josefk

could i ask a follow up question here to those who have the Uranometria Field Guide - in your opinion(s) is it useful as a standalone reference for the qualities and characteristics of DSO even without the Atlas volumes or is it laid out in such a way that it only comes into its own with the matching Atlas? Cheers

This is my motivation though i haven't had a whole lot of opportunity to exercise it this year through lack of clear nights justifying big set-up's. For me it's also mono/bino at the same time. I missed planet season last year w.r.t. dual scope capability but i'm looking forward to having mono/bino capability in parallel later this year. So far i haven't seen the glaring need for ultra precise alignment of saddles (because one side so far has anyway been at low powers). That may change at higher power both sides but then again it takes a few moments for me to move sides and get back to the eyepiece anyway. I don't have a driven mount.

Hi Damian - i also may be missing something but i believe you get the choice with the AZ100/Nexus combo including a choice of "best of both" - i have a Nexus PRO equipped AZ100 and regularly use both the Nexus "head unit" for want of a better description with its catalogues AND Wi-Fi linked Sky Safari Pro on an iPad next to the scope. It really is "best of both" not either/or in my user experience. Love your dialled in set-up BTW. Brilliant. 👍

No worries at all. It's also just occurred to me you could check for yourself on diffraction spikes and if they will be impactful or not for you by stretching some thin (but not too thin) wire crossing at 90 degrees in front of the objective of one of your refractors. You could then systematically target a few increasingly dim stars at a magnification that would be meaningful for your musings.

I enjoyed that report - it's been 2 1/2 weeks wall to wall cloud here in S Lincs now (at least in the evenings and nighttime) so your observations were a nice stop gap 🙂 - thanks!

I have the GSO 8" Classical Cassegrain @Moon-Monkey though its actually 185mm in reality. These are my ad hoc observations in case they're of any use. Resolution for this aperture in theory is 0.62" (Dawes) and 0.74" (Rayleigh) while my "personal best" so far with this scope is 1.6" (with a 0.5 Mag. difference between components). I haven't deliberately tried to find my tightest possible split on the best nights but i assume it would be better than 1.6" if i did because on a couple of great nights i could have driven a bus through ~2" splits. Limiting magnitude for this scope is in the range 13.8 to 14.05 depending on formula while my "personal best" dimmest companion so far with this scope is Mag. 11.9. I have a dodgy observation where the secondary was Mag. 14.0 but i this has a big asterix against it in my notes because i'm not at all positive of the observation and need to go back to it. Yes you do get diffraction spikes on bright stars with a CC. I've never checked at what magnitude they are not visible. i have recent notes that they were quite strong (though not unpleasant or obstructive to the observation) on the primary of Beta Cephei at Mag. 3.2. I'm not conscious of them on the regularly observed double double at Mag. 5 so somewhere between Mag 3 and Mag 5 they must disappear. The stock focuser on the GSO scope never had image shift though i have upgraded it for other reasons. Cheers Joe

Somewhat inspired by @Stephenstargazer rig above (thanks 👍) - here's my attempt to: 1) give me options to move a bit of weight behind the pivot on the AZ100 to enable "further forward" balancing of a front heavy triple mounted on the other side and therefore reduce the arc the EP travels through, and 2) give me easy fore and aft weight compensation (about 10cm and 2kg worth in the current configuration) for eyepiece changes or swaps to and from BV. 3) mount a power source on the moving part of the mount It isn't trialled in anger yet but i'm confident of some benefits. The MOLLE pouch has 1.1kg of counter weight in it plus a 13.6Ah power source for a USB dew band. I may also mount an RDF on this "accessory sledge" to either compliment or even replace a scope mounted finder.

Great eyepiece Alan. I love mine doing two different jobs in two different focal length scopes. I find it very “comfy” and easy to get behind.

...and while i don't like red anodised kit and strong branding typically - this red anodised WILLIAMS OPTICS losmandy plate was the heaviest losmandy plate i could find at the show. I have a cunning plan (nicked from a fellow SGL member) for a counterweight & dew control and/or powerpack & accessory sledge for the offside of my AZ100 if i mount only a single scope on the other side. I'm ruminating mounting an RDF or RACI finder on this offside too because i bang my head a lot on scope mounted RDF and/or finder.

...well just back - its only a short drive for me into Northants from South Lincs. It was very very busy as i left. There was/is a good amount and selection of books at the Society for the History of Astronomy. I bagged these - The Messier Album has been on my watchlist for a while. The Lunar Mapping books are to cement an interest that has more recently taken hold - The "Map of the Moon" book of hand drawn maps by Hugh Percival Wilkins is just lovely.

… the middle one with broken wall is Cyrillus and the other large one to its upper right is Catharina. The little sharply defined one at 11 o’clock to Theophilus is Madler. 👍

Hi there - the bottom left one with mountains in the middle on the crater floor is Theophilus. IIRC it’s 2.7miles deep. The others I would have to look up because my memory is rubbish. I knew them last weekend 😲

nice post and nice scope!

Well it's a learning curve alright and humbling!!! I will be mildly relieved to get back to anonymous grey smudges at the end of this lunar cycle! On the upside - the sketch below is made just now and represents sitting in the spring sunshine for an hour so that was a pleasant change.

I like it a lot @Dark Adaptation not easy keeping up with the mountains and valleys and crater rims on that terminator is it? 😂 I assume that was Friday night because I see features in your sketch I also found eye catching on the same evening: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/406188-first-time-lunar/#comment-4354316

interesting distortion of scale here in the south west - it's quite educational trying to keep knocking these out in close succession...

50/50 i think Grab 'n' Go >> find it. Part of the simple pleasure of GnG and satisfying. Bigger kit >> 90% DSC/push-to. It's my own fault but RDF's and straight through finders are practically ornaments after alignment. Plus on these nights i want to maximise time on target as it were.

i set myself up for that didn't i 🤣. i DO have a few other criteria that precludes a C6 i'm afraid ...seeing as this is "the holy grail".

Very very nice and nice Kowa too!

Really enjoyed that vicariously here through your descriptions. Thanks.

you have just posted my holy grail scope @dweller25 and stated it much better than I. I was going to put it - ...shows me at least 10th mag galaxies (i don't care if they are tiny smudges as long as a i can account for them), doesn't embarrass itself on quick looks at the planets, fits in a one handed carry Peli case and mounts on a video head or otherwise quite minimal mount... if anybody knows that scope then answers on a postcard please!

Success for me as well tonight. A very dull copper colour - brightening to a more polished copper at the lowest magnification i could use. Unfortunately low down in the murk in a direction that gets lit up by a nearby town when the atmosphere is as damp as it was tonight so at low magnification the sky was quite a light slate grey. Still happy to observe it though.

Not very easy this is it? ...and this is nothing like how interesting and contrasted the real view was i'm afraid! I can see a driven mount at some point in my future...

Get a bigger one (or indeed a smaller one) and do it all again!

i read the Denning quote more positively TBH - i don't mind admitting "small capacity" at the back end of a scope but i trust in application and experience to grow that capacity. i'm also happy to think that my own skills are the most important aspect in the observing system because they're not finite (or at least need not be finite let's say). 🙂