Pixies

6 hours ago, Live_Steam_Mad said:

I attempted to make it, I got as far a 40 mins down the M6 and then the car died on me and I've had to be recovered back to home. Sucks. This is the 2nd time this car has died on me. I am tempted to replace it with a Ford Transit Van.

For those that did make it, let us know how it goes. Pix would be nice.

Best Regards.

Sorry to hear that. Heavy wind and rain Saturday evening but then it cleared for a while. Took a quick pic on my Seestar (one of many here) but the wind was making it a little tricky. 

Some clear spells overnight, but I observed only from the bed in the van!

10 hours ago, cajen2 said:

I came for Friday but then had to hurry off home Saturday early for a family emergency. The brief time I had was good, despite the rain and 10/10ths cloud.

Oh no. I hope nothing too serious! Shame we missed each other - September hopefully

Anyone here? It seems much quieter than usual. But that will be Storm Kathleen's doing, I guess.

Cuiv (the lazy geek) has even replied to Ed's video! 

A bit hazy but managed an hour before the moon starts to spoil the party.

There have been a few complaints about firmware v2.30. Mainly that it now struggles to find the moon!

I can confirm that this is true for me.

11 hours ago, woldsman said:

Many thanks for replying. Although the screw fits the thread I doubt it’s an actual altitude bolt. Planning to replace it and hoping it will make fine adjustment easier.

and here's the very faint Leo1 galaxy next to Regulus:

clue:

NGC-1664  - the Kite cluster:

On 17/02/2024 at 21:36, woldsman said:

Day 2 owning a Vixen Super Polaris mount. The tripod stand arrived from Japan this morning & I’ve attached some legs cannibalised from a Chinese clone. Would like to check I understand how to set the latitude. This shifted  after counterweights and the ota were attached until I tightened the three small Allen screws as well as the large central Allen screw and the black adjustment knob. I can see the horizontal screw (to the left) must be for fine adjustment. Do I unrighteousness the black  knob and turn the horizontal screw for fine adjustment during polar alignment? Tips and instructions much appreciated!

Hi @woldsman

Om most nights, you should only have to adjust for latitude with this one:

The bolts and screw on the side plate are only really used for large scale movement or moving the whole shebang into an alt-az setup.

Usual spot booked! See you all there

Welcome.

I dare you to create a new thread "How well is my scope collimated?" - and post your profile picture!

🤓

Booking opens next week (Sat 10th)

The great Pete Lawrence is posting some images in the official Seestar S50 Facebook group. You're all in good company!

First proper session in months. Not sure why the break, I just seemed to lose my mojo a little. Anyway, hopefully back now.. I had the 8" dob out in the back garden. Sky was clear and dark for here (at the start anyway). Seeing average. The transparency worsened over the session and by midnight it was cold, damp and the sky was getting a little milky.

Started with Jupiter. However, it was getting lower in the sky by the time I started and pretty wobbly. Saw Io vanish behind and Ganymede finished its transit and appeared like a little pimple. No sign of it before and nothing of Europa.

Then on to the Orion Nebula. One of the better views I've had from the back garden. Using the Vixen LVW 22mm it was well framed, but with the 13mm Nagler I could see the 'marbled' structure around the trapezium and dark lanes. The UHC and Oiii filters brought out the further reaches of the nebula, but I preferred the clear bright views without. No sign of any of the fainter trapezium stars. Spent a good hour on this alone.

M35 filled the view in the 22mm. Nearby NGC 2158 was just visible - the first time I've seen it from the garden.

M1 was hard to see. The transparency was getting worse now.

Finished on Beta Monocerotis. Never observed this before (saw it mentioned a wee while ago). Very pretty at around 100x - no discernible colours.

A neighbour then hit the lights, so I called it a night.

Io will be vanishing behind Jupiter in about an hour. You should be able to see it vanish while both Europa and Ganymede are transiting. In fact, Io will disappear just minutes before Ganymede clears.

Still nice a clear here. I've got the dob out cooling, so fingers crossed. I haven't done any observing  in months!

I was out with my Vixen SD81S tonight and saw that there was a shadow transit of Europa. So I swung over to the east, stuck in a 5mm eyepiece  (for x125 magnification) and watched.

Now, the local seeing  over rooftops was pretty poor and at first I couldn't see anything. But I persevered and could start to make out a faint tiny grey dot where the shadow was expected. Not the pin-sharp black speck I'm used to in  my bigger scopes. I assume this is down to the seeing and possibly the shadow was beyond the  resolving power of the 81mm aperture.

What are your experiences with shadow transits and smaller scopes? Was my experience typical or was it down to poor seeing? Perhaps a bit more magnification? Does the moon size make any difference?

Cheers

Some aurora tonight.

Sorry to hear that Tin. My condolences.

Haven't been on for a while and just come on to say that I'm going to miss this weekend too, due to a poorly child.

9 hours ago, RobertI said:

Probably my widest field setup is my 60mm F3.75 finder with my 24mm 68 degree eyepiece, giving a whopping 7.5 degrees field of view! The aberrations are quite unpleasant though. I can use my 38mm Panaview with my 66mm refractor, giving a 7 degrees FOV, there is theoretical vignetting but not actually noticeable. But my everyday wide field setup is my 102ED and 38mm Panaview giving 3.9 degrees. Stupidly I sold my Megrez 72mm which was a brilliant wide field scope with a 2” focuser. I know this is a “show me” thread, so better show a picture I guess…..

 

Snap - with an old Velbon tripod too!

On 03/08/2023 at 13:17, Louis D said:

Is the Bresser/Explore FirstLight/JOC Dobsonian series so bad that no one mentions them as worthwhile of a look?  I haven't tried one in person, but I like the look of those altitude trunnions and rotatable tube.  I believe the focuser can be upgraded to dual speed.

I bought one back in 2020. I was going for the SW but there were none available. I've no regrets and after having used a few SW dobs, am glad I chose the Bresser,

The alt bearings are very smooth and require no adjustment. I use a couple of magnetic weights to adjust balance when using very heavy eyepieces, it doesn't use the friction adjustment like the SW does, so remains easy to move.

The best thing is the quality of the Hexafoc focusser, which is a beast. The plastic straight through finder is an abomination though and would be the first thing to be replaced. Some older models came with a RDF. 

I think the lack of ownership is mainly due to supply issues that Bresser had during the pandemic. They were unavailable for about a year. However, in the US, they are known as the Explore Scientific Firstlight dob: https://explorescientificusa.com/collections/reflectors/products/explore-firstlight-8-dobsonian-telescope-package-fl-dob0806-02-pk

If I was making the choice now, it would be between the Bresser and the Stella Lyra and probably I'd go for the latter. If the Bresser came with a decent RACI, then it would be the Bresser.

2 hours ago, Franklin said:

Just sold mine to an SGL member and yes it is a very good scope. It was the A105M and had the 3 foil spacers rather than the spacer ring which the current A105MII has.

That was me! I have @Franklin's old A105M. It's an excellent scope and has received positive comments from people, more knowledgeable than me, regarding its sharpness.

Saw this earlier.

These days, is it rare to have a human-discovered comet that comes in so quickly!

I'm back on the usual spot, too. I should have a new camper by then, or might take the old Bongo for one last hurrah. The latter also has  25 year old tech, so less lights to turn on by mistake!

The website say 1pm for me