IB20

Conditions are go! 😁

I love the look of the mewlons, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been looking at the 180C. 😃

Weird conditions tonight, had a quick look with the Tak but it’s like looking through my mam’s net curtains. The Cassini division showing really nicely though 🤷🏼

Lovely Ha shot. Is that just the base PST Coronado? Might be my next scope purchase if so!

Just had a short lunar session through pretty mucky seeing. Still achieved some nice views at 57x-80x. Two features in particular stood out close to the terminator; a prominent dome casting a large shadow in the upper northwestern quadrant and a silvery V shaped scar near Aristarchus. A little check on the Moon map showed them as Mons Rümker and Vallis Schrotëri. Fascinating features that I haven’t seen before, or certainly not jumping out as much as they did today.

Does anyone know what this translates to at the eyepiece? Jupiter apparent size is currently 49 arcseconds, next year around opposition it will be similar. Out of opposition it can reach 42 arcseconds, even down to 33 arcseconds in daytime. How small or large will it appear is it when its opposition is at its minima? 🤔

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 you have average seeing and you want improved contrast something like a Starfield 4” APO with a really high end eye piece I.e Nagler zoom 3-6mm would do the trick. Honestly my 3” Tak 76DCU keeps up with MY 200P on the moon, Saturn and Jupiter. It cools much quicker and takes higher magnification in ordinary seeing, I’ve no doubt the big dob shows more but the conditions don’t allow this most of the time.

What is the collective noun for EPs? A goggle? Well I’ll have 31 when my new 6mm SLV arrives 😊

I tried blue and yellow filters last night and although they showed some improvement it was nothing compared to a variable polarising filter in my 200P. It turned a bleached bright cream disc with hard to discern detail into a planet showing two exquisite equatorial belts, visible temperate regions, the GRS and a tack sharp Io with shadow. The amount of light you let in is down to the user too as we all have our own preferences. I did notice the odd stray reflection but it was very infrequent and nothing that annoyed me.

Hi John, Lovely images which compound what I observed. Io showing to the right of the shadow too. It was a really fantastic shadow transit and sharp as a tack. I could see Io until I packed up about 11:40pm due to it being in front of the SEB but yes it got much harder to see once it had move from the limb. Had a sneak peak at Mars too, could make out some slight albedo markings despite the crazy atmospheric dispersion.

Amazing what a small scope can show you isn’t it? My 76mm really held its own against the 200P. Use of a polarising filter on the dob definitely showed more but not by much and both scopes were a joy to use. My small frac copes with the changeable seeing much better.

Just the most astonishing start to a transit of Io, probably one of the most amazing thing I have ever observed. I can’t stop thinking about it.

The beginning of this transit was spectacular. It looked like something had taken a little nibble of Jupiter’s limb as the shadow moved onto the face. Real nice viewing conditions and Io is remaining visible on the disc due to it transiting in front of the SEB. Gutted I can’t stay up to watch it finish around 1:30am. Managed to get Jupiter’s brightness under control with a variable polarising filter, looked beautiful at 171-120x. Still preferred the Tak and 4mm TOE though 😅.

There is another tonight. The GRS has just about rotated from view but Io is due a transit and shadow transit very shortly.

I spy Tak UWs!

I’m in agreement, I’m finding I prefer contrast over light grasp during this opposition. Maybe I need to try a contrast booster on the 8” light bucket. The wider field of view seems to help on the refractor too, it’s just framed better.

Saturn looks mesmerising tonight. Its planetary disc casting a shadow on the far side of the ring system. Plenty of banding visible on the northern hemisphere, each a different sandy hue. Cassini division nice and clear at each ansae. Transparency really good too so easy spotting of Titan, Rhea and Dione in the 3” frac. Best views were with the 7XW at 82x & 0.93mm exit pupil, everything just popped so clearly. 🪐

Loving the picture of the 76DCU on the Starbase mount. 😍

Ha, love this. Nothing wrong with collecting eyepieces, quite enjoying comparing them myself in different conditions/targets etc.

This perfectly captures what I observed, great sketch.

Last count I have; 2 x TOEs 4 x XWs 7 x BSTs 1 x Morpheus 2 x Ultimas/Orion Ultrascopics 2 x BCOs 1 x BGO 4 x orthos 2 x plossls 5 x freebie junk EPs So 30 but 25 really as the freebie EPs are never used. Room for more I’d say 🤣

That was awesome, seeing was average but managed around 144x in the Tak and 120x in the dob. Preferred the Tak’s contrast and light scatter control to the blazing bright dob image and spent 95% of the transit with the 3”. When the shadow neared the planetary limb, Europa suddenly appeared, imposed just over it creating an amazing 3D effect between moon, shadow and Jupiter… just wow. The shrinking red spot even graced us with an appearance too ☺️. Love planetary season!

Setting up both the Tak and the 200P, skies are nice and clear, transparency looks good too!

So I went with the More Blue retrofit microfocuser as my first upgrade and I’m really impressed with the quality and feel of the focuser. Although it comes with no instructions, the installation really is extremely simple; there’s a quick video guide available and the most difficult part I found was getting the little two prong screw out of the housing of the focusing axle. I’d read reports that the mounting bar felt flimsy, not sure if this has been changed but I don’t have a problem with it and it feels very solidly attached. Didn’t realise how plasticky the original focus wheels were until I removed one, they never seemed to feel like that when I used them. Time for testing; Jupiter and Saturn were nicely positioned so put the scope out for 5 mins. Initially the upgraded focuser felt a bit lumpy, but playing with the tightness of the grub screw soon ironed any issues out. The coarse focus has retained that “snap to” ability which I really like and the 12:1 fine focus wheel is a joy to use. I’m very pleased with the upgrade and I know it’s going to improve my observing. I only went out for a quick test but 90 mins disappeared on observing Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. 😆

Now with fine focus 😁