Pixies

Shadow transit of Io starts at 1am

I was setting up a new RACI on the scope tonight and was using Altair as the target. As I looked through the finder, I saw a tiny light fly past. "Satellite", I said to myself. Then another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another ... Starlink passing by at 20:30. I counted around 30, roughly.

Whoosh I was using the new 105mm frac tonight and could split Epsilon Lyrae at x83! It was straight up, mind. The gas giants will be a bit poorer, I imagine!

I got a Facebook astro friend to print it for me. Getting a 3D printer will greatly increase the total cost of the binos!

Ah - I see. It's not a case of point and track at anything, it need to know what you are already pointed at. So it's effectively a one-star-alignment.

Does it not require alignment of some kind?

Ditto:

Trying out a new mount tonight. The clouds are clearing but the seeing is poor. Have been observing a shadow transit of Ganymede. Jupiter has gone behind a roof just now, but I'll pop out again later. The transit ends at midnight.

New toy out tonight. @Franklin was a little concerned the scope might be a bit too big for the AP mount, but it is working fine, even when it's a little breezy. Vibrations damp down in under 2 seconds if I knock it. The bigger tripod helps, I'm sure. The tracking and slewing are something else, compared with the old Super Polaris. So quiet. I'll get a better picture in the daylight.

Yep - negative tip. That's why so many blown DMD3 controllers. I put in a 9v voltage converter into the body of a SW battery pack with hard-wired cable with correct polarity. I've found that the MT1 motors are noisy when using 13v+ (i.e. lead-acid battery pack) via a more modern DD3 controller, but not so when using a proper 12v supply.

the 20mm is the smallest one, though.

I was observing Saturn with an SLV 25mm last night. In a little F11 80M Vixen achromat (driven) it gave fantastic (if small) views. The 20mm was even better. Any more magnification gave poorer views. I'll get a line-up pic

The rainfall in the UK tends to coincide with the dark skies: (from http://www.statsmapsnpix.com/2020/08/rain-shadow-maps.html) Mind you, even if it's not raining in Cwmdu, there's still a high chance you might get washed away in the dew!

Just seen this. As far as I am aware, we use the same names. Plus the bottle trap.

@cajen2 Jupiter opposition is during AstroCamp. I'll remind you!

I did the same and found the 3-d printed eyecups were too hard to fit. However, I found a pair of eyecups from an old junk pair of binoculars that fitted. This also means I have some caps to keep the dust out.

Hey @wookie1965 - have a look at this: https://dewheater.com/?product=usb-power-supply-cable

That'll help with stability, too!

Ah apologies. Looks like I've put down times in UTC. 🤪 I used S&T. However, I was certain I converted it to BST. Perhaps I found an old text file where I had put 'BST' but not converted the actual times.

On Sun 25 Sept (the day before opposition), there's a transit of Io - where the moon itself is only 2 minutes behind the shadow. Sun 25th 21:24 BST, Io's shadow begins to cross Jupiter. 21:26 BST, Io begins transit of Jupiter. 23:38 BST, Io's shadow leaves Jupiter's disk. 23:40 BST, Io ends transit of Jupiter. I'm not sure how close they will appear at that separation, though. NOTE: I'VE EDITED MY ORIGINAL POST WITH CORRECT TIMES (SEE BELOW)

I will listen to it, on the radiogram!

SGL strikes again! Well done guys.

I recently acquired the 19mm Axiom LX (still a 2" EP) but I haven't had a chance to use it properly yet. I also have the 22mm LVW. Both EPs will have a similar FOV, with the Axiom's wider AFOV. So I'll be interested to see how they compare. It's likely I'll be selling on the Axiom, though.

I thought you were going to say that you found you were single!

You mean this? (not uncommon):