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Stardaze

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Everything posted by Stardaze

  1. I can’t believe it’s been clear all night, when the forecast was for 100% cloud. Only managed some lunar with the binos but kinda wish I’d have made more of an effort.
  2. Glad you've managed to get out after your illness Dave. You can't beat a trawl around Orion for a return session.
  3. The bino bandits definitely can accentuate fogging up for sure. Mines been better of late and I can’t say why that’s the case.
  4. There’s a nice Orion 10” dob in the classifieds 😉
  5. Thanks for sharing Peter, I really must give this a try.
  6. The nebulosity does mimic similar to when your EP is starting to dew up, I’ve found that too and almost reached for the dryer.
  7. I think it would compliment my 10” dob nicely but I’m going to see how budget plays out middle of the year. I’d like a 102 ED-R ideally but the little mak could be the compromise if the budget isn’t quite there. I’ve been surprised by how much the planets have interested this year and even lunar is starting to become more of interest. Thanks for the info, I guess in the end I’ll try one at some point regardless. A dob is definitely worth it if you enjoy the faint things, as I do. I just need to suss some darker sites really to get a little more out of it.
  8. Great report again, I’m glad it’s not just me doing star jumps when the cold bites. M31 has been elusive for me from here, I think reading your report confirms that I need to try from a darker spot. The idea of a 127 mak for grab and go sessions keeps crossing my mind, sounds a bit more of a capable performer than I may have given credit for.
  9. Still catching up on all the great reports from the last few days, so good to see so many, thanks for sharing yours. I need to add NGC 404 to a list, it’s not one I’ve tried for yet. Is the star rating something that you are doing for your own log?
  10. Great report and congratulations on the pup. I had my similar boots on too that night and could barely walk in them, let alone driving in them 😲 I keep forgetting about the crab, must add it to a list for next time.
  11. For 2 days. Back to drizzle and sleet yesterday 😂
  12. Enjoyed reading this. It’s great to read a more experienced account, there’s some detail in there that is helpful, thanks for sharing.
  13. Fascinating. Makes me want to see it even more now. It's really quite amazing the more you read into these targets. I can't see any real colour in the Orion neb from here, only green with a filter 😆 I'd like to try a DPM NPB filter here too, which may well give it the same sense we see in photo's? Also affirms the effect of a darker site. I'm bortle 5 here so with that and my lack of experience, I accept that I have a lot to do yet. I do love the veil too, but that's not too bad from here, the HH is next level, which makes your achievement something to really be ecstatic about 😊
  14. That's a superb observation @Kon, I'm very envious. How dark are your skies, out of interest? I'm guessing that the H-Beta filter is a must, I couldn't really make out a lot of nebulosity in the area, it was ever so slightly there with an UHC. Well done again!
  15. Finally, a clear, moonless night is here. I've been desperate to really explore Orion this year with the dob. A brief hour the night previous whetted the appetite, not that it needed it, given the long forced 2 month break. I had the dob out cooling before putting the little one to bed, as soon as story time was done, it was finally dads playtime. I had a mini-plan formulated with a dozen or so targets but as I realised upon packing up, it's a treasure trove up there at this time of year. I waited until the great Nebula was just above the house, having lined everything up following the mirror clean a month ago now and having a sneaky peek at Almach I just can't not spend time taking in M42, just seems the obvious place to begin. I couldn't discern the E & F stars the night before but they both appeared easily in the EP without too much persuasion tonight. So small, they really do look like a single pixel each. Swapping back to the widest view with the 20mm I spent a good while taking in the extent of the nebula. I bought a UHC a good while back and hadn't had any time to use it yet so in it went. The effect, other than the green colour cast, was minimal at first but far more of the bulbous region behind the 'wings' were plucked out. The running man above was just about there - I could just about make out the darker lanes that typify the shape, but it didn't 'pop' for me. Next stop was the flame nebula. It wasn't as obvious as I'd hoped at first glance. My nebula spotting definitely needs some work! I'm intrigued to see what effect a proper dark site has here as I'm still not that proficient at picking up these areas. Next stop was Rigel. Nice and easily split at 181x, the b star sitting around the 7 o'clock position from memory (I should take notes!) but well outside of the glare of the dazzling primary. Sirius was still sat behind the house and so plenty of time yet to chance my luck there. Uranus has notably started to drift a little more eastward since the last time I caught her gaze (early November) but she wasn't too much further outside of the ringlet, with a nice easy star hop this time, I quickly found the pale green orb. It seemed far more defined than last time we met. I remembered John's mention of the Eskimo neb, so whilst still with the 7mm I noted Gemini now high above the house. Wasat was easy enough to see visually but I had a dewing up problem with the finders EP. I cobbled up a massively over-sized dew band to sort and with a little luck, dropped onto it. At 181x it still could do with a little more mag I felt, but I was torn with trying an 0-III filter. Not a lot of experience of using this filter at such high magnifications (maybe just the Owl previously) and the result didn't really have the desire effect, so I settled for a non-filtered 5 minutes of observation. I couldn't really make out the full eskimo effect. Reminded that my nebula busting skills still hold much to be desired, I still fancied a hunt around the HH area. I probably spent an hour really getting to grips with the route down from Alnitak. I was certainly in the area using the 20mm and 13mm with UHC but nothing leapt out at me other than some possible indentation. I keep reading that it looks like a small thumb and so definitely nothing along those lines. Maybe next season I'll add an H-Beta to the arsenal and have a concerted effort. Plenty more nebulae practice needed yet, I can't expect to turn up at Anfield and score on the first effort, I've got to earn my stripes still. Edit: I nearly forgot the pup! I spent some time trying to search the Sirius B star out. I thought that there was a slight hint at one point but I couldn't be certain and so we'll settle for a miss here too. Another really tricky subject, the glare of Sirius was really something when sustained for a while. It was around 11pm by this time, I'd had 3 super hours, but the thought of work led me to wheel the icy dob back in for the night. However, I stood mesmerised just looking up. A quick brew and I was back out with the binoculars. I couldn't help but have an extra hour scanning the very many open clusters that were leaping out. Pleiades had been prominent all night. I did have a glance at Alcyone and Merope earlier on and did see nebulosity around them, but they looked superb in the binos. Melotte 20, double cluster, Hyades, NGC 457 (owl cluster), M42, M36, M37 & M38 all looked magnificent. The Auriga clusters were the best I've seen them, the starfish really did pop last night. So enthused still from the evening, it was long over-due, but there's still plenty of practice needed yet.
  16. I’ve had to drag myself away just now, 4 super hours - it’s been far too long since we’ve had a night like tonight. More tomorrow but got the E&F stars easily, Uranus, Eskimo, lots of doubles too. Must go to bed ☹️
  17. Just looked at the jetstream and that doesn’t look very good at all. Differing seeing according to meteoblue and metcheck. Dob is out cooling so guess we’ll see which is correct, fingers crossed.
  18. That's a great, long session there. A really varied haul of targets.
  19. Finally used the scope for an hour last night. Started with the bins, lying on a mat in the garden, plenty to see for a good 45 minutes. Had a lazy view of Orion later on with the with the dob from the garage. I haven't been able to see Orion this season with it so spent an hour taking as much in as possible. Managed to see the F star but none of the others showed for me. It wasn't perfectly steady so didn't spend too long with that, more so with the UHC trying to take in more of the nebula. Tonight looks better on paper, we'll see.... Just a point about meteoblue, can anyone expand on the two indexes please. Index 2 was red, but no idea the difference between them? I thought the seeing was good last night, but certainly not excellent.
  20. Wasn’t it just great to get a little bit of observing last night following weeks of nothing. Clouds kept drifting across frequently, which resulted in a real tour of whatever was clear with the binos. Like many have mentioned, I too kept coming back to M42 and towards the end of the mini grab and go session, it looked really crisp with the wings extending a little further than earlier in the night. Typically there looks to be a couple of nights that appear to be good this week, just when I’ll be back at work. We’ll have to see if it does materialise, the forecast last night was for 100% cloud.
  21. Great effort there Peter. I had a similar session myself too last night as the cloud kept rolling in but there were small pockets to observe Orion. I really want to try filters with my binos, and whilst I have followed the thread you link, I’m still not sure of the best diy method of attaching. Maybe a small video or article would be a great thing to do? There’s not much on the subject I’ve found really. Certainly don’t want those filters falling out at the cost of them. Have you already got UHC and O-III’s for your binos?
  22. I’ve gone fur lined because they were just a steal.
  23. I had a look at those you bought, but were out of stock everywhere. They were over half price at £50! Deal 🙂 Not sure I'll move much in them though, they're solid!
  24. A few things for the colder nights, away from home, arrived today. Found a deal on the boots, only in a size above my usual, but they fit. The runners gloves are an extra layer inside the North Face gloves I bought recently, which could be a little warmer. The cheap little stove is to renew a few I have already. Do still have a Coleman fuel stove which is best in the really cold weather so all bases covered.
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