Fraunhoffer

Awesome. I used to have one of those 60 mm Tasco. I vaguely remember looking at Saturn and have averted imaginings of seeing the tiny ring nebula at a horribly uncomfortable high elevation. Somewhere i have a photo of the moon taken at the eyepiece with a small hannimex 35mm camera held on by a very ' heath robinson ' bracket. I recently found my old copies of A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets and Nortons Star Atlas, only they make alot more sense to me now than then. Happy Memories....

Hooray, I got to see the sun today as it skimmed over the fence and chimney pots. Very surprised at the clarity considering the overnight storm. Very pleased with my TS optics Herschel wedge on my little Bresser 102/600. I just used the stock 25mm plossl and a couple of Barlows. Lots of small sunspots were visible around the periphery of the 3 larger ones. Im sure a few spots erupted whilst i was watching, or maybe it's the more you look the more you see, and the occasional extra atmospheric clarity. Penumbra and plage areas very clear today.

Hello, After trying to capture Jupiter and Saturn low in sky yesterday, i noticed some horrendous dispersion. I wondered if there was a 'tried and trusted' way of reducing it in post processing? I'm not going to the expense of a wedge to correct it so was thinking more along the lines of re-aligning the rgb layers. I tried the fringing filters in apps like affinity which helps a bit but i think they just chop off the colored edge effects rather than any corrections. Any help appreciated.

First light with the TS-optics Herschel wedge today to see AR2786 before it dances off the edge. Well pleased. There was a ND3 and narrow band filter (540nm) in the box which can be fitted after the wedge and before the ep. Here is my (false coloured) sketch. Mirror reversed view. Even though there were hazy clouds low down, the sky cleared from time to time to get some great views. I set up the scope using my front solar film filter to start before switching to the wedge. AR2786 was teeming with small spots surrounding the larger pair - my sketch doesnt really do them justice. It reminded me of a tadpole. AR2790 has just cleared the eastern limb and plenty of plage could be seen. The granularity in the penumbra of 2786 was also clearly visible. AR 2785 was also plainly visible. I couldnt track down AR2788 or the AR2787 on the opposite hemisphere. I put that down to the conditions which were very variable as the wispy cloud swept across the low altitude. This has to be the best view of the sun Ive seen compared to my solar film. As usual the combination of the Bresser 102s + barlow and BST 15mm seemed to hit the sweet spot. I didnt need the (included) polariser to adjust the view brightness. Whether it would have enhanced the contrastIm not sure. The heatsink got a little warm to the touch but not hot, which I guess isnt surprising for winter. PS. The sketch photo had the background colour and limb darkening applied in post.

A fine sketch. Thanks for sharing. I must try a whole disk

Lovely sketch. Super. Im using pencils at the moment but would like to try pastels sometime.

Have you looked around the south downs national park?

This might help, but be sure to check availability and of it works for you. Picking up a second hand goto might be an option? https://skywatcheraustralia.com.au/product/dobsonian-upgrade-kits-for-goto-2/#:~:text=Sky-Watcher Dobsonian Upgrade Kits for GOTO upgrades your,The kit is easy to fit and assemble.

It was a bit hazy again today, but very interesting to see how this group had changed in the last 24 hours. Several more umbral spots have appeared linking the main larger ones.

nice detailed sketch. the 12781 group seems to be very active.

Very nice. I like the technique.

After a foggy start I managed to get to see this huge forming sunspot at lunch today. I'm sure there were bits being added and shape shifting as I watched. This must be one of the biggest groups I've seen for a long time. The sketch has been coloured and the background inverted to black.

Great sketch and details. Thanks for sharing.

An old c8 on a exos2 mount. Orange red filter , 2x barlow, 15mm ep.

Lovely sketches. Thanks for sharing.

After 2 months of sketching, dodging the weather and rotation, I managed to see the whole disk.🤩 The numbers are Martian longitude, planet rotation left to right, south at the bottom. I need another project now. 🤔🤔😂

Pencils and crayons at the ready....

Following this thread with interest. I found a link to the Messier catalogue online somewhere that was listed by month. I'll add it if i can find it again. Some were too low for the urbanisation i live in, but it was good fun chasing them down. I missed a few first round so will have to revisit. There is also a list generated by Loughton astronomical society online that can be downloaded.

After some mixed weather, the sky cleared. I had a super time observing mars from 11 right through till 5, with the odd snooze. Just amazing to see to see the planet slowly revolve as the time ticked by. The see ing was quite good, interupted with a few breezes and hazy cloud from time to time. It got hazy towards 5 so i packed up. I swapped between a neodymium filter and a red filter from time to time. The red made the darker areas really dark and outlined. I thought the neodymium allowed slightly more subtle shades to show, even thought it became quite bright. H2 and HB pencils and orange crayon on paper with a small led clip on reading lamp. SCT 8 with a 2x barlow and 12mm bst ep. Interestingly i found the Barlow and 12mm have a much better quality image than the 8mm or 5mm bst. North is at the top. First sketch at right about 11pm. Rotation left to right.

Very nice sketches and follow through of the sessions. Hellas basin too. 👍

Ah. Thank you. I shall look that up. ill have to go again now 🙂

Thanks. Not sure how to say how dark it was. Certainly a lot darker than home. Although it wasnt black dark. The milky way was clearly visible with direct vision overhead - less so towards the horizon. Without the filter the sky was a very dark grey. The UHC-E filter was best. It turned the sky inky black. The nebulosity was very faint and needed averted vision as it drifted in and out of view.

Thanks. They were like looking at a black bag of diamonds. Quite breathtaking. It all made the journey to get away from the houses and lights very worthwhile.

I was fortunate to visit a place with much darker skies than my home, recently and managed to actually eyeball some faint objects. It was real thrill to see these. The orientation is probably back to front for these L-R or N-S depending on how my diagonal ended up to get comfortable.

Great sketch. Thanks for the tip about Mars mapper. I too struggle to align sketches with a map. I've been using sky and telescopes Mars Profiler, which shows what's visible at any date and time. It has a flat map projection though.