Stu

25 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

I've got the 12" out again. Just put it out and without any cooling (it's cool in the shed) the seeing is far better than last night. I've just been looking at Clavius and Tyco at x253 and it's lovely and crisp.

Don’t forget to have a look at Hesiodus as per this thread, should still be visible.

Trying here, but waiting for some cloud to pass. Hope I haven’t missed it all.

Clear skies here too. Seeing was bad earlier but seems to have settled down now. Solar earlier, with a very busy Sun but it wasn’t a ‘wow’ because of the poor seeing.

Later on I switched to Astro mode and had a look at the Moon. Looking good, Hyginus Rille and Treisnecker Rilles particularly of note.

Finally got some clear skies and got the Vixen GP out for its first ‘light’ for me. Great to have simple tracking back for both solar and lunar observing.

I had forgotten what observing was like somehow, especially solar! Quite gusty out there, and the seeing isn’t great but nice to be out. I finally got a chance to use the Vixen GP mount, very good to have simple tracking with minimal setup back in my life 😊.

The mutt has a habit of dropping her ball against the tripod leg so I don’t forget she is there 🤪🤣

Yep, nice shot. Good focus and exposure 👍

Working fine here, on my phone.

40 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

I have just got a C8 Edge. Haven't had the chance to set it up yet but it has Bob's Knobs fitted. They feel tight from previous owner and they prob do the job well enough but I will be changing mine to cap head bolts. I reckon you would get a better feeling of torque and more control from an allen key. Will be on a pier so hopefully should only need collimating the once.

I think with an SCT that makes sense. Bob’s Knobs make collimating easier but you are likely to have to do it more often. If you get it accurate, and nice and tight with bolts then it should hold better.

Please stop it! We seem to have fairly constant cloud, or when it’s sunny I’m doing DiY!! 🤪☹️🤣

35 minutes ago, therealt said:

"I don’t see the Moon anywhere" that's incorrect. Look at 1:16. You can clearly see the eclipse starting to pass through the clouds. Sorry no one here has given any explanation at all. I know clouds move. That does not explain why it started out slow moving then suddenly rapidly moved later in the video.

If you mean this green artefact at 1:16 then that is a ghost image of the partially eclipsed Sun, not a real image.

Of course there are brief moments when it seems you can actually see the partially eclipse Sun with silhouetted Moon visible, when the cloud cuts the exposure down so it is not over exposed, as here:

None of that takes away from the fact that all you are seeing is a partial solar eclipse behind slowly drifting cloud, taken by someone who can’t control exposure nor keep his camera steady. End of.

Now, I have better things to do with my life, like going to play with the traffic so I shall lock the thread to prevent any more nonsense.

19 minutes ago, therealt said:

That has zero to do with the motion of what appears to be a slow moving sun suddenly followed by a rapidly moving one. There must be millions of videos of this monumental event that were taken with the same type of device as is here and those videos don't resemble this one. So your "like optically stabilized lens zooming in and out" theory is totally without merit.

With due respect, you have joined our forum to ask a question, have been given correct opinion and are now rejecting that, rather bluntly.

The video is clearly a hand held shot of the Sun behind slow moving cloud and the whole image is moving around because the camera is not being held steady. It does look like some form of stabilisation is in use due to the slow ‘swimming’ type motion rather than lots of jiggles. The view is then jumping between various zoom levels so that at times you see the Sun appearing to move more rapidly but it is just a more highly magnified view of the clouds moving past the Sun.

I don’t see the Moon anywhere, but I do see a ghost image of the partially eclipsed Sun moving around at one point. Actually the person filming is not being very sensible as they are likely looking at the Sun and it is not totally eclipse so I hope they are wearing eclipse glasses.

5 hours ago, fifeskies said:

There is a big step up in overall size with the 9.25 despite it only being a little bigger on aperture.

As I recall, the 925 uses an f2.5 primary vs f2 for the rest of the range, that’s why it is so much longer than you expect it should be.

@Richard_ just wanted to say a big thank you for writing all this up for the benefit of others. Not sure why you didn’t get any responses, perhaps there aren’t too many out there, but I do hope it has been useful for some. It is not relevant for me as I don’t own this scope but I still found it an interesting read 👍

See this thread:

31 minutes ago, John said:

My experience is to get a scope out and see how it looks at the eyepiece rather than to rely too much on forecasts and models.

Very often I've had a good session against the predictions, which I would have missed out on if I'd not bothered to setup.

Of course there are quite a few occasions when the opposite is true but there you go ! 😉

As @Steve Ward posted earlier, if you wait for optimum conditions, your gear could gather a lot of dust and cobwebs in between uses🙄

Absolutely agree John. I do think the Jetstream forecast is useful for planetary observing, but if it is overhead and clear then obviously it’s still worth getting out and looking at different, lower power targets. I find Sat24 a much more useful tool than any forecast so tend to ignore anything else; just looking out of the window also works 🤣

Theory is all very well, but as I think I’ve tried to put across to @Flame Nebula in previous posts, there is no substitute for putting in the hard yards to build up experience of what works for you and your observing site.

Outside doing all you can to counter local seeing issues, the position of the Jetstream is probably on of the most important things. I use this site for the Jetstream forecast:

https://www.netweather.tv/charts-and-data/jetstream

When overhead, planets can look like they are under a running stream of water. Best to observe planets when it is elsewhere.

Locally, you can ensure you avoid observing over houses, near central heating flumes, preferably on grass etc etc. In addition, particularly during winter, observing in the small hours often seems best as the land and buildings have cooled, and convection currents are at a minimum.

Only other advice is observe for as long and as often as you can to catch the best seeing, and spend time at the eyepiece as them you catch the best moments and over time build up a much more detailed picture than with a quick look.

26 minutes ago, Space Hopper said:

I wouldn't think so.

I have 5.5" of Fluorite and find the 'E' star routinely difficult, but do see it from time to time.

I've not conclusively seen the 'F' star which is much harder, and never got anyway near Sirius B.

But my location has generally poor seeing and what i'd describe as 'fair on a good night.

I'm also hampered by 56 yr old eyes and am observing at 53º north, so i have to be realistic about my chances.

I do enjoy chasing these elusive targets down though. I'll get there one day.......😀

Just shows that there are so many variables at play; seeing, scope, eyepiece, observer etc

Even with the same scope, the eyepiece makes an enough difference to make F visible rather than inconclusive as in this report I made using my FS-128.

13 minutes ago, Type1Turkey said:

Widdecombe in the moor

Lovely place, I know it well from previous visits staying in Ashburton. The Rugglestone Inn is very nice as I recall.

21 hours ago, Type1Turkey said:

I wanted to introduce myself - I'm based in Dawlish, Devon UK. For the last year I've been having fun taking pictures of the night sky. I use a small setup for when I'm camping on Dartmoor (Canon 6D with either nifty fifty or a Samyang 135mm on a Star Adventurer) or when I'm home-based I use my William Optics Zenithstar 73 III APO + flattener with an HEQ5 Pro and either the 6D or an astro modified 2000D along with an ASIair Plus and EAF and guiding with a ZWO mini scope + ASI 1200MM mini camera. I've been adding these bits as funds become available over the last year and attach a couple of pics taken with the kit - I'm outside with the scope in the back garden whenever the skies clear currently!

I can upload stats for each image taken if required but I seldom manage more than 2hrs on a target and know I should invest more time! (M42 here was just an hour 🤣)

Hope to meet some like minded people on here - I've spent far too long looking at posts and not getting involved…

Lovely images @Type1Turkey 👍

You are not a million miles from me, and I do fancy getting to some darker skies on Dartmoor at some point. An pointers for good locations?

I used I take my children camping near Dawlish for a few years, had great fun down there.

Agreed Ollie, the TV R&P focusers are lovely; buttery smooth and hold loads well.

I’ve never tried taking the Genesis on a plane, suspect it might be too long these days and I’m a bit precious about it taking a knock as the collimation is spot on.

8 hours ago, Captain Scarlet said:

I’ve had a bit more of a look around. My bet is a TV 102 f/8.6
see here https://www.wlcastleman.com/equip/reviews/100mm_refractors/index.htm

I would agree with that, TV102 f8.6

56 minutes ago, tomato said:

When I read the title I assumed you had got bored with the clouds and programmed a slewing sequence into your mount so it played a tune.

I was so looking forward to watching and listening to the video…

It’s about all they are good for at the moment!

On 29/03/2024 at 08:21, AL1 said:

Hi,

Has anyone had experience with the original vixen encoders for the GP.  I am curious what count they are?  Could they be interfaced to a Nexus DSC?  "Push to"  GPD project ...

I hadn’t heard of those before, interesting to hear if anyone has used them. A quick google shows a few Cloudy Night threads on them.

Perhaps some of the more challenging lunar targets. Hadley Rille is a good one, plus counting Plato Craterlets and seeing the Alpine Rille. Plenty more but those are the better known ones I guess.

1 hour ago, Kon said:

For excellent transparency nights and darker skies, Barnard 33 (Horse Head) and  colour on M42.

Clouds on Venus.

Yes, the Horsey is definitely one on my list. Need to get it before my eyes go completely 🤪