josefk

Hi there @Hans Joakim  thanks for the comment on the set-up. I love it. However you do inadvertently put your finger on a sore spot 🫤. 
 

The AZ100 alone (with losmandy saddle) packed beautifully in a Zarges K470 aluminium hard case. A tight fit but perfect. Hugely recommended for the AZ100 if you need to travel with this mount and chuck it about and know it is superbly protected. 
 

The AZ100 with Tak clamp and with 200mm riser fitted doesn’t fit in any hard case I have including a large Peli 1600 something so at the moment I pack it last on top of everything else in the back of the Landy wrapped in a blanket but I’m not very happy about it. 
 

I could lose the riser but that won’t fully solve the problem and anyway I like the riser. 
 

I could lose the riser and fit a losmandy bar to the Tak clamp so I get my neat K470 packing back but I won’t because I really really like the safety (and elegance) of the direct connection of the Tak clamp to the AZ100. 

It would be a huge faff to remove and refit either/both items at every set up. 

So what I will probably do (when I pull my finger out) is look out for a reasonably robust medium sized hold-all of some kind and make my own cocoon style padding inside it so I can chuck the AZ100+clamp+riser into it all in one piece but at least then protected from transport rough and tumble and better than only being wrapped in a blanket. 
 

Any suggestions for alternatives would be great fully received. 🥴

Just now, The60mmKid said:

It reminds me a bit of this thread, which blew (and continues to blow) my mind: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/565226-classic-rich-field/ In general, I love following projects such as these... I think they help us all grow as observers.

i follow that thread - that guy sets the gold standard for observing reports!

very good idea. I wanted to pre-draft something for a similar multi-EP FOV approach to Markarians chain earlier this year but on a pre recce to the area couldn't see enough targets to make the approach work. I look forward to seeing your better success...

Hi there. My two pence for the GOTO use case is that it probably comes down to how often does your GOTO not achieve the target in the ~1-degree FOV you get with a 1500mm focal length and a 32mm/~50-degree TFOV plossl? ...and by how much does it miss? ...and how often are the missed targets bright enough to detect in a finder?

If it's often and so inaccurate that you can't find the target even with a little bit of local sweeping about with that 1-degree EP then a finder may help but it will only help you for objects you can see in the finder. If you can't see them in the EP initially and also can't see them in the finder, you're just looking for their location, then you are already into star hopping and using a star chart to be sure of exactly where you are in any event (and you could anyway do that through the EP if you didn't have to hop far).

Cheers

quick Q on that light your using there - is it a little red LED one? is it dim and nice to use (nicely diffuse lighting)? I use a red head torch but it isn't perfect (especially in the winter combined with a bobble hat) and i keep looking at these little clip on ones...

a slug would be a new one for me. maybe he was curious 🤣

i see your tray @Richard N and raise you a box that doubles as a tray :-).  Actually the box works well to keep the dew off in between sketches and keep stuff together in-between sessions.

BTW I have a fairly heavy duty Manfrotto pistol grip myself for photography purposes but there is no comparison in “niceness” to use 👍🏻

Hi there. I have till now mounted either 15x56 binoculars (don’t know the weight offhand) or a circa 2.5kg spotting scope on the Manfrotto MVH502AH fluid head. It is rated to 4kg. The counterbalance is too strong for the binoculars (they don’t stay pointed where you leave them without locking the head) but it is very nice for the scope and I really get on with it. 
 

The  ergonomics to lock the head in altitude wherever you’re pointing are easy and reliable (a big one handed knob on the side) so I don’t find the counterbalance being too strong for the 15x56 to be any great hindrance. 

It’s always smooth and steady. Panning about is a joy. 

Just thinking out loud - at 90x45x45 would it be economically feasible to buy an extra plane (seat) ticket and make arrangements to take it on the plane with you (like someone would with a large musical instrument)?

On the other hand is there any chance to meet up with a scope at the other end - an astro oriented accommodation where scopes are on hand or a commercial business that rents scopes?

I personally wouldn't trust any packaging to be fit to survive the hold and handling - not even a peli case and i like and use peli cases 🙂

😒😒😒!

The beauty of that Lowepro gear @Dark Raven and @LordLoki  show above is that it is endlessly configurable and really great quality. I have a large Lowepro bag that must be more than 20-years old and, apart from one buckle that i snapped by treading on it, it's still going strong and looking good. Been setup several different ways for various camera and optical kits over the years so i always have a use for it and find it valuable to have.

40 minutes ago, Xsubmariner said:

Yes. Looking forward to imaging with the beast and will try it out visually when I swap out the setup from reducer for straight flattener. How’s Stamford, I went to Casterton College.

Stamford remains extremely lovely - i'm not a Stamfordian but i've been here >30-years and love it still. My son also went to Casterton so i know it.

I have the TOA-130 for visual only and "it paid for itself" with one jaw dropping observation of Saturn as far as i'm concerned (everything else is upside) so your 150mm will be an absolute killer with an EP.  Your entire set-up looks absolutely fantastic. i'm not jealous of all the imaging kit but i could easily be of everything else 🙂

Cheers

Joe

9 hours ago, Xsubmariner said:

Big daddy supporting baby Tak.  Bring on clear, dark skies please.

 

oooof! Who's the big daddy there? TOA-150?

6 hours ago, JeremyS said:

G&T also works well on these frustrating nights 😊

G&T works well on any night...

Thanks @Hans Joakim  I think that is what the respective system charts suggests as well. I appreciate your feedback. Cheers

hahaha. There is that. 

Nice approach.

An easy rule of thumb with a diagonal Michael (regardless of how it is oriented and how you are oriented to it) is that North is clockwise from West and West is obviously where the star is exiting at the field stop if it started in the middle of the EP view. 

...Someone will come along and correct that now and i will have hundreds of incorrect sketches on my hands 🤣

Sorry to ask a follow up question in your thread @MalcolmM where you may be spammed with the answers but i wonder if i could ask the users of tak extenders (sp. the Tak Extender-ED 1.5 https://www.firstlightoptics.com/takahashi-extenders/tak_tka37595.html) does it also move the focus point outwards if it is used before the diagonal as i find with the TV Powermate as shown above? Basically i wonder if this is a function of all telecentric type extenders?

I'm musing on the 1.5x tak extender as an alternative focal length extender in my toolbox if it would work without piles of rearwards extension...

Cheers

Joe

1 hour ago, Marian M said:

A lot of fun, easy logistics and sharp view

Sounds like the perfect recipe to me Marian and sounds like a nice session overall!

i've seen the same here TBH (hitting a car not breaking a window) - and these guys STILL park their own cars just a few feet from the boundary! Off topic but there's a very pleasant beer festival/cricket week here most summers and i live just a few hundred meters away 🙂

Thanks @JeremyS - I've really enjoyed it/am enjoying it. Swapping from disappointing nighttime or at least late evening observations in previous years to these more or less daytime moments this time around has been the trick I needed to learn to get the best out of it.

They are just outrageously and fantastically good Nigella - a real pleasure to look at. I imagine they are really satisfying to have captured. 

Banked a short clear moment between clouds with a daytime observation of Venus just now. A beautiful bright white silver sliver at just 2.4% phase. A few recent scribbles over here: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/412389-venus-what-a-show/#comment-4400782

Here sketching Venus accompanied by the sounds of the local cricket club playing a match a few meters away. Deliberately sited safely and soundly in the shadow to avoid accidentally pointing at the Sun just 12-degrees away to the Northwest. 

The local cricket club match was a nice soundtrack to this daytime observation.