Stardaze

I had the 6.7 and 11 for a while - great little EP's. I thought the 6.7 was particularly good but the only thing that didn't gel with me was the eye relief, other than that, very sharp EP's.

18 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Just read this thread and an interesting rant from Vlaiv and then picked up.

These types of scope intrigue me for all the reasons known, especially the more compact package and therefore easier to find a store space for. 

For me space s an issue, I live in a decent sized house, but store space is very limited and does dictate where things can live, my 10” Dobson is a case in point, always moved about as it needs somewhere to live.

A SCT or Mak or CC could nearly live in my sock drawer, yes I have a big sock drawer 😂

I’m with you on storage Alan. My 10” dob keeps getting moved around too, normally when she’s fed up of it residing somewhere, it needs a new spot. 
Im toying with a 102 frac next year to compliment but I am also considering a 6” SCT, guess I’ll end up with both one day 🙄

7 hours ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

Swmbo and I don't slum it. A 5 person tent for two, a thick airbed, pillows from home and a crate of beer. We're both in our early fifties and not the fittest of specimens.  😀

Camps are booked around new moons with a village containing a gastro pub within walking distance. Lounge, walk, explore, eat, drink and be merry.  If it's clear, enjoy the sky. If it's cloudy continue the merriment.

It is possible to enjoy the best of both worlds with some compromise. 👍

And that doesn’t sound bad at all 😁 I’m going to do it next year. I used to fish an awful lot and so the camping bit I’m good for. 

This is an interesting subject as I've often wondered what lengths folk go to. I'm desperate to take my dob for a ride out but I'm still suffering a long term injury which means I shouldn't really be lifting it. Whatever happens, I'll be doing it regardless in the spring for galaxy season! I have used binoculars at dark sites but these last 2 full seasons have been from the relative comfort from my bottle 5 garden. I have been considering some short camping trips but it's a gamble booking the time off and potentially the weather not playing ball. SWMBO isn't into slumming it on the floor so not really something I'd fit around a family camping trip. 

1 hour ago, Nik271 said:

I have the Skywatcher Skymax 127 and the Skymax 180. The Skymax 127 is my most versatile scope, easy to set up and use. I use the 180  for tough double stars and planets, its quite heavy at nearly 8kg, so a bit more effort to mount. When properly cool it really shines on close doubles.

I've been toying with the idea of a mak or 102 frac next year. The little one appeals for a quick grab and go but a larger one I'd like to try at some point too, have enjoyed the planets this year and even starting to get into a little lunar on occasion, which has probably been my least favourite pursuit to date. 

Nice report @Nik271 I'm glad the clouds played ball for someone this week, it's been horrendous here and looks to be forecast for next too. What maks do you usually observe with, out of interest? 

Super viewing Joe at that angle. Even though I’ve been spoilt with M31 at near zenith this last month, I still find it tricky to see much more than the very bright central core with little definition. It is however, so large compared to anything else.

Very nicely written. It’s nice to read similar viewings from where you are.

2 hours ago, johninderby said:

You know where this is going. 😁 The 102 and CC8 would compliment each other nicely. 🙂

The pic of yours together does look rather nice. One at a time I think..

1 hour ago, johninderby said:

Yes I did sell the 10” dob. Found I was using the CC8” a lot more.

In the pic above, looks like you didn’t have any. 
 

Im torn with the next scope, next year. Was just going to go for a 102 R model but then I do fancy the CC8”. The frac is a bit more flexible though. 

2 minutes ago, johninderby said:

As I remember the tube simply slid into place on my 10” Bresser and don’t rember any sticky pads.

I should have taken a picture but you may not have noticed them as they were folded down over the 4 inserts. I think next time I’ll lay the OTA out a little better for removal, I ended up clamping it up on the base with a strap, so I may have squashed the pads the first time of trying to get back on.

Did you sell your dob in the end John? This one is definitely my ‘learner scope’! 

3 hours ago, Louis D said:

Just don't try to use canned air to blow off dust as this is the result:

 

Ouch!

I ended up cleaning the mirror in the end. It wasn’t too bad really but there was a bit of dust more concentrated on one side and a few larger chunks of something - looks perfect again now 😀

The only snag I found was actually getting the whole mirror assembly back onto the tube. Bresser have added some sticky felt pads between the screw and insert where the tube slides into, two of which were compressed down. I’ve removed those two in the end, as once damaged they wouldn’t repair very well. Im sure others have found this too? Maybe @johninderbymight have? Only seems a little padding for the tube to sit against.

4 hours ago, domstar said:

Very nice report. Like most people, I found it hard to find M33 for the first time. It is easier in binoculars and even my 9x50 finder. It's an intriguing galaxy, always on the verge of giving up some detail in my scope but I've never quite managed it. Stephan's Quintet is another favourite of mine. I've spent a lot of unsuccessful time on it. It's the first thing I'm going to look at when I get a big dob.

I'm betting that a darker site would help me no end, but I'm bottle 5 (20 sqm) so it should be do-able I think. 

1 hour ago, Carbon Brush said:

Beware mirror cleaning. It is very easy to do more harm than good.
There are lots of posts about this on SGL, covering assessment and cleaning.
Bottom line. Unless it is really really mucky, or has something nasty/corrosive on there, leave it alone.

HTH, David.

Thanks David, there's definitely two camps regarding mirror cleaning. I had to do the secondary due to me touching it early on by accident, so I'm certainly not worried about doing it. Was planning to do it tomorrow most probably. 

1 hour ago, Pixies said:

It's only Sky Safari that refers to M33 as the 'pinwheel', I think. Everywhere else calls it the Triangulum galaxy! I found  it for the first time earlier this year, in Bortle 5-6 skies on a good night. It's very faint in these conditions but I've looked for it so many times now, I know exactly where it should be, located within a quadrilateral of 4 8th-magnitude stars.

I intend to observe it with binos or the ST80 from  a dark site as soon as conditions allow. Hopefully it'll be a little easier!

I think I need to recce the area with binos, was certain that I was very close, but the stray light probably didn’t help either. 

19 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

I bring my scopes into the house overnight after observing  precisely for this reason but I have Maks which are very compact. One option is to put your Dob back in the shed with the front cap open(just cover with a towel to stop dust). Once dry put the cap back on the next day.

I’ve rolled it back into the garage and left the cover off today, which has dried it out. Trying to keep it out of the garage really so I need to rethink the strategy. I might give the mirror a clean though as I’m sure it’s not great having it dew’d up. 

14 minutes ago, Hayduke27 said:

Great report.  Almach has been one of my favorites this autumn as well, and I always love looking at the Perseus Double.  M33 was one of the first DSO's that really eluded me for a while.  I finally found it, and since then we have become good friends and I can spot it pretty readily.  However, in those early days I just couldn't find it to save my life.  I know the pain!

I found M101 (why are there two ‘pinwheels’?) the same, maybe it’s the spread out luminosity? I’ll find her soon enough.

Having spent the last few months watching the dance of the Galilean moons, whenever the cloud allowed, I'd been looking forward to a longer session back observing some DSO's. I'd taken a few days off work to coincide with the new moon and whilst there's plenty of jobs to get done in the day, the weather looked to be really good for the evening. A little hiccup with CO suggested some cloud, typically dashing the hope all week of a clear night, but it turned out perfect on dusk, to my delight. The plan was to have an early start around 7pm (suits me at this time of year!) and get myself ready for a longer session. 

The first hour was spent whizzing around some of the familiar things that the autumn has delivered with the hope later of seeing some of the winter constellations - though Orion would still be too Eastward no doubt for my garden. I had put a little list together, some of which were forgotten - I must stick to a plan better next time! 

I started with a glance at Jupiter, more to see how the 'seeing' stacked up. Looked pretty good. Nothing really exciting to observe tonight, the Galilean moons were evenly spread either side. I quickly followed with Neptune. Not the most exciting thing to observe granted, but I do like dwelling on how far away that blob of blue actually is. Uranus would be up later, which I am yet to see. 

Pegasus was nicely above the house at this time, the only problem being, the amount of light coming from it. The wife was busy getting set up for our daughters birthday today and so it left me wondering about the next DIY project, a black-out blind maybe. I dropped the finder onto M15 and settled in to allow my eyes to adjust. Still, quite a dim glob in my 10" but I could make out some crisp stars relatively close in. 

I had a quick look at Almach, which has become a favourite this autumn and then for some reason Epsilon Lyrae came to mind and so I found myself spinning the dob to the NW. Lyra was dropping quickly now but the 7mm split both doubles perfectly. It didn't seem as clean as I have seen, but it's been a long time since I had done so. 

Right, Back on track. I was still being plagued by the obtrusive light but I wanted to see whether I could see any definition in Andromeda. I used the hood to shield the light and sat there for over 10 minutes soaking it in. Nope, still can't see any dust lanes...

I couldn't find M33 last time out so really wanted to tick this one off too. The finder suddenly clouded over. I had a dew band at the top for the main objective but the eyepiece had been exposed for a good while whilst I badly tried to navigate myself around the nearby stars. It's fair to say that I probably could do with a little hairdryer, the rocket blower did the job, but took a while. I couldn't be certain for sure and so a much needed brew to warm and revitalise got me back out for 9. 

The temperature really started to fall. I scouted out the Blue Snowball neb in Andromeda, which looked great at 182x, the colour really popping. 

NGC 752 was easily found too, I really like open clusters. That led me to wander a little and drop in on the Perseus double. I've been watching this old favourite show again in the binoculars, but first time this year and it really doesn't disappoint. 

Whilst in Perseus I felt the need to see the little dumbbell neb, is it me, or does it look similar to the Blue Snowball? Maybe it was still etched into my mind?

It was around now that I saw The Plaeides rising above the tree, with a little walk to the bottom of the garden, so too was Taurus. I moved the chair over there and sat down with the binoculars, completely being distracted. The hour change last weekend has made a big difference to what I see in the 'normal hours' before bed.

When the binos glazed over with dew, I headed back for Uranus. The star hop was pretty straightforward here, which had me finding her quickly. Another small blue disc notched off the list.

I got a little distracted with the dew, having to add a band to my eyepiece. I couldn't give up on M33, but having spent another 15 frustrating minutes, I did just that. I'm not sure why this one is being so stubborn for me, can't be that difficult surely!

By the time I remembered Stephan's Quintet, after the wife had turned the lights off, Pegasus was dropping and not as favourably positioned as she was before, so I gave it a miss. By now it was gone midnight and I'd had nearly 4 hours , which is by far the longest session this year. There was a light layer of frost on top of the OTA so rolled the dob into the shed for the night and wondered why a Pinwheel could be so damn elusive? Maybe next time...

Thanks all, I understand the physics but how do those, who store outside, negate the issue, pre heated observatory/shed? I’ve lost half of my garage through building a utility and so was hoping to utilise the shed to store my dob for the most part. The scope had a slither of ice on the back when I wheeled her in last night. Was thinking of a bigger and better equipped shed next year too. 
 

@Carbon Brushdo you use a hairdryer before you leave for the evening? I need to get a little portable one.

How do those that leave their reflector in a shed or observatory overnight (after using) stop dew over night? I packed away last night with the first frost of the year forming but having just looked at my scope it’s dewed up inside. The pics show the mirror which I had this happen last week too. I’ll let it dry out today with the help of a heater in there but I assumed that the shed cover alone would stop the dew?

Fantastic evenings work Baz. I’m still struggling with M33, let alone the quintet and HH.

14 hours ago, HollyHound said:

My newly refined 2” eyepiece case, primarily for the Dob.

I’ve replaced Ethos 21 with Nagler 22 and Ethos 3.7 with ES 2” Extender.

Using the Extender with Paracorr and Ethos 8 and 6 gives me magnifications of x357 and x456 respectively and a minimum exit pupil of 0.5mm 👍

Im tempted to try a 22mm nagler with my dob. What did you prefer over the 21E?

I’ve been hoping to have a go at the quintet too but wasn’t certain I’d be able to resolve them either. Fingers crossed for a clear evening around new moon as I’ve taken a couple of days off work to try.

Super Joe. 

Great write up. I might have to try a spot somewhere over that way myself.