Ags

I don't think that there is any chance of that happening!

No issues when temperatures are below 0°C 😀

@badhex have you found out how to start up an EU club?

This would be really useful for us continentals!

Kindof... prisms can also be used in in fast scopes that are undercorrected in red. My Zenithstar is f6 and the prism noticably reduces CA at focus, and inside and outside of focus. I specifically bought the Celestron prism to try out this effect and I'm surprised by the strong effect I see. I have since tried the Celestron prism with my C6 (functioning at f6.3), and preferred the cheap SkyWatcher mirror diagonal in that scope - stars just seemed a bit sharper.... So I think a prism can can enhance views, but it depends on the scope.

I keep forgetting to put in the additional names. I've got SAO numbers for almost all of them and cross indexes to bayer and flamstead. I just realized the screensot above includes a red diagram id at top left... just to be clear, that's for debugging only, it's not part of the final book.

@Mircea how about this? Also made the red shade used a touch more red light torch-friendly, and working on moving/hiding the labels for clarity.

Maybe, it says Made in Taiwan.

I caught the last 20 seconds of an ISS flyover, then had a brief look at some doubles. But it was very hazy so cut it short.

My C6 is out too, cooling and eager to go! I assume you are imaging, but I don't see a guidescope?

Might be a "nice little upgrade" to my AZ-GTi...

Looking very good! Can that AM5 work in Alt-Az mode?

I think I will stick to 68° and 82°... I am not interested in a mediocre 88° eyepiece and the real 100° eyepieces are simply too heavy.

Best documentary - Vixen SLV 6mm Best special effects - Skywatcher Super 25 Lifetime Service Award - Speers WALER 10mm Best Newcomer - Explore Scientific 20/68°

Unfortunately, how it works with Amazon and Lulu printing is that even if one small element is color, the whole book is costed as color. You can't make savings by reducing the size of color elements. My only concern with adding DSOs is clutter, but I'll have a think... @Mircea now I realise you are referring to home printing! In that case, you make a valid point. Another thing to think about.

I have read some rumors the field is "only" around 90 degrees, but these were not reports from people who had looked through them. Also the TS write-up suggests these are an update of the original design, so maybe older reviews might not apply?

Here is the next iteration - with color coding of doubles - green are those from the original hand-picked doubles for the first edition, blue are are bright and close, red are fainter or wider. I solved the margin issue by zooming out slightly and moving the doubles for the page slightly left. It took many iterations but I got the numbering of each double nice and clear on the chart. I reduced the number of stars by dropping limiting mag to 7.0, and changed the formula for calculating star radius to a new cleaner formula so it is easier to set minimum and maximum star sizes. Doubles #4 and #8 on the chart shows the next problem to fix - labels bombing the finder circles - these need to be suppressed automatically when they compete with a finder circle.

Simple question - are these "TS Optics SWA 100 Ultra Series" any good? I am attracted by the relatively low weight and the moderate length. I'd be using them in f6 scopes. https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p7919_TS-Optics-SWA-100--Ultra-Series-10-mm-1-25--Xtreme-Wide-Angle-Eyepiece.html

Thanks! The full bleed graphic will go into the binding, the trick is to make sure the important data keeps away from the binding. I can add the best nearby DSOs, I will have to see if it crowds the page too much.

My family is on board for this astro adventure - maybe 2027 though if the timing is better.

I have started work on a major update to this book. The goal is one edition that covers the entire sky while covering many more doubles and keeping to the page count of the original version. This obviously requires a radical rethink of the whole book. On the data end, the goal is to have a tight and fully automated link to the Washington Double Star Catalog data. I have just about got to ground level on the new book, which covers 860 doubles now (compared to 300 in the original northern hemisphere book) with the same page count. Here is the new format. I have full page charts that go down to mag 7.5, rather than individual finder circle charts per double. With about 10 doubles on each two-page spread there will be much less page flipping in the dark. I have been working hard on a spacing algorithm that avoid excessive overlaps of finder circles on any given page. The whole book now looks fine in that regard, with the solitary exception of (of course) Orion.

It was a surprisingly dark night, with Achird easily visible to my unaided eyes. In my C6 the pair seemed yellow and orange, matching the spectral classes of G and K. I noticed in a book today that Alphirk in Cepheus is a double so had a look. The companion seemed greenish somehow. Delta Cephei is one of my favorites, yellow and blue like Albireo but more balanced. After admiring these two, I switched to 61 Cygni, which is always a struggle to find. The 2 ancient stars (10 billion years old) are separated by about 84 AU. No summer night is complete without a good look at Lyra, so I took in M57, and the doubles Beta, Zeta and Epsilon. I finally had a patch of clear seeing with all components of Epsilon surrounded by their diffraction rings and separated by black sky. Aside from Alphirk, I stuck to familiar old targets, why stress 😀

Is there a very tiny "Opening voids warranty" sticker on Haribo? 🤣

Nice! Sounds like an RFT that can "do planets". It should be a great "sweeper" if you can get it to some darker skies. Nice to hear it splits doubles well too. Just wanted to add that the Long Perng comes in two flavors - one with regular glass + lanthanum, and one with FPL51 + lanthanum. I think you have first one? I've read these are also excellent solar scopes in white light and Ha, as the lens in both flavors of the scope appears to be well figured.