IB20

Are you experiencing similar to this? https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/870714-interpreting-refractor-star-tests/ From reading what you’re seeing it doesn’t sound quite right and I wonder if you should contact your supplier to see if you could get it looked at or maybe even a replacement.

What bright stars are you trying to see as pin point? Some of the brightest, simply wont appear like that. Also, have you managed to see airy disks and diffraction rings when you’ve cranked up the magnification?

I read a lot about Strehl ratios. Visually, is there much difference between 0.9 and 0.95? Could an experienced observer tell them apart? I wonder if @FLO receive the Strehl reports for the SM125s like Astronomics do for the AT125 EDLs? Apparently they choose not to send out the reports cos buyers end up quibbling over a 1000th of a difference with other users’ scopes and start returning for higher Strehl scopes. 🤪 I have a SM125. It’s a blummin’ fantastic scope. It’s left my 4” 102ED-R collecting dust!

Spotted one about 20-30 mins ago, just above the large cluster of ARs 3645/47. Small but extremely bright.

Quite overwhelming I found, there’s so much to take in and doesn’t help with frequent cloud breaks! Really like the Sketchbook app on iPhone.

Diffraction spikes on Jupiter really annoy me. Too much brightness also washes out planetary feature and colour detail to my eyes. I also think events like Galilean moon eclipses and transits particularly ingress and egress appear much better in refractors.

Just to qualify my statement, I’ll try and get round to observing some targets with the 5” that, from memory, really impressed me in the 8”. Blue snowball nebula M5 M51 Sombrero Galaxy (M104) Hopefully in less moon affected skies than last night. Although I was quite chuffed making out two very faint smears of m65 and m66 in the 5”. I’ve struggled to see those with the 8” in bright moonlit skies.

Probably nothing but I prefer refractor views for most targets. DSOs and planetary nebulae are what I find the big newts excel on.

Spending some time with the moon.

A great few hours on the moon with the SM125mm. Bagged the Hesiodus crater ray thanks to the great post in the celestial heads up. A chain of craterlets which I think is Stadius was really eye-catching. I don’t recall seeing those before in any frac so the aperture gain is proving a point. Birt crater and Rupes Recta looking equally impressive too. Had a quick look with the 30mm Vixen NPL for the Leo triplet and could see the star in M66. Swapping to the 17.5mm Morpheus showed faint smudges for M66 and M65. An impressive feat as the moon brightness is washing out the sky and I’ve only ever seen the triplet in my 8” dob up to now. Decent seeing despite the stiff breeze too.

Just had a brilliant few hours on the moon with this scope. Managed to catch the Hesiodus crater ray thanks to the SGLers in the celestial heads up forum. Again, this scope has delivered, it’s completely colour free on the lunar limbs. It just keeps on impressing.

Managed to grab a few iPhone snaps with the SM125.

The Askar looks great but it’s a hefty looking OTA at >9kg. I feel that alone would put me off wanting to take it out and try to stick it on a mount, which I’d imagine would have to be fairly beefy itself. I have the SM125 and I’ve no complaints so far. It’s knocked my socks off looking at M42. It’s excelled at nearly everything I’ve pointed it at. The only annoying thing is I’ve not had as many sessions with it as I’d have liked cos of the damn weather but I use it when I can because it’s so easy to handle. I don’t feel much difference in weight between this and my 102ED-R. It’s quite a bit longer though but I don’t extend the dew shield til it’s set up.

I’m looking at the same upgrade for my scopes and I’d narrowed it down to the ES68 24mm and the UFF. That’s a cracking price for the UFF. Does anyone know if the housing/eyecups for the different clones make a difference to the specs or user comfort?

Here’s one for the diary. The next Mercury transit is due 13th November 2032! Almost certainly going to be a cloudy day! 🙃

Huge amount of activity today. Prominences on both limbs, a huge arched prom jettisoning off huge amount of material into space. Counted 7 sun spots, some with brigh plage surrounds and a giant u shaped filament. Amazing, hopefully going to be a great summer’s observing.

The forecast yesterday on BBC was clear skies from 11am til early am the next day. It was cloudy all day and night. 🤷🏼

Yeah I find for my local seeing, I get the best views when surrounding infrastructure and temperature differentials are the closest - so April-May and Sept-Oct are the best times. My dob in winter becomes a bit of an ornament. In summer the later at night (or v early in the AM) the better. But as Mike suggests, get out at every opportunity as they’ll always be a moment or window!

Use the netweather jet stream forecast myself and find it’s pretty good at giving an idea of general seeing but as Steve mentions, they’ll always be a few moments of good seeing thrown in with some patience. Your local conditions will play a part too, I.e observing on concrete over turf or observing over rooftops/chimneys etc

Interestingly I just revisited my notes on the E star spot with a 3”. An 83% waxing gibbous moon and a jet stream to die for. So definitely seeing, seeing, seeing!

I still haven’t seen noctilucent clouds, so there’s another for the list. Maybe this year?

Add Omega Centauri, large and small magellanic clouds too.

Seeing The Veil is definitely one for my list!

I’ve bagged E with the Tak 76Q. Transparency was extremely good from memory though, bortle 5-6 skies.

I have an 8” dob and seen E & F stars - not particularly challenging if transparency is good. Sirius B in theory should be easy but I haven’t managed it yet. Found the scope fails to acclimate and control the roiling mess of light that is Sirius. I’d fancy my 4” or 5” APOs would be better suited for this split.