josefk

Super. I need some time on it higher up like your 23:00 one!

Thanks @Moon-Monkey but I’ve to confess I have misled you there with the middle one and the way I have drawn it. Apologies. The sketch is two “eyepieces worth” so I could get more positionally anchoring stars in east to west. 
 

I will get the binoviewers on it at some point if the weather allows because I think they will be very effective. 

Thanks for posting. I’m always thinking about balance myself and all ideas go in the “stewpot”. 
 

I really like the set up you have there in general and I’ve admired it from afar on your thread about the tripod. It looks like a very simple and ergonomically nice to use “effective” set up. What I mean is it looks like it “gets out of the way” nicely.
 

Perfect. 

12 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

I think the best solution for most people is 3 scopes…..

1. 4” refractor 

2. 7” Mewlon

3. 12” dobsonian

 

i don't think you're far off there...

Unexpected cloud precluded the proper session i had planned for but squeezing in an hour GnG secured C/2022 E3 at least.

It was relatively early evening so the angle was low and the sky terrible (thick and bright) at this low angle looking slightly backwards over the eastern side of Stamford (not a great direction to look in if it's damp). Still i've got two observations of C/2022 E3 to put on a plot now so...😉

Ropey sketch here: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/405661-c2022-e3-ztf/#comment-4341868

So GnG again last night and with low scudding cloud the target for the session was C/2022 E3. Till now only seen once and in binoculars.

First a silly mistake. Struve 1927 here - i thought i should be able to see C/2022 E3 next to the FOV centered star HD 135825 and couldn't. i couldn't believe transparency was so bad i wouldn't be able to see anything - then realised i was using the position of C/2022 from the day before. Doh!

With route ending corrected here is C/2022 E3 in its actual location on the evening of the 25th - slightly higher to the North West in Draco. Transparency was poor at this low angle so contrast was poor. Just 3 or 4 degrees higher felt like it would have made the difference to clearer and darker skies. The comet appeared like a large unresolved globular cluster with off centre bright core and tiny hint of very bright point source in that bright core:

For positional comparison last week (20.01) i secured an awkward view through steeply mounted binoculars while the Comet was in Bootes and much much higher up in clear morning skies:

Another short icy blast last night - shorter than Monday as the session was somewhat curtailed by a low freezing mist thickening to the point of impracticability. 

Starting a westwards star hop at M35 i couldn't see NGC 2158, IC 2157, IC 444, IC 443, & NGC 2174. So far so good!

In this area I could see Collinder 89 and NGC 2189. NGC 2189 i don't think i saw very well but it's Herschel 400 (H VIII-26) and it's now "ticked".

The highlight of the short session was Struve 742 and M1 the Crab Nebula in the same FOV. Struve 742 is a pretty little even magnitude pair at 4.1" with a hint of gold in the primary. M1 was "just" a dark grey to mid grey elongated circular smudge to the west but hey its the remains of an exploding star the Anglo Saxons and Vikings could see! M1 diminished after using a red light to sketch then grew and lightened again with extended viewing. I do love the multiple object associations such a low magnification (70x again) FOV facilitates.

Clear extended outlook tonight so maybe the bigger kit get's an airing for a few hours and i go again at the "misses" collected so far this week 🙂

Thanks again. I really enjoy this GnG kit @mikeDnight - so convenient when i know it will be a short session. Last night was Struve 742 and M1 the Crab Nebula in the same FOV at just 70x. Just three observations overall but this small scope enables that approach. Cheers

Fantastically good - amazing!

Icy cold short GnG session last night - so icy cold kit i had taken out from a warm house was frosted over quite thickly within 2 hours.

I was looking for various Nebula in Gemini and Monoceros but failed to see the Medusa Nebula (2nd miss in two weeks), Nebulosity around the Christmas Tree cluster and the Rosette Nebula. I know these are not going to drop in my lap so no disappointment. 

In the positive observations list: Struve 1110 (Castor) - i was starting my star hop here but also wanted to particularly note the fainter CaCb component and did. It's not tricky its just a matter of not being seduced by the bright AaAb BaBb "pair". Then NGC 2392 the Eskimo Nebula. I'm becoming a regular visitor here here but I'm finding it quite fascinating to use different kit and different magnification to appreciate this object. Last night it was detectable as PNe at just 30x and distinctly smudgy with a bright core at just 70x. 

While not seeing nebulosity around the Christmas Tree cluster i did see the fantastic NGC 2261 Hubble's Variable Nebula and this was the highlight of the night. This was discovered by William Herschel but isn't a H400 object. Goodness knows why as it is both interesting in itself as a variable nebula and visually interesting at the EP being very comet like even at just 70x magnification. The comet like nature was very apparent after about 20 mins of drifting it across the EP and that without any preconception that it "should" be comet like. Recommended.

Cheers

NGC 2261 was discovered by William Herschel in 1783 but bizarrely isn't a Herschel 400 list object. I was ecstatically happy with this observation of it last night (23rd jan). I was using quite lightweight kit (95mm APO) and low magnification (70x) but the view was really nice. Skies were SQM 20.91.

This object was on a target list of mine because it is recommended in a recent issue of either 'Astronomy Now' or 'Sky & Telescope' - i can't remember which.  Also thanks to my poor memory I was actually observing it in the moment without a preconceived idea of what i should see so i'm extremely pleased with myself (😇) to have observed it seemingly quite well. I couldn't see other nebula targets in this immediate vicinity so i assume this has the highest surface brightness in this area. It will be fun to observe this repeatedly to try and capture the variation - i'm not sure if the variation would overcome night to night variation in viewing conditions.

if you use Sky Safari @Kon i have a (very) few pages of the guide transferred to target lists - also an intermittent Sunday afternoon type activity. 

Interstellarum DSG 18.skylistInterstallarum DSG 17 a_b.skylistInterstellarum DSG 15 a_b.skylistInterstellarum DSG 61 a_b_c.skylistInterstellarum DSG 29 a_b.skylistInterstellarum DSG 9.skylist

5 minutes ago, Kon said:

I have been eyeing this book for a while and I managed to get it from Germany (English version) for a lot cheaper than UK shops. A quick glance and the sketches do resemble several of my observations. I also have the accompanying Atlas.

Perfect lazy Sunday afternoon planning material and browsing material - i show friends and family that book first if they ask about the hobby.

C/2022 E3 for me too. TBH i wished i had gotten up much earlier because at 06:20 i was doing the limbo under my tripod - it wasn't an angle of attack conducive to careful observation. i couldn't hold steady enough to stand a chance hand held...all the stars looked like this SSSSSS

oh wow - didn't realise that's where you were @markse68. In that case definitely! 

ooof

11 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Great sketches! I feel like kicking myself as a TOA 130 was offered to me just a month ago, I reluctantly passed on it as it was well above my budget. Now that I think of it, theres always more money to be made but I cannot extend my life so I should have just bit the bullet, and my wife's fist. 👊 🤣

ooof. its very important to have full spousal support - i now i test the patience of mine enough running off any clear night and coming back in the early hours banging and clanking about and freezing cold to boot.

To your 5" desire dilemma - I have terrific pride of ownership in the TOA-130 (no doubt) BUT i'm not convinced it is an entirely rational purchase - even more so possibly for you against your existing kit as you already have a 4" refractor of the highest quality and more aperture using the 8" dob. 

i didn't/don't have a 100mm astro scope so for me i could convince myself it made sense to get a great refractor and go a little big on it (and not have any regrets about not going good enough/big enough) but if i did have that 100mm base covered already i would have spent this type of money and "faff investment" on a 12...18" dob. I don't have a garden so it's a small expedition to get out for anything other than "Grab 'n' Go" with small kit and in my limited experience so far everything is getting exponentially "more faff" at 5" & 10kg for marginal gains. Highly valuable and highly enjoyable and highly satisfying YES YES YES but ultimately marginal gains. 

...then again...😂

Sounds very productive and a real pleasure - i recognise the sentiment to "go after some sparkly things" after spending ages trying to peer at dimmer stuff!

It’s certainly a relief to see Mars and Jupiter against a black or nearly black backdrop @JeremyS  I go on about it but the diffraction spike on planets drove me nuts the last few months. When I had a reflector before (nearly 30 years ago) it was smaller and I just don’t remember them being anywhere near as striking (on the planets). 
 

I just need to be out a tad later for Sirius but I keep looking in that direction. 

Fabulous session last night doubling down in the main on targets viewed the night before and just trying to eke out that little bit more.

First Jupiter - the best or second best view in 6 months. Icy and hard looking and sharp details flashing on the NEB and SEB:

Next Mars - actually my scruffy annotated field sketch is better than this "finished article":

While facing in this general direction i had a go at Rigel. It split easily enough. I hope the sketch coveys there was probably 10...12" of "wobble" - basically diffraction speckle in 6" or so of the 9" separation to it's companion:

M82 - a composite of scratchings on two nights. I'm not sure i saw it quite this well on either night but nearly so - especially on the 16th darkness cutting through it horizontally was very apparent:

And M82 with Struve 1387 (STF1387 much more subtle than my pen allows here):

A very enjoyable Eskimo Nebula - i have never seen it this well before - silly magnifications clearly have their place:

...and keeping me honest a very faint Herschel - NGC 2976 (it was fainter in the EP than this pic of the sketch infers):

Hi Michael @Split Zygote2 - i've read the info on the AZ100 mount owners thread just now (in fact re-read it) and did think long and hard about your set-ups moving weight below the altitude pivot point when i read them before. if i weren't using both sides i would definitely do as you have done and set the sides up 90 degrees apart to facilitate dropping weight down vertically on a losmandy plate on the offside.  i have also thought about using a tak balance plate (offsetting plate) or similar to drop the tak clamshell mounting below the pivot point of the mount a couple of inches. Unfortunately even if all the mounting holes would be cooperative I think it will act as a spring or resonant cantilever. i like the track the stars arrangement with an upside down "U" bracket over the head of the mount that facilitates getting weight down below the OTA on both sides while still fixing the OTAs at the pivot. 

In any event i haven't struggled with balance so far - i just have to be prepared to rebalance often but that's no great hardship - more an irritant in theory than an irritant in practise. I've also found in my limited experience so far that having circa 9kg of OTA on the other side is a good thing for how the whole system behaves.

Cheers

well that is a shame @markse68 - does it belong to a society or a club that could invest into bringing it up to scratch? i suppose thats the kind of specialised time consuming work that could cost a fortune and be hard to justify for the return on it. It does look a very impressive bit of kit. Cheers

Thank you Michael @Split Zygote2 - that's all a load of great info that i will digest properly later - especially your link on balancing and on after care re. condensation because that does bother me.

I find the scope easy to balance but also very sensitive to balance (due to length of the levers) so needs rebalancing often on EP changes and even sometimes on EP changes if the focus point changes a lot and it moves the EP way out on the draw tube. I do weight the scope up at the back with soft velcro ankle weights 1.1...2.2kg's worth and use these on the handle under the OTA using the handle like a hook and putting them on/taking them off to counter EP changes and/or mono to BV changes - i think there is an advantage of getting the counterweight below the OTA. 

Cheers

Joe

Sorry for two posts in a row - in my defence they were different nights 😁 - big guns out here for Mars the god of war. Lost the refractor to icing/dew about two hours after this pic so no doubt it will be festooned with dew heaters and cables next time 😒

2 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Wonderful pic. With your 4x4 it really looks like you were on a “Sky Safari”! 

My "Grab 'n' Go" wheel barrow. But i'm with you older Land Rovers are pretty photogenic/evocative - i can (and do) get carried away taking pics of it in cool locations. 🤣

i read your experience with horror and empathy @Alan White. In the cold dark and damp with foggy brain i check and check and double check every fastening i'm that paranoid.

The good news is my refractor is pretty much directly connected to the mount via the Takahashi cradle (no dovetails or rails involved). It can't slip out of its own clamp due to OTA lumps and bumps. The Cassegrain IS is on a losmandy but i have a Baader counterweight fitted to this plate between clamping area and the end of the rail. i haven't stress tested it but i don't think it can slip through 🤞🏼