PeterW

All that space debit is messing up its own view and whacking into each other. No one has mentioned image intensifiers to make nebulae more visible.. though they’ve been in use for 20 odd years and although the performance goes up slowly the prices don’t come down. Peter

Mine only partially cleared form part of the filter. Never operate why scipe with all the filters in place of course. I am surprised that glass filters go bad, maybe they heat up and react…. I usually assume that doors glass filters are pretty stable. peter

Just use an optical cleaning material without any abrasive, should get the middle looking better. I’d drop Lunt solar systems EU an email, I got a spare sent over for free even though mine was out of warranty. (If I remember correctly). I’m in the UK. Was a few years ago. Peter

Put some 12.5mm Morpheus in and enjoy wide higher power views. Nice rig. Peter

Are those streetlights in the background of your picture… i thought you lived in a very dark area?! Peter

The Altair should take most take eyepieces. The APM UFF are nice as ate Baader Morpheus. Not sure if the prism size as this might limit the lowest powers you can reach (some have a slightly larger prism that helps utilise 24mm eyepieces), best for nebulae. These are semi-APO so some CA will show, hugest power likely around 7mm before the views get too dim. with a 90degree set the easiest mount will be a solid camera tripod and fluid head, though you might not quite get to the zenith (you can let one leg of the tripod down a bit if you need a bit more elevation). inuse my 70mm with 12.5mm eyepieces on the daytime, very nice views. I tend to use the 18 or 24mm at night. Peter

For Borlte estimation refer to the descriptions of what you’re able to see. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale At the best time be the SQM doesn’t change much but the descriptions certainly do. My home seems about 7, which is a notch behind where the SQM says it should be. It’s good to know what should be visible so one knows how much more one could see and thus how many more pennies one should save for those special trips. I’m certainly envious of those who live in dark locations, only consolation is that if I need milk or the like I can get it within a few minutes stroll. Peter

The best I had on the Isle of Wight would be Bortle4 by the descriptions, mag21.5 measured. The locals noted the night wasn’t too good compared to what they can get… guess the more chances you take the more chances of a special night. Peter

You can’t properly correlate Bortle with SQM and satellite data can’t perfectly give you a real SQM estimate. If you look at the sequential VIIRS data you’ll see random variations. If someone there cam check one clear, dark night and confirm their skies are best described by the bortle 1 description then I’d be interested and it’ll save on air miles from the more readily known B1 skies. Peter

Wedges give much better views than the other options but need careful use and filtration to use safely. I have an old cheap 1.25” INTES model and it works fine. The backfocus issue with 2” models is a little known one, as you’re working at quite high power on the sun there is no need for 2”, but manufacturers don’t seem to care. The ND filter will probably warm Up slightly (never tested), but it wouldn’t pose a problem. Always check things before you use them though. Peter

Books like “the dobsonian telescope” by Kriege or “portable Newtonian telescopes” by highe might be useful. Otherwise there are lots of people who have put plans and discuss what they’ve done. If you have the tools then it shouldn’t be too bad. Sourcing some of the materials might be tricky and you’ll need to decide where to get the optics from. Good luck. peter

You’ll only find 1 in remote deserts with transparent skies. peter

Popcorn must be pretty stale by now. Will be great to hear how this ep performs given the anticipation. Peter

Have be you got more evenings to have another go? Peter

The first object is likely to have been the latest SpaceX starlink launch in the evening of Thursday. I saw an odd light with “illuminated haze” ahead of it, the sky was perfectly clear though! You probably caught it a few orbits later as the satellites started to spread out into a line. SpaceX have got good at making the satellites darker and so we don’t get to see them obviously apart from shortly after launch. Peter

…. I keep mine in a warm pocket to reduce power loss, you only need them for a few seconds at a time… Peter

I use the Nikon and Orion 2x54 to imagine what the view from darker skies would be like and to spot Elon’s little satellites. Peter

Many major roads aren’t fully lit so certainly possible. I assume from the Police response that A road central reservations are fair game?! Peter

Low end Pulsar thermal spotter, the auto contrast function means the moon is an over exposed disk.. a clear sky is blank. It’s real power is in finding warm things after dark. Peter

The following link may help provide some info as to where it might be worth looking and where not. https://www.climate-policy-watcher.org/climate-dynamics/the-atmospheric-absorption-spectrum.html Although water absorbs a lot au can clearly see the moon with my 10micron thermal scope (resolution is too poor to see details). Peter

France is a step ahead of the UK, though maybe Wales (who seem hellbent on getting the whole country covered be IDA dark sky reserves), could make some headway. Peter

You need to get her a pair of bins, so you don’t have to share, you can also use them to go finding things in the daytime. maybe she could do GCSE Astronomy “a bit early”?! Great read peter

Being able to definitely have a few transparent nights of mag 21.5+ would be good. Starparties add a social element for when the clouds don’t part. It seems a number of areas are working up Dark Sky Status bids, where the area’s lighting has to be full cutoff and sensibly powered, which can only be a good thing, bring the darker skies closer and help to reduce degradation of the skies we have. I’m not going to have mag21 in my back garden, but having better closer would be welcome. peter

I coated glass will reflect according to fresnels law, the incidence angle is likely 45degrees though the back of the wedge will be different so it’s reflection is dumped and doesn’t make the eyepiece. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_equations you can look up a typical glass refractive index curve (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispersion_(optics) and plug the numbers in. I’d expect reflection across a very wide band, so it you’re worried about the longer IR being an issue then I’d specifically filter for them. Not many glasses trasmitmtoknfar into the harmful UV, but many will transmit UV-A, so some form of filter to trim this off might keep the cataracts at bay a little longer (assuming you always wear sunglasses). Your eye lens will block beyond 1400nm (or so), so beyond that you don’t need to worry about retina damage (your cornea will be smoking long before then!), https://lasersafety.com/resources/laser-safety-guide/ peter

Get yer self some 8x40, 10x50 bins and a star guide or two and get out there and work out where things are, how to find stuff etc. useful in the daytime too for looking at birds, planes etc etc get along to a club (hopefully soon, though the evenings won’t make observing so easy till late summer) and look thorough different kit and see what things look like through them. Also what types of object you prefer and how easy things are to setup/use etc. You’ll always need some spare £ for filters, extra eyepieces and other bits and bobs you never realised existed. I’d only recommend an eq mount if you wanted to image in which case you’d need a good one. Goto is nice unless it decides not-to-goto in which case it’ll drive you nuts. Also quite often you’ll find all sorts of interesting stuff when you’re hunting for something else.. goto only takes you to what you wanted to look at. Bit like walking across London vs taking the underground. I’d avoid too small an aperture as it will limit what you can see. The old “rule”’of minimum 4”refractor or 6” reflector. I’ve got plenty off the secondhand fine and sold plenty too. good luck Peter