Barry-W-Fenner

Thanks Again for your help gents, Greatly appreciated. I will certainly have a look at Cartes du Ciel going forward. I will also continue to view Uranus through High mag and try Johns tried and tested technique to hopefully spot the Moons! I am really looking forward to having a crack at Neptune aswell now. Finding Uranus has given me a good idea of what to look out for when hunting Neptune, but on a smaller scale! The problem I have with Neptune is the sky is to bright when it is high enough, and Neptune is below the horizon when its dark! baz

Thanks John, So from a field of view perspective 30 to 35mm range in 2" ideally. budget wise I would be looking at the lower end currently so if I could get one of the above around the £50 mark that would be good. Assuming that's possible? I will keep my eyes open. Now you have touched on filters I am intrigued 🙂 Do you use filters to improve the view of open clusters? I have only tried using my OIII on Nebula. Don't get me started on the Veil and North America Neb - I cant find them anywhere... Baz

On the subject of FOV - I have been viewing open clusters and enjoy using my 48 mag - 25mm BST to view most of the larger clusters. What would be a good low power eye piece in my 200p to view targets such as the double and M45 in full? I would like to achieve what the full object looks like in the finderscope but a bit more detailed. Thank you Barry

All set up last night ready to go. Managed 20 mins on Uranus then the sky decided it didn't like me and clouded over. I take these things very personally 🙂🙂 Baz

Morning all, I have just had time to digest this information a bit better. little nippers running around your feet certainly mess with your concentration 🙂 Using what I assume to be 300 mag (150 doubled with x2 barlow) gives me a decent view of Uranus. a clean disc with some colour. When I use my 5.5 BST 218 mag with x 2 Barlow things start to get a bit more blurry. Am I getting to the point where I am exceeding my magnification limit? When i get the opportunity to view Neptune I am trying to get an idea of what power to use to get a decent image. I will also practice the above "1000 mile stare" 🙂 technique to see if this helps distinguish any other points of light around these planets, Its really nice pushing my little dob to see how much can be seen clearly! What is Cartes de Ciel chaps?? Sounds interesting. I understand what you are saying regarding checking software last. If you see something on the software you kind of et an expectation of what you should see in the eye piece. If only that was true in reality! The sky doesn't seem to want to play! Regards Baz

Oh no, all stars out front officially swallowed up by cloud, Orion is no more... Looks like it's packing up time. On a more positive note, I'm so pleased I found uranus again, I feel like I have made some progress. I have read that some members are underwhelmed by it when they find it but I am overjoyed. It's up there with the 1at time I found jupiter! Great stuff. Baz

Evening all. Thanks for the comprehensive list of advice John. I have just managed about 20mins viewing of uranus at 150 mag and a x2 barlow. So I assume that means I'm achieving 300 mag? I was trying to use some of your techniques but the sky is no where near as clear tonight and uranus travels through the focuser at quite a speed at this mag which is really testing my amateur skills. Now the cloud has rolled in and consumed all... I'm going to hold out and not pack up yet as out the front of my house is clear and Orion looks great. It's always the back that clouds over! I am going to have a cuppa and read over your wise words again john. Regards Baz

Pukka! Thanks Stu, That will come in very handy! Regards Baz

Hi Stu, Only just noticed your post, Sorry. What is Sat24? I am not familiar with this. Thank you Barry

Hi John. Nice find! I bet that looks ace. Apologies for the daft question, are comets around for a long time to view? If so do they move across your fov similar to a planet? I've always assumed that a comet would pass kind of like a shooting star or meteor. I feel your pain regarding the funny viewing angles, one of the reasons for the right angle finder purchase was because the straight finder caused all sorts of back pains. Now i have the very helpful rigel to look through the back pains have returned. Regards Baz.

Hi Happy-Kat That is a fantastic pic of Betelgeuse. I cant believe how many stars we dont get to see when observing Orion. I look forward to seeing the complete mosaic With the remaining prominent stars and central Nebula. When do you think you with have the next pic available? Baz

Couple of shots of Venus i took Saturday night. Really cant believe how bright it is. 1st shot is a poorly focused phone. The 2nd is Venus down the focuser at 150 mag.

Welcome aboard 🙂

What time did you pack up Stu? I also have to be up for 6am. Annoying as Last night was by far the best seeing over the weekend. Why couldn't Saturday be that good! Baz

I think my next investment is defiantly some decent socks. I am ok with the cold, Quiet enjoy being out in the cold crisp air. However as soon as the feet start to get cold then everything else slowly starts to follow. I work in the construction industry so might see what Kingspan I have laying around to rest my feet on also 🙂 Baz

That's dedication right there Stu. When you pack up with frost all over your gear your doing things properly. 🙂 I am not quite up to that level yet. I had to call it a day last night at the point where my toes were about to snap off! I dont know much about scope setups but that looks like a proper bit of kit you have there! Baz

Thanks gents, Much appreciated. I was so happy to find Uranus finally. It has taken me a little while but we got there in the end. I think the face that it took me a while to locate made it extra special. It really did help that the sky seemed to be on my side for a change. As you have both mentioned it was very clear from about 7 to 9 here. I had to pack up as I was starting to get very cold. I looked outside around 10ish wondering what I was missing and it had all clouded over! I couldn't believe how quick the came happened. Ironically I would usually wait as late as possible to go, If I had done that I i would have had a duff evenings viewing. Baz

Evening all. I've just come in from about an hour and a half and am chuffed to bits as I found uranus for the 1st time. Seeing that tiny perfectly round greenish disc made me fist pump the air! The sky tonight is unbelievably good here, very clear which made star hopping a joy. Really pleased I can tick this one off the list. I also had a look at andromeda and the cat eye nebula. Also the Pleiades and double cluster look amazing. I assume seeing is really good as they were Crystal clear. Orion looked stunning as always. Baz

Hi Alan Took your advice and stuck the x2 Barlow with the 5.5mm eye piece in the 200p lined up venue and got a great view. I thought this would be an ideal target to ramp up the mag as there is not much detail to be lost with venus. Got n excellent blue,yellow,white disc to stud which was great fun and lovely to see. Thanks Alan

That's a pukka sketch john . Baz

Evening all I feel such a plonker, I was looking at Sirius around 2am today trying to split these two stars in my 200p with various bst eye pieces. I never realised it was such a difficult thing to do. You have to admire my enthusiasm though. Total lemon 😀😀😀 Baz

Welcome, Impressive 1st pic you and your daughter have there. I have done similar with my eldest daughter and that makes your capture even more special 🙂

I would love the Lumicom model. However funds are a little on the tight side this soon after xmas. I was lucky to get my dew shield this week 🙂 Thanks for the comprehensive list of filters, I will most likely give the FLO astro filter a go at pay day! Baz

Would you recommend a more expensive V-P. Will a cheaper one perform as well?

Would you recommend purchasing a more expensive one of these? Or can