IB20

Going back to my a-level chemistry and trying to simplify it, is it not the energy emission from a hydrogen electron being excited by energy, moving away and then moving back towards the nucleus? Different “energy shell” or orbits = different wavelength?

Beautiful images 👍🏻.

I definitely picked the wrong scientific field. Academic astronomy books are a thing of beauty.

My neighbours have installed two incredibly bright motion sensor lights in their passageway (not that one). It isn’t too much of a problem it’s just they constantly flicker on and off when it’s windy and reminds me of when I used to go raving back in the day.

I saw Venus had appeared in a gap between two neighbouring houses 30 mins so threw the 80mm frac up. Being still relatively light I found aligning and focusing quite difficult, but once I got it honed in I was amazed at what I could see. It’s my first time viewing Venus through a scope and I was quite surprised with the disc size but more so with how defined the phase was. Atmospheric dispersion was quite pronounced but it appeared as a perfect white semi circle with red and blue fringing. No signs of CA which I’m delighted about. Just Mercury to go!

I found the best of the BST range are the 15mm & 8mm. The Morpheus 17.5mm is an incredible eyepiece and barlows like a dream if you can squeeze the budget a little more. I’d say my most used eyepiece is the 10mm Baader Classic Ortho, which for ~£50 is probably the best cost/performance eyepiece on the market.

I think it looks like an exquisitely crafted and precisely machined instrument that moves like silk. Having watched @Stu’s video of high magnification realignment I don’t think slo-mo controls (I use slo-mo controls 95% of the time!) are needed at all and if the price is as suggested I think it looks great value. From my own personal scope usage, I don’t ever think I’d need a mount with such capacity or dual scope mounting capabilities. But if an even lighter, single scope mount with such fluid and precise motion was on the cards from Rowan, I’d be biting arms off.

I really didn’t think the 12” would be that much of a monster. Is f5.3 the usual f ratio for a 12”? I guess those weights of the Stella Lyras now make sense!

I was the same, £296 I think which has proved to be good value, I’ve only added the lacerta dual focus to mine. With their new pricing though, I’d have almost certainly bought the new Stella Lyra 8” if I was buying now. Looks a fantastic bit of kit with all the right upgrades. I almost wish my SW dob kind of fell to pieces so I could buy one. 😅

Is that definitely the sun and not a cometary tail? Try turning comets off.

That is stunning; unbelievable work, well done. 👌🏻

Great image. I was using an 80mm achro tonight and could really make out a dark barge above the NEB when observing, thanks for confirming.

I love the locking mechanism on the Tak prism, it’s so simple and brilliant but it doesn’t secure Delite eyepieces due to the exaggerated under cuts. No more thumb screws though and light as a feather too.

I’ve just upgraded a diagonal from a mirror to the Tak prism in my f10 refractor. Controls light scatter that little bit better, very happy with it.

Thank you for recommending this, I’ve been using it tonight in some pretty ordinary seeing but I’ve been able to observe the GRS, Io’s shadow, multiple bands and a NEB barge in my little 80mm Starbase. Works beautifully on the moon too, chuffed to bits. It’s an excellent EP, think I’ve landed a bargain!

Not the best seeing, both 8” dob and 80mm frac set up. The dob suffering from bad tube currents too, even the moon is boiling. Some nice views in the 80mm frac, at one point a staggered stair of GRS, shadow of Io and NEB barge.

A small refractor on an alt-az mount would probably do the trick. No collimation worries, no electronics - point, focus and observe.

Good to see a mirror winning…

Managed to get one of these, loving the retro glass right now.

That’s the beauty of a small portable scope though. 👍🏻

Bingo! There have been nights where I have seen stunning planetary images with both 3” & 8” scopes and others when boiling, wobbly views surrounded by secondary colouration made observing the planets a waste of time.

Was it something he ate?

Can I just say that owning the Starbase has REALLY made me want a Tak. 😅

Although saying that, I have found it is possible to identify Ganymede from its disc size compared to the other 3 satellites. Can’t tell the others apart though, probably why it is so easy to determine which one is Ganymede.

The SkySafari app is a brilliant tool for information like this.