wibblefish

23 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

It's lovely at the moment and Clear Outside is blue with 20% cloud later... I've learnt not to become too excited. 🙄

I obsessively check my scope nights app and it basically just changes all the time. Its almost as if the weather isn't predictable at all 😛

My garden is going swampy (my chair legs sank the other day) but I'm going to go with because whilst the sky is gloriously clear now it will be 100% cloud cover +-rain +- fog +- sleet +- snow later

Welcome! I have probably a similar style of telescope to the one you have purchased, mine is a 90/660 short tube.
 

Its a pretty handy telescope so far and I have been busy checking out various things. It excels at wide field for so looking at constellations (check out pleiades) but I have had fun locating DSO (faint but rewarding when located such as andromeda galaxy), nebulas (m42 is a fave), star clusters and my current project is double stars (try Castor). I think the best bet is to have a read around and see what there is out there I have plenty of wow moments!

Good luck, hope you come back and let us know how about your experiences and above all clear skies

1 hour ago, Bongo said:

Yeah, same here. I think there's a point when I'll have to actually start planning things out, rather than pointing the 'scope at anything that catches my eye or springs to mind while I'm out there. Not that the latter strategy hasn't been good fun, of course! Given the scarcity of decent clear night - got to make the most of those brief windows of opportunity, I guess.

I am currently trying out various types of object to see what I can get out of my telescope and to see what I enjoy doing. I have tried a bit of everything though so far the telescope is really shining when looking at wide field objects (constellation / star clusters), DSO's can be challenging and frustrating in equal measure but amazing when I can hit them  I am also hoping to get a clear night with the moon at some point!

With the rubbish UK cloud cover at present I am starting to have to try to plan sessions to feel like I get the most of them! 

I probably need to look back through my notes and have another go with new eye pieces as they are definitely a massive upgrade. 

@MylesGibson @John  @Pixies added a couple more the list now, cheers!

2 hours ago, MylesGibson said:

I did a topic on double stars awhile ago which you may find interesting if you are enjoying the challenge of splitting stars!

This one is focused on doubles which have colour contrasting components, there are 2 nice winter ones about; SAO 173349 (or HD56577) in Canis Major and Iota Cancri in Cancer. Both of these are easily split and have a nice blue/yellow or blue/gold pairing which is quite pleasing!

Keep it up, splitting doubles is challenging, but rewarding!

Thats great I will have a read I picked out some targets the other night and I vaguely remember one being in Canis Major will have to consult the list!

Next session notes at the moment I have:

- Rigel, another go with new filter and some more knowledge see if it makes a difference

- Beehive, bino sweep and then some actual time rather than squeezing it in

- Almach, gold / blue double

- I CAS, triple likely be to hard but will give it a go

- 40 ERI, unequal double

- BETA MON, white triple

- 145 CMA, gold / blue double

I have no idea how suitable the targets are though (will do some more research) but I think I at least checked they are in the skies this time (though I haven't checked they clear the local buildings admittedly!). 

18 hours ago, John said:

I came across this simple list of 100 double stars which might help you identify some suitable future targets:

doublestarlist.pdf 47.6 kB · 14 downloads

Thanks, thats a great list

8 minutes ago, lunator said:

Hi Wibblefish

Rigel can be a tricky split. It is quite low from the UK.

Bruce MacEvoy has a rule of thumb that implies Rigel would take about x80 Mag to split.

In my experience this rule can be slightly optimistic and I would go for a higher Mag say x100+ if you can. Once you have split it you will be able to see it with lower magnification.

Cheers

Ian

Hi Ian, Thanks, I think I was running at about 110x magnification according to the fov calculator I just ran through 90mm apeture / 660mm focal length + a BST 12mm and x2 barlow  I suspect it was more down to the CA glare masking the smaller secondary, now I have done a little more research into what I am looking for I will give it another go next time and see if I can spot it! 

I spent last night tightening up some lose bolts across the tripod to see if that will help with the shake at high magnification with and my light yellow filter arrived to see if it might reduce the CA slightly to assist focus so I am all set for another go whenever the skies next clear  

@Pixies hmmm I feel like I was in totally the wrong place which is odd considering I was using my phone app, will definitely swing the binos in that direction next time I am out to see, appreciated!

@Bongo I will have to keep more detailed notes and plan a bit better in order to actually have more to say! Definitely going to try my hand at doubles again next light so I will try and update this thread if I do!

43 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

It's always better to look through less glass I. E without the Barlow you can then see more clearly, a good Barlow is an asset better on clear transparent nights. 

You could check here 

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/the-cambridge-double-star-atlas-2nd-edition.html

I have the first edition as a PDF not sure I could email that with it being 15.6mbs

I will look later maybe able to upload it to Dropbox. 

Aye I will add it to the growing list of upgrades lol I swear I will have spent double the cost of the initial telescope by the time I am done. Still I was planning to keep the telescope for a year or two (at least) and any bits can be moved the next one I am sure   (the wife will believe that right?! - this is the trouble with working from home everything comes to the door so no random sneaky purchases 😛)

Thank you very much but don't worry overly about the PDF I am trying to collect print books for astronomy, they just seem to be more useful (and I can take it outside with me!). I will have a look at the various suppliers though I didn't realise they did books as well as equipment  

17 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

Rigel is hard to split with it being a high mag star but the component is quite a bit dimmer. 0.3 and 6.8 have to good clear night with very good transparency I've tried with my 5" Refractor which Hass says will split it at 62x magnification but I couldn't. 

I would invest in a couple of more eyepieces

8mm and a lower mag a 18mm 

Great report some good targets there. 

15 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

http://web.archive.org/web/20170419050003/http://astronomy.eaglecreekobservatory.org/doubles/

Here is that link I said I would post to you.

Thanks for that I will definitely check those targets out! I probably need to start keeping a list of targets so I can build up a nights set of viewing rather than just pootling up to the eyepiece (not that that isn't fun!).

I have an 18mm and a 12mm, those plus a barlow gets me to 9mm and 6mm respectively or are you suggesting an 8 might be a more useful magnification for better viewing + the option to go to 4mm with barlow? I think from calculations that it probably as far as I can bump this telescope though whether it'd be a useable magnification would be interesting  

I have my eye on the Cambridge double star atlas when it becomes more available again, I get the impression its gone out of print at the moment for some reason - sissy haas definitely has alas.

13 hours ago, Pixies said:

The Beehive cluster can be hard to find under light pollution, as Cancer is not very conspicuous. They are a good target for binoculars, as you can use them to scan the area, about half way between Castor/Pollux and Regulus.

What tripod/mount do you have? There's nothing more dispiriting than a wobbly mount!

And keep at it with the reports, it's great to hear others' progress.

Thanks, good tips, I was sweeping with binoculars trying to find it but I feel I was in the wrong place in the sky, I think I need to sit with a star map / app and work out some guide stars like those I can hit with the binoculars before attempting to throw the telescope at it again (the RDF literally sees purple / orange glow in the same space)

The telescope says it is AZ pronto but I have a suspicion from the pictures of the az pronto mount it is more an AZ pronto mount head on a standard sky-watcher aluminum tripod. Its fairly stable ordinarily (non-high mag), easy to move around and handles the telescopes weight (not that there is much of that!) fairly well.

On 13/01/2021 at 16:32, KP82 said:

Hello anyela, welcome to SGL.

A pair of binoculars is a good start-up equipment. It can help you familiarise yourself with the night sky. 8x42 and 10x50 are good sizes. The Olympus 10x50 DPS-I is often recommended because of its excellent optical quality and lower cost.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7313965

As for telescopes, we need to know what type of targets (e.g. the moon, planets, nebulae, etc.) you and your child are interested in and what kind of budget you have in your mind before we can advise you on a suitable one.

I second the recommendation for the DPS-I, they are pretty good, lower cost and fairly lightweight for 10x50's. I am currently using them to help find objects for the telescope and have seen plenty of different things including certain DSO and star clusters and they are good on the moon also. I must say as a newbie there was plenty to see in the 10x50 binoculars to be excited about and that might be a great way to introduce everyone to the night sky in a low cost way before taking the plunge. Plus at present stock is fairly limited of telescopes whereas binoculars seem fine to get a hold of so you can see if the hobby is for either of you.

Thanks for the kind words, I never know if its worth putting night reports / experiences onto here as I often think no one will be interested in my newbie rambling lol

@Sunshine @wookie1965 Yes, I suspected it might take a few nights of playing with various ones to see if I can split them but I was super impressed with Castor so I will definitely retry Rigel and find some others. I also read doubles are fairly good for the brighter nights  in summer so that's why I thought I'd have a go at it plus learning and finding new things to do with the telescope is always fun  

As a relative newbie I have been trying out various targets over the last few months (9 sessions so far, thank you UK cloud cover!) as I have read more and varied threads on this forum. Last night was clear and I decided to have a go at a few doubles I had seen mentioned in a beginners article. As it turns out I should have done some further research as quite a number of my targets were simply not in the sky at this time of year, lesson learned, be more prepared!

As I normally start off with Orion at the moment, I had a look at M42 with my new BST 12 and was very impressed with picking up clearer stars and with the addition of a BST short barlow was happy to see more of the nebula swirl detail than with my other EP (BST 25 / 18).

This led me on to my first double target Rigel, unfortunately I tried with numerous combinations and could not split the star. I also encountered quite a large degree of difficulty primarily with focusing to sharpness due to tripod shake which was not helped by a white halo thrown up around the star when using the 12 + barlow. I am guessing the halo effect is chromatic aberration encountered due to my short tube refractor being at high magnifications on a bright star (though I also a short barlow may also not be helping there).  

My next target was Castor, which I was able to see starting to split at 12mm and then clearly when adding a barlow. There were some CA effects but less so than I encountered in Rigel and I found focus easier perhaps as I was being more careful so there was less shake. 

My next target was Meissa in Orion but due to neightbours window lights I took a small detour to observe Mars with the new 12mm and 12mm + barlow combo. Again under barlow focusing there was some difficulty due to shake + haloing, to cut down some of the shake I got "ahead" of where Mars was and let it drift through the eyepeice (which it did at a speed which surprised me!) which helped. I could make out the distinct orange / red of the disc and some shadowing of the surface which was nice.

Back to Meissa I had some difficulty locating it due to my unfamiliarity with that area, I tried to split several of the stars but got absolutely nothing. I think I need to look at star maps (back to the be prepared motto) and get a better look at that area of the sky so I can make sure I am on target. 

Final target was the Beehive Cluster which I had failed to find the last time I was out. It prove elusive again as I was struggling with light pollution in the direction and a general inability to see any guide stars with the RDF. I shall have to really look into this one properly next time I as I had to rush about in the last 10 minutes of the session which didn't help.

Overall I had both highs and lows but I think the takeaway is I need to select my targets better! I also moved my telescope forward on the point of balance as I found a few times the barlow + 12 combo was moving things a bit faster than I would like. To try to combat the chromatic aberration I am going to try an #8 yellow filter in the end of the barlow / eyepiece, as I have a short tube refractor nothing will likely eliminate it but I am primarily looking for something to assist me with finding focus without as much halo distraction. Lastly it is clear the shake is going to be an issue with chasing doubles, I am going to try the old photography trick of suspending a weight underneath the middle of the tripod to see if that helps but I suspect I will need to purchase something more sturdy (likely the stainless steel skywatcher tripod) at some point - I think with new EP cost getting a new tripod will put me be beyond the cost of the initial telescope package which makes me wonder if its better to stop "upgrading" and just put funds towards another telescope 😕 I also tightened up the diagonal and the focuser pin so I am hoping that will help me be more "slow" with the focus.

If you have read to this point thanks this is probably mostly just waffle  

1 hour ago, BenR said:

Yes, all I saw were smaller white dots. like when you look at the sky with naked-eye

Yup that is correct 👍 This thread might help with what to expect but feel free to ask if you are unsure, this community is very helpful!

Welcome! Sorry to hear you are having issues as the poster above suggests have you tried refocusing the telescope this would be done using the large black knob underneath where the eyepeice is located (looking at the picture of that telescope). You will also have to refocus once you put in a barlow (or take it out) as it alters the magnification of the telescope. I find the focus can be trickier when you have have the more magnified view just have to go slowly with the knob.

Interesting tech solutions there be good to know how it goes @Spile Ill still be waving my phone around my head with skyview in the meantime 🙈

Serious bit if kit there look forward to hearing about it ... heres to clear skys so you can try that beast out 😎

6 minutes ago, GaryP999 said:

Thank you all for your great advice. I guess it’s a matter of choice and I value all your help. Think I am swaying toward the Opticron Adventurer 10x50. They are reasonably priced and some good reviews. Just need them in stock somewhere??I’m sure in the future bigger and better!! 

Good luck with stock and be interesting to hear about your adventures! Heres to clear skies 😎

Its also compounded by delays at various ports and its not just telescopes my wife has been waiting for a sewing machine ordered back in Oct which was originally due in Nov. I would imagine its going to be at least a year before they sort out various logistics issues stemming from covid, brexit etc. 

I have a pair of Olympus DPS-1 that are 10x50 think they were about 59.99£ and well stocked. They aren’t to heavy but I am currently using them to locate objects for the telescope so I don’t use them all the time. Pretty sure they also have the appropriate bracket to accept a L mount for tripod use. I bought them to accompany the telescope though so compromised on price vs more astro focused / bigger ones.

43 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

@wibblefish, my SW 6x30 finally arrived today, and is actually only 257g including the bracket.
I've no idea where I got my other figure from, but losing 50g is a bonus.

Thanks for the update, less weight is good! I think I will likely persevere with the RDF for now (maybe move it further towards the nose of the telescope) and then look to get the 6x30 RACI and a Rigel as soon as I have some spare pennies (not that anywhere will be delivering them any time soon!)  Annoyingly I will probably have to source the Rigel from FLO and then get the RACI from somewhere else as nowhere seems to do both!

Wow, thats a lot of boxes can't wait to see a final setup picture!

Having a look around a 750D (Rebel T6i) can be bought new from some places for £700, ebay seems to average out at about £500.

I am guessing this camera is an older model since it doesn't seem to be around many shops? I would suggest if you are budgeting around 500-700£ for a camera you might be able to get a newer model for the pennies. 

It might be better therefore to suggest what your budget is then people will be able to recommend camera platforms though I understand Canon is pretty popular. Also there are likely to be additional costs to mount it to the telescope / additional lenses (if needed) etc which I am sure can also be added  

I really appreciate all the replies and information everyone is chipping in with its really helpful! This is a great forum and I just hope I can pay it forward as I get more experience

@Tiny Clanger Yes, I had read a few reports that the 25mm is not that great but honestly at my skill level I can't discern any issues and its such an improvement over my existing stock 25mm in terms of clarity, field of view, eye relief (especially - omg!) that I am quite happy with it. 

@Pixies Ah I had read that actually now I come to think about it but didn't quite know how to test it, I will have a play with the focus and the EP the next time (in the far future!) that I am out and see. I presume its one of those trade offs that you get for having a short tube (much like every type of telescope from what I read!)  I intend to mount an RACI and a Rigel eventually (or perhaps just move the red dot which is likely my first plan).

@AlexK I am sure I will get there eventually, learning curve for the newbie :D, I currently use a combination of binoculars, RDF, phone app and some books to identify targets in the sky! The binoculars are quite a lot more useful especially when the sky is just a purple haze at points in the evening (or if I get blinded by the various street lights / neighbours security lights/ neighbours bright kitchen and bedroom lights lol) which makes trying to find anything to aim the RDF at a complete nightmare! Interesting about the phone holder thing, I do often actually place the phone directly behind the tube to try and ascertain if the target is vaguely in the right direction!

57 minutes ago, KP82 said:

I had a scope with the exact same spec before, but it was sold under Celestron instead. I bought it off cheap (£60) from someone on UKAstroBuySell who was moving house and wanted to clear out some un-used stuff. The scope was in very good condition along with the stock Alt-az mount. There was also an audio gadget that was part of the original package, but the seller couldn't find it anymore.

I used it briefly before gave it to a friend and his 6 years old son who were both interested in stargazing. The performance was decent but the amount of CA was quite noticeable (expected from a fast achro).

I guess I haven’t had it long enough / got the experience to have spotted the effect of CA on what I am looking at for it ti annoy me. I am probably so busy going wowwee and hunting for various things to see any the moment 😀

I do keep an eye out for reviews though as its always interesting to see what people who have more experience make of things.