RobH2020

Thanks Ben! that means - you think it is Hyades? Any idea why it doesn't seem to look anything like the star charts or others' photos of hyades?

Hi all, I wondered if you could help me with a very easy identification - see my right-side up drawing (same as binoculars) below. I'm pretty sure this is the Hyades in Taurus as it's right next to Alderaan. Looks like a bull's head to me too. But it looks nothing like the star charts or proper photos of Hyades. It's massively distinctive from my location, can spot it easily with binoculars, so it'd be good to properly identify it. Looks nothing like this... obviously this is a decent astrophotography image so there are a lot more stars, but i thought i'd be able to see my stars in there! Makes me think that it isn't the right thing!

Thanks for the reply! Basically I'm just wondering if the new 8" dobsonian I have will provide a more detailed view of the moon than my old 6"! If I put the end cap on and open the little cap to reduce brightness, it'll be the same... so am wondering if lunar filter / sunglasses would give me a better view! Thanks, Rob

Hi all, I'm slightly confused about getting greater resolution on the moon. If you have a larger aperture, you can get greater resolution right? But the moon is very bright, so people often put the end-cap back on the newtonian and open the "little cap" on it to reduce the brightness. This must reduce the resolution I suppose? So what's the deal here - is this why you have a lunar filter, to cut down on the light hitting your eye but letting the scope collect more photons? Many thanks! Rob

Aha thanks, I'll have to look more into binocular use for those with astigmatism...

wow good solution!

Ah, I do have astigmatism and wear glasses to correct for that (as well as short-sightedness). Is that an issue when it comes to using binoculars without wearing my glasses?

Hi all, I seem to have a problem with looking through binoculars. I can never resolve the image provided by both eyes into one image - I can always see two images slightly offset, so nothing's ever completely clear. Do you know what the problem could be here? I originally thought it was my interpupillary distance, when i got some Astromaster 15x70 the IPD was much too big for my narrow eyes. But now i've got some Opticron Adventurer 10x50 with an IPD that in theory suits me. Yet I still have this issue! Can anyone fill me in on what might be going wrong? Thanks! Rob

Oh yeah I could easily see it, it always looks like a giant manta ray to me, so i could see its big wings spreading out a long way, and its mouth near the trapezium! I would definitely expect fewer features to be visible with the moon washing it out when looking at the full spectrum of light, I just wasn't sure about with the UHC filter...

Hi all, I had first light on Saturday with both my new 8" dob (upgrade from 6") and my Astronomik UHC filter. The moon was very bright, it's getting on towards being full. I was wondering, to what extent would the moonlight affect my view of the Orion nebula? I understand the UHC filter should filter out a lot of the light from the moon. But I think the wavelengths that the filter lets through are also heavily represented in the moonlight's radiance... I also guess the presence of the moonlight would mean that my eyes could not fully adapt to the dark, because it wasn't as dark as it could be. For reference I'm in a "bright suburban" type location (red/orange boundary, in the home counties around London). For what it's worth, I was impressed with the upgrade, but it's true what people say - the difference between an 8" scope and a 6" scope is much much less than between a 6" scope and no scope at all! But my question is - should I expect to see the Orion nebula through the filter better on a dark night (no moon)? Thanks! Rob

I started off with that scope. I was wowed by the views it gave me of the moon! Unfortunately I thought the mount was terrible, and I could never really find anything else I wanted to look for in the sky. I quickly upgraded to a Skywatcher 150 dobsonian scope. It was sooooooo much better! A joy to use whereas the astromaster 70 made me want to throw it out a window... I can definitely second the BST star guider recommendation though, been very happy with the couple of those i have.

Yeah it's nuts what posting something costs to the average Joe on the street, especially something massive and bulky like a telescope! Amazingly FLO can charge £8 for courier delivery whether it's a 30kg, two-box telescope setup, or just an envelope with a filter. Shows the bargaining power a business has with the express couriers vs one person! If I do get hold of the 200mm I'd be intending to sell the 150mm, but I don't think I'd bother offering postage (collection only), too much hassle and risk of breakage!

Thanks for your thoughts! I spoke to Skywatcher USA (couldn't find any contact details for any other location) and they said: "The factory is running and producing normally. The hard part is that many people have taken to astronomy due to the lock downs across the globe. Astronomy is one of the industries that has exploded in interest as it is something people can do from home with their family. Due to the massive increase in demand it has increased buying beyond the normal amount for telescope equipment globally. This and the fact that COVID has hit the raw material suppliers hard means its difficult to keep up with the sudden surge in demand." I also spoke to FLO and they said they're regularly getting Skyliners in (I'm after the 200 dob) but that they typically sell out ahead of receiving the delivery - i.e. demand is ahead of supply. There's also a detailed note on their site about the whole disruption. Interestingly the second-hand market is pretty robust at the moment, I've seen a Skyliner 150 dob currently on £300 and rising on ebay, and that's retail priced at around £220 usually. So a good time if you want to get rid of kit!

Looks like everywhere is out of stock of Skywatcher scopes, which are of course made in China. Anyone heard anything about when we might see this around again? Many thanks Rob

Haha very cautious dew shield indeed considering it's indoors!

Found another one - in series 1 of The Expanse on Amazon Prime. Good series. It's even a sci-fi about travels around the solar system. The set dressers still don't know what they're doing with a telescope though!

Aha, that's why it looks so stubby it's an extender!

What is that R2D2-looking scope, the fat one on the left??

John bumping a very old thread of yours here 😀 found it when Googling this topic... Did you ever make that camping mat light shield? Do you have any photos I could use for inspiration if so? And did it help? Cheers! Rob

Looks good! Moon filter on the eyepiece might help, but if you don't have that, does your scope cap have a small hole in it that you can open? Or even failing that, just tape some paper with a small opening in it over the aperture would help to decrease the brightness.

Got my smartphone adaptor and took this last night of the moon with my handheld 10x50 binoculars and a single Astro Cam app exposure on my Samsung S7 (1/1000 shutter speed). Obviously not a very impressive photo, but a significant improvement on what I could do before It's amazing just how small the moon is... Will it try it on Jupiter with my 6" dobsonian when I get a chance... One thing I hadn't been realising is that you need to leave a degree of "eye relief" for the camera when holding it up to the lens. No wonder I couldn't see anything through the camera screen!

Cheers for this, that's great! Amazing what he can take of the Orion nebula with one frame and a smart phone. Buuuut... regarding light pollution, he's in Canada, and I'm next to London 😂 Looks very useful for capturing the planets though.

Hi all, I'm interested in astrophotography in the most basic way possible, using my camera phone. I've taken a few OK photos of the moon by holding it up to the eyepiece, but I've seen others took some OK-ish (for what they are) photos of jupiter and saturn. enough to give some impression of what you can see through the eyepiece anyway, even if they won't blow anyone's mind. I don't seem to be able to do that at all, just can't get them to show up on the camera phone screen. What are other peoples' secret to getting an OK camera phone image?

Thanks John. Hmm, sounds like I should've been able to see it then (Sorry forgot to mention I was using a 150mm dob). maybe the seeing just wasn't good enough? They're quite low and it's hard to observe them without houses somewhere below them for me!

Saw my first scope view of Saturn and Jupiter last night!! Amazing, real wow moment. Got the best views with a BST 18mm starguider and an orion shorty barlow. Tried it with a 10mm plossl but it didn't look good. I was hoping to maybe make out the great red spot and the Cassini division but couldn't quite do it. Can you see these through larger scopes? It felt like the seeing wouldn't have been good enough no matter the scope! Oh and are any planetary filters worth it? I've heard mixed things...