Marvin Jenkins

Utterly ridiculous, I have no idea how you managed to create a thing like that. More power to you.

This will be my last reply to this thread. I am sorry, please accept my apology if you feel you have been wronged by my comments. It is not my intention to belittle your efforts in minimising your issues.

I assumed wrongly that the mount in question with it’s drawbacks was a first for you as it was posted in the beginner section of this forum. As such I thought it was your first mount.

A bientot

Marvin

Makes you wonder what they are burning?

Welcome, no shortage of info and knowledgeable people on here. Good luck and I hope you manage to get out observing more often.

Marvin

Yes I did. This thread was posted in the beginners section.

I know very little about imaging but get the feeling I am looking at something special. You must be very proud and rightfully so.

Sorry forgot to say WOW. Philips6549 even thought that is my regular sky, I walk outside and regularly swear out loud. Have been known to throw my arms in the air ask if I am worthy. It never gets old. Well billions of years of course.

M

I am very interested by this post as I have B3 skies with the exception of my extreme southern horizon which is light polluted.

Most of my life I have wanted to do astronomy, but always lived in towns or villages. I completely understand the overwhelming effect of a dark milky way filled sky after we moved ‘into the dark’ (countryside).

As soon as I saw my first clear dark sky with no moon I asked Father Christmas (my wife) for a scope and for the first year I was clueless. There is so much in the sky, so much about the sky and how it works. I am only getting comfortable in the last six months and I have been an info addict.

Trying to understand what is up there. Trying to understand where it will be and when. Timing around work and disappointment with the weather. 
 

I am sure that I have a grasp now, but it took so long due to information overload thanks to dark skies. I know those of you in LP areas are saying poor bloke and I don’t blame one of you. 
 

It is a journey we all approach from a slightly different place.

Marv

Eq6r pro and a problem with cone error in getting started. I wish I had your problems two years ago with a wobbly eq2. Cone error? Five second wobble delay was my biggest problem.

Marv

Surprised by the lack of pictures (except Mike which is amazing) goes to show the explosion of imaging in recent years. Must have been a nightmare using 35mm celluloid film.

I suppose we just get used to hundreds of images from Hubble downward.

Marv

You know you take it to the dechetterie and they take it somewhere else and burn it on a bonfire, cut out the middle man. Less carbon footprint too.😁 saves driving that AMG all over France

I recently had a pizza with a friend. Said friend has been on this planet 75 years and is an award wining architect, so not a dull flame.

He asked this question..... You do Astronomy? Yes. How do “they” with the fingers in the air, know how far away things are in the universe?

I explained Parallax. Tried to show the idea with a finger in front of the face and alternate eye open close, should have sensed danger, his hands stayed on the table.

Second question.... But, when “they say” (remember the fingers in the air) 25.000 light years how can they know that? I go on to explain Edwin Hubble’s ground breaking work with Cephid variables as a standard candle.

No question this time.... ‘Rubbish, they are always contradicting themselves’ even everything Einstein came up with is wrong!

I made a note in my diary that night to just keep it to myself unless pestered. The human race is something I find more palatable at a great distance.

A quote to sum it up. A person with a small amount of information is very dangerous.

Thanks for the heads up. I noticed Vesta was marked on Stellarium yesterday and it has just dawned on me that I have a couple of comets under my belt but not a single asteroid. Time for things to change, I will let you know how I get on.

Marvin

That’s what a Merc is for. You got a tow hook, put a plow on the back and help your farmer neighbour.

Perfect, just the kind of shot that motivates me after multiple disappointments. Well done, the kind of example I am aiming for👍

Gutted, can’t see the fencing.😂

I remember it was really visible. No fuzzy that time, and I looked at it naked eye in a small town with yellow sodium street lighting.

I hope we all get another in our lifetimes, can’t imagine what it would have looked like through my 130.
 

Great picture Mike, on real film, not all this digital cheating malarkey people are up to these days. That picture pretty much answers my question in the second paragraph.

Thanks, Marvin

I’m not kidding, I thought for a minute someone had posted a photo in sketching. Blows my mind. Can’t comprehend how you observe then record, the two things seems separate in my brain.

Now, I have embarked on the mighty challenge of astronomy for two years now. I am quite clearly at the beginning. I have always had a hankering for stargazing but for some insane reason I have I have only just lost my marbles.

I quite clearly remember seeing (on the way to the pub not on the way back) a large comet that appeared fixed in the sky for some time around the summer of 1998. I remember seeing the curved tail but Guinness was calling.

Now I know I could Google, YouTube etc but can the good people of SGL take me back in time, to the last century, before I looked through a telescope.

Most importantly, are there any imagers now current who have pictures of the comet from back then or images taken by astronomers no longer with us and how were they taken in relation to today’s tech setups in many astronomers homes.
 

Marvin
 

Welcome to the site. Feel free to ask questions no matter how simple. I found nothing but help and helpful people. Happy star gazing.

Marvin

Having always wanted to persue astronomy, then getting a 5 inch newt for my 44th birthday.

Second wow, first galaxy, pinwheel by accident looking for Andromeda.

Third has to be Saturn late 2017, popped my eye ball out!

This list could run forever. First Glob, First open cluster, First plan neb, Andromeda, First comet 46p Wirtinen, First wide field long exposure photo of the milky way, first meteor caught on camera, and the best by far......

Showing a good friend some of the above for the first time. Life changing.

Marv

Lets not forget the moon.

I love the idea that having goto means you don’t learn anything. You will be looking up.... so the learning begins. Forget what scope, draw in the heavens.
 

Marvin.

57 minutes ago, CedricTheBrave said:

What an amazing project and so well executed. very well done

i now know what to do if i win the lotto!

 

Funny you should say that. I won the French National loto eight weeks ago, still waiting for any kind of conformation or pay out. I got three numbers, with a pay out of 20 euros. I have to send the ticket to head office, with ID, a bank pay in slip via registered post that costs 5.30 euro. Seven weeks after and I am still dreaming about a bag of gravel or two.🤣

Marv

I have been given permission by Gordon to hijack this thread, cheers. I visited Gordon Monday Tuesday to help install some security fencing around the perimeter of the Obsy area.

We were hoping for clear skies Monday night so I could use Gordon’s Dob, a first for me and experiment with eyepieces as my small box of plossle’s seemed shockingly inadequate to the eyepieces that were on offer. Sadly it was cloud all the way.

I have added a few pictures to this post, as the beast is now installed in the second dome and I couldn’t believe the quality of the mount. That bit of carbon fibre at the top is a joy to behold. Hoping to get invite back in the future to see it all in action, fingers crossed.

Thanks DaveS must have been a pictorial representation as 1814 is surely before photography. Man 62-63 must have been harsh. One of the family gathering this Christmas is a lifelong Londoner, I will pick his brains also as he still lives near Teddington.