jjohnson3803

Off topic, but narrowboat living has always fascinated me. There are liveaboards in the US, but I don't think there's anything like narrowboats here.

This I like. My home is almost always a 3, very rarely a 4. If people dislike Bortle, there's a at least one LP map with color coded MPAS values. (I'm in a grey zone on that, unfortunately.)

I did buy one. I'm not 100% convinced it's better than my Manfrotto 475B, but it's certainly easier to transport / use for grab-n-go.

What's your opinion of the 8x40s? I'm thinking about getting a pair of 8xSomethings soon.

Photo tripod bags. For hardshell, I use plastic tool boxes (Stanley) and Apache cases.

Yeah. I was just thinking that I have enough reasonable quality scopes, mounts, and tripods. So now I'm looking at binos, monoculars, and wondering if maybe a 60mm finder for superquick grab-n-go would be a nice improvement over my 50mm. I mean there's a whole group.io forum for 60mm observing. And since I have 15mm and 25mm EPs, I should get a 20mm to fill the gap, right? ☺️

SkyWatcher AZ5 would probably work well. I think mine weighs about 2.2kg if that factors into your GnG considerations. Slo-mo is decent on it.

I just noticed the first used See* for sale listing in the CN classifieds.

Nice!

I'll have to get on the site. Looking at which constellations are visible and the time stamps and also where the sun comes up, I agree the cam is pointing roughly east. My favorite screen cap so far:

Last time I had an eye exam, my doc said, "Nah, they're wide open" when I asked about my pupils dilating. He didn't actually give me a number though, so I guess I should ask specifically.

Short answer: Not. I'm in a suburban to bright suburban zone. I do get out to dark sites though, either specifically to observe or when I get a chance while traveling for business. I'm mainly wondering about the class to cut down the bouncy stars sans tripod, but have a decent amount of aperture. I've never owned a pair of roofs and I'll be near a store with a boatload of Vortexes on display while traveling in a couple of weeks. Always nice to bring back a souvenir. 🙂

I have a little extra astro money on hand and I'm seriously considering getting a pair of 8x42 roof prism binos. I have 15x70 IF - kind of heavy, really need a tripod, Aculon 10x50s - they're ok but a little hard for me to keep steady, and a pair of 7x50 military surplus porros - built like a tank, less bouncy views, but maybe a little low on the mag. So what says the collective mind? Would 8x42s be redundant, considering what I have? There's a good chance I'd sell off one or more of the others if the 8x42s did the trick.

I use a couple of LP maps online for the big picture, but use this to estimate by eye:

Because if they hide behind the Internet, they won't get punched in the mouth? 😉 I think it's akin to road rage. Some people think it's ok to act like jackaloons as long as they have a steel shield around them. I prefer Qigong myself.

I'd suggest a short tube 80 (ST80) - an 80mm f/5 refractor. They give reasonable views of the moon and other objects and are cheap enough that you're not out a lot of cash if you decide you don't like it. They're also pretty easy to sell, but selling a used one might not be worth the hassle since they are pretty cheap new. You will see some chromatic aberration when looking at bright objects - looks like a purple fringe on things - but a filter can cut that down quite a bit. Actually, some people don't even care about it, so YMMV. Take care to get a good, solid mount. Even a scope with fantastic optics won't be any fun if your mount is wobbling / shaking. I'd also be wary of Amazon. They sell good stuff, but they also sell some junk. I live outside Chicago and have ordered several things from First Light in the UK. Never had a problem, shipping via DHL isn't that expensive, and things arrive quickly. Actually, I have an order due to arrive today. Good luck!

And the mystery deepens. I downloaded Synscan onto my iPhone and I can save user defined objects, both celestial and terrestrial. Still can't get anything to save in Pro on my phone. I can save user defined objects in Synscan on my iPad also, so it appears to be something with using Pro. I don't have easy access to a voodoo priest right now to sort this out, so I guess I'll just run with Synscan for now.

Yes, check the plumbing section. I bought a number of 1.25-in rubber O-rings to use as parfocal rings for less than $1 US each.

Lovely looking device you have there.

After being a member for several years, I've come to the belief that a fair number of posters on CN are cranky old goats who derive joy from arguing for the sake of arguing. My ignore list is probably forty members long now. (Maybe that makes *me* a grumpy old goat. 😀) I agree there's a lot of knowledge though, so I do sift through forums from time to time for technical info. Anyway, I find SGL to be quite informative with civil discussions even when disagreements arise.

I went to uni with a person who pronounced it "bettel- gweece". And he was an astro major.

Bourbon and Diet Coke with a shot of lime juice. Oh wait, that's for breakfast after I'm done observing. 😁 Seriously, If I drink anything it's usually warm Irish breakfast tea or a Diet Coke for more caffeine. Occasionally, I'll drink sweetened coffee but it has to be decaf or I get too jittery.

No, I'm using the app on my phone in normal mode, but not connected to the mount. Sounds like I either have to be connected or in emulator mode.

Revisiting this - I tried entering Omega Cygni's RA and Dec on the User Objects -> Celestial Objects screen in SynScan Pro. It seemed to accept the info and I hit Save. I went back out and then revisited the Objects screen, and there's nothing showing under the Objects list / pulldown. I used JNOW and entered the name where it says "Current object". That happened twice. I wasn't connected to the mount, just playing with the app. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong? Thanks!

I was about to order one, but decided to hold off. The pix posted here and on other forums are impressive for the size / cost, but I have a niggling feeling that ZWO will come out with an improved, second generation system in a year or so. I spent decades in software engineering and the first release of anything was always driven by marketing concerns / timing over quality. I'm not an imager, but I was also wondering if the novelty was going to wear off. I don't want to get bogged down with post-processing (at least not yet), and the best S* pix I've seen are, of course, those which have been post-processed. I'm sure it would potentially be an nice adjunct to whatever kit one has already, but I personally wouldn't put all my eggs into the S* basket just yet. YMMV.