SuburbanMak

Thank you - some interesting things to check out here on those all too frequent cloudy nights! I heartily commend the Actual Astronomy podcast to you - https://actualastronomy.com/ Chris and Shane are two chilled-out Canadian amateur astronomers who banter about practical observing topics mostly with smaller aperture instruments. Two episodes a week and a couple of monthly "objects to observe this month guides. Although they are based right in the middle of Canada their latitude at around 50 degrees makes all the timings and observing topics relevant to the UK & Northerm Europe. Some gear chat, occasional guests, listener observations and questions - always entertaining and has been, along with SGL of course, one of the best resources for me in my first year of "proper" observing including providing some morale-boosting virtual company on a couple of lone darker-site adventures!

@Stu I'd be interested in your thoughts on it as I use mine a lot but don't have that much experience to compare with, to my eye its excellent. If anything the 18mm is even better. The 6mm is quite tight on eye relief but on nights of good seeing comes into its own.

Thank you! Looks like I had a case of “averted imagination” there as where I thought I might be catching something was on the leading edge as the star crossed the field! Ah well, an excuse for more happy hunting

A nice couple of hours of doubles last night with the Mak 127 early evening & back out later with the Towa 339 80mm f15. Transparency was mixed low down but got quite good at higher altitude. Seeing was a slow phasing with occasional short periods of bad distortion but decent breaks between. Again improved towards 11.30 when cold feet & an early start forced me to pack up. Spent a long time on Theta Aurigae with both scopes, seeing the bright yellow/white primary and pale ghost C&D stars making an almost right angled triangle. Wasn’t able to conclusively repeat my observation of the close-in B star of a couple of weeks ago when it was immediately apparent but caught hints of it in the Towa as seeing improved. A rewarding field nevertheless. Enjoyed Almachs’ green/white & Orange colour contrast overhead with the nice & short Mak 127. Visit this system as often as I can - a pair of gems. Sirius was less Christmas-tree than earlier so spent time with many eyepieces & letting the star drift into view so I got a second or two of the crucial side with reduced impact from the primary. Using this approach I had inconclusive glimpses of a “bulge” between “9 & 10 o’clock” with the Towa in the Baader Hyperion at 8mm - 140x and Classic Ortho 10mm at 120x. Viewing on axis I had a fleeting second where I thought I might be resolving a ghostly dot but not sustained long enough to claim it as definitely seen. Was great fun though and attempting doubles like this always feels like “proper” astronomy. I will keep at it! Checking back to Rigel I was able to see a nice steady split around “5 o’clock” that stood direct vision confirming that seeing was improving as the night went on. Castor a beautifully bright white pair well split in the Towa at 80x with a TV 15mm Plossl. Orion Trapezium - 5 stars supported with direct vision at 140x in the Towa and a lovely sight amid billowing clouds. Am impressed with the contrast and detail in the Towa, teasing out filaments and texture in the nebula that I haven’t noticed before. Caught a hint of the “running man” above and vowed to come back to investigate if we ever get a dark night of exceptional transparency! Panning around I then “discovered” Na’ir al Saif (Iota Orionis) which seemed a bright blue white with a ghost-dot secondary around “7 o’clock”. Hadn’t spotted this as a double before and it’s a beauty. The surrounding cluster NGC 1980 is spectacular and I am sure would be a much more famous destination were it not neighbours with M42. Finished on Sigma Orionis showing as a fabulous triple in a rich field. I know these are all “usual suspects” but it was a very rewarding couple of hours.

Welcome to SGL from another Hampshire dweller.

Hi Steve welcome to SGL! I use a Skywatcher Mak 127 as my main telescope on an AZGTi mount and am loving it every time out. Top accesories in my first year with have been: ditching the supplies Red Dot a finder in favour of a Skywatcher 9x50 RACI finder side by side with a Telrad optical sight. Makes directing the Mak’s slightly narrow field sooo much easier. On eyepieces, the 25mm that came with is pretty decent but the 10mm is a bit rubbish. I bought an 8 - 24mm zoom which covers from 67x - 188x in the Mak. I have the Baader Hyperion IV and can recommend but the cheaper Hyperflex seems well thought of. There’s a 2.25x Barlow that goes with it which turns the zoom into a 10mm - 3.5mm - 150x -428x for the odd night that will stand very high magnification. You’ll want something that gives the maximum field of view possible in the Mak (which I believe is 1.04 degrees). You can do this with a 32mm Plossl (I got a generic one from TS Optics and it’s lovely and sharp). If you want the same field with a bit more magnification, the Baader Hyperion 24mm fixed fits the bill and is my main galaxy-Hunter. (If you’re feeling flush the Televue Panoptic 24mm would be the luxury option for this job). Others here have mentioned the AZ GTi upgraded clamp from ADM which makes a surprising difference to stability. I also added a PB70 “puck” so that I can use the mount more securely in “manual mode” - (the AZ GTi’s Azimuth clutch is the one thing on it that seems a bit flimsy so lots of owners tighten it up and leave it like that, using an alternative pan base like the PB 70 for manual). Have fun, it’s a super practical scope with lovely optics, all you need are for these clouds to clear!

Good discussion - to me it’s an inherently subjective definition & so it should remain. I’ve picked up a couple of small aperture, long-focus refractors and refer to them as “Classics” partly semi-ironically just meaning “old”. As in the marketing of anything old & a bit knackered as a “classic”. (By the 25 year definition I personally passed into the double-Classic category this year which is quite sobering.) However the main source of information on these battered old relics is the CN “Classic Telescopes” section - so it’s kind of infectious. Stopping to think about it though I’d say “Classic” in many spheres refers to something that is archetypical of its era - under which definition pre-Synta small Japanese-made refractors certainly qualify no matter their bargain basement status. Anythjng that requires Edwardian clothing to be worn for use should certainly qualify - here’s my c1900 Clarkson 3 inch in action as evidence….

One minute you’re thinking there’s a gap in your minimum glass set-up around 12-15mm, then you’re disappointed not to have won that £12 bid for a Meade on eBay, the next you’ve clicked buy on FLO. Feels like the top of an expensive slope…

Not strictly the postman but every few weeks I check out the science section of the local Oxfam shop & picked up a book called The 100 Greatest Stars by James B Kaler. There’s a plate and a page of text on each covering observation history and the astrophysics, a nice accessible way to present a wide variety of content & happily filling a stormy evening over the weekend. Not bad for £3.50.

Good list - regular visitor to many of these. Also on my “always peek” list is the beautiful coloured double Almach in Andromeda and the M31 Andromeda galaxy.

Had a lovely, quick opportunistic planetary session in Winchester earlier. Crescent Venus, reasonably steady Jupiter & an increasingly tiny Saturn all visible in the twilight - beautiful. I keep the Mak in the draughtiest spot in the house to be partially cooled for such occasions (stored in a rarely used downstairs loo known as the “chilly-khazi”, need I say more…)

I have Stephen James O’Meara’s Messier Objects book and it’s great - nicely written too. Also heartily recommend an eBook in the Patrick Moore’s Practical Astronomy series - Philip Pugh’s Observing the Messier Objects with a Small Telescope. This describes how to find and what you are likely to see in an 80mm refractor and 127 Mak.

1981 Tasco 4 VTE - 40mm inbuilt 15x - 50x. Wobbly, useless above 25x but gave memorable views of Jupiter’s moons, the Orion Nebula and the Moon.

Work gave me the day off - making the most of it by squeezing in some solar with the Towa. Seeing coming & going but a nice detailed view at times of two curved sunspot chains & some texture on the disc. Best view at 67x with an 18mm BCO. I can see the Towa being on solar duty a lot.

A thread after my own heart - I seem to be rapidly accumulating long refractors.. Topic Towa 339 80mm f15 Prinz 330 60mm f11.8 Clarkson 3 inch f15 (c.1900) Hilkin 60mm f13.3

Welcome to SGL - I am a year in to a similar re-kindling and am loving the Mak 127 too! Really capable instrument especially under a dark sky. My use of it was transformed by the addition of a 9x50 RACI Finder and a Telrad side by side so much more time observing vs frustration! Have fun!

Sounds like a great plan. I have an ST80 and love it but the 72ED would be an upgrade from that optically. + 1 for adding a basic RDF even if using widefield EPs. I am a big fan of the AZGTi, use it all the time - even if you don’t use it for GoTo it’s tracking is great and saves all the faff and vibration of constantly nudging. Links well to Sky Safari on the phone too which is great for when you want to zoom about looking at new objects.

Nice pic, I got out too and spent a good while enjoying that grouping of Langrenus, Vendelinus, Petavius and Furnerius along the terminitor which you've captured here really well. The shadow of the mountain in Petavius on the crater rim was fab as was the light catching the rim of Mare Crisium beyond the terminator. Might have to put a scope out tonight too...

In my first year of regular observing with a telescope, aside from my Skymax 127 Mak & AZ GTi combo, I would have to say upgrading from a stock SW RDF to a 9x50 RACI and Telrad was the most revolutionary step forward. Followed by a combination of upgrading to an ADM clamp + Berlebach 312 report for a much more stable platform. Other smaller revolutions: Baader Mk IV Zoom, Tak Prism diagonal, Neodymium, UHC & OIII filters, discovering Sky Safari. + Getting hooked on eBay classic refractors & Baader Classic Orthos of course... Fascinating thread!

A bit windy last night & Jupiter was rubbish low down, but enjoyed a short lunar session + am improved star test (it’s that plumbing joint!) and lovely views of Polaris & Almach. Took a couple of pics with the iPhone wobbling over the EP…

Conversion to 1.25 now complete, baffles knocked out of draw tube and flocked. Chrome waste-pipe connector functioning admirably as an eyepiece holder. Dew shield flocked for good measure. Have also treated it to a Baader Sky Surfer RDF - the original finder though optically nice is just awful to align. All of which guarantees continuous cloud cover!

I am in Winchester - we have the same weather

A night free of work and teenager-taxi duties sent me eagerly consulting CO, Met Office Cloud Cover and Jetstream forecasts after which I have concluded.... probably a good night to spend flocking the draw-tube and dew shield on the recently acquired Towa 339 instead. I might get to look through it next Monday.

The postman brought a highly specialised .965 - 1.25 inch EP adapter for the Topic Towa 339 80mm f15. *Spot the plumbing waste-pipe connector…

I managed to get out for just over an hour last night with my "new" Towa 80mm f15, in theory to "test and make sure everything was undisturbed after lens cell removal and cleaning", in reality because I was excited to look through this light-sabre again and confirm it was as good as my impressions from first light. The 89% moon was unavoidable so a good place to start and I spent a long time marvelling at the crisp contrasty detail. Gassendi and Mare Humorum were showing particularly well with the rilles and mountains in the crater very clean, I got up to 9 or 10 tiny craterlets in Mare Humorum and kept losing count. The view with the BCO 18mm is very satisfying in this 'scope with the whole disc of the moon filling around 80% of the field but enough magnification to tease out detail (67x). I stepped up the magnifcation to 120x (18mm) and 200x (6mm) and seeing was definitely more steady than last time. Jupiter - quite low down but an enjoyable view with the main equatorial banding visible & the galilean moons all strung out on the Eastern side and what I now know to be 45 Cap to the W. Couldn't pick out the GRS which was theoretically rounding the limb around this time. Capella - to do a quick star test and confirm what I suspected above that all was well after cleaning. Polaris - success and a lovely view tonight from 67x up. The secondary really is presenting as a tiny point source - pleased to get this as for whatever reason couldn't pick it up in the Towa last time ( seeing, my screen-tired eyes after work...). Almach - abandoned as too close to Zenith, am too old for rolling around on the floor. Auriga was well (sensibly) positioned so I checked the classic doubles list in Sky Safari and move to check out Theta Auriage which I haven't looked at before, and its a cracker! Secondary was clear at 120x (10mm) and at around half past eleven (RACI view & Auriga in the NE), sitting just outside the first diffraction ring as a pale but distinct white full-stop. I had the primary as yellow-tinged white. I did note a couple of faint stars in the same field in the 10mm but only realised later that there is a visible C&D component to this system which i may have been picking up, never mind - gives me a reason to visit this lovely system regularly over the winter. (Pleased that the 80mm f15 is emerging as the double-hunter it should be, it presents tight stars as tiny discs and narrow rings which definitely helps with close-ish doubles of differing magnitude). In a break from the eyepiece I was rewarded with what can only have been an ISS pass low to the South. M37 - Nice if slightly moon-washed view with the Starfish pattern evident and a "diamond dust" effect as stars resolve in AV as I looked around, a bit like M13 in the Mak 127. M36 & M38 were less satisfying, come back on a moonless night... Pleiades - rude not to and as lovely as ever, enjoyed making faint triangles at higher magnifcation. Thought I would end back on the moon but remembered that Uranus was close by, I did use a GoTo for this one as transparency in the moon's quadrant of the sky was worsening fast by this time. Am 90% certain I got it based on the starfield (halfway along the side of a triangle between 29, Omicron & 31 Arietis plus the fact that mount seemed to be behaving itself.) A pale, vaguely greenish dot that became possilby a full-stop at 200x. Not much to write home about but fascinating the thought of what's being seen. One to revisit to confirm. Finished back on the moon for some more high-def fly past this time enhanced by tracking. Another hour and half well spent - loving these quick early evening sessions!