Zermelo

Yes, it looks as though this may be more common than you might expect https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor-planet_moon

First photos back from Lucy's flyby of the asteroid Dinkinesh, which turned out to have a companion. Lucy will eventually visit members of the Trojan group. https://www.space.com/lucy-asteroid-flyby-dinkinesh-binary-system

And when added to the ones you already have, it looks like you are "Mr. Zoom"! Taurus 350PRO Dob - Panoptic 27mm. APM 24 UFF. AE 20mm Plossl. APM Superzoom. Svbony 8-3 Zoom, Baader 8-24 zoom, OVL 9-27 Zoom It will be interesting to see how the SV135 compares, given those bench test results.

Yes, that's the SV135 that you intended, and not the SV191: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/414644-budget-zoom-eyepiece-for-mak/?do=findComment&comment=4422862 Can I ask where you got yours?

The Opticstar version of the 24/82 is quite a bit cheaper than ES. They don't do a version of the 24/68.

Sand from a builders' merchant is often not too clean. Sand for horticultural purposes is usually washed (to remove salt). Sawdust may be a better option - preferably from a cabinet maker, as suggested, since the cut is finer. Or, what about trying some of the finer grade sawdust sold as scatter material, used by railway modellers and wargamers? Something like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166026936498?hash=item26a7fa00b2:g:4F8AAOSwhwVhCCG4

Welcome, from next door.

Courtesy of @Moonshed , this nice little diagonal. I already had its bigger brother, which I like, but this one is much lighter.

I agree, but we really need to stop saying so online, or they'll hike it up! 😂 🤫

Try here https://skysafariastronomy.com/skysafari-7-comparison-chart.html

Horizon Envy is perhaps worse even than Aperture Fever.

Hello, and welcome to the forum. For observing ideas, this book is very good : https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/turn-left-at-orion-book.html

There are several; I use this one: https://www.netweather.tv/charts-and-data/global-jetstream#2023/10/28/1200Z/jetstream/surface/level/overlay=jetstream/orthographic=-6.72,57.59,712 Of course, a strong jet stream doesn't always result in poor seeing. Sites like Meteoblue, linked above, try to predict the seeing with models that take in a range of data. I've not found them to be too accurate, but then they can't account for very local factors. Even if the air column is very stable above me, Saturn may still look like mush if my neighbour has lit his fire on a cold evening.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

Getting more speculative now, another (lesser) consideration might be to sequence a list of targets to minimize the total slew, a kind of celestial travelling salesman algorithm. I expect it won't be too long before planetarium apps feature a real-time interface to your AI of choice, which will incorporate all of these considerations, produce an optimized schedule based on them, and then drive your scope for you.

I suspect you may want to switch between different orderings, and at least that's not difficult in SkySafari. Of course, some orderings for a list (e.g. RA, transit time) stay constant, while some (Az, Alt) may change with the sky, through the evening. One consideration that I have when observing at home is wanting to minimize slewing noise. I also like to start a session with the targets that are closest to my final alignment star, hoping for better goto accuracy, and then work away from there. I find sorting by azimuth to be quite convenient for this, but these considerations may not be important at your remote site. Like you, I have a small handful of Messier objects still to bag, all of which have low declinations. If you have an observing list with several of these, then sorting by transit time, for part of the evening at least, may make sense. Of course, the transit time for any individual object is available in the Object Info page, and don't forget that the Graph Object option shows the altitude curve for an object across an evening. @Stu makes a good point about some objects being more urgent due to their being lost in the West. My observing lists usually include a couple like that, targets from the preceding season that I hope to catch early on in the session. Sorting by set time is the obvious option here, though azimuth can be an acceptable proxy. The point about avoiding obstructions can be also be important, though possibly not so much in a rural field as in a back garden. I have significant obstructions at my home location, and it's a pity that the horizon feature in SkySafari is for display only. If I have a long observing list for an evening, I sometimes use the list's comments section to note in advance the best times for targets that will be affected adversely. Finally, if you're switching between different sort orders for a larger observing list during a session, I find it very useful to apply the "Unobserved in this list" filter, to exclude the ones you've already been to (though in my experience it can sometimes fail to exclude objects that have been observed; there's a bug that I've not been able to pin down yet).

I have 1.25" x2 and x3 models from VisionKing and Opticstar (can't remember which way around) that I believe to be optically the same as the ES. One is quite a bit cheaper, new, than the ES; the other, not so. Second hand is possibly a bigger gap, as the ES probably hold their value more.

This is a good site for this kind of thing: https://www.heavens-above.com/

If you were working at a site where you could make noise, this would be gloriously old school. If you weren't lucky enough to have an assistant, there might be an opportunity for astronomy-literate stenographers at the other end of an Internet connection, somewhere in the world. I know a tech solution isn't right for everyone, but I have found the Microsoft Swiftkey keyboard in Android to be quite effective in predicting my next words, when I'm writing up observations in SkySafari. It is a bit circular, and re-enforcing: the more often I type "a little less scatter seen in the Morpheus 6.5mm", the more it will suggest it. I control the brightness with a combination of screen reddening and a physical filter made from a spare phone case and red gel sheet. At very dark sites, I might need more.

And here

They are four-element telecentric multipliers, which have some advantages over telenegative Barlows. Televue Powermates have the same design. https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/719810-a-4-element-barlow-is-it-even-necessary/

Stop it, right now. I can resist anything except temptation, and eyepieces.

I don't like the Tak's twist lock either, especially now that I have a Baader quick lock to compare it with. It's surprising how much the barrels of different EPs vary.

I agree. I would say there are two effects I see in globulars when they are on the limit of resolution. The first is the scintillation that @John describes. The second is a graIniness, a grey area with a texture that just fails to show individual stars. Personally, I find these effects to be as pleasant as a resolved cluster. I don't see the same effects with open clusters, with the exception of one or two that are small and dense (such as the Wild Duck).