mark81

Thanks Steve, very interesting edition.... I will have a crack at M1 on the next really fine night. I've seen it with 70mm but never the 50s, so I'll give it a go.... Mark

Just a quick update... Had another go at m101 tonight with much crisper skies and m101 was available with averted vision! There was the faintest of stars underneath which could have been 5474 at mag 10.9 .....not sure about that one..

@Ruud Thanks for the info...

Hi All, If i wanted to use my ST80 for a bit of straight through viewing - is it simply a matter of attaching an extension tube? If so, would this do the trick? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-80mm-125-focus-extension-tube.html Many thanks Mark

I'll be your friend 🤪

@Stu I have the ST80 -low power grab and go has always worked for me and this scope and a set of bins keeps me busy... So another set alongside my 10x50s should work well...

Thanks Stu, Nice skies here, Bortle 3/4. Yeah, I'm sure it was just the conditions for that night - but it's not an area I really ever look at.... I have had a good look at those Stella bins before and really like what I hear. Definitely something to consider for next year... Looks clear for tonight, so I'll check out that s shape... Mark

Not sure if there's much weight difference - if any with the 7 and 10x50s. A lot of people say a pair of 10x50s are more than enough to handhold... So for a young kid, maybe they'll be too heavy. If you are keen on goin for a 50mm then certainly go for the 7's, the lower mag will reduce the shaking of the image. 8x42s might be your best bet. They are still very cabable of picking out some nice DSOs and with the wider FOV they might be easier for a youngster to use... I've always found the Olympus Dpsi range to be great value for money... Mark

It's nice to read what people have been up to this year.. I always read the many observing reports that pop up here and always manage to grab some inspiration from them as sometimes it's too easy to pretend it's not clear outside. I managed 45 sessions this year - mostly out with my binoculars working my way through some of the Astro League challenges. The binocular double star challenge has been good fun so far. I might try picking up some bigger bins to have a go at some of the more advanced challenges.. Wishing you all a great 2020 Mark

Mine is smart trollies for supermarkets. Everytime you place an item into the trolly the barcode is scanned by suitability positioned wide reaching scanners ..If you change your mind and take an item out, the cost is deducted, the cost of your shopping is displayed in the trolly and at the end of the shop, you scan your card on the trolly and walk straight out... Even less human interaction I know.... Not really a 'wheel' as I imagine there are things like this somewhere... But it's all I've got..

I had another nice session last night with the 10x50s - I really do love using them - Ursa Major is in a great position for Binocular viewing at the moment which saves the poor old neck - but it's an area I don't often look at because looking North for me is looking towards the street and the wonderful streetlamp... Had a go at M101. Easy to find the right location but much harder to spot. Starting at Mizar and then following stars 81 83 84 and then over to 86 but no sign of it. Anybody have much luck with it in a pair of 50mm? Maybe it was a little too low. I had the same result with M51 - which I imagine is even tougher to spot - the right location but no sighting. M63 was certainly too low and too close the the streetlamp so I didn't attempt that one. I did have a go at a square of galaxies below Dubhe. 3643, 3610, 3613 and 3690, I could definitely make out 4 faint points of light making the square but couldn't tell if I was seeing the galaxies or just a random pattern of actual stars... Again, any luck with these? I went on to pick out a few clusters and also got my first look this winter of M46 and 47. Of course I checked out Orion's Nebula and was also able to resolve some stars in the cluster 1981 which sits just above it... I'm really thinking about getting some 80mm just to go a little deeper and bring a whole load of clusters within my grasp.. but I really do want a low mag, so any recommendations would be great. Thanks for reading... Mark

I wonder if green or blue lights would bring star charts to life the way a red light does? I don't use the light for any other reason than checking star charts and I've never found them (red lights) to disturb my light adapted eyes...

Mike, two interesting techniques there. Yeah, the black pen is maybe a little too much and kind of pulls your eyes away from everything else... Still a very tough region to sketch though. I do like the second sketch. Very natural looking - although you can see where your usual detailed technique was trying to find its way in.. 🙂... Nicely done Mark

Great Lunar sketch again Martin. That style is really quite eye-catching - it has a sort of comic book vibe to it (and I do mean that as a compliment 🙂) And as discussed before, a nice way to document doubles... Mark

Agreed Stu. Plenty to see and enjoy, which I will... But, like most of us, I daydream about 'which scope to get next' or even 'which scopes' to get next'.. Maybe a nice MAK has made it onto the list 🤔

Doug, can I ask, what mags you were using to see actual detail in this crater? Obviously out of range for me at the moment, but maybe something to consider for the future .... Thanks

I haven't viewed the Moon for about a year now - I do have a interest in it but I dont really have the equipment to get right up close and really study the features as many members do, so successfully.... But, with some spare time on my hands and some enthusiasm I grabbed the 80mm f5 and headed out with the idea of doing some very basic viewing. I picked out Mare Crisium first of all and bumped up the mag to x66 and was struck by the brilliant white impact crater Proclus >18km wide and created from a meteor flying at a very low angle < you learn something every day..... The whole area around this is very bright and then Palus Somni (which I believe is some sort of Mare?) leaks into it and creates this quite interesting colour contrast (I do realise that most of this is old news to you but...) Moving round from Proclus was the small but seemingly deep crater Macrobius and then a little further the much bigger but what appears to be much more shallow Cleomedes. I was tempted to carry on further round as other craters and features caught my eye but I thought I would review these objects online and make some notes on my Moon map and let it sink in.... A very basic but enjoyable session - something I will certainly be doing a bit more of in the future... Thanks for reading Mark

Thanks Steve, another interesting edition...

Another nice session Doug - one of many over recent weeks... You must be having some nice luck with the gaps in the cloud (no good here) but, clear skies are one thing... You still need the determination to get out there.. Mark

Martin, That looks amazing! The stars are nice and vivid and the Nebula looks great. Keep sketching and sharing... Mark

Thanks, I initially penciled in a 'question mark' for the nebula having never noticed it before.. very surprised to find out what is was.. mag 10.1.

Took this sketch last night with my 10x50 Olympus bins. Handheld - which is quite annoying to do - only intended to grab the two Messier's but with averted vision could somehow make out the diffuse nebula 1931.. Mark

Just had a session with the 10x50s which started off with m81/82 very faint but always nice to see - and low enough to view comfortably. After cruising here and there picking out some little clusters I went to Auriga. I always start off with that little string of stars to the right of m36 and m38. I nudged them over to the right of the FOV and was able to squeeze the two messier's in and in-between them sit two stars. Just before I moved away I noticed a tiny faint fuzz, so tiny I thought it was my imagination ... Came in, checked my star atlas and found it to be a diffuse nebula NGC 1931... (Mag 10.1?) NICE! You just never know what your going to find when cruising round with a pair of bins....

Luna is great ... I'm surprised by how many threads are scattered across various forums asking 'what to do when the Moon is out' and as you say, even a small basic scope can give some real enjoyment..

Very nice session and some great objects picked out, I agree about the Double Cluster - brilliant for these wide field scopes ... Yea, the AZ3 can be annoying but if you change the Nyloc nut on the altitude setting and tighten it up nice and tight when you replace it, it should hold that scope well enough...