jjohnson3803

1 hour ago, Gonariu said:

What really surprised me, however, was the 6X30 finder which has adjustable focus by moving the eyepiece back and forth: a sea of stars that made the vision poetic, I couldn't have imagined it at all! 

🙂  I'm sometimes surprised at how nice the view can be in my 6x30 finders.  I have a converted 50mm finder that I use for super grab-n-go and I like it so much that I might get a 60mm RACI.

Love TLAO.  Cambridge also has a Web site with additional TL charts.

Skies cleared after midnight last night, so I popped out with my ST80 around 0400 this morning.  I was trying a different configuration of mount / tripod and decided I didn't like it, so I lost some time reconfiguring things back to my original set-up.  That was ok - one of my goals was to see if I liked the new configuration.

M13, wandered around Lyra for a bit, over to The Coathanger, and a quick look at U Sge, which was not in eclipse as usual.  I'll catch it in eclipse one of these days. Cygnus was still too low in the trees to see much.

M13, M92, couldn't see M56 with my ST102, but that's no surprise - I've never been able to see it at home.  The arrowhead asterism that points to it was easy, but no glob. 

It was below freezing, so I only stayed out about an hour.

"Eventually" is pretty accurate.  My AZ-GTi arrived mid-December and I finally had a decent, clear morning today.

There was a lot of cloud to cloud lightning early last night, but skies had cleared by 0300 today, so I took out my ST102.

I wanted to have a look at Delta Corvi (double), but it was already behind the trees by the time I was set up and awake.  

Swung over to Lyra.  Couldn't split Epsilon 1, but Epsilon 2 was in and out with a 2X Barlowed 4mm.  I don't know if that's a scope limitation or if it was sky conditions.

Spent a good deal of time admiring Ste 1 / Delta Lyr cluster.  I keep notes on my phone and transfer them to a Word file, but I was thinking I should sketch that cluster sometime.  Main star was showing a nice orange tint.

Then a little time on Sheliak and Sulafat before calling it a night.  The Ring was pretty visible even without a filter, but I didn't spend any time on it.

I think that's arguably one of the best shots I've seen of M51.

22 hours ago, dantro said:

I regret the purchase of  an AZ5 and heavy duty carbon fiber tripod for my FC-100DC.  Total weight dropped from ~32 to ~22 pounds with new mount and tripod, but settling time increased to to the point of bothersome when focusing or touching the eyepiece.  The combination looks very nice and is easy to carry in one piece. The mount is well built and works well with slow-mo controls, but stability with the refractor especially at higher powers is a real disappointment. 

That's interesting.  I usually run my refractors with a ScopeTech Zero on an Innorel RT90C (carbon), but I have an AZ5 that I use now and then.  The max practical weight limit with my scopes was 11-12 pounds.  I'll have to put the AZ5 back on the 90C and see how it does with my ST102.  (What I really need to do is take notes when I try different combos so I don't repeat my "experiments".)

7 hours ago, seven_legs said:

Regretted selling my ST 120 refractor, a few years back.

I put a 2-speed Crayford on mine and the combo was a bit much for my mounts and to take camping, etc.  It sat unused in my scope cabinet for a year, so when I got an ST102, I sold the ST120.  No regrets there.  Maybe I'll miss the aperture one of these years.

It might sound crazy, but I wish I hadn't sold the Sears / Tasco 60mm refractor that was my first telescope.  I think it might be fun just to see what it could do now that I'm substantially older and marginally wiser.  But I wanted a better amp for my bass guitar at the time.  LOL.

I'm about to list a few more astro items for sale and I have to admit I'm wondering if I should just hold onto them, just in case.

I should add that I bought an AZ-GTi mount before Christmas and, with a couple of exceptions, it's been cloudy, raining, or snowing since it arrived.  I am starting to regret that one...

LOL!  Well, I don't know if I regretted these purchases, but they didn't work out and I did sell the items (at a loss, of course):

StellarVue M2C mount - beautifully machined, but no slo-mo.  And I knew when I bought it that I really like to have slo-mo, but I thought I'd give it a try.

90mm Maksutov - bought it thinking it would be my main lunar scope.  It did well on the moon, but I disliked the small FOV for other targets like open clusters.

102ED refractor - ok, this was supposed to be the grab-n-go replacement for both my ST120 and my ST80.  Split the difference, right?  Except the sucker was bigger and bulkier than I thought it would be (Yes, I read the specs before ordering) and didn't work all that well on my mounts.

Stellarvue M1V mount - a little pooter alt-az with no slo-mo, I think Altair sells the equivalent.  This one didn't work out either.

There are a few more, but I think that paints a representative picture.

I'm probably an outlier, but I often prefer mono images to color.  But that might be because I used Kodak emulsions on glass plates when I was an undergrad.  😉

Funny - I was just browsing a couple of annual guides at a bookseller this past weekend.  It seems to me that you can get all the same info for free from a number of Web sites like "Sky and Telescope". 

But, as Peter mentioned, there are times when a paper book is the thing to have.

One session in January thanks to continual clouds / snow / rain / fog / subzero (F) windchills.  (Chicago, USA)

There've been a few clear nights in February so far, but I've been traveling so only one chance to observe so far.

I started out with a 60mm when I was a kid, so I suppose there's an element of nostalgia for me.  After my classic C8 sat in storage for a couple decades, I got back into the hobby with an st120 and gradually added smaller fracs to my collection.  Tried a 90mm Mak which was a good scope IMO, but I really prefer the wider FOVs of fracs.  Plus it's hard to beat the portability and ease of storage.

After a month (or more) of garbage weather, I was able to spend about an hour observing the moon today.  😀

I have a pair of surplus WWII-era US Navy 7x50s.  If you can find a pair without mold, etc, I'd get them.  They're a little clunky, but I think they give nicer views than my 10x50 Nikon Aculons or my 15x70 Orions.  (Yes, the Orions have the aperture advantage, but also need a tripod as they're on the heavy side.)

I'd wager the Opticrons mentioned above are a good choice.  I have a pair of baby Opticrons and the optics are quite sharp.

It's been cloudy / rainy / foggy / snowing here since Christmas.  <sigh>  

Wow.  Very impressive!

Since I have a couple UHCs and a holder like Peter's. I'm going to have to give that a try.  I am in Bortle 7-8 though, so I'm not expecting too much.

Outstanding report!  I'm only about 1500 miles away, but the closest I've gotten to Flagstaff is Phoenix (also a biz trip).

Different people have different tolerances for stress and different stressors.  I greatly appreciate and admire the pix that people produce, but maybe you'd enjoy yourself more if you spent some time doing manual, visual astronomy - no power supplies, cables, alignment, etc.  Carry out manual alt-az mount with scope, carry out chair (if needed), plug in eyepiece and observe. 

I've seen more and more discussions lately started by people who want a break from the technology, either short-term or "forever".  But only you can decide that.

After three weeks of garbage skies and snow (maybe closer to four weeks, I've lost count), it might clear up a bit tonight or early tomorrow morning.  Unfortunately, it's also predicted to be -4°F.  And the weather service said El Nino was going to keep us warmer and dryer than usual.  🤪

5 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

The real secret to surviving cold nights is to put lots of layers on. Enough layers so you can't fit through the door and have to stay inside 

1 hour ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

The moon in my view (no pun intended) is a really underated target , probably because we see it so often but its only when you actually put the effort in to study it then opens up with so many surprises .

👍  I used to loathe the moon, but decided I might as well embrace it rather than fight it.  I still don't observe when it's close to full, but it's become one of my favorite targets.

I don't know if you'd consider them to be cheap, but I really like my Vixen SLVs.  Nice eye relief if anybody wears glasses.  Not superwide angle.  They do go on sale from time to time or you might be able to find used ones.