Astro_Dad

Yes was only reading about this earlier this evening - a rare lunar occultation coinciding with opposition on 8th Dec.

Nice results there from such a brief session. As we know Mars will get better and better too over the next few weeks so should be some great opportunities.

Had the Dob out cooling early ready for a good session but skies were not quite as clear and steady as I’d hoped. Stuck to a few favourite targets including M15. I wanted to try for the planetary nebula Pease 1 within M15, so aimed for the recommended 450x power (8mm BST with 3x Barlow) plus O-III to attempt the “blinking” technique. Not a whiff though - just darkness… very steady seeing required for this target so I think so maybe that was the reason. Should be possible with 10” aperture. Interested to hear if anyone here has managed to view this one and any tips? Quick look at Jupiter, just missed the Europa transit but this was now on the outer limb of the planet. Finished with a good look at M31 and I think what must have been my first observation of nearby elliptical galaxy M110.

Useful to have a first hand review of one of these as not seen too many - thanks. I’m expecting a rather more “economical” 2” 26mm through the post any day now - nice to have the option of wider angle low power - for me 26mm on my Dob will give about the max exit pupil I’d want but we’ll see when I get to test it!

Looking forward to that, although I have the 10mm on order already. Should get a lot of use out of that one with my Dob. 👍

Yes the forecasts were not particularly accurate last night - some clear sky here in the end so a brief opportunity to have a general sweep around with my binos (10x50’s). No particular targets just a simple look around Cassiopeia, Jupiter, Summer Triangle etc. 😀

Good luck, not so good here but tomorrow looking promising - hoping for a good view of Europa transit from 21.19…

A minor quibble with S@N (as mentioned I subscribe along with AN) is that I had a letter featured as “letter of the month” early this year and I still haven’t received the prizes (A couple of useful books!). Not the biggest problem in the scheme of things but still…

Some interesting resources mentioned on this thread. One I have seen referenced a few times on SGL is the “Loughton List” - geared more towards those observing from light polluted areas. Well written. Found at: https://las-astro.org.uk/docs/Loughton_List_v2_0.pdf Loughton List.pdf

+1 for the grey smudge comment! @Stu1smartcookieI'm also primarily visual - the reason I got into the practical side of the hobby was partly to enjoy relaxing nights simply looking and thinking about the significance of those "fuzzy patches". I do dabble a little with planetary AP but no real intention to go down that particular expense trap just yet - although it might be a slippery slope :-D. On the topic here, I subscribe to both S@N and AN and really enjoy it when the latest issues come through the post - Like many here I consume a lot of info online but I still prefer a physical hard copy (much like with books) and actually find that both magazines offer a lot for visual observers - both DSO and planetary. AN in particular covers in detail possible monthly visual targets and how best to view them, which I enjoy reading and learning from. The "at a glance" observing calendar in S@N is also handy and I frequently refer to this. It's an accessible read although as others have alluded to, the AP sections are extensive and currently I tend to not read the astro processing guides for example. This hobby is broad enough to cater for all interests, and to be honest I think the two magazines here do a good job of covering the breadth - separate magazines for purely visual would possibly dilute the overall impact?

Welcome on board! I travel to Copenhagen periodically, must be some dark sky spots further out though?

Spent some quality time on the Veil nebula last night with my 10” Dob (East NGC 6992 and West NGC 6995) - compared both UHC and Baader O-III. looked Incredible with O-III in place - really popped compared to with UHC (which was still impressive). Lots of detail and clarity showing on the two brightest arcs of this target with their interconnecting stands of the nebulosity. Fantastic visually, especially with the O-III On M57 the difference was marked between the two filters - O-III providing a much greater contrast and “blacker” Sky, with apparently brighter ring, but it was hard to say this view was any “better” than UHC or even no filter at all on this particular target, given its clarity against the sky anyway. Others mileage may vary.

20/21 Sept Stunning clear sky last night - better than the forecast I checked earlier in the day suggesting “fair” conditions. I’d expected a brief session with the six inch and even checked collimation and adjusted secondary mirror tilt in preparation! (hadn’t got around to tweaking the secondary since travelling to and from Scotland last month…) but the night clearly lent itself to some action with the 10”. I was out before properly cooled just to make the most. Saturn first - seeing good and was rewarded with a very sharp view with moons Titan and Rhea clearly visible. Hints of a few others. I spent a good half hour on the planet trying to soak up as much detail as possible, interesting features included the brownish N equatorial belt, the Cassini Division and a clear dark line delineating the lower edge of the rings to the south - possibly just a contrast difference or a shadow cast by the rings on the globe? Onto DSO’s - for interest tested a UHC filter side by side with O-III on M57 (Ring nebula), but even without a filter the ring was as sharp and bright as I’ve seen. Lovely view. Onto the Veil nebula (East NGC 6992 and West NGC 6995) - a target not seen since holiday in Scotland - looked Incredible with O-III in place. Lots of detail and clarity showing on the two brightest arcs of this target with their interconnecting stands of nebulosity. Quick look at Kemble’s cascade again - the associated open cluster NGC 1503 looking particularly striking and contrasted against the dark background. Another look at M15 - spectacular tonight particularly at high power (up to 200x) with many stars resolved around the outer halo and somewhat further in, and showing it’s bright dense core. M2 next - less impressive than M15 as expected but still a delight. Finally finished on Jupiter - seeing appeared excellent at this point, with the planet absolutely steady with clear image at moderate to high power. Called it a night at around midnight - earlyish start as normal the following morning…

Welcome to SGL. You’ll have some very impressive observing sites where you’re based now - look forward to hearing how things go for you under those dark skies!

The NexYZ is the one I use on the Dob - expensive but well built. Takes some patience to get the positioning spot on but most seem to agree it’s probably the best on the market - thanks to its quality construction and ability to orientate in three dimensions. Works with 2” eyepieces.

Thanks, one to research potentially - or maybe a bahtinov mask?

17/09 Quite a lot of cloud about last night so not a long session but managed a brief look at Jupiter. Aiming to catch the GRS transit visually at 11.18pm. Heritage 150p Virtuoso in tracking mode on Jupiter for a good half hour with and without 80A filter, various powers. Lots of detail intermittently but the planet “boiling” at times so more limited than previous night. Still an enjoyable short session.

First opportunity to test this camera on the planets with my Celestron StarSense Explorer 10” Dob. Impressed by what is possible using simple untracked planetary AP and stacking software (as exemplified by @sorrimen et al on this forum!) I’m still very much an observer in the main, but I’ve enjoyed the occasional dabble as it provides some astronomy opportunities (on the processing side) on intervening cloudy nights. First light 16/17 Sept ambitiously aiming for some footage of the Io shadow transit. I’ve had some success with this camera in the past using my StarQuest EQ mount with RA drive (with 102 Mak) but with this recent repurchase of the camera it’s the first time I’ve attempted untracked on a (fast) manual Dob. Overall this turned out to be much more challenging than I’d expected. Initially tried in conjunction with a 3x BST Barlow providing effectively f/14.7 - in the target 3-5x sensor pixel size range usually recommended. I found it almost impossible to find and hold the target (Jupiter) in view- either full frame or using ROI of 800 x600. Guided by some pointers from SGL members and elsewhere, I was aiming for around 300 gain and 75% or so on the histogram (with Raw8 as the output format). However it became a case of trial and error in the end, abandoning the Barlow and using using the camera directly inserted with the supplied nosepiece. Basically at this point looking for the target simply drifting across the field of view with the gain etc. simply a direct function of my judgment on the brightness and level of detail by eye. No science involved! First attempt c 60s of footage without IR cut filter, second attempt around 50s (at around 1.30am for the shadow transit ) with IR filter. Cut short as laptop battery died! Not the most successful of evenings to this point… that said though It is going to take a lot of practice for me to be able to get anywhere close to 3 minutes of video by manually holding the target in the FOV. Credit to those who have managed this here! Processing in PIPP required the debayering of monochrome frames step due to my choice to capture in RAW8, but other than that the process was a reminder of previous attempts - AS!3, Registax for wavelets and a final touch up in GIMP. I was pleasantly surprised at the final result - a touch over processed and lacking in image scale due to no Barlow involved, but clearly captures the Io shadow transit early this morning, and even the moon itself is just visible showing a milky colour contrast to the Jovian disc. looking forward to doing more with this motivating start!

My First Govian moon transit! 16/17 Sept Excellent here in N Yorkshire last night with clear skies and very steady seeing. The StarSense Explorer 10” Dob was out cooling nice and early, with the intention to focus on Jupiter plus a few DSO’s. Jupiter revealed lots of surface detail, I found the power could be ramped up pretty high (compared to some nights recently) without any image degradation (I was using the zoom eyepiece mainly to try a range of views). The highlight was undoubtedly the Io shadow transit - my first such observation! 😀 Fascinating to watch the moon approach the outer limb of Jupiter and then follow the shadow moving relatively swiftly across the Jovian disc from around 1am to just after 01.30. A very memorable night of astronomy for me. Last night was also first light with my new ZWOASI224, probably a little ambitious in trying to capture some Jupiter footage as I had a few technical glitches along the way, but will report on that elsewhere… Also viewed Neptune - opposition for this planet and nice to appreciate its blue/green disc standing out clearly at high power (200x plus). Then took in globular clusters M15 (Pegasus /Equuleus border) and M2 (Aquarius). M15 (Class IV) noticeably less concentrated than M2 (Class II) but both showing lots of granularity and was able to partially resolve stars at least part of the way towards the core on both. Nice to revisit M2 after a brief look at this target through the six inch Newt earlier in the week. The observation side of last night was much more fun than fiddling with cameras, laptops and everything else but we’ll see what the processing brings out later!

Review just out in Astronomy Now for those interested:

I was just about to post the same on here Paul - a very useful and well written review, just read!

Yes, The 150p is very straightforward to collimate, and holds collimation quite well too - not needing too frequent adjustment.

Not sure where this one fits best really, but as a significant contributor to the history of amateur astronomy thought this should be marked - John Dobson’s birthday today, informed by a nice email ad from Celestron!

+ 1 for the Heritage 150p. I’m thinking you have to be quite brave jumping in with the first recommendation on these threads seeing how many of them drift on! 😀 It’s good that newcomers can join and seek a range of opinions though… rarely a right or wrong. Most people entering the hobby have some excitement about the prospect of seeing say Saturn’s rings through a telescope. Binoculars in my view just don’t offer the same - I have some fun with mine for sure, but finding targets is tough at times and as noted earlier unless properly held steady can be quite a disappointing experience - I frequently hear the advice to buy bins first, but I don’t agree here although can see the point being made. Something like the 150p or similar will excite and delight the first time user, and is good enough to stay with you / your wife for years. The views of Saturn, Jupiter and more were stunning through mine last night.

Well done all and particularly to the winners - impressive photos there. It was fun to take part. Until next year! 😀