Mick H

10 hours ago, Merlin66 said:

Finally got a clear day and pretty good seeing.

Great images Merlin, well done.

5 hours ago, WestCoastCannuck said:

Yep.  Binoviewing is awesome.  I mostly view the moon....

Agree Mike, I failed to mention I could not fit the whole of the Moon in my 32mm Omni Plossl eyepieces.

Hopefully when I receive the Baader T2 prism diagonal with SCT adapter that will shorten the light path a bit. 

22 minutes ago, StarGazingSiouxsie said:

Along with using one of my hair dryers to keep the dew & Corrector Plate fogging at bay.

Or get three friends pointing their hairdryers as well, that would Straighten you out. 😏

This is my second light with my new William Optics Binoviewer's.

Second because I only spent an hour setting them up viewing the Moon the first night, which was a wow factor.

I had read that a lot people had trouble with inter pupilary distance (ie could not merge the image into one), this was not a problem for myself as I had viewed in binoculars day/night many times.

Anyway the WO Binoviewer's are well made and came with two Swan 20mm 72° eyepieces, 1x6 Barlow, and a nice box with foam for storing.

Last night was perfect viewing and I was setup early.

After doing Auto Alignment using Starsence on my NexStar 8se I checked alignment on Arcturus which was dead centre, using two 32mm Omni Plossl's. 

I then pressed the Deep Sky button on the hand control and went for Messier Objects, and chose M13 which was in view.

Had a good evening studying  M31, M27, M57, M81/82, and NGC 869 and 884 (Double Cluster).

It was a pleasure to just sit there viewing with both eyes, I seemed to relax and stare longer than Mono viewing.

Sadly Jupiter and Saturn can not be seen from my position yet, as I have a big (swear word) grey shed in the way.

I cannot wait until next month when they will be in view.

I have ordered a Baader T2 diagonal and adapter for SCT, but I need a T2-M26 male thread only available in the USA so I can remove the WO nose piece. This will give me shorter light path, reduced weight, and Direct connect to telescope port via the T-2 to SCT adapter (see pic)

I am pleased with the binoviewer's but.....................

If only William Optics supplied this nose piece adapter.

I wished I had gone with the Baader MaxBright II Binoviewer which would of made life easier.

Oh Well.

If you got this far thanks for reading.

6 hours ago, StarGazingSiouxsie said:

OK, so this is what I learnt this evening.

Well done Siouxsie.

you can also add additional alignment points scattered across your visible sky, and each one will add to the accuracy of your goto’s.

I think it's up to 10 reference points that can be used.

Then use the User Align feature to save for next time you setup.

On 29/07/2020 at 17:12, Piero said:

Do you have any recommendations for a reliable supplier of high quality hardwood hardcore plywood in the UK (preferably)?

Thanks

Marine ply make sure it is BS1088 standard.

https://www.huntingdontimber.co.uk/plywood-sheets-cambridgeshire

1 hour ago, CraigT82 said:

This is the first Mars image I've captured since 2016

Beautiful shot Craig, well done.

19 minutes ago, StarGazingSiouxsie said:

Baader Continuum filter

Works well on the Moon and Venus when they are very bright.

I really like Australian Dylan O'Donnell.

He presents very well and has a sense of humour.

11 hours ago, StarGazingSiouxsie said:

What do you get to see, sunspots & stuff?

Yes Siouxsie, sunspots.

It's quiet at the moment, but at least I get to use the scope. 😉

I have Astrozap Baader filter and at the eyepiece a Baader Continuum filter, not my image but looks like pic below.

4 minutes ago, StarGazingSiouxsie said:

 I examined the tracking menu. I found that tracking was 'Disabled'. My understanding is that 'Sidereal' is the default setting. 

Now, whether my scope went into some kind of safe mode and disabled the tracking after me confusing it or whether tracking defaults to 'Disabled' after a reset, I don't know. I wish I'd checked that first now before doing the reset but we shall soon see the next time it's clear here.............

 

Tracking is always disabled until you have done an alignment, then once aligned sidereal is default.

 I know this as during the day I solar observe and have to add solar tracking/sun via tracking menu.

14 hours ago, StarGazingSiouxsie said:

What I am worried about is that during one of my failed alignments, the scope ended up trying to plate solve my house. So, being the lazy cow that I am, rather than pick up the telescope and move it to face clear sky

Next time just let StarSense do it's thing. 

Let it try and plate solve your house and let it fail, it will move on until it finds three areas and will then say alignment.

What I mean is don't pick up the scope and move it to face clear sky, StarSense will find it. 

Merlin, I really enjoyed that.

Thanks for sharing.

1 hour ago, Moonshed said:

All ok  now.

👍

Glad you got it working again.

Welcome back Moonshedman.

Could you not login?

If you type Moonshedman in the search box your activity is still there.

Just watched it for the first time.

Lovely.

5 hours ago, Mary Carla said:

2. Long: -80 28’ 26” Lat: 32 19’ 05”

Hang on:

When entering your location the lat/long you must include a leading “zero” ie. 80 deg is entered as 080. 

You must have 7 numbers in the long and 6 in the latitude entry.

You can check your entries by selecting “View time site” in the menu.

Hi and welcome to SGL.

Are you using SkyPortal/SkySafari with mobile or tablet, or the hand control with Nexstar?

If the later try a two star align.

Exact time and date, and remember date is month/day/year so 07/23/2020

Mr JKulin, I doff my cap.

What a lovely image with you and the wife.

Just thought.

I was born in April 1951, I was eighteen................................................

😮

Fly me to the moon and let me play amongst the stars

dum dee dee de dum de de de

dum de de de do.

3 minutes ago, Gina said:

Not month - actual day.

I know Gina, but you are allowed to party the whole month. 🥳

Happy July.

5 minutes ago, Gina said:

I was 17 and had my own TV.

Happy Birthday Month Auntie.

I was TV, and had my own 17.

Hi Grant, and welcome to SGL

Were you viewing through your window?

I have done it this way.

Auto align using Starsense or two star alignment without.

Once aligned I plug in the usb cable into HC, then into mac laptop.

Fire up Stellarium point to target and away goes my 8se,  and always dead in the middle of eyepiece.

Stellarium already has my scope and location selected.

Looks like I'll have to go down the T2-1.25 eyepiece holder route for now.