Captain Scarlet

Thanks Keith. Yes my Nexus DSC (non-pro) has a few bugs too. It was supplied in March 2020 IIRC with firmware 1.3.9h . I use it to control my AZ-EQ6, and with that it’s mostly fine but occasionally goes berserk. I think there was a new firmware release a few months ago, to 1.4.8 then 1.4.11, which I upgraded to, but it introduced lots more problems for controlling the AZ-EQ6 in AZ mode to the extent of making it unusable. I’ve had to revert to 1.3.9h . Serge did try to call me a few weeks ago after I emailed him but I missed the call. I should try again to get in touch. @AstroKeith what do your Version numbers refer to? My Nexus DSC is 1.3.9 or 1.4.x, perhaps the 1.1.x are for the pro? Magnus

I think a good many of us use a Nexus unit or Nexus DSC to control or communicate with our mounts. I can't find a dedicated "owners' thread" so here it is. I use a Nexus DSC to control 2 mounts: an AZ-EQ6 and an AOK Ayoii with encoders. One very good thing about the Nexus DSC is that it has 60-70 separate catalogues, some huge, which you can tick on or off to guide what you want to show up when you're in the field selecting targets. However, these catalogues are all in "abbreviated name" form on the Nexus DSC screen and it's not possible within the unit, when choosing, to see a description of what, say, the CGCS catalogue actually comprises (this one is a very nice catalogue, actually - Catalogue of Galactic Carbon Stars). As a first contribution, I thought I might provide a list of all that appear in Serge's latest release, with a brief description of what they are. I've re-sorted them here by category, but within the category they appear in the same order as they would in the Nexus DSC. I’ve also omitted some that are self-explanatory (such as “Sun & Planets”). I hope this is useful. the list is certainly going to help me get the most out of this. Also, It would be great if other Nexus users might use this thread to discuss issues etc. Cheers, Magnus NEXUS DSC CATALOGUES Clusters (Open and Globular) Lynga ACO & ACO S Abell Berkeley Collinder - 471 OCs Czernik - 45 OCs Dolidze – 57 OCs King - 27 OCs? Melotte – 250 OCs and GCs Palomar GCs – 15 of the very faintest globs Pismis – 24 OCs and 2 GCs Ruprecht – can’t find info Stock – OCs Terzan – 11 GCs Trumpler – 37 OCs Nebulae (Planetary & Extended) Abell PNs Henize - ? Kohoutek – hundreds of PNs? LBN – Lynd’s Bright Nebulae Minkowski – nearly 200 PNs Perek-Kohoutek – hundreds NEXUS-DSC generic PNs (presumably all) Sharpless – 313 Hii nebulous regions Galaxies Arakelian - 621 high-surface-brightness galaxies Arp – Arp's peculiar galaxies HCG – Hickson’s Compact Groups Markarian – high UV galaxies RFGC – Revised Flat Galaxy Catalogue – 4236 ultra-flat galaxies UGC – Uppsala General Catalogue of 12,921 Northern Hemisphere galaxies >1’ & mag14.5 UGCA – Addendum to UGC, >400, mostly Southern Hemishpere “a hodgepodge of extra galaxies” CGCG – Catalogue of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies: compiled by F Zwicky 1961–68, contains 29,418 galaxies and 9,134 galaxy clusters MCG - Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies, 30,642 up to mag 15 PGC - Principal Galaxies Catalogue: 131,601 galaxies with extra data eg radial velocities and position angles Other/Misc/Combinations Barnard – dark regions Caldwell - 109 star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies ESO – catalogue of observations European Southern Observatory I think Herschel – (2,521 various objects) IC – supplement to the NGC list Stars Bayer – beta Orionis, etc Flamsteed – eg 61 Cygni CGCS – Catalogue of Galactic Carbon Stars GCVS – General Catalogue of Variable Stars (>52,000 members) Henry Draper – 225,300 stars with Spectroscopic Classifications Hipparcos Stars - 118,218 stars charted with the highest precision (Hipparcos satellite) SAO - (258,944) Double Stars Burnham J Herschel F Struve – Friedrich Struve (not sure what A & B denote) O Struve – likewise (not sure what (A) represents ADS – Aitken Double Stars, successor to Burnham, 17180 doubles within 120degs of N Pole Washington Double Stars – 155,438 systems

On the recommendation of a thread in the Lounge:

Lovely image but I actually laughed out loud when I saw the captioned images well before I scrolled down to the comet image, which I thought was therefore going to be a horror show. But quite the opposite … very nice. Magnus

Lovely account Dave, a rare night to remember. And just one scope but what a “just one” to have. Very nice. I have actually more than once failed to get out on a perfectly viable night through pure indecision about whether this scope or that one or the other. Magnus

If you’ve visited the “What Did the Postman Bring” thread or my “New Forever Scope” thread, you might have noticed that I have within the last few days taken delivery of what appears to be a very nice telescope indeed: a Stellarvue SVX140T 140mm f/6.7 refractor. That thread details the scope’s arrival, inspection (and showing off!) and First Light from the point of view of the equipment. This report will try to adhere to the Observation storyline, though I cannot promise to avoid gushing about the scope too 😊 . Forgive me if I do. Of course, arrival of a brand new scope more or less guarantees appalling weather, and at the moment of delivery it was bright and sunny. Quite literally as soon as I extracted it from the box about 30 minutes later, deep fog had descended and the forecast suggested it would remain as such for a week. I couldn’t have looked through it that day anyway, as its Losmandy plate had been sent in another package which was due the following day. Sure enough, the low cloud and deep fog stayed all through the next couple of days. Suddenly yesterday the forecast changed, as did the current weather and it started to look likely that 6pm to 10pm would be reasonably clear. And so it proved. During late afternoon light I set out my Planet and AZ-EQ6 close in under a tall hedge and tree. There was a brisk and gusty Westerly wind that would normally have discouraged me from a session. Not tonight though, and the location, although completely blocking anything West of the Meridian, was well-protected from the wind. Of course I put in my WO 45 degree erecting prism to have a daytime look around at the obligatory local cattle-feeding tanks etc. By 7pm it was dark enough and I brought everything else out: Nexus DSC, battery, cables, eyepiece case. I could see that although there were clearish patches, the fast-moving weather meant it was going to be a cloud-dodging evening. In the event it was never perfectly clear, but it was occasionally perfectly obscured. Cloud seemed to magically appear just when I’d chosen a star for Alignment. Eventually I aligned on Castor and Betelgeuse. I did my first Star-Test whilst on Betelgeuse and as mentioned elsewhere I was extremely surprised it was a textbook-perfect test. I later repeated the experience on, of all stars, Sirius with the same result. I’ve read that the test is so sensitive that even superb refractors will fail to some degree. I later went to Suiter’s book to see what it should look like and there it was: exactly as printed, +/- 5 waves defocus, no variation in sharpness or brightness either side. Sorry! Sorry! I’m gushing, I said I wouldn’t! Anyway, the observing. I hadn’t really had time to plan so I had to go by memory and just a few Usual Suspects. Naturally I went to M42 first. The first thing I noticed was the nebulosity around the Trapezium was better than I was expecting in a 140mm scope. I’ve seen it many times here in my 12”, but this was not disappointing. As I stared at the Trapezium itself, with Delos 6 for 156x, the four main stars were not perfect pinpoints but they were small and reasonably stable. Enough that the E was easily evident and the F definitely appeared unambiguous from time to time. One thing I’d neglected to remember that whilst Newtonian-observing is mostly standing, a refractor’s eyepiece is at the other end of the tube. I hadn’t got my observing chair out, so: I visited Sigma Orionis, that nice 4-star system, noting that the faint C star was quite obvious. Moving up to Alnitak (the Eastern-most of the Belt) I did split the tight double but it wasn’t what I’d call razor-clean. I went to Rigel to split that easily enough, the tiny companion well clear of Rigel’s scintillation. Of course, I had to try Sirius, and decided pretty quickly there would be no Pup tonight. I’ve seen it once only, through my 12”. But I did star-test again on Sirius with the same amazing result as before, although somewhat more colourful. Perhaps I should have persisted with more patience and higher magnification, but that was not tonight’s purpose. Besides, every few seconds I’d have to wait for a band of cloud to pass over. Now I wanted to try wide-field, so I selected my Nagler 31 giving me 30x and a 2.7 degree field. M45 Pleiades was out of the question, behind the sheltering hedge. As I write I notice that the Comet was quite near Bellatrix but I didn’t know at the time. Besides, probably too cloudy. I could see the Beehive naked eye, but it doesn’t appear in the Nexus DSC’s “Common Named” list, and I’d forgotten that Beehive is also M44. So I selected instead the Christmas Tree Cluster, NGC 2264, up East of Betelgeuse. Lovely, beyond lovely! I somehow found in the Nexus DSC unit an Open Cluster not far away that the Nexus’ notes gave a name to, something like Coal Tower Cluster, but looking at charts now I can’t find nearby OCs with similar names. I’ll have to have a look again “in the field” and try to replicated how I found it and remember. Anyway, it was very nice. Seeing as this scope will excel as a Lunar and Planetary instrument, I decided for a quick go at Mars, up again at 156x, although it was partially obstructed by branches from the tree nearby. I caught some nice detail for no more than a tantalizing second before it was consumed by cloud. Grrrr! And it’s rapidly shrinking at the moment so I’m not sure if I’ll get another decent opportunity in the near future. I finished off with a quick look at Mizar, always a beauty. Whilst this was a fairly mundane list of targets, for this session that wasn’t the point. This was about getting used to the scope and as First Lights go amongst my scopes, it was the best I’ve had, not least because a suitable night appeared almost immediately on receiving it. And it served its purpose: I am now comforted that this scope qualifies as an exquisite instrument, and poor sessions down the road will be down to other factors. I look forward now to the Moon rising, and perhaps trying my hand at sketching. Thanks for sharing my joy, Magnus

Yes indeed, just as you say. I'm not sure I'm going to use it in the field (I may) but I was curious. Using T-2 fit diagonals might save some in-travel by screwing the one directly to the other, perhaps requiring a small spacer to get it to bind in the right position.

YES! Well done … my proprietary Porro setup. It works! And as far as I could tell, no vignetting with 18.2 DeLite inserted. 😁😁

I don't have a phone holder, I do need to get one. I keep trying to learn @Stu's hand-holding skills but for a photo and comparison of a pair of star-tests I fear a phone holder would be needed. I do have a DSLR bayonet to 2" adapter though and lots and lots of in-travel available. I'll do it that way. By the way, in one or two of the images earlier I laid a trap especially for you and those of your mind: I was sure you'd notice but so far nobody has .

Well, First Light has happened. I was having to dodge cloud-bands and there was never perfect clarity. The MW normally striking was hardly evident. But there were enough gaps to make it worthwhile. I’ll write it up as an Observing Report tomorrow. This thread isn’t about what I saw but what I saw it through. And all I can say is WOW. I’m no expert at star-testing, but I do star-test every time I look through a scope if I can. I have some supposedly exalted scopes: an LZOS, two 1/10-wave newts included. But I’ve almost always had to find excuses as to why the ring-pattern wasn’t identical one side from the other. Always soft and/or spiky one side, sharp the other, or too turbulent to see at all. To be fair, there have always in my opinion been good reasons. But this scope, tonight, a night of only slightly above average seeing I’d say, I could not tell the difference inside or outside focus (~5 waves). The patterns were identical and both sides totally SHARP sets of well-defined rings. No spikiness or softness either side. Quite unlike any star-test I’ve ever done. And seeing wasn’t great. [edit: I went to Suiter’s book to see what the patterns should look like. And his images of “perfect unobstructed aperture, polychromatic” were _exactly_ what I was seeing, both sides. Amazing.] At 160x Trapezium E and F were for moments between passing haze, totally “just there”. The C in Sigma Ori was easily evident. At lower power, 30x with my Nagler 31, open clusters were beyond-description lovely. I am so happy with this scope 🙂🙂🙂. I cannot wait for the moon to come along, I never thought I’d think that!

First Light beckons. Out and cooling. Although it’s rather windy, I’ve set up in the lee of a tree and thick hedge where it’s surprisingly sheltered. It’s supposed to be reasonably clear from about 6pm. For comparison, that’s a 88mm Kowa spotter just next to it.

Having set it up, and extended the dew shield out to full length, this is what it looks like. Even I am drooling.

As it is at the moment, with a reduced rail, it fits in the bag quite comfortably. With that handle definitely not, but that handle is designed to be taken on and off in a moment. It’ll be great for transporting my 12” tube outside for instance. I’ve just set it up inside (it’s raining again 🙄) and have been looking out across the countryside through some double-glazing. The focuser is very good. I’d say slightly better feel for the fine knob than BD Steeltrack (which adorns my 2 newts and a Mak). So I’m very happy with it.

I can’t promise anything Stu, but my LZOS has so far survived 3-4 years in my charge without any interference. HOWEVER. The LZOS has a FT focuser, and I would ideally have wanted the SV to have a FT… No, I won’t do it 😁😁.

Kiitos! Hopefully as much a beauty too when I get a chance to look through it! 🤞

Oh no! What are the odds. On the basis that’s it’s reasonably minor, if I were your neighbour and on good terms I would without hesitation offer to pay to make good any damage you might have, without troubling insurance companies or even mentioning it to them. Magnus

I think the way to reconcile that some cannot see them off a planet is that there will be a certain level of LP which will extinguish the bands. It’s no coincidence that the two here who have said they generally see _bolder_ stripes than the above photo also happen to be the ones to have 21.8 skies: @jetstream and me. The level of LP to render them invisible may not be very high. Also Jupiter in particular has I suggest a similar overall colour to that of LP. Cheers, Magnus

You mean this? Couldn't resist a couple of accessories from SV while they were at it, and this Losmandy/Vixen handle-to-end-all-handles had my name all over it. I now need a suitable Vixen bar to put on top of the rings to allow it to work. Yes indeed, as you say a very good bag. It came as part of the price of the scope, together with the rings. You can see it here, sitting in front of my 12" Newt, which is itself in front of my 16" Newt hot water tank .

Oh dear I hope it doesn’t become one of those things “you can’t unsee”. My own experience is that the stripes are more prominent and longer than shown in that photo. The spider diffraction is destructive to contrast in a planet. Returning to the “many stars each with spikes bundled together” analogy, and combining it with the fact that thicker vanes produce shorter brighter spikes, you get that each point within the planet is overlapped by all the diffraction thrown from the neighbouring areas in the planet. What you want to try to achieve is long, thin spikes (from each “planet-pixel”) so that the diffraction from each point is thrown _beyond_ the disc. To do that, you need vanes to be as thin as possible, and accurately straightened up to present as small a profile to the sky as possible. And, if possible, 3 vanes is better than 4 as it results in 25% less total diffraction. Apols, I’ve perpetuated the slightly-off-topic theme 😬

When the nights are good here, I _always_ think to myself “am I dewing up now?” when observing M45. Some of those times certainly will have been dew, but not all. The problem is trying to tell one from the other on the night. The Ally’s Braid trick and going immediately to another cluster I’ll try next opportunity. Gerry, are your other scopes not getting a little bit jealous by now? You should be worried they’ll start a revolt. I wouldn’t want to stand in the way of an angry 24” dob!

Thanks Dave, the OTA weighs around 9.5kg apparently but it feels heavier. I’ll try to weigh it today, fog still persists so I have nothing better to with it! I have a Skytee2/Uni which will be fine for the load but only has a vixen dovetail. So I’ll probably only mount it on my az-eq6.

Yes fair enough but I meant it in more or a “replacing the line item” sort of way. I’m used to VAT rates over here in the 20s so I don’t especially resent it. It still worked out in total slightly cheaper in total than a Tak 140 would be if such a thing existed.

Well the scope arrived yesterday, as you may have noticed from the “Postie” thread. The mounting plate and some accessories arrived in a separate box today. The weather as the box was delivered was fine. But almost to the minute I had it out of the box, cloud rolled in followed by a deep thick fog that’s still there 36 hours later! The forecast is for this to remain for the next week at least 🙄. This tells me it must be a truly fine scope 😁. It’s bigger than I expected even though I knew its dimensions, and when hefting it about I get a feel of some lovely engineering. The focuser in particular I was concerned about, having opted for SV’s own-brand focuser over the months-to-arrive Feathertouch. I needn’t have worried, it feels really good albeit from just a “dry twiddle” inside. First Light will tell me more… With the mounting plate having arrived today, a day later, I’ve just got it into a state where it’s “mountable”. I’m blessed with 200 degrees of elevated views of dozens of miles into the distance, hence the FOG and wind having arrived preventing me using it even during the day. More to follow pictures too, as soon as a break in the weather arrives. And hopefully eventually a proper First Light report. Magnus

You can imagine Jupiter as an aggregation of bright stars all bunched together to form a bright circle. Each of those quasi-stars will produce its own diffraction spikes. When bunched together, they form not so much a set of diffraction “spikes” off Jupiter, more of a set of wide (the width of the planet) “stripes” streaming off at right angles (if you have 4 vanes). Very pronounced every time I’ve used a newt to observe the planet. Cheers, Magnus

The second of the two deliveries from US just arrived. The Losmandy mounting rail/plate, and a very nicely-engineered eyepiece-counterweight set-up. Plus a device for carrying awkward objects whose technical name temporarily escapes me 😁: Magnus