Gonariu

I have to decide to get up early to start seeing the planets, for Mars then waiting for the opposition at the beginning of December is both a bit far away and there will be a lot of cold as opposed to now which is making a low of 20 C abundant. Since this year's opposition is less favorable than that of 2020 (about 17 "instead of 22" .6) it is better to do some training first (both visually and with the planetary camera I bought, the SV 305). For mosquitoes it is a common problem ... for about ten years if I do not spray the Autan, in the summer I am devoured alive by mosquitoes & papatacci!

Yes, in the summer they are seen among the best DSOs of the year, many of them in Sagittarius. Tonight I think I'll put myself after dinner to see something, I won't wait for the astronomical twilight (around 11pm) because after dinner I get a deadly sleep, a few weeks ago I was about to fall asleep on the telescope (a small achromatic 80/400 on a good photographic tripod) with the risk of combining damage .....

I didn't know that weed made it easier to dampen vibrations. I observe from a large terrace here at home which is certainly not ideal as it is well radiated by the sun during the day. that I bought back a C8 (the Nexstar 8 ) the better.

Nice picture, I noticed that looking at the Sun with a W58 green filter you have an excellent contrast. I look at the Sun with satisfaction with a small achromatic 80/400 at the hottest hours with about 35 C, but you can stand it.

It would bother me very much that during the summer, which is the period in which one can enjoy astronomical observation without the cold or with milder temperatures like you in the UK, to have problems with twilight or white nights. The winter cold sometimes dissuades me from putting out the telescope as I have a mild chronic pharyngitis and, in these times, even a simple sore throat (which sometimes comes to me) can be a symptom of covid (in normal times not me it mattered nothing). Remarkable is the commitment and tenacity with which you exploit even the least favorable situations with good results.

Beautiful photographs of the Moon and beautiful observation post, in particular the grass in the garden greatly decreases the heat radiation during the night of the heat received during the day.

Welcome to SGL; we Sardinians have a special bond with you Spaniards!

Happy Easter everyone !!!

As an astronomy book I use this: Title: Star by star. Author: Piero Bianucci. Publisher: Giunti. The text is in Italian, I don't know if it has been translated into English. As a book I like it very much, I use it to plan my deep-sky observations.

Too beautiful photographs, congratulations !!!

I looked at them today at Cagliari between 13.10 and 13.31 with a small achromatic 80/400 (Konus Vista - 80) equipped with a glass solar filter with full aperture at 50X (with a Vixen 8 - 24 zoom eyepiece. not so recent anymore, bought used by a friend). I also used a star diagonal mirror (otherwise you can't get into focus). The observation was conducted in full light. In the photograph I took with my mobile phone of the drawing (putting on the flash) the shadow of the leftmost spot did not come.

I thank everyone for the valuable advice; so far I have been a (almost) pure visualist, but for some time I have realized that to make contemplative observations of the Moon (I observe and search on a lunar map what I see at the telescope) the old Konus 60/700 achromatic refractor, bought in 1983 when I was a boy, was more than enough; a better telescope used only in this way is wasted. I think (and hope) that I will not have software problems as last year I got a second laptop, in fact the first one could fail and I would have had problems with distance learning (I'm a math and physics teacher).

I bought a used Nexstar 8 SE with which I would like to do more serious things than the contemplative observations of the Moon & planets I have done so far.

I would like to start with the photography of the Moon, Sun and planets and I have seen these planetary cameras from Svbony, the SV 105, the SV 89 and the SV 305, what do you think? Has anyone tried them?

In fact, the Sun gave a show last month, also thanks to the good weather that around 10 December deigned to do after a month and a half of rain every day. Today at 13.53 (Italian time) with my achromatic 80/400 at 50X it was desolately empty; the new cycle seems to have been on alternating current for some time.

Disegno del Sole. Dati del disegno: uso di un filtro solare in vetro a tutta apertura. Ingrandimenti: 50X con uno zoom Vixen di almeno 10 anni fa. Osservazione in luce integrale. Rifrattore acromatico 80/400 su un treppiede fotografico. Luogo: Orotelli dal mio terrazzo di casa. Presenza di inquinamento luminoso, ma le costellazioni in genere si distinguono. Osservazione col diagonale stellare, l'immagine poi è stata messa colla giusta orientazione. Disegno eseguito il giorno 20 Dicembre 2021 alle ore 19 circa.

Disegno delle Pleiadi. Dati del disegno: uso di un filtro solare in vetro a tutta apertura. Ingrandimenti: 17X, 25X, 33X, 50X con uno zoom Vixen di almeno 10 anni fa. Osservazione in luce integrale. Rifrattore acromatico 80/400 su un treppiede fotografico. Luogo: dal balcone della casa dei miei a Quartu Sant'Elena. Presenza di inquinamento luminoso, ma le costellazioni in genere si distinguono. Osservazione col diagonale stellare, l'immagine poi è stata messa colla giusta orientazione. Disegno eseguito il giorno 31 Dicembre 2021 alle ore 19 circa.

I bought used at the end of May 2020 an achromatic 80/400 (the Konus Vista - 80) which is of the same type as the ST80, I must say that it is a purchase I have never regretted and I use it for practically everything , Moon, Sun, planets, deep sky objects and panoramas. I keep it mounted on a photographic tripod to be ready for use. Taking advantage of the good weather and the mild temperatures of these days, around 7 pm tonight I dedicated myself to the observation of the Pleiades by making a drawing of it. Unfortunately the place is not the best, here in Quartu Sant'Elena (attached to Cagliari) where I am for the Christmas holidays there is the light pollution of the towns; raising the magnification from 17X to 50X darkens the background of the sky, improving both the vision and the perception of fainter stars. Comparing with a map of the Pleiades which shows the magnitude of the components, the weakest perceived star is of magnitude + 10.02 at 50X as the sky background was quite dark at this magnification. The chromatism was not visible On the planets. In August - September of last year some details of the surface of Mars were perceived at 200X (the south poare cap, Syrtis Maior and Hellas), this year observing Jupiter with the Baader semi-optic filter (I think at 100X, I don't remember well) , you could see some bands and a black point that after an hour had moved, you could guess the position of the Red Spot. The Moon at 100X and the semi-opaque filter (but also at a higher magnification) or an orange W21a filter is beautiful with a very low chromatism. Also of Venus at 100X if you have a good vision of it, the chromatism is present but does not disturb (without using any filter). The vision of M8 and M7 from the terrace of Orotelli or not sorry, the nebilosa had many stars in the background of the Milky Way. I enclose the drawing of the Pleiades made tonight and a drawing of the Sun made before Christmas. Happy New Year to all.

@Onikkinen. Your way to not get too cold is interesting, I will put it into practice and thus I will avoid decreasing or interrupting my astronomical observations in the bad season. @Chefgage. In cervesia veritas! (= truth in beer!). Every now and then you need a nice beer !!!

Yes, global warming. Here too there is a heat wave that for this period is not normal, here in Cagliari today I saw from the car thermometer that at 1 pm it was 20º (I have been here on holiday for the Christmas holidays since 28th); my sister told me she never had to turn on the gas heater this month. In the evening I went out to take the dog out for a walk, I saw that you could see some stars, the typical winter constellations, I'll try tomorrow night to see something from the balcony of the house with the telescope, Venus will be in poll position! Before going down to Cagliari I tried to see Venus a few times from the terrace of Orotelli but, besides observing the Sun since it stopped raining (from the end of October to the beginning of this month) I did nothing else because I caught the infection on the 5th with a few days of fever and I got used to staying at home in the heat with the pellet stove that brought me the temperature to 25 °, going to the terrace at dusk at 10 ° to see Venus or to close the terrace door I do not liked it so much. Once I put out the Nexstar 8 SE and in the meantime it acclimatized I looked at the planet with my achromatic 80/400, but then I put everything inside, I didn't like the cold and the "jail" to which I was forced to undergo because I was still positive, it made me fear that my fever might return. Never mind, I will recover from now on hoping that it does not make a winter that is too rainy as it was the second part of autumn and trusting that for some years now it has been having a "winter without winter", often in the winters spent in Orotelli I woke up in the night all sweaty and had to take off my pajama jacket! My father, who was from 1933, said that as a child he saw the ice candelabra attached to the roofs of the houses, they have been there for 18 years (I used to live in Cagliari) and I have never seen them. Of course, almost every winter it happens that at least once it makes a splash of snow, in Cagliari I literally saw it with binoculars when I was a boy: I climbed the hill of Monte Urpinu with my Konus 10X50 binoculars to see the Sarrabus mountains covered with snow when it was cold (a day with a maximum of 8º - 10º when I was a boy was cold for me, I'll make you smile… ....); with the subtropical climate of Cagliari snow is very rare.

In fact, with the temperatures you have in Finland in the cold season, you need to have a lot of courage to go outside. If there are + 3° outside at Orotelli I do not have the courage to take out the telescope or I make a hit and run observation (I must say that I have a slight chronic pharyngitis that does not encourage me to go out on too cold nights, at least according to the concept of "cold" that we have here in Sardinia). In Cagliari which is on the sea and has a subtropical climate "I dare" more .....

I saw that these days even in the United Kingdom the temperatures have risen to 12º - 15 ° even if the cloud cover has remained, at least you have a milder weather.

Not only in the North ..... Here it rained from the end of October to the beginning of December, then at least a week of sun during which I resumed the observations of our star, then since yesterday it rains again ........

Terrible, if it's + 3° C outside I don't dare take the telescope out or I make a very hasty observation.

I saw this topic only this morning and I willingly and joyfully join in too: Merry Christmas and happy 2022, may the new year be joyful for all of us, WITHOUT COVID, with clear skies (and I hope here in Sardinia that the next summer without sand of the Sahara that in July and August of this year created many problems for astronomical observation even if neither a cloud nor a drop of water was seen ... ....). A word of encouragement for all of us: do not be discouraged because it is certain that this situation will end, we do not know when but it will end. I also think of the terrible sufferings of the last war, far worse, that there was nothing to eat; my grandmother used to say in Sardinian: “sa gana de su barantaduos” (= “the hunger of '42”). So take courage and “sursum corda” (= “raise your hearts”)! P.S. for FLO: I read in an Italian astronomy forum that you have excellent products and are well supplied; a very dear wish to you too for a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2022.