Kn4fty

Jove is right! 😁😁😁😁😁

Sounds like a great night! Few things are as memorable as the first view of Jupiter and Saturn! Congrats! Rob

Hi Kay and welcome to SGL!

Absolutely beautiful!!! Thanks for sharing!

Yes, I do the same with my filter. I hold it up and inspect for any holes. Like you I also use my hand to check filter placement while looking in the EP. The only issue ive ever had with a filter was years ago as a youngin with a borrowed glass filter. It had a small unnoticeable crack. Fortunately no eye damage. It definitely made me always check after that. Rob

It definitely is humbling. Sometimes I just go thru the sketch section to look at the amazing art done by others. Rob

Beautiful job! My work is no where near that level! Great job and thanks for sharing! Rob

Thanks! Ill check that out!

Id thought about a tarp, but want less hassle on set up. Im thinking of using more for when im camping, so I can leave the scope set up.

Howdy folks! Have any of you seen or used the portable observatory tents? What was your thoughts on them? Are they worth it or just a waste of money? Just curious. Rob

This should be pinned! Im gonna direct everyone here from now on when asked that question! Rob

Nice report! Thanks for sharing!

Out of scale or not, still some really nice sketches. Wish mine looked that good. Rob

You have a couple options. The biggest one is just spend time at the eye piece. The longer you look, the more detail you'll see. Its all about training your eyes. Another option is filters. Different filters can make different features more apparent. I find 82a light blue fairly good. Filters will help cut the brightness. Not everyone uses filters. For some folks it enhances detail. For others it doesn't make a difference. Hope this helps. Mostly its just spending time observing. The longer you look, the more you'll see. Rob

Thanks y'all. I firmly believe a bad night observing is better than a good night at work! 😂 All my scopes have names except the cheap one, but after its performance last night, it might get one. My named ones are: Copernicus- 8" reflector with equatorial mount Kepler- ETX 70 AT refractor Cassini- ETX 90 RA mak Halley- Halleyscope Zoom 2400. Thinking about piggybacking it on the 8" Galileo- 10x50 binos If I name something then I can't sell it! 😂😂😂

I enjoy his presentation. He really seems to enjoy what he does and it bleeds over to the viewers. Hope to get more of his material on this side of the pond Rob

Last night was a beautiful clear night. I had been excited about taking Copernicus, my 8"Newt, out to observe Jupiter. While waiting on darkness to fall, I tested a couple other scopes. One was a 40mm Halleyscope Zoom 2400. The Moon looked clear and sharp in the little refractor. Later I tried Halley on Jupiter. Jupiter was clear and sharp, but tiny on highest magnification. The four Galilean moons were bright pin points. The other scope I tested was a cheap $25 junk scope I picked up at a dollar store. I bought it to experiment with and possibly make a solar projector with. The main point of the experiments are to find ways to improve ease of use. Its has the horrible .965 EPs. All lenses were plastic as well. It really surprised me on performance. It wasn't superb views, but definitely better than I expected. Finally once it was dark and Copernicus had adjusted to the temperature, I swung to Jupiter. The Jovian looked good in the 26mm EP, but any increases gave me a "boiling" image. Jupiter was low on the horizon, but I'd still pulled good views on objects there before. I put the scope on a random star field higher in the sky, the seeing was horrible!!! Ok. Not a big deal. Things can change. So I decided to get Kepler, my ETX 70 AT, out and compare views. Jupiter was ok in it. Fortunately the seeing improved. It didn't become fantastic, but was ok. Jupiter looked clear in the low end of medium sized EPs. Could finally inrease power enough to see the equatorial bands on the planet. But any higher and the boiling image came back. I figured I'd compare views side by side, but found out the barlow was not short enough for the ETX to match the newt. Oh well. After sketching the planetary view, I swung Copernicus almost to the zenith and dialed in the Whirlpool Galaxy. With the moon at almost 69%, I didn't expect to see anything. Boy, was I wrong. I was pleasantly surprised to see two smudges with slightly brighter centers. Not the best compared to a moonless night, but still not bad. I observed this gorgeous Messier for about an hour, trying to tease as much detail out as possible. After a sketch it was time to move on. To finish up the night I looked at Saturn. Not a lot of detail due to seeing. Could separate the disc and ring, but could not see bands or Cassini's division. Titan was just noticable. After this I packed up and called it a night. To answer the question "to see or not to see", while originally not expecting to see, I did get to see better than initially expecting. It was still a good night. "Keep looking up!" -J Horkheimer Rob

Don't worry about it. California has those warnings put on everything! We have a joke here in the USA. "Everything in California causes cancer and reproductive harm!" Enjoy your EP. Rob

Welcome to the forum and welcome to stargazing! Greetings from across the pond! There are a lot of knowledgeable folks here that are always willing to help guide you or answer questions! Rob

Nice report and good sketch! Looking forward to seeing the next one! Rob

I'm definitely ready for activity to pick up! Thanks for posting!

Paz, like Cotterless45 says, drawing helps you pick out more detail. Definitely draw. It doesn't have to be a Rembrandt, mine definitely are not. It makes you spend more time at the EP so you end up seeing more.

Great report! Thanks for posting. I really enjoyed reading. Yeah, I understand about the music. Some fits some objects, some others. Sometimes if I cant find some music that seems to fit, I'll put on an astronomy podcast that talks about the object currently being observed. Rob

Last Sunday night/ early Monday morning was the first time in months I could get a scope out. For the past few months work and weather prevented any time at the EP. For a week I had watched the forcast predicting a clear night. I had spent the day swimming and was preparing to head home for my date with the stars when I got side tracked in conversation. I finally got home about midnight. I was tired but wanted some sky time. I was too tired to set up Copernicus, my 8" Newt, so I set up Kepler , my ETX 70 I had repaired. Grabbed a couple EPs (26mm and 9.7mm) and did a quick two star alignment and began to hunt. I initially tried to find galaxies around Ursa major. I knew the surface brightness of those were beyond Kepler's grasp, but what the heck! Obviously no luck. I then pursued more reasonable quarry. I punched in M27 the Dumbbell nebula and the little ETX slewed to it. I could see the roundness of the nebula, but no structural detail like in the big scope. Plus, my eyes ain't what they use to be. But it was still gorgeous to see it hanging there! Next I figured I'd check out a planet. Since Jupiter was behind a tree, I tried Saturn. In the little scope it was tiny! Tiny but satisfying. Satisfying because I immediately thought "This is how Galileo saw it!". The rings looked less like rings and more like the "ears" he saw. After a bit, I dialed in M11 the Wild Duck cluster. It initially appeared as a nebulous mushroom with a couple stars. Some time at the EP brought out many more stars as the "nebulosity" changed into individual stars. About this time the active day had caught up with me and I waa starting to yawn. I figured one more before I turn in. The little scope moved to M15 globular cluster. It was tiny in the scope and looked like a fuzz ball. I couldn't see any individual stars, but thats ok. I still got to get under the sky with a scope for a couple hours. And you know what? It was worth it!! In the immortal words of Jack Horkheimer- "Keep looking up!" Rob

Hello and welcome! Ditto what Greymouser said!