Richard N

These are very much objects for the enthusiast. They don't look remotely interesting in themselves. It's knowing what they are that makes them so special to see.

Should be very simple; even relatively easy...😀 it's one of those exotic things that can actually be seen with very modest gear. Gravitationally lensed quasars being another. Quite exciting seeing these sorts of things from a suburban backyard. I have another interesting object in mind that should also be possible. Probably an Autumn target.

Very nice. More resolution in your image than in mine as expected. 200mm vs 80mm. 80mm is approaching the lower limit to see this under most conditions I expect.

80mm ED scope. GP290M camera.

Nothing different. Folks locally suggested it was just down to atmospheric conditions previously.

An amazing evening. The forecast was good enough for me to set up the scope down the garden to enable a rare view of the southern skies. in all I managed to view 30 new objects (21 of which were Messiers), many very appealing. A few are attached below. 80mm ED GP290M camera. M61, NGC4631, NGC4567.

I have ordered a cheap one to try. The comment about a reducer is interesting. I will have to see how that works out.

I wondered if it would be possible to see M87's relativistic jet with my 80mm scope. I can rarely observe M87 but tonight I gave it a go. And SUCCESS - I can see the relativistic jet. Here is my image and below is an ultraviolet image from the Sloan Deep Sky Survey. Very pleased with this!

Seeing the sky at all is a major challenge here. I’ll happily take whatever “seeing” I get.

Sadly, it has just been announced on the Macc Astro Soc group that Ian passed away earlier today. He had a long and distinguished career both as a professional astronomer and as a keen amateur astronomer too. He was hugely encouraging to newcomers to our hobby and was always happy to answer even the most basic questions. He authored many books and articles - particularly on astrophotography. A great loss to our community. Feel free to share your memories of Ian here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Morison https://www.ianmorison.com/

Pondering whether a flip mirror is a good accessory for EAA? Camera/eyepiece. Thoughts?

Pondering whether a flip mirror is a good accessory for EAA? Camera/eyepiece. Thoughts?

The 500 Best is a cracking good list with plenty to go at. https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/472872-500-best-dso-list/

Nice images. I always get rather blobby stars. Not sure why? Yours look nice and sharp.

Got up just after 2am. Some slight technical problems and then clouds meant I got less than an hour of observing. 8 new DSOs on the "500 best DSOs" list. Favourite was NGC7510. A lovely compact open cluster.