Ags

I am more hesitant about advising on a tattoo than about equipment purchases! Good luck and I hope you find answer.

A reducer will definitely help with tracking simply reducing the focal length. It's not linear: assuming you use a 0.63 focal reducer, tracking errors are reduced by 0.63 due to focal lengh reduction, and exposure times are reduced by 0.63^2, further reducing tracking errors. Very good results - I have been using an ASI178MM, but at a gain of around 210 to 260. If you are above unity gain, does extra gain add anything? (Except perhaps make the results stackable in DSS?)

Speculactular!

Welcome!

An in-depth contribution on a weighty topic!

Still convinced my pictures will be twice as good as the camera captures twice the light! 🤣

ASI178MM sold. ASI485MC incoming!

I think the plural is Morpheosi, although that might apply to the owners.

That's my point actually, that's just a different kind of consistency and can indeed be described by maths. By consistency I meant "obeys laws".

H alpha is not very good for visual as human night vision is insensitive to longer red wavelengths like H alpha.

The 12mm offers much more eye relief with a wider apparent field of view. That needs a lot more glass and polishing, explaining the weight and cost.

Good point, but I had an appointment in the morning so probably a good thing I went for a quick binocular session instead!

Due to cloud, I put the C6 back indoors after the frustrating experiments with the Q Turret - only to find beautifully clear and dark skies around midnight. It would take too long to re-cool the telescope, so I had a quick tour with binoculars - just the obvious ones: M42 (lovely), M45 (lovely) and clusters in Auriga (lovely, clouds of stars on show, which I have never seen a from a city before). I also did a tour of the first magnitude stars, inspecting their color contrasts. With binoculars you can change targets very quickly so the color differences are far more apparent. Very good skies - my kingdom for a cooled scope and widefield eyepiece!

I have almost persuaded myself to get a Svbony 102/f7 ED, as this seems the cheapest of the clones in this range. The alternative would be a 102 mm Mak, but the image should be a little brighter in the refractor, and star images that little bit better. I don't use 2" eyepieces, but I would be tempted to try a Speers WALER 30mm 90 degree eyepiece in the Svbony - 4 degree true field at 4mm exit pupil.

A short, frustrating and cold session, trying out the Baader Q Turret with my C6. The last time I tried out the Q Turret (in a refractor) I saw lots of astigmatism, so I have given it an overhaul (tightened its central screw) and now trying it on the C6. Possibly the tightening will improve the astigmatism, or alternately the astigmatism will be less of an issue in an F10 SCT than an F6 'frac? Still a lot of astigmatism unfortunately, but image quality wasn't that great without the turret either - just a little better but stars were soft. Collimation looks OK inside and outside focus. I think my adventures with the Q Turret are at an end. As for the C6... when the Moon is back next week I will give it a test on that.

I am very pleased to say the Southern Hemisphere and all-sky flavors of Discovering Double Stars have been completed and published. This completes the project, and I will come back to it toward the end of next year to update position angles and separations based on the latest data. Download the Discovering Double Stars books here

I find Delta Cep very strongly colored. One of my firm favorites when i can find it. I would enjoy this region of sky more if there were brighter stars in the area - all of the main stars in Cepheus are borderline naked-eye for me. So navigation is quite tricky on many evenings.

I've had both ES and Nirvana EPs, and felt strongly that the ES eyepieces were somewhat better. That opinion was based on use in F5 Newtonians, fast refractors, SCTs and Maks. Never tried the Luminos, but was put off them by the reports I read.

I think I see where we differ. I don't see the AZT6 Alt cluch as a clutch, but just as variable friction. I adjust it at the beginning of the session then I leave it alone.

Nearly the same here. When I let the dog out for his midnight sniffing in the herbaceous border I did briefly spot Capella in a fleeting gap in the clouds.

Are you using a counterweight? I find adding a counterweight makes the AZT6 smoother in both Alt and Az. What tripod are you using? Mine is on a Berlebach Report, which seems pretty solid.

The AZT6 seems to hold my C6 pretty well - I am surprised it's not up to holding an ED80? I do plan to get an AZ5 eventually, but the AZT6 does so well I don't really need a replacement. I think I have settled on getting an ED 102 eventually, although I will see what comes up on the second-hand market.

@John your report gives me some hope of catching Triton with my C6. But just finding Neptune would be an achievement for me!

I thought the books were about Deep Scotland Objects too?

I think I always need a scope to daydream about. Having got the small Apo, the 102 mm is the new mirage on the horizon!