PeterStudz

Interesting subject. Now, I could turn the question on it’s head and say “why do AP?” When you’ve got all these amazing AP images on here, on the internet and in books. Why not just look at those and save yourself a shed load of time and money? I do sort of know the answer and many of the images are incredible. I’ve dabbled with smartphone images too, although I don’t consider this AP. It could also be that visual astronomy isn’t for you. People are different and that’s a good thing. This does remind me of something. My daughter recently asked a question: “what would a nebula look like if you got close to it in a spacecraft?” I don’t really know the answer but I bet something like the Orion Nebula would not look like any of the AP images. For me observing is or should be about having fun. It’s about the journey (someone mentioned that before) and the event. Apart from having a small “department store telescope” as a kid I’m a beginner having started two years ago when my daughter showed an interest. I thought it would be an excellent thing for us to do together and it would get us both outside. I’m an outdoor person and so is my daughter but too much of todays lifestyle is based indoors, often sat staring at computers/smartphones. An example of an event is camping out in the garden with my daughter, looking up at the stars, scanning the sky with binoculars, looking for shooting stars, listening to foxes, seeing hedgehogs just before sunrise, hearing the dawn chorus, drinking hot chocolate and toasting marshmallows… looking in the telescope is just the icing on the cake! As a Dad you’ll remember these kind of events for the rest of you life. And for us it’s also fun! Or when we took a small telescope on holiday to a place that was a dark location. To make sure everything was still working I set the telescope up in the evening just outside our hotel on a path in front of the sea. Wasn’t sure what to look at but chose Saturn as an obvious “testing” target. Now, the view was actually quite good with the Cassini Division visible. But what surprised me was that within a few minutes I had people who were just passing asking questions, then looking at Saturn in the telescope. Soon after that I had a queue of people. At one point someone thought I was doing some sort of organised demo. But the nice thing that I noticed was that everyone who looked at Saturn came away with big smiles on their faces. And going to a dark site. Here, while on holiday, the Milky Way was a swathe of bright light. And I could actually make out the lagoon nebula naked eye and (what impressed me most) the swan nebula naked eye too. I never knew that was even possible! We also had a friend come along with his family. Like me he’s in his late 50’s but had never seen the Milky Way. Although like most people he’s seen lots of AP images he didn’t actually know what the Milky Way was until I told him. Having someone go “wow, look at that!” in a telescope or just when simply looking up at the night sky is very rewarding.

Don’t ask me. It’s been a running joke with my family & friends that, even though I’m in my late 50’s, I’ve never bought socks in my life. I rely on getting them from other people as Christmas and birthday presents. Every year I ask for them and so far so good. It’s also the same with pants.

Last summer I took my Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145p on an aircraft. The OTA, mount, eyepiece and accessories all fitted into a medium size hand luggage case. I even had room for a few cloths which doubled as packing. The only thing that went into the hold was a lightweight aluminium tripod. And it would have been possible to cut the tripod down so that it also fitted into the same hand luggage case. For travelling and with a small reflector, I prefer a tripod over a small Dob base. With a tripod there’s no need to find a table or similar in order to bring it up to eye level. Also handy as some of the time I was walking and had to setup over very rough ground with rocks. Again, a tripod is no problem here.

Yes, I was surprised how good Mars was. Eg I could see detail in the albedo areas and I’m sure it would have got better as the planet got higher, but I now have light rain in Southampton!

Just had to rush everything in as it’s starting to rain! A Shame as it was shaping up to be a good night 🙁

There are some nice sharp views of the moon with very little “boiling”. Clouds holding off. On Mars Syrtis Major just coming into view along the limb.

Just come in for a break after a short session in Southampton with the 200p Dob. Clouds coming and going. Jupiter was a bit disappointing (contrast poor) but it was starting to get low. Mind, I think I’ve seen the best of it for this year. Mars on the other hand not bad at all. Interestingly the clouds actually helping at times giving a sort of “filter”. The planet is no longer a disc with a slight phase. The North Polar Hood is still visible but getting thin. Albedo features visible and Mare Cimmerium was nice and clear at times and could get magnification up to 300x. Syrtis Major will swing into view soon and I hope to get a nice view if (and the forecast isn’t great) the clouds stay away or at least I have some gaps. Haven’t looked at the moon through the telescope yet but it looks nice!

Yes, and thank you. I got it for free in April 2021 from a member on here. It came without a base and had simply been neglected. Now, at that time I’d only been in the hobby for 4 months so was very much a beginner. But it is well put together and super easy to work on, take apart, and put back together again. I’ve attached some pictures. The 200p has been and still is fantastic and I’ve had so much fun with it. My daughter too who also enjoys astronomy. In fact I’m just about to put it out now for some views of Mars, Jupiter, the moon and whatever else I can see.

I have a Skywatcher skyliner 1145p. It has the same focuser as the Skywatcher Heritage 100mm Dob. And I needed Teflon tape on that to remove slop when focusing. I don’t have any experience with the SW 130 Dob, but it’s popular, well regarded and I’ve never heard anyone complain about the mount.

I made a bracket for my RDF out of bits I had down the shed - a metal bracket, some scrap plywood, screws and bolts. It cost virtually nothing, is light and has the RDF and RACI as close together as possible. The RACI that I use is the Astro Essentials - works fine.

Ask 1001 people about finders and you’ll get 1001 different “must have” solutions 😀. They are very personal and there isn’t a right answer. However, for me the above suggestion is sound advice. Eg I have a 114mm reflector and a 200mm Dob. My house is in an urban area with much light pollution and this might have an impact on what will work for you. On the small 114mm I use a cheap and light RDF plus a low power eyepiece as a finder. I’ll use the RDF in order to get in the right part of the sky. Because of light pollution more often than not that’s just a black part of sky - no stars in the RDF. Then I use a low power eyepiece as a finder in order to star hop. This effectively gives me a stable, comfortable “RACI” with a 114mm aperture. How on earth anyone star hops with a straight through finder I’ll never know! With the 200p Dob it’s not easy to use an eyepiece in order to get the magnification low enough to use as a finder. For me the solution is to use a cheap RDF plus RACI. If I had a 150PDS I’d probably go down this route but you could try the other option and see if a cheap RDF plus low power eyepiece works for you.

Nice sketches! As for observing and being a “composite” - this is all part of observing a target like Mars. Well, it certainly is for me. Typically I’ll spend a couple of hours on Mars, sometimes more, and piece together an image in my head. Of course in this time the planet rotates somewhat but this helps in figuring out what you are seeing. And if I think back the next morning that image in my head is a composite of what a saw during the night before.

I should add to this if/when I have time. But one thing I can quickly add… I’ve seen M33 at a Bortle 2 site while on holiday using a a basic 4.5 inch reflector that cost about £120. I can’t even see this at home in my Bortle 7 location in my 8 inch Dob. Using the same 4.5 inch reflector I saw M8 (lagoon) in a Bortle 1-2 site. It was truly jaw dropping! A UHC filter brought out a few more details but without it I could even make out colours. It’s was absolutely stunning and all the images that I’ve seen do not do it justice even when at the eyepiece on a small telescope at a dark site. I can only image what it would look like with more aperture.

Skywatcher 200p Dob on DIY EQ platform, Starguider 5mm, variable polarising filter, with my new iPhone 14. Image manually selected from a 30 sec video. No stacking. Cropped, resized, basic editing on the phone with Lightroom. Time video taken about 23:40. North at the bottom as it appeared in the Dob. I shot the video at the end of a long on/off observing session that involved many targets plus some friends. All good fun. Transparency good after an early shower, although I wouldn’t say that seeing was anything special. There was a strong jet stream according to the forecast. Might have turned out better if done slightly earlier when Syrtis Major was more central. In the image it’s right on the limb (left hand side). Still, I find it interesting what can be seen on the image and in the eyepiece. At the eyepiece the North Polar Hood was thin but obvious, but there was an even more obvious white patch/area near (some of it over) Syrtis Major. Although not as apparent as it was at the eyepiece, it’s come out in the image, at about 10 o’clock to 10:30. Maybe clouds or a storm? Hard to be sure. I wasn’t the only one and there’s some discussion here…

@Stu, I was just having breakfast, going through the video that I took and came on here to see if anyone else saw it! I agree that it looked more concentrated at the eyepiece. It’s probably down to the frame I selected showing the albedo features better than the white areas. My daughter noticed it too. She said something like “why is there white on the edge”? Hellas Planitia stood out really well too. First time I’ve noticed it quite like that. And I agree, Mars can be amazing!

@Stu, I was observing Mars at the same time and noticed the white area that you mentioned. Just before I packed away, at about 23:40, I took a smartphone video. Here’s a quick single frame. I’ve rotated it so it’s orientated the same way as your maps. By this time Syrtis Major is right on the limb so only just visible, but you can see quite an extensive white patch. Is that it? At the moment I’m putting it down to clouds or maybe a storm?

Just come in for dinner after a session that started in daylight. Had some friends around with a couple of young boys and they weren’t going to stay too long. So got the 200p Dob out at 3pm to cool and started looking for Jupiter at about 3:30pm. I used my phone strapped to the OTA plus the app PSAlign Pro with PushTo to locate Jupiter even though it wasn’t visible naked eye just yet. Worked a charm and we could even make out the GRS. The kids were impressed Later on as it got darker we were treated to Ganymede appear, as if but magic, from behind the disc. Had a brief interruption from a passing light shower which soon cleared. Had a quick look at Saturn and even though it was low could just make out the Cassini Division. Again, the kids were impressed. Then onto the thin crescent moon before they went home. I also had a look at Mars with my daughter. Still a tad on the low side and seeing could be better. But the North Polar Hood obvious as was Syrtis Major which was almost bang centre on the disc. Will have another got later. There’s also a lot of dew.

Happy Christmas John! I also have a 2” to 1.25 adapter/extension tube that has a filter thread on the end. Can’t remember where I got it from but it saves taking the filter off/on when changing eyepieces. For the variable polarising filter I adjust it until any diffraction spikes from Mars are almost gone. That seems to be roughly the optimum position and cuts out any glare. I have a few Starguiders. The 12mm and 5mm are the ones I use on Mars the most. The 12mm seems to have good contrast, better than the 5mm. I’ve used a 2x Barlow on the 12mm to give 200x and very occasional and in good seeing, a 3x Barlow for 300x. It’s certainly worth trying different eyepiece options to see which works best.

Nice report! As far as Mars goes and for what it’s worth - don’t want to tell you how to duck eggs, your certainly more experienced than me - here’s what I’ve found since observing it this year, from the summer until now. The EQ platform, which I’ve made following your instructions on here, has been great for the reasons you give. Especially later in the night when Mars is high. I find nudging my Don near zenith difficult at times. But once you have it in the centre of the FOV the platform does the work. After a while there’s some drift, but just tapping the end of the OTA is enough at high magnification to centre it again. And of course the higher something is then generally the better the seeing. Being familiar with a target helps. The more you look the more you see. On Mars I’ve used a blue filter - #82A. Now I don’t like the view that it gives and I don’t find it helps at all with albedo features. But it does bring out any white - eg clouds and ice over the poles. I’ve used it to try and see clouds/ice and then removed it. Once I’ve seen it using the filter I find it easier to see without - once seen it difficult to un-see. For my 8” Dob (I think this will vary depending on the telescope) I find a variable polarising filter really helps, especially with small details. For other planets, eg Jupiter and Saturn I don’t think it helps at all, but on Mars, which will always be small and very bright, it does. Making sure I DON’T get my eyes use to the dark really helps me with colour contrast on Mars. I’ll look at my phone screen for a while and then go back to the eyepiece. Or go back inside for a coffee and then immediately back to the eyepiece. When I’ve done this sometimes the difference on what I can see has been amazing. Another pair of eyes. My daughter has better eyesight than me, although that’s not what it’s about. Eg I’ll ask her “what can you see?” Occasionally she has spotted something (can be a tiny detail) I’ve missed/overlooked. After she’s told me what she’s seen I can then sometimes see it too.

Thanks. It’s certainly fun to try and that’s what it’s all about. I also think that smartphone astronomy pictures should be as quick and as easy as possible. Ideally you want to send as little time fiddling/processing as possible. Ideally none at all. When I worked in IT a large part of my job was spent trying to make the systems we had as intuitive and as simple as possible. Let the computers do the work. Although I’ve left that world I still have that philosophy

I’ve been busy the last few days. Here’s another frame. I’ve added some red, although Mars looks more yellow in the eyepiece. And I’ve rotated it so that north is up. I’m the short video there’s only about 4 seconds where it’s at its best.

After some inspiration from @Mart29 I decided to dive this a go with my Skywatcher 200p Dob. Why I haven’t tried before I don’t know. I’ve been observing Mars since the summer. Conditions were far from idea. There was a strong jetstream and I had high cloud rapidly developing. So I only got a quick 12 second video using my iPhone 12 before the clouds rolled in. The eyepiece used is a Starguider 5mm. All I’ve done is manually select a good frame from the video. Crop and do some really basic editing using the standard iPhone camera app. And I’m sure it would be possible to get better. But the north Polar Hood stands out and at least you can recognise some albedo features.

Thanks, although I didn’t do much. It was through my Skywatcher 200p Dob, using a Starguider 5mm. I used a standard (not Pro) iPhone 12, which is obviously over 2 yrs old now, but upped the video to 4K at 60fps. Had to take the brightness right down using the slider in standard video mode - no fancy app. There’s a guy on here who used an Android phone with similar results. I was in a rush as I could see clouds coming in. The video was just 12 seconds long and all I did was crop the video and then manually select what looked like a good frame, screen shot it, adjusting contrast a tad using the stock iPhone video editing app. That’s it. Getting a better result is surely possible and why I haven’t given it a go before I don’t know!

Just come in after an off and on session on Mars in Southampton, Hoped to do a bit more but had high cloud coming and going. Now total cloud cover. After inspiration from a member on here I tried a quick smartphone video capture. Despite seeing being rather average and after a very quick look at a best frame I got this. You can actually recognise it! The north polar hood stands out well. Off to bed now. I’ll have a better look at the video tomorrow.

Yes, that’s a good point. It’s not that well thought out and can get in the way in certain positions. But at home, as my view from my garden is E-SE-SW (house blocks the north) I mounted it on the other side of the mount to “normal” and never had a problem from them on.