jjohnson3803

58 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

I really would like to see a map of UK showing the amount of clear sky over a year then I can start persuading the wife that that is really a great place to retire to 🤣#

Does any such thing exist ?

Steve

There are historical statistics here for North America / UK / Europe:

https://weatherspark.com/history

You'll have to drill down a bit to get to historical cloud charts for your area.  Interestingly, they show the winter months to be the cloudiest here and summer the least cloudy, while south Florida is just the opposite.  That seems like a good argument for me to become a "snowbird" and spend winters there while spending summers here.

On 29/12/2022 at 17:14, Mike Q said:

CN is more of a warzone. 

Very true.  Lots of old goats over there - "Nahh, nahhh, nahhh, nahhhhhh!"  

However, some gemstones can be found in the fog of oral flatulence if you have the patience to search a bit.

Go-to mounts are good for finding objects quickly and tracking them, but you still have to level them, align them, and so on (at least as far as I know - I only use manual mounts).  And you'll need spare batteries and/or a power supply or make sure your phone can keep a good charge.

Some people claim that automatic mounts keep newcomers from learning the sky.  Not sure how accurate that is, but I can understand how that might happen.

I'd go with Option #5.  If the mount / tripod is sturdy and doesn't wobble, that would be a scope that could last her a long time.  I certainly wouldn't call it a toy.  (And you could upgrade the tripod and mount later if you wanted to.)

Just my opinions.  Good luck!

I should add that wandering around the sky at random can be quite rewarding - I've stumbled across a lot of interesting objects and asterisms when I've had no target in mind.  I almost always do a random scan at the end of an observing session to wind things down.

I used to see it as an annoyance when I wanted to observe DSOs, but I've come to enjoy lunar observing, especially around the first and last quarters.  I don't observe it when it's full or for a few days either side of full - features are too washed out for my tastes.

I didn't realize how much detail is visible until I really took a hard look instead of just glancing at it.

21 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

Now, I could turn the question on it’s head and say “why do AP?” When you’ve got all these amazing AP images on here, on the internet and in books. Why not just look at those and save yourself a shed load of time and money? I do sort of know the answer and many of the images are incredible. I’ve dabbled with smartphone images too, although I don’t consider this AP. 

That line of thought is one thing that's kept me from going down the AP rabbit hole.  However, there's a compromise available - buy some time on a remote telescope site.  There can be glitches, but it's no fuss, no muss for the most part and I got some reasonable images from remote sites.  I eventually let my subscription lapse though - I decided I didn't really want to spend time processing images when spectacular images are available all over the Web

I've taken some wide field smartphone pics with Nocturne and Starry Cam, but I'm staying visual at least for now.

I rely on my "Clementine Atlas of the Moon"  (out of print, but used copies are available).  Section map on one page, plain photo from lunar orbit on the opposite.  But it's more a desk reference unless I copy pages for use outside.  Outside I use the Charles Wood spiral bound atlas.

Another thing I want to try is printing screen grabs from Virtual Moon Atlas 7.0 and then putting them into clear plastic sleeves I can mark up with a grease pencil or Sharpie or something.  That way I can just check off lunar features on the map and identify / log them later.  And it would be no loss if any sheets got lost / damaged.

25 minutes ago, andrew s said:

Socks obey Fermi Dirac statistics and are fermions so two identical socks can't be found together.

Regards Andrew 

I pin mine together with old fashioned diaper pins (nappy pins in the UK?) before they go into the laundry.  Haven't had a mismatched pair since I started doing that.

Early dinner at a favorite Italian restaurant, watching American football college bowl games.  Mostly cloudy with rain forecast overnight, so probably no chance to do any observing.  

Found a good book on Ancient Egyptian history at a used book seller, so that might tonight's activity.

9 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

I like my az5. The slow mo controls are pretty darn handy.  

Agree.  I alternate between using my AZ5 and ScopeTech Zero.  I think my ST120 and 1002ED are at the upper limit of what they can realistically handle though.

I tried 2 or 3 friction mounts and didn't like them at all compared to my AZ5 and STech slo-mos.  YMMV.

Shame on me I guess, but I use M10s and 3/8s interchangeably.  They've worked ok so far.  Hope I'm not really screwing up the threads on anything - no pun intended.

I've tried a couple of neutral density filters, a green "thing", and a couple of colored filters.  I find a yellow #8 to work best followed by a medium orange #21.  The others were marginal at best IME.

I think I read somewhere that some people use purple filters on the moon, but I've never tried that.  OTOH, Antares 1.25-in filters sell for about US$10 - US$12 each, so experimenting is not costly.  You can even stack them if you want.

Usually I observe around first and last quarters though, so I don't bother with a filter.

I have 15mm and 25mm Paradigms / Starguiders / Whatevers and I find them to be a good value for the price - about US$65 now IIRC.  Relatively wide fields and good eye relief since I wear glasses while observing.

I also have a couple of Vixen SLVs and IMO they're noticeably better, but they do cost 3X as much as the Paradigms.

I'm about to order an Astronomics PF 10.5mm to try in my little 50mm finder-turned-refractor.  They're not definitely not premium EPs, but have received some good reviews.  

Good luck!

I'd go with an 80mm to 90mm achromatic refractor.  They're inexpensive, have a small form factor if you keep the f-ratio low, are easy to transport if you go to a dark site or on vacation, don't require a king-hell mount, and seem to hold good resale value.

True, they have some chromatic aberration, but mine - 50mm, 80mm, 120mm - all do an ok job on the planets at lower power and the moon at moderate power.  CA doesn't much matter IMO on deep sky.

Full disclosure - I did buy 72mm and 102mm ED doublets for lunar observing and double stars, but they each cost 4X to 5X as much as my achros.

I've used rubber craft foam for padding out a camera lens ring for my 50mm.  Comes in several thicknesses and colors and is about $1 US a sheet in craft stores here.  As mentioned, it won't allow tubes or whatever to slide.

Legos are great for keeping 90-degree joints true and square - learned that trick assembling miniature structures for model railroading.

I use hole saws and as mentioned above, run my drill anticlockwise at low speed or turn them by hand.  Depending on the type of foam, using heated cutters can release toxic or at least irritating fumes, so user beware.

IME pluck foam comes apart after minimal use.  Some people hot glue the blocks together, but why bother when there are other inexpensive options available?

But to each, their own.

Used Manfrotto 475B?  The geared elevator column was quite convenient when I used one for my 15x70s.

Addendum:  Oops!  Just saw you already ordered a pod.

Could the plastic tubes become an issue?  (I know little of reflectors aside from having previously owned a big SCT and a wee Mak.)

Also curious how much they weigh for the grandkids to move around.

Not terribly sophisticated, but If you prefer not to download anything:

https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/telescope-calculator/

S@N is perennially late getting to my local bookstore here in the US, so maybe the December issue is on the shelf now.  I'll have to check.

When I was a kid, I sank and leveled three concrete blocks, AKA cinder blocks, in the lawn in my backyard.  I painted circles on each block to mark the positions of the tripod leg tips so it was quicker to align to north.  Since they were sunk down into the grass, a lawnmower could pass right over them.

IMO, the best choice for a travel rig is a small (70-90mm) fast refractor on a manual alt-az mount with a reasonably sized / weight photo tripod.  My current preferred set-up is a 72ED or ST80 on a Scopetech Zero or AZ5 mount on a carbon fiber photo tripod.

These give widefield views at lower magnifications although I can push my 72mm ED a bit beyond the "recommended max", at least when the seeing cooperates.  If you intend to observe under darker skies, the smaller light gathering of the objective is less of a handicap - even my 50mm gives very nice views when I'm in the wilds of Michigan with minimal light pollution.

If you prefer a slower / longer focal length scope, I'd go with a small Maksutov.  I had a 90mm and it was uber portable. Maks also allegedly hold their collimation quite well.  The trade-off is you'll have a smaller field of view which can be problematic for some people.

Or maybe get one of each?  😉  Anyway, just my opinion and good luck!

I bought one made for camera lenses that's very similar.   Works fine on my refractors and the USB connector allows me to use whatever power brick is charged and ready.  My dew band has three heat settings, so no controller necessary in my experience.

I've only used it continuously for maybe 2 hours at most though, so I don't know if it shuts down after a long session.  I'd guess the battery would die first.

28 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

It’s too bad you weren’t blown away by the view as you could have just sold the scope and kept the finder, the ultimate grab and go!

😁  I recently bought a 50mm RACI finder that accepts regular EPs.  $45.  It's quite a good little scope and has become my ultimate grab-n-go.  There's a long user thread on Cloudy Nights if anyone's interested:  AT50 

I'm surprised at how much observing I can do if I take advantage of sucker holes when it's cloudy.  YMMV.