Stu1smartcookie

16 hours ago, bosun21 said:

I must have squandered by going this route is not insignificant. I most definitely learned a valuable lesson.

You haven't squandered ... you researched ! Thats my line i use when trying to explain to Elena , anyway . 

13 minutes ago, lawsio said:

@bosun21 You may laugh but your 'get the StellaLyra one' response in my Dob thread means it's going to be £100 more of a mistake than the mistake I was going to make anyway! 🤣🤣

I've just bought a 10" FlexTube ... its a bad buy that i am literally over the moon with  ... you gotta luv a dob !

ST102 is a well built scope that is a perfect fit for the AZ-GTi . People will talk about the optics but imo it will work superbly for EAA.

1 hour ago, NeilEMartin said:

I’m a DWARF II owner in the UK 😀

Ordered in Jan, delivered in April, and used more times since then than my other kit - Celestron SCT, SkyWatcher Star Adventurer - on the few nights when the stars have aligned, as far as clouds and my availability are concerned!

 It clearly can’t complete with dedicated setups, but that isn’t its USP.

it is portable, easy to setup, and easy to get results with - it has rekindled my interest in our fantastic pastime!

I’ve also got a SeeStar S50 on order, but let’s keep that between us…

Personally i think there "IS" room to own both the dwarf that produces widefield shots and the SS which has a 50mm lens i believe . The Dwarf is useable in EQ mode which stops the crazy field rotation with a basic polar alignment . I too will consider buying the SS to work alongside the Dwarf . For those that scoff regarding these super little units , they miss the point entirely . We know that they cant compete with a rig that costs well over 1K to put together ( along with a lot of sweat and tears ) , but, my images of distant objects taken with the Dwarf  are just as good to me .. and if i can post them on social media , promoting our pastime  and bringing the hobby to the masses then lets embrace the brilliant tech thats around now .

Dwarf have posted on YouTube about the upcoming App update ... Looks good,  people . 

Sorry to read the above , Ian ... seems like you've "caught " the drop syndrome from me mate  

Hope your efforts to repair it are succesful .

Stu

My first clear night for the 250mm flextube dob that arrived from FLO on Friday . With the Adapted Starsense unit i had great success navigating the sky , although i was unable to see Saturn as cloud unexpectedly ( ie not forecast ) made an unwelcome appearance . A trip out for the Dwarf too , and the first time in EQ mode , which , i'm happy to report worked really well i.e. no field rotation . Took a rather noisy image of M31 , no dark frames . A short session in the end but enjoyable all the same . Happy just to get the opportunity . 

A fellow SGL member has contacted Dwarf and has had "code" sent to him concerning the updates , so i believe the firmware/software update is quite close . (lets hope so ) 

Has anyone tried to take flat frames with the Dwarf ? Dark frames can be taken  and stacked , why not flats ? 

4 hours ago, bosun21 said:

I completely understand your selling it and then buying another 😂. I have done this on numerous occasions as you’re probably well aware. Oh well onwards and upwards eh Stu?

Onwards and up , sideways , up sideways … my astronomy experience is typically Alt-Az , Ian 😂

13 minutes ago, christiano said:

You’re right about the GOTO list & software although I believe various YouTubers have been promised updates.

I got a couple of nice shots last night before the clouds came in. Nothing worthy of posting here though.

I had a rather nice reply from the team at Dwarf saying that the update is due this month . I also mentioned a "tonights Best " option would be great and they seemed to like the idea ( although i'm not sure why THEY didnt think about it ) . 

Reviving the thread as i am sure there are many users of this little scope . For the record i actually sold mine ( and like most things , i regretted it ) only to buy another one which is due for delivery today . 

But, from what i learn , the software hasn't had an update recently and the "GOTO" list has not increased , am i right here ?

I am a bit worried about a lack of support from the Dwarf Bods ... I hope that their software team are still intending to support the scope . 

Stu

2 hours ago, seven_legs said:

how's the scope. got mine coming Monday, sorry all for the cloud☺️

Ok it's a long story , sold it to another sgl member , bought it back , sold it to another sgl member . 

But .... it's in my basket at Altair astro to buy it again! I loved the scope but there were corcu thateant it has to go ( both times ) .. what mount will you use for it ? 

15 minutes ago, lawsio said:

maybe some existing older street lights get taken down rather than replaced and skies might gradually start to darken again. Maybe.

I would like to think so , but people using the streets late at night like to feel safe in well lit areas . That says more about society today unfortunately  

24 minutes ago, John said:

With any moon around or other significant light pollution a small core is all that can be seen of M31 even with larger scopes.

UHC and O-III filters improve the contrast of nebulae to various degrees. An O-III can mean seeing something whereas without a filter nothing is visible. A UHC is less dramatic but works with a wider range of nebulae.

For galaxies and clusters dark skies are the key. Filters don't help with those.

Thanks John ... I am in relatively dark skies but i take your point about the filters ... they are something i never seem to think about , until now . 

Time to invest MORE money then .lol

Another lovely evening with the 70mm scope , on the GTi . This time with ultra low magnification . I was happy to view the double cluster and watch over time as more stars appeared as the evening grew darker . The dragon fly cluster was a nice sight . I switched to saturn which showed a laughable elongated point of light with the magnfication i was using , Andromeda ws viewed but i cant quite seem to see more than the bright core . finished off with a "look" at Neptune which despite being just a dot the blue colour was very noticeable .

I do not use any filters ... if anyone can suggest a filter for dso's then i would appreciate it 

Just now, Mandy D said:

Thank you! I think the effort of properly collimating the 200P has paid off.

i like the fact that you still have some nice contrast in the photo . I was up at 5am but only saw fog zzzzz but there is another chance tomorrow ( hopefully) 

very nice . 

Played around with the little Starwave , for fun, and of course serious research,  i used my svbony 3-8 with a 2.5 x powermate to try some ridiculous magnification on Saturn . Image was of course quite dim but , nontheless , it was an acceptable view . Back to a more realistic 4mm gave a sharper brighter view , using the AZ-Gti as an ideal mount for this little scope . 

Lovely just to sit outside and watch all the stars "come out to play" . 

This morning i was up at 5am and saw a brilliant Venus rising high in the early morning dawn sky . Also the moon , which is a lovely target just before dawn breaks . 

4 minutes ago, SwiMatt said:

We can say that you did not know what the heic it was...?

Sorry, I won't do that again, I promise...

get your coat please lol😂

I took this photo through the 70mm Starwave of the so called Blue Moon .

Set up the starwave 70 on a GTi mount and away i went ... passing clouds did nothing to spoil my views last night. Saturn was reasonably close to the moon which was hidden (fortunately) behind a house . I used my 8-24 svbony , and a televue 2x powermate which , so in effect a 4mm giving around 105 x mag . Observed a few doubles and was outside for about 2 hours . A really nice session although as soon as the moon appeared only the brightest stars were viewable . Just happy to get some time outside . 

6 minutes ago, lawsio said:

So what you're all saying is I do actually need to go shopping again 🤣Sounds like a much different viewing experience to the Mak I've just picked up and less messing about that then the newts I have. 

Absolutely ... a Mak , Frac and Newt .. a perfect combination 

it looks like a clear window between 8 and 11 tonight !!! Totally enthused to get the small scope out ... cant wait   

Just now, John said:

I think seeing the planets and brighter DSO's in the context of a large swathe of stars is fascinating. It's not much use from a scientific standpoint of course but it does bring home the vastness of space and also the views are just lovely to experience, and there is nothing wrong with that 🙂

And even though those planets will be small they are pin sharp .