jjohnson3803

I've seen triple sets of sats (Chinese military, I think), but they traveled together without diverging.  Maybe SpaceX fanning out?
 

SpaceX trains can be quite startling if you're not expecting a flyover.  I've seen one and lost count after 14 sats.  Very good for generating UFO reports.

On 08/05/2022 at 12:12, cajen2 said:

I had a similar one three nights ago. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a bright "star" to the NNE. I didn't think much of it at first but then I thought "Just a minute, there aren't any bright stars there (well to the north of Arcturus, which I could also see). "So it's a plane's landing lights, then". I lived next to airfields all through my childhood (father in the RAF) plus Bournemouth and Bristol airports and it was definitely too fuzzy for that. Suddenly, it winked out, leaving no trace. I suppose it might have been a Chinese lantern, but I strongly doubt it.

I've recently had two observations like that.  First one was an orange "orb" in the bowl of the Little Dipper that didn't move as far as I could tell that simply faded out.  The second was another orange "orb" that tracked north of Cygnus.  Caught it out of the corner of my eye, watched it for a second, and it faded out.  Looked away and then back up and it was back for a couple of seconds.  No unusual motion though.

I assumed satellites, but none showed at those times / locations on Heavens Above.  Then I thought aircraft landing lights, but I've never seen orange lights and I'm under / between approach and departure paths for two major airports, so I see a lot of aircraft of all types including helos.  🤔

Cloudy and of course beautiful, clear skies at dawn today.

Also not a film, but I'm in the middle of an old "Midsomer Murders" episode with professional and amateur astronomers in it.  They filmed some on location at a professional and also an amateur obsy .  There are a few blatant errors, but it's surprisingly good.  I only laughed out loud once.  😁

"Big Bang Theory" frequently has a small scope in the background - either a refractor or a Celestron go-to.

I should have included trees in my list.  Anything west of about azimuth 185* is totally blocked and there are two tall trees that obstruct part of my view to the SSE.

And mosquitoes.  Always fun to observe on a warm, humid night while wearing pants, socks, long sleeves, and a hood to keep the filthy things off you.  Plus here they can carry some nasty diseases.  I've started running an electric fan at home to help keep cool and the bugs away, but there's no electric at my dark sites.  I suppose I should check into a rechargeable or battery powered one.

Ahhhh, so many things...  😁

Clouds / cold / wind - can't do anything about that except move to another location.

Chronically incorrect weather forecasts - aviation forecasts seem to be the most accurate, but even they're not perfect.

Light pollution - both general urban and neighbors who leave lights blazing all night long.  I yearn for power outages.

Short summer nights - I'm an early riser and my body just won't change.  When twilight starts at 0400, there's not a whole lot of time to observe deep sky before dawn unless I get up *really* early.  I am trying to slowly acclimate to staying up later, but it's a slog.

Full moons - the moon should only be allowed quarter phases at most.

On 28/04/2022 at 08:35, Louis D said:

I don't like how coatings peel away at the edges of lenses over the years.  It looks terrible and can't be good optically.

I've found the coatings on my mine yellow over time.  Don't know if that's because I clean them with liquid dish soap or they maybe react to UV or air contaminants.

With my progressive prescription, etc., my glasses are close to $800 US per pair, so I don't buy extra pairs specifically for astro.  I guess I could try a cheap pair of single vision sometime.

I sold my Orion Expanse 6mm, 9mm, and 15mm awhile ago.  I sort of miss the 15mm although I replaced it with a Astro-Tech (same as BST I think) Paradigm 15mm.

I have an ancient 40mm Kellner that I never use.  I should probably get rid of that.

I love my ScopeTech; as mentioned, you can clamp it down pretty tightly.  I'd be inclined to try a cheaper solution first though unless you really want to change mounts.

On 28/04/2022 at 17:34, Mike Q said:

Will be ordering the setting circle in the next few days.  I have been looking at  different models of anglemeters.  I think it will be a wixey

I can recommend a Wixey.  Inexpensive and mine has proven to be quite accurate when used with object altitudes from SkySafari.  Seems to have a long battery life also.  I did have to put a couple layers of red tape over the display though to dim it down a bit.

50mm AT RACI finder on clearance.  It comes without an EP and I'm going to try it as a small RFT, although it's been said it will need an extension tube to come to focus without the EP hanging halfway out.  That's ok though - I feel like experimenting with something and I'm finding that I'm just not that much of a bino fan.

My Wixey has a green backlight.  I covered it with a couple of layers of red tail light repair tape to cut down the amount of light.   Under $5 US.  I imagine it would be inexpensive in the UK as well.

Interesting!  I use a Vestil adjustable height chair which folds flat, but this might be easier to transport.

Clouds and snow.  ☹️  Hopefully things will change soon.

15 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

You would think with the price of electricity currently (no pun intended), people with think twice about needlessly illuminating their gardens, trees, walls, drives, ect.......

I'm of the opinion that cheap LEDs are a major culprit here, especially solar powered ones.  If it only costs a few cents to run 24-hour LED lights, what's the incentive for morons people not to do so?  And if there's no cost aside from acquisition cost for solar, why not cover your garden / deck / whatever with them?  Nevermind that most people rarely even look out their windows at night.

Anyway, I've found that the best thing I can do is observe in the early morning hours before sunrise.  Many fewer indoor lights without window coverings and luckily there aren't many porch lights on.  A bonus is that the solar "accent" lights on a neighbor's back deck have been pretty well drained, so they're much dimmer than before midnight.  I'm in Bortle 8 or 9, so most galaxies are invisible no matter what; it's a good thing I like open clusters and double stars.

All my scopes are small aperture (80mm - 120mm), so I do take one to a dark(er) site whenever possible.

I'd go with old favorites so I could see what they "really" look like.  I'll hopefully be in B2/3 skies for vacation this summer, so we'll see if I stick with that plan.

Although I use my Jumbo Pocket atlas most, I miss my ancient Norton's.  It was disintegrating with age though, so I binned it.  Probably a mistake.

I have a set of Burnham's that I purchased in the mid-70s, but I rarely use them.  No real reason, they're just on my harder to reach bookshelf.

I also have O'Meara's Messier book, but his illustrations are nowhere near what I see.  But I'm in heavy LP and he apparently has the eyesight of a hawk, so...

TLAO is a mainstay along with several bino books.  The bino books match what I see with my scopes at home better than telescope guides.

Went out for a short session before dawn today with my 102ED.  Discovered I have to change the angle on my mount arm - I was only able to get to about 60* elevation, so the Ring was just out of reach.  🙄

But I was able to view Albireo, Stock 1 cluster in Vul, a few assorted double stars, and ended with a look at the Dumbbell. 

I much prefer to observe before dawn, but with summer coming on I'm going to have to consider changing my sleep cycle to stay up later.  Twilight is already starting at 0445 here, so morning sessions are limited unless I want to roll out at 0300 or so.

I have an ancient Lumicon nebula filter and also an Astronomik.  I only had time to use the Astronomik this morning, but it really brought out the Dumbbell (M27) in my 102ED refractor at 48X compared to unfiltered.  (I'm in heavy light pollution, so filters are pretty much a necessity here.)

Very nice shots.  I might have to upgrade my iPhone 7 to something with a better camera one of these days.

Houses blocked my view, but I was able to see it close to dawn.

Very nebular looking - gotta love it!  😀 

I've only managed time to take a few shots with Nocturne, but it seems like a good app, at least for widefield.

On 03/04/2022 at 18:33, mikeDnight said:

You're right Mike. In fact he complains about the light pollution as it encroaches on Delphos. It was a different time with different skies, and a simpler life, but I bet you'd love reading the book. Looking at your outlook surrounding your open air observatory, I'd imagine you'll have a pretty spectacular sky when the clouds do eventually disappear. 

I just finished that book last week.  Great narrative, makes me long for simpler times like when I was a kid and spent time on my grandparents' Bortle 2 farm.

I don't think software like Deep Sky Stacker cares about the source of the data, so the workflow should be the same.