Nik271

Just came back from a quick solar session between clouds. There are several large proms, I counted three big ones in the south and one flimsy detached one on the western limb that looks like its trying to fly away. Did not move much in 20 minutes, so it may hang on for some time.

Congratulations! Quarks are great aren't they. I've tried mine on 70mm F6 and 100mm F7 refractors and it works in both very well. The .1 angstrom adjustments are to make it possible to center the bandpass of the etalon exactly on the Ha emission line, it will not make it wider or narrower. In practice I have not seen much change from a single or double click away from the central position, however when I move it right to the end I begin to see loss of contrast. What will change the width of the bandpass is the focal ratio of the scope. I note yours is F5.5 which while still nominally ok is not ideal, something like F7 or F8 will show a more contrasty view of the disc features. I tried this with my 70mm F6, stopped it down to 50mm and the view of the filaments, while dimmer seemed a lot more contrasty. For prominences wider is actually better, so you can leave it at F5.5. Not much sun today here, but hopefully more to come next week!

I used to own Astromaster 130 and while it was fine at low magnifications it never gave a sharp image at x80 or above. The star test was rubbish as well, at the time I didnt have the experience to measure precisely but everything points to the mirror being at fault. Since you have the telescope do a star test with polaris, spherical aberration is easy to spot: the diffraction patterns will be very different both sides of focus. Bear in mind that this will only be obvious at high magnification, at F5 you need to use a 5mm EP or lower. At low magnification the spherical aberration does not matter so much and will give you good widefield views. But you want to image galaxies which I take it to mean that you need high resolution from your scope and this one will not give it.

A Newtonian has a focuser sticking out to the side, which is inconvenient in a backpack. There is also collimation to consider when transporting it. I have the AZ5 mount and 4 kilos is about the maximum for it with a bulky scope. Refractors and small Maks are generally more compact and light. Even my 127 Skymax is just over 3 kilos (but will not be my top choice for a trip to dark site due to its long focal length). I would consider either 80-100mm ED doublet refractor or a 90mm Mak as my top choices for backpack travel. If your scope is under 3 kilos you can do with a sturdy photo tripod and a fluid head as long as you are happy to avoid high magnification.

Don't worry, it won't happen anytime soon, the technological challenges are huge. Solar energy orbital stations have been talked about ever since the 1970s (in science fiction even earlier!) and did not happen for the same reason they won't happen now: cost of putting things into orbit, and transmission problems. Unless we have a magic space elevator it will always be cheaper and safer to generate solar energy on the ground.

Lovely! There are still some clear days in the forecast to add more images to it 🤞

At some stage yesterday it looked like a fiery dragon. Still there now, hoping to see a liftoff today 🤞

I think the ages given are with respect to our own timeframe: i.e what we see right now is the nebula 1000 years after formation. If we try relating what is happening to the nebula 'now in its location' back to our location we run into time paradox: Comparing simultaneous time of events lightyears apart leads to time travel paradoxes because there is no common time frame: Any observer/clock at the nebula location will need to travel 2000 lightyears to get to us. This is one reason that faster than lightspeed travel leads to time travel. Imagine a magic photon arriving to us instantenously after the nebulas formation: they bring us news of a nebula that we can't yet see in ordinary light, and we have to wait thousands of years to see it it properly. From our viewpoint the faster instantenous photon is coming from the future.

It's great for planning observing sessions as well. The resolution of the tiff file could be better for small details but can't complain really. NASA and their SVS team have done an excellent job helping us in our hobby!

I struggle to stay up beyond 11pm because of early morning starts, so for me mid summer means easy bright targets, just becoming visible in the twilight: Izar, Rasalgethi, the double double, M13 and M57 on most of these clear nights. And Venus of course. Cygnus is still too low in early evening 😞

Yes, it's a very impressive one, and slowly changing during the day.

Yes, this is it, congratulations! I think it's the brightest supernova for the recent 10 years or so. I have labelled the key stars with their magnitudes as per the AAVSO chart.

I managed a good look at the SN last night at about 1am (Best time for observing right now but so hard to get up the morning after!). I had no trouble spotting it again in my 127 Skymax at 62x, it was slightly brighter than the 117 star in the AAVSO chart so I estimate it at 11.4 or thereabouts. It has dimmed a bit but still going strong!

PS. I recently acquired a 70mm ED F6 doublet to use as a solar scope. If you just want wide quick views this is also a good option. Only 2 kilos and can sit on a photo tripod, a real grab and go in one hand! The 100mm refractor will need a mount of class at least AZ5, technicall still G&G but with both hands :-)

I can make a comparison between a 150mm F5 Newtonian I sold 2 years ago and a ED 102mm F7 Svbony refractor I currently have and use frequently (which is close but not quite as good as the Starfield due to using cheaper FL51 glass). They both had similar focal length 714 vs 750mm. The Newtonian was very good quality and the images were brighter than the refractor. This is where the advantage of the Newtonian ends though. The star in the newt while OK at very low mag started to show diffraction spikes and coma at the edge of the field. The Newt was cumbersome to mount and I found the position of the eyepiece uncomfortable. I was always worried about collimation and checking and tweaking it every few weeks. The refractor is a pleasure to use, only 4kg with rings attached. Up to 180x the image is CA free except on extremely bright objects (Venus, Sirius). It is ready to use right out of the box, I dont even use a finder only a RDF for rough alignment since a 32mm Panaview can give me 3 degree field of view in the scope. Even though this is not my primary planetary scope (I prefer my 127 Skymax for high magnifications) it still gave very pleasing views of Jupiter and Saturn last summer. It can split tough doubles like Delta Cygni or Iota Leonis with relative ease. So in terms of versatiliy and ease of use a 100mm class ED refractor beats a Newt in my books. Under dark skies competing on dim DSO is the only place where a 6 inch Newt can pull ahead.

Well done, glad to help! I enjoy binoculars, nothing beats them for portability when I need to observe away from home. The shape of the planet should get even more prominent, thinner and larger in the next month, after that Venus may be too close to the sun for safe observation.

I just found this article on Venusian clouds with a lot of history and drawings by many observers. https://www.astronomy.com/science/unveiling-the-clouds-of-venus/

Interesting! Perhaps different coloured filters emphasise different features, (or it's all a trick of the eye!). I'm waiting to see what our friends imagers show for 3rd and 4 June. The north and south bands in your sketch John seem to tally well with this one by @Space Cowboy:

I just came back after 1 hour of observing Venus. This time with an OIII filter and slightly higher magnification (x165). The seeing conditions are still very good. I manged to see less detail with this filter: darkening at the terminator which seemed a bit irregular. Most notable was a brighter spot near the north horn. I indicated it in the following sketch:

Thank you and well done too, Robert! It's encouraging to have confirmation from another observer, especially since we were both observing with roughly similar aperture and magnification. OIII will be more aggressive in cutting the glare than medium blue, I will try this next time. It will be strange to see a green Venus 🙂

Thank you, John! I've tried many times earier but until yesterday could not see anything conclusive. I seems to require a lucky combination of good seeing, right level of magnification and control of the brightness to see any detail on Venus.

I enjoyed some of the best seeing conditions on Venus last evening and I believe I finally saw cloud pattern! I started at sunset, about 9pm when I could just barely make Venus out and it was still high in the sky. I had set up my 127 (120mm) SW Mak earler on my trusty EQ5, and from the first glimpse in the eyepiece I realised that I'm havng a lucky day: Venus was rock steady at x100. I put in my 10mm Hyperion for a very comfortable and steady view at x150. Venus was still too bright so I added the 80A filter, which darkened the sky and at the same time softened to glare from the planet. The terminator was a shade darker than the rest and making a very shallow curve. Right in the centre of the crescent there was a subtly darkish patch of irregular shape which I could not pin down. First I thought it was floaters but after blinking and shaking my head the same patter kept reappearing. I am sure it was not floaters because I tried with the other eye and it was still there. This was something very subtle, it took me 20 minutes of staring to reassure myself it is not an illusion. When I removed the 80 A for unfiltered view it was not possible to see it. Also when I tried higher magnification I lost it due to increasing turbulence lower down. After 10pm it got dark enough to spot Mars, I managed to ramp up the magnification to x250 with a 6mmEP and in brief moments of steadines saw the north polar cap. I finished at 11pm with some bright double stars: Izar, the double double and Rasalgethi. The seeing stayed great at high altitude and I got very pleasing view in the Mak but the Venus clouds were the real 'star' of the evening. So there you have it: Venus has clouds and they can sometimes be seen. We all knew that but it's great to check it with your own eyeballs :-) Clear skies and keep looking up!

Are you sure you don't mean T Lyrae? Theta Lyrae while being very orange (K class) is not a carbon star and as far as I know does not vary in brightness. In fact at mag 4.5 it is easily visible from dark locations. T Lyrae on the other hand is a very red carbon star indeed and dim, so not visible to the naked eye. Last time I looked at it last summer it was gorgeous.

Its a good start despite the conditions! I notice how the rings have closed in since last summer, seems that visually Cassini division will only be visible around the 'ears'.

I had a look at Mars around 10pm last night, it was possible to see it naked eye, but even with binoculars it was still too light to see the Beehive . Shortly afterwards Mars disappeared behind a tree for me 😞