Zermelo

I've found that a few times recently. Either the BBC forecasts are failing to predict the high stuff, or deliberately choosing to ignore it for the headline forecasts.

Yes, I found the same.

I thought the 16" Dob was already "the Beast"... you might have to hit the thesaurus for this one 😊

I've seen very little about the UAE's Hope mission in the news, but this just came up in my feed. I think the image with Mars in the background is impressive. https://astronomy.com/news/2023/05/a-new-look-at-mars-moon-deimos-highlights-its-mysterious-origin I'm looking forward to seeing what Japan's MMX mission can deliver in a few years' time.

Hello, and welcome to SGL. Are you trying a "brightest star" alignment, where you point to the first star yourself, or a "North level", where the mount slews to the first star?

That would be for the 'Pro' version. The other versions are cheaper, and they do have half-price sales now and again. Even the 'Basic' version includes the "Tonight at a Glance" facility mentioned by @RT65CB-SWL, which may meet your needs: "quickly find tonight's Moon & Sun info, calendar curations, events and the best positioned deep sky and solar system objects". If you think you will use it to control the scope, I think it's worth paying the extra. There's a comparison of the features in each version here: https://skysafariastronomy.com/skysafari-7-comparison-chart.html

Have you tried this: https://telescopius.com/

Nice report. My own 150i has been a great companion on the learning journey. I only have to get mine to the end of the garden, but I take the OTA separately. I leave the mount and tripod connected, as they are a bit fiddly. I always level as best I can, though some day it shouldn't matter. Three star alignment is available for equatorial mounts, to correct "cone error" - stick with two star. The initial alignment gives a "whole sky" model, but you can use further stars to refine the gotos in a specific sky area, if you are looking for several targets in the same constellation, for example. They used to be called "pointing accuracy enhancements", not sure if they still are, and are described in the manual. I do this myself. Mars is now small, and not easy to focus on, especially in indifferent conditions. There is an altitude limits option in the settings, which (when the catalogue filter is set on) does control some aspects of behaviour like goto. It may also filter the suggestions list. Yes, you'll be challenged by the fuzzies. Doubles, the moon, planets, some own clusters and planetary nebulae will be better suited. Precisely. Learn the sky, learn the craft. Try out other people's scopes when you can. Then you'll be well placed for your next purchase.

The forecasts are all over the shop for this evening, but the sky is mostly clear at the moment and the Mak is cooling.

Which one did you go for?

An update to my previous post. I found a used rubber washer with exactly the dimensions I needed (extracted and retained from some previous plumbing job ... "I might need something like that one day"). The extension pillar is now rock solid at both ends. The tube is made of aluminium, and I was slightly concerned that the threaded hole at the base was being stripped by the steel threaded rod rising from the tripod, during my experimentation. I wouldn't like to keep making and breaking those joints with each session, but fortunately the design of the extension allows me to disconnect the top part, by loosening three lock screws, so I can leave the main body attached to the tripod and the top part attached to the mount. I'm surprised that the extension only ships with a washer at one end. Actually, the sales pic doesn't even show that:

Conditions were rubbish here tonight, but I wanted to give the new AZ-GTiX and tripod a first outing. I'm very pleased with it so far, it feels very solid. It was tracking well, even at x500. As a bonus, the finder shoe on my Mak is now in the right place! The Telrad is now underneath, but I can sort that.

No, I'm not sure. I think people would either start a thread in a specific forum section, if the book had a particular topic, or otherwise in the Lounge. Books also get mentions (and sometimes subsequent discussion) in "What did the postman bring?" The existing Resources section is quite static, and I don't think members can add to it, except via a request. If a new location were created, it could cover simple announcements like yours, and also member reviews of books (there is already a place for member reviews of equipment). You could put a suggestion here.

There's a Resources tab at the top of the screen, with links to online tools and other useful websites. Books do get mentioned in individual forum posts, but I'm not aware of any place where reviews are consolidated. Is there an example on another website that you can linnk to?

I've just bought an AZ-GTiX with a SW 1.75" leg 3/8" bolt tripod. When I fitted the supplied mini extension between tripod top and mount base, I noticed some sag when I added the OTA. I tightened everything up as much as I dared (there are warnings about over-tightening the thread into the base of the mount) but no different. I happen already to have the aluminium extension tube supplied with the AZ-GTi, so I tried that instead of the shorter one. Lovely and solid. The problem is, the lower face of the extension is painted metal, as is the top of the tripod. When I turn the mount manually in Az (which I will do, as I use the FreedomFind) the extension itself can turn on the tripod, which is going to kill the alignment. I notice that the top face of the extension has a nice rubber washer, moulded to fit into recesses in the extension body. The lower face has nothing, which seems to be a problem. There isn't much overlap radially between the base and the tripod top, because of the central well in the latter, so I would need to find/make something of a suitable size. Before I start turning the loft upside down looking, has anyone else hit this problem? I'm not sure if the tripod bundled with the AZ-GTi(X) has the same profile on top.

... perhaps not to you or me, but to anyone who's saying there are "too many scopes", I imagine anything larger than a BCO 6mm might be fair game. (in the interests of full disclosure, I don't have this problem with Mrs. Z)

Depending on the OTA and configuration, somewhere between 4.6kg and 5.6kg, but I'd also like to try two at once.

An AZ-GTiX, but with the SW 1.75" 3/8" tripod, which looks better to me than the bundled option. Great service from FLO/DHL - these were in my hands 25 hours from pressing the button. I'll be using this with my existing OTAs, but I'm hoping that the goto and tracking will be a bit more reliable than with my existing Star Discovery (to be fair, I suspect I've overloaded it by adding various bits and pieces to my scopes).

is "intriguing" Stu-speak for "I haven't bought it yet" ?

This is on an american website, but the information may be useful: https://agenaastro.com/articles/guides/diagonals/choosing-a-baader-diagonal.html

I think it might be related to handset or OS version. I sometimes get a brief flash of white when I'm switching between apps (usually switching between Synscan and Skysafari), so I use the red acetate. I fixed it to a spare gel phone case, and swap cases when I go out. In fact, the screen is still a little too bright on the darkest nights, even when the screen brightness is at minimum. I may experiment with a double layer of acetate, though I need to check that it doesn't attenuate the capacitative screen interaction too much.

Apart from the nocturnal companionship, and perhaps their willingness to see off undesirable visitors at dark sites, some of their capabilities might be of practical value to the observer. e.g. give them a quick sniff of an eyepiece, then get them to find where it was in that field that you dropped its missing dustcap.

Hello I expect you will be navigating using a combination of optical finder and a widefield eyepiece in the main scope. If you don't already have it, I'd suggest decent planetarium software (I use Skysafari): (1) you can easily vary the magnitude depth of the view, and "tune" it to match what you're seeing in whichever instrument you're using (2) it can show TFOV circles for the finder and any eyepiece/scope combination you care to set up. These can be used during sessions, or ahead of time to plan hops. (3) you can easily flip up/down and left/right as you switch between finder and main scope (if that's necessary, depending on the optical properties of each) I'm not sure about the value of unit finders in those conditions. I'm lucky enough to have Bortle 4, so there's normally plenty to go at, but when the moon is full my Telrad isn't too great. There is this book, which is mostly about the objects you can find, even in polluted skies, but does also include some general discussion about techniques and equipment for urban settings. If you are experienced already, though, it probably won't have much to surprise you on that score. City-based members may have some more concrete advice on exit pupils, etc.

I was sure you were going to link to this one instead: ... though apparently it has nothing to do with aurorae.

I think we did that one in a thread last year. The americans are correct, with "z". Then they ruined it, by calling it "zee".