josefk

41 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Do you want a larger image with more resolution than you are seeing with your current equipment or are you looking for a better contrast image with reduced light scatter, flaring and no diffraction spikes?
Also what’s your average seeing like? 

 

if i just add my two pence to this @Mart29 - from personal experience it's quite expensive not answering these questions properly! :-). I love the added insight into detail in the NEB/SEB of Jupiter and the face of Saturn i get with with my 7" Cassegrain (over a 95mm short fl refractor i used before) but i HATE diffraction spikes on planets and can hardly look at Mars  as these artefacts are so bright - there is no aesthetic appreciation of the planetary body travelling through space. My eye is always aware i am looking through a telescope. You will know whether this bothers you already from the kit you have. Cheers

It looks like i have SkySafari 7 Pro and TBH its the only one i've used - i used Stallarium (free browser version) before that so can't compare SSP 6 and 7. I think SSP 6 does allow list creation etc but beyond that i think you may need a user on here to comment. I wholeheartedly recommend SSP7. It get's better and better for me the more i use it. 👍

...then after making the list - toggle it to "highlight objects in the sky chart" then in the sky chart hit the "show list in galaxy view". Voila. 

oh fab - i'm glad i wasn't barking up the wrong tree. You can make and import lists on any device you have the app running on - this is from my phone just now in 3 screenshots 1 step after the other...:

zoomed in on our back yard relatively speaking and with an object label showing...

The bigger the device display you use for SSP the more interesting this feature is. 

It's possibly not exactly what you're looking for @Orange Smartie but in Sky Safari Pro you can view any list in "Galaxy View" and move around it and zoom into etc. A screenshot looks like this (for the Messier catalogue in this case fully zoomed out):

Nice one Rob. i've had maybe 4hrs 30 mins in Cassiopeia over the last week in three sessions and finding it very instructive to concentrate and keep returning to a small defined area. In one month i will have forgotten everything so for my self i would say "i have temporarily learned a lot" 🙂.

M103 vs NGC 663 is a strange one isn't it? It's even in the same FOV at binocular and low mag viewing and like you say considerably more prominent.

Enjoy the other sixteen.

A nice relaxed couple of hours last night in the park. Jupiter and Saturn of course. Juipiter boiling and loads of ADC early (19:30 ish) but steady and relatively detailed (respective the limits of my kit) at 21:30. NEB/SEB/GRS and some hazy features below the SEB.

Two new Herschels for me; NGC 752 (H VII-32) in Andromeda - mopping up an uncertain ID last week and NGC 381 (H VIII-64) in Cassiopeia. Both open clusters and the latter very very faint with the scope i was using and needed really careful field star ID to be sure. 

Otherwise a few of the usual suspects around Cassiopeia and a two random wide aesthetic doubles;  SAO 11842 / SAO 11844 near M103 and HD 11749 (56 Andromedae)/ HD 11727 at the edge of NGC 752. This latter split at 200" is not the tighter (19") big mag difference split for 56 Andromedae that is listed in the Cambridge Double Star Atlas so i will have to go back for that one.

This is how relaxed the session was - Holiday "grab 'n' go" kit including a difficult to aim angled spotting scope doing double duty here in the dark.

Thanks @westmarch for the tip earlier in this thread for the “Libby” app.  I didn’t know about that at all and it’s great. Just spent a happy hour reading a back issue of “astronomy”. I can see the app getting some use now I’ve installed it. Great. 👍

20 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

It's a plan to have the right tool for the job. The vixens are fabulous in the 12" Dob because of their correction. Orthos are great for planetary because of their crispness and detail. Nirvanas are great in the 102 for doubles as they are par focal, small and comfortable to look though.

Sounds pretty sorted to me 👍

13 hours ago, L8-Nite said:

Intes-Micro  M500  127mm 

i always loved the idea of this scope - great quality, great size, great reputation. I "ummed and ached" for so long over it about two years ago that in the meanwhile the last one at the Widescreen center was sold and that was that (out of production - no new stock) - back to the drawing board.  

On 28/09/2022 at 23:20, Dave scutt said:

I damaged one of the collimation thread's on the dob , so the opticstar  made an appearance tonight.

Now i know why it's best to have more then one scope.

 

That is a great pic. Really “sells” the hobby. 

Really nice sketch too!

13 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Just arrived from auntie FLO.

Drooltastic 😜

It looks from your signature that you're assembling or have assembled three really cool EP sets. “Minimal glass” ortho’s, high end “best of both worlds” Vixens and now “ultra wide” Nirvanas. Was that always the plan? You’ll never be short of the right tool for the job. 

Sounds great Rob and an interesting comparison of the two approaches. 

Another short binocular session in Burghley Park last night. I wanted to confirm NGC 7789 Caroline's Rose from the night or the 27/09 and indeed it was correct. It is quite a bit bigger in bino's than i was originally looking for but also very much fainter. A hazy fingerprint in an oblique parallelogram arrangement of four stars to the west of Caph.

I also took a look at NGC663, NGC 654 and M103. All open clusters in Cassiopeia and all three sit in the same binocular FOV. NGC 663 is the brightest and prettiest at this scale. For me NGC 654 could be missed if it weren't colocated with the others.

I finished on M34. Found by panning west from Mirfak. I couldn't definitively identify NGC 752 a few degrees even further west but its highly probable the next distinctive group of stars in that westwards pan is NGC 752.

This is my "grab 'n' go" in the lovely dark park. Jupiter showing above.

34 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I’d heard that Tak had invented a new lens material that sucks in so many photons that it renders the scope practically invisible 

I may need that quality when the time comes. This case is hidden in my home office. if i mis-time "being seen in public with it" i risk getting locked in it. 🤣

39 minutes ago, badhex said:

Can you make a template out of thick card? 

i can @badhex and i will but i just know even then it will look like a dog ate the cavity part out and not like the "laser cut" "custom fit" perfection my OCD demands! i did an eyepiece case in shadow foam last week and that required only small cuts in a firm foam and it still looks like mice did it 🤣. Good job these things get used in the dark.

Just now, Mandy D said:

Yes, get someone else to do it! Seriously, though, is the foam in the base not pre-diced for easy chopping with a sharp knife?

no i'm afraid not - its layered but layered in slabs not pick 'n' pluck...i can practise in the lower hidden layers at least 🙂

Important piece of the puzzle missing here i think. mmmh. At least i'll be able to transport my hopefully imminent new OTA in this SKB case delivered yesterday. As long as it fits!!!

Does anyone have any tips for cutting foam really neatly?

Cheers

Stick a lightweight dew shield even on the Dobsonian @bosun21. I have a cassegrain and a diy lightweight dew shield has made all the difference on recent nights even while every other surface around me was dripping wet (including the inside surface of the dew shield).

Just a short 15x binoculars session last night. Breezy here in Stamford and a school night. Ostensibly I was going out for a look at Jupiter but it wasn’t very satisfying. I think I need to get my eyes checked to see what my new astigmatism prescription is - Jupiter was very spiky. 😞

M31 was nice in Andromeda. Very wide left to right and a strong glowing core.
In Cassiopeia and a bit below it the Owl Cluster and Double Cluster were both very nice and Melotte 20 was just rising over the tree line - very bright blue stars.  I was really looking for Caroline’s Rose a bit higher up but didn’t find it definitively- I think I had the wrong expectations looking for a small sprinkling of stars (like the owl) when I think at 15x this may show as a small patch of haze (which I DID see). Will hopefully try again more carefully later this week. 
 

cheers

10 minutes ago, badhex said:

I may be going to Japan early next year and have just discovered the existence of the Starbase aka Takahashi shop near Akihabara in Tokyo... 😬

Have you clicked through the photo's on that link @badhex. I have no idea why but all my hobbies lead to shops that look like that! Hope you get the trip.

love it 👍

25 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Maybe antifog spray could help. We had a breezy that seemed to keep the dampness at bay.

Peter

Thanks for the tip Peter. I'm thinking of two strategies going forward - adding a very mildly heated pad in the bottom of my eypeicee case and hooking the case up to a dew controller or adding a slot in my eyepiece case for a hand warmer arrangement (i need to have a think about these two). The other is having a hand held fan of some sort to blow air across them in between use or in-between views while being used. I'm not sure this will work just blowing air at ambient temperature over them so may need to do an experiment one cloudy night. 🙂 Cheers