ScouseSpaceCadet

Fantastic. That looks like a great evening. The Double Cluster is one of the few DSOs that actually looks pretty much the same through a telescope as you see in many photos. Lovely framed in a medium - low power eyepiece and a great object to show people who don't normally observe.

Very nice... I only had one generous neat tot of Pusser's 40% to take the chill off. I've not drank dark rum for oh, twenty years probably but fancied a bottle a couple of weeks ago. Maybe one is enough for me these days. 🙄 These reports I occasionally post are not particularly high brow or well written, however hopefully a newbie will find them useful or someone living somewhere urban thinking there's little point might be stirred to give astronomy a go. That's my primary motivation. I must say the response I receive from members here is cheering. You're a very supportive bunch and it's appreciated immensely.

Strangely my interpretation of the cluster shape is totally different despite us both coming to the same conclusion!

Thanks @mikeDnight. A flattering statement from an old pro! 😁 These little refractors do give a lot and I'm so glad I took the plunge after going through several telescopes and apertures. I do envy your skies. Sadly this little gem has yet to see action under darker skies. There's no doubt it would not disappoint considering the blue/grey night it battles at home.

The mount is an often overlooked expenditure and is also usually the biggest let down when purchasing a package. Every telescope needs a stable platform to function optimally. Something dobson mounts excel at. In general use a 4" ed refractor will never beat an 8" reflector, purely because of all that extra aperture, however as described above there are plenty of benefits.

Save your money and wait for a used ota. You already have a fantastic instrument in the 8" dob. These f5 refractors come up for sale regularly. Consider posting a wanted ad.

The mount seals it. The ST120 would be a nightmare to use on that light weight eq mount. Also the refractor won't show you anything the the dob won't do. Refractors are nice instruments but not for everyone. They do cut through light pollution well, stars are pinpoints without diffraction spikes and contrast is excellent. With the goto eq mount the observing position is comfortable and adjustable to suit the user. The differences between my f7 ED scope and the ST120 are an *almost* lack of chromatic abberation. 99% of the time I don't see it and I can up the magnification on for instance; planets, lunar, globulars and split tight double stars, revealing detail and colour without degrading the view or straining my eyes. Aperture is king, however in light polluted skies I found it makes little difference as DSO viewing is quite limited anyway, hence the refractor choice. I've sacrificed aperture for easy storage, portability, goto and accurate tracking at high power. Observing is very relaxed without manually tracking or star hopping. Acquiring an object is relatively quick. I can sit and read about an object, pop the kitchen or whatever and the object is still in the eyepiece when I look. I sold an 8" dob and a 6" mounted reflector once I had my £495 102ED. However again, I had to upgrade from my AZGTI mount, so a pre-owned Celestron AVX goto eq was bought because I simply cannot afford a high load alt az goto mount. Though observing with my combination is a joy. The whole package is rock steady. £1100 well spent on the scope and mount. I'm not particularly rich so that price was a combination if my own cash and selling unneeded gear.

The ST120 is an absolutely fine wide field telescope. Mine was equipped with a 2" diagonal & Baader semi apo filter plus a 9x50 RACI finder/ red dot sight. Some people replace the focuser or add a motor, but then you may as well consider a 102mm ED refractor. There is an 8"(?) dobsonian in your avatar. I wonder if the ST120 would really compliment the dob? Also the ST120 is not actually very travel friendly. With accessories and an eyepiece it weighs around 6kg. The primary reason I sold mine was because I felt it was on the limit of useability on an AZ5 mount and even after swapping to a 1.25" diagonal and plastic red dot, too heavy for the AZGTI. Assuming you don't have a mount, you really need to consider mounting requirements & the extra cost involved. Bear in mind prices have increased drastically this last year. I paid £215 new. At £299 I don't think I'd bother. They regularly come up for sale used so worth a punt if you can get one for less than £200.

Thanks Paul & all. I was out a good three hours. Not a massive list but the first few doubles I'd not observed and the old favourites were visited for the first time this season with a telescope. It's worth taking the time with the brighter fuzzies, often some detail can be teased out even with a 4" refractor and light polluted skies. I did actually finish with M81/M82 but they were a bit low in the north and in that direction someone else has erected WW2 anti aircraft search lights by the looks of how the gardens & trees 100m away were glowing! So they were barely observable. Good luck for Wednesday Paul. Fingers crossed it's clear, an early evening planetary session would fit the bill. I was hoping to do some Saturn ap last night but the weather looked too so-so and the forecasts just can't be trusted!

Ahh! I see now you're one of our Aussie friends. It is a delight but you have plenty of delights in the southern hemisphere I'll likely never see. 😀

The Double Cluster is under dark skies, visible with the naked eye and quite a sight through 10x50 binoculars. Use longer focal length eyepieces for the best view. It really is a fantastic object even in urban skies. https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/stars/star-clusters/perseus-double-cluster/

11th September 2021 was my last prolonged observing session, utilising 10x50 binoculars while camping in bortle 3 skies. Since then a couple of quick sessions on the gas giants. Tonight the skies finally cleared after weeks of cloud and rain. As dusk arrived I set up the Celestron AVX and Altair Starwave 102ED. After a rough polar align and a 2 star align I was ready to go. Sadly Saturn had disappeared behind a neighbour's trees so I had a short time remaining before Jupiter followed. Unfortunately right as I started pointing at Jupiter, a thin veil of milky high cloud appeared spoiling the view. Trying over 120x was pointless. So, off I popped for a warming shot of Pusser's and sat down for a ponder. Sky Safari and notebook to hand I decided to sort a sky tour starting from Jupiter. Nothing taxing, Messiers and doubles. As Jupiter slid behind the trees the sky cleared and the tour began. The globulars M2 and M15 were the first stop. As expected in bortle 7 skies, fuzzies but easily discernable at low power. Adding mag to darken the sky worked wonderfully and the Vixen 4mm SLV did give hints of the sparkly stars at the cores. On to a host of easy doubles, despite that I previously haven't observed some of them: Gamma Equulei - this looked gold to me with a blue companion. Delta Equulei - Yellow and blue. Sheat (Beta Pegasi) - My colour blindness kicked in here Gold/Orange? Mator (Eta Pegasi) Orange/blue. Alpheratz (Alpha Andromeda) A bright white star and faint companion almost lost in the glare. The gem Almach (Gamma1 Andromeda) one of the best doubles to observe and a very easy split. Bright orange and green. Quite brilliant and highly recommended if you own a small telescope. Excellent at 178x in the Vixen 4mm SLV. Super colour rendition. Up to M31. I know this is pointless but I visit our closest intergalactic neighbour every session. In the Altair UFF 24mm, an obvious core with some extra elongated fuzz revealed as by now the sky despite being bright the seeing was pristine. Along to the firm favourite Double Cluster in Perseus. Wonderfully framed in both the Altair UFF 24mm and OVL Nirvana 16mm. I never tire of this cluster. Realising the Pleiades was above the house now I had a look and fantastically each star was naked eye visible so the mount was sent to it and the Altair UFF 24mm framed this cluster perfectly. I've seen the famed nebulosity once, but that was late winter with a 6" reflector if I remember correctly. Finally to finish, M34. I think this was framed nicely in my Altair Flat Field 9mm. This looks to me like a footballer who's just wellied a ball? Overall a wonderful and very relaxed observing session with a tot of rum to keep the creeping cold at bay. The sky was still fantastic when I came in but fatigue won.

It's probably just me, however after my weekly episode of Foundation followed by Invasion, on went a rather late episode one for another try. I fell asleep again! Athough on this occasion I valiantly battled on for approximately forty minutes, I could not resist Cox's hypnotic commentary...

As above, Ebay sourced knurled thumb screws are the way to go...

Lovely area. The Kangaroo Inn in Clun is a nice little pub. Parking in Ludlow on market day is a nightmare though. It's a shame we had a blanket of cloud for three nights the other week camping. Great report Swithin StCleeve thanks. 👍

Working in the science lab is pretty much the same as anywhere else. Religion and politics don't mix in the work place (or forums). Best just to respect others' views and all get on. Edit: Ultimately these programmes are not made for us lot with cameras and telescopes pointed skyward, rather the millions who don't. No bad thing.

Unlucky. Camping for three nights at Kielder Water last September netted me one very memorable night and several incredibly itchy midge bites! Great skies when the clouds clear...

After a hearty tea Iplayer went on. Fifteen minutes into the first episode I entered a deep unconscious state and woke up dying for a wee half way through episode three. Just in time for the thoroughly enjoyed galaxy collision segment. 👍 I'll have another try at the weekend. 🙄

To fair to 'Brain' Cox, I think that is the whole point of his programmes. Televised outreach. The more kids and adults he gets interested in Cosmology Lite© and everything else, the better. I've no issues with his presenting style. Ponderous but fun to take the mickey out of. 😁 (...and I just ordered a free poster ta 👍)

Hopefully his tour dates are announced soon cos someone still has the £100 I stumped up for the tour that didnt tour... ☹️

I'll give it a try next time out. If there ever is a next time. Bloody weather!

The tripod I use, although an adapter for an existing tripod is obviously cheaper... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/sky-watcher-38-stainless-steel-tripod.html

I may have found a use for the OVL zoom I never use... I've been using a 24mm 65° then swapping to a 12mm 60°. I assumed the zoom fov at 24mm wasn't wide enough to acquire the target?

Wow. Having missed the opener I was surprised by the Guardian review however the majority here seem to express the same views. I'll watch it on Iplayer later hoping to not be too disappointed. To be fair his last series was underwhelming too although I put that down to the pandemic. I wonder if he's actually passed his peak?

You hit the jackpot there Geoff. 👍 What telescope did you use?