Ships and Stars

Sounds like you picked well, good mix of portability and magnification. I have some Celestron 12x70 Cometrons and they are excellent, especially for the price. Very good light gathering ability and a joy to look through. I have a tripod mount for them but I've never needed it, quite easy to hold for long periods. I also have 25x100s but use the 12x70s much more. 12x seems about max for me for continuous handheld, maybe I'll try 15x someday but don't think there's much in it. I sometimes use my 25x100s for quick handheld observations, e.g. Andromeda or M42 handheld, but they are quite a bit better on a tripod! If I lay on the ground and look up, I can manage a fair bit longer with the 25x100s. But the 12x binos are super portable and definitely 'hand-holdable' in my book. Good call.

Haha, figured it was someone on here. Thank you very much! Can't wait to use it. The OIII is my fav all-around filter, the Veil is wonderful!! Hope you get to see it. We might have some clear skies here tomorrow night for a bit. I'll believe it when I see it! Thanks again! 👍

Oh no, is this another year old post! It's resurfaced...

Yuasa YBX 70Ah Leisure Battery. £62, Tanya Battery UK. More than enough for the mount for several nights on the trot, a 12V hairdryer (my dew prevention system) and maybe even a stereo and some disco lights if the clouds roll in...👍

No big boxes full of scopes like the good folks above, but this small beauty arrived today for a bargain price. Cocoon and Horsehead Nebulae are top of the list (er, once the mile-thick rain cloud disperses...probably looking at next moon phase already).

Just a little curio I thought I'd post here. A mid- to late-1980s Soviet Era Star Chart a friend gave me the other day, must have had it tucked away for who knows how long. Don't know which book it came out of unfortunately. Random bit of astro-related material!

One of the best dark sky experiences I had was on a small island in Indonesia east of Bali. Their big diesel generator broke early one evening, plunging a small but brightly lit island into complete darkness on what turned out to be an unusually clear night with no moon. After a few minutes of dark adaptation, you could easily get around by starlight. What an evening! I like a good power outage.

Thanks for the tips, I'm not 100% happy with my wooden trolley so really should get the proper metal one back out. Best of luck with your next scope, I'll have to check out the Dobson Factory, sounds like my kind of place!

I bought the exact same trolley in blue! The base flips down. Brilliant minds, eh? Mine is partially buried in the back of my shed already, I was going to chop it up to fit the 500p better but never got around to it after I made the wooden one. I still need to do that. Sorry you had to return yours, I've been struggling to get time to use mine due to a family illness, but when I do get the chance, it has given me some incredible views, even from my LP garden when I can't go out for the night. I have a small 130pds and 200p on EQ5 which I may sell and replace with a 10"-14" undriven flextube dob which would seem like a grab and go scope... I'll probably change my mind again next week!

Beautiful shot!!

I'm not that experienced but I use M57 Ring Nebula as my first target this time of year to test seeing conditions, as it's easy to find and relatively bright. As mentioned above, a lot has to do with being in a dark sky site. I used a 20" dob last night to view M1 Crab Nebula under town LP and even with quality astronomik filters in a big dob it's relatively featureless in those conditions, just a grey cloud without much detail. Out in the sticks under really dark conditions things take on a lot more detail. Good filters make all the difference between seeing and not seeing as well.

I have the 36mm aspheric, I don't use the extender with that but take my glasses off to view. I quite like the Baader eyepieces, lightweight, good views and relatively inexpensive. If I drop one someday and it gets damaged, I won't cry. Regarding weight, even my 13mm Ethos is like an engine block compared to the Baader 17.5.

The nikon DIY option sounds good! I had mine out last night, could make out Andromeda quite easily from in town. I like them! I have a GoPro headband as well, thinking about giving that the chop, a generic one part of an attachment kit. Being able to wear these is a must, though tucked up in my down sleeping bag with them sounds ok thIs winter...

I have the 17.5 and have used it in my f3.95 dob, works great! I have an ES coma corrector but I only tend to use it with an Ethos. Go for the Morpheus, don't think you will be disappointed. PS I see you did. I'd like to try some of the shorter focal lengths too. I have the 36mm aspheric, get on well with that too.

Sounds like you picked some challenges! I was going to try for pacman last night, but ended up looking around the interior of Cepheus, a quick visit to the veil and finally viewing M1 and M42 very late. My folly was trying for the horse head with an 8" reflector and UHC (ever the optimist, ha) about 2 or 3am this morning. I dark adapted for an hour with an eyepatch and used the large hood on my parka to block any stray light. I spent 30-40 minutes swapping eyes looking right where it should be with a 9mm Delite/Astronomik UHC to keep Alnitak out of the fov. I had an extremely faint bit of brightness next to the dark lane but no apparent shapes. I could feel I was on the cusp. The big dob ought to nail it with Hb filter from a darker spot. It was so transparent last night, clearest here I can remember for a long time. This was at home btw, Bortle 5, wish I'd taken the big dob out of town. Keep chasing the views! I'd like to try a 14" dob sometime, I think it would be the perfect mix of aperture and relative portability. I saw a picture of someone standing next to a 16", I'd just keep the Stargate! Happy viewing!

People are the most dangerous animal pretty much anywhere you go outside of the Serengeti or Svalbard/polar bear territory in winter. I set up at some really remote places, so carry a 4500lumen led torch for any intruders. I've had one person quietly approach me in the dark, I waited until he was about 15m away and turned it on turbo mode. A photographer wanting to take aurora shots! Don't know why he crept up on me like that, there were miles of open land around me. Never approach anyone with your torch turned off in pitch dark conditions. Having said that, a few years back, I was camping in remote jungle in Taman Negara, Malaysia, about six miles from the nearest hut. My torch batteries were going flat and my backup failed, then torrential rain set in. I made it halfway back to the hut when I got stuck in knee-deep mud. Right then something very large about 10m away charged through the jungle breaking large tree branches like matchsticks. I never got a glimpse, but at that moment all you can do is accept your fate. Turns out it was running away from me. Could have been a tapir, wild boar or pygmy elephant. A tiger or big cat wouldn't have been so clumsy I don't think. I finally made it back to the hut where I spent several hours removing leeches. I would camp there again in an instant, love the jungle.

I went to print some and of course no ink, lol, I'll print off a batch asap. Good idea on these Rob!

I think I'll finally have a chance to try them out tomorrow night, Bortle 3-ish, only one farm nearby, the rest of the area is forest. Didn't think of the hardhat idea, that might work!

I just modded an 8.5" x 11" format Astro observation sheet (Rix 2012) to A4. Haven't printed any off yet but set up in powerpoint as A4 slides and exported as jpeg. Might need to be scaled up but should work.

Ah those are nice! I'll have to print some off.

Hi all, just arrived this morning - some 'as new' Kasai Widebino 28s for quite a good price. I've been wanting to try these for some time. The idea is a very low mag widefield bino that is effectively like enhanced vision when scanning large areas of the night sky. In LP areas, you are supposed to pick up a lot more stars than with the naked eye, maybe 1.5mag more, and the same goes for dark sky sites where these should really be a hoot looking at the Milky Way and objects like the Pleiades etc or even the N America Neb under great conditions. Also want to try these during a meteor shower and apparently they are great for looking through a telrad at fainter stars. I've also found out today they are good for scanning larges areas of the sea for dolphins and seals that otherwise would go unnoticed in the chop and swell or missed with more powerful, narrower FOV binos. There are optional handes-free goggles from Kasai to wear these, but they are way too expensive. I'm going to rig up an elastic headband from a LED head-torch or ski goggles so I can wear them like glasses. Coming to a high fashion catwalk soon! 🤣

Good stuff! Getting to try some scopes out at a meet is the way to go. When I started looking at scopes the dobsonians looked a bit odd to me. I didn't understand how something with only two mirrors could do the job. Little did I know! I like refractors, but for deep space objects, the dobsons offer the best views for the money. It's simply a Newtonian reflector on a very simple swivel mount smoothly adjustable in altitude and azimuth, so up down left right... Hope you enjoy the meet and happy observing. Any questions about places in the ne to view from, etc let me know. I work between Inverness down to Dundee, lots of places to park up, no one looks twice. Just act like you own the place! Politely of course, ha. Cheers

Welcome Garry! I have the 500p. Be prepared to be amazed if you haven't used it yet! Get thy hands on a 21mm Ethos when you can. They were made for these scopes. The Veil is incredible with a good OIII. I mainly use the 21mm, a 36mm Baader (not bad actually, esp for price) and a Leica zoom. I also have a a Baader 17.5 Morpheus, 13mm Ethos and a 9mm Delite plus a 2x powermate and a ES coma corrector, which I only really use with the 21mm or 13mm. A decent but relatively small collection, not any other EP's I need. and some overlap here for sure. I carefully trimmed small notches in the primary mirror cover so I can remove it when the truss rods are in place. I removed the two spring-loaded truss-tightening handles at the bottom that can't turn fully because of the base and just use a 12mm socket on a 1/4" ratchet. Much faster. ALso taped up the ends of the GOTO cable after drawing blood half a dozen times. If you use battery power, I picked up a Yuasa leisure battery 70Ah from Tanya battery UK for £62, plenty of power for dew prevention and GOTO all night long. These scopes thrive in dark sky conditions and are actually fairly portable once you've set it up a couple of times. I use small tie downs to hold it gently but securely in my van when transporting to dark sites. I'm going for the Cocoon and Horsehead nebulas as soon as the moon wanes enough and I get my hands on a decent Hb filter this week. I haven't used mine a ton, but if you have any questions, ask away. Happy observing!

Hello all, Has anyone individually or as part of a group ever registered a Dark Sky site in the UK? If so, would it carry any legal weight for preventing future light pollution in the area, or is that more of a local council matter? I'm in contact with someone on the west coast of Scotland who leads a group thinking about it. Light pollution map shows 22.00sqm and 0.00 artificial light over a large area. Top class Bortle 1 area, it deserves it! Cheers all for any insights.

If you buy a sky atlas (Sky and Telescope do an excellent one, under £20 for the jumbo one I believe), a decent quick finder like a telrad (£40) and a free phone app like sky safari, stellarium or skyview, you can learn your way around fairly quickly without goto. Goto is good for the harder to find, smaller objects not located near any easily identifiable stars. I have goto on one scope, it's fun, fast and at times handy, but don't need it. If you have terrible light pollution, it helps I suppose. I've not been observing that long, less than a year. It's fun to navigate to objects without goto as well, though can be a little frustrating. The biggest advantage of goto if you are married is that you see more objects before your wife rings demanding you come home.