Stu1smartcookie

More  like … what will I see tonight . Which will depend  on how accurate this forecast is . … and an update on the weather 2 1/2 hours later dampens my enthusiasm zzzz 
And ifast forward to this evening , heavy rain and then thick cloud . 

So , a three hour opportunity, starting now (8pm ) but of course it’s still light  💤, but , nonetheless an opportunity to set stuff up in the light . I know I wouldn’t need the Starsense with Little White , but I’m keen to find some whispy grey smudges later and this  is Little Whites first light . The scope came with the visual pack which included an Altair 32mm diagonal , a really nice RDF and a 65degree 17mm EP . Moon has risen but will be a couple of hours before it gets into view . Hope everyone else gets some clear skies tonight . After a stressful day it’s so nice just to be outside with the birds singing . 
Happy night folks .  
Oh and the Dwarf is out too 

2 hours ago, Starsonmull said:

Stu, thanks for the advice, do you have any pictures of your setup? to you use a scope or just DSLR on your kit? Thanks

Well for me its easy as i have the skytee and one clamp holds the starsense whilst the scope is on the other clamp... its easy to line up the starsense with the scope . 

Hi ... so my friend "modified " the starsense module and i now use it on my SkyTee mount . It will easily work by placing a dovetail on the bottom of the module and placing it on the SA . After polar aligning the SA , find the target using the Starsense , which uses the plate solving routine . And , hey presto . 

Hi and a warm welcome to the forum .

On 27/04/2023 at 17:53, Zermelo said:

An AZ-GTiX, but with the SW 1.75" 3/8" tripod, which looks better to me than the bundled option.

Great service from FLO/DHL - these were in my hands 25 hours from pressing the button.

I'll be using this with my existing OTAs, but I'm hoping that the goto and tracking will be a bit more reliable than with my existing Star Discovery (to be fair, I suspect I've overloaded it by adding various bits and pieces to my scopes).

Looks great ... i'm considering this very combination .  

Thank you to the Amazon and DHL delivery men .... But I am at work and I won't open the boxes until this evening . … and I’m home and I unpack a lovely little Altair Starwave Ascent 70ed , to go with its much bigger brother the 102 Ed . … a packet of Haribo into the mix .. and  a very nice Geoptik bar . 

I now own two celestron 8-24 for use in bino viewers and they work very well . 

i also own an SVBony 3-8mm zoom which is a fantastic EP , albeit with a short eye relief ... ideal for planetary or luna 

Alan , i now feel responsible 😃.. please  tell Mrs W that i had absolutely NO part in it and i was forced to sell Big Red to you .. you can sweeten it by saying no money was actually involved changing hands in person . After all online payments don't count .... do they ? lol 

 Sometimes feel a little guilty when i look at what i've bought and changed , but , i always try to square it by letting Mrs Smartcookie know she can always buy what she wants ... be it a new frac , newt or mak ... i'm not fussy 😃

4 hours ago, 900SL said:

Indeed. I have been wondering why anybody would buy the dwarf II based on the images I have seen posted. It's cheap for a reason. It's rubbish

You obviously do not own one , and from your comment are not likely to. Thats fine,  its your opinion , but , you should never describe something in such a way as "rubbish" without trying it first . Its a product that has created massive interest and is bringing astronomy to people that have only taken a passing interest . 

Firstly it makes you seem very aloof and dismissive , secondly for a lot of people the retail price of £539 ( now the promotion has ended ) is not "cheap " . The Dwarf ii has never set out to be better than a dedicated astrophotography rig , but it offers people with a passing interest in astronomy the chance to experience the hobby in a very interesting way . Have you seen the reviews ? Everyone who has reviewed the dwarf has had positive things to say ... Cuiv the lazy geek , Sarah Math(ews) .. who gave the most comprehensive review , Astro la Vista (aka Chris from this very forum ) and others have all welcomed it as another avenue into our hobby . 

But , you have disagreed and slated it as "rubbish " . I take it your "top of the range " gear makes you able to make such a judgement . Or is everything astro related rubbish compared to the JWTS or Hubble ?

Sorry for the backlash rant . i in no way intend to offend 

Stu

11 hours ago, Ags said:

Went out with my puppy Wurzel to look at the Moon with my grab and go contraption - Artcise C60 tripod, AZT6 head, Long Perng 90 frac and Svbony 3-8 zoom.

Firstly I don't think Wurzel will make the grade as an Astronomy Dog. I had barely aligned the telescope on the Moon and Wurzel was already at the back door squeaking to go back in. Possibly the thin coat and smaller bulk of a Jack Russell makes them more sensitive to the cold than my usual companion, our Westie Ohmsie.

With the dog returned to the warmth of the family hearth, I turned my attention back to our neighbouring ball of rock. It's the first time I have really had a chance to look properly at the Moon with the new zoom, and it was a pleasure watching detail emerge as I zoomed in, although the zooming effect was somewhat undercut by cloud intermissions between each zoom increment. I found the Moon was best around the 5-6 mm marks, but 3 and 4 gave great views too. At the 3 mm in particular I was admiring a large crater with a fractured floor which I think might be Posidonius. 7 and 8 were also great giving nice sharp whole-Moon views. I am glad the view held up well at 3 mm on the Moon as I have not found double stars to focus as well at this setting.

 

Hi Ags ... the 3-8 Svbony is a very nice EP isn't it . And such a reasonable price . I was extremely happy with its performance on the moon last night . BTW , liked the report on the dog(s) . So , maybe its a chance to start a thread on "hard core dogs for astronomy nights " 😂

10 hours ago, LDW1 said:

Thats their problem !  Maybe it will encourage them to develop, to expand. Thats the way the game is / should be played.

Agree , The "pioneers" ie the afforementioned Vaonis and Unistella had a head start in this and decided to price their systems accordingly . A bit like a TV manufacturer producing the first 4k screen . Inevitably though others have jumped on board and whilst i agree the aforementioned have produced a high quality product, pricing becomes more reflective of the intended market . I was always going to buy one of these products but the introduction of the Dwarf Labs and the See stars has made my purchase so much easier and of course affordable . For the record , the Dwarf imo is brilliant . I'm sure the See Stars will find its place in this field too . What an exciting time in our hobby . 

So , first night with the new 102 ED starwave and would you believe it , first light too . Just an hour but enough time to look at Venus , the moon , beehive cluster , castor and Pollux . The highlight was using the SVBony 3-8 zoom on the moon … absolutely amazing . Even down to 3mm (x374 ) the moon was clear and showed no false colour . Finished off looking at Capella . 
A great start for the new scope 

36 minutes ago, Franklin said:

Very sharp optic which is helped by the long focal length, I had one a while back and was very impressed with it and also bino-friendly.

Yes I used the Binos earlier and wanted to see if I could obtain focus without losing the tube near the focuser … I couldn’t until i used the little Barlow lens which bought everything into focus . 

So after the departure of my lovely and yet rather weighty Starwave 152 I have invested in a really “traditional “ frac ie Starwave 102ED F11 . I think it sits very well on the skytee mount .  Many thanks to Altair Astro for a speedy delivery . Although a bit stingy not to include the finder shoe . Done a bit of homework regarding this scope as i had the red non ED version a few years ago ( I do like the red colour a bit more than the white .. does that make me shallow? ) . Apparently, and I am only going off a review on CN the colour correction on this scope is superb . We will see . Bought to observe the moon, doubles and planets ( where have they gone  ) I need another short frac to compliment it on the skyTee mount . Regarding the mount , I was all set to sell it to @Sponcom but he graciously  agreed to let me keep it . A really nice gesture from Paul ( Many Thanks ) 

Out last night with the Dwarf for a quick photo of the crescent moon , … reckon I could have nailed the focus slightly better but it’s so simple and quick to set up and use . 

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

No Postman, just me and Mrs W out for a drive and a walk around Ely for good measure this morning.
Say hello to 'Big Red' it can have no other name...

Thanks to a Classified this week by @Stu1smartcookie and good timing on my part, a long term itch has been scratched.
A scope I have always twiddled with at each Astro Show but not quite made No1 on my list, well no longer.

It was a pleasure to meet Stu in person and chat astro, the new lightweight set up looks superb.

Baked Bean can for size as is the 150 f6 Newtonian...

From the serial number, clearly not many get sold.
Shame as its looking super in daylight, nice view of TV aerials, branches, birds etc. 
Mind you a tad large as a spotting scope!

Oh and the AZ75 handles it like its not mounted as well.
 

Pleasure to meet you too , Alan … scope looks great .. happy it’s gone to a really good home mate .  

Used the Dwarf to capture a solar image this morning through the clouds,a couple of sunspots visible 

2 hours ago, RobertI said:

As a primarily visual astronomer over the last forty plus years, I had a period of EAA which I really enjoyed and hope to get back into it soon. I was forced to into EAA through massive light pollution which made visual impossible, and my home brew EAA rig, using my basic Lodestar guide cam, was a miracle solution and a massive boon for me. But after I moved to a better location I continued with EAA. So as a visual astronomer, what did I find so enjoyable about EAA? For me it was still a thrill to see that faint fuzzy slew into view on screen, and then watch the detail build up over the next few minutes, and then investigate what I could see. I could also fiddle with sliders to increase contrast, brightness and sharpness and reveal more detail - a bit like popping in a visual filter. It didn’t feel like like imaging, it was more immediate. At 650mm focal length I could see so many faint objects (particularly galaxies) that I would never be able to see visually without a massive light bucket. Plus I could keep a snapshot for later analysis and sharing with the community. In fact I discovered a supernova (well I captured it before the ‘official’ discovery time, but sadly only found out days later!). With a black and white sensor it was very sensitive, and strangely more akin to visual than a colour sensor. Downsides were all the typical issues you get with imaging - alignment, collimation, focus, dust bunnies, hot pixels, etc. and it took time to set up. Products like the SeeStar seem to remove most of these issues, although from what I have seen of Unistellar and Vaonis, they still require some fettling, but that will improve over time. Personally I think at 200mm focal length for the SeeStar, the number of objects of interest (at least to me) will be limited. Unistellar’s eVscope is better at 450mm, but I still don’t think the results are as good as my super sensitive black and white setup. But these systems will only get better and cheaper and more popular and I will undoubtedly get one at some point.

Well that’s a great post and to be honest sums up the worth of these small units . Having already purchased a Dwarf Labs ii I am mightily impressed and it’s , as you rightly say , fascinating to see the picture build up in front of your eyes . The software is easy to use and the Auto stretching feature is a brilliant addition . 

Interesting comparison between thespecs on the  Dawrf and the See Stars on "Rooster Observatory " (YouTube ) .. Certainly looks like the Dwarf is the better option . The guy on YT has the Dwarf and has put an order in for the SeeStars so he has no bias towards either . 

I applaud anyone bringing new gear onto the market as it shows progression . Sure these units might be a bit niche but in my case its a really fun way of capturing the night sky and the Moon and Sun , without the headache ( as i see it ) of teasing details from a program . I can now see the Leo triplet within 2minutes , which is remarkable . 

Also the feeback from reviewers has been both encouraging to the end user but also their critisisms have been listened to by the suppliers . 

Astronomy takes makes many forms . The SeeStars and dwarf can only enhance interest , Surely .

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

I also have the Pixel 6 pro but I just haven’t got around to trying it out for AP. Maybe on a good clear night when I have both scopes out I will try it on one of them. The reason I sold my AP kit was because I would rather be observing than standing around doing nothing. It’s the old horses for courses again.

If enough of us actually look through our scopes we might start a revival . Lets have a dedicated "visual obsy only night " with sketches rather than pictures posted . 

4 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

. I'm only four years in and the last year I've really noticed my light pollution increase and less cloud free nights. 🤔

The most realistic post on this subject . Light pollution can be tackled ... but those wretched clouds ?... i'm not so sure . 

Also , there will be another twenty thousand satelites in low ordit to negotiate when trying to view anything . 

16 hours ago, shaztronomer said:

Do you the eq5 tripod with welded pin?, they told me it wouldn't clear the pin unless I filed it 😭

That was the case with some early ones but i never had a problem with mine 

5 minutes ago, maw lod qan said:

Walked out this morning to see an amazingly clear sky.

Being another work day, I only had a few minutes just to stare at the sky.

Scorpio really stood out above the trees. The milkyway was faint, but would have imaged nicely.

Then from the NNE a really fast meteor headed directly at Scorpio. 

Had me wanting to stay home!

Lovely isnt it ? ... the early morning when everything is quiet (ish) .. it seems we have the whole sky to ourself 

On 15/04/2023 at 13:48, shaztronomer said:

Flo does an adaptor but does not fit the eq5 tripods with the welded pin

i bought an adapter from them and it worked fine !