Zermelo

Not quite on the U.S. scale but, in my village, the first hint of a nice day usually prompts someone nearby to set fire to something.

... and actually, while criticism of competitors is carefully vetted, the proprietors are quite comfortable with members praising the competition, posting links to their websites, highlighting their special offers ...

That's why double stars were invented.

I had a couple of hours out with the Mak last night. Seeing was still good, as it has been for a while, with the jet stream pushed up north over Iceland. The moon is only just past full, but rising late and staying low. I split four new doubles over in the east: HD164984, HR7199, HD210432, HR8101. The best of the evening was possibly θ Sagittae, with a large magnitude difference (+6.5, +8.9, 11.6”), and sitting in a busy starfield.

FLO's take on filters to use for Venus and other planets: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/flo-guides-colour-filters-to-improve-lunar-and-planetary-visual-observing.html And one from Agena: https://agenaastro.com/articles/guides/visual-and-imaging-filters/choosing-a-color-planetary-filter.html Other resourcess: https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/downloads/dl/file/id/1688/product/2934/usind_filters_for_lunar_planetary_observation_by_william_a_paolini_sept_17_2020.pdf https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/496644-venus-some-filter-views/

He was my first choice, but apparently he was born in Walsall.

I fear you are in error, sir. The genuine article:

Are you also that bloke who writes in to the Times each year when he hears the first cuckoo? I think we in the west are getting more than our fair share of clear skies in this spell, so that's a good result, this early in the year.

I saw T Lyrae last night - dim and red. In the same constellation, there's also HK Lyrae, a smidge brighter, and U Lyrae, a little dimmer.

Here are my observations on the last three versions I have run. Synscan Pro v2.3.0 (Android) 04/04/2023 This version introduced a landscape mode for the app, which switches in when the device sensors detect a horizontal inclination. I can’t really see any advantage to this, and for Android in general I disable the landscape flip unless I have a particular need. However, there is a real annoyance in Synscan – the app over-rides the system-wide preference, so it always flips if you tilt the device too far. Nor can you disable this behaviour in the app, either. This is particularly annoying when you’re in the middle of an alignment, the display changes and you hit the wrong button and cause it to exit. Synscan Pro v2.3.5 (Android) 27/05/2023 This version fixes the landscape flipping issue from 2.3.0. However, it introduces a different bug: screens that ought to display a list of stars no longer do so. In particular, the alignment process is impossible, making this version unusable. Synscan Pro v2.3.7 (Android) 01/06/2023 This version fixes the issue with star lists from 2.3.5. [EDIT: I should have said that all of these were used with an AZ-GTiX mount running 3.36.A5 on the motor board. That can be important: I've had the same version of the Synscan app work fine with one mount and unusable with another.]

I thought it might be useful to have a thread where new versions of the Synscan app are discussed, and experiences compared. The emphasis would be on behavioural aspects that are known or suspected to relate to changes in the software, rather than other issues that people are having with their setup – probably better to open a separate discussion for the latter. [EDIT: this wording sounds like it relates just to issues introduced, but that wasn't my intention. Fixes for previous bugs, and functional enhancements, would be as newsworthy] There is now a decent version change history for the app here. I notice there has also been a new issue of the User’s Manual here, which happens only sporadically. Latest versions of the app itself are available on the different platform stores, and also here. Ancillary software (loaders, mount controller firmware) is available here. One thing that I have learned is always to take a backup of the current app version before you update it, as it’s not unknown for new versions to have bugs. I do this using the Cx File Explorer app (select “apps” from the home screen, long press on the app in the list, and select “backup” in the context menu). If I ever need to fall back, I uninstall the latest version and re-load the backup by clicking on the file in file explorer. App updates usually preserve user settings, but it’s worth checking. In particular, the default for vibration in the user interface settings is “on”, and the default upper altitude limit is less than 90°. On Android, the location permission is usually preserved too but, if not, you will need to re-grant.

The seeing was very good here tonight. Doubles split included HR 8119 in Cepheus, being the tightest at 1.0". The most difficult was 13 Vul, the companion being much fainter, and hiding in the diffraction ring of the brighter component. It was a similar story with λ Oph. The prettiest was probably β Lyrae (Sheliak) - very wide at 46" and with a three magnitude difference, the fainter star looking blue/grey. Aside from the doubles, I tried a couple of planetary nebulae, but the moon was washing them out. I did find the carbon star T Lyrae, which was dim at +8.2, but obviously very red.

Yes, it's only the "WayBack Machine". We need the "WayWayBack Machine".

A bit of an odd evening here, but well worth going out. There was quite a bit of wind that came and went the whole time, but the seeing was good when the scope settled, and transparency was also good, until a huge cloud bank appeared out of nowhere and covered the sky at around 01:00. There was the moon all evening of course, but low down at the moment - these nights are the only time I'm glad for my obstructed southern horizon. Once it was out of direct sight, I managed to split a dozen or so doubles with the Mak 127. The tightest were HR 7184 in Draco and HR 6980 in Hercules, both at 0.8", and at the limit for the Mak (x500 in the Svbony 3-8 zoom). HD 161016 at 0.7" was too much to split, but even that was resolved. Sarin (δ Her) was pleasing, with its five magnitudes of difference, and 95 Her was showing a subtle pink/grey contrast. ρ Her was an even more subtle white/beige. The Svbony zoom was very effective again, sometimes showing less scatter than the Morpheus.

Broccoli is also an asteroid (33269), but it's currently in Taurus.

With the short extension fitted, and the Mak mounted on the side, and no counterweight, I could see the mount tip over very slightly to one side, when compared with the unloaded position. By pushing up under the Mak, I could restore the mount to its unloaded position. I've not actually tested the mount in this configuration for observing, because I had the other extension to hand. It's possible that Synscan can compensate for these flexures; if the scope is balanced correctly on the Alt axis, then I would expect the departure from vertical to be constant. I'd not noticed any flex with my other mount, but it's a more irregular shape, and it might have been doing the same thing without my knowledge. If you're able to run a test like I did - find some targets using goto only, before using the Freedom Find, I'd be interested in your findings. You can turn the dual encoders on at the start of the session, I believe it won't affect the pointing accuracy until you try to use Freedom Find.

The first time I assembled mine, I used the short pier extension that is supplied with it (as in your picture), and was alarmed at the visible sag when I mounted my Mak 127. I happened already to have the aluminium SW extension, and that seemed to be more solid, but I still use it with a couple of kg mounted on the other side. Are you sticking entirely with gotos during the session, or do you also enable the dual encoders and move it manually? I mostly do the latter, to keep the noise down, but SW do say that the second set of encoders are not as accurate. In a recent session I tried using gotos exclusively for the first 10 targets, then I made a manual slew, and afterwards a mixture of the two. The first 10 gotos were an average 0.06° (3.6 arcminutes) out, while the rest averaged 0.53° (32 arcminutes). The second value is what I typically get in sessions where I've made use of the dual encoders. I think once you've moved the mount manually, the error is introduced (unless you're lucky), and even subsequent gotos are affected. In theory, the internal sky model ought to be recalibrated with a subsequent pointing accuracy enhancement, by aligning on a target in Synscan and confirming, but I've never found this to be very successful beyond the next observation in a session. In practice, I can deal with errors of this order (usually in a consistent direction) using a 50mm RACI.

Hello, I'm not sure what "authentic" would mean for the Messier list. I don't believe that it is managed by any official group like the IAU, unlike the names of stars and planets, or the boundaries of constellations. Messier himself released two versions of the list, and then a few more objects were later added by other astronomers who believed that Messier (or his collaborators) had observed them, but had not included them in the original list. The status of M102 is still the subject of some debate. The best starting point is possibly Wikipedia, which has some links to further resources.

It may be clear later on, but I decided not to stay up late tonight. Instead, I set up the binoviewer with the Mak on the AZ-GTiX for the first time, and spent a pleasant half hour on the moon at lower magnifications. Gassendi is showing nicely on the terminator, the rim and central peaks picked out. Further north, the Jura Mountains are also looking good, and Herschel and its companions are just making an appearance.

That's terrible. And you can see those tell-tale parallel tracks, in formation - probably SpaceX again.

The moon in Leo is getting more dominant now, so this evening I stuck to doubles over on the other side of the sky - in Serpens, Ophiuchus, Hercules - 15 of them. The seeing was reasonable to good, transparency decent, and no appearance of the low cloud that was forecast. The best was probably HD 133408 in Virgo, wide at 10.1" and both components below +7, but with a subtle orangey-blue contrast.

A double first for me tonight, using the Mak 127. After reading recent discussion about 3C 273, I decided to give it a shot. It wasn't difficult matching the nearby star patterns with Sky Safari, including Zaniah, and from there to find HD 108959. There was a very faint (visible with averted vision) "star" in approximately the right place and, after about twenty minutes of checking, I convinced myself that it was indeed the quasar - my first. 2 billion light years, apparently. I also made a successful attempt at the supernova in M101, again my first one. This also took quite a long time to confirm, but actually was readily visible, even with direct vision (M101 itself was a barely perceptible smudge). I see that others are saying it's about +11 at the moment. This one is a mere 23 million light years away. Well done, little Mak.

Congratulations Arnaud, and great publicity for the hobby. (first time I've ever watched the One Show)

I'm agnostic about piers.