PeterW

Perfection doesn’t exist…. The closer you get the higher the price. Not sure where I came across it, but an interferogram can turn a good mirror into a worthless one if the numbers are slightly different. Sometimes people can be too picky for their own good. Peter

Even darker skies @Captain Magenta, thought it always rained in Ireland? Peter

Having a good speaker monthly would give people a virtual astro club as not everyone lives close to a club. There are a lot of good club speakers out there! Peter

Sure looks a bit roller coasting @JeremyS Will it go back up again?? Peter

M44 should be easy by sweeping between Leo and Gemini…. It’s very obvious when you sweep over it. From there you can hop down to M67 which is much less obvious. M81 should be visible, M51 possibly not. M3 should be a fuzzy ball, I’d get there from the coma cluster or Arcturus. M104 might be hard and I’ve not looked for M48. Peter

My other print today was a 30min quickie one… worked a treat. Peter

I weighed the reel before hand. First go had some peel in one corner. Swapped the plate and releveled, I left it running fine. It’s proj to s with reasonable walls and infill, so it won’t break if someone knocks it on the floor. Previous best was 1kg and 72hrs. My printers tend to periodically get grumpy…. But tend to work nicely (most of the time) between bouts. Peter

TCE-2 2x54 are the ticket, Plenty of posts on making them and 3dprinter files. The Orion is essentially the same, but with added focussing and a slightly different shape (bites my nose a bit more then the homebrew). unlike using mine with winged eyecups and lying on the ground so they can be used hands-free. You can add 2” Filters to the front with the right thread adapter. I have some circular polarisers which make looking at clouds on a sunny day quite fun. Peter

Many of us made our own with old Nikon teleconverters, Orion and many others sell similar models. Give the urban observer a welcome extra number of stars. Peter

Big block for holding disc samples for some colleagues…. 1.5kg. Lucky charms have been set up and votive offerings given to the great gods of 3D printing cockups…. Peter

Wish me well….. Peter

I sometimes find the field if view with this size of binoculars can be a little small, you need to be careful to get them pointing in the right direction before you go star hopping. Larger binoculars can have funders attached, not so much easy with smaller ones. peter

Any specific objects? Many will be quite small in those binoculars. You should be able to see plenty under those skies. Peter

Unaware of this one, now have a copy. Peter

I am certainly not wagering any money on it…. I though they just brightened and faded…. This one has all sorts of bumps and wiggles, it will be instructive to read what science comes out of all the measurements being made. peter

…. Or is it….. certainly worth keeping an eye on to see what else might do. Peter

I’m surprised you’ve not at least tried to hide it, You could drape a towel, hang some clothes on it…. Peter

I can only store scopes in the house, but I have run out of places to put them that won’t be noticed and cause an issue. Maybe my scope aspirations need to get smaller.. or wait for the kids to leave home?! Peter

… 2”, you needs a bigger scope 😉 Peter

Yes, the ES corrector doesn’t “add 15%) to your focal length. You want to keep your speed: Peter

What fer seeing faint stuff… designed fer the E-bomb (E21). https://www.bbastrodesigns.com/HET.html Why I’ve got an f3 mirror waiting for a scope to appear around it. Peter

The imager hasn’t heard of any visual observations, but his exposure is quite long, so maybe a very long shot… but filtration and aperture (and the right time of year, solar cycle and Mercury orbit distance) might help. Maybe worth some more digging….. Another one for the almost impossible… https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kordylewski_cloud peter

Not so great(2)= it’s getting fainter quite quickly. Peter

I forgot these were in form awhile and have caught up W it u a number of very interesting ones on YouTube. Go for quality and interest and pop them online afterwards, give us all something to watch again when it’s raining outside. Peter

Anyone try having a look? Maybe a multi minute exposure, but with a 66mm scope and a normal digital camera. Wonder if it’s worth a punt putting a filter on a larger scope and eyeballing it… the eye is pretty sensitive, the filter ought to blocking of the stray light, to ohhh extra filtration to remove out of band might be needed. Peter