jjohnson3803

7 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

My interpretation of the OP question was just a point at a target without identifying it (or perhaps even knowing its identity).

Yes, I should have been more clear.  I often randomly scan around with a low power EP and stumble across interesting asterisms and double stars whose identity I don't know at the time.  It would be convenient to engage tracking to keep the scope centered on the (unknown) target like using an old-style RA clock drive.

I was wondering about targets like lesser-known doubles that might not be in the catalog(s), but I saw this in the manual:

You can use User Objects to save your own coordinates in a list. You can later retrieve the coordinates for [GOTO]. There are two user object lists: • Celestial Objects where you enter RA Dec coordinates.

Thanks for the link!

18 hours ago, cajen2 said:

Not that I've heard of. If they ARE very expensive, I see no reason for preferring the mount over a dedicated go-to, say an iOptron alt/az Pro.

I've been thinking the same thing.  As an aside, I wish there were a basic EQ with usable setting circles and a basic clock drive like my old C8.

On 11/09/2023 at 08:52, cajen2 said:

As I said, I believe there are motors in the pipeline.

Any update on this?  The motors for the ScopeTech Zero were very expensive.

Looks like you hit a jackpot there.  I'm a refractor person, but Maks can be very nice scopes.  Enjoy!

This one is decent:

https://www.philharrington.net/sw8.htm

On 09/10/2023 at 14:47, happy-kat said:

If you are using 1 star alignment after selecting I just use goto and the mount slews there and sidereal tacking turns on by default (caveat. mount is level, tube is level and pointing north)

Point and track is where you might be randomly pointing somewhere and want the mount to track from there

 

Possibly covered somewhere above, but:

If I took a GTi outside, leveled it, pointed it to a random star, and hit sidereal tracking on the app, will it track the target?  In other words, is any kind of alignment aside from leveling the tripod necessary to use sidereal tracking?

I ask because I'm more interested in an altaz version of a tracking mount and less interested in goto capabilities right now.

A short (cold) double star session pre-dawn with my 72ED:

Algieba - this one was a little difficult due to the brightness of the primary and secondary at about 100X.

54 Leo - clean split at 70X.

24 Com - easy split at 42X.  Looked white-ish and blue to me, but it's listed as types K0III and A9V, so it's really more yellow and blue.

I recently noticed that with Venus and clouds.  To add to the confusion, I often see commercial aircraft with their landing lights on coming from the same direction so somethimes the object is moving too.

Just for an experiment, I opened your Pleiades shot with the default photo editor on my Windows laptop and set both contrast and saturation to 100.  It seemed to reduce the vignetting substantially and the increased saturation brought out star colors (there are a few red stars but maybe a couple are just hot pixels 😉).    FWIW. 

Molto bello!  Unfortunately, I have no wisdom to share - I only dabble with my iPhone camera on my unguided 72ED now and then.

5 hours ago, DirkSteele said:

I believe the fork mounted C8 sold for $795 back in 1974 so goodness knows how much the C14 was!

I paid around US$1100-1200 for a C8, wedge, and tripod in 1982 or 83.  Bought my first S&T around 1967-68.  I wish I had kept that issue.  But mainly I wish I had had the money (and a place to house) one of those huge Unitrons.  😁

If you think you have a faint fuzzy in view, but you're not quite sure, you can gently tap the side of your scope.  That should make it more apparent if you're on target.  Apparently human vision / low-light perception is such that we can detect movement more easily than see static objects.

Aside from the LP maps and my eye, I refer to this comparison chart.  Seems quite similar to what I perceive and puts me in a 7+ at home.  I can see Pherkad and Kochab (and Polaris) in UMi, but none of the other stars in the dipper, so my naked eye limit is around mag = +3.5 or so.

I recently started double star observing and I've been mainly using a 72mm ED f6 refractor.  It's about 2.5kg with finder, rings, etc. and is 12 inches long with the dew shield retracted so it's very transportable.  US$480.  I'm happy with it (for now anyway).

Went out about 0430 today.  Unfortunately, winter constellations are behind trees and houses now at that time in the morning and I'm not a galaxy observer, so I spent some time studying the Beehive and then swung over to Mel 111.

I guess I either have to get up earlier or switch to late evening observing.

On 09/11/2023 at 16:51, The60mmKid said:

I feel increasingly drawn to the idea of committing myself to only one. Are there people out there who are doing or considering this? Or am I just getting old?

Well, I might be getting old as well, but I've been thinking about it.  I just sold my ST120, so I'm down to a 50mm, 72ED, ST80, and ST102.  The 102 is relatively new and was meant as a more transportable replacement for the 120.

For me, it's mainly a desire to simplify.  I've lost observing time while trying to decide what scope to take out.  I know - horrible problem, huh?  🙄   I do confess that I've been looking at 60mm refractors, partly because of what I've read on the 60mm groups.io forum and your doubles program.

I do think my 15x70 binos gotta go, no matter what else I do.

I believe H-β, 486.1 nm (cyan), would be better for visual.

I've never seen it with any of my refractors, but I live in nasty light pollution, B7 or maybe B8.  One observing article said you need dark skies and no moon to have a decent chance of snagging it and that its angular size is surprisingly large.

If I ever make to a dark site at the right time of year, it's definitely on my target list.  I have an irrational fear though that if I do see it, I'll be cursed with perpetual cloudy skies or something.  🤪

Split Castor this morning with my 72ED, spent a little time on the Beehive, and then swung over to the Coma Cluster.  I noticed Arcturus is well up - about 20° alt - now around 0530.

I'm trying to reset my internal clock so I can switch to late evening observing for the winter.

When I started back in the hobby, I kept written notes in a bound notebook.  But that was a pain because it added to the things I had to take outside and I often misplaced the notebook, so I stopped.

Then I realized I really wanted some kind of observing record so I took notes using the voice recorder on my phone.  But transcribing them, especially when I was mumbling or there was background noise, was a hassle.

Soooo... I started using SkySafari, but that added another layer of techno jiggery so I went back to written notes.  But... I didn't always feel like taking written notes.

Now I type notes into the Notepad app on my phone since I always have my phone with me, email them to myself, and then copy and paste the email content into a Word file.   I assume Word's search function will be a good thing if I ever want to look something up.  The downside is any sketches still have to be done with paper and pencil and then scanned in I guess.

Good luck and enjoy!

NIce conjunction of the moon and Venus this morning.  Very low behind my neighbor's trees when I first went out and then crazy fast clouds came rolling down from the north.  I checked a couple weather sat sites and decided to wait it out.  It was totally clear by the time they were out of the trees.  ☺️

Took a look at M93 with my 72ED through some holes while waiting.  Not a spectacular session, but good enough!

9 hours ago, mcrowle said:

How most diffuse nebulae appear through the 'scope:

That would be any galaxy aside from Andromeda, M32, M81, or M82 at my home.  ☹️

I realize there are environmental factors at play and situations vary, but is there an average working range for the S* WiFi?  Curious if I could sit in my dining room with an S* outside on my deck (large glass sliding doors) and still have decent connectivity.

About 30 minutes lunar this morning with my 72ED before thick fog moved in.  Took me somewhat by surprise since there was no fog forecasted.