PeterStudz

As well as other objects I saw M11 - wild duck cluster - at last, after trying for the 1st time last year and failing. Had to wait until about 2am but worth it. I think I was expecting something larger and probably went right past it. It’s a lovely sight at medium power and can imagine that it would look very nice in a dark sky.

Even though it’s not fully dark now I’m looking forward to looking at M57 and some of these other targets during the summer months. Hopefully with a last minute camping trip to somewhere with less light pollution too!

These are lovely sketches. And it does seem that sketches are the only way to get a feeling of what it is really like to view at the eyepiece.

5th to 6th May 2022, Southampton, Bortle 7, Skywatcher Skyliner 200p Dob. PSAlign Pro PushTo. Been busy so it’s taken a while for me to write up anything (I started then stopped) but it was so much fun, if rather tiring, that it might be useful for someone. This, as the title suggests, was completely unplanned especially since I had to get up at 7am for work the next day. At about 11pm I had a look outside before I thought I’d head off to bed. The sky looked nice, clear & dark with what moon there was clearing out of the way. A scan around with my binoculars, the forecast for the rest of the week and the fact true darkness was rapidly fading in the near future had me dithering for about 30mins - it did look decent - so I thought I’d take the Dob outside for, maybe, a quick hour session. Now, I kind of knew that it wouldn’t just be 1 hour, it never is! After having a coffee as the Dob cooled for about 20mins I started observing at about 11:45. And for once it was wasn’t freezing cold, a light coat was enough with no need to wrap up which was nice. For some time I have been playing with the PushTo feature in PSAlign Pro with my phone strapped to the OTA. So I aligned to Arcturus, Sync to Target and pushed-to M3. And immediately there it is was in the 25mm. I used PSAlign Pro in order to find most targets and every time bar one the target was in the low power eyepiece - it was impressive! M3 It was in my “dark” part of my sky. At low power it was just a smudge and I changed eyepieces to try a tease out more stars. At 12mm I could make out some stars in and around the cluster. I also like using a 5mm eyepiece on globulars. Here I could see a couple of dozen stars “winking” in and out of view as I nudged the Dob. M13 This was now getting higher in the sky and coming into my “dark” patch. Even though it was significant lower than M3 it was obviously brighter. Individual stars starting to show in my 12mm eyepiece. I decided to leave it for a while and go back later. M92 This was a bit higher than M13, looked might “tighter” than M13 & M3. Again, individual stars starting to show in my 12mm. M81 & M82 These are the only galaxies that I’ve been able to observe from my garden. I have seen them better but they aren’t in a good position now, starting to go over the top of my house. Still, nice getting a view of both in the same FOV in my 25mm. I also practiced randomly knocking the Dob and then manually (without pushto) star hoping back to target. I did this with other targets too as it’s obviously good practice. M3, M13 & M92 I went back and forth between these globules and comparing. The PushTo of PSAligh Pro making this task easy. It was interesting watching the view of M13 improve as it slowly got higher in the sky. Eventually and even with the 25mm I could resolve stars! The first time I’ve been able to do this at such low power. Higher magnification revealed what looked like dozens of stars winking in and out. And at times I could even make out the propeller - another first. M57 One of my favourites and seems to do well in a light polluted sky. Also the first time I’d since it since last year. I tend to like viewing this at relatively low magnification - just enough to bring out the ring - as to me it looks “spooky” with a background and frame of other stars. I can remember when I first located it last year, just by accident whilst blindly scanning the sky. It immediately jumped out as something unusual and it was a “what on earth is that” moment. M27 It was getting late now, about 2:15am, but I decided to have one last blast and view M27. I’d tried last year, found it, but the few times I’d tried it was rather disappointing - just a very faint smudge. However, this time was different. Even though it still wasn’t that high in the sky I could easily make out its characteristic shape. Looked best in my 12mm. With averted vision I could also make out subtle structure. Had me going “ohhh & ahhh…” in my head. I was chuffed! Finally called it a night at around 2:35am. Packing up I noticed that the telescope did not have any condensation, even after brining it inside for a while. Now that doesn’t happen very often. Got to bed at about 3:15 but with all the concentration wasn’t asleep until around 4am. With just 3 hours sleep I was knackered and it took me several days to recover. Though definitely worth it for what was (so far) one of my best nights of the year. The only negative was that it was a school night and my daughter couldn’t take part. Some things that I’ve learned…. My sky is generally darkest between 1 - 3am. Not just slightly but a significant difference. If you can stay up this late and there’s still astro dark, it’s worth it. This night definitely had good seeing and transparency. But another impact might have been all the work I’ve put into the telescope - eg flocking, stripping it down, cleaning, collimating etc. Probably a combination of these things. Although I’d used PushTo I’d also practiced star hopping. After you get familiar with the space & stars near a target star hoping starts to become intuitive. Often I haven’t a clue what all the stars are called but I can recognise the pattern of stars as find my way around and get closer to target. A bit like finding your around a forest when off path. You don’t need to know what the trees are called but with experience you can recognise the pattern of trees, plants and landscape, eventually navigating with ease - without a map/gps and without much thought.

It’s rubbish isn’t it. And it shows more about their disturbed way of thinking than anything else.

Yes, 100% personal preference. But some people can be a bit excessive with this. Here I was being a little tongue on check. Eg I had a white smartphone and someone told me “am I not worried that white is girly”. I politely told them where to go. And don’t forget the handy knob at the front. I’ve got so use to that. Any Dob without one I’d drill a hole and install one. Not difficult but it’s just another personal preference.

Thanks for posting that. Hadn’t seen it. Interesting article. And just another note. I have been using the PushTo feature in PSAlign-Pro. I know that it hasn’t got all the bells and whistles of Starsense but it’s simple to use and in a recent 3 hour session located ever target bar one (and all I did was align it to a star again) with ease in a 3 hour session. It’s all I need and more.

The Starsense 8” has a handle! I’d almost buy it just for that. Although I drilled holes in my Skyliner and fitted a handle so if I bought a StellaLyra one of the first things I’d do is take it apart drill some holes and fit a handle. And while I was at it I’d flock it too. Although I don’t disagree with the overall conclusion much of this is subjective. I also really do not like the all black look. But for me white with black trim is really nice. This maybe down to the little reflector that my parents bought me as a kid. It was white & black so there’s some nostalgia. I also like doing solar and the bottom section of my home made base is black. And it really heats up - it feels like you could almost fry an egg on it. Meanwhile the white sections stay cool. Because I don’t like all black I’d also spray paint a black OTA white (I’m serious) while I was fitting a handle, flocking, fitting bobs knobs and the milk bottle mod to the secondary.

I have an 8 inch Dob and I use binoculars before most sessions. As well as being fun and something in its own right it helps me: 1. Relax and get my eyes use to the dark while the Dob cools. Relaxing is just as important as getting eyes in tune with the dark. 2. See what the quality of the sky is like. 3. Plan star hops. Since I’ve had binoculars every new star hop is planned in binoculars first. It’s so much easier and saves time at the finder & eyepiece. And some objects, like open clusters, actually look better in my binoculars than they do in the Dob. So I end up seeing more than I would with just the Dob.

That’s the story of a lot of astronomy - ie don’t expect instant results and above all have patience. This winter/spring I’ve missed some things that I wanted to observe (weather, being busy, object not in a good part of my sky) and now have to wait until next year. But in some ways that’s what makes it appealing too.

Wonderful. You are getting rather good at this!

I haven’t been doing this for long but I agree. Eg during the lockdowns I’m convinced that generally the sky was darker. And I guess that isn’t surprising.

PS - in my Bortle 7 back garden time of night makes a huge difference - eg 2am is significantly darker than mid-night. Also area of the sky. For me E—SE is best or right overhead. But anywhere near Southampton Docks is appalling for obvious reasons.

I’m in Southampton. Last year ClearOutside had me in Bortle 8. Now it says Bortle 7. The sky definitely hasn’t got any darker! And I’ve never been able to see the Milky Way. I have been to a few places that are labelled Bortle 5 (although not with a telescope) and haven’t had luck with making out the Milky Way, although maybe I wasn’t there on the right night. However, I’ve seen it from Bortle 4 but it was faint and you had to be well adapted to the dark. I’ve been to one Bortle 2 site and it jumped out like a sore thumb, even without being use to the dark. The Bortle Scale is a guide and as such I find it does a good job.

I tried this last year with a Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145p and iPhone 12 from my back garden in Southampton - Bortle 7. In the eyepiece I could see absolutely nothing and I tried and tried over several moonless nights, even with averted imagination. But given the equipment plus light pollution it didn’t surprise me. But taking a snap with my phone and there it was! At least I knew that I was in the right place and my star hoping had been a success. I’ve cropped the image (it was small on the original) but you can just make out some structure to the galaxy. Sure, it’s a grainy old picture but I was chuffed just to capture something… anything! @MartinT Have you tried M81 & M82? I had far more success on those two.

I started out in a similar way. My then 9yr old was showing an interest in the night sky and I thought it would be a great thing for us to do together, which it is. Although until we both started using a telescope it was hard to tell what we’d be interested in looking at. I imaged more deep sky objects than planets but I didn’t appreciate the practical aspects. Deep sky objects require a lot of patience - you need to get your eyes use to the dark; it’s more of a winter thing and it can literally be freezing cold; because of light pollution here the best views tend to be around 1-2am… all of these things work against children. Well, they work against anyone! After a while it was obvious that she preferred planets and I was happy with it all. Although we were lucky in that a member on here gifted us an old 200p Dob which required some work. This did help with viewing the likes of Jupiter & Saturn which my daughter wanted to view at every opportunity. However, we are still using the 1145p. We got a solar filter for it mainly for viewing last years partial eclipse but of course it was cloudy! But we discovered how much fun looking at the sun was. In fact Alice prefers solar to the majority of deep sky. And of course it’s during the day when it can be warm; no late nights & no need to get eyes use to the dark. Wide field views of objects like star clusters can be a little more work. For star clusters ideally you want to find something that you can view with a good about of surrounding black space. It’ll then look more impressive than simply filling the eyepiece with stars. Often they will have a shape and you want to be able to see the whole thing in order to appreciate that. And when surrounded by black space issues with a fast scope like coma/edge distortions aren’t so apparent. To make it more interesting for Alice I try and make sure I know some interesting details about the object - not just it’s name and the fact it’s a load of stars! Sorry for rambling on and I hope this helps.

I have a very similar telescope - a Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145p. One thing I would say is get a white light solar filter. I’ve had more fun with this than anything else. And with the solar cycle hotting up it’s a good time. I’d also echo what has been said already and get a 2x Barlow. I had a stock 2x Barlow with the telescope but it was rubbish. Replacing it with something reasonable was a good move. For high power I find that the 5mm BST StarGuider plus 2x Barlow works well, especially on the moon. I wear glasses when observing and the eye relief has been fine for me. For planets like Jupiter and Saturn 170x is the max I found possible when the seeing was good. I was even able to see the Great Red Spot on a good night although it was small. And you’ll easily be able to see Saturns rings. You should be able to get a little more magnification on the moon. The telescope is really best at wide field and I’ve had better views of things like the Pleiades and Beehive Cluster with this telescope than the much larger Skywatcher Skyliner 200p Dob which I also own.

Nice to see a handle on a Dob. I added one to my Skyliner 200p and it’s one of the best/useful mods I’ve done.

I haven’t been in this hobby for long and I didn’t think I’d be interested in solar. But last year I purchased a white light filter in order to see the partial eclipse. Of course it was cloudy 😕. However, I was wrong and I find it really enjoyable, so much so that I’m seriously considering investing in some dedicated gear. I’ve also noticed that kids often enjoy it too. My daughter does but then she’s interested in all astronomy. As an example - at the end of April my daughter had a friend and over for the day. Apparently she’s not that interested but she was interested when she looked at the sun/sunspots. At that time there was an impressive set of sunspots and it got a “wow” from her. And she spent more the the “quick look and go” that you can get from children. Probably a number of reasons eg - they like the essential safety briefing; no need to get eyes use to the dark; it’s not freezing cold; because it’s daytime they can easily do other things & dip in and out.

I did not know about that, what a great idea! Thanks for sharing. This does remind me. Our street has a WhatsApp group and I’ve used that to ask if anyone can loan various tool, bits and bobs etc when I’ve been in a pickle. Most are more than happy to help if close by. If you have something similar it would be worth considering.

Had a short session on the moon last night. Sadly couldn’t spend long. Seeing was OK but could have been better. Skywatcher Skyliner 200p, BST StartGuider 12mm, iPhone 12, cheap no-name phone holder. Single shot image, cropped, rotated and with basic editing on the phone using Photoshop Fix.

I did these images in April. The first on 20th and the second on 24th. Was going to post but life got in the way - seems like ages ago now! On the 24th, towards the end of the season, the sun was in and out of fair weather cloud. Took a short video as I thought it gave some depth and scale. I’m really enjoying solar (initially it was an afterthought) so much so that I’m thinking of investing in something a little more “practical”. Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145p on EQ1, Astrozap Baader Solar Filter, iPhone 12 with basic no-name phone holder. Single shot images with basic editing and cropping on the phone in Photoshop Fix. FullSizeRender.MOV

I also agree on the conventional 2-arm mount - it’s simple to make one that’s rock solid. When I made mine I used a cheap jigsaw. I don’t own a router. I bought the jigsaw several years ago for another protect. Then it cost £20 from Scewfix. Looking now it’s £25 but it’s not a lot and has been said is useful for other jobs.

That’s what I’d be interested in. I tried some of that Black 3.0 - the blackest black black in the western universe - and I wasn’t impressed. With the test sections of plastic, aluminium, glass & steel that I tried it would flake off if you sneezed, especially on glass & metal. It went straight in the bin. Fortunately I’d only purchased a small sample bottle. I then went back to blackboard paint. The adhesion on that was good and it’s black enough, or far blacker than what I was painting.

@Penumbrella I started out trying to make the background of each image as dark as I could. But as you suggest, in the process you can’t help but loose some detail. And I have so much light pollution (my garden is Bortle 7) that the background is almost always far too light anyway. However, sometimes, with a bright target like the Orion Nebula I can get away with it. I now tend to look at this as an aid to observing, rather than full on astrophotography. Eg when I was trying to find the Leo Triplet I tried for a good two hours to see it in my small telescope, but as hard as I could try I couldn’t see the slightest smudge. As a last resort I stuck my iPhone over the eyepiece, took a 30sec test shot and they they were. Faint but there. I was chuffed! And at least I was in the right place - my star hoping had worked. Or when I was trying to show my daughter some of the moon landing sites. In order to make it easier and a little more fun I attached the phone camera over the eyepiece and put it on a live video view. It was then easy to show the features by pointing to them on the screen. Then remove the phone and have a look down the eyepiece. Of course with the moon you don’t need to have eyes adapted to the dark.