ScouseSpaceCadet

Cosmic Geoff probably hit the nail on the head. Not much of a downsize, easier to move around and no polar aligning. Alt az goto alignment is quick once you know a few bright stars or have a planetarium app handy (guilty secret!) Tbh I don't miss my 8" dob. Living in a light polluted urban area I couldn't really observe DSOs anyway. A 4" ed refractor with the option of quickly mounting it on a manual alt-az mount or a ten minute set up goto mount with good tracking for extended sessions is incredibly convenient and easy to use. All but the brightest DSOs are out of reach from home but widefield, double stars, lunar, planets and occasionally solar keeps me busy. Don't be afraid to downsize if your skies are poor or you're not using that big scope, just adjust your observing habits and get out more. 😀

Great stuff a man of your age staying up so late John. Inspirational! A great read too. Thanks. 😉

90% visual and 10% dabbling in imaging.... Interestingly I've noticed a trend for imaging equipment to be sold off. The reasons being 'the weather', 'I don't have time', 'I'm skint' or all the latter combined. I don't think I'll ever invest in a full imaging set up because of all the above cited reasons!

For camping trips I have a Mak 102 and 10x50 binoculars. Invariably the Mak stays in the car boot/tent while I take in breathtaking starfields, open clusters and many deep sky objects with the binoculars. Under dark skies binoculars offer the user a magnificent view not available to the naked eye, while being compact, lightweight and easy to use compared to a telescope, finder, eyepieces and mount. The binoculars can be used for hours on end without aches if one is positioned comfortably on a recliner, decent camping chair or even lying on the ground with my head propped on a bergen/rucksack. Both instruments have their uses but since buying binoculars for astronomy I wouldn't be without them. A really good pair of 10x50 binoculars, a good observers guide and a red torch costs around £120. Not much outlay for someone interested in trying astronomy. Each to their own I suppose but I'd always recommend trying binoculars first.

https://www.pitchup.com/campsites/Wales/North-Wales/Denbighshire/St_Asaph/corn-bwch/?type=4&#csdetail That's my St Asaph site. I can't personally recommend it because I've not previously visited, but the reviews are great and it's just the type of site I like i.e. small, no touring vans, clean facilities and a pub within walking distance.. Low Greenside Farm near Kirkby Stephen is a fantastic campsite with huge pitches but this year especially it's booked all summer. In fact they have recently removed the site off www.pitchup.com probably for that reason. We have visited before and hope to make a yearly visit. This year in September. The October site in the Shropshire Hills is a departure for us, due to 'er indoors wanting electricity. Still, the location looks nice enough... Wayside

Smashing report. 👍 I'm surprised how easy a shadow transit is to observe.. Ganymede right now. Sharp as a button through the 102ED. 😀

Callisto was maybe 8 Jupiter widths off to your left. Back off the mag a bit tonight you should see it. The shadow wasn't a transit but get out tonight at the same time and you will catch a Ganymede shadow transit. 👍

I've tried all my scopes on the planets. The first being a 130p. After observing Saturn and Jupiter through that I was sold. The ST120 although not really able to crank up the magnification, did show quite a bit of detail on Jupiter at medium powers. A 150p was much like the 130p with a touch of extra banding etc on Jupiter. The Skymax 102 is entertaining for it's size, especially lunar observing. The Starwave Ascent 102 really shows off Jupiter features for its aperture with decent contrast and no obvious c.a. Even at only 100x magnification with a 7mm OVL Nirvana-ES last night I could see more detail on Jupiter than all the aforementioned instruments despite the humidity. The plan over the next couple of years is to invest in a 120-130mm apo and a heftier mount. I've no doubt it will be worth the outlay.

Luckily the weather forecast was a dead cert last night and it's Friday, so a pre planned 90 minute kip was taken after tea. The plan was to check out the lunar X and V then back out for Jupiter and Saturn. Unfortunately I realised when setting up, the moon would be behind houses at the scheduled time... 🙄 Still, back out at 0130 for a few satisfying glimpses of Saturn followed by a long Jupiter session. Seeing was excellent and the 102mm frac, out for the first time on the planets smashed the Skymax. Every so often a back stretch and a sweep with the 10x50s. A nice summer time t-shirt and shorts session. I'm working 9-5 these days and being past 50 I can't work on a few hours sleep so the weather being good on a weekend for the first time in ages was a super bonus. 👍 Time for bed. Good night! 😀

Suspiciously similar to the Altair 24mm UFF I bought several weeks back. If it's exactly the same then you have a nice eyepiece. 😀

Glad it's better. Good luck the forecasts are great. 😀

Admittently a fantastic achievement and superb engineering feat, however still aimed at the very upper financial echelon of society and likely to remain so for a long time. So yes, impressive but only for the so called 'elites'. "We are at the vanguard of a new industry determined to pioneer twenty-first century spacecraft, which will open space to everybody — and change the world for good.", is utter nonsense and patronising marketing blurb. A few hundred, maybe a few thousand potential seat buyers compared to 7 billion on spaceship Earth is hardly, "everybody". Maybe Virgin Galactic has kicked off an industry for many people to enjoy in the far future if they can get costs down, but ultimately unless global politics changes and the gap between rich and poor closes, rather than becoming wider as it currently is doing, then Branson is talking to a select few.

Iirc if the scope isn't too fat or long it should do or very nearly... In the second pic there's still a few cm travel remaining.

I meant to add, has the op moved the mount arm to the upright position by moving the two fixing bolts were it attaches to the base? This balances the load better. See my second pic.

Really strange because my ST120 was quite beefy with a 50mm raci and it sat nicely on the AZ5. Likewise the 150i newtonian with upgraded focuser and tube rings. The current f7 4" refractor is fine too. The only real issue I've encountered is near or at zenith, the clutches need to be super tight for the slomo cables to work. Fully loaded the heaviest the mount has held is approx 6.5 kilos but I don't think more than that is practical. Try tightening a touch the 3 screws holding the dovetail clamp. 6" Newt on the AZ5 observing Mars last Autumn. Moon watching with an Altair Starwave 102ED f7.

Jeremy answered for me. Thankfully because he's far more qualified to do so! 😀 Back to the original question; with 'modest' equipment amateurs can still contribute to science. Whether that be with binoculars, mounted telescopes, automated observatories or using a computer and the internet to take part in citizen science projects like Galaxy Zoo.

During the early hours this morning a blanket of grey clouds endured until I gave up at 2am, so no Callisto transit for me. This morning I've woken up to the nicest day for a couple of weeks! 🙄

Professionals cannot point their telescopes everywhere, all the time... Scientific data collection is still very much within the amateur realm as demonstrated above. If you type in to Google (or any other search engine of choice...), 'Amateur astronomy discoveries', you will find a plethora of articles related to recent amateur discoveries of comets, asteroids, supernovas and the list goes on... There's a good list of current amateur projects here; https://www.hobbyspace.com/Astronomy/astronomy2.html I'm a relatively recent B.A.A. member but the amount of excellent work undertaken by amateurs demonstrated in the journal is outstanding. I'm currently reading up on variable star observation. A contribution to science one can do with very modest equipment - binoculars.

True about the the latitude. Late September onward is best at Kielder even if to just avoid the midges. Although if you're in a camper they shouldn't be so bothersome. Shallow Grange Farm is a pleasant site in the Peak District. A group of us SGLers went there last year right before lock down. Apparently for a number of years the site was also used for the Peaks Star Party. We have an October booking at Wayside in the Shropshire Hills. It's a bit bigger than I'd normally camp at but being October the missus was convinced by an electric hook up tent pitch. I will of course post about the experience here.

A small wide field refractor would a good choice. If you're in a motorhome travelling around campsites, the refractor will give you a great deal of low to mid power observation options. Most viewing will be of DSOs, open clusters and widefield vistas. C.A. won't really be an issue unless you crank up the power on the moon or other bright objects but that's not what you're buying it for. I use a 102 Mak camping because it was a bargain I couldn't pass up and very small. Easily fitting into a camera bag. However it will probably be replaced by a refractor at some point in the future. It's a fantastic little planetary scope but I do prefer wide field observing under dark skies. I've even considered an ST80. So cheap I won't bust a blood vessel if something happens to it yet also small and light weight. Another option for me is to get rid of the Mak and stick with my binoculars. There's a lot to see with 10x50s and to be honest they're used more than the telescope. If in a motor home you could manage a larger aperture binocular. Have you considered this?

The darkest, most northerly campsite in England is Kielder Campsite. Miles from the nearest town, very clean facilities, astronomer friendly and a hospitable manager. The midges are very friendly too!

The first image is better, but with a £1000 difference in price that should be the result. A true comparison would be a series of images taken over several sessions. Saying that, the Mak 127 image has just about the same level of detail. It's just not quite as sharp as the ED120 pic.

This is a solution I may get away with... I'm looking forward to the finished result. Thanks for posting.

Same here, I've stopped and listened more than once in my urban garden and it's hardly dark. Out in the countryside with the sheep you're relatively safe. I'm also very surprised to learn suspenders aren't compulsory in Sardinia?! 🤪

Keeping fingers crossed for very early on Tues.There's a Callisto shadow transit to catch at around 1am between the houses and I'm off that day... 🤞 Congrats to those who recently dodged the clouds! 👍