Marvin Jenkins

I have that very same model. I bought it as a scope mount kit and although I have seen some amazing things with it, it was not until I put it on an EQ5 mount I realized how good a five inch newt can be. My kit was the EQ2 and it is very wobbly so would echo KP82 and get a dob first. I certainly would second time around. The other annoying thing about the Orion is that if you suddenly have the idea to do some pictures with it the focuser does not enough back focus to gain focus with a DSLR. I maybe getting myself ahead of the game here but most people end up at some point thinking “what happens if I stick a camera on it?” You can still use your phone or a point and shoot to take souvenir pictures through the eye piece though. Marv

The first can was a dead ringer for Rupes Rector. Some of the lava flows in my views are rather worthy of exploration. After several explorations I can confirm that my birthday has has been a relaxed chilled out affair, sadly with heavy cloud, so not perfect. Although I did receive a book written by Prof S Hawking, a gift voucher for FLO, and a four pack of Guinness. What a day! Marv

You may think we have something in common, but 40 years! You are in trouble now. At least I have only waited three years. Observers like myself John and Stu take a very dim view of your proud statement. You wait till Steppenwolf gets on your case, even offering to buy his books will not save you. Although you could offer to buy his totally unused EP collection, they are clearly wasted on him.🤣 Marv

Montes Guinness. Quite an impact crater in the southern lowlands. M

Can anyone identify this area of the moon? or am I seeing things?

What a great thread. The old pictures showing how it was done back in the day are great. Love the retro comments. I will add “what happened to corduroy trousers and patches on the elbows of jackets”? I vividly remember a geography teacher at school that used to have a leather protector for his wrist watch. To see the face you undid a popper and lifted away the hard leather front. As kids we thought it was funny as the latest thing was the Casio calculator watch, not some old chunk of stainless. Now I love old chunks of stainless. Sorry I cannot contribute a photo, I only started Astro three years ago, so no photos at all. Marv

Point 4. Perfect. I luckily do not have neighbours so I am free to Bruce Lee at my leisure which is a gift that keeps on giving. By the way I love your rosette. I tried to get one of those but didn’t make the podium.😂

My biggest annoyance is making a fool of myself, easily done. I had a couple friends come to stay and with clear new moon skies they were enthusiastic about there first views through a scope. I did the ‘full Brian Cox’ so they would have some understanding of what they were going to see. Second part of the speech was, do not kick the tripod, do not pull on the scope, it’s all electronic and tracking. First thing I did was trip over the power cable, pulled it out of the mount! Fell on my face in the venture and had to re-align everything again in front of the beginners! Not my greatest moment. Marv

Aren’t those tracks your footprints? M

It seems my punishment is here. Nothing but heavy cloud and heavy rain. It is that bad, that cloud observing is not possible due to the low cloud obscuring the main clouds. Even if it clears and I get a full January clear I will be DSO hunting. In all seriousness I understand the double star observing. It just doesn’t do it for me. When I first joined this amazing forum I wondered why some members refused to look at the night sky and only took pictures. I realise now that Astro is as a whole, like spokes in a wheel. The whole thing keeps on turning and most of us pick a bunch of spokes, some us just one. I think that our observable sky is amazing and I have the greatest respect for any avenue that an astronomer chooses, even if it sends me to sleep, each to there own. Clear skies to you all, and magnificent transparency. N Marv

I cannot believe I got away with this. Actually saying I was so bored viewing double stars I fell asleep at the OTA! Then calling into question the validity of open clusters, and not a single comment! After the initial rush of ‘judgement’ by the great and good of this forum after admitting never having purposefully viewed a double, I will never feel guilty again. Shame on you all for not keeping up a watchful vigilance on my blasphemy. I am very disappointed in all of you. And to make matters worse I have no interest in observing variable stars either. What’s the point! The clear nights to observe fluctuations are at a minimum one month apart. Marv

Are you able to see Polaris from window? Without the pole star I cannot see how you would polar align. AP in its largest form is with the use of an equatorial mount to align with the NCP and track from there. If not then short duration EP shots of whatever you can see could be achieved. Marv

Ok, redemption time. I have been out on my first planned double star hunt, so all will be forgiven! I can confirm that after at least an hour at the ep trying different magnifications, the double stars on my charts are two stars close together! Furthermore. some of the examples were different colours and different sizes. I even found one example of a double star that was an optical double, so not a double at all. Truly amazing, what were they thinking? It was so exiting to see two stars so close together and ‘not’ in the case of the latter, I woke up after midnight covered in frost, slumped over the OTA. Apparently my snoring was annoying the wildlife. Oh and don’t get me started on some of the open clusters. They are just areas in space with some stars in that past astronomers named to add excitement to their double star sessions! Burn him, Burn him I hear the cries and I can see the flaming torches from here.😬 Marvin

Not trying to meddle, honestly.🤣

Imagers... what do you expect. Already admitted that you have an unused box of EP’s, that is what John and I use for real astronomy. (Thanks for the thumbs up John) Especially in light of Stu pointing out that I had already seen the four stars in the trapezium and what with splitting Albireo all while trying to complete Stu’s planet challenge. I am starting to wonder why I felt guilty in the first place. Marvin

I would advise to not look too far down the rabbit hole. I queried a load of data about the distances of quasars in relation to gravitational lensing and ARP’s ideas of incorrect redshift measurements. Wow it was quite a ride, got messy and no one came out the winner. That’s astronomy, you have it down to three decimal places, that’s a good thing. Marv

Don’t forget that if you get the EQM-35 and use it till you are ready to upgrade to something heavier, you still have the 35 for visual use when the heavier gear is running. I dislike the lack of Astro when we have a great night and my scope and mount is doing imaging and I am twiddling my thumbs. A second cheap OTA would be lovely. Marvin

Ahhh the feeling of freedom, wonderful. I would go out right now split as many as possible but it is cloudy😭

I am not an expert by any means but in this day and age a lot of us think that with modern technology, we have all this stuff nailed down. It is one of the things I love about astronomy, we are a lot closer to the beginning of our understanding than the end. You only have to see the wide differences in distances of stellar objects between the different data bases, many many light years some times. This is far from an exact science. Marv

I can almost sleep easy tonight now you have forgiven me. Just redemption from big John, it may never come...... M

In all seriousness, I was stopped in my tracks. What an textbook example of different star types and wavelengths of light truly orbiting each other, a real physical binary.... do you need more?

Ok I will order the other book! Will that do it?

Actually Stu, you had me out all night failing to the planet challenge when I could have been splitting doubles! Part your fault too. I am feeling much better if it wasn’t for the cold winter chill of Johns reply. M

Do I feel a cold withering stare?

Totally forgot about the trapezium. Got a great look at that in my second week of scope ownership. I had no idea what I was doing so didn’t know to look for the central stars. I may have a double star marathon sometime soon just to balance the scales. M