Pixies

Hi @dcobb, According to Dark Site Finder, I'm borderline red/orange (although there are 2 shades of red). In terms of the Bortle scale, I'm more 5/6 though. I have an 8" dob and can find many DSOs (planets are not a problem with light pollution). Obviously darker skies would improve things. Are you able to make an estimation on NELM (Naked Eye Limiting Magnitude)? how many stars in Ursa Minor can you see (assuming you are in the Northern hemisphere) I can make all 7 on very rare occasions, when the sky is particularly transparent, new moon, and obviously completely dark-adapted (and hiding myself from all nearby light sources). More often, it's just 6. A casual glance without the above would give just 3.

I have a 4mm Circle-T ortho, which I normally only use for star tests. However, last week during an evening of particularly good seeing, I used it to split the tighter pair of Tegmine. My other Circle-T orthos are 6mm and 7mm (University Optics). I also have the 8m Vixen LVW. The Vixen has a great advantage with it's wider FPV, especially with my dob. But the 7mm Ortho just pips it for sharpness.

Campervan or a day-van. Or a large MPV that can be slept it. I realise that might be a bit of an added expense. But if you were looking to get a new vehicle in the near future, it's worth keeping in mind. My Bongo is about to expire, so just starting to look at a Toyota Alphard (suitable name!). Haven't seen you around for a while @Stardaze!

I use adapter A to connect the Barlow to the Hyperion zoom. I wasn't aware that adapter B was required. Adapter B is a T-thread to connect the barlow to the T adapter on a DSLR. Well - that's how I use it: Have I missed something?

How about a triple? Iota Cassiopeiae. it's high up just now and probably best viewed as early as possible before it gets up near the zenith. It's stunning and one of my favourites. And in a few months' time, double-double will be back with us. You'll have your eye in by then, ready for this:

I use the 2" for greater stability, but it's probably negligible.

There are 2 models. I'm not sure which one would be best.

This is worth a look for your scope - esp from around 3:00 in.

You mean the zoom Barlow, don't you?

The Baader zoom has a 2" adapter, so that it can fit a 2" focuser too. It's just for convenience and stability, though. If you get the matching barlow, it's 1.25" only.

Nice report. M37 is my favourite open cluster. Can you see NGC1664 from there (it's in the same vicinity)? It's called the Kite cluster, but I think it looks like a stingray.

This thread inspired me to have a shot at this target last night. The great seeing was very promising, too! At first I thought it was easy! I landed right on it but then realised I had the zoom out and what I was seeing were the 'easy' pairing and another star! So I upped the magnification and realised how tricky this is! At highest power on the zoom (x150) no luck at all. With the barlow and x330 there was something but hard to make out as I was stretching the limits of the zoom/barlow optics. So I went simple and got out the very rarely used 4mm Cirtle-T ortho. Normally I only use this for star tests! Well, it worked. Was it a perfect split, I don't know. The seeing was amazing and the steadiest diffraction rings I'd ever seen, but I guess the limited contrast of a Newtonian makes it harder than what I understand is the refractor's great advantage. But I'm happy. I stuck a sketch in the sketching forum. I'll put up a copy here and ask for comments on whether you think this is a split and am I getting a good result out of an 8" bob at x300 (as I have no comparison to make). Thanks.

I love mine (and the matching barlow) - but I didn't pay full-whack for it. The Hyperflex zoom gets great reviews and is considerably cheaper. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ovl-eyepieces/hyperflex-72mm-215mm-eyepiece.html Search SGL for lots of comments. It'll be great with your dob - but consider a wide-angle eyepiece to go with it, as at the low powered end it has a reduced field-of-view.

The very steady seeing helped me split the tight pair after some eyepiece changes. Haven't seen diffraction rings so clear in the dob before. Pencil and a bit of digital:

The seeing was the best I'd witnessed since I started back in May last year. The sky was clear, the earlier high clouds/haze had gone and I went out a bit later than I expected. I started with the Trapezium cluster, thinking I stood a chance finding F for the first time. However, I had left it too late and Orion had drifted over a nearby house and the heat currents made it hard to clearly see the Trapezium itself, let alone E or F. So I moved to Cancer for the 3 things I had planned to observe tonight. M67 was disappointing, the light from the moon washed out the fainter stars and any colour differences had gone too. So next I went to Iota Cancri. This was great - like a mini winter Albireo. The largest star a warm yellow and its smaller companion steely blue. Then the main event - Tegmine (or Tegmen, or Tegmeni, or Zeta Cancri). Found it and thought - nice easy split at x80, what's the fuss about! Then realised that was the distant pairing and the southern-most star was the close double. Using the zoom, I went down to x150 but no luck. So added a barlow and at x300 something was happening but not exactly a split. So I swapped over to my 4mm ortho (still x300) and after a lot of staring and nudging, started to make out the split. Hardly a clean split, but there were seperate airy disks and the very steady seeing meant I could differentiate the two sharing a diffraction ring between them. I've put a sketch up on the sketching forum. Anyway, after that I decided to bite the bullet and went for the moon. Again, up to x300 easily with the good seeing! I could make out textures and gentle ridges over the mare near the terminator. I'm not familiar with the moon to be able to describe the location correctly. I'll need to do some research. But the steadiest views of the moon I've had. I could get used to this!

Have just come in from looking at a few. I can really recommend Iota Cancri. It's like a mini winter Albireo. A large yellow star with a smaller blue companion. Easily split, too. Was also trying to split the close pair in Tegmine (zeta Cancri). This is a bit trickier to say the least! just managed to do so, I could make out the separate airy disks at x300.

You'll need to spend some more cash! Perhaps not that much cash!

Sounds good. My stuff is cooling outside while I type in the online shopping for the week 🙄 I might take some snaps of the moon, but it's mainly visual for me.

North/South divide in the UK tonight, as far as the jetstream is concerned:

These are often recommended as a reasonable quality wide-field 2" that aren't too pricey: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ovl-eyepieces/aero-ed-swa-2-eyepieces.html I have the 30mm - but don't get on with it due to my astigmatism. The 35mm is apparently the best in the range. Your scope is pretty fast, though. So it will be demanding of EPs.

There's a SkySafari public list here: The Cambridge double star atlas, Astronomical League double star program, etc. are in the SkySafari online repository of observing lists.

Managed to just get Mercury in the bins. So I've seen it now as a morning and evening sight. I had the little Mak ready, but once I found it in the bins, rushed to get it positioned. Had to put the tripod on to a table to get a decent view but by the time I had it in my sights it was just disappearing over the houses opposite. Hopefully it'll be clear tomorrow afternoon and I'll be ready on my new 'platform'.

No. But perhaps that weather balloon.

Saw them last night in a 10x50 pair. Managed to get the kids out to see them too (despite the cold). Usual childish jokes ensued, mainly from me!

Glancing reflection from moonlight? A few months ago I saw (naked eye) a very slow bright satellite in the West that was just too late to be reflecting sunlight. Confirmed its position using one of the satellite tracking websites. My only thought was that it was catching the sunlight reflected off the moon, which was suitably positioned.