Stu1smartcookie

As much as many love the summer months , it can and indeed is a frustrating season for dso's . As written above there is no astronomical darkness now therefore i would choose to view mainly double stars , and of course our near neighbour ( no , not her from number 16 🤣 ) , the moon . I live under bortle 5 skies and coupled with what seems like an ever increasing amount of cloud during the summer months you have to take what you can get . 

Soon enough the skies will start to darken , earlier in the evening . I find early spring,  and the autumn season to be very rewarding as the nights are generally more mild and of course the planets that are currently languishing in the morning sky will be making themselves known in the evening soon . 

The 127 Mak is a wonderfully capable scope that punches above its 119mm aperture( controversial) but its main forte is of course lunar and planetary  but there are plenty already mentioned targets that are visible . For me , finding the damn things in the sky  is a challenge . 

5 hours ago, LaurenceT said:

Just to address two points you have raised I will speak in favour of my Startravel 102T. Firstly from a budget point of view it retails for £200 which fitted the budget set by my Domestic Financial Controller perfectly😄. Secondly you mentioned travel, the dew shield of the 102T is detachable and so the scope fits perfectly into my airline cabin shoulder bag with room for eyepieces, red dot sight etc.

I bought the 102T to replace a used ST80 which I acquired for £60 and was a great starter scope but had significant amounts of CA and I also wanted something a bit longer that would sit happily with my Controller as mentioned earlier. I did a lot of reading about the 102T and found reviews that said the CA was copy variant, some people said it had more than they liked while many said that their copies had minimal or acceptable CA. I took a chance and bought the 102T from FLO and I'm pleased that the CA in my copy is perfectly acceptable to me and is minimal. One thing to point out is that the "T" refers to "terrestrial" and the scope comes with a 45 degree erect image diagonal.

You can find real bargains on this scope ... its a solid performer ( i have just found a used one for £80 !!!!!! inc mount ) . whether CA is a problem is a personal thing i think , and lets face it this scope is considered a widefield performer in which case CA isnt really an issue as high magnification isn't required ... if its planet viewing then look at a Mak or SCT . 

5 hours ago, Nik271 said:

A few classic and relaxing doubles in twilight (10pm) yesterday. All with Skymax 127 on manual EQ, so part of the fun was finding the stars in the bright sky.

Started with Izar, (my spring 'start of session test' double) and then moved to Xi Boo, then Pi Boo, followed by Alpha Com. A brief look at M53 nearby which was barely visible in the twilight. I finished with Rho Herc and Rasalgethi. The latter will be my summer starting double as it is very pretty with an orange/green contrast.

Nice report Nik

I found last night a bit of a frustrating one as finding stuff in a clear , quite bright sky , is proving to be rather tiresome .. Of course things will change a bit when the sky starts to darken earlier in the evening ... Better not wish the summer away though  lol ☺️

26 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Ok not the Postie Pete, but Palletline instead, new arrival for the pad

Pictures etc on Observing Pad thread will follow soon …

A1200mm tall galvanised steel pier from Greg at White Star in Cornwall, nice guy and makes a good range of piers.
He is on ebay and online, small business, big products.

I must note, that huge shke up the Oak post looks terrible in that picture.

 

the Shake will be ok at least its going "with the grain " ... more trouble if the shake was horizontal 

After heavy rain in the afternoon the sky cleared at about 7pm to leave a cloud free night ... obviously there was quite a bit of moisture in the air and the moon , my main target , sometimes had a misty halo . The telrad had a nightmare with dew although the scope stayed pretty dew free . Took in the usual "easy " doubles and the bright stars and tested the WO 2" 45degree prism , which showed the Moon as we see it  . Just a quick hour of scanning around . 

I cant speak about th Astromaster but the 130pds is an absolute steal at £ 209 (new)  . A dual speed focuser , Short tube and light weight . Great to get into astrophotography . Its a winner ! Plus it takes 2" EPs . 

A nice couple of gifts to celebrate .. Firstly a Williams Optics 45 degree prism from @Stu a chance possibly to use it on the moon tonight , with the tripod fully extended  

secondly , a nice gift from my long suffering wife , who I believe actually loves astronomy as much as I do , but chooses not to show it in anyway .. a Star Adventurer 2i . Having bought a 70-300 lens a couple of weeks ago I am “hoping”to take some lovely photos . Hmm maybe a new tripod to go with the set up???? ( better wait a while for that 😂😂) 

Lovely clear evening which was spent in the company of the 110mm Frac and the moon ... and a good chance to test (fully) my zoom EP . I had dismissed this EP a little too quickly in a previous post but in reality its made for planetary and lunar viewing .The still air  made the night a fantastic viewing experience . There is something , er, rather relaxing when looking at our Moon . I must admit i am not that familiar with all the features on the surface , there is a lot to see . Also i look and wonder what height some of the ridges and mountain ranges are . More homework needed , i can see why people devote so much of their viewing time to our closest neighbour.  

11 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

Had a quick viewing session with the new Evolux 62ED on the AZ-GTi (alt/az mode) - sitting on the new (to me) Behrlebach Report 112 tripod. This is the first light using the ZWO ASI178MM I bought for solar/lunar, only a short video before I packed up as could not get a decent capture on my iphone.

Nice moody shot , Steve ... glad you were able to use the Evolux . 

Just now, Knighty2112 said:

And a 10” dob version too. 👍🏻

Yes , even better

So it seems Celestron are about to "up the ante " by introducing an 8" dob with their Starsense " push to " system ... this could be a game changer for people wishing to utilise the scope to its fullest capacity . At £695 its not cheap but i reckon its a winner . Looks nice too in their silver livery and the base has a more modern look .    

3 minutes ago, LaurenceT said:

You could be right about the FOV. The Svbony zoom fov is 38-56 degrees while my Baader Hyperion Zoom is 48-68 degrees and I don't feel the view is too narrow.

Horses for Courses springs to mind , Laurence . Zooms are convenient and obviously good for some . 

My first evening out with the scope , this week ... a bit of high cloud that made viewing the moon a bit hit and miss at first but as the sky darkened the clouds seemed to disapear . What i did glean from last night is that maybe Zoom EP's are not for me as i found the SVBony 8-24 mm a bit , almost claustrophobic ... if that makes any sense to anyone . I now realise why most people use dedicated FL EP's as the views are brighter and in my opinion less restrictive ( due to the FOV? ). Mainly viewing individual and double stars last night as i have early starts during the week , so Late night astronomy is off the menu . Overall though a good session and a joy to set up and look through a scope . 

55 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

Stuart,

According to the specs on FLO for the AZ4 mount/tripod the mount thread is M10 (as is EQ5/HEQ5) but the EQ version of the tripod would need an Azimuth alignment for PA.

Hi Steve ... i will call you later on my way home .  

Thanks Geoff ... i suspected that was the case but i had a converstaion with a supplier who said that the thread on the centre bolt was different . As you have the AZ4 and an EQ5 could you possibly check for me . ( at this point i am assuming the bolt on the eq3 and eq5 are the same ) 

Welcome to SGL . 

I’m going to give a penny’s worth of my opinion ( can’t resist ) . What about the skywatcher 102 refractor on the AZ-GTe .. it’s 399 pounds and you can simply use batteries with the mount . Ok , it hasn’t got freedom find but , I am not sure that’s going to be a problem . 

Hi , could anyone tell me if the AZ4 tripod is suitable to house the EQ3-2 head . 
Many thanks in advance 

Stu

Hi 

I am now seriously looking into this set up ... If anyone out there has a similar item perhaps you could let me know if an AZ4 tripod (including Adapter to 3/8" thread) could replace the seemingly very lightweight ally tripod that comes with the scope and the Starsense modual 

Kind regards

Stu 

Frustrating isn’t it ? I was a bit late out in the early morning and just managed to see Venus and Jupiter together . Since then it’s constant cloud . 😕 

My early morning walk is getting earlier just to get the last throes of darkness. In fact at 4:45 this morning I actually just got a glimpse of Jupiter and Venus  low to the east .. alas no Saturn or Mars as the sky was too light . But , totally not astronomy related , I was heartened   to hear a cuckoo during the wonderful dawn chorus , the first time I’ve heard one in years The early mornings are really wonderful especially at this time of year .

Hi Andy , welcome ... and congratulations on your purchases . 

The star adventurer is a fine piece of kit . Paired with a camera and the kit lens it will produce some lovely wide field shots , i'm sure . What are your skies like ? do you suffer any light polution ? Finding targets may be a niggle at first but , learning the night sky is half the fun ( and frustration lol) Download something like Stellarium or Sky Safari . Start with targets you can actually see . Its a shame the winter targets have all but gone now cos they would have been fine to start with . Practice focussing the camera . When you have found the focus i find its good to put a bit of masking tape on the camera  to prevent the focus being inadvertendly moved . 

The lens will be quite forgiving even if your polar alignment is slightly off , but the beauty of the Star Adventurer is that its easy to polar align . Have you downloaded the Sam cosole App? or PS Align app ?... these will give you accurate details of where polaris is . 

Above all , enjoy the experience ( sometimes everything will not work as expected , but , take your time and try not to rush the set up procedure ) I am speaking from experience  

Stu

17 hours ago, Pixies said:

I'm in Melbourne at the moment. It was 17°C at midnight, so it was nearly t-shirt weather, here. I had a simple binocular session to try and cover some Messier objects elusive from 55° North and also a few Southern gems. Unfortunately, I'm in a Bortle7 location, so just big bright stuff, really 

I'll do a full report when I get home, as all I have is my phone just now.

Seeing Scorpius in all its full glory, at 45° altitude, red Antares glaring down was a highlight. As was the teapot of Sagittarius, high-up and on its side.

Messiers: 4, 80, 62, 90, 6, 7, 8, 20, 21, 69, 54, 16, 17 and 9

And the all-new Southern objects:

Omega Centauri - wow! It's huge. Makes M13 look like it's tiny baby brother!

Centaurus A. 

The southern Pleiades.

All the nebulosity around Eta Carinae and surrounding clusters. The Pearl cluster. Lambda Centauri cluster.

 

Bed now, but I have the alarm set for 5am to get some planetary action later! Nighy-night!

 

🤣 "nearly T-Shirt Weather" ??? In the UK as you jolly well know , thats T-shirt weather during the daytime. Well done on the lovely views . I am envious . 

Yet another EP arrived today .. with the usual clouds .. 😕 Anyway it’s a nice wide field EP to go with the SVBony 8-24 zoom .

One of two EPs ordered ( second one arriving tomorrow) .. an 8-24 SVbony zoom !  A really nice weight to it . And it feels premium .. we will see how it performs , hopefully tonight ( very late) when or if the cloud clears .