josefk

On 08/09/2023 at 20:03, Paz said:

I've never hear of these before but I've been on a constant look out for ways to balance different eyepiece weights and this looks good - can you get these in the UK, I've had a quick look around but can only find them the other side of the pond.

My current arrangement is I balance my scopes with the heaviest eyepiece I'm planning to use and they when lighter eyepieces are used if the difference in weight is enough to matter I screw smallrig weights into a finder shoe to keep things about right.

cool approach - i also like those smallrig weights...very useful.

1 hour ago, badhex said:

Great stuff! What are your skies like, LP wise? I'm currently in Bortle 5 skies, and only observing with a 73mm F5.9 ZS73 currently so really not the right scope for the job, and in honesty I think probably not possible - but we make do with what have and it makes the challenge more interesting! 

i think semi rural is a fair description - i'm not super clear on the Bortle scale re. differentiation between 4 and 5 but i am probably in Bortle  4. I use the "dark sky meter" app on my phone and 20.5 SQM would be a long term average. Nearer 21.0 SQM with a favourable late rising or n/a moon and nearer 20.0 SQM with a decent slice of moon.

i pay way too much attention to these things - you could put your scope and sky in here to see if "you're on" or not  - https://www.cruxis.com/scope/limitingmagnitude.htm

I will definitely have a crack @badhex if (lack of) cloud cover usefully aligns with Enceladus' position and with having a larger scope out. I have Sky Safari at the side of the scope mostly and always have a good look for what i can see/should be able to see in this regard.

Last year i managed Enceladus with the 185mm Cassegrain and using binoviewers - i remarked it in my notes as very faint indeed and not held with direct vision the whole time. Winding back time in SSP i think the separation of Enceladus from Saturn was 20" at the time and if its the observation session i'm thinking of i remember using my slo-mo controls on the mount for "a long time" holding Saturn out of the FOV to hide it's brightness while looking for the closer moons.  Good fun.

I achieved a small victory last night observing the Veil complex more completely than i've managed till now. Using 85mm of aperture but only 15x and 19x magnification for quite large exit pupils w/ filters (nearly 6mm with UHC and 4.5mm w/ O-III respectively) i observed the Eastern Veil [NGC 6995], the Western Veil [NGC 6960] and "the bit in the middle" NGC 6974. I still couldn't definitively "claim" NGC 6979 Fleming's Triangular Wisp confined toi the middle and to the North only.

The Eastern part was always brightest (and the only part that showed with UHC only). It was always the bit that revealed itself first after using any kind of red light between looks. In the Western part the brightest single fragment was a "plume" "rising" to the North from 52 Cyg. I didn't detect much extension to the south of 52 Cyg in the west. NGC 6974 in the middle was least bright but was quite extensive as puffy/wispy nebulosity running North South between the two named Veil parts and being grouped with a concentration of stars similarly running north/south.

This has only taken a year to see as a complex so i'm pretty happy this morning. Now i need to work out how to get a dim red light dim enough to be able to try and commit some of it to paper.

As faint references for the sky conditions last night i could see M110 and M33 with this 85mm scope but not M74.

How do you make your aperture mask @John - i'm pretty clumsy for this kind of thing and was having a wonder what i could use myself to join this fun project. I don't have a spare end cap to put a circle drill through - that was my first idea...

I have been eyeing up 2l drinks bottles wondering if i could cut the bottom half off - cut a hole in it - and and paint it maybe?

Simple set-up last night enjoying a few Messier and three parts of the Veil whoo hoo 🙂

What a beautiful warm night to be sat out too.

Thanks @Deadlake - i will definitely have a read up on those for future interest.

Everything is dialled in now though i think - my fluid head has adjustable counterbalance and with that and largely equalised EPs i feel like i'm in business for a smooth experience. 

@Concordia000 no batteries or power supplies here 😀  and no whirring or ticking either. 
 

if I take this scope out in the car it could be any EP in my box but if I take it out on foot to a site a short walk away then it is most commonly going to be 24mm Panoptic, 8mm Ethos, Tak 5mm LE, 4mm TOE, 3.3mm TOE. 

That set gives me x19 to x136. A new Tak 1.5 extender enables a higher top end (x205) but it’s really x169 I have in mind with the extender and 4mm TOE as an optimal (but as yet untried) high mag combo for this set-up.

The 8mm to 4mm EP swap will be a commonly exercised one I think. 

10 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

How does this work? Do you leave it in place in the EP holder when you change EP (in which case the OTA goes unbalanced when you change EPs)? Or is left in place with your lightest EP (but then I presume still unbalanced when you are swapping EPs)?

During the EP swap itself things are unbalanced so you need to lock the mount for that as normal but this enables you equalise the weight of light EP's with heavier EPs so (in theory) no OTA rebalancing required going from a say 450g 2" EP and e.g. a 110g 1.25" EP + this 340g "equaliser" 1.25/2" adapter.

That 10mm Delos looks good in the first set @Louis D

I feel your pain very much Michael - i am also recently diagnosed diabetic and the blurry vision that accompanies unmanaged blood sugar has been quite frightening so though mine has been temporary i empathise with you. Good luck with your treatment for your more advanced symptoms.

Without patronising you - you could/should really persevere with swapping your observing eye to your right one. I had to swap my dominant eye for photography and though i still instinctively sometimes bring the camera to my wrong eye it has overall been successful. Took ages though!

To anyone else reading this don't assume blurry vision is only a worsening eye prescription (as i did) - its also a symptom of sustained high blood sugar so get it checked out!

Super fair write up Malcolm but why do you have multiple 10mm EPs? (is that a silly question on here?). I only have a pair 18mm TAO but from the first moment with them i was extremely impressed - really tiny stars. They powermate extremely effectively for 9mm as @John points out (as long as the powermate is after the diagonal 🙂).

Another piece of the puzzle to take any residual usability friction/irritation out of my Alt-Az set-ups - especially for GnG where simple enjoyment of the experience is as important as the observing side itself. This TV "equaliser" brings four of my mini GnG EP set into within 15g of each other leaving just a wide field EP 86g out of balance (which doesn't matter for wide field). No creeping up or drooping down now after EP changes. Happy days.

i am VERY fussy about balance - i hate kick-up and droop on Alt-Az mounts when unbalancing the scope with various weight EPs. This adapter is pricey for what it is materially but i think it is going to deliver value in ergonomic pleasure. It puts all my EPs (except one outlier) into a 90g range lightest to heaviest and just a 20g range for my most used EPs.

On 05/09/2023 at 19:23, bosun21 said:

Just received a new Skytee II mount and tripod to accommodate my recently acquired 6” CC. Also a new ADM saddle for it which is now fitted.

 

if that 6" is as sharp and flat as the 8" i'm sure you'll really like that CC - i don't love mine on bright planets but on everything and anything else that fits in its FOV it is really fantastic.

Is that on all night @RobertI? i'm not Victor Mildrew but that has got to be worth a letter of constructive criticism pointing out how ludicrous it is in an AONB on grounds of disturbance to wildlife, natural enjoyment of the landscape and profligate squandering of energy resources...

9 hours ago, bosun21 said:

Reading all the observing reports from you all showing me what I have missed. I have spent the last four days incapacitated with severe stomach pains and severe stomach cramping. Been taking a hot baths every few hours to try and get some relief. No idea where this came from but its put the total brakes on any observing. Going to the A&E in the morning. Had to occur during a clear spell. Sigh 😔.

get well soon - the clear skies will come again.

47 minutes ago, John said:

I have a 1950's pair of Habicht 8x30w's. Externally rather tatty but optically sound and excellent performers. Picked them up from a charity shop a few years back for a few quid. My favourite birding binoculars I think 🙂

I seem to accumulate binoculars even though I don't use them much other than for birding 🙄

 

They were a very lucky find. I always check out binos in charity shops and bric a brac shops but so far no luck for anything worthwhile. I hope you enjoy them. 

These two configurations are both in focus on a pylon about 1km away. Spot the obvious difference...

2" 2x Powermate:

Takahashi Extender-ED 1.5x:

As much as i get a lot of utility out of the powermate when used after the diagonal it drives me insane that the same powermate when used before a diagonal needs such a huge extension to reach focus. I have no idea what is going on from the perspective of the lightpath geometry. Balance is a nightmare as you can imagine.

The Tak extender at 1.5x gives me some really useful virtual focal lengths and avoids some very short (possibly one trick pony) EPs in this scope and the TOA.

1 hour ago, The60mmKid said:

The Habicht is a lovely little thing. My friend who sold me the Astroluxe has a Habicht that I tried out once. It goes against the conventions that we typically adhere to (e.g., field of view, aperture, etc.), but after a minute of scanning around the stars with it, I found myself thinking, "Well, this is a lovely little thing."

just don't 🙂 i have anyway been teetering at the tail end of the summer - something nice and light for motor racing and bits and bobs...

Buy a fast f5.3 scope then spend a few more quid to slow it down to f7.9. THAT makes sense. If this needs spacers either before it or after it to reach focus then you will hear the apoplectic explosion where you are (wherever you are)...

Swarovski SLC 15x56 keeping cool in the shade here:

and in action here (Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mars & Saturn in the planet parade Jun-22) probably Venus showing in the photo...

Brilliant binos in the day or night and quite possibly the last piece of optical kit i would ever part with in that artificial "last man standing" scenario.

39 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

Im going to resurrect this thread with these pictures of my Nikons ☺️ One is an EII, which is a superb wide-angle pair that I love for casual, handheld observing. The other is a new (to me) 18x70 Astroluxe, which I hope that I will love as much as Roger Vine does: http://www.scopeviews.co.uk/Nikon18x70.htm

 

A little bit jealous of both.

Jealous of the EII because i always read how good they are but hankering after Habicht 8x30 stops me pulling the trigger on the Nikons.

Jealous of the big bins because i wish wish wish i had committed to big binoculars years ago while my eyes were good enough to get the best out of them (re. astigmatism and not wanting to wear glasses behind binoculars)

10 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Andromeda ws viewed but i cant quite seem to see more than the bright core

Andromeda was so small on Sunday night and Monday night i thought i couldn't see it at all against the grey sky and that i had M32 only in the EP. Mildly disorienting. in fact i had both M31 and M32 but M31 was unbelievably tiny.

Cool stuff @PeterC65. I'm after the Veil (as a complete complex) myself with about the same amount of aperture as you have just used and with a 24mm EP. I couldn't see any hint Monday night but i had forgotten to carry my O-III so a self inflicted loss :-). My bag is more properly packed now for the next opportunity!