Stardaze

A point I have mused over regarding glasses wearers is that without using the eye relief, or little of it, surely on occasion both glass do touch? I suspect that the glass and coating is good enough to take a fair bit of cleaning and similar use. Have been cleaning camera lenses for years without any issues.

I’m not keen on the baader cloth that comes with the kit, bit too heavy in material, tend to use a very light cloth. But the fluid is definitely recommended. I give mine a blow at the end of each session and clean when needed. No glasses here, so not very often at all.

I’d have a drive down the M5 for that 😀

I’d love to have a look through a bigger dob than my 10”. Practically a 12” Orion is probably what I’ll aim for in the years to come, anything larger would need to be for darker trips out m, which wouldn’t be often enough to justify the expense. I was looking at the new Stellar Lyra 16” for the same money as the OO 12 with 1/10 mirror… All that said, I’m a realist and my 10” is more than enough right now, there’s plenty of hours of experience I need to gain before I’ve graduated to such kit.

Interesting discussion. I suffered a little astigmatism the one evening that was not normal toward the end of a session. Maybe the boundary layer was the culprit?

Enjoy reading your reports Joe, it’s great to hear about plenty we can’t view from here.

Enjoyed reading that Magnus, sounds like you have a great combo there.

Definitely what @Littleguy80says. Interesting the mention of transparency as I had two evenings back to back early last week and the second was frustrating trying for nebula, it really was much worse and very difficult to see what I’d seen the night before.

Postie delivered a little package I wasn’t expecting today. I mentioned to my mother a hood to help keep the neighbours stray light at bay, so she’s knocked up a prototype. Looks pretty good.

Thought you’d been quiet. Sounds awesome. I had a taster this year when we were away, so have been looking at a few spots for next year for a trip.

As in these John?

Can’t believe they miss that vital point.

@johninderbynoticing that the tube isn’t as smooth as it was earlier. Is a little grease recommended or is that a no no?

Yup, that was the bit I’d missed John and wondered why the micro knob wasn’t doing anything. I found your post you linked thanks 😊

Last bit of spend for the season… Telegizmo cover for leaving in the shed after an evening and finally got the 1:10 micro focuser unit. Really will be so much better in micro adjusting focus on the planets. Had a few niggles installing like most people seem to but a good search on here helped. Bring on the clear evenings.

It’s all I’ve been using for the last few weeks, really love this EP, hope you enjoy too.

A great list of targets. The blinking neb is pretty cool for sure. Pegasus needs another month from here, or a very late night.

Wasn’t that good here in the Midlands too, very variable. Monday night was far better.

It’s a lovely eyepiece Richard 🙂 It’s replacement didn’t get used at all last night, found myself either long or short. It’s been a while since I’ve hopped around a new constellation with just an atlas so definitely a bit rusty. I could certainly make out 4 moons too with Saturn but the spread of the two on the righthand seemed wider than how Enceladus and Dione appear on SkySafari. Hyperion is out of my scopes range so had to be.

Last night cleared to reveal a lovely sky that the forecast hadn't predicted (tonight always looking best) and so I put the new dob truck to good use. Saturn was already between the houses upon set up and a quick peak confirmed this following collimation and alignment of finders (I did bump her around with the truck but everything held up very well). With virtually no cooling I could tell that things looked steady, game on! I spent a lot of the night with the two gas giants. I've really enjoyed this month watching the changing Galilean moons. Io and Ganymede were almost touching when Jupiter appeared but the seeing deteriorated around half an hour in so I retreated for a quick brew and to get the new Nebustar out for it's first airing. The Milky Way is a little tricky from home. Above next doors house isn't ideal, having to dodge window light when I returned. An altitude of -10 is just possible and it's still the prime constellation I have little experience with, but the one I so desperately want to explore. I knew the duck cluster was possible, so started there first. I'd left my phone inside, so reverted to my trusty pocket atlas. The star hopping needed work! My eyes hadn't adapted properly yet and the window wasn't helping. But then, what appeared to be a spread out glob in the 20 APM, there she was. The APM 20 and XW 7 turn out to be par focal, which I realised when I decided to drill down into the cluster. Just a super sight, fully resolved across the eyepiece. I spent a good while taking it all in and allowing my eyes to fully adapt. I really wanted to try for the Eagle Neb so popped the Nebustar on the 20mm. I had a jumper draped over my head by now to avoid the stray lights, one had gone out. Not as intuitive as having SkySafari next to the 9x50, the star hop whilst juggling the torch and atlas was a bit clunky at best - definitely out of practice in pastures new! And then, like it does, it just popped into view. I'll admit that I wasn't totally certain at first that it was M16, but I pieced it together in my head slowly. I decided to just drop the dob a little and got lucky with M17 too, but the fence line was appearing into view. A slightly washed out image resembled a galaxy to my eye, so not a lot of detail, but really pleased with anything around -16 altitude which was lurking in a washed out horizon. Time was ticking now, so I decided to spend some time back with Jupiter, quickly noticing that it wasn't as steady as before. It never really did stabilise that well but occasionally there were moments where the tropical belts came in to view, which isn't so bad. Whilst packing up I glanced up to see superb clear sky with the Milky Way being just visible, now that all the peripheral lights had gone out. Now would have been the time really to be out, but burning the candle wasn't an option tonight. I just clocked Delphinus and with the 7mm still loaded I took in one of my favourite doubles, Gamma Delphini. The contrast of the two colours really do pop, the lime colour of the B star was really evident against it's warmer sibling. Hopefully the forecast is true tonight and I'll have to concentrate on Sagittarius from the off, see if I can find the Star Cloud...

Great evening to finish on if it doesn’t clear later. It’s forecast clear again here in the Midlands tonight, fingers crossed.

Wasn’t too bad at all, just wish I’d have had a bit more time.

Probably interested if you want to move on. Have been clearing out the shed today working whether it would be ok to store for long periods 🤔

My next job is to knock up a couple of ramps to negotiate two steps.

Another couple of small presents just landed. Been meaning to add one of the black diamond head torches and at £17 for the little one, couldn’t resist. Works well in red mode. Also added a Baader fine tuning ring for the 10E. I have a televue one on the 13E but slightly cautious as I’d read that the baader thread doesn’t lock down all the way, but all good. Half the price so had to be tried.