mark81

Hi all,

So, a few weeks back a friend came to visit and had a look through my ST80. He was impressed. Today he has told me he is thinking of getting the same scope and that got me thinking... I'm in quite a rural location with bortle 3/4 skies and he is in Greater London, which I guess is more like bortle 7.  So how much of a difference will there be in what can be seen from his location compared to mine?  To see objects with similar results will he need more aperture and if so, how much more? Maybe the answer goes down to people's own opinion/experience's but any help would be appreciated...

Thanks

Mark

Great session and some nice sketching there..... It's a great way of bringing a report to life...

Very nice sketch Mike. You've captured that soft texture perfectly...

Another very enjoyable edition. Thanks

Last night I had a go at the Dumbbell with the 80mm f5 and I was really quite surprised how bright it was. I've only ever viewed it before through 10x50 binoculars. At x26 it's a nice sight but a little too small to reveal any detail. I bumped up to x66 and got a fantastic view. A strange effect occured here, it almost looked 3D to me. 3D in the sense that the stars surrounding it looked much further away from the nebula - almost as though it was stuck on the front of the eyepiece. 

I really pushed my eyes to find any detail and certainly saw that the left and right edges were fainter - but I wasn't sure if I was imagining the dumbbell shape (or egg timer shape as it seemed to appear to me) 

Took this sketch at the EP with the usual gel ink pen and white pencil...

Mark

Hi,

Anything bigger than 10x50s are going to need to be tripod mounted to get the best out of them... I have quite comfortably held 11x70s for short periods but if you go up to x15 the image is just too wobbly.  

I use my Olympus DPSI 10X 50 all the time and under dark skies they really do hold up well against their competitors. They are great for the bigger star clusters and Bright DSOs - I often use them for the smaller much fainter clusters too - no detail of course but still nice to be able to pick them out.  Under terrible LP skies obviously things become a bit hit and miss and more aperture will be needed...

I think the answer will depend on whether you are going to mount them or not.  If you are, your options obviously go through the roof and the choice will be huge.  If not it will depend on the quality you want and the budget of course...

Mark

Hey Brian,

I dont live there but do spend a lot of time there (when I can) i spend a lot of time around Crantock which is a small village near Newquay. I've seen some great skies from there before - the coastlines away from Newquay have very little LP but I guess if you head inland a bit things will improve even more.  I can't imagine you'd ever be very far from some good bottle 3 skies.

The only weather issue you might face, is the wind off the Atlantic.. 🤨

Mark

Great. Very nicely done Mike

Two very interesting - and great -sketches there.  It really does highlight how different conditions can effect what we see...

Mike,

That's a stunning sketch. You've got the surface brightness spot on!  

As for the one you didn't post - they sometimes just don't go to plan do they... I often look at a sketch of mine and wonder what I was thinking..but I suppose it all helps in the long run..

Mark

19 minutes ago, Lurcher said:

Wahoo! Very nice sketch Mark. Good entry.

That's my first ever Wahoo! Thanks!

I had a naked eye session on the 21st September under nice dark skies and took this sketch of Aquila, Sagitta and Delphinus with the Broocchis Cluster and The Milky.  A great bonus was being able to resolve two stars in the Coathanger...

Black Card, white pencil and white gel pen under red light...

Hi Steve, welcome to the forum.

I always tend to recommend 10x50s for Astronomy and I use my Olympus Dpsi 10x50s for Astro and Nature viewing.  Some people find them a little on the big side for bird watching and opt for a pair of 8x42s which are much more compact and lighter - so no need to tripod mount.  

Let us know what sort of skies you have as this can impact on how certain size bins can perform.... That extra 8mm really can make a difference in the amount of objects up for grabs in the night sky.

Not sure you'll notice much difference in the two binsyouve mentioned .. both great makes...

Mark

@Mike JW

Thanks for the info.  Lots of great ways of going about it.  I use the Cambridge Star Atlas too.  They do tend to stick to one's well within the the reaches of smaller scopes (which helps me slot)

@Lurcher

Those charts look like a great way of keeping things in order. - I'll get some of those ready - Thanks

Your Lunar sketches are really good!  I never seem to have the patience for all the shading.  

I have also thought of doing some double star sketches, so I'll look forward to seeing how you get along.  I guess, to make a double star sketch more interesting, we'll have to include notes on the star mag, the separation, the scope mag, ep, ETC...

I use my 10x50s all the time and have enjoyed many of the Messier objects with them, but I always find myself going for the open star clusters.  The bigger the better obviously but don't be afraid to have a go at the smaller ones - you won't see much detail (if any) on the tiny ones, but just picking them out and learning your way around the sky can be real fun.

Enjoy.

The last time I viewed the Moon the sky was full of fast moving wispy cloud.  Worked great as a Moon Filter - but when it would suddenly clear it was like shining a torch in your eye.... 

I've always found the BST EPs to work well with my ST80 (f5) but if you go for the 3.2mm you've got a very high mag EP that you with the scopes you've got, you might not use that often... I would go for a 6-7mm that is light enough to Barlow which I guess will get more use.  For high power on my ST80, I use the SW UWA 6mm and to be honest I prefer viewing Jupiter and Saturn at slightly lower power...

Very nice sketches. It's very hard to be accurate on the fine details but to be done a nice job there..

Great News on getting the whole setup - up and running - Ive been looking out for a good report on this since you picked this beast up back in the summer.  It does sound like a bit of an effort - but the results seem to make it more than worthwhile....

Mark

+1 for checking out Auriga - perfectly placed for binocular viewers

The determination paid off!   Nice image.

Great edition again.  Nice review of the 15x70s - I was only taking a look at them on FLO last night and I thought the price seemed too good to be true - but they do seem to impress way more than the basic 15x70s..

Thanks again

That's turned out quite nicely.  Sketching is also a great way to appreciate certain objects.. but as others have mentioned getting the positioning of the stars right is the challenge - especially at the EP or binocular with a red torch..