PeterStudz

Sounds fun and my kind of thing!

About this time last year, when I first found M81/M82, using an even smaller Skywatcher 1145p on and even wobblier EQ1,  I used my late dads old 7x50 1960’s binoculars to do the star hop to M81 even though I couldn’t see M81/M82 in the binoculars in my light polluted sky. Then used a combination of red dot finder and low power eyepiece (as a finder) to follow the hop I’d done in the binoculars.

I now also have a 200p Dob with a 9x50 finder and when I’ve found a target for the first time, centred in the eyepiece, I’ll often go back and look in the finder then do a noddy sketch of the star pattern I can see. I then look at the sketch the next time/night I have a chance to go for the target again. It’s amazing how this jogs my memory and enables me to instantly recognised the area of sky in the finder once again. 

Like finding your way around a forest without a map these things eventually become second nature. 

15 hours ago, Stu said:

Crazy how the seeing can be so different even not that far away. Perhaps because I’m looking over the town it is worse here, not sure. Might need to head south of Crewkerne for some better views.

I was observing last night from my garden in Southampton. Transparency was good but seeing poor. Low magnification on the moon was good but up the power and there was a wobble that spoilt the view.

I also wanted to do a star test and I could really notice it there - virtually impossible to do. It improved slightly later on but it was like watching an episode of Roobarb and Custard (showing my age there!).

Great project. Thanks for sharing. Please let us know how you get on. 

I’ve got a 1145p on EQ1 as our first telescope. Although it’s now somewhat taken second fiddle to a Skywatcher Skyliner 200p it’s a surprisingly capable little telescope. Had a lot of fun with it even with the limitations of the mount. 

I’m now thinking of mounting it on a AZ-GTi plus better tripod. @astrochumak what tripod are you using in your pictures? I’m also thinking of turning it into a travel scope. Something that will all fit into an airline cabin bay. 

On 31/01/2022 at 21:35, Spile said:

I’ve ordered the Lacerta dual speed upgrade for the standard Crayford focussed. I will need to be patient however as it’s not due for delivery until April/May! 

Yes, I’ve had my eye on that too. And until recently due delivery date was Feb/March!  

Lovely shots @kev100. And I’m envious of your dark (for me at least) sky. I’m in Southampton and especially with the docks a blaze of light all night and every night, it does suffer from light pollution to say the least.  Piddletrenthide is in a great part of the country. About 20 yrs ago, before I was into telescopes, I’d would go past and through there on a regular basis. 

@bosun21 - thanks for that. I might just get one and upgrade. Although, like many, I have a list of upgrade so it’ll have to join my list

Sadly I missed the fun as I was busy all day. I do have some spare time tomorrow, Monday, but the forecast doesn’t look great

I have a Skywatcher 200p Dob. And I’m also guilty of having a cheap UHC. It’s a Svbony UHC. For me on the Orion Nebula it darkens the overall view, gives the stars a greenish hue, but improves the contrast. Eg the the “wings” of the nebula extent somewhat further and I can see more structure to the nebulosity.

I also have a feeling that your light pollution will play a part. I suffer from Bortle 7 sky’s.

Whether spending 3 times more on something like the Astronomik UHC would show me something 3 times better I obviously can’t say. But I might well try and if it is that much better sell the Svbony on eBay.

Another way to show a different view of the Orion Nebula is to hover your smartphone camera (Surely everyone has a smartphone these days!) over the eyepiece. I’m not talking about taking a picture. Or better still use a cheap smartphone holder. Then you should see vivid colours too. Last year, when I first showed my then 9 yr old daughter the Orion Nebula in a telescope, she thought it nice enough but I could tell she was a tad disappointed. But when I carefully positioned my phone over the eyepiece the view literally had her jumping up and down.

No worries @DamianL. I’m certainly no expert so there could be something else.

It sounds like you are doing the right things. There’s much to learn in this hobby and my advice is to take your time, don’t give up (sometimes it can be frustrating) and apply plenty of patience. If it’s your cup of tea then observational astronomy can be very rewarding. And don’t be frightened to ask questions, however silly they might appear! Something that I’ve been guilty of in the past. 
 

16 minutes ago, DamianL said:

I had it outside all afternoon. I spent some time with light to make sure the finder scope was aligned and also did some rudimentary focus testing on distant objects.

I haven’t collimated it yet, but general focus seems OK and I’ve been a little scared of touching it, not least because the clear skies have been few and far between and I wouldn’t want to spend my entire day fixing what I’ve broken!

I do have some holiday this week so I plan to have a go at proper collimation then. Hopefully get the process down so I have no fears doing it before every session.

In the mean time I’ve found a video on YouTube here that shows the same thing that I was viewing through my scope, in case my description was a bit rubbish. I don’t know how to do timestamps in YouTube links, but 6 minutes in shows it pretty well. Ignore the fact that the channel is a little bit OTT aliens and fairies.

My collimator is a Cheshire, so no laser for me.

 

The video, at approx 6min in, is what I get from atmospheric turbulence, especially at high magnification. Often described as the “seeing”. 

As suggested that could be the result of turbulence in the atmosphere - the jet stream, viewing over a building or something relatively warm, the lower the object in the sky then the worse it tends to be. 
 

Possibly tube currents too - how long was your telescope outside before you started viewing? I need to leave my 8 inch Dob outside for at least 30 mins, often 45 mins at this time of year when it’s cold, before it’s sufficiently cooled to allow stable views.  

I was in the middle of finishing off a batch of marmalade so not the best evening for me to any observing. But when I popped out and looked at the sky it was exceedingly clear for my light polluted Southampton ski. Typical!

So I took my Skywatcher 200p Dob out and left it to cool. Going in and out in order to check my marmalade setting point didn’t give me quality time at the eyepiece and wasn’t great for dark adaption. However, I got some of the best views of the Orion Nebula that I’ve had from my back garden. Transparency was very good. I also managed to see Regal B without much effort, although I’ve not really tried before. I haven’t been that interested in splitting doubles but maybe there’s something in it after all. It was somewhat captivating. 

Looks like a great event. Unfortunately we’re away for half term otherwise I’d have gone to this with my daughter.  It’s not that far from us too - disappointed! Wish you some clear skies and good luck. 

Interesting, thanks for posting.

I have a Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145p. Obviously smaller than your telescope but apart from the mount (it’s an EQ1) I’ve found it surprisingly good. Although I’ve learnt to live with the wobbly nature of putting it on another mount.

And I have been thinking of doing an upgrade similar to yours using an AZ GTi. How is the tripod now that you’ve modified it? Is it nice and steady?

Another thumbs-up for the BST StarGuiders. I have the 25mm, 12mm and 5mm. Initially purchased for another smaller telescope. The 5mm gave great views of Jupiter & Saturn last year when conditions allowed. In fact on one very good night I used the 12mm plus cheap 3x barlow (Bresser, purchased for £28, again for another telescope) for 300x on Jupiter. I could actually see some of the swirls and details around the Great Red Spot. For high magnification this combination has surprised me. 

For an old phone, like the iPhone 4, that’s good! Thanks for sharing.

I have a clone of the Orion Steadypix. Works very well the BST StarGuiders that I mostly use. When the eyecup is removed it holds onto the eyepiece very securely. Once I found the sweet spot I also added a tiny screw on the holder to lock left-right movement. See pictures. Now I only need to adjust up-down when I install the holder. 

As @Stu suggests, I install the phone in the holder then eyepiece before I put it on the telescope. It’s fiddly at first bit becomes easier and second nature after some practice. I practiced in the daylight, taking pictures of upside down chimney pots, branches and pigeons. If you have a solar filter then the sun is good as practice. It’s obviously far easier to spot any issues/improvements in daylight. 
 

Often I’ll install the holder on the phone indoors, in the light, so I can see what I’m doing, then take the phone attached to the holder outside. If you do this then make sure that the phone is in a position where the camera lens can’t dew up. And another tip - make sure that the lens on your phone is nice and clean before you start. If you are like me the lens can get covered in finger prints, dust and other detritus.

On 13/01/2022 at 17:26, Mr Spock said:

I upgraded the stock focuser for my 250 FlexTube with the Lacerta Dual Speed upgrade kit. Cost £67-ish and works perfectly. 

Turns it into a classy super smooth Crayford. You can't beat those for visual 👍

Thanks for posting this. Until now I never knew that this product existed. Just tried to see if I could buy one and I can’t find anyone that has stock. So looks like I’ll have to wait

Just come in from a quick lunchtime solar session. I only have a cheap white light film filter for a small 4.5 inch reflector but even with that it’s a lot of fun. My daughter is also off school with COVID, so it’s something for her to do too. The sun is obviously low in the sky right now and we didn’t have much time before it slid behind a big tree. 

But as mentioned above and even with this low tech setup, sunspots look so much better than the photographs I’ve seen. There’s a kind of 3D quality in the eyepiece that you don’t see in photographs. And of course it’s ever changing, never the same view.

Everyone seems to be looking at the moon at the moment. And it’s not surprising given the conditions. I spent the first half of the week stripping down my Skywatcher Skyliner 200p, flocking the whole tube, drilling holes for a handle and painting anything Matt black that was at all shiny. Scary stuff! Quickly put it all back together so I could test. I felt nervous having it all in bits, although I had a strange issue with the primary cell (sorted out today), but the telescope might not have been quite collimated when these shots were taken.

Also managed to see Thor’s Hammer for the first time (circled in red).

Single shot pictures taken with my iPhone 12, cheap no-name smartphone mount, standard camera app, cropped and processed with the standard camera app.

34 minutes ago, Kon said:

Moon is looking even sharper tonight. No light haze as last night.

Yes, similar experience for me. I had a brief session last night, although after a hard day flocking I was tired and more concerned about testing and just seeing if everything was still OK. 

Been observing this evening and the moon does look great. Now in for dinner, back out soon

If at all possible I check collimation before every session. For me it’s the norm for the primary to require a little tweak before I take the telescope outside. It only takes a couple of minutes. 

Go ahead, what help do you need? I’m sure some of the members here will be more than happy to assist. 

@Kon it’s been mentioned quite a bit on this forum in the past but was originally suggested by a guy on CloudyNights. Basically a couple of washers cut from a plastic milk carton and fitted under the secondary adjustment screws.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/446178-secondary-mirror-milk-jug-washers/?p=5775875#entry5775875

My understanding is that It’s supposed to make adjusting the secondary screws smoother and prevent the screws digging pits into the back of tree secondary holder over time. 

I’m far from an expert but I have the same telescope and that looks like mine when it’s collimated. Although it can be hard to tell with camera angles like this. Proof will be in the observing.

As I you might know my 200p was kindly gifted to me, but it came without a base, which I’ve now constructed. There were other issues too which I’ve slowly dealt with. And I’ve had both mirrors out, bobs knobs & milk bottle mod added to the secondary.

Today I’ve taken the thing to bits in order, amongst other things, to flock the tube. At the moment it’s just a bare tube. I’ll try and do the flocking tomorrow- scary stuff! I just hope I can get it all back together!

Nice pictures. I think the cloud cleared later here. I looked out earlier and it was still cloudy so didn’t bother setting up. It’s nice and clear now but sadly a bit late for the moon.