globular

4 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

I will upgrade to SS7, seems a more sophisticated option, hope I can share my lists.  Think I have seen mention of this somewhere in help menu.

If you make sure everything is syncd to live sky in SS6 before you upgrade, then it'll be there in SS7 after the upgrade.

@John You have years of experience and knowledge to draw on.
I'm a space tourist that only has 3 years under my belt - so I need all the help I can get.

That said - and as this thread attests - I make a list of likely objects to observe but only ever observe few of them before getting distracted by something else and going off piste. 

3 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

How do you do this? I use SS6

I'm on SS7 but I think I remember it was in 6 too (although possibly activated differently than as below in 7).

When in an observation list, you select "highlight objects in SkyChart" ...

Rain here 😢
But I enjoyed the animation of it in SkySafari 😉

4 minutes ago, DirkSteele said:

Is that in the Vendor forum?  Do not see it.

I think this is the post...

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/892338-apm-product-pricelist-september-2023/

3 minutes ago, badhex said:

I'll let you know how I get on, happy to PM you the link if you are interested.

Thanks Joe.
I'll stick with my diy solution - I need rotation for my use case.
If the ebay one is no good then drop me a PM with your address and I can post you a couple of diy trimmed washers. 

I've had another play to find a solution to the wiggle with the Bresser adapter that is more robust than the tape prototype.

I found a plumbing washer (8M/45/52)....

... that snaps onto the adapter ...

I then trimmed it to leave 5 tabs sticking out about 1mm ...

Which fits snugly inside the threaded part and keeps it central (while still allowing rotation as it doesn't jam)...

The wiggle is eliminated and being plastic it should be fairly robust in the cold damp conditions it'll be used in, so it should last a good while.

It doesn't change the optical length - but the thread screws on a millimetre or two less than before.  Still enough to feel safe and secure though.

That looks promising.

Fine on its own if you don’t need rotation. Or use with an sct lock ring if you do need rotation.  Something like this…
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/baader-2-nexstar-locking-ring.html
(but overall back focus will change slightly at different angles)

7 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

There may be a physical detail like a chamfer which centres the unit once tight

There should be, but there isn't.  Maximum miscentreing is about 0.5mm, so not that bad - but is there.

1 hour ago, badhex said:

Best I can think of is an o-ring to centre it

I've measured with callipers and an o-ring with width 0.5mm should do it - in theory.
I happen to have some too - but it's nigh on impossible to get it to stay on the small lip.  

May be some 0.5mm metal tape stuck on around the perimeter would work? 
I've just tried with masking tape and it works quite well.

There is a baader one that might be better at centreing... I don't know for sure though.  It's 10mm optical length vs 7.5mm for the bresser.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/baader-sct-t-adapter-ultrashort-t-2-male-2-sct-female.html

I have the same one - with the same issue.

I've stuck with it because;

a) it only adds 7.5mm and I can't find a better one with such a short connection.

b) I only use it occasionally to give my lowest power views with my binoviewer.  (More often than not I want high power with the binos - and with the GPC I have enough back focus to use my usual visual back.)

c) I get it nearly tight then give it a wiggle to try and make sure it's centred before final tightening. Not perfect - but not noticed any issues in my visual only use case.

Sorry I don't have a suggestion - but please update the thread with your solution when you find one - I might copy you.

9 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Thankfully  all my 2" eyepieces fall into your latter category and work just fine for me. I didn't recommend a WO diagonal to the OP. I was referring to my own experience with them once they were mentioned. In hindsight if I were to buy another 2" diagonal I would most definitely now buy one with a larger clear aperture. The WO however with its 1/12th lambda mirror does provide very sharp views.

Agree 100%. I was just putting some figures to your ‘few’ for anyone stumbling on this in the future.

Why does everyone go on and on and on about drones?

I’ll get my coat 🚪

Get everyone to come to my back garden? 
I haven’t seen the moon or anything else from there for ages 😪

On 28/10/2023 at 20:20, bosun21 said:

There’s very few eyepieces with a field stop large enough to cause vignetting.

Doesn’t the 2” WO have a 43mm clear aperture? 
Don’s 2023 eyepiece guide has 253 2” eyepieces listed and 51 of them would vignette in this diagonal.
Provided all your 2” EPs are one of the 202 that don’t then you won’t notice or care about the restriction. Have any of the 51 that do and you’ll want a different diagonal.

I have 3 EPs with a field stop greater than 43, so I have a baader diagonal with 47.5mm clear aperture.

edit: apparently the clear aperture is 41.5 not 43. This increases the vignetting EP count to 70 not 51.

wonderful 

28 minutes ago, Space Hopper said:

Can anyone recommend any sites or apps that show where the jetstream is in relation to the UK, which could affect seeing conditions for us when observing ?

Meteoblue is pretty good.

Jetstream here ...   
https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/maps/derby_united-kingdom_2651347#coords=4/52.92/-1.48&map=jetstream~hourly~auto~250 mb~none

And cloud and seeing here ...
https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/outdoorsports/seeing/derby_united-kingdom_2651347

I still think we'd be better off working this through together.  I have a rather nice bottle of brandy we could ......    😇

It could do the observing for you and write up an observation report for you to read in the morning. 😄

I typically use the option in SkySafari to display my observation list on the map and then hop from one to the next nearest, rather than use the order they appear in the list.  This limits slewing - but I do miss some objects because they are gone before I get to that part of the sky.

Doing a combination of all sort of different techniques is the best we can do.

The sorts by 'hours of good visibility' are great for imagers - who want to leave their kit capturing data for as long as possible.
Sorts to help visual observers, of the kind @Jiggy 67 and I are looking for - i.e, what's the best order so I don't miss anything really good - seem a bit limited.
I think I'll continue to create and sort lists in SkySafari - but manually tweak things based on Observer Pro visibility information.

Great info @Stu - thanks 

@Stu sorry for all the questions - but here's two more

*  does it 'talk' to skyafari?  Import / export lists between the two?

*  I have my horizon plotted in skysafari - but it only seems to display it, as far as I know it doesn't interact with it... i.e. know if objects are visible or not.  Does Observer Pro use your custom horizon to 'know' what's visible?

edit:  you answered them before I asked them. lol

41 minutes ago, Stu said:

There is an app called Observer Pro which has great graphs showing when objects are at their best,

@Stu Does this app let you create a list of best items, sorted by best order?  A bit like SkySafari Observing Planner?

And can it then be exported into SkySafari?

[I'd try myself, but it's £13 and I'd rather know before I buy]

I think your best bet is to invite me along and I'll give you a hand 😁

5 hours ago, John said:

Which 50mm ?

Any. How about the superview…

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-eyepieces/stellalyra-50mm-2-superview-eyepiece.html

p.s. I”m not suggesting a 50mm is a good idea. Just that for any EP + reducer that is considered there is an EP that will give similar results without the reducer.