Marvin Jenkins

Reminds me of that Red Dwarf episode where they get hold of a time machine. All expectations are to go back in time and get back to Earth…. Bang, it happens but they are still in the same physical place in the universe. Marv

Very nice. Looks like you captured some of the AGN in M82. Much better than I have managed. Marv

Completely ridiculous! Blows you away? My tiny mind fried. Amazing work. M

Lovely. I was looking at that last night, a wonderful object and you picture is excellent. Marv

I started this madcap adventure with a purchase of a 130 newt on an EQ2 2018. After a short time I bought a 150pds on an EQ5 Pro goto and bagged all the messiers etc etc. I have recently decided to get the old faithful out and see how my actual skills in astronomy fair since the sweetener of Synscan. Turns out using the laminated version of Vaslovs Deep sky hunter and actually finding it for yourself whilst freezing cold is a hoot! The Owls agree. After a ten minute star hop fail, retry, scratch head, dark adaptation, fail then success. Bodes and Cigar. I know, not the most ground breaking find but I think relevant to many new on here and some not so new that have been relying on tech (me) M81/M82 look amazing and I am only using a 25mm plossle in a little newt on a mount that wobbles like a jelly. I have clear skies and I am loving it. Marv

Then use the force.🤣

Thank you #maw lod qan your words mean a lot. I have two meteorites, just started collecting and then these arrived! I am going to share them out among my interested friends and just keep one of each of the falls for my collection. As to financing my first monster scope I may suggest you look up ‘The Hatton Garden Diamond Heist’ It looks to be the only way right now, which is difficult as I live in France. Marv

Big WOW, giant WOW. I know I am looking at something amazing, but I have not understood a single word anyone has said, except the bit about an HEQ5 holding a dish. Think of Baldrick in Blackadder and you have me. Marv

My local village has a cat charity shop. Despite being a dog person and absolutely disliking cats (I know some of you will be reeling in disgust) I pop in once a week as it is an ever changing Aladdin’s cave. This time I was just passing and the owner saw me and said “Marvin your a sucker, what about these meteorite collectors cards”? I heard meteorite and said “yes” opened my wallet to the tune of 30 euro and skipped away. The envelope contained 21 Nestle meteorite collectors cards from what I can gather is four different meteorite falls. I have 20 cards all different still in there plastic packets and one that is a double of the original 20 and has been opened to reveal the credit card size contents. I have done some digging and found they were give always by Nestle and the contents are swarf from the cutting of meteorites into slices. Any further info would be appreciated as two of the meteorites are clearly named the other two are a little ambiguous. Gibeon which is well known. Chinga same again. Namibia Botswana? Hoba perhaps? Kalahari Plateau???

Alt Az mount and all is forgiven. The moon doesn’t need a computer to find it. In fact I find it is in the way of DSO stuff a lot of the time😂

Absolutely brilliant breakdown of kit organisation and movement, like a military manoeuvre. I feel really guilty now about moaning about reeling out an extension lead. Onikkinen you have quite the system and the dedication, more power to you. Marv

Then all of your problems are solved🤣

No such thing as too much telescope equipment. If you find you don’t have the room for more equipment then throw away furniture. Organisation is the key. I too use a 150 pds and I have one of those aluminium brief cases which houses all the kit to go outside. Another smaller one for eye pieces and a bag over the shoulder for camera stuff and cables. There is no easy way to say this. Unless you build a obs you are condemned to carrying kit outside and back in again, hence #elp using a well throughout travel setup. It gets worse. To jump to the next stage (guiding) you will have more kit like a laptop and power supply. I find a simple task of running a 50 meter power cable up the garden each time really annoying. Then even worse having to coil it all up again when it is wet from dew and inadvertently drag it through some sticky mole hills. There is nothing glamorous about observing. It requires work and dedication but I can assure you it is worth it and with practise and experience you will organise your equipment to your needs. Now remember with the furniture, less is more😂 Marv

Managed a short session in Auriga and whilst observing the open cluster M37 I noticed a small diffuse blob between two equal brightness stars. At first I thought ‘Glob’ but upping the mag and checking the charts it was NGC1907 another open cluster, a first for me. Marvin

I started with the 130 newt on an EQ2 as a bundle. I had no idea how bad the EQ2 is with that newt. I did all the tricks like rebuilding the tripod with spacing washers, filling the legs with sand….. the mount head has so much flex it takes about 3 to 4 seconds after touching the scope for the wobble to stop. Definately an alt az if AP is not your goal. Sorry I can’t help with that as I only have experience with EQs. If I could do it again I would get a SW Skytee ll on an EQ5 tripod. That way I would have been future proofed and had the ability to mount a second scope when funds allowed. Marv

I can answer one question right away, the PDS versions have a two inch dual speed focuser that allows enough back focus if you ever had the crazy idea of putting a camera on it. I have an Orion 130 and a SW 150 PDS and my dark skies there is quite a bit of difference between the two. Marv

Finally observing Ceres with just two days of the year to go. The best has to be sharing a completely clear week with a friend from the UK who has just started in astronomy. Marvin

I happened to be out at the same time observing the same thing. I had the same situation happen to a friend who has recently taken up astronomy. Took me a while to explain what he was looking at. Thankfully he now has a phone app. Last time I had a masquerading star it was more confusing as one of the real moons was missing as it was eclipsing another. At least we got out after weeks of bad weather. Marvin

I read very bad reviews about the glass lense adapters. If I had to shell out for a good one I would rather just buy a decent secondhand Canon body. I do keep having these moments when I say “why do I have a Nikon?” I love Nikon gear but it starts to get restricted when applied to Astro I am sorry to say. Marv

Buy a cheap lense, then buy a Canon body to attach it too🤣 Bargain! I should have just bought a Canon in the first place but I already owned the Nikon before Astro gate crashed my life.

Thanks for the info. There is a bit on the web about them. Seems they were sold under different brand names and there origins appear to be from the old east Germany, but as mentioned by others they are clearly marked ‘made in Japan’. I have T connector already for my Nikon for housing my Badder MPCC and this will start to screw onto the lense then binds up, so I am presuming the lense is M42x1. I will look at the connector you suggest. Marv

Didn’t know exactly where to post this one, so mods please move if need be. I found this lense for €5 in a local charity shop and I have been looking for an old school prime lense that I maybe able to put on the end of my Nikon D3100. I have a question about the M42 to bayonet adapter I am going to need. I understand from the web that M42 is actually M42x1. There appears to be M42x0.75 which I understand is called T connector? Anyone out there know which connector I need? I am presuming M42x1 but I note lots of connectors called M42 but they are 0.75, very confusing. Thank you in advance for any replies and product links. Marv

I think I have heard that before as well🤔

I think I have heard about you and this handle thing🤣

Sorry for the back to back posts but found one more picture but I couldn’t add any text. I have to say though the mount is very wobbly!