IB20

I have my eye on one of these, must say I’m a bit disappointed at the UK price point of £866.80 for the B500. It’s only $599 in the US.

If they were extremely bright it may have been these…

The rocket & booster were ahead of the ISS this time apparently, I missed them and only saw the ISS. http://track.issabove.info/

My first view of this for a long time, glad its still visible and I can still find it despite a bit of rotation! I have it between 220819 and 220057 but closer to the former so, I’ll say mag 6.7.

Have just seen an extremely bright ISS pass with two bright objects trailing about 30-60 seconds apart. Turns out it was the Nauka Russian module rocket and its booster. Very cool as it was a completely accidental observation. Next pass is due 23:38!

Not the postman but got this from the wife. Has sections for reports, sketches and lunar phases. Perfect for me to start properly documenting my sessions.

Well I’m not seeing many XW, DeLites or Morphei? eyepieces in the recent FLO returns, it all seems imaging related. Maybe there are fewer of us visual observers, or perhaps we are just better at buying the right equipment. 😶

Super list John, I’ll work my way through these in my next session (tomorrow looking good!). Hopefully I can chuck in the Saturn Nebula too if I can stay up late enough. 👍🏻

Took the neglected 8” dob out tonight for a quick hour session. Started with a new favourite in Pi Aquilae and got a lovely clean split at 240x, white and yellow companions, easy peasy. Onto Zeta Herculi and well LOL; horrendous boiling views and not a chance, made even worse by going to 325x, this is going to be a tough one, it’s a lot brighter than I had anticipated! Whilst in the area took the opportunity to view M13 for the first time this year, such a wonderful object, so mesmerising with its 3D effect. Next up Lambda Cygni, nice and easy to find and just visible to the naked eye in my skies. Again, huge disappointment, seeing either local or atmospheric or both not playing ball. There were occasions when I thought i could see the secondary pop out but nothing convincing so it’s a fail tonight. Next on the list was NGC6572 in Ophiuchus. Star hopping from 71 & 72 Oph I just couldn’t seem to locate this planetary nebula. I kept bouncing between wonderful clusters in NGC6633 & IC4665 and it took me a good 5-10 minutes before I realised a very turquoise looking “star” was the nebula! I do love a good nebula. Finished the session off with my favourite constellation and checked out M57 and split the Double Double at 120x. Always a good way to end. I think the cleaner views I’ve been getting used to in my refractor has somehow made me a better double spotter with the dob, they just seem to “pop” more now than they used to. Great little session, no more neglected dob!

Got my first views of Saturn last night with the 3” frac. I must say, was pleasantly surprised in the size and brightness of the image with no CA. The 10mm BCO, 8mm BST, 6mm Starbase ortho and 5mm BST all presented lovely images. Some nice beige/brown/orange colouration and banding detectable on the northern hemisphere and on occasion dark separation of the Cassini division would pop out. Titan nice and visible even with fairly light horizon skies. Managed to view Saturn at about 11° which would be impossible with the 8” dob from my garden. Also managed to split a 1.4” double in Pi Aquilae too which I think is good going for an 80mm. Turning out to be a lovely solar system scope which I’m thrilled about. If I’d stayed out another 40 mins or so I’d have been able to view Jupiter but I’ll save that for another session, but with the recent weather who knows when that will be!

Having just gone back I think you’re right. With it being stiller and darker I can see two stars. I think the scope has fully cooled now too. To my eye I can see a secondary star at about 4 o clock; the primary looks white and the secondary looks yellow. Cracking target!

Amazingly I have a clear night so whipped the Starbase 80 out. Revisiting the double challenge headed straight for Pi Aql as it is in a favourable southern view for me at this moment. Nice and easily to locate near Tarazed and above HD187284. Switched to the 6mm Starbase ortho and could make out an elongated pair. In occasional moments this would improve to a notched pair which was easier to detect in the 5mm BST. There were times when it seemed that I could make out a dark separation line, and I found that easier to see than two stars if that makes sense? Feel I am pushing my eyesight to the absolute limit however. Tried the 3.2mm BST but gave too mushy and too dim an image to improve anything.

First chance I’ve had to observe 2835 as I’ve had some serious cloud cover for what seems like an eternity. Pretty poor seeing along with gusts of wind but grabbed a few images. Glad I got to see it before it rotates out of view!

Agree 100% with this recommendation. The BCO 10mm is an amazingly good eyepiece. It showed some fantastic detail on Mars in the recent opposition when paired with my 8” dob. Can be used with a 2x barlow really nicely too. Not just planets either, it excels on the moon and double stars too. I’ve recently used it in an 80mm refractor for white solar viewing with a Herschel wedge and it gives excellent views. Exceptional value and performance at <£50.

Brilliant bit of kit this, love it on my 8” dob. 👍🏻

Was solar observing this morning in white light and AR2833 was showing an occasion umbral separation/bridge. A really nice feature to view. Tried my best to capture it with an iPhone but conditions not perfect.

Looking forward to seeing the results from this!

Agree with Stu here, I’ve just acquired a Baader continuum filter and have found it works tremendously well. Before this I was using an OIII filter which I found did a decent job too; the continuum filter is better IMO though. Faculae, contrast and umbral detail have all improved for me with the continuum filter. I tried a polarising filter but it was the least useful of the three filters I’ve mentioned. I have some cheap colour filters, next chance I get I’ll compare the green filter to the continuum filter. Lastly, as Stu advised you must ensure the ND3.0 filter is in place before using the wedge.

Great stuff @Pixies! Yes, these longer achros can sometimes lend themselves to some contortionist viewing in higher targets. I sometimes don’t extend the tripod legs and sit on the floor. Sounds like a good effort at Pi Aquilae. Can I ask what eyepieces you were using? I’m clouded out here at the moment but can’t wait to get stuck in at the next opportunity.

Thanks. Not yet as my Astro budget has gone towards an 80mm refractor, it’s worth saying that the 13mm Delite works incredibly well in this scope too. It’s my workhorse EP in both scopes. I’m almost certainly going to get another though, I think the 7 or 9mm would be best, I’m erring towards the 7mm. I’m hoping one shows up in the for sale section.

You have me doubting myself now but I’m fairly certain it was a split, despite its micro-event nature. It is an incredibly tricky target and out of everything I’ve ever viewed I’d say it’s the most optically illusion friendly. I must have seen the companion star a handful of times throughout multiple sessions, or did I?! Not quite as exaggerated as the attached image (not mine) but I usually see it by colour rather than as a split but passing through so much atmosphere it perhaps could just be artefact. I’ve read about using blue or green filters to reduce glare of the primary but this can increase artefact too and lead to a “false positive split”. The brain almost certainly likes to fill in gaps occasionally too especially if it knows what it should be looking for. I’ve tried another difficult double in uneven magnitude in Sirius & pup, I’ve never even got close to either observing or imagining the split so do think I am achieving success with Antares. Antares is optimally placed for me at 11° so plenty more opportunities for me to continue observing it. Scorpius in general is a wonderful constellation, I haven’t attempted M4, Jabbah, Rho Ophiuchus and many other targets yet. It’s a shame we aren’t treated to more of it in the UK.

I did try and split HR6329 which is 1.4” in Ophiuchus and it just looked like a single point of light. I need to try again as I’m not absolutely certain I was on the correct star. The 2” was tight, but a certain split. I’d fancy getting it down to 1.8” “comfortably” and be it’ll be interesting to see if I can push it further.

It was the 80mm Starbase. I left it out all evening as I’d been WL solar viewing in the afternoon so perhaps it was perfectly acclimated to go along with the steady atmosphere!

Bagged this last night finally. First viewed Beta Scorpii as that was highest and although not a difficult double I did notice how settled the airy discs looked. Moving to the double double confirmed this along with a tight double HR8040 in Cygnus. I relocated to an upstairs window and got straight on to Antares, lo and behold there it was with the 5mm BST, nice and clear split - cyan and orange components. As quickly as it arrived it vanished again and turned into a golden orange mirror ball before being obscured by a neighbour’s roof.

Thanks John, I’ll add them to my to try list. At least with brighter primaries it is possible to try earlier in the evening!