Marvin Jenkins

The second picture is amazing. What do you use to capture that?

The best bit is that if you are in the small scope fraternity then the left over off cuts can be used to make solar filters for friends that have small fracs. I have recently made a solar filter for my 130 newt. The larger off cut made a solar filter for a beginner friends 80mm frac and the little bit left over is going to be used as a filter for my finder with a large surround to block out light. Win Win Win.

10” inch Dob is a capable piece of equipment. Lifetime scope for some people who are happy to stick with visual. I understand from your post you have a Barlow and a UHC filter but you do not mention your eye piece/s. A lot will depend on your location and dedication. Good luck and clear skies. Marvin

All good stuff. I totally get the thing about unshielded views. My chances of finding a fellow astronomer is next to nil, so outreach is close to finding a unicorn in my garden. Thankyou for all the tips about EPs and focus points. I have a 2” SW EP that I hate so that will be the sacrificial lamb. I am using a newt, so the side on focuser is a help as the paper is already 90deg to the OTA. Cheers Marvin

I gave that projection method a go. Couldn’t get an image at all! Then realised the WL filter is not supposed to be part of the gig😂 Removed that and there she was. It’s not as crisp and detailed as WL and the EP but if I ever get the honour of doing Solar outreach, I will start with that then move to EP. Thank you. Marv

That’s really nice. I am going to give that a try.

After a night of thunderstorms, hail and big rain this morning welcomed me with the promise of huge cumulus with nice sunny two minute breaks in between. Out with my 130 f5 newt and home made WL solar filter courtesy of a sheet of Badder film. Checked in on Spaceweather.com for a sneak preview and said “wow”. Very impressive display. Possibly the best I have ever seen. I was using a new zoom EP for the first time and it was very good. I have tried to stay away from zooms but in my quest to make my visual outfit as simple as possible I bit the bullet and I am very happy with it thanks to a bit of kind direction by #John👍 A quick pencil sketch at the EP with some brief notes. Marvin

I am in no danger of reaching critical scope mass anytime…. Well forever. However. When I purchased my second newt on a tripod and had them both side by side in the second lounge, my wife frowned and said “how do you look through both at the same time”? At that moment I knew my future would never hold a large telescope collection😂 Marvin

Thanks for the info Alex. It is not far from me so I will definitely be going. Marv

Finally a decent OIII

I was interested by the Brey Falls YT video where he points out another concentrated O3 area in the andromeda galaxy itself. The O3 object would be the size of a dwarf galaxy surely? Although uninformed as we all are in respect of these particular objects it’s size would point to a foreground object? M

That’s the big question. The origins of this object are up for debate, being studied by minds far advanced than mine. I was just surprised that I had not come across this earlier. I spend at least thirty minutes every morning over corn flakes and coffee hitting the big Astro websites but found this by random chance on YT. It will be interesting to see what comes of the scientific data that will hopefully shed some answers to this unusual area of space. Marv

Is this some sort of exaggerated story or is there something there?

Sorry attached wrong pic. The other should have included designating name SDS0-1

See attached pic from YouTube vid. Have I been asleep for a while? as I did not see this at all. Now it is a slick YT video with horrible narration in that really weird US everyone in a space video has to talk in a strange way thing going on. Some not odd sounding info would be great. It slightly reminds me of Outters 4 with the amateur back story. Long live Oxygen targets I say. Marvin

It’s blue! What! How! Why! I have never seen or seen a photo of a blue camera. My obviously mundane world has been turned on its head… a blue camera!! Marvin

I have at times reclined on my sofa and used binoculars to look at the night sky through my closed very large Velux. Yes it is actually a Velux. At one point I was convinced that I was observing a dark nebula only to find out in daylight the nesting wagtails had left a ‘message’ on the optical window. I have since designated it Jenkins Wagtail Dark Nebula. Good luck capturing that and processing it. Marvin

Welcome to a great place full of friendly people. Marv

SW France calling and it is very poor and has been poor for most of the time. I missed two nights last week due to work and those were the only nights. As of tomorrow we have a full week of clear and sunny so Solar stuff it is as we are going to be bang on full moon again! On top of that, by tomorrow, there is hardly any solar activity for WL practitioners. Honestly you couldn’t make it up. Marv

Also John thanks for the link. I missed that before replying to you sorry. Yes, the second one does look about right. It is so rewarding to get a hands on appraisal from someone who has experience of the EP. Marvin

Thank you John just the kind of feed back I need when shelling out hard one funds. Much appreciated. Marvin

I don’t want to be tangled up in any of the previous zoom EP discussions, simply because I need to know if any members have experience with either of the following. They are similar in price which is my top end so no Badder Hyperion for me. Marv

Welcome and have a great time. This is a great place to be. Marvin

You might be laughing but there are loads of Tak owners that would pay four X the going the rate for those. A small niche opening in the market that Tak could exploit.🤣