Mr Thingy

14 minutes ago, Ags said:

I have a wishlist that mutates between visual and AP every few months. Currently it includes:

Second Tripod so I can set up for visual and AP simultaneously.

Ha filter.

Zhongyi Mitakon 135/f2.8 lens.

 

I'm pretty much the same. My AP rig should be up and running next week when my HEQ5 is expected, then I will be operational for both visual and AP 😁

11 hours ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

Why is Spain any better. I am just 100kms short of the Pyrenees and my skies are zero, for now nearly two months.

There are a few Spanish members and I am sure sure that one has something like the following as a signature. “From the all the all too often cloudy central Spain”.

I am 1000 KLM’s  south of the UK and the weather has been awfull. To put it into perspective, I have not been able to do any winter observing and we are only a little over three months from the clock change! 

Marvin

Off to the Canary Islands instead then 😁

I realised last night that one thing I'm really missing is a good chair. As much as I like all the yoga poses I have to pull off in the garden, a comfortable perch would be nice.

57 minutes ago, SteveNickolls said:

I've already too many ways to observe and image the night sky but I can't buy a clear night with the guarantee it will remain clear. So my Christmas wish is for some clear, dark nights which won't cost anything.

Cheers,
Steve

Maybe emigrating to Spain should be on our wishlists? 🤔

Fortunate to have had clear skies all day here near the East Coast. 

Managed some solar observation over lunchtime (perk of working in my home office), and now just finished a casual early evening session. 

Started with the ring nebula - always blows my mind seeing a smoke ring in space. Then I bounced around a number of open clusters; Perseus, Taurus, Cepheus. Andromeda was showing really nicely so took a look at that too. Concluded by trying to spot the moons of Uranus but seeing wasn't good enough.

Zodiacal light was also on show and my friendly local barn owl was screeching along in the background. 

A very satisfying session overall.

1 hour ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

I am sometimes surprised by how little some people need to fulfill their dreams. On the other side I am very respectful to anyone who wants that small upgrade or small thing to make the difference and nothing more

I, on the other hand have a grand plan. After spending seven years pulling a stone ruin out of the ground and turning it into a house far too big for my wife and I, I have received the official blessing.

I have no idea how this came about, but my amazing wife of twenty years said. ‘Let’s downsize’ smaller, cheaper to buy, cheaper to run and you can build that obsy and get a dedicated imaging rig and have enough for a big Dob!!!

Was I dreaming? Have I been hanging out with #bukko to often? Cannot be a dream as my last one had a giant hedgehog appear in the garden and eat my Astro kit.

If all goes to plan (🤮) then  ROR obs CEM 70, possibly a ten inch RC, mono camera, LRGB and as I am definitely going to run out of funds I am planning on building my own 14 inch tt Dob and some nice eye pieces.

Just a thought..... do you think she wants me out of the house at any cost? 

Marvin

Fantastic! You really must tell us your persuasion methods 😁.

Enjoy planning and building your Obsy. Do you have a design in mind? I imagine many of us have already designed a few in our heads!

15 hours ago, Louis D said:

I've been in 110F humid heat in St. Louis and 118F dry heat in Phoenix.  I'll take the dry heat any day.  If you drink lots of water, the dry heat is tolerable.  There's just no way to stay cool in humid heat that high.  I was starting to suffer heat exhaustion until I retreated to air conditioning that day.  That despite drinking 1.5 liters of water in 2 hours.

My favorite vulture cartoon is the following Far Side:

Fantastic! I grew up reading a lot of Larson sketches.

My username comes from a Larson sketch in fact:

2 hours ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

I really dont need anything else. What I have, I rarely use. The one thing that has been on my mind for a few years now is a binoviewer. It's about the only thing I've been wanting to try. 

Maybe, I'll drop a few hints at Lorna because my birthday is in March and she likes astronomy too. It would be a gift for us to share.

Ah yes, binoviewers. I know very little about the benefits (apart from the obvious) and limitations of them but they do seem interesting. 

I presume they are good for brighter objects - planets, moon, etc - but less so for faint DSOs.

I better add some to my wishlist 😁

25 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

I'd like one of these, with suitable mount and obsy.

That's a beaut. I just looked up the price of the OTA alone 😱. Lucky I was sitting down.

I see that the flame nebula is just making an appearance next to Alnitak. Lovely.

Great pic.

I'm going to regret starting this thread - It's giving me more ideas for my wishlist.

I now need to add an Obsy, moving house, and some Ha solar kit 😬

11 minutes ago, discardedastro said:

Oh, man, it's got to be the observatory to start with for my imaging. Everything else comes after.

• Fully-automated dome or roll-off obsy
• I want to "perfect" my Newtonian imaging setup - probably a carbon tube 300mm w/ some very good optics
• Something long-focal-length for planetary work would be lovely, thinking 400mm+ Dob or similar, plus a planetary camera/filter set
• Big 2"+ filter wheel and a matching set of Chroma/Astrodon 3nm filters for narrowband
• Just a nice simple visual observing setup but done well - something like a Rowan AZ mount and a 100mm Takahashi, few more TV eyepieces etc.

And I'll be done by the time I retire, I reckon (and I'm not yet 30!)

I keep thinking about an Obsy but my garden just isn't right for one. I have fairly good views, a little but obscured to the West by my house, but I have to move around the garden depending on which direction I want to view. Do they sell Observatories on wheels? 🤭

25 minutes ago, George Jones said:

A CPC 1100 and a SkyShed POD.

Very nice! I'd be sleeping in that pod if I bought one (maybe that would be an OK compromise...? 😆) but they do look very nice.

32 minutes ago, John said:

I'm in a similar, fortunate, position. Need to get rid of some stuff really.

I could do with some more clear skies though but I suspect that will be on everybodys wish list

 

That's a nice place to be. Best for bank balance too.

Hopefully after my list is complete I'll be able to resist the urge to upgrade more. 

A friend suggested that I moved house to find better skies and views. Maybe I should add to my wishlist.... My wife may know I'm up to something if I spend most of my time in the garden with a compass during any viewing 🤭

9 minutes ago, Craney said:

"don't show your husband/wife/partner"  ........

and Bank Manager..!!!!

Yes, looking forward to the 268 Mono.   

 

You are right. I modified the title accordingly. 😁

16 minutes ago, TerryMcK said:

Clear cloudless skies

 

I should have stipulated to avoid highly unrealistic wishes 😆

Cloudy days, hence daydreaming about my next purchases. I'm sure many of you are in the same boat and have a wishlist of astro gear you want/plan to buy.

I'm interested to see your plans and what your goals are - just don't tell your husband/wife/partner.

I'll start with mine (in priority order):

- OIII and SII 7NM NB filters, to complete my set of imaging filters

- Polar camera

- Observing chair

- A Dobby (12"+)

- Electronic camera rotator 

- SCT or RC scope for imaging (may need an upgraded mount for this).

Goals: completing the tools I want for AP and automating as much as possible. The idea being to make time to observe whilst the AP gear is doing it's thing. 

Still awaiting my HEQ5 though (ordered 4 months ago, but should be here before Xmas), so I'm yet to get into AP and learn the ropes and work out if it allows me time for observing. 

I have various observing scopes (refractors), and a CST and a Newtonian in the past, but never owned a Dobby, yet it's probably the scope I should have bought all along to meet my needs. The simplicity and power of them really appeals to me and I'm still fit enough to lug a heavy one around. 

-Thingy-

1. Most people would probably think that astronomy is very relaxing and sedentary. Little do they know the stress of manically setting up everytime there's a hint of a clear sky. I'm going to nominate it as a sport for the next Olympics - think Colin Jackson jumping hurdles but replace hurdles with cats/dogs/children and add expensive equipment.

2. Most people also probably don't realise astronomy is an extreme sport. e.g. Dodging a heavy 'scope that's swinging on the mount after you release the clutch but forgot to put the counterweight on.

3. Felixstowe. Not only does the port cause skyglow to my East, but now they can't dock ships that contain things I have on back order (I maybe personalising that issue slightly.... 😆).

Thanks. Then I will leave my Ha filter in the EFW and continue using my Continuum filter (or at least dream about it whilst hoping for the clouds to part).

I was wondering if my Ha 7nm filter for imaging DSOs would have any notable effect in observing the sun (in combination with a Herschel wedge or solar filter of course).

I believe the solar Ha filters are about 0.5 A, which would be a 140x narrower band pass than my 7nm filter, if I calculated correctly. That probably answers my question but I'm wondering if anyone has tried and seen any effect.

There we go... silly question asked 😁

Kind Mr Postman delivered today. A small early Xmas present to myself, hence I pictured under the tree 🎄

0.8 focal reducer and flattener

Plus an Astrobasics finder scope (needs a wee bit of filing to fit snuggly in the shoe but that's easy to do)

Note the festive FLO sticker!

I've been an observer up until now but just assembling my AP equipment to start on that adventure, so this is an interesting topic to me. 

I plan to attempt observing whilst my AP routines are underway. No doubt I'll need to get to a point where I'm confident enough to leave the AP gear 'doing it's thing', so it's interesting to see your comment about AP keeping you busy.

I hope I can do both but I'll find out soon if that is unrealistic.

That's a really nice image. I found myself poring over it for a few minutes to take in all the details. 

That's immensely helpful @vlaiv

I appreciate you taking the time.

-thingy-

Thanks @vlaiv

That helps a lot.

My camera has an integrated filter wheel that already takes up 26.5mm, so that rules out the EF-M lenses. 

I was looking at the adaptor you use and it's good to know that it's 19mm as that would be too much for my kit.

So I need to find another mounting option. Seems the camera has a 1/4" threaded hole, so I guess I could mount via that.