wulfrun

47 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

I recall seeing on the web, the following text quoted as verbatim as I can recall:

"Where does the Moon go when it is not in our sky? Nobody knows!"

Doh! Everyone knows, it goes under the (flat) earth, silly 😛

17 minutes ago, pipnina said:

I suspect modern cars can avoid rusting on bodywork much more easily since they can control the conditions and state of the bare metal much more easily in the factory before applying multiple layers of rust protection below the paint.

It's down to one thing in reality: electrocoat. The bodyshells are chemically cleaned in an acid-dip then electro-plated with an epoxy basecoat. This being electro-plated means it achieves 100% coverage, inside and out. It's the layer under the primer and unless it's damaged it'll outlast the vehicle's lifespan.

Step 1: sandpaper or paint stripper the existing paint off.

Step 2: kill the rust. My preferred method is phosphoric acid. Nasty stuff, must be used with a lot of care. Proprietary rust-killers are also available.

Step 3. primer, from local motor factors.

Step 4. enamel or similar topcoat in colour of your choice, also from motor factors.

Your mistake is thinking the moon is always visible at night (if clear), if you think so it can only be a coincidence of when you looked.

The moon makes a complete orbit in (roughly) 30 days, so there are many hours of darkness where the moon has either not yet risen or it has already set. At new moon, the moon is in the same position (roughly) as the sun, so it rises and sets at about the same time as the sun - no moonlight all night. At full moon, the moon is (roughly) opposite the sun and as ones sets, the other rises - full moonlight all night. All the "in betweens" exist too. All of that needs to include "roughly" because it's not quite as exact as that but the result is still correct.

41 minutes ago, peanutcol said:

So I've had the scope for 2 weeks tomorrow and it's been cloudy or wet every single night 😭

Welcome to astronomy UK-style! Most of us are suffering likewise, just lately. I've had a scope out 2 or 3 times over winter, it's just not been worth it.

Worth pointing out that the human eye is poor at noticing small changes in illumination. The curtains/window represent a small proportion of the area of a room, so regardless of the change between open and closed it would not be much overall change.

I think OP is using wrong logic in thinking of finite amounts of light being emitted. Not the explanation at all.

The difference between open and closed is purely down to how much light is relected off the closed curtains versus the window glass plus the open curtains.

I use one with the Virtuoso v1, same as @happy-kat. It "just works", pretty much always. I use it with an old-model Android phone that I keep just for astro.

Hugs the barn beautifully, great shot 🙂

Not quite your neck of the woods but does this help?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-67645998

Presumably, same reason.

I got very fed up with updates, my fast laptop is now a slow laptop, in boot-up times anyway. I tried registry hacks & various other tricks. They all seemed to work until the next update (at my choosing) overwrote whatever hack I'd used.

The only one I found to work long-term was suggested by someone on here, I can't recall who though. Change your internet settings, lie to it that you are on a metered connection (i.e. it's gonna cost you!). After that it'll just mither you that it can't download the latest updates. Allow it to do them when it suits, pretending you'll accept the data costs.

The beeb's forecast suggests that, from Sunday the 15th, for 8 consecutive days - there won't be a cloud in sight around here! And I believe this?

I wonder how much traction this will gain? Apparently, the US has issued a fine for space junk:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66993647

How's it going to work trying to fine someone not in your jurisdiction?

Probably a few others but the Telrad has concentric circles as does the Celestron star pointer pro:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/celestron-starpointer-pro-finderscope.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/telrad-finder-astronomy.html

Upside of the CSP is it fits on a standard bracket. Downsides (purely personal opinion): I have one and find it a bit wobbly/flimsy and the circles are too bright (even on the dimmest). The Telrad is a bit of a brick and won't be good on a small OTA.

If you must glue it in, use an epoxy such as standard araldite (don't use the quick-setting versions, they are weaker). It would be wise to use threaded rod and not plain, for much-increased surface area. However, the rawl-bolts suggested above by @doublevodka are a far better solution - less faff and far more secure.

They are LED ones. The ones my council has fitted are awful, too bright and too much "spill". Hopefully you'll have better luck!

Interesting that OP hasn't returned to tell us what puzzles them...

Probably worth mentioning that the "seeing" has been really poor last couple of nights, despite the clear nights. Nothing you can do about that except wait for better conditions and stick to low power meantime.

Same here too, seeing is atrocious. I was out last night and it wasn't good but tonight is worse. I've settled for a mooch at lots of things with the 10x50s and a reclining chair!

22 minutes ago, davew said:

Thanks Wulfrun and I take your point. I used to be the same with clouds but I do now realise they actually enhance some night shots. I suppose what I meant, and didn't make clear, was that I shot at f11 and it should have been at f16 to crisp up the sunstars a bit and I'm not over keen on so many reflections below the sun. I did bury the major one right in the sun but the rest I'll have to accept.

Thanks for the comment as it does boost the confidence and gets me trying different stuff.

Cheers,

Dave.

I know what you mean about the flare/sun-stars, it goes against the grain (sorry!) as a photographer. However, you can't avoid it and more importantly (to me) it conveyed perfectly the impression of squinting hard into the sun, as you would do. The lighting from the low sun is also beautiful.

Your comment on last shot of the first set "shame about the lens flare": I'd have to disagree with that statement. I think it enhances it considerably, superb shot!

17 hours ago, bosun21 said:

The Virtuoso will provide full go to on his phone/tablet with the Synscan pro app.

Needs the Wi-Fi dongle to do it though, the 114p Virtuoso doesn't have go-to by default. Thought it was worth pointing that out.

As proof...my Zorki, sporting a Jupiter 11 and turret-finder:

5 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

They are cine lenses.

Rangefinder lenses, not cine. Nice guess though.

51 minutes ago, Mikel56 said:

The lenses have written on the side “MADE IN USSR”. Not sure what the item is on the right, probably photography.

As I said above, (russian) rangefinder camera lenses, Jupiter 11, that one shown is made in 1974. The item on the right is known as a turret finder and it's a copy of the Zeiss one. You put it in the cold-shoe of your rangefinder camera and it gives you "frames" for 28, 35, 50, 85 and 135mm lenses. Russian rangefinders don't have these, natively, within the camera.

EDIT:  I have a collection of russian rangefinders, lenses & accessories, including same as shown in the photos.

EDIT 2: there's also a Mir-1 28mm f/2.8 shown in one of the photos. That's actually a film SLR lens for Zenit etc.

20 hours ago, philj said:

The silver lenses are for a camera, e.g. Zorki, Fed, Zenit. You wont be able to use them as eyepieces.

Pretty confident they are Jupiter 11 (135 , f/4) lenses for L39 rangefinder mount only. That'll be for FED, Zorki, Leica LTM etc. They'd physically fit on a 39mm Zenit(h) but they won't work as-is.