Fraunhoffer

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I did have another Mars sketch but posted this instead. Although we had some slight mist which obscured most deep sky objects. Clusters and planets shone in the still air. Not a wobble. Here are the flying ducks. Beautiful bright star near the middle and the dark band of dust creating the distictive v pattern was very contrasty. C8 + 26 and 15 mm EPs.

Super read. Just getting into seeing Mars now in 2020. Thanks

Nice sketch. I was thinking of some pre-prepared blanks aswell. 😁.

The air was very bumpy after the late rain shower. Was thrilled to get another view of Mars. Managed to get a picture of the small blurry disc too. I've seen much better pictures on here, but I was chuffed to get this on an old DSLR.

Nice sketch and range of tones. I like the black background.

My first view of Mars through my telescope from the back garden. There were quite a few wispy clouds about that resulted in shimmering orange mess from time to time. Between those were some nice views through my old second hand c8. After missing about with a few filters, I settled on an orange one. The polar caps were clear, one larger than the other. Some of the larger features were also visible. I must dig out my dew bands next time as things were just beginning to dew up when I finished. I had some nice views of Jupiter and Saturn before this and ended with Venus. This sketch is back to front because of the diagonal.

I have a bresser 102/600s on an exos 2. I've been very pleased with it. Initially the exos 2 had the dive motors on, which are fine. It has a load capacity of 13kg, which means I can also put a c8 on it which I got later on. It's also possible to upgrade the exos 2 to goto later on if you wish. (As I did). The bresser 127 has 4 lenses that's why is bigger and heavier. Mine has the old focusser. The new hexafoc sounds a great idea, but I've not tried. Based on a new st80 and my old bresser, and what I've seen in the shops before lockdown I think the bresser is made better. Just to point out that the bresser uses Meade/explore scientific type finder shoe so will need to adapt if you want to put something else on. I didn't think much to the stock bresser 6x30 finder. Awful. I made an adapter for a SW right image 9x50 which was better. I thought the stock bresser plossl 25mm ep was quite good. The exos 2 and the 102/600s cost me about 250 on the well used market which I thought was a good deal, so it's worth hunting.

Ah great thread. Ive been doing some sketching ( of various things) recently and been trying artistically enhancing some of my rather crummy images too using paintshop and others. So they have probably ended up being mostly digital art. Painting with a mouse is not the same feel as brush and pen though.

Thanks for the encouragement to look at Mars. It's just clearing the trees and houses before daybreak for me. Next clear sky I will defo be up early to look. I missed it last time around, so this will be first for a long time. Looking forward to it.

Very nice.

Great sketches.

Super sketches. Thanks.

+1 for the iceinspace list. It's always in my observing box.

Just found this. Awesome project. I e there was a sunspotter on a recent sky at night program. I think it was the commercial one though.

I had a great view of the transit this evening. It was a a very sociable 10:30 pm bst too. I found a (skywatcher) UHC filter or a green filter really helped with the atmospheric dispersion at its low angle.

Great. Thanks for sharing.

I made a great white light filter with a collar and solar film about 2 years ago. Never a problem until this week when the hot weather found it and distorted it. It still works, just about, but I'm not happy with the fit of the film now. So if you make one, suggest keep it cool or make it from something other than standard pla fibre.

I'm old enough to remember staying up to watch it on our little old TV. I watched every Apollo mission after that and persuaded my parents to buy me a small telescope for a birthday present. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the film when it came out last year.

Great sketches. Thanks for sharing.

I usually use a yellow filter for these 2. However I used a green filter to help reduce the atmospheric dispersion this time, although that meant the color was not visible, apart from shades of green. Pleased to see the red spot just before transit.

The RA clutch is usually a very basic device that just jams a bolt with a plastic end onto the side of the large worm pinion and carrier. The clutch lever should have a little bit of slop when its fully off. My clutch lever engages about half way through its movement. If it's not fully off there will be some drag. The lever can be removed so that the bolt can be rotated to a good place and then the lever put on again. When lever fully off there should only be a small bit of internal bearing drag when the Ra is rotated.

Ah those cursed 5 screws. A lot of patience, cups of tea, and very very slight adjustments at a time. I see are following the astro baby guide so not much to add. My mount is slightly different but same process. I do up the 2 outside screws till they are just taking the slack out but could still be nudged along by the 3 adjusters. Check the worm is not tilted. Then I do up the outside 2 adjusters and slacken the middle one until it just starts to bind the worm then adjust the middle one just a nudge to release the worm. They are in a push-pull arrangement with the outside 2 adjusters pulling the worm into the gear and the centre one pushing it out. The outer 2 can also adjust the tilt of the worm. Then I check the full rotation of the worm and usually find there's a tight spot somewhere, so I readjust there. The downside is that it means the place where I started now has a bit more backlash. But that's just the way it is. Then I do up the 2 outer screws that clamp the worm in position. At this point I usually find the worm binds again, so I have to slacken them off and tweak the centre screw in and the 2 other adjust screws out to give the worm a bit more clearance before doing up the 2 outer clamp screws again. Tedious and very small adjustments. Sometimes it's just a nudge. The threads are small in the alloy so be careful not do things up too tight and strip threads. You probably knew all that already, but hope it helps.

I've cut plastic washers for various projects from plastic milk cartons in the past. (HDPE).

Caught a glimpse about 3:30 on Monday. Looked good in 10x50 binos and easy to find. Picture not that great - taken with pocket camera. Sky was too bright by 4. Hoping for another look this weekend.