Muc

Amazing! There is nothing like the excitement of a potentially bright comet out of the blue (or is that black?)

Excellent read!

18 hours ago, wimvb said:

Much better, but not quite there yet. The secondary is not centered under the cheshire yet. In fact it almost looks like the secondary won't clear the cheshire. To get good alignment it's easier/necessary if you can see the edges of the secondary. The diagrams that @Enceladus Dan posted will help.

Yeah I can see that the secondary is not centered correctly with the focus tube. I've taken a break from it for now and will return when I've a quiet day so I can be as relaxed as possible when tackling it. 

15 hours ago, Spile said:

This explains the relationship between the three outer bolts and the central screw and how they affect the secondary mirror https://astro.catshill.com/collimation-guide/

Wow thats exactly what I was looking for, many thanks! I'm reading it slowly here and I like how they have gone into the details.

Thankfully I got to use it last night with it's current setup. First proper clear moonless night in a long time. So got to see Markarian's Chain and other Spring galaxies for the first time. Feeling very thankful

Got to a better place with it, amazing what taking a break does !

10 minutes ago, wimvb said:

If you look at the reflection in the secondary, you'll notice that it needs tilting until the whole primary is visible. 

The central screw on the secondary assembly is for moving the secondary up or down the tube. 

Ok gotcha, and the tilting that needs to be done is performed using only the three  small hex bolts, is that correct?

I have a simple collimation cap and a chesire type eyepiece also 

Also I think I accidentally touched the front of the secondary at one spot, the blue ish smudge 😬

I have tried to tweak collimation on my 10" skywatcher classic dob. I believe I have made a mess of it which is no surprise really. I was trying to adjust secondary. Haven't touched primary. Views were ok originally but just wanted to learn to tweak as it has been brought to dark site a number of times in the car. 

One thing in particular has thrown me. Is the Philips head screw in the centre of the secondary mount a locking screw or an adjustment screw? All it was doing was moving the whole mount. I was working off a guide that had suggested that clockwise and anti clockwise movement were going to adjust the position along the axis of the scope. 

47 minutes ago, Jasonb said:

Me too! Anyone else going to Cosmos 2023 and fancy a mini SGL get together?

I took a look at the details, is there an actual star party planned with people bringing scopes etc or is it mainly talks?

Lots of detailed info here. I don't understand lots of it but some good learning in it https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/862336-alpo-comet-news-for-fdebruary-2023/?p=12523133#entry12523133

Howya Bogmonster, another Waterford head here. This high pressure weather over us is great for everything except telescopes. Fingers crossed for some action soon, I've some new eyepieces to play with 🙂

Got my first view last night since I last saw it I  early Dec. January was a near total cloudy month. It wasn't amazing visually with the moon and light pollution. But seeing it's movement at x60 and above among nearby stars over 10-15 mins was amazing.

Also just be aware that Polaris is not a really bright star which some people think it is when they start. It's visible to naked eye but won't be like the brightest star in the sky

This is the latest position according to Stellarium

Have a clear SW horizon here in Waterford, Ireland, but think I've cloud all the way along line of sight. Lovely calm night though. Mad to see so little air traffic over Ireland

I'm right on  the south east coast of Ireland so will go to a nearby headland to give it a go. Exciting stuff!

Just pulled the trigger on a good deal for a SkyWatcher 250P, so 10" dob at f/4.7.

Until now I have been using a humble achro, the f/8.3 120mm version.

Although I'm mad excited Im aware I have to possibly do some levelling up on eyepieces due to the fast scope.

With the achro I've been using 28mm & 15 mm plossl that came with an old Astroscan (they are very nice) and 8mm Starguider.

Just looking to get some confirmation that Im in the right ballpark for what I need to consider.

I'm lining up the SV Bony Sv19 UF 18mm &10mm and also a 30mm UF StellaLyra (or equivalent brand).

Would this put me on the right path for f/4.7 roughly?

I set my alarm at 9 last night for 4:30, at least I thought I did. Woke up at 6:30 looked at my phone, no alarm was set. Don't set an alarm when you are already tired is the life lesson there 😜

I love checking out that Actual Astronomy podcast when rambling around roads on my bike. Looking forward to yours Phil!

Your experience Paul makes me glad I stayed away from GoTo!

Cheers Andrew, I could detect it's was not stellar, hopefully it will show its tail in the coming months

Took advantage of the later moon rise this week and headed out to a rural location to try and catch C/2022 E3 (ZTF) this evening. Got there at about 19:30, Arcturus was getting low but the bright star in Corona Boraelis was still high enough. The Milky Way was starting to become visible. Star hopped from Arcturus up to the crown, made easy with the RACI and Stellarium on the phone. From Alpha CB it was an easy two star skip to Delta. Identified the field stars at 36x. Couldn't make it out at the start but sky still had some darkness to go. After about 10 mins I had a hint. Went to 60x which helped by giving a little more contrast and keeping Delta CB out of the field of view and was satisfied I was seeing it. It's about 11.5 mag I think. Just the usual barely visible fuzz but happy that I got it. Nice and hassle free, 120mm achro on SkyTee. Back home at 9 for a cuppa and some chilling. Going to try track it from here on in, a nice Winter 22 project.

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My bug standard 9x50 RACI and Stellarium on the phone have massively changed my time manually hunting the sky. On the rare occasions I don't succeed in finding the target, I'm still having a great time

Had lovely steady seeing myself this evening.  Could use 250x with 120 achro f/8.3 while viewing the double double which is very rare. Did done random cruising around Cygnus also. Finished with quick peek of Saturn but close to roofs etc. Lovely wind down to the day. 

I have always meant to take a trip down, it's all based in the Skellig Lodge is it? I might see if there is space there

Beautiful. Might also be a good way of getting used to the collimation process? 

Does anyone have any news on this comet and if it survived its close pass to the sun? I heard that it was likely to disintegrate