PeterStudz

Total cloud cover in Southampton. Forecast to clear a little around mid-day. My daughter was cheesed off that she had to go to school. At least she’s a bit happier this morning.

@Grumpy Martian It’s getting there, slowly. The “moon” is functional as it serves as a handle. The azimuth bearing works well. Had some stiction at high magnification on the altitude bearings although friction is fine. Some PTFE tape that I had at home has improved things significantly but will experiment some more. Still need to fix the rocker box to the base board. Seal the ends of the plywood, sand smooth and paint. But I’ve had it out to test. First the moon (I have a picture of that), then M13 and the Ring Nebula which was a first for me. Not bad given the primary mirror. There might be an issue at magnification above 200x, but hard to tell for obvious reasons.

No, Although one of next doors trees has a branch that’s getting a little close to Polaris. Maybe in a couple of years it’ll be an issue. If so it might (just that one branch) might get a little mid-night pruning

I’m no expert here but if you don’t wish to spent a fortune (and as a beginner I think that’s wise) why not buy a dob with the possibility of upgrading to an EQ mount at a later date? If you decide to go that route I’d suggest that the Bresser Messier 8" Dobsonian Bresser Messier 6" Planetary Dobsonian represent better value. Unlike the Skywatcher they come with a solar filter, and they come with tube rings which you’d need for an EQ. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/bresser-messier-6-inch-planetary-dobsonian.html https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bresser-telescopes/bresser-messier-8-dobsonian-telescope.html

Been waiting to have some free time to try this for a while now. Using the shadow method (someone mentioned it on here) finding the sun was easy, easier than I thought, and I got it at every attempt. No need for a solar finder scope. Just one small area of sunspots but better than nothing. It looked far more obvious in the eyepiece than in the photos I took. I tried to goto 200x which is about as far as this little telescope will go but seeing wasn’t great anyway. There were also some high thin clouds. Could be much improved but the exercise was the important thing. I took my time and made sure it was safe. And the sun was strong today as I soon got far too warm. iPhone 12, standard camera app, images cropped and rotated, some basic on phone editing in Photoshop Fix . Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145p, EQ1, Economy Drive, BAADER AstroSolar Filter, StarGuider 5mm, 2x Barlow, no-brand-name cheap phone mount.

I viewed this last month, on April 15th, been meaning to post but things got in the way. I also thought I’d give it another go relatively soon (hopefully with better results) but weather and the moon had other ideas. First time seeing this and for once it was easy to find, although I had to wait until 2am so that it was at a reasonable height above the horizon and to ensure it was dark as possible. My sky is Bortle 8. If you look closely to the right you can even just make out the small galaxy NGC 6207. Single 30 sec exposure with an iPhone 12. Haven’t done much to the picture, just edited on the phone in Photoshop Fix in an attempt to minimise some light pollution effects and cropped to cut out some lens edge distortion. I’m also interested in sketching. I’ve never tried before and although I can appreciate and understand how this is best done at the eyepiece it was almost 3am and I had work in the morning. So a day later I tried to do a sketch on an iPad using a photograph I’d taken of M13 as a canvas. With the views in my small telescope I could not resolve any stars but it had a slight grainy, almost ghost like appearance. I’ve tried to capture that in the sketch. Might be slightly bigger than what I viewed although I was using a zoom, going back and forth, trying to get the best out of what I could see. Basically it’s a photograph that’s been turned into a sketch. Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145p, EQ1, economy motor drive, SvBony 7-21mm zoom, basic no-brand-name smartphone mount, central Southampton.

Great pictures. I’ve had a solar filter for a few weeks now but annoyingly haven’t yet had the time (or it’s been cloudy) to try and use it.

@Stu I totally agree. The weather is similar. Eg when I was a kid winter weather was just, well, winter weather. Now it’s a polar vortex, beast from the east, cold wave, snowmageddon… I’m sure there’s more. And that’s before you get to summery weather. And yes, according to the forecast we are in for a dry, clear-ish period for at least a week from tomorrow.

Thanks guys. @Soligor Rob I’ve had dew related issues too. One initially had me stumped - I checked all eyepieces and mirrors and couldn’t see anything, but still the fuzzy pictures remained. Then, as I was packing up and had a light on, I discover that my phone camera lens was covered in dew. It spent a lot of time face down, camera up, on a side table! @reezeh I prefer to use a mount when I can, but here I hadn’t intended to take any pictures and this was a quick test/experiment. However, I find some eyepieces easier than others, there’s certainly a bit of luck often requiring several attempts. And I’ve found that using “burst mode” (hold the shutter down & multiple pictures are taken in quick succession) can help. I’ll go through the burst mode finding the one that’s worked or is best.

The one I had with my Skywatcher 1145P was the primary clips (two out of three) being loose. Before I worked it out I’d collimate it but as soon as it was moved it would go out again.

Although I can certainly see the attraction, and the pictures you can get and have shown are stunning, I’m not too interested in “proper” astrophotography. Well, at the moment! Of course even pointing a camera down the lens of a telescope is astrophotography it doesn’t involve stacking and processing on a computer afterwords. Because I don’t need one I don’t own a PC/Mac/laptop and that makes full blown astrophotography possible. I do enjoying the sitting outside in the middle of the night bit! I’ve even started sketching. Although not so much sitting at a computer. But people like different things and that’s part of what makes it fun.

I live in Southampton and have had a telescope since the end of December. A small 4 inch reflector on an equal small EQ1. Where I am is Bortle 8 and I’m not far from the docks which is lit up like a Christmas tree all night and every night. Still, I’ve been able to see or capture quite a bit inc: Orion Nebula Pleiades Beehive Cluster M81 & M82 Galaxies Leo Treo - Galaxies M51 Galaxies M3 Globular Cluster M13 Globular Cluster Apart from M81, which I could just make out by eye, the other galaxies have been, for want of a better term, smartphone assisted. I’ve used the phone camera in night mode on a 30 sec exposure. To help with this I have a small economy motor drive - £28 - not meant for photography but it lets me obtain 30 sec exposures with minimum star trailing. And it’s actually exciting and magical pointing the thing at what appears a blank sky and to see a galaxy appear in real-time 30 sec later. Even if rather fuzzy I’ve even managed to capture the spiral arms of m51. Still much to learn and discover. I’d say go for it. If it turns out not for you then it’s not that difficult to sell up. You want lose much.

Moon from last night. This was taken with a Skywatcher Skyliner 200p that I’m restoring. It came without a base (there’s something in the DIY section). Wanted to test the base as it’s just usable before I finish it off and the moon was an easy target. There’s an issue with the primary mirror and it was only roughly collimated. StarGuider 12mm eyepiece using a handheld iPhone 12 with standard camera app. Single shot with some basic editing and cropping. I’ve been busy and have a few other pictures to post. Maybe tomorrow.

Good advise about the mirror. I had kind of come to that conclusion too. And of course I need some sort of mount in order to properly test it out. I’ll let you know how I get on. It’s annoying that work is getting in the way of my construction fun but will get there!

I’ll post an update when it’s finished. Making this has been fun and by doing so you really appreciate what a fantastic design this is. Mr Dobson was a cleaver guy! It’s downhill from here, although “finishing off” can take as long as building. I also took the mirror cell out as I wanted to remove the altitude bearings as part of the build. It’s not too bad. Rather dirty and it’ll need a careful clean. I thought it might be a little stiff to remove but it was far harder to get back in! After that I’ll get everything working and if necessary consider getting it recoated.

The rocker box is coming along. I haven’t as yet attached it to the ground board and it needs trimming up, bracing along the bottom and finishing off. Easier to line up when square and trim up later. But even just resting it on the ground board the weight alone means it’s actually useable. Smooth too and doesn’t seem to be sticky when it matters. I decided to keep the original altitude side bearings. This meant that the left/right sides of the rocker box hand to be accurate within a millimetre or two. To do this I used the OTA itself as a jig for the rocker box sides. Making sure that the sides and front edges were all dead square (I haven’t got a power saw so cut by hand) meant that the whole thing went together with just a quick check over with a set square - no clamping necessary. I’ve used some PTFE and wood blocks for the altitude bearings to rest on. The holes for the tension knobs being oversized. I also managed to replicate the “patented tension control handles” with an M10 knob and a simple thrust bearing. Works really well.

It now has a ground board. Manage to get some time over the Bank Holiday weekend to knock this up. Two bits of 18mm ply. Bottom an octagon, top a circle 520mm in diameter. Decided to try Teflon pads over a lazy suzan, although I’ve made it so it can be easily fiddled with and modified if required. There’s a sheet of 2mm textured ABS in an attempt to get the required “sticktion”. Seems to work well, although I’ll only find out for sure when using the telescope. To keep costs down I went for a sheet that doesn’t quite cover the base. Anything larger would have been twice the price and I wasn’t sure if it would work. Finished off with anti-vibration washing machine feet. Obviously now need to do the rocker box. That’s when I can get a free day!

Very nice. This is the kind of thing that I want to try. Although being in Bortle 8 I’ve really got to travel somewhere else.

I like this as it’s immediate and still gives the feeling you are looking through a telescope.

I did this last Tuesday, 6th April in the early hours. My second attempt at M3 and personally I’m happy with the result given the limited gear and my inexperience. Taken with an iPhone 12, cropped and edited with the standard camera app plus Filterstorm. Telescope Slywatcher Skyhawk 1145P on EQ1 with economy motor drive. StarGuider 12mm eyepiece. Single 30 second exposure with the standard camera app. After doing this, messing around and observing M3 for a couple of hours I decided to see if I could see the Leo Treo. I’ve never tried looking at these before. And Leo wasn’t in a good position. I’m in Southampton which suffers from a considerable amount of light pollution. From my garden East to South is best (the higher the better). But anything SSW to West is poor as that’s right over the docks which are lit up like an Christmas tree all night an every night. And that’s where Leo was by the time I decided to have a look. But as hard as I tried I could not see any hint of the galaxies with my eyes. So I decided to stick my iPhone to the eyepiece and take a searching 30 sec exposure. Then move one FOV and take another. After a few attempts the galaxies appeared like magic on the phone screen. The camera was showing something that I could not see with my eyes. Sure, faint but obvious. Even NGC 3628. OK, they are very faint and washed out (you might need to use averted vision on the picture to see them - lol) but that’s hardly surprising especially with a small telescope. In a decent dark location it would surely be much better. I wasn’t going to post this here but then I thought what the hell! Haven’t edited it much - just cropped, rotated - so you can get an idea how faint they are and what the light pollution was like. Personally I was over the moon just to find them. I have plans of going somewhere in the New Forest , which isn’t far away, and giving it a proper go.

Many thanks Martin. I’ll let you know how I get on, good or bad. But I’m confident I can make something from it. And it was great to meet you too. All of this brings back memories of my first telescope as a child. And back then something like this would have been my dream telescope.

Many thanks to @Grumpy Martian for arranging to meet me at a motorway service station near my home and giving me this telescope for free. There are some “dimples” on the primary mirror so it might require recoating. But I’ve already done a rough collimation, propped it up against a garden chair and looked at a random bit and of sky. It seems to focus OK. It hasn’t got a base so I’ll need to make one out of ply. Will probably take a while for me to get going although my daughter wants to use it now.

These are great sketches and thanks for sharing. As someone else has already pointed out - it looks just like you are looking down the eyepiece. And as far as I can tell skilled sketching is the only way to create a picture that looks like the image you’d see in the eyepiece. A camera can’t do it.

This is our setup as it stands but it’s very much a work in progress. We’ve only had a small telescope - a Sky-Watcher 1145p with EQ1 for a few months. Many of the ideas I got via old threads on this forum. Really wanted to avoid a GEM mount but I’m now getting to quite like it. Mind, it’s not so great for my daughter as I have to set everything up first, find a target (sometimes with a bit of help form her) and at that point we can both take in the view through the eyepiece. And being in Southampton, Bortle 8, doesn’t make it any easier. Although tinkering (I do enjoy tinkering) and tightening things up on the EQ1 has improved it significantly. Taking pictures with a smartphone, my daughters suggestion, kind of evolved from simply pointing the phone down the eyepiece. We’ve also got the economy drive which I’ve modified. I’ve added a larger knob, replaced the little 9v battery with a 12v rechargeable lead acid, knocked down to 9v, and added a mini volt meter across the motor terminals. The idea being that I can now dial-in a voltage - the same volts should drive things at near enough the same speed. This has significantly improved the way it works and taken away much frustration. Of course not intended or just used for astrophotography, although we can now get some vital extra seconds when taking pictures, it really helps keeping the target in view while fiddling with eyepieces and phone mounts. And most of these bits I had sitting doing nothing down my shed. I also beefed up the little focuser. There was far too much play in the draw tube and hanging a phone off the top would pull on the assembly creating distortions every time a picture was taken. I added Teflon tape to the draw tube and added an extra thumb screw that holds the eyepiece. In fact these thumb screws are just threaded into plastic and we’d already striped one, so metal thread inserts were also added. I did splash out on a NexYZ phone mount and although the idea is great we’ve had a few issues with it. The main one is that it’s so heavy. Using this plus an iPhone 12 adds almost half a kilo, throwing everything way off balance and pulling on the draw tube. So at the moment I’ve settled on a cheap mount off eBay. It actually fits our StarGuider eyepieces really securely once the rubber eye-cups are removed (see pics). And it’s very light. The only faff is positioning the phone lens so it points exactly down the hole. This has to be repeated every time it’s used. Since the same phone is being used this should ideally be a once only operation. So, once the sweet spot has been found I intend to clamp it down with a screw, and make a ply extension plate to hold the bottom of the phone. That way you just pop the phone in and tighten it down without having to fiddle around. And we should be able to do this in the dark too. A few tips/things I’ve discovered: Practice setting everything up in daylight. And practice some more. Make sure your phone camera lens is clean and clear of dew. I spent a whole night trying to find out why my pictures were fuzzy. I’d carefully kept my eyepieces clean. Eventually discovering that my camera lens was covered in dew. Do a very basic star test on screen with the phone mounted to your telescope. That way you can get a good idea if everything is true. Take loads of shots. You can always delete and then keep the best.

I recently came across this. It might have been mentioned before and you all know about it so I apologise if that’s the case. I’ve found it quite useful... https://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/SMBooks/AstrophotographyV1.pdf