Captain Scarlet

9 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

How exciting, just be prepared for two weeks of cloud cover though, that's normally taken as read 🙂 

Steve

It’s a bit like a second life sentence “to be served concurrently”: there’s already been 100% cloud cover for weeks!

Just now, Alan White said:

I presume the reply you sent @Captain Scarlet was no, don't worry about it, please send it to Alan White in England instead.... 🤣
You know that is the right thing to do after all.

Seriously, nice news and always uplifting to receive.
I await the arrival with anticipation.

Yes well of course I did, but now you've guessed and spoiled the surprise I’ll sadly have to redirect to myself

I just opened my email and my heart skipped a beat or two:

What about _scope_ field curvature, in, say, a short focal-length refractor? Obviously one shouldn’t condemn an eyepiece on the basis of a feature of the scope.

I recently managed to achieve visual focus with my SW Evoguide 50, which has 240ish-mm focal length. It has strong field curvature. With my Panoptic 24, the centre was lovely and sharp, a match for my Leica 10x50s. However the edge was markedly blurred. But a slight turn of the focus-knob brought the edge to equally nice sharpness.

Whereas a poor eyepiece will still look horrid at the edge after a refocus attempt.

So in this context I would forgive the “de-focus” aberration when judging an eyepiece and consider only the others. Is that valid?

Magnus

16 minutes ago, markse68 said:

oh that’s disappointing- I thought it was getting brighter!

Mark

It is, but unfortunately Luna is overwhelming it for the next few days.

Just now, for me in nominally 21.8 skies, with a nearly full moon at nearly zenith, it was _barely_ detectable through 10x50 binoculars. 10 days ago it was naked eye. Quite a change.

Magnus

Comet. Unforecast-until-last-minute clear skies. A chance to see the comet and compare it to a couple of weeks ago. My goodness what a difference! 2 weeks or so (moon down, 21.5 sky) ago it was bright and easy to find in all my binoculars. Tonight, full moon, it was BARELY discernible, you had to know you were in the right region and there was a very slight smudge. Like M33 on a hazy night. Very interesting difference.

When i observed it it was around 12-13 degs up at sunset. By May, it’ll be 35 degs up at that time and should be far better:

I had a look about 10 days ago. Venus was simply terrible. Like a cross between a kaleidoscope and a three-colour Venn diagram all moving at once, funnily enough through your  former VX8 Orion Optics mirror. I hasten to add that mirror is just fine (I re-centre-spotted it, OO had had it placed miles out) … it was the seeing that low down, not so low down though, was appalling.

Cheers, Magnus

On 16/01/2023 at 01:12, Louis D said:

Belgium?  The most unspeakably rude word in the universe according to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? 😁

No, in the context of this thread the forbidden B word is Bresser

Through the 130?

I bought my OO8 off Grumpy Martian, met him and did the exchange in a service-station car park a little over a year ago. Very nice chap. But that account appears to have been completely deleted, my old posts and PMs now appear as from “guest”. I feared the worst, so I am hugely relieved. I know it’s possible to change names, or merge or otherwise change the name back?

Cheers and welcome back Martin.

Magnus.

Bear in mind too that whatever you buy is an asset that continues to have some value. If you’ve bought used, the chances are the asset’s value is the same as you paid for it. In which case you’re not really “down” at all: you can turn it back into cash any time you like. It’s only really expensive when you buy new. I also get that you can become sentimentally attached to some kit, in which case disposal can be painful without losing any money.

M

Perhaps try to get them to arrange it? Manufacturers will have particular relationships with shippers that you won’t have. I’ve just ordered a refractor from US to Ireland and there’s no problem with shipping (apart from the cost of course). Mine’s coming via FedEx, UPS was also offered.

Magnus

1 hour ago, SuburbanMak said:

  There’s probably a market for them on here. I did see a Televue baseball cap once…

Haha guilty as charged!

I bought it off @mikeDnight IIRC 😄

Responding to the first post.

I too have, within the last week, committed to a most-expensive-for-me astro purchase. It is a top-of-the-tree 140mm refractor from the USA (Stellarvue SVX140T). Finally after doing the currency exchange and clicking on the final no-recourse "send" to complete the order, I felt slightly sick. More than slightly, nausea is the word. Your description "horrified and elated" is good. This thread has been a touch of therapy for me too

Magnus

I too am a “leftie” eye-wise, very much so: all my recent eye tests have shown my left eye to be more sensitive, but with much more complex astigmatism than my right.

Nonetheless I tried a switch the other night, on a bad Mars, and I didn’t immediately reject my right eye. Interesting, I plan to persevere…

I have a 3mm DeLite, it’s quite a tall eyepiece. I’d assume your 4mm DeLite is also on the tall side, as is the Powermate IIRC. Going for a “powermated” option on top of a 4mm will give you a very long stack out of the diagonal on a scope that’s on the small side.

Cheers, Magnus

1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

Difficult one. It rather sounds as if the scope is a lemon, though Es Reid might be able to fix it. …

Olly

Looking back at the post for the original sale here it seems the scope at one time was very much not a lemon, to the extent that Olly himself appreciated the quality of the images presented (assuming they were indeed taken with the sold scope). Hopefully it can be brought back to life.

Magnus

Your first picture … is that a “cost meter” telling you how much you’ve spent so far perfecting your deluxe Finder setup  ?

10 minutes ago, Pixies said:

.... It surely must be naked-eye in dark skies. ...

Yes indeed it was, just about, for me last night in SW Ireland

9 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

(first image) I could just hear David Attenborough saying "the wild and nocturnal newts await sundown in their natural habitats" 🤣 

I would have loved to h;ave a peek at M42 as you described the nebulosity being lovely, in such a large newt.

I was thinking more along the lines of one of my favourite films, Aliens: "Locked and loaded, covering all approaches"

The last observing session I’ve had worthy of its own report was back in August! The weather last Autumn and this winter has been terrible. But I haven’t been lazy. In that time I’ve managed to fettle quite a lot of things to improve my scopes. So last night’s two sessions amounted to First Light for a variety of modifications: I’ve replaced the 63mm secondary on my Orion/Helmerichs 8” newt, taking its CO down from 32% to 25%; I fitted a brand new Orion primary cell to replace the old Skywatcher 300p cell which I’d bolted to the end of a Helmerichs tube; in that process I turned the tube completely back to front and re-did the entire geometry of the scope to reduce to a practical minimum the out-focus point (100mm from the outside of the tube); I flocked all the important areas of the same 300mm scope; I “re-findered” both scopes to lose the Telrads (mention the word ‘dew’ and it’s fogged up, even in the Kalahari I’m sure) and to accept SkySurfer Vs, with extra capacity for finder-scopes too, if necessary.

The forecast had been that it’d be clear last night for nearly a week ahead, and stayed constant, so I was confident enough to get both Newtonians out, the 200 and the 300. I’d planned to observe Jupiter, Mars and the 20% Moon starting at twilight using my new high-contrast low-CO 8”, then have dinner and move on to the 12” for the longer night session. I put the OH200 onto a Skytee2/Berlebach Uni and the OH300 onto my AZ-EQ6/Planet controlled by Nexus DSC.

There has been a staggering amount of rain even for here (Ireland!) the last few months, almost certainly a result of the 1-month hosepipe ban we had in August, and I was convinced this night’s session would be affected or terminated by dew. In the event, it wasn’t, I was pleasantly surprised.

My plan for the night’s session was simple: Orion and Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF).

The twilight session was essentially a waste of time. Seeing was appalling. Venus not unexpectedly, being so low, was a kaleidoscope. Jupiter was mostly a wobbly mush. Only fleetingly did anything other than the two main belts appear, at either 100x or 167x (Delos 10 and 6). Luna was more interesting, having more large-scale structure but everything was nonetheless shimmering all over the place. Mars showed hints of different shades but was also soft and lacking any clarity. Oh well, next time.

Dinner happened, and I resumed around 2030 with the OH300. It was immediately evident seeing was much better, though still far from what I’d call “good”. Transparency was poor too. The Milky Way would normally be quite stark and even readily discernible threading past Orion and Betelguese. Last night it wasn’t evident anywhere, at least not until much later on. Nevertheless I pressed on, and started off at M42. That seeing was better was shown immediately by my ability to see the E and F stars in the Trapezium, though they were coming and going. The surrounding nebulosity was less impressive, though.

I moved on to Sigma Orionis, where the faint fourth C star again was easily seen. It was odd. This system of stars, in good seeing and through a fine scope, can be achingly beautiful: an arrangement of fine pinpoints. Though tonight I could see the faint one rather easily, it wasn’t what I’d call a beautiful sight. The brighter stars were a bit wobbly and not pinpoint even though everything was on view. Widening out the view to include the extra stars to the West made the point. It just wasn’t “refractor-like”, though I have had lovely such views through this scope before. It was just the seeing. Trapezium similarly.

I went to Rigel, which I couldn’t split earlier through the 8”, and yes I split it easily Rigel was not pleasingly tight. But in contrast, Sirius wasn’t wobbling too much. Perhaps it was damped by the milky veil of cloud, but although I tried for the Pup, there was no sign. Alnitak similarly was readily split.

By now the transparency was looking better. My naked eye could see stars within Orion apart from the main ones and Sigma Orionis, so I took a break from that area and tapped in M1 (Crab Nebula). I can’t recall having observed M1 through a telescope before. I’ve _detected_ it a few times with 10x50 and 15x56 binoculars, and it was a slightly enhanced version of that which I was expecting through this 12”. So I was pleasantly surprised to see a vivid brightish patch with hints of structure. My first “pleased” observation this night!

Looking over my shoulder to the North-ish, I noticed that the thin cloud had disappeared from there too. I was ready for the Comet. Knowing it was close to RR Umi, first with 15x56 binoculars I found it immediately. As others have said, rather like an unresolved version of M13. I put in the Nagler 31 to my scope giving me my minimum 59x magnification and again found it readily. It’s a largeish object, and I suspect even 59x is on the high side for such an extended object. All I got was a bright core, not unlike say M31. The overall view I found was more satisfying through the binoculars. Later on, as I was packing up, I brought out my Zeiss 8x56s, and the impression was, I felt, even better. Definite colour (greenish, obviously) and some shape, and roughly triangular wide fan. Also, by that time I could see it naked eye too, likely helped by the fact it was close to RR Umi which is itself part of a “mini-Hyades” sideways V-shape, the whole clearly making for quite a bright patch in that area. I was pleased with that, my first Comet since Neowise.

I’ve run ahead too far. After the first Comet viewings, I returned to Orion and now the nebulosity around M42 was lovely (still at minimum mag with Nag31). E and F were better too. Emboldened, I went to the Flame Nebula. No chance. I couldn’t be bothered to go inside and get my filters so I let it be. I was ready for some doubles, though. I started with Meissa, a favourite which I discovered as double without knowing in advance. I decided to use a feature I like about the Nexus DSC: its “Tour” function. From its 50-odd catalogues I selected just Planetaries and Struve Doubles, and an area within 4 degrees of current position.

It came up with 30 such objects, and I slewed to each in turn. I had my Delos 10 in giving me 183x. These included NGC 2022, a bright PN. I should have upped the magnification and donned a filter, its brightness seemed to warrant it. But I did neither: another time. Besides, I’d decided that NGC 2022 was so Last Year and moved on.

I went through a succession of doubles none of whose names I can remember, but I do recall thinking my limiting magnitude this night with this scope seems to be about 11-12. Any stars fainter than about 11.5 I just could not see. Most of the doubles were faint but I could see colour in almost all of them, even the dim ones. I’ve not _systematically_ done doubles before, aside from some favourites, but I plan to, and to find a way of recording what I’ve seen (“Do you use a Dictaphone?” “No, darling, just a normal telephone like everyone else” [sorry]).

Not the most sensational of nights, but certainly worth having, especially after nearly 4 months of prohibitive weather. The first session was not a proper test of my new low-Central Obstruction 8”, so I look forward to that. I noted Leo rising and am excited to anticipate the Leo/Coma galaxy season coming on! And, or course, not least, the imminent arrival of my new 140mm Stellarvue refractor.

Thanks for getting this far,

Cheers, Magnus

Just in from session no2 tonight. Seeing was much better than earlier in the evening but still prob only 6/10. Transparency was poor, MW not evident when it normally is stark.

Trap E and F were seen, as clearly was the C in sigma Ori. Alnitak just about split, but no Pup despite trying hard.

Comet was the main goal, and was easily found just next to rr Umi through my 15x56s, in the 300 newt at 59x with Nag31, and best of all funnily enough through the 8x56 bins: distinctly green and comet-shaped. But perhaps even better, by the time I was packing up at 1am just now, it was naked eye (with sky measured at 21.4). But transparency having been hazy all night had suddenly improved.

Quite a long session with many more observations and the first such in three months, so look to the Obs Reports for a full write-up tomorrow hopefully.

Magnus

The first properly forecast clear night tonight for months. So I spent late afternoon setting up not one but two scopes, my 300 newt and its smaller sibling the 200 newt, with First Light for the 200’s newly-installed 50mm secondary.

Pre-dinner session with the 200 to get Jupiter and Luna was frustrating. Seeing absolutely terrible. Let’s see how after dinner with the 300 goes. I shall be trying to get my first proper view this season of M42 and region.