. Main drawback here is it is very low in the sky (about 15-17 degrees), so visibility will be the biggest hinderance, but I live in hope.  

John has seen Triton with his 130mm refractor....

20 minutes ago, johninderby said:

I wonder how  future developments will change the observation vs imaging discussion. In a few years you’ll be able to buy a completly automated remote observing setup that you just bring home, open up and plonk down in the middle of the lawn and it sets itself up leaving you to go inside turn on your TV and select whatever you want to look at and just press a button to capture images with no technical knowledge or effort needed. 

Hmmmmmmm 🤔

It wouldn't surprise me at all if it already exists in a Chinese or Japanese factory somewhere!

Like you John, I am purely an observer.

Whilst I love to see the superb images many of our members create, it does seem to me that more than a few are spending as much of their time pulling their hair out, cursing and cussing in frustration because things are not going right as I do on a whole nights observing.

Apart from that, the seemingly huge expenses that are involved in putting a good rig together keeps me perfectly happy to stick to simple observing.

Just last night I had the thrill of observing Jupiter with Ganymede transiting and emerging from one side while I also watched the GRS entering from the opposite side. So unless imagers are making time lapse videos there is no way to recreate the thrill I had of seeing that in real time.

Please keep the images coming though folks, I love to see them and am in awe of your skill and patience producing them!

4 minutes ago, Rob Sellent said:

I belong to a cracking astro-society. It's made up of friendly, extremely informative and kindly folk from all over the world and its free Here's a link for those interested: Stargazers Lounge

"Flattery will get you everywhere" as they say!  

It's an elder Gina, you could chainsaw it almost to the ground every year and it would put 6 feet back on again.

If it's in the way give it a damn good seeing to!  

Hi John, I only have the Morpheus 6.5mm, and I do have the ES 4.7mm 82 degrees, so not a direct comparison, but in my f5 Dob I find the Morpheus to be streets ahead of the ES. Sharper, clearer, better colour rendition and  much more comfortable to use.

If these qualities are also found in the 4.5mm Morpheus then it will be no contest for me.

I know what you mean, I get the shakes just thinking about the damage buying TV EP's would do to my poor bank account! 😰

I'm very lucky here Neil, our house has a big overhang over our front patio. I built a very basic marine ply box to keep my scope in, so it is out of the weather but also always at ambient temperature or thereabouts. Seems to work perfectly, I just roll it out onto the front lawn and away I go!  

On 26/08/2019 at 09:17, John said:

I've been giving my favourite deep sky object, the Veil Nebula, some scrutiny tonight with the help of my 12 inch dobsonian and trusty Lumicon O-III filter.

In a few weeks time the Veil will be clear of our trees and I'm eagerly looking forward to my first view of it with my 12 inch Dob. I only have an Astronomik UHC filter and am wondering if I should get the 0-III for the best results, or do you think I should get decent enough views with the UHC?

Unfortunately the Veil will be very low on my northern horizon so seeing won't be great but I  still think I should be able to see the brighter parts.

22 minutes ago, continuum said:

I have been considering Astronomik or Optolong.  Does anyone have experience of these brands?

I think the general consensus on here would be that Astronomik are among the very best and, as I have an Optolong HBeta filter I would say steer clear.

11 hours ago, devdusty said:

Out of interest where do you find those detailed light pollution maps of the UK ?

Chris P

Here you go Chris, just type in or zoom in to your location....

  https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=4&lat=6589541&lon=582262&layers=B0FFFFFTFFFFF  

  Twiddling my thumbs for two months down here waiting for a clear sky, my mind was concentrated on ways to improve my set up.

I have been thinking for some time that I should find a way to keep my EP's together more securely than just sitting them on the Dob base as I have been doing. I don't need anything big or flash, I only have a handful of lenses and don't intend getting any more (don't laugh!).

I decided upon one of these rather natty insulated soft padded lunch boxes.....

It is just the right size and even has a handy zippable compartment inside the lid where I store all my cleaning equipment.....

As it is winter here I thought it would be useful to put some sort of heat source inside the box to keep the EP's warm and prevent them fogging up in use.

I hit upon the idea of one of those hand warmer bag things filled with wheat or rice. Couldn't find one that fitted the bill so decided to make my own. Found an old sock, filled it with rice (Basmati as it happens), tied a knot in the open end and put it in the microwave for one minute. It came out nice and hot but a surprising amount of moisture came out of the dry rice so I put the sock into a sealable sandwich bag.

Placed a thin piece of sponge between the hot bag and the lenses to keep them separated and tadaaa! A nice warm dry EP case that stays warm for many hours!.....

Now back to twiddling my thumbs waiting for a clear sky, it's snowing here now!!!  ❄️❄️❄️

15 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

6:02 pm.

Blue dot is next to the am. Is it not 6.02am?