SuburbanMak

Now raining in Winchester - stuck my head outside and could just see Altair & caught an ISS pass through the clouds. Proves it’s all still up there but not to be tonight I feel…

On the day I have found the Met Office cloud cover forecast to be pretty accurate: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/uk-cloud-cover-forecast/#?tab=map&map=Cloud&zoom=9&lon=-1.19&lat=50.99&fcTime=1626177600

I've been getting Messier withdrawal having focussed on the planets last month, (noted that Saturn and Jupiter were looking much better placed now on my way back from a party Saturday night). Am plotting a tour of Sagittarius and Scorpius with my as-yet-unused UHC & O-III filters on board.

Don’t want to tempt fate but the Met Office 10 day forecast has the Azores High moving up to sit across the UK from this evening so we should be in for a few clear nights over the next fortnight…

As it’s cloudy anyway I might as well order some filters… Baader O-III & Explore Scientific UHC-S arrived for exploring summer nebulosities… (posh box on that ES one!).

Welcome! +1 for a Mak on an AZ GTi Mount. I have the 127 which is a bit bigger than the 102 you're looking at but still very portable, so the 102 will be a breeze in this department. Additionally I can attest to the fact that they are very robust and really don't require regular adjustment, collimation etc. The moon will be an Apollo-lander window experience and you'll easily resolve Saturn's rings + a couple of moons, cloud bands, moons transits and possibly the Great Red Spot on Jupiter (its a bit dim at the moment. On the sun you will see sunspots and faculae and a hint of granularity. Also, the Skymax 102 will give nice views of thousands of double stars, star clusters, and the brighter nebulae and galaxies (start with finding M31, M81 & M82) if you want to look outside the solar system . (Portability makes a huge difference on fainter objects as you can easily ship out to somewhere really dark & set up in minutes). Should all keep you busy for a while Have fun & clear skies!

The Prinz 300 60mm is now giving me coffee-break sunspot views every day the yellow thing puts in an appearance. Today’s activity is super - sharper in the eyepiece than this afocal iPhone snap but great to have this old scope ready to observe at a moment’s notice.

Super report, lots of detail and targets. Thank you.

True, if you wanted to save money you could just put four batteries in a sock...

Its a Sunspot yes - these are numbered as Active Regions (AR). This one is number AR2833 - there's a thread running in the Solar Observing section on this one, link below. As @Knighty2112 points out most of the apparent movement is due to the earth's rotation, the sun does also rotate every 25 days or thereabouts so if you look again tomorrow its position will have changed in real terms too. I only recently started looking at the sun with like you a cheap white-light filter holder and I'm fascinated + can do it on a coffee break out of my office window

It’s new - I’d had one previously for years but allowed some poor battery discipline…

I once had an alarming encounter with a Badger but otherwise can’t report any UK wildlife to cause much trouble. For peace of mind I take a big Maglite - the nightwatchman’s truncheon and bright enough to disorientate anyone with ill intent I’d imagine. If it really came down to it I wouldn’t want to get hit with a Manfrotto 90 either but my preferred option is to avoid conflict - not that it’s been an issue to date. (The whole thing puts me in mind of a Keith Richards story in which he says one of the reasons he prefers Telecasters to Stratocasters is that they’re better in a bar fight, but then I am mixing gear intensive hobbies there…)

Nice report & nice setup! I had a similar experience in the wee hours of Sunday morning - convinced I could see a fifth moon trailing Jupiter close in. Did an action replay in Stellarium and realised that what I'd done is mistake a nearby star (HD211360, 7.4 Mag) for one of the 4 Gallilean moons then when I saw a fifth object trailing the planet, convinced myself I was seeing Althea - which is slightly beyond the limiting magnitude of my Mak 127. In fact I was watching Io rise in real time - which was actually pretty cool! Am really enjoying how dynamic planetary observing can be - stuff can change in front of your eyes!

Really nice split at 150x with a Mak 127 on Saturday night using a Baader Mark IV Zoom (set at 10mm). The southerly pair was splitting from 63x on up, the closer pair only clearly split from around 100x (15mm on the Zoom) - nicest view was up a bit higher than that in mag.

Tried this last night with a Mak 127 and a Baader Zoom &… nope. I was on the South Downs & there was quite a bit of sea haze to the South over the Isle of White. Another time…

Challenge accepted, planning to head out tonight so will see if this is possible with a 127 Mak

+1 on both types, no matter how little room on the scope.

This is stunning with some super solar detail and lunar topography, well done & thank you for posting!

Nice pic well done!

Glimpses from Winchester 51.06N @ 10:37 & 11.43 BST.

Our photos must be around the same time & really show well the difference in coverage between Inverness & Winchester - 57.5 N vs. 51 degrees.

Another, better look at 11:43 BST.

Got the very slightest glimpse through thick cloud in Winchester at 10:37 BST still a thrill to see!

Super report - really enjoyed reading this thank you. M13 & M81/2 are on my regular “greatest hits” tours at the end of a session - objects that really bring home the vastness!

My next plan is to try it with a Prinz 330 - (circle K) which is a 700m fl, 60mm. I’ll pop the results on here. (Btw The 500s come up quite often in good nick on eBay, often in a nice blue…you should treat yourself. I got the Hilkin for £35 and the Prinz for £70.)