wibblefish

@orion25 no worries, I havent but I did add it to my list last night taken from the moore winter marathon oddly!

@Sunshine I was using a 90/660 refractor so I doubt you will have issues. I don’t really know how to rate star magnitude but it stood out when panning past but that may have just been the colouration. A quick google shows 4.230 mag if that helps

It is worth noting I don't have the proper az pronto tripod, I have a standard sky-watcher aluminum one (I think it might be the same one as used in the AZ3?) that was supplied by FLO so I am not clear if that makes a difference. Either way I can see me replacing the tripod first then possibly moving to an AZ5 in future  

32 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

I used a Rigel on my reflector and keep wanting to try it on my refractor. I love simple sighting setups.. and the image is the right way up 👍

Yeah Ive only had telescope since Nov so my brain keeps trying to fool me about which way to turn the alt-az controls on the refractor due to the mirror image. Also not helped by the fact that I had until recently my diagonal at a jaunty angle so not only mirrored but turned 90 degrees to the right which I only spotted when I was aligning my RACI - silly beginner mistakes ftw!

9 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

A nice pair of objects. What’s the Rigel going on ?

I recently replaced the RDF on my evostar 90/660 short tube with a 6x30 RACI mostly because it was annoying me when I had to go towards the zenith due to the way my back garden works (which is often) + light pollution glow issues. Rigel will go somewhere down towards the objective as the replacement RDF to help avoid the crazy yoga positions to a degree 

I got the 8mm EP as I have found that the weight of my BST 12mm + barlow has caused some moments of tube slipping excitement over the last few nights and as I have been chasing doubles recently someone suggested less glass might work better (plus I can go to my scopes theoretical max of 4mm with the barlow if I wanted).

It might be due to the way that the OTA is mounted on the pronto (top plate) compared to the side arm (az5). If you were to put a heavy load on the top when the mount head is moving towards the zenith I would image it might become unbalanced and potentially topple the tripod.

That is only a guess as I haven't experienced it feel unbalanced on the tripod at the zenith myself but I had some clutch slip the other night when I was pointed high in the sky and added the weight of a barlow on top of the EP + finderscope combo with my lightweight refractor OTA (I have never experienced with without the addition of the barlow weight). Otherwise it seems a fairly solid mount head though I don't have anything to compare it with of course

Finally after two days of "your local depot has recieved this item, its being delivered today" from Royal Mail. 

Rigel Quikfinder and BST 8MM  of course my local weather app is suggesting clouds for the next week and a half so thats about right.

13 hours ago, Jonny_H said:

The story of our lives! 🙄

The cloudy/rainy weather typically coincides with receiving new kit aswell...pretty weird! 🙃

I have a Rigel and a 8mm EP arriving today ... the weather in my app has gone from yellow / green maybe to full red for the next week and added in snow 😛

5 minutes ago, NGC 1502 said:

Excellent thanks for that 👍.  Red stars, often carbon stars, can look very red indeed perhaps the most obvious colour seen visually in a telescope at night.

I’d not heard of 119 Tauri and will check that out when I can.  When you’re hunting for M1 there’s a cute double star just 0.5 degrees east- that’s Struve 742, mags 7.1 & 7.5, 4 arc sec separation, nicely resolved at medium power.

Splitting Sirius from its faint companion is a tough call.  Multiple tries of mine have failed over the years....succeeded on just one occasion with my 10” Dob. The “pup” as it’s called was seen at 250x for about 20% of the time I was looking for it. Most of the time the seeing wasn’t steady enough......then short periods of better seeing.....bingo !

Rigel is much less difficult. In decent seeing my 70mm Pronto gets the job done. In poor seeing.....no go..... but always worth a try.

Ed.

 

Excellent thanks, I will add that to the list! 

Yes, I have been having a play with Rigel for the last 3 sessions but its a bit low in the sky and I seem to struggle with the focus shake as well as flaring. I have an 8mm EP coming which I am hoping will help as I think the combo of 12mm + barlow is maybe to much we will see

So last night I was hunting for M1 (Crab Nebula) north of Orion unsuccessfully near the end of the session and as I was panning I encountered an amazingly red star. Stunning to look at at both 18mm & 12mm and it held my attention till I finally succumbed to my numb toes on what was quite a frosty session!

Writing up my nightly report I had a good look at various stars in that region and have come to conclusion it was 119 Tauri which is a red supergiant and the second reddest star in the night sky behind Mu Cephi apparently  I will need to check its positioning again next time I am out to prove to myself it was definitely that but worth a look if you haven't already seen it! 

The rest of my session was a bit hit and miss I finally confirmed I had located the beehive cluster which was pretty magical on all magnifications as there were just more and more stars in the field! 

My other two targets were Rigel and Sirius to have a look at splitting them and whilst for both I got a hint of the smaller secondary I can't quite be sure it wasn't just my eyes playing tricks on me or an odd edge created by slight lack of focus / curve of my refractor. I found Sirius focusing was aided oddly by stacking a yellow #8 and an ND moon filter and just holding it over the lens to reduce the flaring.

19 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

One word : hovercraft

 

I think a simpler system like this would be more useful!

7 minutes ago, Marc1964 said:

Very sensible! I have had my 90/910 for two year now and bought it with an AZ3 mount for the princely sum of £60. I wanted to be sure that it would be used, and it has. I therefore feel OK about looking at alternatives/addition... 😁 

Good work on the price mine was alot more than that! With the shortube and the tripod extended I can get it through the two doors from my garage to outside (just!) if I get anything bigger than this then I'll have to wheel it out via the garage front door and navigate the rickety side gate so atm its perfectly sized for grab and go lol 

16 minutes ago, Marc1964 said:

Yes, I read somewhere in the forum that you had a Skywatcher I believe? I am thinking of the Bresser Messier AR-102S/600 version which supposedly has better build quality... However am also tempted by the AR-102S/460 which has an element of ED glass which is supposed to help with reducing CA to the equivalent of an F7 scope. Also tempted as I said above by a Long Pern but buying from EU and not understanding exactly how much custom charges are is putting me off somewhat! 

Yeah Evostar 90/660 took a bit of a punt buying it as no reviews but it seems fairly ok at least for me as a beginner I haven't seen it reviewed anywhere by someone who knows what they are looking at though so it'd be interesting to see what others with more experience think.

There is chromatic aberration though I don't find it to bad except on very bright objects under high magnification (though if its the moon a moon filter seems to fix it well enough). It also has field curvature at the edges but again that's very much a short tube thing it seems.  

The Skywatcher is a F7 scope if that helps but I have looked at Bressers before and I liked the look of the 127/635 or 127/1200 though I have no idea of the performance but I expect the hop from 90ish mm to nearly 130 would produce better images but I am trying not to get hung up on chasing new telescopes already!

35 minutes ago, Marc1964 said:

@Tiny Clanger Are you a founding member of the 'Dobsonian Telescope Liberation Front' perchance?

I actually did look into a small trolley of some sort but TBH didn't see anything that would carry the Bresser Messier 6" table top mount or the planetary securely without shaking. That would be bad for the scope and the idea of nightly collimation.... I know Bresser do a handle which is useful, but again it's either the base or finding a good support which is key.

I like the lovely contrasty image that a refractor gives and whilst I am well aware that for the price of a decent small refractor I could have a damn good dobson, the best telescope is the one you use the most, and I know, sadly, that no matter how good a small dobson is, I would use a small refractor more. 

This year the refractor. Next year a Mak 127.... 😁 

I have a refractor atm, 90/660 which is all setup to jump out as soon as there is any cloud break but I do keep looking at either a Mak 127 or maybe something like a classical cassegrain which seems to sound similar to a Mak but without the huge cooldown time but I need to read more into them.

I can justify upgrades to my current scope still at present (at least to myself) and I am setting myself the goal of not buying a new one till I am at least 1 if not 2 years into the hobby 😛 

55 minutes ago, AlexK said:

Darkened??? Are you sure it's not a defect? Dirt/dust/grease/protective film? The bright dot is no good either, but that's rather easy to fix. Perhaps, you've got a really bad RDF (just looked through the thread and can't see you showing it or stating the model). As even on cheap airsoft gun RDFs the window is transparent enough for 3-4m stars. I had a chance to use a handful of various RDF's in the past and even though some were really flimsy, the window transparency was never an issue to even consider the OEG method. Now I see why it was hard for you. Two eyes into Zenith with one hunting for the red dot IS a torture!

Hmm. Just in case. Are you aware of general basic eyes darkness adaptation measures mandatory for observing from light polluted location? Like turning off lights in your house behind you? Avoiding looking into bright light with your observing eye (e.g. a computer screen)? Wearing the eyepatch on the observing eye? And definitely begin with reducing the dot's brightness to the barely visible (I don't believe your new optical finder would be sufficient for pointing, as it's still just a keyhole in the sky, but I see the Rigel is on the way, it should fix that).

Besides, how two eyes could fix the parallax existing for one eye already? If it's there it is there, move your head and the dot will shift over the sky one eye or two doesn't matter at all.

Its a standard Skywatcher plastic one, maybe darkened is the wrong word but the lens at the end is tinted to some degree (its yellowish in the daylight) though I will double check for protective film in case I am being silly! Ultimately it works fine for bright stars or on clearer nights but if I get the purple soup washout I get fairly often in certain directions then I have no chance but I am getting better at guesstimating with my night sky app and binos (well the RACI now!)  Honestly I do wonder if I need to get over my contact lens aversion since having to swap from glasses (which inevitably steam up) to see the target then take them off for the EP as I find it more comfortable is annoying 😛 

My main trouble other than the large bright dot obscuring anything I was looking at was definitely the yoga positions even with a short tube as getting the right angle to even view the red dot was annoying into the zenith which is unfortunately where most of my gazing is due to the positioning of buildings / trees as explained at the start of the thread. The other night without the RDF I simply vaguely lined the top edge of the center of the tube up with the target star before fine tuning with the RACI which worked fairly well but I am hoping the Rigel will help alot as people speak highly of them.

Thanks for the kind suggestions but I think I am doing most of them (bar the pirate patch!). I am aware that light adaption is necessary though it can be tricky as I will sometimes get a temporary dazzle from either from the various bright street lights if I am not overly careful, security lights / neighbours window lights and my phone screen on occasion if I forget to unlock it first before accessing my skymap app. Its a bit of a balancing act normally but I manage fairly well mostly but have had to sit back and let me eyes readjust on occasion.  I turn off all the lights in my own house once I am out and only navigate by dim red LED torch if I need to check notes / EP / obstacles. I do try to shield at least one of my eyes (the better one) more than the other if I am moving about / switching EP by feel. My RDF on its dimmest setting is immensely bright and I haven't tried any of the mods kindly suggested to solve that as I decided to invest in a Rigel due to some birthday pennies (and the RACI)

Interesting but if I didnt use a second eye with my RDF then I wouldnt see anything to aim at as the reticule is darkened and the dot is very bright. If I just look through the sight with no dot on there are very few stars to be seen. 

Update!

So I managed to get out over the weekend and despite the nearly full moon (and a dropped 12mm EP!) I had a good night hunting doubles

- Almach, split at 12mm and well defined at 6mm (12mm + barlow), smaller secondary, I didn't observe any colours (gold / blue) this time alas

- Beta Mon, split at 12mm into two components, 12mm + barlow split into three components, it appeared as two primaries and a smaller secondary

- Zeta Cancri, had a little trouble finding this due to the excessive moonshine but I definitely found a star which split at 18mm into two components in the right sort of place. No further split at 12mm and then I lost my positioning when adding the barlow so will have to try again  

I did have a try at Sirius but its much to bright and to low so even filtered its to difficult  

Unfortunately Rigel and several of my other targets were either to low in the sky or had moved to be covered by buildings in various directions.

Will have to build a new double list for next time, good fun!

Honestly I leave you guys alone for one evening and this happens  

I have a Rigel coming so will hopefully solve all my RDF annoyances though you are welcome to continue the thread 🙈

In answer to a question I use both eyes when viewing the RDF but some zenithy angles were causing me struggles which I think I mentioned at the beginning way back. Of course the big question will be where to mount the Rigel on a short tube refractor! Thinking top of the scope mid / front copius blutac experiments will no doubt occur

Makes sense then Ill have to do what you suggest @Zermelo

@Pixies sure here is a low res one lol! Yeah I imagine thats what happened I usually try to not breathe when first looking lol

Got out last night after 10 for an hour and a half even though my apps all said heavy cloud when I stuck my head out for a look it was clear. Hid from the nearly full moon behind the hedge and did doubles which I was pleased with splitting most of the ones I could see! 

I also managed to drop my 12mm onto the concrete 😔messed up the cap but had a good look at the moon and didnt see damage so hopefully got away with it! 

I have decided to buy a bag thing that you attach between the tripod legs to bolster the height in my tray so it doesnt happen again hopefully!

1 hour ago, Zermelo said:

Good to hear it.  I'm equally impressed with mine, in the short time I've had it.

Was it the eyepiece that steamed up or the objective lens? I did have dewing issues with the objective but found a scrap piece of plastic tube the right size that I push on when I need to.

The alignment shouldn't change with different eyepieces, more likely that it's difficult to judge the centre of an EP field without crosshairs. I line up the scope on a point with a wide EP, then switch to the shortest I have, centre that as best I can and then adjust the finder onto the same point. I do it daylight on a terrestrial target so that it's not moving. By using a shorter EP the field is narrower, so any error in judgement will be smaller in real terms.

Ah I will try that thanks I didnt think about using the shorter EP that for some reason!

The finder eye peice rather than the objective but left it alone a few mins and it seemed to be fine!

Mine didnt come with any instructions on how to sort it though I have managed the only bit Im unclear on is the metal bolt that sounds like it has a spring near the eye peice. I guessed it was to hold the scope inside the rings with different tensions then allow you to make better fine adjustments (as one of my small screws is basically all the way out) but it didnt actually change anything that I could ascertain.

Haha @Tiny Clanger I am the same zip lock with all the cleaning kit! I have only played with cleaning filters and some EP (blower and cloth) so far. My objective does show some dew marking but honestly until I see any effect on my view I am inclined not to clean it as I am sure a big cleaning mark across it will be worse!

Sorry to dredge an older thread but wanted to provide an update!

Finally got first light with my 6x30 RACI and its changed my life. I am eagerly awaiting the Rigel to get RDF back but wow to finderscopes. Can actually see stars to hop and target when in the wash out from the moon etc. 
 

I did have a small issue with the EP steaming up but it cleared quickly.

One minor niggle is that whilst its correctly set for my 25mm when changing EP it is no longer centered but I guess thats to be expected as its a fixed focal point 🤔

I have a 90mm refractor thats f7.3 so fairly similar. I am a novice and spent about £200 on it (and tripod). I got it as my first telescope mostly because it was a similar price to the Mak102 I was looking at but was actually in stock.

After several months (though alas not many nights) with the telescope I can honestly say I am happy I got it over the Mak.

It has practically zero cooldown so I can pop out whenever there is a small cloud break. It is light and portable so I can easily position it around the garden and its easy to store in the garage. 
 

I have found it excels at wide, lower power views of constellations and star clusters but I have been able to dabble in other areas. Ive seen some of the M list of DSO though they can be a challenge but that might also be because I am still learning to “see”. Currently I am working on doubles though there is a limit there are plenty that work nicely so far (and frustrations!). Views of the moon are good as well as Mars when the seeing is good.

Its true though it wont be able to do everything but its fun finding the limits. CA works against me on some brighter stars (Sirius / Rigel) and the moon shows minor CA without a moon filter at high mag but overall my eye isnt to sensitive maybe because I have no experience with other telescopes!

Its true though spend more, more apeture etc but for someone coming into the hobby (especially with no idea of different telescopes) you want to maybe reign in the initial outlay or have something you just use and dont have to maintain to hard or spend time setting up smaller refractors are an easy answer I guess.

Also saves some money towards the multitude of upgrades (he says having spent more than telescope cost at this point).

I have an AZ pronto with an aluminium tripod. It comfortably takes my short tube 90mm refractor but I would be hesitant to put anything to heavy on it. I tried to find this previously and came to a similar 3kg weight limit which can be increased significantly by adding a streel tripod. There is a whole range using az pronto however so you could look up their ota weight.

5 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

Not fair!  My forecast is showing red for the foreseeable.  Of course it's sunny and clear NOW! 😖

This annoys me the most, UK weather can't even be consistent during the same day! Still gives us something to moan about I suppose, I am waiting with baited breath to see if my neighbour chops down any more of his huge pine trees that border my property and were providing me with a tiny oasis of dark from all the street lights