Muc

Just caught the lunar X for first time ever, wasn't even looking for it, at about 60x it just jumped out. I had to check images online to confirm, seems like I caught it not long before the terminator moves and kills it. Once I googled it I realised I got to see the V also. This was about 20.45. Lovely calm night here in SE Ireland, not much twinkle going on. The eyepieces started to dew up though, might pop back out later

I caught some of this this evening. Picked Jupiter up not long after sunset. Couldn't see any of the other two. Mercury was to be the second brightest and was to be just out ofy 3"FOV. So I kept looking for that (in between throwing frisbee for dog). I finally caught it just as it was setting. Maybe caught it for about a minute or two as it set. I had a clear distant horizon. Saturn wasn't visible to me at this time so went home. I think that was at half five. It was the lowest object I've ever seen n the sky apart from sun and moon!

I've seen M1 for the first time recently. With my 4" F4.2 Astroscan. At 16x with the 28mm eyepiece. Just smudgy but clearly there. Clocking off loads of Messiers stuff with that scope that I've never gotten to see before. That's from a suburban back garden. Not M33 yet, but gonna keep trying

Lovely stuff, even short sessions under the sky between clouds grounds me like nothing else. Well, that and cycling How the changing sky ties me into the seasons makes me feel connected with everything. Rather then just being in my own head bubble.

tried for M79 last night, too low though, sky was too bright. Found the location alright but couldnt see it

Didn't see them tonight but did catch the 4% moon setting which is the youngest I've ever seen it. So lovely. Another good thing about the conjunction!

Never heard pf the Moore Winter Marathon, must a look, nice to have something to aim for to make use of the few cloud breaks

Got clear skies meself, just have to eat dinner and walk 🐕 Hope she is in the mood for a brisk one cause I need some sky time

4" F4.2 Astroscan at 16x with Stellarium is close to star hopping perfection . Quick 20 min gap in the clouds, plopping the scope on a wheely bin, quickly checking out Uranus. Then for the pure heck of it deciding to see if I can track down Neptune for the first time. Starting at Markab in Pegasus (what a lovely star field!), stepping down with ease to the head of Pisces, and then comfortably to Phi Aquarii. Change to the 15mm for 30x and boom, there it is, Neptune at 4.5 billion kms away. First time ever. As casual as a cuppa. Been looking at the sky for a couple of years but never had it so enjoyably easy as this set up.

Caught this in the 4" Astroscan last night again. Much harder to see this time then on my Nov 12 the report (above). Not sure if was seeing or what. There was intermittent clouds but a strong blusterly wind blowing them quickly off. I observed it just after midnight each time. I assume it's magnitude stayed roughly the same over the past 7 days?

First clear skies last night in two weeks, caught it in the 4" Astroscan. Took a while to match the stars in the field of view at 16x to the finder charts. While deep in star Hopping I noticed the vague mist. Stood out a touch more at 30x. Will track it night by night weather permitting. Nice mid week buzz

Ah wait, I reset my settings and it became visible

Does anybody else use Stellarium Mobile Plus? If so is anyone aware if it can load comets? I had assumed when I paid for the app that these objects would be displayed by default. I've googled it and can info for it on a desktop or laptop but not mobile

There are screws where the rear black section meets the main tube. You can see them in the photo below. Should I try open to look at focuser or is that a bad move?

After reading all the helpful advise and infomraiton on this thread, my plans came to an unfortunate stop. The Tal took a drop of a kitchen table onto a tiled kitchen floor The outside body looks good but the focuser is mostly jammed. It moves a little but only a small amount of its usual travel. And what movement is there is horribly knotchy and grating. Only the 25mm Plossl will come to some degree of focus and im not sure if that image is as good as it was. My heart is a little broken at the minute. Particularly given the stock levels of anything to replace it

Cheers, I'll take a look at that

I bought the scope 2nd hand about 2 years ago, but have never really used it propely until recenlty. I honestly cant say how the collimation is, Im not too up on it, I should probably read more on star tests and get a handle on it. Generally viewing DSO (M57, Dumbell) is great, and star fields look lovely but when their is a brght object then the resoloution issue kind of shows. I am do wear glassess normally, I find it more comfrotable to remove them when viewing, so my own vision may be a convern also. How would one perform basic collimation on a refractor? I am aware that its very easy to start throwing money at issues also when you can just relax and enjoy the view that you do get. I might just get a cheap moon or yellow filter and give that a go

Hi, After reading through the details of these three filters, I am a little confused, do they not essentialy perform the same function? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/achromat-semi-apo-filters.html Ive a Tal 100R and when veiwing Mars its very washed out and bright with some flarey-ness going on. Also some double stars are not splitting due to abberations form the primary. Its happening on what are listed as relatively easy cases (Eta Cassiopeiae). So trying to choose wisely and very confused.....

I see there is also this Skywatcher shoe which seems to a lot less substantial https://ktectelescopes.ie/Skywatcher-Finderscope-Shoe.html

Many thanks for your reply, the TAL has the same set up as in the pic below, a screw on either side of the finder mount.. I have the level of hand to eye corrdiantion one would associate with a drunken mosquito so drilling itnto the OTA would be out of my league. Ill measue the exisitng fittings and see if the the above bracket would fit

Stupid quesiton Im sure but I'm a litle confused. Ive a Tal 100R refractor which has a 6x30 finder I believe. Looking to change it to one of the SkyWatcher 9 x 50 Right Angles in order to make star hopping easier and more comfy. Does the finder arm or mount just fit onto a 4" refractor or is there some adaptor or details that I need to be aware of?

Long time lurker with a Tal 100R and 10x50 binos coming out of the shadows to say hi, happy equinoxy evenings!