Moon-Monkey

Perhaps that is another option although I don’t want to go down the used route for this I would like new as it will be with me for a long perhaps indefinite period just for this task 🙂

Just to add … I like the idea of a Crayford 2” focuser on the CC as image shift when at high mag I think may drive me nuts lol 😂

Good morning lovely people I have a Dilemma …. now over the past year or so I’ve been extremely interested in double star observing and more interestingly I’ve been measuring double stars . I’m part of the Webb deep sky society and as such bought Bob argyles book about the subject . now I’ve been using a 90/1000 achromat and a Meade astrometric eyepiece with 3x Barlow to achieve the required focal length of 3000mm this past year has been training and getting used to the setup measurements angular measurement and of course the calibration of the setup for this work . Now here is my dilemma … to realistically make an impact on the WDS list I need bigger apeture to be able to measure fainter companions and sets im not looking at buying now but in the near future possibly, now up until this point I assumed that anything with a central obstruction would be a no mo for serious measurements as it may not perform how I want it to and won’t get a second chance at buying something decent . I will have a budget of around £500 I think and recently went looking down the CAT route as a possible serious alternative being that the increased apeture vs price on a car compared to a refractor (which I love ) may be an option I have been looking at the SL 6” F12 from our guys at FLO and people seem to really love this as it’s different from a mak or SCT as it doesn’t have a front miniscus or lens element I wondered if anyone with one of these classical cassegrains who perhaps (clutching at straws here) loves double stars ✨ could give me his or her opinion on them as I’ve never looked through or owned a compound scope how sharp are they ? Is the CC diffraction spikes noticeable ? Thoughts and opinions please guys and gals I’m kind of going round in circles here the bigger the apeture the more targets I will have open to me to resolve but I want to buy new pref from Flo and the weight needs to be under 6kg for my current and prospective new mount any ideas ?? thanks for your time with this needy post clear skies Phill

Oh and just to note I already have circular and linear polarisers and a Badder continuum filters and for me with achromats it was a worthy investment 🙂🙂

Hi David sorry late getting back to you 🤦‍♂️ yes it is the 1.25” version on the Lacerta site you can buy just the wedge itself without nosepiece and visual back for £100 rather than the £150 for the full set it says on there that it doesn’t include the ND3 filter either though bud but looking at your pictures it seems that it’s either proprietary or it is indeed included I’m wondering whether it’s best now to wait and save up the full amount now though you say that I would hate to waste my only chance at getting a wedge to a filter that you can’t buy lol thabks for the quick reply and sorry for my tardy return

I haven’t yet buddy 🙂🙂

Good afternoon after great thought and help from you all here I’m going to go for a Lacerta wedge now I’m going for the base model therefore I need in addition T2 nosepiece and T2 visual back bith with male threads does anyone know of somewhere to get these at a later date I say this as funds only allow the purchase of the wedge itself so will get the Adapters and ND3.0 filter bit by bit as funds allow any help appreciated 🙂🙂 many thabks

@Carbon Brush hey David , many thanks for the reply and the links I have gone through all of them now at a leisurely pace and while there is some amazing info in there on H-a nobody that I’ve read yet seems to do a direct comparison of solar film and a wedge (particularly interested in the Lacerta with the Brewster angle) I have emailed a company in Jersey I think it was a week ago , haven’t had any acknowledgment of my email or a reply as yet that I’ve seen and customer service is high on my priorities. especially with a purchase and lightening of my wallet to such an extent lol I’m still undecided I ultimately want a tein setup with a white light and H-a together to give the best views so perhaps after all the help you and others have given and the information I’ve gleaned through the threads that you have linked me too I should go for a wedge and then when money allows an H-a be it a lunt or a PST 🙂🙂 clear skies my friend

Totally agree safety for me is paramount I observe with film and a continuum filter and get pretty good detail but as you say I’m assuming a wedge will be next level well at least I’m hoping so 🙂 I haven’t considered a quark just because of the electronic aspect and as a solar observer I don’t wnat to rely on anything electronic in my observing more things to go wrong or die IMO but hey I always follow the KISS principle 🙂🙂🙂🔭

Totally agree safety for me is paramount I observe with film and a continuum filter and get pretty good detail but as you say I’m assuming a wedge will be next level well at least I’m hoping so 🙂 I haven’t considered a quark just because of the electronic aspect and as a solar observer I don’t wnat to rely on anything electronic in my observing more things to go wrong or die IMO but hey I always follow the KISS principle 🙂🙂🙂🔭

Thanks buddy I will read and consume lol thanks for that buddy I appreciate it 🙂

Ok guys and gals I’ve been doing white light for a fair time now using BAADER film now my next stage is probably to invest in a lacerta wedge but have questions about that too … will a wedge provide noticeable image improvement over the film or is it just the safety aspect that is better ? After that I’m going to jump into H alpha but unsure which way to go . At this point just to note I’m visual only and no intent to complicate things with cameras etc so that’s a factor . I have various scopes from 80mm F5 to 90mm F11 and an 8” Dob so I have seen that some companies provide ERF filters to spec of your scope assuming you still then need a blocking filter which one which size and what visually are the differences ? Sorry lots of questions I know but for me this is a once in a lifetime investment do I mick something up with custom filters on my ST80 , do I just get a PST or a lunt 40 ? Obviously there is price difference in all of those and my budget is certainly the limiting factor it’s hard to find good info I have read lots of threads in here but was hoping someone had been in my position before and can offer some real life experience here clear skies guys and gals 🙂🔭🔭

What an outstanding thread this is @admin can we please have more sketching comps maybe a series etc in the future maybe dedicated to one subject every couple of months ?

@SuburbanMak hey bud Thabkyou so much for that I think this might be the ideal solution for me !!! Thanks for all the extra photos it looks perfectly spaced apart for easy viewing buddy many thanks for that I’m glad your getting on well with it clear skies

Hey buddy can I ask now how it’s getting on sometime later ?? I am thinking exactly the same setup my ST80 2” modded and a mak I do a lot of sketching so would love an alt az with tracking its this or the skytee but this pups it with the tracking could we please see some more pics of these two setup perhaps ? Hard to see them together and how close they are in the pic above my friend 🙂🙂🔭🔭🔭 clear skies Phill

Oh also to add @mikeDnight love the sketches of the double stars I never thought of sketching doubles !! I do some measuring of doubles with an Astrometric and that would be a great way of recording it too I think !!! Great stuff buddy really cool I see that you mainly use smaller fracs like your TAK what kind of mount is it sitting on ?

@Paul Mbetelgeuse lol I’m thinking with my old eyes it may be Mars lol I admire some colour in sketches it adds a whole new dynamic to it eh 😀😀

@josefk buddy those full lunar sketches are really cool buddy it must have taken a long time to do those bud !!!!!

@mikeDnight buddy those are some amazing sketches there such great contrast in your lunar work I’m working through the ALPO sketching program and your work was outsatabding buddy !!! I love the rille that you named Elgar rille I will definitely look out for that in the future !! mother outstanding work to note off the top of my head is the flame and HH that is outstanding buddy !!!!!!

Good afternoon my friends I just wanted to start a thread off of the actual comp thread to discuss some of the sketches being entered as the rules state not to jumble the thread with chat so I’m not sure how to tag people but I’ll give it a go lol

Thabkyou my friend nowhere near the quality of your sketches A hobby is just a hobby but to share that hobby with others … that’s a hobby that will make memories lasting a lifetime 🙂🔭🔭 Clear skies

Some beautiful sketches here well done everyone !!, For some historical lunar sketches to give some content this is the first sketch I ever done . The sketch was made with a tiny tabletop dobsonian a 76mm F3.9 lol many mods to this scope Made but the joy of this scope is the fact that it got me back into astronomy after a hiatus of over 20 years !!! (Yes I can’t believe it either what wasted time ) this was done in early 2020 with just an HB pencil I found in the kids pencil case 🤣🤣 so a few more older sketches that were made as follows these were both sketched using my second telescope after the 76mm Dob it was a 114p skyhawk again modded as far as it would go this I found far easier as it was now on an eq mount which allowed tracking so was able to run more power and therefore greater detail was gained . as said above the wondeful thing about sketching is that it forces you to really hone in on those details (not that I have but in general) 🤣 so at this point I had been a member of the ALPO for a year and all my sketches were regularly being sent to the guys at the different sections as I still believe that sketches are a valuable contribution to citizen science I did lots of sketches of various objects and then I got my 8” Stella Lyra Dob , oh wow I was in for a treat !!! The next sketches are sketches I did with the Dob and although I found the light grasp and contrast vastly superior to my previous instruments I did miss the tracking aspect especially at high power So that whole year I didn’t sketch a great deal because honestly I was an continue to be entirely obsessed with deep sky objects faint NGC’s and the usual crazy objects bee all love to test ourself and equiptment with and then something happened …. I bought an ST80 … at this point I was used to amazing contrasty deep sky views galaxy hunting and planetary nebula searching but then I realised one night when I was trying to observe the rosette that even with a 42mm 2” I wasn’t able to get the whole field in view (not even close) hence the ST80 So This little scope has been a real little game changer super widefield views now it’s modded and running 2” observes the veil from my backyard with it amazing andromeda dark lane views and then a perfect target for this little grab and go machine arrived and that was comet C2022 E3 ZTF I have been lucky as a grab and go scope is perfect for sucker hole astronomy which was lucky as we have had a lot of cloud altogether now … “BOOOOOOO” !!! so I haven’t sketched every session with the comet (about 12 sessions now ) but here is a few and now having gone through all this journey all this time evenings in the summer and evenings in -6C and loving EVERY SECOND I happened to join this community of which I’m very grateful for all the content and friendships I have gained , I happened to see a thread called SGL sketch challenge …. After reading the contest I realised I had to enter a sketch done for the contest itself within the time frame so I thought what better target could I do but the comet with the ST80 !!! So I say all that to say this here is my entry to this great thread not my best not my worst but hey we’re all here to have fun that’s the point isn’t it Thankyou to the SGL team for making this forum a great place to be and Thabkyou to all of you guys and gals who make the forum what it is today !! clear skies my friends Phill ALPO Webb Deep sky society

Apologies just saw the rules underneath 🤦‍♂️👍👍

Ok firstly what a great competition love it , so to confirm ; can we enter with a sketch and account we have already made and done ie a previous sketch made recently ,or does it have to be a sketch made purposefully now for the competition? clear skies

I have yet to sketch any solar which is strange as I do white light every lunchtime that I can lol great sketch love the penumbra texture you’ve grabbed that beautifully