IB20

I’ve finally bagged it. Three nights of trying and even tonight failing with the 15x bins. They prepared me well when I swapped over to the 76DCQ as I was I knew exactly where to look after pretty much memorising the star patterns in the area. Wow, it’s very, very red but I’m not surprised I’ve struggled to find it, it’s really dim. Increasing the mag only made it dimmer and reduced colouration. I found 25mm @ ~38x was the optimum to both see the star well with diffraction rings and absolute ruby red colouration. Feels like a real achievement bagging this observation. Now I know it can be done I will check up on it annually. This little Tak never lets me down 😁.

I have the 10nm one which is great a bringing out faculae but FLO now sell the Baader 7.5nm which would improve contrast. Very tempted!

Venus looking magnificent with naked eye on the horizon. It has turned from white at higher altitude to a yellowish white though, which I have never seen before.

I think it’ll take it right now. I had the TOE 2.5mm on the 76DCQ at 388x and it looked great still.

Some more from today, better conditions and a more stable tripod due to it being retracted. AR 3190 is ridiculous in size. The black umbral spindles are really visible. Might be time to save for that Ha scope. I have also been thinking about getting the new continuum filter to see if theres any visual improvement although probably more detectable through a camera sensor.

It’s very diffuse so I’d say it’s hard to tell but the two stars observed alongside the comet are mag +5.7 & +6.7 and I would put it between them, somewhere around the +6.0-6.5 mark.

Unreal result @Stu. My wife has the Pixel 6 base phone and the camera is insanely good so the Pro’s camera will be the real deal. I would have gone for Pixel were not my accounts all tied up with iPhone. Cheers for the ProCamera app tip too, it’s extremely good and the processing tools are excellent too.

Yes just an afocal single frame. The sun skirts the neighbours’ rooftops currently so it was quite difficult to get something half decent. Hoping for better conditions and positioning tomorrow.

Tried the last two consecutive nights to find this. Good news is I can definitely access the area of sky but I’ve not managed to find it due to a bright haziness and thin cloud. Tried with both 15x70 binos and a 3” frac but no success yet!

Have just been out with the 15 x 70 bins; conditions nice and dark with some bands of cloud. Using SkySafari I travelled West from Nekkar and lo and behold next to double star pairing of HR 5830 and HD 139920 was a very diffuse grey blob. Nice and easy, nicely placed in the sky and very visible with bins. Chalk another one off, chuffed 😁.

One of my favourite doubles to look at through a refractor, it’s extremely pleasing to observe as the stars usually give perfect airy discs. Very similar colouration, magnitudes and size with a fairly generation separation.

Tak 76DCQ & 7XW with ProCamera App.

Taken and processed with ProCamera app, iPhone Pro 14 at 162x with Tak 76DCQ and Vixen LV 6mm.

It was on ABS. There’s a 25, 10 & 4 on there still too last I looked.

Been after a 6mm Vixen for a while.

Such sad news. Was one of the stalwarts of the forum when I joined and one of the posters that contributed to me solar observing and purchasing a refractor. RIP John, thoughts with his friends and family.

Absolutely clear but blowing a gale. Can’t be more frustrating conditions than these. Not even entertaining the idea of going out. 👎🏼

Yep really eye catching and was instantly drawn to it. Loving lunar observing with the 76DCQ!

Some more from tonight. The Pringles crisp fella on display too.

I have this scope (still do) and discuss here. I loved having a 3” refractor so much I ended up getting a premium APO. I still use the mount and tripod from the Starbase too as it’s excellent. For doubles it splits epsilon lyrae at 80x and split Rigel and Izar without much fuss. A really capable achromat that comes with everything ready to go.

Decided I wanted to upgrade the camera on my phone due to my wife’s camera making the iPhone 11 look rubbish. Also changed app to ProCamera as it works alongside the Pro’s camera which captures in RAW format at 48MP (I think!). Windy conditions so seeing not amazing but managed a couple of nice handheld afocal shots. Always seem to catch the moon at this illumination! Tak 76DCQ and 10mm & 5mm XWs.

As I viewed Mars throughout the evening and night the Northern polar hood that was visible earlier on seemed to reduce in visibility and eventually vanished. Any members know why? Is it a seeing or a positional thing or is it something that is happening to the polar region itself?

Must say Mars is looking extremely good tonight one of the best times I’ve ever observed it. Managing 300x with the 4mm TOE in the 200P with fantastic albedo detail and colouration.

Another go tonight and playing around with some of the app’s numerous tools.

Conditions were looking great this morning, not so much now. 😒