josefk

17 hours ago, John said:

Without such setups I think I would have given up observing a while back !

 

i haven't made it out with a "big scope" since May 23 and that isn't from lack of will or with too many missed opportunities - being able to GnG at short notice or for a short session is a hobby sustaining lifeline indeed!

I'm sort of ongoing with this @Skipjack but in a very "incidental" way rather than super purposefully. I have only a pitiful 101/400 objects logged for 2-years worth of attention. In that same period i've also picked up a handful of the second Astro League Herschel 400 objects list (H400-II) and of course a few of the full Herschel ~2500 list (as has anybody who observes a low NGC number).

In my defence for slow progress on the H400 list -

• 2023 (my second year of paying attention and making notes) was rubbish for opportunity in general, and
• it is (deliberately) very very rarely the source of an dedicated/intended target list for an observing session - my approach to the project typically is simply to be cognisant to check after the fact if what i had been looking at the night before is in any Herschel list or not then mark it up accordingly, and
• even when i do particularly fancy making an attempt  to have a Herschel specific session i'm inclined to do that with a small (too small) manual GnG scope (i think because i don't want it to become a too quick ticking exercise and i find this style quite contemplative even if not entirely productive)

A small contradiction to the casual approach is i do have some Herschel monthly lists in Sky Safari and if i look at some object targeted for another reason i may flick to one of those to see if there is a Herschel discovered object or two nearby to where i'm pointing. I do love looking up anything of note re. Herschel's own observation of any given object i find i have observed and i'm never less than impressed by the man and his abilities when i do. On that topic i'm about halfway through the brilliant Wolfgang Steinicke "masterwork" on Herschel's life and observations but my reading of that book is also very casual and slow :-).

I have the longterm ambition to steadily do the full Herschel 2500 or so list (i would really like this to be something i "achieve" in the hobby) and i would additionally like quite a bit of that to be sketched. 

At some point a few years into the future when I happen to casually find myself more than half way through the long list - i will use whatever i have left to view on the 2500 list to define what my n+1 scope set-up would need to be to push on in a more focussed way to successfully complete it.

Finally, also at some point, i'm going to have a go at copying Herschel's own sweeping technique - you can basically emulate/replay some of Herschel's own discovery evenings by doing this and i'd like to experience that.

Cheers

Joe

hi @Sunshine - on different scopes i'm a user of either a baader click lock alone or baader CL and "integrated" camera angle adjuster and use either to achieve the same end of rotating the diagonal to an ergonomic angle (i'm often at the side of my scope rather than behind). I really like that the CAA is a foolproof/accident proof way of doing it as there is no chance to drop the diagonal out (especially a heavily loaded diagonal) when hands are cold and the brain isn't working at full speed. I'm not sure i prefer the CAA so much that i would spring for one as an "upgrade" but like you i definitely appreciate the one i have.

On the weight topic - i could weigh both for you if you want but i'm not sure the simplest assembly of Tak bits to step the CAA down to either 2" or 1.25" is lighter that the Baader CL.

Nice Jupiter obs & sketch BTW.

i like a nice case myself and find excuses to buy them for all sorts. That is a nice case!

Very evocative - your joy is apparent (and contagious if only the damn clouds would clear here)!

Sounds brilliant and the pictures are great. Really nice. 

22 hours ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Cak, 100mm bresser, 0.5 reducer, lunt cak b1800 module and Zwo Asi 178 mono camera. HA double stack and ZwoAsi 178mm mono camera. 

 

 

 

I particularly like these two Nigella - super vivid. Arresting even. Intense. 

6 hours ago, Gfamily said:

Another tip when using an app is to go to a known region of the sky and work out the faintest stars you can see through the 32mm eyepiece.

Then, in the app, use the 'magnitude' slider so that those stars just about appear.

That way, you'll be able to match what you're seeing to what's visible in the app (particularly when you have the circle showing) and that should make star hopping easier.

Also a spot on tip!  I always forget to do it.

1 hour ago, Sunshine said:

Dust cap insanity, I am compelled to find an alternative to the monstrosity of a dust cap on the FS128. A dust cap that weighs in at an ounce short of a pound is hilarious! this hulking metalic man hole cover throws my alt az mount off balance when removing it, so much so that I must be sure to tighten the friction knob as tight as possible and have a hand on the OTA when removing the cap. This is crazy, must a dust cap be bulletproof? I will see what alternatives I can find/make that will protect and yet be mich lighter. This cap can serve as a spare rim for my Toyota.

If you manage to find the Tak “shower cap”  “sailors hat” style soft lens cap in ~130mm friendly sizes for sale anywhere (as used on the Mewlon I think) be sure to post on here as I would fancy one myself. 

7 hours ago, Bugdozer said:

What are those straight white lines?

I have the orbits of the planets switched on in view preferences. It’s a bit cluttering but I also find it an easy ready reckoner for other targets ….”Is X above or below an imaginary line between Saturn and Jupiter” for example. 

Ignore

@Peter Drew as the owner of both ~3" and ~5" Tak OTAs i can promise you the 3" outperforms its bigger brother by quite a margin in the "carrying it up and down stairs" stakes! It may not be apples vs. apples - more like potato vs. sack of potatoes.

4 minutes ago, keora said:

I originally had a basic version of Sky Safari and switched to Sky Safari Pro a year ago. If I go to the Observe menu it looks similar to the photo you added to your reply. I'll try to set up finder circles on Sky Safari for the 9X50 finder scope and the 32mm eyepiece. I've avoided trying this before as I wasn't sure what to do.

I believe I can adjust the display on Sky Safari so the stars are shown as a mirror image of what the observer sees when looking at the stars. This would make the Safari screen match the stars seen through the 32mm objective. Is this worth trying out?

Hi keora - i think if you do these two things then you have cracked it "toolkit" wise. It is important to flip the view in the main Sky Safari view to match your scope EP or finder orientation (mirror horizontally (star diagonal) or mirror vertically (my finder - yours may not be) or nothing (correct image finder or naked eye) otherwise you need mental gymnastics to follow the star patterns. With the mirrored flips done in SS no mental gymnastics other than "clock face" style plain rotation are required to match the star field to the map as it were.

i regular flip the main SS view in a single session because my finder and scope present different orientations and I still use the regular unflipped "real world" SS view too to maintain orientation to what naked eye stars i can see. Sounds way more complicated and more faff in these two typed sentence than it really is in practise! in practise it's 2nd nature. 

very lovely indeed @Sunshine - congrats

Hi @keora - i'm not sure which features are in which version of sky safari but as you are already using it at the scope see if you have this menu behind "observe":

if you do then if you go to "scope display" you can set yourself up with finder circles to match your 9x50 finder and your favourite eyepieces...

this is an example:

...the larger circle there is my finder and the smaller circle is a 1-degree FOV eyepiece. Because in the main view of Sky Safari you can flip the view to match your scope set-up (newtonian, star diagonal, corrected image, etc.) it makes referencing your finder and/or your EP to the star map very easy.

In my experience it makes star hopping a cinch - almost cheating. 😉 

I could have staged it with the album cover if i were a quicker thinker (and a bit sad). "There is no dark side of the moon..."

A bit of an 'inbetweener'  focal length wise for me - i don't really need 10mm - in one scope it even more or less duplicates a FOV i already have but this will deliver that FOV at a moderatly lower magnification/bigger exit pupil (1.9mm vs. 1.5mm for the next EP down) so so i'm quite excited to try this out looking for a brighter galaxy or two the next clear dark night. At 1.9mm exit pupil it may need a Dioptrx (and if not straightaway then at some point probably not so far away) so reading on CN about being able to mount a Dioptrx under the eye guard and picking this up for much less than a Delos swung this for me even if it will be an odd man out in my EP case.

Small edit - Doh! - a Dioptrx fits the threaded top of the EP ok but NOT under the eye guard. It looks useable nevertheless but using the TV rubber eye guard. Oh well.

i was going to make that comment myself @Franklin - i can honestly say i've never seen those colours in the dark!

i wouldn't ordinarily post two in a row being the shy and retiring type but this was unusual in my home office this morning - no idea what had caught the rising sun to create this dispersion of sunlight in the (darker) western side of my house just now but i like it...

7 hours ago, RimuRidgeRakiura said:

When you've spent all your money on the telescope itself and then have to steal a lunchbox from the pantry and cannibalise the polystyrene packaging from the scope box.

 

nothing wrong with a lunch box for an EP case - i linked one above as a joke but now i've seen them i'm tempted myself for a small GnG kit!

Sounds like a busy and enjoyable session or pair of sessions @Franklin - i've never knowingly seen an eclipse of a Jovian moon so i enjoyed it via your description 🙂 

The Messier open clusters in your list there are really beautiful jewel boxes - i love them at all sorts of magnifications , full frame up close, and far away as sparkling little dabs with loads of sky around.  There are other smaller NGC clusters in that area too so if you make yourself a star chart it could be quite productive for not too many star hops in a circa 10-degree stack. M35 has NGC 2158 on the edge of it.

@JeremyS 

https://www.amazon.com/LOGOVISION-Apollo-Anniversary-Patch-Insulated/dp/B0CGXJPZMG/ref=sr_1_2?crid=K6H342N3IQ67&keywords=Apollo+11+lunch+box&qid=1701549128&sprefix=apollo+11+lunch+box%2Caps%2C212&sr=8-2 will need a scrap of foam to complete. 

@SwiMatt

I do have a sketch myself of the double cluster that will never see the light of day 🤣  yes I do believe globular clusters are a tad easier than open ones. 

Good stuff @SwiMatt. All three with the brushed pastel technique?