ScouseSpaceCadet

The Met Office weather forecast has been terribly inaccurate all day. Two unforecast short but heavy downpours had me rushing out for my washing! Tonight was no different, with at least a couple of hours cloud free forecast. Looking forward to double Jupiter moon shadow transits I went with the Skymax 127. Unfortunately the air was very turbulent and wet with patches of cloud racing by so high powers were out. Backing off to 62.5x with the Altair UFF 24mm did provide a tiny but crisp view of Jupiter and both shadows. Ganymede being very obvious with Europa requiring a little patience. Then the blanket of cloud rolled in at a rate of knots. Disappointing really!

The case I bought from Cases and Enclosures for my 4" allows me to keep the diagonal attached. When carving out the cavity for the scope from the foam block, I included the shape of the diagonal rotated flat...

I have on one occasion observed the nebulosity at my urban home - during the peak of the Covid pandemic in 2020 and a particularly crisp night with a 6" newtonian. I doubt that will happen again unless simultaneuously this winter on a very clear night, planes are grounded and we have a power cut. 🙄 Otherwise, get yourself to a dark spot with just about any telescope and hope for a treat. 👍

Inspired by your pic I have reposted mine after a try at processing using the Google Photos editor... I think they look a bit better...

A better phone and decent processing skills made a difference there mate. Great! 😀 I just took loads of snaps and cropped the best... Then had to bluetooth them to my primary phone, a Moto G8+. I can never get my Moto camera lined up with the eyepiece, hence I keep the old S6, that also doubles as my AZGTI controller.

Manual tracking with a solar finder and solar filter equipped Skymax 127 mounted on a Skywatcher AZ5... Taken with a hand held Samsung S6 via a Vixen NPL 30mm eyepiece: 10:20 am: 11:15am: 11:45am I had plans to set up a tracking mount, DSLR etc but true to form, slept in... 🙄

I slept in a bit so went super simple for the eclipse. Observing on the driveway due to the position of the sun. My neighbour came out for a look too.

I'm probably way off, but a few hours after your observation, at approx. 0430 on the 9th I saw a *very* bright flare. I traced it to a Russian 'Monitor' satellite launched in 2003. Maybe your 'flash' was a sateliite? Have you checked Orbittrack for candidates?

Fantastic. Those clusters are favourite targets of mine. Well done spotting a suburban M33!

2030 to 2230 with the 4" f7 ED refractor and a 15 min break half way. A very milky sky with thin cloud accentuating the murky light pollution, accompanied by a gusty breeze. Transparency did improve a little toward the end of the session. I did not particularly notice thermals rising from the neighbouring houses. I don't know if the breeze helped or people just cannot afford to put their heating on! On Saturn higher powers were not useful, but the new to me Vixen 6mm proved its worth, punching through the murk to reveal a hint of Cassini and atmospheric shading at 119x. Jupiter was not much better, but slightly more magnification with a Vixen 5mm for 143x did make observing the Io shadow transit easier. The shadow observed just after first contact to approx. 30% on its journey across the planet. During brief moments of better seeing and calmer wind, I was *almost* sure I just about spotted the GRS. This was confirmed after checking Sky Safari. Not spectacular but better than the telly!

I had the same £16.95 subscription as you. A couple of weeks ago they sent me the same letter so I called them and asked for a better deal. The result being 12 issues for £34.99. 👍

All the way from Wisconsin, USA! 🙄 Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas... I procrastinated for years then at Autumn Astrocamp got my hand's on @Live_Steam_Mad's copy and decided the book was worth the $$.

A Vixen NPL 30mm from @Second Time Around thanks. 👍

I don't like using the Mak very much on a manual mount unless I'm sticking to solar system. The narrow fov also rules out many wide field targets. 15x70s (and indeed 10x50s) are smashing for camping. Simple, with no messing breaking the kit down. Just chuck them into the tent and have a kip. 😀 Organised camps I'll take the full monty but there are also security concerns on a public site.

Thanks for that. I do have four days off so I'm definitely thinking about it. The camp site I'm thinking of is open all year round and been on the radar for a couple of years but I've yet to visit. If the weather looks good then it's unlikely I'll take scopes, just the binoculars. I'll let you know. 😀

That report was the perfect length for a toilet read... Great stuff. 😀 I'm toying with the idea of a two night solo camping trip near Bolton by Bowland around new moon this month. Weather dependent of course. Worth the 1hr 15min trip?

127 Maks are easy to pick up used, and will not stress the EQ5 so it would't be a bad choice as an extra scope to play with...

A super condition Vixen SLV 6mm at a fantastic price from @Franklin. So tremendously packaged I wasn't sure if I'd mistakenly received a stealth IQ test! Thanks Tim. 👍

Out at 4am with one target in mind, this season's first observations of Mars. Opting for simplicity (and stealth...), I chose the Altair f7 102 refractor & the AZ5 plonked straight out onto the patio and a comfy rattan chair. With excellent seeing I managed up to 178x with a Vixen SLV 4mm. The planet displayed a shadow phase in the western limb and hints of Mare Acidalium(?). I wasn't expecting much but nonetheless, considering the current size of Mars in the sky and using a 4" telescope I was happy with those observations for starters. I had a few breaks, sitting back and despite the bright sky enjoyed the naked eye view of Pleiades, Hyades and Orion. Sirius popping out from behind the neighbouring houses topped off the autumnal atmosphere. At 5.30am the kit was packed up as Mars drifted into a dispersing aircraft contrail... A nice peaceful ninety minutes.

Then you will likely enjoy a 102mm f7 ED/Apo refractor, bearing in mind you will require a solid mount, so your budget has just gone up.. 😯 I do not have an apo, the cheaper ED version with less expensive glass cost me £495 new (they're now £595 ☹️) and my Celestron AVX goto equatorial mount was £600 used. However as the price of the ED has jumped significantly, it probably would make more sense to save the extra for the apochromatic refractor (Starfield 102 or similar). Mounts come up used regularly, so something like a used Skywatcher EQ5 or AZ4 would not rip your budget up too much. I do understand you have a difficult choice to make. Many (most?) of the posters here have gone through scopes. I've owned in order; 130mm, 200mm and 150mm reflectors, a 120mm f5 refractor, 102mm & 127mm Maksutovs and settled on a 102mm f7 ed refractor. Although I'd probably like to try a 125mm apo in the future! Bang per buck, the 8" dob followed by the 8" goto mounted SCT are the obvious choices but personal preference can overide the obvious logical choice! As previous stated, there really is no substitute to dark skies. I had a cracking time in Brecon with my refractor a couple of weeks ago. There's no rush. Take your time and build up the cash before deciding. The universe isn't going anywhere soon...

Witchcraft! 😆

The refractor will provide a crisper, cleaner view with much better contrast. With those qualities, some finer planetary details are easier to discern and splitting double stars for instance is improved, however it will not actually resolve any more than the 150p. I've owned a 150mm reflector and own a much more expensive 102mm refractor. Much more of a choice than a necessity. I prefer the refractor view but was aware when I bought it that I was basically getting a nicer view and preferable observing position, rather than accessing dimmer objects. If you really want to "see more stuff", then you need to up the aperture significantly and most importantly have access to dark skies.

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That image brings to life the usual binocular smudge... very nice!

I bought the below last week for powering a Celestron AVX. Used for four hours and didn't drop a power bar. Airline friendly @155wh and small enough to fit into hand lugagge. Comes with a cigar socket adapter. The Talentcell batteries are great. I've owned one for two years powering an AZGTi and general power bank duties, but if you're powering several devices the Orion would be better. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/orion-dynamo-pro-155wh-acdcusb-lithium-power-supply.html