Marvin Jenkins

I am in France! You could give it to me until you find a place to settle😁One vote for France right here. Marv

I have a friend over right now who has never knowingly seen Venus. I pointed to the brightest thing in the sky except the moon and his reaction was priceless. Then I pointed slightly left to Jupiter and in between Saturn and the moon. I said including the planet we stand on, that is four of the eight. I don’t think it has sunk in yet😂👍 First proper Venus through a scope with some phase is a premier planetary moment. Well done, I have been right there and your report brought it back perfectly, thank you. Marvin

A. Great photo either way.

I have been studying my Vaslov star charts recently and a niggling question keeps popping into my mind. There are plenty of PNs that are quite obscure, but they go by the designation PK then some numbers. What does the PK stand for? I realise the P may well be Planetary but nebula spelt with a K surely not? I thought of the designation IC for galaxies but again K, so can’t be catalog. Marv

We are all flesh blood at the end of the day, with our faults and highlights. He was blessed with an amazing mind, and despite his physical setbacks he was able to push the boundaries of physics and write books that I have been able to read and gain a new perspective from. Despite being a guy that cuts grass for a living and digs the occasional hole. I am not sure I have heroes anymore. They diminish with time. But he is someone I will always look up to in the future…… despite the Nobel cold shoulder. Marvin

That’s ridiculous. Are you sure that is not computer gen? Seriously, that picture is amazing. I was out today doing a bit of white light for sun spots but that blows the doors off. Marv

I managed to get out last night in hot conditions but clear skies. It has been a long time since I have had a decent look at Jupiter. Very bright disk with three moons showing to one side, two close together and one much farther out. According to my phone app ‘Io’ was in transit which explained the missing moon. With the bad distortion due to the heat it took some time to get a couple steady moments but a couple of times I could clearly see the moons shadow on the planets surface. I am well chuffed with that result and very happy the gas giants are back to a better position for observing. Marvin

Finally ordered a guide kit. 60mm APM and ZWO 120 mc s. I have clear skies for at least a week so that is seven nights shouting at my laptop wondering why it won’t work. Marv

Well done on the move, you deserve it. Time to change ‘Location’ under your avatar! Marv

I will not say “welcome back” as I have only been here a few years, but your post feels like the detection of a gravitational wave. Just out of interest why was the title changed by the mods?

I like the two speed focuser idea. Should be pitched on Dragons Den. I like the idea of the built in slippage. Dual speed focuser with Limited Slip Dif. Hang on a minute that is LSD might explain the topic🤣 Marv

Hello Ash something I would highly recommend is the open university. They have free introduction courses all web based. They also operate two remote scopes on Mt Tiede in the Canaries, one of which you get to request targets to image just for you. Good luck Marvin

I thought it was “Why have one, when you can have two at twice the price”. Marv

What a brilliant write up. Fascinating stuff. Thank you. Marv

I hope you find what you are looking for. Nearly two years ago I was researching the perfect holiday of History, Astronomy and pool. Crete had it all then the obvious happened. I hope you get to enjoy a great time. Please let me know how you get on, as I really want to go some day this decade. Marvin.

Hi Gurbir. I know there is an observatory on the top of one of the mountains but sadly I deleted all my links when Covid struck. I also found on the web a couple of astronomers that take groups out on guided tours of the night skies, for a fee of course. Good luck with the trip. Marv

Just take in that star field, mind blowing in its intensity. I love these images, they are so honest. Marv

It’s M101 right there, well spotted mdstuart. I rather prefer my vantage point a little farther south. Marv

Really nice. I also like the title, perhaps we should all just call it that, it is kind of fitting. I have been reading a Patrick Moore book from April 1972 and M31 is referred to as The Great Spiral in Andromeda. I am sure the Great SPM was reaching in his minds eye for “The Big Fella”. 👍Marv

Well done, you have been busy. A really good mixture of targets, I would be very with that lot in one year. Marv

One euro and a second book about bee keeping thrown in for free. Published in 1972 which must have been a good year as it was the year I was born. Quite striking to see the best Astro pictures taken with the best telescopes in the world now out done by two grands worth of kit in a B6 back garden in suburban England. Fantastic to see how far we have come in all aspects of astronomy and how fast this progress has come. Great book and a great read.

Now you say this I am wondering why I did not move the focuser and spider down the tube🙈 I saw so many threads saying the primary needed to be moved further up the tube I didn’t look at the problem from the other direction. I will say however, that my comment about collimating is about how hard it is to get accurate optics in fast scopes. I am sure that fast F scopes at the expensive end of the market have adjustments that can be fine tuned. A 130p is a bit more basic, so one tiny adjustment here or there may not give you the desired effect you are looking for. Good luck anyway and will give my odd ball Orion 130st PDS another look. Marv

Hi chemistorge, I went mad with an Orion ST130 which is a bit like a 130P. I did the same as you and bought the 2inch DS focuser as I hated the little plastic thing it came with. I had a hankering for attaching a DSLR and thought the PDS focuser would solve the problem but there was not enough back focus. I had to move the main mirror quite a way up the tube towards the secondary and now it is a real hassle to collimate. The thread is on here somewhere, with extras like flock and blackened mirror edges. Thanks you for the reminder that I need to give it a bit more work and get it right. The problem was a 150pds turned up and that grabbed all my attention. Good luck with the project, keep up the hard work. Marvin

A thing of beauty to behold.

Your Vixen looks like an amazing bit of equipment. I am relatively new to Astro and avoided fracs with my first purchase, as I thought they looked old fashioned. I would say I was new and a fool! I look at scopes like this now and know I will own own one in the future. The quality is right in your face. Not to mention they were made to last. Marvin