josefk

i'm afraid i live in an apartment @mikeDnight at least for now. It does mean that (other than short GnG) as  its a bit of an expedition to get out and i use the car its not soooo bad to have heavy kit. The moon may feature a bit the next few weeks in any event because we'll surprise our young nephew with a scope for xmas and that's where we'll start the budding astronomer off. i may get the bug too 😄.

3 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Congratulations, great to see. But where’s the unboxing thread? 🤔

>>> over here >>>

i have a significant birthday next year and it has triggered me to realise life is too short and clear nights too few to mess about (something i wished i had realised while my eyesight was in better nick!). Also; while loving it immensely i find astronomy to be quite a frustrating and inconvenient hobby at times so in the spirit of “control what you can control and maximise what you can maximise” for those nights when the season, the weather, the atmosphere, and life all perfectly align I’ve taken receipt today of the (hopefully) fabulous Takahashi TOA-130NS. I can’t realistically carry or mount a bigger refractor than the meter long, 14.0kg fully dressed, TOA-130 so the Tak selected itself from a very short list (TSA-120, NP101 and NP127 FWIW) to be my "no doubts/no second thoughts" refractor.

i’m a visual only observer - why on earth have i bought a practically perfect “astrophotography scope” weighing more than 10kg OTA only and realistically almost indistinguishable for visual from scopes much lighter and more convenient to store, mount and cart about and so consequently scopes that would get used more often? As a visual observer most interested in deep sky (and who never observes the moon) why on earth have i invested into “only” 130mm of aperture perfectly focussed for planets and lunar? If i really knew the answer to those questions I’d be a wealthier man but maybe not happier.

 I’m super excited and can’t wait to get out overnight with this new tool during the xmas break.

♫♫ ...happy birthday to me ...happy birthday to me ...even though its only xmas ...and my birthday's next year...♫♫

- you'll have to forgive the silliness. I'm a bit excited. Thanks @FLO for the hustle this week once it had landed with you and to get this to me before the xmas break. 👍🏼

Ouch!  Sounds like you’ve been lucky though ultimately. 

Very nice @ukskies  I think a delivery from Japan must have arrived at FLO HQ this week!

Merry Xmas @powerlord. That's some list!

5 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Probably my last chance at a dim sky for a while so went out for a quick blast for an hour with the 130PDS.  I used Sky Safari for star hopping and found it excellent once I dialled in the settings.  Also the first time taking the AZ5 out with the Skywatcher Tripod rather than the carbon fibre.

 

Rosette Nebula:  I kicked off with this, but I suspect I could have done with some more time for my eyes to adapt.  Couldn't discern any definite nebulosity but could see some bits that were for sure darker than others in the outer portion of the FOV.  I suspect this is a target that will get better with a repeat viewing.

 

Christmas Tree Cluster:  Again, no nebulosity, but I suspect you need a beefy scope for that.  Quite nice when I eventually saw the shape (it's correct way round in a Newtonian, pointy end at the top).

 

Eskimo Nebula:  A very rewarding target in the 8mm.  Probably the star of the show.  I threw in the UHC filter as well for this one.  I you want to train your adverted vision, this is the target.  The difference in brightness between looking directly at it and with averted vision is astounding.  When you get it in the sweet spot it is very bright.  Periodically could see the central star flicker in and out of the nebulosity.

 

Beehive Cluster:  Another great target.  Very much a diamonds on black velvet affair.

 

M42:  Not sure if it was the tripod or better seeing than usual, but great views tonight.  With the 8mm I could see texture in the nebulosity where as before it was just a white blob.  With both the 32mm and 8mm the nebulosity seemed to extend further than I've observed before.  I'd like to have sketched it, but tonight was about quantity not quality!

 

I also had a very quick look at mars to check how the new tripod was performing.  The views were more stable with the 8mm than I've had previously with less of the infuriating vibration the carbon fibre tripod showed.  I hada very quick look with the 2x barlow and it was definitely better (I could touch the eyecup without the view going wild).  However the clouds did what they do best so I packed up and came inside.

 

All in all a good night of observing!  Very glad I snuck out, even if I have to pay for it by going to do ironing now!  The Tripod is a definite improvement and has made the whole assembly more pleasant to use.  I think I've hit a very good (for me) configuration with SkySafari for starhopping.  I might get some ND film to cover the screen to dim it more so I don't periodically blow my retinas. 

 

Edit:

 

Good news!  I finished the ironing and got out and did some more observing about 05:30.

 

Conceptually I understand that the sky moves but on some level I'm bamboozled by the fact that everything moves so much in 5 hours.  Leo was up and and a decent height to the south so I went galaxy hunting and found M65, M66 which were both incredibly dim and small the 32mm plossl but were definitely there.  I would be confident I saw M96 but less so with M95.  I did however see some fuzzy patches North of M96 and would sya I made out 3 patches there, possibly M105, and NGC 3389 and 3384.  There were an astounding number of satellites going through at this time as well.

 

Was going to try and find Markarians Chain, however the star hopping to it filled me with dread.  M13 had made a reappearance so went over there and I'm happy to report it was a much better view than the first time I saw it about 5 or 6 months ago.  Delightful in the 8mm.  I suspect it's a combination of the tripod making things more stable and me getting better at observing.

 

Once the new year rolls in I'm going to have to get going and build an observing chair!

 

 

 

 

Sounds like a great double header. Sky Safari is just brilliant for navigation isn't it - i use it with a correct image view for GnG and it feels like cheating :-). 

i like the way you have captured that as a time series. Super.

I'm a  bit jealous of your having the chance to look through them @PeterW. I understand from reading about them that they are as much a demonstration of engineering and optical engineering prowess by Nikon as they are a serious commercial product offering. They were seriously limited in numbers made weren't they? Sorry to the OP for chatting off topic now.

5 hours ago, allworlds said:

@catburglarI've noticed in my 105 that at high power the planet "jitters" as it drifts through the view. I wonder if you're getting the effect people talk about of the "cell size" of seeing that makes a larger telescope show more blurring while a smaller one has the entire view moving about?

My facetious reply would be if that had been my experience last night it would have been because i had frozen a hand to a tripod leg and was shaking the scope with my shivering. 😄

Well last night i manage to re-prove the old adage "there's no such thing as bad weather just bad clothing". I dressed for grab 'n' go rather than extensive "camping out" and the cold was brutal; it beat me just after the hour mark. But what an hour. Had three lovely surprises at the eyepiece:

I was hopping around open clusters in Auriga with the small spotting scope (after starting a bit unsatisfactorily with Mars to the West) and settled on NGC 1931. I was really taken aback to not just observe the cluster but also see nebulosity here. It wasn't extensive or dramatic but it was definite and clearly not the atmosphere or glare or a scope aberration. I was super impressed. 

While making excited notes on NGC 1931 i was turned away from the scope - when i turned back to the eyepiece - M36 The Pinwheel Cluster had almost perfectly rotated into view. It was a fantastic unlooked for surprise at the eyepiece (and looked great in any event). It means it took just less than 5-minutes to "write up" NGC 1931.  Pleased me no end.

The third little surprise was another open cluster - NGC 1907. I'd looked for this before on a less nice night and hadn't been convinced i'd found it. Last night it was clear and it is superb. I would find this one very easy to mistakenly ID as the foreground group of stars if the transparency wasn't good (that was probably what i had been doing previously). Last night transparency was better in the scope than i would have thought from just eyeballing the sky and "the real" NGC 1907 was "obvious". It is a fine castor sugar and misty filigree group in the background and was a very very nice and satisfying observation indeed. i recommend it. 

Keep warm.

4 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

What an amazing drawing 👍🏻

Thankyou - full disclosure - its not the EP version. The one at the EP version is a scruffy mess with multiple thumbnail sketches and text and arrows etc. So it's "honest" but done in the daylight :-). Cheers

Not last night but the night before. A view through binoviewers at 152x. i think the smudges are Valles Marineris (bigger smudge) and Acidalia Planitia (smaller smudge). The bright ring was as observed not a sketch artefact.

Last night Mars wasn't working for some reason so took advantage of the pre moon hours to observe M74. VERY difficult. And Mirach's Ghost. Very cool!

...and cold.

Cheers

Congratulations @HollyHound. All best wishes!

9 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Spend the night with Wall-E?

 

i'm possibly a year or two older than you @Sunshine. I had Johnny-5 in mind from "Short Circuit":

In the chilly temps i dropped in last night on Planetary Nebula NGC 2392 [the] Eskimo Nebula and NGC 7662 The Blue Snowball [i guess you had to be there...🤣]. Both Herschels in the H400.  Both showing brightly but without colour or detail and it was too cold to mess about finding the best mag/filter etc.

I thought the pre moon sky would support going for some difficult [faint] Herschels but i was washing out and it was too cold for lingering in vain so picked up a couple of doubles - Theta Aurigae at ~4" and 55 Gem/Struve 1066 at 5.6". The seeing wouldn't support tighter. Then moved on to Mars.

Finishing on Mars the seeing wouldn't support 200x and 140x mono was very bright but 152x in the Binoviewer was quite enjoyable. Quite definite smudgy features in the Northern hemisphere and Southern hemisphere. Definite without being sharp. There was also a very bright ring around the full circumference of the planet. i'm not exactly sure what accounts for this effect. it wasn't limited to a single eyepiece. Diffraction from the secondary mirror support again very bright so roll on new refractor before Mars shrinks too much further. 

Clear outside had it as -2 "feels like -7". It did!

-5 is still alive (for children of the eighties)

9 hours ago, OutThereSomewhere said:

Here's my Takahashi FSQ106ED on an NEQ6 mount and Berlebach Planet tripod, in their natural habitat. A couple of weeks ago, I set up for the night in a layby near Lochinver, Assynt, Scottish Highlands to image Plaedes. As you can see, I was fighting clouds and the horizons weren't great, but it was a sheltered spot out of the wind. Everything was powered by 3 x 110ah leisure batteries and controlled via my laptop on the deckchair, covered by a towel. It was relatively warm at 6 deg C with no dew! In the foreground, you can see the all-important coffee-making equipment 😄.

absolutely brilliant - the location, the set-up, but especially the coffee making equipment 👍🏼

looks VERY "Brrr" @Captain Scarlet

Hi @Stu  that’s a very nice looking setup. I assume the 200mm pillar under the AZ100. How do you find it (the pillar)? Any noticeable loss of rigidity? Do you think you would have gotten away with the 125mm extension clearance wise for that LZOS f6?  I’m curious as I will have to do the same shortly with one or the other. Cheers. 

19 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

I'm in much the same boat, I think it makes it easier to observe and object rather than just look at it.

I've started sketching from photos when it is cloudy out.  Much more detail than I could hope to see and gives nice controlled conditions to practice.  Currently trying to do a sketch a day.  Mostly sticking to lunar as I think it is great practice due to the combination of subtle changes in contrast and detail.

Unfortunately this has led to me getting a renewed interest in planetary and lunar observing, about 2 months after I sold me mak lol.

There are always open clusters if you miss the longer focal length scope 🤣.  It's definitely the looking and looking bit that is the benefit but i need glasses (but so far not at the EP itself) so its always a faff and juggle and never enough hands - hence the scrap paper approach at the scope and clean up later 'for the record" even for double star plots. Lunar looks difficult indeed.

I used to draw birds (still do sometimes) - at the beginning they all looked like chickens or pigeons but i read (and i believe it) that drawing is as much a skill as a talent (will probably get shot for that) so practise is absolutely the way to go...(though i still turn out pigeons and chickens fairly often)...

6 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

My eyes can’t be pried from that awesome…is that a rover? whatever it is, I love it!

It's a Land Rover and my motorised wheel barrow for chunky astro gear - this spot is just a little bit out of the town i live in and super for longer sessions. Being high sided the Land Rover it makes a good windbreak too!

Thanks @Ratlet - i'm trying to make a sketch of nearly every observation since about Agust onwards this year - less electronic note taking - more care and method (ish) at the EP. I transfer rough ones done at the EP to clean index cards the morning after typically so miraculously all my mistakes disappear :-).