jjohnson3803

Signs of the Apocalypse - I just had two weeks straight of clear nights.  A cold front / rain came through last night though.

For a temporary solution or if you decide to go without a dovetail, you could hold the OTA on the bracket with extra large hose clamps.  Rings were out of stock when I bought my ST120, so I used hose clamps to hold it on a Vixen rail.  They worked well and cost under $10 for two clamps.

I'm not sure what the largest diameter clamps are though.

I've always known / seen it as an owl with outstretched wings.  Some look at it in the opposite orientation and see a Klingon battlecruiser - the owl "eyes" become twin engines flaring.

😄  I've used SS for several years and just recently started playing with Galaxy View.  It's a great feature.

Interesting.  My AZ5 has performed as expected for the past couple of years.  

I also have a ScopeTech Zero and I'm not sure it was worth the price.  It's good, but seems to have some idosyncracies like many mounts.  But it could just be my Manfrotto 475B tripod.  Might try an Innorel RT90C just to see...  😉

I have a Zero and was considering adding a Castor II, but a few people commented that their Castors had a habit of letting scopes crash into tripod legs.  Maybe just a matter of watching the az tension carefully, but it makes me somewhat hesitant to go with a Castor.  YMMV.

I've seen one train go over and it was very impressive.  I do smartphone widefield photography (if at all), so they're not a tremendous irritant (yet), but usually see about 6-8 zip through my FOV during an observing session.

I mean in re: supporting your pad / notebook / paper.  Hold a pad, use an easel of some kind or ???

One other note is that one can use only two legs of a tripod, in essence a bipod, that gives me a little more stability than a monopod.  Just leave one leg of the tripod unextended.  YMMV.  

Had to chuckle.  My club's nearest rural dark site is about a 45 minute drive away.  The one time I went out there during harvest, I was surrounded by several giant harvesters that were equipped with what looked like commercial aircraft landing lights.  🤨  I've not gone back out this time of year since then.  😜

Difficult question...

I'm not sure about the relative merits of paper magazines versus electronic, but there is something to be said for something physical that you can hold in your hand, toss in your briefcase, doesn't need batteries, etc.

When I first became interested in astro, I think S&T was the only game in town.  I agree it's a very different animal now and those early editions do hold quite a bit of nostalgia.    I subscribed to S@N for a year or two, but being in the US, the magazine usually arrived almost a month late so I dropped it in favor of occasionally buying it and AN locally (when available).  I'm strictly visual and I do like the content, especially the observing guides and equipment reviews.

Society for Popular Astro has a magazine, but I've never seen a copy.  (I am a Webb member.)

In-the-sky has a lot of good info, especially their sky charting, but I lean a bit more toward theskylive.com if I'm doing online planning.

On 14/06/2021 at 14:48, Ags said:

I have an AZT6 and a Castor. The Castor is a definite upgrade and great for dual scope use, in fact I have never tried it with just one! The Castor is a real solid lump of metal and seems to like more not less load, so it seems smoother with my C6 than my little Mak 102. [...]  I am thinking of swapping my Castor for a SkyWatcher AZ5.

Curious what tripod(s) people use(d) with the Castor.  I have a ScopeTech Zero and an AZ5 which I use on a Manfrotto 475B, but I was thinking of upgrading (?) to a Castor II.  I think the weak link in my set-up (heaviest scopes are a 102ED and an ST120) might be my Manfrotto though. 

I also have a Twilight-1 tripod (1.5-in legs), but it's a hassle for grab-n-go.

I'm considering buying a SkyWatcher 102T (achro) and then adding the SW 2-speed Crayford focuser as an upgrade.  I've seen the 102 weight listed as 3kg.  Based on the bulk of the Crayford, I'm thinking it must be at least 2 kg for a total of 5 kg without finder, diagonal, etc.  5 kg would be oat n the very upper limit of what my current mounts can handle acceptably. 

Anybody know what a 102T with Crayford upgrade actually weighs?  Thanks!

Nikon Aculon 10x50s.  I wear glasses but have no problem with the eye relief.  I also have a pair of Opticron 8x32s that almost fit in a jacket pocket for quick, low power views.

For more "serious" observing, I use individual focus Orion Giant View 15x70s on a tripod.  I'd not recommend them for handheld.

On 13/09/2022 at 07:50, Pixies said:

I was observing Saturn with an  SLV 25mm last night. In a little F11 80M Vixen achromat (driven) it gave fantastic (if small) views. The 20mm was even better. Any more magnification gave poorer views.

I'll get a line-up pic

I only have 6mm and 10mm SLVs but they are my favorite EPs in the "affordable" price range.

I haven't done any, but I've been researching video observing for awhile.  My main reason, aside from horrendous light pollution at home, is that I don't want to deal with dragging out my laptop to observe.  I'm not inclined to deal with flats and darks and plate solving and yadda yadda yadda.  I'd like to just point my scope on a manual mount and see what the camera shows me. 

People have suggested nightvision devices to get enhanced realtime views, but the prices for NV are way beyond my hobby budget.

I'd probably go with one of the smaller Malincams since the Revolution II has gotten relatively poor reviews.

On 06/09/2022 at 00:57, 900SL said:

But Boeing, oh Boeing. Once the best, then the takeover of McD, then the 5th column of beancounters reverse assimilation, table thumping PMs and bottom line before Engineering.

I used to choose flights that used 777s. Now I avoid flights using the 737 Max 

Sounds about right.  A neighbor was some kind of engineering director for Boeing and she bailed out soon after they moved HQ to Chicago.  She said things were going down the tubes fast.

I love 737s, but for my peace of mind I've not been on a Max.

I've been using chemical handwarmers held on my OTAs with elastic bands, but I decided to go high tech.  I have a lipstick tube sized USB battery that I got as a door prize or something several years ago which seems to provide enough juice to run it.  I haven't used it for more than a few minutes though so I don't know how long the battery will last.

I'd say early spring, part of summer, and early fall.  Darkness is limited here as we move toward summer with astro twilight starting at something like 0330.  The older I get, the less I like winter.  But I'm an early riser so I'm observing winter constellations now and I don't need heavy clothes to stay warm.

I really like observing summer objects, but the humidity and mosquitos here can be vicious.  That's another reason to observe Scorpius and such in the late spring.  But I do like watching the stars come out on a warm summer night and dark site camping is available early spring through early fall.

I have a couple of larches to my ESE that need to be struck by lightning.  😼

I have this one and love it (folds flat, etc.) but the current price is about double what I paid a couple years ago.

Vestil

😁  I bought an 8-inch orange Celestron 30 or 40 years ago because at the time they were stylish and all the rage.    It was a fine scope and I miss that fork mount, but in retrospect I wish I had bought a Unitron refractor.

I bought a 90mm Mak a couple of years ago to complement my fast refractors for lunar viewing.  I more recently bought a 102ED refractor which made the Mak redundant for me.  I'm shipping the Mak to its new owner in a day or so.

Observing on my back deck around 0330 one morning.  As I glance across the yard, I see a large, apparently male silhouette slowly walking in my direction.  There are no other amateur astronomers in my neighborhood that I know of, so I'm thinking this person is up to no good.   It was my neighbor's father walking their dog while they were on vacation.  It seems he's a very early riser too.

Observing late one evening in rural Wisconsin when I heard a low growling sound coming from the nearby tree line.  Cougars are unknown in that area, but lone males have been spotted on trail cams in other areas and come through presumably looking for mates or something.  It was a male whitetail deer grunting and whuffling around.  Nonetheless, I moved my scope next to the cabin for the rest of the night.

And finally, during another early morning session, I noticed a bright, orange, "extra" second magnitude or so star in the bowl of Ursa MInor.  No sound, no motion, no nav lights, just slowly faded from view.  Not heart-stopping, but certainly made me catch my breath.  🙂

19 hours ago, saac said:

Totally, it's what equity release was made for.  

Jim 

👍  I just had a new roof, siding, and gutters put on.  I should have requested a wee bit more to cover a Tak.

Open Cluster