IB20

As I finally bagged M1 last night, I’m going to see how long it takes me to do all 110 from my back yard (B6-7). Maybe in numerical order but that might drive me crackers! Any that can’t be reached or that aren’t visible will be noted and skipped over until I’m in darker/or a more Southerly location. M2 should be gettable tonight so I’ll update as and when I bag it. Wish me luck! 😅 M1 10/11/2023 - a hard to see diffuse, grey smudge (scope 200P at 69x)

Sounds epic. I still remember those nights I spent at Undara National Park in QLD. Prestine and jaw-dropping views. I couldn’t identify anything!

Just finished the night on Orion. After thinking I much prefer my little fracs (which I still do), seeing the benefits of aperture on M42 still makes me realise I have room in the armoury for a large shaving mirror. 😁 It’s good to have the hunter back in my skies. Transparency has been wonderful tonight even if the seeing hasn’t. The 15x bins alongside the big light cannon have really held their own in these conditions.

THANK YOU!!! I’ve been trying to work out how to do that, it does my brains in when it keeps auto exposing.

Seeing your images, it’s the whites that I seem to struggle to promote in processing. So I’m either capturing at too low an exposure or tracking and stacking is making the difference.

For the first and probably last time 😅 I have finally tracked down M1. I’m going to put this down as a “must have dark skies” target.

So tried the MSM holder on the 200P with the 3.2mm BST and iPhone Pro 14 stock video app. Actually found taking a single image from the video works better than the VideoStack app as the drift time is only about 3 seconds. Not great seeing + high mag & zoom seems to introduce more blur on the stacking app. Single image touched up in LR. Accompanied by Ganymede and Europa.

I’m not seeing it with the 15x70s. I know I’m in the right area as I’m around 110 & 111 Herc but my skies are just a little bit too bright lower down in that direction. Think I need it to be a higher altitude so will try again earlier on tomorrow.

I asked FLO about these roller bearing bases for the 200P and they said there’s no reason it shouldn’t work. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/misc/stellalyra-roller-bearing-for-dobsonian-telescopes-8-to-16-aperture.html

Jeremy has some cracking views of Rupes Recta.

Great sketches. This is the first year since I started in 2020 that I’ve managed to see bluey/grey bruising in the NEB! Wonder if it’s helped by altitude? Or perhaps previous years at opposition the clouds/jet stream haven’t co-operated?

Out with the 15x binoculars tonight. M45 and Melotte 20 look superb; the double cluster despite its location at zenith is absolutely beautiful. Excellent transparency tonight! I need to do more binocular sessions.

Very quick session with the 76mm last night as was expecting an Io shadow transit but SkySafari had turned light time off, probably when the clocks went back 😩 so I was a good 30 odd mins ahead. Still some nice views of Jupiter, seeing not quite there as the previous night. A very noticeable dark brown festoon/barge was trailing the GRS however, sort of cigar shaped and was much larger than barges I’ve seen before.

Got some nice views of Jupiter tonight, lovely detail particularly on the lower boundary of the NEB. At 9:51pm I started to see a pin prick of light just off the Western edge of Jupiter. After a few minutes, Europa fully revealed itself from the planet’s shadow. I think I’ve also nearly sorted push to on my 102ed with my phone and PS Align Pro. Before the clouds rolled in, had a quick find of some targets ending on a really super double star in Mesarthim.

Have just seen a string of 20 odd satellites in a row, which I’m assuming were Starlink? They weren’t particularly close together and from end to end took about 30° of sky, the biggest constellation I’ve ever seen. They were all as bright as Deneb (+1.3) until they faded into our shadow. I used to think they were pretty cool but seeing them like that has actually made me quite concerned.

The Tak 76DCU is a fabulous solar system scope. I’ve added the Q module to mine which makes it slightly longer and heavier but it’s now performing not far off a 4” with its increased magnification range. Without the module it’s still a brilliant scope and very, very light and portable. The OTA is around 1.8-1.9kg and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Last night it took mere seconds to deploy and after 5 min cooling I was observing some fantastic views of the moon, Jupiter’s equatorial bands and Io’s shadow transiting the Great Red Spot.

Whilst pursuing the Astrograph website I found this https://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.mobile/en_GB/?ObjectID=18647320, which very much looks like one of the SL/Artcise/Innorel clones.

The GRS not so R and the colour was really hard to make out once the moon’s shadow started transiting! What a lovely little fortuitous session, thanks for the heads up @Nik271 😃

I’m fairly certain I can see Io’s disc too, there’s a brighter area on the SEB right next to its shadow. It’s easier to see with lower mags as the floaters disappear.

Fairly clear skies so have quickly deployed the f12.75 3”. The air seems very still and seeing is good; getting to 190x with little trouble. The lunar region of Petavius, Rimae Petavius, Vallis Palitzsch and Palitzsch A is really catching the eye. The mountainous region in Petavius with the large gouge heading towards the crater rim is a wonderful sight. Jupiter once again showing tons of detail in the EBs. Io’s inky black shadow is very visible, right bang on the SEB and approaching the GRS. Hopefully the forecasted mist stays away for a bit longer!

This has very much got me thinking… https://thecentercolumn.com/tripod-reviews/gitzo/gitzo-gt5533ls-series-5-test-data/

I’ll probably know in a month or so. Might wait for Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Made up shopping day, to see if the Innorel RTC90, as recommended by @StevieDvd gets a price reduction. It looks good and solid, not too dissimilar from the Gitzo at 40mm leg diameter but nearly a 1/3rd of the cost. The StellaLyra CF is 36mm and looks very much like the Innorel LT364C which has a 5kg lower max payload. I think a 4kg weight saving compared to the steel SW is fairly significant so it’s something I’m keen to try out.

My local forecast for last night was mostly cloud with the odd clear spell. After observing for 4.5 hours in crystal clear conditions, I called it a night. It was still clear when I went to bed. 🤷🏼😄

Conditions stayed absolute clear and I was treated to wonderful views of the GRS and Europa’s moon and shadow transit at mags 136x and 142x (3” & 4” respectively). A couple of things I noticed. Firstly, the colour in the GRS was richer and more saturated in the 76Q which I thought was surprising. It could be a reduction in brightness of image that allows me to pick the colour up as I’m pretty sure I’m fairly sensitive to brightness but a theme of the night was my preference for the colour displayed by the Tak. The detail in the bands and area preceding the GRS was very similar in both scopes, but the area trailing the GRS was better defined and clearer in the 4”. At 11:41pm, a slight distortion was visible on the planetary limb in both scopes. Over time this developed into the jet black spot, again both scopes showing nicely but more easily resolved in the 4”. Europa itself brightened nicely as it began ingress across the planetary limb and face, again visible in both. After taking some phone videos through the 4”, I’d been out observing for nearly 4.5 hours. Final looks through both scopes revealed that some eye fatigue had set in and it was fairly more relaxing looking through the 4”. A great night and one not even slightly close to the expected forecast. IMG_6114.mov

Just finished a fabulous night viewing Jupiter, Saturn and a nearly full moon. Finished on a wonderful GRS and Europa shadow transit. 👍🏻