glafnazur

I think I prefer the first one, I really like the colours in that one. The other two are great though 👍

1 hour ago, Stu said:

A Baader Contrast Booster for me, having read all the positive reports about its performance on Mars.

But will it perform as well on Earth........................................ 😉

That's really nice, although to be honest, I found that the foreground stars draw my attention away from what is a super galaxy image. Even so it is a great image.

I love double stars, pity they aren't imaged very often 👍

both are great and it's the bottom one for me too.

That's really good, love the colour and in the hi res there are loads of faint galaxies 👍

Sorry to hear that Michael, hopefully it won't get so bad that you have to give up and if it does I hope it will be many years away. 

I know what you mean about switching eyes. I have always used my right eye and a while back I got a new, rather large, floater in my right eye. It was really bothering me when I was observing (probably because it was new) so I swapped eyes and I was surprised by how difficult it was to observe with the 'wrong' eye.

2 minutes ago, tomato said:

 my evidence for this is that a lot of folks now seem to prefer taking video clips of a live event on their smartphones rather than experiencing it with their own eyes. The urge to “capture and post” seems strong these days.

Unfortunately I think you've hit the nail on the head there. 

That's really nice Tameem

Very nice Lee, lots of detail.

That's nice, lovely colours 

You've made a good job of that. It is always good to see an image of one of my favourite galaxies. Really nice star colour and there are lots of faint fuzzies hiding away in the background too. 

I'm no expert but that looks really good to me.

That's really well done, the colours are lovely 👍

That's a really super image Peter. Well worth browsing on the full res image.

35 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

When I use a go to mount I can go through an entire session without even taking the caps off my finder scope. I have found that when I do the alignment process really well (accurately centre the alignment stars) and a good polar alignment I always have my targets in the fov of a 17.5mm eyepiece. When not using a go to mount I predominantly use an accurately aligned RDF which then always puts the target in the eyepiece. My RACI finder comes into play when I need to star hop with my dobsonian to find faint or tight doubles etc.

Same here, after a good alignment I never need the finderscope.

That's really well done, I love the colour

I am slowly going through some images I took hoping to catch some Perseids and I thought I'd got one that was quite bright. /unfortunately when I looked closely at the images before and after there was a very faint trail on each so I reckon it must have been a satellite  

6 hours ago, josefk said:

i see your tray @Richard N and raise you a box that doubles as a tray :-).  Actually the box works well to keep the dew off in between sketches and keep stuff together in-between sessions.

 Hmmm, my wife has a few of these amongst her craft stuff. I wonder if she would miss one 🤔 

2 hours ago, Space Oddities said:

Yes I confirm a 120ST would probably be too much for the little AZ-GTi mount, but I read that people were using the 102 with it  It would make a good grab and go setup as well!

Love it too! I have 3 of these actually, they are engravings from Jules Verne books that I found on Etsy. I happen to live in Jule Verne's hometown, in a boulevard that bears its name, so I thought it was à propos. Always loved his books as a kid!

I wish I lived in one of the streets nearby though, I mean, how cool would it be to have as your address "123, Captain Nemo street"  

Here's the shop I got it from, they make very good quality prints (my picture doesn't do justice to them): https://www.etsy.com/fr/shop/AtelierGaronne

 

They're really cool  Just seeing them makes me want to read the books again.

Super image

Wow super image Peter 👌 

32 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

At the very least the AZGTI will not perform very well and at worst break... I've tried that combo...

Thanks,  I thought it'd be ok with the mount saying 5kg and the scope being 4.1kg, I'll have to rethink whilst I try to get some money together. Maybe a 102 instead 

20 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

They're a fun widefield refractor but a one trick pony. Not very grabby or goey to me hence why I sold it. I wouldn't knock the SW120ST but don't expect to enjoy heading past 100x magnification or using a itchy mount. 🙂

I just want it for widefield, I was thinking of mounting it on a Sky-Watcher AZ GTi WiFi Alt-Az.

On 15/08/2023 at 10:16, Space Oddities said:

The postman delivered a few packages in the last couple weeks! A very nice looking Sky-Watcher Startravel 120, together with a GSO Focuser (I have to admit the stock focuser went straight back to the box) and an ES 82° 30mm eyepiece. This will make a nice grab and go scope!

I also got a handle and a matching dovetail bar, both from the brand Bresser, which makes the scope easier to carry. I also replaced some parts, like the tube rings' knobs, I find them really hard to fasten properly. The focuser is great, but the rotating functionality wasn't very smooth. Turns out, the 3 set screws are either too lose or too tight... I couldn't find the right balance and was afraid the whole thing would wobble, so I removed the set screws and used some thumb screws I had lying around. That's 4 screws to turn if I want to rotate the focuser, but at least it's secure and doesn't require any tool. Finally I salvaged a couple finder shoes and attached them on the handle and the focuser, to fit a finder, ASIAIR or phone holder.

I also need to figure out how go fit my Telrad in here... Maybe some 3D printer support? Time will tell!

Anyways... I had first light a few days ago, between clouds, and could observe Andromeda and a explore the Cygnus region, before clouds came back. The scope is very nice and I couldn't see any chromatic aberration so far. Once the Moon is back and the clouds are gone, I'm going to give this a try to see how bad CA is, and see if my filters can improve the view somehow.

Very nice, I am thinking of getting an SW ST120 as a grab and go scope when I can scrape up enough money.