jjohnson3803

2 hours ago, Stu said:

I use a laptop all day for work and want some time away from it for my hobby. The phone is quick and easy to take images as a record and to share, but doesn’t take away too much from the actual observing which is my real passion.

I've been very reluctant to go down the EAA and astrophoto rabbit holes for the same, among other, reasons.  I haven't done much with my iPhone, but the Nocturne app is great for constellation shots.  I've gotten a couple of shots through my binos with StarryCam that suited me and I'm still learning Night Cap.  If I ever want to get into heavy duty processing, I can buy datasets from ATEO and such.

I have two mature larches to my southeast that are beautiful trees, but I'd really like to see them fall down in a storm.  Soon.  🙊

21 hours ago, paulastro said:

One of the scopes I use mine with is the Tecnosky 102ED F7, and it works very well, MUCH more steady than the AZ5, (which I've also had) and much better engineered. 

I don't know where you live, but if you can get to Oakworth, West Yorkshire you'd be welcome to come and try it for yourself.

Thanks for the invitation, but I'm on the wrong side of the Atlantic.  Closest I've been to Yorkshire is Dublin and that was several years ago.  😁

I suspect my 102 is very similar to or the same scope as your Tecnosky, so good to know!

I've had both slo-mo and non-slo-mo / friction mounts.  I much prefer slo-mo for many of the reasons listed above.  Also, I could never get my friction mounts adjusted to "glide like butter" when following (alt-az) a target.  Maybe they weren't high enough quality, I don't know.  I wanted to love them, but it just didn't work out.

I use knobs on my AZ5, so it's not necessary to move the tripod to reach any cables.  FWIW.

I'm considering a Zero for my new 102ED f/7, weight about 10 pounds, maybe a tad over.  Thoughts / experiences on whether a Zero could handle it well?  My AZ5 is seemingly at its limit with the 102 and I prefer something lighter than a SkyTee.  Thanks!

On 19/01/2022 at 17:05, jjohnson3803 said:

Interesting.  I have an f7 102ED on order and I've been wondering how my AZ5 will do with it.  Guess I could sell a few things to finance a SkyTee.

The 102ED has arrived and been tested on my SW AZ5.  IMO it's really at it's limit.  Focusing at higher powers is definitely wobbly although the vibrations damp out in about 2-3 seconds.  I get the same result with the AZ5 on a Manfrotto 475B (my preferred tripod) or a Twilight-1 tripod with a Berlebach "puck" adapter.

The 102ED is about 10 pounds according to my scale.

Two weeks until we switch to daylight savings time in the US.  I know some people hate it, but I much prefer it to standard time.  My internal clock just doesn't function as well on standard time here.  Or maybe it's just the winter gloom and short days that do me in.

Anyway, as another harbinger, I was slewing around Antares the other morning and the Summer Triangle is well up before dawn now.  😀

Maybe a plastic food container cap? 

On 27/01/2022 at 05:05, PeterC65 said:

Many people use a clothes peg (the spring loaded type) to get fine focus adjustment on the Skymax 127. Initially I though this seemed a bit basic but it actually works really well and a modified clothes peg is now an essential part of my kit.

Not only does it allow very fine focus adjustment, but if you just gently nudge the tip of the clothes peg then you can change focus without causing the scope to wobble.

I use a small plastic spring clip on my 90mm.  It's very similar to a clothes peg but the jaw opening is a bit larger.

On 20/02/2022 at 14:23, OK Apricot said:

I'll try to sort a shield in that case. I did notice after bringing it in, the meniscus was dewy and stayed that way for a good couple hours!

Not sure if it goes by the same name in the UK, but I bought a sheet of black rubber craft foam, rolled it into a cylinder that I secured with duck tape, and use that for a dew shield on my 90mm - very inexpensive, well under $5 US. 

I tried a SkyWatcher L-bracket to use my binos on my AZ5, but the barrels were too large for a less-than-clumsy fit.  YMMV.

I made one out of craft foam rubber sheet and duck tape for my 90mm.  Cost about $1 US.  Not very pretty, but seems to work. 

Apologies if this has been covered somewhere in the thread.  What is the practical load limit? I've seen 5 pounds but also 10 kg listed as maximum load.

I'd like to put a 102/700 refractor on an Az-Gti, total weight around 4.5 kg, but I'm thinking that's probably too close to the mount's limit (alt-az).

Thanks!

How about RA is measured in hours and time is measured by the apparent movement of the sun across the sky from left to right (when facing south in the northern hemisphere).

Or maybe "You decline to look up at Polaris"?

But somebody also said that very small rocks float...

Being an Egyptophile, I have to say I like the Ra (Re) one best.

On 05/10/2020 at 11:15, Merlin said:

We are not the types who point lasers at aircraft.

It's a federal offense here.  I'd get one but I have *way* too much air traffic over and around me - commercial, private, and air ambulance helos - to take chances with a hefty fine.

I put up cheap black curtains when I observe, mainly to block light from neighbors' houses, but also to prevent people from observing me.  I don't care for outreach so I don't want visitors and I don't need some clown calling in a "peeper" report.

I agree with the suggestion of installing a security camera on your balcony, but I'd still consider some kind of privacy screen.  Aside from privacy, they could stop low velocity projectiles as well.

On 19/02/2022 at 08:37, maw lod qan said:

As much as I would like to witness a supernova, I like Orion the way he looks now.

If I could have my wish, it would be to have my eye on my eyepiece, viewing old Luna when something left another huge crater.

I agree 100%.  While a supernova would be spectacular, it would ruin the look of Orion.  A new, large lunar crater would be pretty cool.  Depending on how well the Musk et. al. moon landers work out, we might be seeing a new crater or two in a few years.  😉

On 16/02/2022 at 04:12, spacegalaxy said:

Thanks for the detailed answer! I am not experienced in mirror grinding, infact I have never grinded a mirror, I didn't got the meaning of "potentially more complex to use", And I never had a experience with binoscopes, but it seems that binoscopes give more 3d effect to objects. Also why is it harder make a binoscope?

Binoculars give a 3-D effect, so I assume a binoscope would do the same.  One thing that isn't mentioned much is that not everybody can always merge images resulting in doublevision.   Most often it's caused by miscollimation, but not always.  I'd also think a binoscope will probably weigh 2X the same aperture "monoscope".  And double the cost of eyepieces.

OTOH, somebody wrote a comprehensive book on deepsky observing and he used an 8-in (?) binoscope very successfully.

On 11/02/2022 at 04:35, xtreemchaos said:

no never trust a weather man/lady or app.

Liars and rogues, one and all.

A very quick look at open cluster M41 with my new 100mm ED.  Can't fairly call it first light as I was looking through my living room window - it was well below 0*C and I wasn't inclined to go out since clouds were rolling in anyway.

22 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Doesn’t work

Maybe artificial vining plants like heart-shaped philodendrons or ivy draped over it?

My main measure is if I can see any stars of the Little Dipper aside from Polaris, Kochab, and Pherkad.  From home, I usually can't.  🙄

Darkest sky I've seen was when Cancer jumped out at me as a very obvious crab shape.

I used the same type of craft foam for a shield for my 90mm Mak.  About $1 US compared to $25- $30 for a commercial one.  I didn't use Velcro though - I cut the foam for a slip fit and held it in a cylinder with duck tape.  Seems to work fine.

16 hours ago, Mike Q said:

Did you ever get this all worked out?  This is exactly what I want to do.

Since you're in the US, you might want to check Oregon Rule company.  They sell a variety of angle gauges, tapes, and such.  I use their 360* circle gauges for azimuth circles on my Twilight-1 and Skywatcher AZ5 mounts.  FWIW.

Drop the dots and the arrowed line, replace the eyepiece with an eye.  I assume that might lower the cost as well.  But i have no tats myself, so...

Although I was interested in science when I was about 10 years old, it was the aesthetics of astronomy that hooked me - colors, patterns, brightness of different stars - and then more deeply after seeing color pics of objects like nebulae and galaxies.  I loved the natural beauty long before I got my undergraduate degree in astronomy and studied things like stellar evolution and galactic structure.    Luckily, I grew up in an area which had minimal light pollution at the time, so I actually could see hundreds of stars naked eye.

Same thing applied when I had marine aquariums - my smattering knowledge of marine biology is minuscule compared to my appreciation for the colors and forms of fish and corals.

As I get older, I'm coming somewhat full circle- I still study astronomy textbooks and papers on arxiv.org, but I find I can be quite content just stepping outside and looking at the stars.  I feel a connection of some kind there, although I wouldn't really know how to describe or quantify it.