Yellow dwarf
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Posts posted by Yellow dwarf
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As this was the first clear night I’ve had were I live in over a month, I was quite excited to use my telescope again. I was also looking forward to looking at Jupiter and Saturn, as this was also the first night that I would be able to observe them with my 8 inch dob. At around 11:40, after letting the scope cool down for a while, I set about finding my first target, M11 in Scutum. However, I found it impossible to find. I am still getting used to finding objects in a dob, and as M11 is in a very star-dense part of the sky, the finderscope wasn’t much use. After about 15 minutes of searching, I reluctantly gave up, and instead went to search for a target I have found before, M57(the ring nebula) in Lyra. I found it easily, and it was very beautiful at 160x magnification, using a 7.5mm eyepiece. I could make out the ring shape easily, but it didn’t look as good as the last time(seeing wasn’t great and transparency was less than perfect). However, it was still a lovely object to observe. I then had to get a look at M13, which looked fabulous. Individual stars where easy to make out around the edge, with them tantalisingly close to resolution in the core. I viewed it best at between 75x and 120x magnification(using 32mm or 20mm eyepieces with a 2x Barlow respectively). I then looked at M71, the faint globular cluster in Sagitta. It looked alright, pretty unremarkable and very faint. After spending about 10-15 mins on this target, I then searched for the M27(the dumbbell nebula) in Vulpecular. It was very difficult to find, and when I did find it, it looked very faint, with the shape difficult to make out. I may have been on the wrong target, as Turn Left says it is a lot more spectacular. Anyway, it was about 1 o’clock now, and Saturn had cleared my house’s roof. Eagerly, I pointed my scope at it, and could make out the rings at 37.5x magnification. I then went up through the magnifications, and then looked in awe at 160x. The rings were clearly visible, there was a band running across the planet. Adding an 80A blue filter enhanced the band, and I then went up to 320x magnification by adding a 2x barlow. This did make the band harder to spot, but made the Cassini division just about visible around the edges of the rings, furthest away from the planet. After staring in awe at Saturn for a while, I notice Jupiter had cleared the tree next to my house. I then eagerly turned my scope towards Jupiter at looked at it at 160x magnification. The sight was amazing. The four moons where very clear(going from left to right were Callisto, Europa, Io and Ganymede). There was also a lot of banding on the planet; with clear colour differences between the belts and zones. I then continued to switch between Jupiter and Saturn until I eventually packed in at around 1:45, when I got a bit too tired. This is probably a night I’ll remember for quite a long time, as it was the first good telescopic view I’ve ever had of Jupiter and Saturn.
Equipment used:
Skywatcher Classic 200p Dobsonian
Astro Essentials 32mm, 20mm and 7.5mm super plossl eyepieces
Astro Essentials 2x Barlow
Antares #80A blue filter
I’ve just realised that I’ve wrote quite a lot, thank you if you have taken the time to read this all, it means a lot to me.
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4 minutes ago, alacant said:
Hi
We can't tell -accurately- because the photograph isn't centralised, is over exposed in the bits we need to see and we do not know its orientation.
It will work fine however.
Cheers
Sorry about that, I’m not great at taking pictures with my phone as it is 🙃. Thanks for the feedback anyway, glad to know it’s not messed up horrifically 😀.
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Can someone please tell me if that is accurately collimated, I don’t think I’ve been clear in the original post.
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As there are meant to be clear skies coming to my area of the uk in a few days time, I just wanted to check that my dob’s collimation is accurate. Here is a picture taken with my phone through the Cheshire.
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4 hours ago, CraigT82 said:
BCOs are very good for the money, but with the 6mm the eye relief is tight, and the FoV is small which may make for uncomfortable viewing and lots of nudging with the dob. How do you find your 7.5mm plossl? Are you able to view through it for extended periods of time? If you can then you should be fine with the BCO 6mm. If you find it a bit uncomfortable you may want to look at the BST eyepieces (but there isn't a 6mm BST unfortunately only 5mm and 8mm)
I find the 7.5mm plossl alright to view with, it was fine viewing the moon, and the ring nebula in Lyra. I didn’t have to do too much nudging of the telescope.
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Thanks for the replies everyone, the BCO 6mm seems like a good choice, as I can use it when seeing is good.(I’m still getting used to my dob so tracking above 200x magnification may be a bit tricky)
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With Saturn and Jupiter coming round to opposition in just over a month, I really need some advice on eyepieces. I have an 8 inch, F/6 dobsonian, and I’m really finding it difficult to decide which eyepiece I should buy to get the best planetary views out of it. I currently own a 7.5mm plossl and a 2x barlow, giving 160x and 320x magnification respectively. However, judging by advice given by people in this forum, a specialist planetary eyepiece in between seems like a good idea. Any advice would really be appreciated, and ideally the cost of this eyepiece would be below £50.
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49 minutes ago, Stu said:
I can just about see the Eastern Veil from Bortle 7 skies with a good OIII but dark skies definitely help. A good Bortle 5 (eg more like mag 20 or more SQM) should show it clearly with good dark adaptation but the darker the better.
That’s good then, seems like a good target to try for with the right filter.
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Thanks very much Kon, I’ll probably buy the OIII filter in the future then. I live in a bortle 5 zone so it probably would be a challenge to see those nebula, but it’s one I’m up for. Hopefully the skies will clear soon.
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Thanks for all the information, it’s really helpful for someone new to this 😀
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9 minutes ago, John said:
The best filter for the Veil Nebula is the O-III filter. Brands such as Lumicon, Astronomik or Tele Vue Bandmate II are very good ones. A UHC filter will show it but an O-III filter really shows this object at it's best.
The O-III type filter also enhances contrast in planetary nebulae as well.
Thank you John, I should get the O-III filter then. Is the UHC better for reflection/emission nebulae then?
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This was quite a disappointing evening, not much to see because of the clouds. Clear Outside said that the night would be completely clear, so I set up my 8 inch dob and waited for it to cool down. Unfortunately, the clouds started to come in, and within ten minutes, almost all the sky was covered in a layer of thick cloud. When there was finally a small break in the clouds, almost 20 minutes later, I did a star test with my dobsonian on Vega, and it was perfectly collimated thankfully. The clouds then rolled in again, and I had to wait another half an hour for them to clear. After they did, Hercules was well placed high to the south, and I decided to look at M13. Even though the atmosphere was quite unstable, the view was impressive at 75x magnification(using a 32mm plossl with a 2x barlow), with individual stars moving in and out of resolution because of the turbulence. However, 15 minutes later, clouds rolled in again, and blanked out everything for another 20 minutes. After they cleared, I found M57 in Lyra. I’ll be honest, the sight blew me away. A perfect ring, basically looking like a black and white version of the pictures. I gazed in awe at it at 160x magnification, using my 7.5mm plossl, until the clouds rolled in again. I waited 15 more minutes, but then packed up my telescope and went to bed because it was getting late and the clouds weren’t budging.
All in all, this was a fairly disappointing evening, although the 2 DSOs I did see were very impressive. This is the first time Clear Outside has really been this wrong before, so it was a suprise that it was this cloudy. Although it was frustrating, it was also an encouraging evening, as this was the first time I have used my 8 inch dob properly collimated, and the views were fabulous.
Just need to ask this question: Can anyone recommend a filter for viewing DSOs with an 8 inch telescope, as the Veil Nebula should be well placed over the summer and I would love to see it.(The fact it is a supernova remnant is so awesome to me for some reason)
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I’ve just finished collimating my 200p dobsonian, as it was my first time doing it I was worried it would be really hard. It turns out it wasn’t, it was only the primary mirror that was out, and it only took about ten minutes turning the adjustment screws to get it collimated. It was quite simple using the instruction manual and a guide online. I can’t wait to use it now it’s properly collimated, maybe at the weekend if the sky is clear!
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60-90 working days ‘sigh’. Still, I’m glad I ordered from FLO, as I’ve got no doubt that they are working they’re hardest to fulfil orders, especially with coronavirus and brexit. I’ll have to make use of my 70mm achromatic refractor until then I guess, I just hope I don’t miss out on Jupiter and saturn this summer/autumn.
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49 minutes ago, rnobleeddy said:
I stupidly didn't buy one last year from a local member of this forum at £600. I'd guess £800 might be a more reasonable average price these days.
Ah ok
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A belt-modded Heq5 for £600 seems like a real bargain, considering that buying one new costs around £1200. Thanks for the advice again, this forum has been a real help when getting into astronomy.
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12 minutes ago, rnobleeddy said:
I've used an 130PDS setup on an EQ5. If you're not careful about the weight of the equipment, it can start to trouble the 5Kg limit. But that wasn't really the issue - my mount didn't guide as well as I hoped and despite weeks of trying to adjust/modify the gearing, it still wouldn't guide well in DEC. So 5 minute subs were a waste of time - but 60s subs were fine (I'd throw perhaps one out of every 4 of them away).
I'd love to try that EQ5 again with all the knowledge I've gained since, including better polar alignment. But there's a reason everyone suggests the HEQ5 - almost every HEQ5 will work reasonably well out of the box. Astrobiscuit has a good video on tuned mounts and if you believe the claims made by the mount tuner he talks to, even the lowly EQ3 can be made to work very well in expert hands. However, the tuning service is expensive, and so unless you want the portability of a tuned lighter mount, it's not economical to, for example, buy a new EQ5 and get it tuned, because that would cost more than just buying a HEQ5.
So a second hand HEQ5 would be a good choice and should be within/around your budget. Of all the advice routinely given out on this forum, starting with a HEQ5 for imagine is probably the least contested!
Thanks for the advice, how much would a second-hand heq5 cost?
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When looking to start astrophotography, prices seem huge. The mounts cost a lot, so I was wondering which one is best to start astrophotography, when not looking to spend more than £600 or £700. Astrobiscuit has a good page on his website which explains the minimum for Deep Sky astrophotography, which suggests that a second-hand eq5 is a good choice on a budget. I’d be looking to image with the 130pds, which weighs about 4kg.
Astrobiscuits website page on mounts: https://www.astrobiscuit.com/best-mount
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The 600d seems a good choice as a starter dslr then. I’m not really looking at cooled cmos/ccd cameras as that seems like a purchase I would make if I really got into astrophotography, where as a dslr is more versatile. A canon 600d and a 130pds seems like a cheapish entry into astrophotography, if only mounts weren’t so expensive(I’d probably look at getting a second hand eq5).
Thanks for all the advice, it’s really helpful.😀
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I’d probably suggest a dobsonian, an 8 inch one costs about £400, but they are fairly long and heavy. Maybe a skywatcher maksutov would be a better fit.
8 inch dobsonian: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html
5 inch maksutov: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/skywatcher-skymax-127-synscan-az-goto.html
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Cool, thanks for the advice!👍
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I’d would only use it for astrophotography and I’m looking to image deep sky probably with the skywatcher 130pds.
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I’m thinking of starting Astro-photography in the future, and everyone seems to recommend a canon dslr. But which one? There are so many, and people seem to suggest a 1000d or 450d, but I don’t know which to choose?
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Ah, thanks for clearing up the atmosphere/translucency issue. Makes a lot more sense now.👍
First good night in over a month!
in Observing - Reports
Posted
Thank you very much for the help, hopefully I can attempt M11 tonight if the sky stays clear. I should have added to my report that my observing night was the night of 15th - 16th July. I’m going to probably by an astronomik UHC filter soon, I’m hoping that will make enough of a difference on faint nebulae.