PeterW

Yum yum!

Friends have told me that e difference from suburbia to mag21.5 is about the same as from the mag21/5 to perfection (la Palma), tiny SQM differences can mask a lot, Mr Bortles descriptions seem to offer some differentiation, but not having enough nights under good enough skies I can’t tell how useful they are. peter Ive been under skies with SQM reading, the clouds came over, same SQM ;-)!

I was at a mag21.5 site and the Nebula visibility was dramatically different on different nights.. same size reading. Once you get to around 21.6 or so I’d look at the bortle descriptions in preference as the numeric differences are slight, but the visual differences keep coming (allegedly as 21.5 is the best I’ve come across), Peter

Neither... he was by the sea side in the south. Petet

3nm, want to really kill anything that’s not aha. @GavStar I hope you swung past M42 as well. Peter

Great news!! Are you also going to be seeking IDA recognition, similar to a growing number of UK national parks?? congratulations to all involved Peter

The view of m42 with the c11 very focal reduced with NV recently was memorable for sure! Peter

Amateur, recently watched a colleague print a part and the end of the filament had just disappeared inside the feeder as the print ended.... peter

Good thing no-one has mentioned binoculars.... 😉 Peter

It IS visible from London, but only with a little optical intensification and heavy filtration, otherwise your assessment of the London situation is correct 😞 Peter

Gary Hawkins east coast binoculars repair http://binocular-repair.co.uk peter

My youngest found m31 in some old 7x50 with a bit of help, had them on a monopod to help take some of the weight. Peter

They’re all quite low surface brightness so don’t feel too bad. If you have good skies they might become easier. Try for M31 and M81, which are easier to spot. I’ll leave it to others to comment on 70:80mm bins, but you’ll need a way to keep them still to make best use of them. good luck peter

5:2mm exit pupil, should be good at night, what’s the apparent field of view? Peter

What size is best to print the LAC at?? peter

I think the Cambridge atlas came from Alan Chu home made photo atlas project.... http://www.alanchuhk.com I printed out a few copies in years gone by. Peter

The sky and telescope field map of the moon which are smaller scale Rukl, but folded so you get a whole quadrant at a a time. Available in normal and mirror image for refractor users. My main grumble about Rukl is the size of the fields, making knowing where you are tricky. I also have 21st century moon atlas from Charles wood which uses lunar orbiter data stitched for constant sun angle which is quite nice. Great to see Rukl back in print.. the second hand prices have been stupid. peter

My 7x50 are over 10degrees, but the stars go rather mushy if you look too far from the centre.... ;-( Peter

7x50 are bright but tend to have a narrower field of view, rare to find a wide angle one. Peter

Phone+fat fingers+auto error= strange text. BinocularSky, the source of information for two-eyed viewing. Most humble apologies! peter

Use BinocularSlys monopod and trigger npl head, with campmseag you can reach near the zenith, cheap and effective, but cover the metal with something so your hands don’t freeze. Depends what you want to look at, a lower power wide field can also be good 7x35 for instance. peter

You must have some fairly good skies? peter

Good to see something that won’t result in accidental blindings! One thing you might want to do (if observing with others) is to add a “front shield” (eg small black lined conical tube) so you don’t zap people around you when you look around. Peter

FLOs ClearOutside app gives an indication of whether it’s likely to be dewy. Still, cool, humid nights are the worst. Long extension tubes, dew bands, warmth, dew zapper/hairdryer... sometimes there’s not much you can do. I had a very clear session once, only problem was it was very windy... only thing we could do was to use binoculars in the lee of a building. peter

@Highburymark any good? Might get one myself. Peter