Stardaze

That looks great Pete, wasn’t aware of these until your post, look really well spec’d. I have an adjustable stool for mine which is worthwhile. I’ve also an issue atm which means I can’t carry mine so I’ve bought a sack truck to move in one. I haven’t felt 10” to be lacking too much so hope you really enjoy using yours.

My dob truck turned up today at long last. I wanted the P handle variant but no stock till Nov. It’s got the longer folding plate at the bottom though, which is the main thing. Just need to add some sort of filler at the top to cushion the tube (a garden cushion works as a temporary solution)

So is mine 😀

Be interested to see a pic Stu. I’d only go for the £60 one rather than the 365 cover.

Which one did you go for? Have been considering one for the same reason. I might be leaving mine in the shed a little more often this year.

I've been working on the EP's this year so more than happy with those now. Would love a nice 4" frac to compliment the dob. There seems to be a large gulf between a Skytee and the Rowan, but the latter is far too OTT for my purposes.

That's probably what I will end up with in the end, seems to be a pretty good match. It will probably be my mini project for next year now.

I'd really like one of these or similar. Their part codes are a little confusing to be honest, with quite a few variations. Same with the TS versions. What mount are you using with yours out of interest?

Great to hear the weather has subsided for you. It’s been thick over all week and thought it was forecast the same for the week ahead but then just saw this…😱

Thanks! I’ll try not to ruin it for you but when you’re hunting her down, give yourself a little time scanning around each hop as you’ll only see it in your peripheral vision.

I'll add that to the list John. But you're not helping the 'Frac itch' with these comments 😀

Since I've been able to get the dob out due to an on-going muscle problem that's meant I can't lift anything of any real weight . The sack truck I've ordered has been out of stock and so I'm still waiting for that to arrive. Anyway, with a Bank Holiday weekend looking like there could be some clear nights ahead the cunning plan involved bribing the wife to lift the dob into the garage so that I could roll her out (the dob, not the wife) to view the planets from the front of the house. I did add the first evenings account to the bottom of @John's post but for my own benefit, I'll add a quick summary of the last two evenings here. The front isn't ideal with a couple of stray lights around but that's not so much of an issue for planetary viewing. I've been watching the two gas giants rising each night 'between the houses' opposite for a couple of weeks now and whilst the 15x70's have been out plenty on a tripod, I couldn't wait to try a little deeper. Conditions were much better Friday night, the seeing was very steady, although Saturn was below the point where there's a lot of sky pollution in the SE. By midnight, being directly South, I could determine the Cassini band clearly with subtle colour gradations on the disc, but the big thing for me was the presence of 3 clear moons. I now believe that these were Titan, Dione & Lapetus. Last night, although transparency wasn't as good, there were 5 moons - Rhea, Titan, Lapetus, Dione & Tethys. I don't recall seeing all of those together before, so very pleased with thathaul. Jupiter appeared very sharp for long periods Friday night. The GRS was just disappearing out of view at the start of that sessio, but the bands in the north and south were occasionally showing themselves and a good bit of time was sat at the eyepiece trying to resolve as much as I could. The 4 Galilean moons were spread out as normal with Lo and Europa being very tight together, resembling a tight split double. Last night I'd noted the transit of Lo early on, so that was something that I spent a good while observing. Always a fascinating sight to see, that I still find mesmerising. I hadn't seen Neptune before, so Friday night was spent hunting her down. The 15x70s really helped me acclimatise around Piscium and Aquarius, both constellations that I'm not that familiar with and sit just below the pollution line in the SE/S, early on. Eta and Zeta Aquari were clear to see by eye but the circlet was lost in the LP. The pairing of Kappa Piscium and 9 Pisc isn't so hard to find, or it wasn't last night. It took me a while the night previous, but the star hop from there was good - funny how simple it was the night following! Neptune didn't jump out at me as the 7.8 mag suggested it might, really pleased she was ticked off but expected maybe a touch more. The reality check is the small distance of 4.3 billion km's through the atmospheric smog of the town at the current altitude. I ended both sessions with a trawl through Cygnus directly overhead. The moon was starting to rise through the oak tree in the east and so I had maybe 40 minutes around some popular targets to see how the new 13E performs. I will say that I thought a lot of the APM 13 it replaced, but what a lovely experience, really do love these ultra wide EP's. I love to just hop around the denseness of the Milky Way and the immersive feel just draws you in. I would have liked to try the new Nebustar UHC on some.. well...nebula! But being on the front isn't ideal with those pesky lights, so I stuck to the plan of a few planetary nebs, doubles and clusters. A quick summary of these: - I often start in the middle at Sadr just to take in the richness of the MW. - M29 (little sisters) easy hop from Sadr to the SW. A lovely little open cluster. - Albireo is always a treat, just to see that 'pop' against the background. The new EP didn't disappoint, plenty of punchy contrast. - M27 is always worth a quick visit. I couldn't be bothered to switch EP's though and so didn't really get the best out of this target. - 61 Cygni is obviously such a famous golden double which I often stop by to dwell on the history of this pairing. I've been reading Giles Sparrow's "A history of the universe in 21 stars" lately and so this binary is firmly in mind and contrasts nicely against the background. I didn't have the time to watch for any noticeable movement though 😆 - NGC 6826 The infamous blinking planetary. I haven't been able to stop by this year and so a peek of this oddity was long over due. I still find the effect quite fascinating. Having dropped on from Theta Cygni she was easy enough to find, in the peripheral view of course. - M56 I plonked the dob in the rough area between Albireo and Sulafat and found the glob sat almost centrally in the EP. A nice happy accident that I couldn't repeat if I tried. Wasn't that bright at 98x and probably could have done with more magnification. M57 - Worth a quick trip before packing up. I should have upped the mag really again but so late in the session the EP's were a trip back into porch (I'd been changing during the planetary earlier on) and so I sat it out with what I had. The moon was now having an effect too so it was time to pack away for the evening. It all felt a little odd on packing up, sat on the doorstep pretty much in a suburban setting wearing summer garb, the garden is a much better escape from this, I've only found myself here in December when Orion first shows herself. I'm hoping the sack truck will arrive this week which will mean I can set up in the back and try a few nebs with the UHC. Fingers crossed that the new moon period coincides with some clear evenings. The veil is still to be explored properly this year.

Nice little session Kon. I’d forgotten about the dark nebulae chat from earlier in the week, the planets have kept me otherwise captivated for a nice change.

Not as steady tonight. Managed to see Lo transiting across Jupiter and 5 moons around Saturn but brief glimpses of crispness and better at lower mag.

I was hoping you’d add to my musings John, thank you. I haven’t seen 3 before and so whichever, a great sight nonetheless.

Couldn’t have been Hyperion at mag 14.9 so probably Tethys but could be Dione? The first screenshot resembled how it looked but the closer view shows a deeper breakdown at the time? Dione and Tethys are similar magnitudes so I’d have thought those were possible together?

Great to be able to share your knowledge a little. There’s some super ‘firsts’ there for someone, I particularly like to show the Perseus double, a real favourite.

I started out at 127x but later on went deeper with the XW7 (181x). Added a baader contrast booster which was subtle but did add a little something for Jupiter. Need to look at Jupiter’s topography as I could see clear definition in the banding and two dark patches on the bottom of the main central band. There seemed to be 3 moons around Saturn and not just Titan as normal. Checking SkySafari didn’t properly confirm for me but the furthest out were Titan, Hyperion and Lapetus? The Cassini division was clear and seeing improved over the the session, but overall it was very steady. As per @Pixiescomments, over the 90 mins or so, I just caught a little of the GRS disappearing on the edge but was taken with Lo and Europa’s tight positioning, resembling a tight double. It’s been so long since I’ve had the dob out, so thoroughly enjoyable session. The extra lights around on the front isn’t such a problem for planetary viewing. I finished up having a quick hunt around in Cygnus with the, new to me, 13E to give that an airing. Sunday looks promising too, fingers crossed, but the sack truck still hasn’t arrived so I’ll need to enlist a helper.

I found it in the end, but the circlet wasn’t that obvious with the moon starting to make it’s presence known. I had the 15x70s setup on the tripod so had a hunt around with those first to familiarise myself with the area. There was light cloud around too, which didn’t help so took me longer than it should. Still, just great to be back out with the dob again, even if it was on the front drive.

Plenty of detail on both gas giants but the cloud is back again. Going to give it half hour and see what happens. Still to find Neptune.. it’s there in front of me somewhere.

It cleared for 15 minutes but now it’s thick again 🙄

I’m poised ready, but it’s thick over at the moment…

Great report John. The next few nights are looking very promising, with no work either to worry about. I fancy having a punt at Neptune too as I haven't ticked her off yet. I've spent the last couple of nights with the 15x70s and they've seemed fairly steady. Looking forward to dragging the dob out somehow over the weekend.

Wishing you all the best during this set back. I’ve had an injury for a few months that’s forced me to be bino only at the moment, have been enjoying it regardless. A couple of nights ago I happened to pull the blind in the office to see Jupiter perfectly positioned between the trees opposite. Had the 15x70s on the tripod with window open for an enjoyable 15 mins. But last night was much steadier!

Great topic and something that I’d like to spend some time exploring. I wish you’d have posted last week when we were away under 21.6 skies ha. Funny you mention getting lost under a good sky, it’s been a year since I last experienced it as good as then and remember struggling to find Ophiuchus for a minute or two. The difference is probably needed for much of what’s been noted here but I’ll add a lot of these targets to my expanding list.