Pixies

An Analogy (with tongue firmly in cheek).... Visual Astronomy: Electronically enhanced visual astronomy: Astrophotography: (puts on hard-hat and retires under rock.......)

Jupiter and Saturn will be to the south-east at that time in the morning. Perhaps you were seeing the star Arcturus? It's bright, orange, and you can find it by following the curve of the handle of the big dipper away from the 'bowl' end:

Get a good guide to start with. Turn left at Orion is often recommended, but there are others, such as Nightwatch: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Nightwatch-Dickinson-Terence-Firefly-Books/30442906126/bd?cm_mmc=ggl-_-UK_Shopp_Tradestandard-_-product_id=COUK9781554071470NEW-_-keyword=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsqmEBhDiARIsANV8H3ZVC0VNWFhVuzJBp5-_vcvLCtAZYr20VIfwiRDwv5QkEYEAmgE_PVAaAhCWEALw_wcB You don't have to rush in to quickly. Get used to what you have, then you can see where you might want to make improvements. It's easy to end up with loads of stuff you don't use!

Binoculars will definitely help when you suffer from light pollution. SO many more stars will be visible to you. For example, the Beehive Cluster (M44) is invisible to me here in Edinburgh, as is the constellation Cancer where it is located. However, it's placed almost directly half-way between the 2 bright stars of Regulus (Leo) and Pollux (Gemini). Just point your bins in that direction and you'll soon find it. Then when you get to go to a proper dark site, you can be amazed at being able to see naked-eye what you can normally only see through the binoculars! And then - just wait to see what the binocular view is like! As for learning the bright stars, I played a little game with myself when out walking the dog at twilight. As the sky darkens, the first stars will start to appear. Over several clear nights, you can spot which ones appear first. The odd thing with the bright sly at this time of the evening is that it makes it very hard to spot stars - you have to be looking right at them before you notice them. It forces you to really notice their location. For springtime for example: Sirius, Arcturus, Capella, Procyon, Castor and Pollux, Regulus, etc. A quick check of SkySafari or similar to confirm their names, and bingo. And as the months go by, you learn the new stars and their constellations as they rise in the East. Suddenly the "summer triangle" of Vega, Deneb and Altair are glaringly obvious to you as you stagger home from the pub!

Hi. Anyone here use manual filter wheels or filter slides for changing between different filters or none, when doing visual observing? I'm finding it a bit of a pain to start swapping filters in and out. Especially if it's cold. I've dropped one or two and luckily not damaged anything, but it's only a matter of time with my fat fingers. So I thought the above might be a good idea. Cheers.

I have the Mk IV and matching zoom. Got them secondhand for the price of the zoom only. I use it a lot - for the reasons already mentioned above. I have a good finder setup with a 10x60 RACI finder, which means I can usually get the target in the 26mm field of view (which is narrow compared to most modern fixed focal-length EPs). If I'm having to start-hop through the eyepiece though, I'll swap in a 30mm one. It's a good alternative for basic+ fixed EPs and there are plenty of nights it'll be the only EP I use. However, if I am pushing the gear with a trickier target, like a really close double-star or something very faint, I might have to swap to a good fixed EP. But for starting out, it's a good option. Then after a while, you will have a better idea of what fixed focal-lengths you might want.

Many thanks, your post and that link explains it very well. I think that perhaps my expectation was higher than was is possible, then. I was hoping for a more 'immersive' view. This 'porthole' onto space analogy is true, I guess - just that it's a small porthole that you've got your face pressed up against! Just tried again in daylight with the little ST80 - and I can see what you mean. Moving my head lets me see the whole field, just not all at once. I was busy burying my head into the eyecup so that the field-stop was visible in all directions. I'll try and live with it a bit more and see whether my experience improves. I'm sure there are more expensive EPs that are easier to use. Thanks again, @Louis D

Hi everyone. Following on from a post by @Pitch Black Skies, who appears to suffer from the same issue, I thought I'd mention this to you all and see whether it's a known problem or something to do with the way we are using them. Normally, these EPs get great reviews. With 82 deg FOV, this is the widest 1.25" eyepiece I have. However, in order to see the field stop, I need to get my eye pretty close in, and as I move my eye around to view the wide field, I suffer from blackouts/kidney beaning. If I want to look from one edge to the opposite side, I can't just move my eyeball, I need to lift my head away slightly as my centre of vision approaches the midpoint. Does that make sense? It's like the eye relief is a curved plane. Is this just my limited experience with wide FOV EPs or a lack of technique on my part? I was looking forward to the "porthole in space" experience, but the above means that I can't easily take in the whole field. I feel like I might as well just use a lower powered 70deg EP. I was listening to the recent Actual Astronomy podcast, where they mention that these blackouts can be related to the scope too. I.e., the aperture/speed of the scope has an effect and that an EP can suffer really badly in one type of scope but be fine in another. @Pitch Black Skiesis using an 8" F6 dob too. Perhaps I should test it out in my little ST80. However, I do notice it too when just holding the EP up to my eye in daylight.

Yep - it's as if you need to get your eye so close in order to see the field stop, that you can't help getting blackouts. I'm about to post a topic about his very thing. I don't know if this is a problem with this particular eyepiece or with widefield EPs in general. At least I'm glad it's not just me though!

Ditto for the zoom. The gas giants are still low in the sky and I agree with the above suggestions for around x150 as a good general magnification (8mm). Getting to observe details from planetary viewing really benefits from relaxed viewing over long periods of time. Avoiding too much dob-nudging will help, so get the widest FOV high-power eyepieces you can afford (IMHO).

I find the same as you with the 16mm Nirvana. The 12mm BST is an excellent eyepiece, and provides a useful x100 magnification, with a 2mm exit pupil.

And drive slowly!

Dark skies and rainfall appear to go together: (above map by Alasdair Rae)

I've been to Whiteadder reservoir - which is in the wrong direction for you, and probably a bit too far, unfortunately! It's pretty dark though. The last time I was there, a car/truck drove down the opposite side of the water. I assume it was a gamekeeper, as they had a spotlight that they were shining into the woods opposite. At one point I saw that they were directing the spotlight over towards me on the opposite bank. I shut my eyes (fearing for my dark adaption) and raised my hand to say hi. They drove off and I never saw them again.

Had a peek last night for the first time in a couple of weeks. It looked little different. Happy that my eyes agree with the above!

Harperrig reservoir is about 25 miles from you. Not been there myself, but it's supposed to be a regular site for astronomers.

Think I got it in the 8" dob. With the Baader zoom, I had no luck. Seeing wasn't great but seemed to be improving from earlier. Tried the higher powered orthos, but no luck there, either. Then I got out the Vixen LVW 8mm, which hasn't seen much action since last October when Mars was near opposition. I barlowed that with the x2.25 - to give me x337 magnification. This was a bit of a mess, but at least the wider angle could let me watch the star for a while. I could see something behind the star as it drifted West. I removed the barlow and it popped into occasional clarity: x150 magnification I tried the 7mm ortho again, and the zoom, but it was only the 8mm Vixen that would show it.

Seeing is pretty average here and a thin layer of high cloud has just arrived. I'll have a beer and try later.

Nice report. M13 and M57 were the first targets I ever saw in a scope. Youngsters' vision is a lot better. My son (same age as yours) can see colour in the Orion nebula. And last year when hunting for comet Neowise, I was using binoculars but he could pick it up naked-eye!

Nope - not here. The seeing was good, but not great. In my 8" dob, the most relaxing view was with the 8mm Vixen LVW: it's my widest view at that magnification, so not too much nudging. However, I couldn't make out the rille. The shadows of the southern edge of the valley were pin-sharp, though. I thought the 4mm ortho might do it, but that failed too. It involved so much nudging that I could not get relaxed.

The ioptron has a flip-mirror diagonal built-in, I think. It might be this that is making the noise?

What about a Heritage 150p instead of a 6" classic dob? I know someone who has it mounted on an AZ5 and tripod, rather than have to lug some kind of platform/table around.

That's a good haul. I find the Beehive cluster, when I can't see naked eye, by sticking the Telrad exactly half-way between Regulus (Leo) and Pollux (Gemini) - then it's usually down a wee bit from that point. The rich star field in Perseus was probably the Alpha Persei Moving Group - around Mirfak. It's a great target for binoculars. Did you try the double cluster? You can find it by following the chain of stars south-north up from Mirfak towards Cassiopeia. For Polaris, I'm not sure how to give directions for the B star - as everything is South from Polaris! If you find a nearby mag 6.5 star (HR 286 in SkySafari) - it's in the same direction. Sort of towards the right-hand side of Cassiopeia. Below is a pic from SkySafari showing the above in a reflector view (180 deg rotation) Here's a good thread on the Epsilon Lyrae 'challenge' from last year (starting again shortly, I guess): I'm interested in seeing how I do this year after 12 months' experience. And experience does count with this sort of target, believe it or not. That and the quality of seeing. It's a bit low just now, still.

I took my 8" Bresser dob to a dark site last week. I was going to take the campervan but ended up using our little VW Up. The OTA lay across the back seat and the dob base on the passenger seat. Everything else in the boot. A normal sized car would have the base in the boot too, probably. An 8" dob isn't that big. A 10" is wider, but not any longer. 12"+ is significantly larger though.

This is the start of aperture fever. It was simple enough, a happy soul content with his 3" refractor - but then those voices start.... "4 inch ED", "127 Mak", "150 Dob". Then the next thing you know: