jjohnson3803

On 24/03/2022 at 16:05, Mike Q said:

Time is a bunch of wibbily wobbly timey wimey....stuff.  You need a TARDIS to travel in it then you are good to go

Time is an illusion.  Lunchtime doubly so.

35 minutes ago, Franklin said:

[...] I awoke at 3 in the morning to clear skies and could not believe my eyes. It took me quite a while to find my bearings, the entire sky was awash with stars, so many that I just didn't recognise any of the usual constellations.

I had a similar experience at a B2 rental in rural Wisconsin.  I'll always remember how Cancer actually looked like a crab as opposed to being mostly invisible.  I didn't even use the 80mm that I had brought along, just my eyes and my 10x50 binos.  The binos revealed so many clusters and bright nebulae that I didn't know what objects I was looking at.

8 hours ago, Ags said:

My most used mount is the AZT6. It was bought as a stopgap travel mount, but it has survived and outcompeted a Twilight 1, Berlebach Castor, and AZ-GTI.

Interesting.  I wanted to love my US version of the AZT6, but I could never get the tension / balance properly adjusted so I sold it.  Here's my latest - ScopeTech Zero on a Manfrotto 475B tripod.

While I grew up and started observing in a Bortle 4 and my grandparents' farm was probably a B2,  it's a question on return on investment for me. 

My club has two B4 sites, the closest of which is a 45-minute drive one way.  Even with weather permitting, I have to consider how much time to load, travel, unload, set up, and how much time I'll be able to observe.  I drove out once when everything aligned and there were massive harvesters roaming around with headlights like airplane landing lights, so there can be surprises.

I've never felt unsafe and I prefer solitude, but I understand why some might not feel comfortable alone at a dark site.

My suburban home sky is B7/B8 so my most memorable observing has been at campgrounds or rural AirBnBs.  Again though, one has to factor in time, travel, expense, and so on.  Hopefully, a trip to B1/B2 skies in June will be successful, but if not, at least I'll be well away from the disgusting city that I live near.

On 24/03/2022 at 18:18, Stu said:

@Stephen Waldee  I do find fine focusers useful for allowing a very light touch and reducing any jitters.

 

👍  That's my experience as well with 2-speed Crayfords replacing stock R&P focusers.

I'm sure others have no problems with pluck foam, but the pluck foam I originally had in my EP case came apart after about a year.  Granted, it's a cheap case (Apache), but you'd think the foam would last a bit longer.  I had some white packing sheet foam lying about - denser than pluck but not as dense as pink / green / blue extruded foam insulation, so I just layered that into the case and cut EP holes.  FWIW.

27 minutes ago, Stu said:

I used to do that but fell out of the habit. Must start again, it is a great time to be up and about.

Yep, looking forward to some planets to view too 👍

0330-0400 to sunrise is my favorite time of day.  Magical time.  Quiet, nobody about, birds are starting to sing, and most neighbors' outdoor lights are off.  Indoor lights too - it seems few people believe in window shades / blinds / curtains around here.  And observing winter objects like Auriga in  September / October beats the heck out of trying to observe in subfreezing temps...

4 hours ago, Craney said:

Do astronomers dream of electric cuts  ?

I do.

I'm in need of a tray or bag or something that can hang on my Manfrotto 475B tripod to hold an EP or a small red torch or whatever temporarily while observing.  My Twilight-1 tripod has a steel spreader bar with some EP holes, but the 475B doesn't have a bolt extending below the head, so I need something that attaches to the three tripod legs.

I was thinking of adding Velcro straps to a plastic frisbee or plate or hanging a small pouch on a leg.  Any ideas or suggestions?  I could fashion a tray out of plywood, but I'd prefer something soft / flexible.  If there's a cheap commercial product, I'd consider that too.

Thanks!

I was going to order one, but they were out of stock, then delayed, then ...

In the meantime, I bought an f7 102ED.  I'm curious to see if maybe I should have waited for 96mm to be back in stock.

I've never left a rig out in severe weather, but I use a Weber charcoal kettle grill cover.  I use spring clamps to hold the bottom edge to the tripod.

I don't want to say it's aliens, but... it's aliens!  😁

Seriously, the Heavens Above web site might list some possibilities.

On 16/03/2022 at 03:34, badhex said:

I did adjust worm gear tension per the instructions from Scopetech, but I did this with no scope mounted. Should I perhaps mount the scope, tighten the clutch so there no drift but it can be moved easily by hand, and then adjust the worm tension? 

I'm curious about this.  I use two AT and two Vixen SLV EPs.  The designs are similar and I think the weights are very close.  I do clamp down the az clutch when changing EPs, then gradually back off the tension without trying to rebalance.  I keep the tension as loose as possible for the slo-mo to work.  Maybe that's not the best way of doing things.

Some people advocate using a zoom EP so there are no balance changes, but I'm not interested in switching to a zoom.

Interestingly, as I was driving home after picking up some fast food a couple nights ago, I went past a guy with TWO tripods in his driveway who looked to be in the process of setting up.  So there appears to be another amateur astronomer less than half a kilometer away.  😁

18 hours ago, Second Time Around said:

Secondly, scopes can be mounted on either side.  As I'm left eye dominant, I like my finderscope on the right hand side so it doesn't get in the way.

I'm right dominant, but observe with my left eye usually.  I should flip the orientation and put my finder on the right. 

What are you using for your az slo-mo control?  Looks like aluminum.

Well, I just received mine two days ago and have used it once.  I put it on my Manfrotto 475B which has a geared elevator, so no extension column needed.  I tried it with all three of my refractors - ST80, AT120ED, ST120 - and it seemed to handle all quite well.  I did not try very high power - that's a test for another session.

I had no trouble with balance.  I was surprised how easy it was to balance because I had a Stellarvue M1V (not sure what the Altair equivalent is called) friction mount and I sold it because I could never get the balance right.

There was resistance in az with slo-mo at first, but that smoothed out.  Balance is important in alt or you'll have to really clamp down the alt clutch.

Slo-mo cables have fallen off almost every mount I've had, so I use knobs on my AZ5.  I have shorties on the Zero now, but I'm looking for knobs for it.  I find that cables with Phillips head set screws hold much better than thumbscrews.

I also have a Twilight-1 tripod with a Berlebach puck adapter on it.  I might try that with the Zero, but I really prefer to use the 475B.

Anyway, that's my very limited experience so far.

Edit:  I should probably add that I think the Zero is a noticeable improvement over the AZ5 (not that the AZ5 is a bad mount).

On 10/03/2022 at 13:48, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

As for shopping being a top hobby, that must surely be an invented statistic? 🙄

I can assure you that shopping is most definitely one of my wife's hobbies.

I'm somewhat the reverse.  There are some brands I absolutely will not buy, having learned from experience that they're poor quality or have poor customer service IMO.

On 10/03/2022 at 15:07, badhex said:

Uh oh, looks like I'm in the zero club 

My Zero showed up late yesterday afternoon.  I put on two spare shorty slo-mo cables, but I think I'd prefer knobs.  May I ask where you ordered yours?  ADM has knobs, but they're $30 US per pair and I suspect I can get something similar for less.  Thanks!

Oh, BTW, the mount is performing quite well so far.  There was a little sticking in az slo-mo, but that seems to have worked out already.  Maybe it was just the lube needing to smear around a bit?

On 07/03/2022 at 16:37, Franklin said:

Looking forward to spending more time out under the stars and hopefully not annoying my new neighbours too much. 

You might want to invest in an observing tent - not as a light block, but to shield your activities from neighbors until you build a permanent obsy.   I'd wager you could resell it pretty easily later.

On 05/03/2022 at 12:19, UKDiver said:

Looks like you could fit inside.

My first thought was one *can* take it with them when they die - you could be buried in that thing.  😁

Aside from my local club, I've not met anybody nearby who's interested.  Seems there are many more model railroaders than amateur astronomers.

And that's fine by me.  I definitely prefer being alone under the stars and I never joined a model railroad club or anything like that.  But I'm also 98% Finnish if my DNA test was accurate, so maybe the stereotypical reserved, self-isolating traits are at work here.  😁

On 27/02/2022 at 11:48, Jiggy 67 said:

Iridium flare??

Are Iridium flares still visible?  I read somewhere that they were de-orbited or something.

On 08/09/2021 at 17:32, bond19 said:

I’m going to pair the Scopetech Zero with Manfrotto 475B. 

👍 Exactly what I'm going to do.  I ordered a Zero just a few minutes ago.  This will be mainly for my 102/700 ED and hopefully my ST120.  I have a Twilight-1 tripod, but I much prefer the Manfrotto.