Tiny Clanger
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Posts posted by Tiny Clanger
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I really was determined not to buy myself any new toys until 2021 , but then a returned Rigel quickfinder pops up in the in the FLO sale with a few £ off, and I immediately fall off the wagon ... Well , it was on my wishlist, how could I resist ? And that is why I just spent 5 minutes stood in the kitchen with a towel over my head , admiring the little red circle in the dark ...
I'm not sure if I'm relieved or disappointed though, my small box & jiffy bag didn't get a sticker for clouds or snow . Does that mean .... ?
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If it's truly arctic, metal can get cold enough for skin to stick to it ... 🥶
Shouldn't be a problem for most of us in the UK unless up a mountain somewhere, but another reason rubber eyecups are a good thing !
As long as the 'scope has cooled suitably, it should be fine, just the human suffers. Might get dew forming on the cold surfaces of the device , which is why dew shields are a good idea. Oh, and in the spirit of 'I made this stupid mistake, so you don't have to ' , try to not breathe on the eyepiece while faffing around , it mists up !
Heather
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Welcome Richard,
hope you feel pleased you don't need to worry about polar alignment !
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Ah well, I tried !
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If that's not what you are after,have a look at smallrig, they make a dizzying range of bits of metal for photo and video use ... and it's got a good reputation for quality https://www.smallrig.com/?setCurrencyId=16
I've never bought direct from them, only via Amazon , here's one thing which might be of interest to you if two tripod screws are what you want
https://www.amazon.co.uk/SMALLRIG-Male-Threaded-Screw-Adapter/dp/B00SY3I20A?ref_=ast_sto_dp
or if it's threaded holes you need, perhaps a 'cheese plate' 😀
Heather
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16 minutes ago, shropshire lad said:
Does anyone make/sell/produce an adapter from the mounts dovetail to 1/4" camera connector, I've seen a version that goes from dovetail to ball head 3/8"
Sky Watcher S20550 Star Adventurer Ball Head Adapter: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo
But I want one that goes directly to the camera.
Hope someone can help.
This is sort of the opposite of the one you linked to, camera tripod threaded socket below, vixen clamp above
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dovetails-saddles-clamps/baader-vixen-style-dovetail-clamp.html
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That looks like a far more robust adapter, similar to the one I bought (mine has straight sides on the vertical bit, and was the one the binocular manufacturer recommended for my specific model)
Let's hope it does the trick , and you can get on with your observing !
Heather
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2 hours ago, Jasonb said:
Yep, for a first run it went well, I think. I loved it, and my Daughter was suitably impressed by the huge moon! I think tonight is might to be cloudy and wet, so I doubt I'll get out. Typically, I might not get out for a few days, we're redecorating a room, and there's a lot to be done. But fingers crossed I will get out for a bit now and then.
A quick stupid question, but when I'm leaving the scope outside to cool down before using it, do I leave the covers on the tube and the eyepiece, or take them off? Thanks!
That can't possibly be a stupid question, as it is one I've wondered about myself ... 😀
The dob cools pretty fast , and I leave the big cap on the front and have substituted a kodak type film pot (black body, grey overlapping lid) instead of the supplied skywatcher cap, which has a hole in the middle, collimation for the use of. Helpful to collimate, less so to protect the 'scope (I can see why they did it tho' as when the sliding section is closed, the EP tube is above solid metal, so for general closed down storage hole/no hole makes no difference). I have two (not needed for their proper use) rucsac waterproof covers which make good temporary covers for the scopes, they have cords to gather the edges so won't blow away.
I've tried just the fabric cover as well as fabric plus caps, and found no difference . Bear in mind though that half the length of my dob tube is space with a gappy ill fitted foam plastic shroud !
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1 hour ago, ShaunyC said:
Thank you for your comment..
Not being able to see Polaris is one thing i had at least considered... When I looked into it there is a method called drift alignment appernetly that dosent need Polaris never done it before so not 100% how it works.. Just thought as long as there's a way I will reaserch it more once I get set up..
Thank you for sharing you experience..
I have solid 9" walls in that part of the house not sure if It would make much difference?
This is something I've kind of overlooked or didn't expect to be as much of a problem as you guys are all saying...
Will it totally ruin my images? Or will I atleast be able to get something to wet my appetite? Is there anyway to minimise the impact?
If I get it all up and running I imagine I will want to widen my observations before long so will eventually be taking the rig outside where this shouldn't be a problem...
My neighbour has storage heaters which provide the background heat in her house : they were popular heating options at some time in the past. What they do is use cheap night time (economy 7) electricity to heat up radiators which are essentially bricks inside a metal box (I'd estimate the radiators are maybe 50x50x10cm) and with an adjustable vent on the top giving a bit of control over the upward warm air flow. A house wall has more volume and can store more energy in heat form. Having my back garden's view with houses nearby to the south east, I can say from personal experience that they cause turbulence and poor viewing above their roofs. Most advice on where to site a telescope outdoors says don't set up on slabs or concrete if at all possible, better get on grass which will not be radiating stored heat as much.
Another consideration is the telescope tripod span : in order to rise above a windowledge, you will need a tripod extended quite high , I just checked my tripod (not an astro specific model, but a big solid manfrotto photo tripod) and the closest I could get it to a wall was 29cm .That's from the wall to the centre of the mount, with two tripod legs touching the wall, and the third sticking out where you'd trip over it . I'm certain astro tripods would have a similar span, so please consider what arc of the sky your telescope would have access to not by looking while you are stood at the window, but 30cm back from the window. It gets even more of a problem if you get a newtonian 'scope with the viewfinder out of the side at the front ...
Sorry if this all sounds very negative, but I don't want you to have an expensive disappointment !
Heather
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9 minutes ago, Nyctimene said:
Skywatcher Heritage 150 P Flextube:
Gets good reviews, and would be a lifetime scope. Tiny Clanger on here bought one, and is very pleased. I'm sure she will answer any questions.
Stephan
Oh dear, I've been sussed 😀😀
Yes, I bought a heritage150p nearly 6 months ago , and have found it to be a great starter 'scope. I wrote a fairly long post about it on another beginner thread here recently (first time I've tried an internal link, no idea if it works this way !)
https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/366397-hi/?do=findComment&comment=3994800
Heather
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My spare bedroom faces south and has no heating (except when specifically needed for visitors) and has the door shut all the time (to keep the cat out : one of my family has allergies and whilst they have to put up with my feline overlord's presence in the rest of the house, the cat is excluded from that room so at least they can sleep easy ).The room is cooler than the rest of the house, but still noticeably warmer than outdoors in winter (and very hot compared with outdoors in the summer ). Internal house walls and ceilings/floors are not particularly good insulators. You'd need to open the window wide for a few hours before use to get the temperatures matched.
House external walls though, in the UK are probably cavity walls with an exterior skin of brick : they are great at absorbing daytime warmth and radiating it at night. So even if your room is as cold as the outside, you will get a 'curtain' of turbulent, rising, heated air from the house structure. That's why the observatories you see are not brick but wood or fiberglass or plastic.
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Welcome !
I'll endorse everything that has been said above. £100 is not enough to get a telescope which would be more than a toy. £150 is a more realistic minimum price , so I'd wait until his birthday. The heritage 130p would be a great choice, and some members who have only just received their first telescopes will I'm sure soon give their opinions either here or on other threads , have a browse.
As has been said, supplies of telescopes are pretty desperate at the moment, covid + xmas means most good stuff is sold out, and the next delivery to the distributors is on a boat en route from China. Second hand might be an option, but you have the disadvantage of not being to spot a lemon, and you might not want to give a second hand gift ...
Whilst £100 wouldn't get you a decent 'scope, had you considered binoculars ? Plenty of reasonable ones in that sort of price range, and more likely to be in stock somewhere.
Heather
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26 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:
GRoberts I'm in agreement that the last couple of years, autumn especially has been an almost complete cloud out. October & November have been pants the last two years.
Except as you also mentioned, during a full moon it's almost guaranteed to be clear! 🙄
As Keats nearly said in his poem, Autumn :
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him to goad and distress
With cloud cover the stargazer clan-
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39 minutes ago, Jasonb said:
Well my Starquest 130P arrived today!
Thank goodness for that, I was starting to worry !
Great that you got to use it immediately too 😀
Heather
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Whilst entirely ignorant of the nexstar , I do know a bit about converting between co-ordinate types with my geocaching hat on (in case anyone wonders, in winter it's one with earflaps )
https://www.gpscoordinates.eu/convert-gps-coordinates.php
Usually does the job well.
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22 minutes ago, malc-c said:
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The idea of a gift voucher is great as it will give him an amount to put towards something that he wants, However it would seem that FLO only have £5 vouchers listed on their site (come on FLO !!) which would be impractical to get and use ! Rother Valley optics are also another excellent retailer, and they do have vouchers of higher value £100 vouchers can be had here https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/rvo-100-gift-voucher.html
Actually, if you go to the FLO gift voucher page and click the V by the £5 box, the drop down menu has lots of options up to £200
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Hi Kevin, welcome.
I bought the 150p as my first proper telescope, it's great if you can find one in stock, buy it !
The Moon, Jupiter & Saturn will just be the start ...
Heather
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Two more resources which I've found very useful as a newbie : the binocular sky monthly guide (see the binocular section on here ) and the really well written and illustrated monthly online guide from a local astro soc here http://www.whitby-astronomers.com/sky-notes/sky-notes-december-2020
I'm slightly irritated that before lockdown #1, way back in March, my sole trip away from home this year was a few days near Whitby, and it was only after that I got into the astronomy thing again. It would have been great to go to one of their meetings ...
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14 hours ago, Jasonb said:
Yeah, I plan to get some BSTs when I have the money, first step is try out what I have and then look for upgrades! FLO have some of them in stock now, and some of them are out. Moore Winter Marathon looks interesting, found some stuff on it on the BBC Website. It looks like it's 25 items for the eye/binoculars and 25 for telescopes. Is that every night (there's an option to choose the date/time) or is it those 25 objects over the winter? It's a cool idea to give you something to aim at though.
The Moore W.M. is 50 objects in total , the first 25 are listed as best see with binoculars (or the naked eye) , but that doesn't stop you pointing a 'scope that way.
For anyone who hasn't found it, here are links straight to the first 25 PDF http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/tv/skyatnight/moore-winter-marathon-guide-1-25.pdf
and the second 25 http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/tv/skyatnight/moore-winter-marathon-guide-26-50.pdf
Good printable to give us beginners some easy starter targets of various types , and to tell us what we are seeing. The only thing that is outdated as far as I know (it's a few years old) is the information on where & when to view a planet (I think it was Jupiter ? ) which is specific to the year.
The date/time option on the main Moore W.M . page is an online sky map.
Heather
PS, is it there yet ?!
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I saw a 'planes contrail streaming right across the sky more or less horizontally expand and disperse incredibly slowly over the course of a couple of hours (it still hung there at 2am when I gave up and bought my telescope in) The light from the nearly full Moon above it lit the water droplets (actually more likely to have been ice crystals up there last night) beautifully, making it really stand out, and the length of time it sat there without being broken up showed how still the atmosphere was.
Might something similar be what you saw ? You're bound to have more flights and therefore contrails nearby than I do !
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On 30/11/2020 at 21:19, Jasonb said:
Excellent Heather, it sounds really cool! I was chasing Neptune a couple of nights ago with binoculars, but that was a lost cause. I think the first time I look at a planet in the scope and see a small disc instead of a point of light will be pretty amazing. After I bought the 130 Heritage (for approx. 21 hours before I changed it for the StarQuest 130) I did a bit of research, and the PFTE tape and shroud were mentioned a lot. The tape seems easy, the shroud maybe a little more fiddly. In the end I was delighted to get the StarQuest instead, as it was the one I'd decided on originally.
That's a great website on what to look for on Mars, nice one! I reckon I'll end up getting a few bits and pieces, (Barlow, Eye Pieces, Filters etc.) but I'll see how I get on with the 25mm and 10mm first.
Your starquest 130 has a 650mm focal length, very similar to the heritage 150 which is 750mm, so your magnification with the bundled eyepieces should be very similar, and what I've seen, you can (clouds permitting ) The eyepieces are tolerable to start with, sensible to wait and see how you get on with them, as lots of folk say, the 25mm is not bad, but you might find the 10mm the first thing you decide to replace. I'd done my research and wanted a BST starguider 12mm, but guess what ? They were out of stock . I managed to track down an 8mm at 'The Sky's The Limit' and bought that instead, it is an enormous improvement but too expensive for me to think about buying more new BSTs.
If you can get hold of some closed cell foam (cheap camping mat is what I used initially) make a dew shield out of it and some string or tape to stick out in front of the 'scope like a lens hood on a camera lens, its a cheap easy addition.
I've found loads of free printable stuff (mostly in PDF form) on the internet , a whole book about the Moon, star maps , Messier lists with diagrams, star atlases ... perhaps the best thing for me, wanting to see some of everything but needing it to be easy, is the Moore Winter Marathon , if you've not seen that I'll find the link .
On 30/11/2020 at 21:19, Jasonb said:Did I mention I should be getting it tomorrow?
I think I may have read something to that effect ....
One sleep to Telescopemas ! 🔭
Heather
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I like the simplicity and solidity of the dob base, it takes a bit of getting used to making fine adjustments though. Chasing Mars across the sky with an 8mm EP you learn to shift it in tiny increments: I find it easier to hold the circular base rather than the tube itself to do this, and there can be a skip when you overcome the initial stiction (I think that's a word! ) and the turntable bit then moves more freely . I read somewhere of folk taking the thing apart to improve the bearing surfaces with teflon, but I manage OK as it is.
The 'scope is easy to carry outside, I made a low but sturdy triangular 3 legged table from some scrap wood (recycled IKEA sofa actually, I knew the bits would come in handy ... ) to stand it on, as my garden table has cast iron sides and is too heavy to shift around. When I want the tube up higher and more horizontal to view lower things without the fences trees etc getting in the way so much, I drag the old knock-off pseudo B&D workmate type bench from the shed, it's heavy enough to be a stable platform.
I've done the well documented easy and cheap upgrades of PFTE tape on the focuser and a 'shroud' to keep stray light out, both work well.
What highlights ? Well, the day I got it, I home too late to be able to sort the RDF aim in daylight, but unpacked the 'scope and (gasp!) actually read the instructions, then took the packaging upstairs out of the way. I happened to glance out of the back bedroom window, and there was Saturn, so dashed downstairs , grabbed the 'scope, took it up, plonked it on the box it had come in, lined it up by eye and had my first ever view of Saturns rings : tiny, but distinct. Given I was doing everything wrong (indoors, scope perched on wobbly box, through never washed window ... ) it gave me great hope for what I'd see when I used it properly !
Since then (and using it properly!) I've been stunned by the Pleiades ... so many stars ! Spent hours looking at Jupiter and Saturn , and in good moments managed to make out bands of colour , although my timing has been all wrong to see the Great Red Spot, something I hope to manage. On Mars after a lot of time spent looking, the scope has shown me brief steady glimpses of features I was able to identify here https://britastro.org/node/23843 Earlier in the summer I saw the southern polar ice cap on Mars too, altho' that seems to have shrunk beyond my power to see it at the moment.
The planets at the start all seemed just too bright to me, the light overwhelmed any detail , I tried parking the (removable) lens from some cheap cycling glasses atop the eyepieces and found it helped , so bought a Celestron 'moon filter' for £5 from Amazon, it's not wonderful, I'd probably have done better to get one of the two rotatable polarizer ones which allow you to adjust how much light gets through, but they were out of stock ... I've also bought a set of ultra cheap coloured filters from China to play with, and the orange & yellow have been good for bringing out Martian detail.
Uranus showed as a tiny bluish disc , when I eventually managed to find the blighter, but I've still not managed Neptune , it is in an inconvenient part of the sky for me, at the moment, everything there apart from the brightest planets is drowned out by street lights I've seen a dozen or so Messier objects too, and the Moon shows just amazing detail : craters within craters, rills, and the fascinating way the view changes night to night with the angle of light skimming the terminator and showing the relief, But while they are in the sky to see, the planets have been where I've spent most of my time.
And I've only just begun ...
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22 minutes ago, John said:
Do they do a RACI one at that price as well ?
Have you seen one has very recently popped up in buy/sell on here?
Are we imagers really missing something
in The Astro Lounge
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😀 Virtually free from frustration ?