Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b89429c566825f6ab32bcafbada449c9.jpg

Patrick1948

Members
  • Posts

    276
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Patrick1948

  1. :icon_eek: Last night/this morning was one of the best observing sessions I've had for a long time. It was my first serious stargazing session since I traded my 10" Dob for a more manageable Celestron 127 Mak and goto mount....and I miss my Dob so much !!! I was set up and waiting by 10pm and it still looked like mid afternoon!!! anyway, as soon as I could see three bright stars I launched into the sky align...(after meticulously leveling the tripod)...failure after failure.....four times I tried, very frustrating...is this common or is it just my ineptitude ? Anyway after realising the eyepieces I had (scope standard) were not very good I settled down after a successful alignment and tried the tour on the handset. Well...the scope pointed every where but where I wanted it to. More understanding needed, I suppose it would help if I read the manual !!!! I pointed the scope in the general direction of Cassiopeia and settled down with the 25mm eyepiece in and just bumbled around observing the open clusters there. This was about 12 midnight....next time I looked at my watch it was 2.45am!!!! Nearly three hours of totally unstructured star gazing in one constellation....what an enjoyable evening I had!!! I am really missing the big aperture of the 10" Dob but the 127 Mak is more manageable, and like they say, a good scope is one that is used.....by for now and clear skies to you all.
  2. Hi Stargazers...It's been months since I had the Dob out in the back garden, what with coughs and colds and the ever present clouds...but tonight I got a good hour and a half in before the visibility went haywire again. I was really disappointed to miss most of the Winter skies so tonight I braved the bad light pollution of Sheffield and looked skyward.. The new Dual focuser worked a treat, though I still can't get on with the Telrad...I think I need to build a box to stand the Dob on to give me more hight to overcome the bending difficulties !!!...Anyway the first target was Saturn and once I found it in the scope it took my breath away...pin sharp with a 10mm ep and x2 barlow...not a deal of colour but managed to count four moons. I am dead chuffed, made the night a sucess. As I had a pause with a cup of tea, I looked up and the ISS powered across the sky and shortly afterwards another sattelite whizzed over. One more look at Saturn and the gang of four, then the visibility got worse so I packed up and came in....GREAT night, in spite of the light pollution and poor seeing. Night all....
  3. Patrick1948

    I confess

    I hope you get your kit delivered soon Isabelle..(same name as my three year old Grand daughter..but her's is spelt with an 'O'... Isobelle). I must admit I share the same trepidations as you with the collimating of my Newt. I've got a Laser and a Cheshire and STILL I baulk at the idea....but...like you say, "It must be done!!!".....Clear skies to you mon ami and give that half wolf a pat for me!!!
  4. Patrick1948

    Tibbs Blog

    Enjoyed reading your blogs, Tibbs. Your enthusiasm is contagious....I've caught a good dose from you!!!. I look forward to seeing your images when you get your DSLR sorted...clear skies mon ami...
  5. What can you say?...other than WoW!!!
  6. :mad:Actually, it should be titled 'The Blind Eyeball in the Sky'....Yesterday I upgraded the standard focuser on my SW 10" Dob with a Revelation Two speed Crayford focuser. It was quite a scary thing for me because I'm not a mechanically minded guy, and because of that, I quite often can't see logical solutions to mechanical problems. That's what comes with spending half a life time as a 'people' worker..a detached youth worker actually. Anyway, after much dithering and thoughts of not doing it 'cos I didn't want to b***er it up, I removed the standard focuser and had a cup of tea to calm down... As I followed the advice received from the good people of this forum, my fingers were trembling as I slowly screwed the new super duper focuser into place and gently packed the gaps round the baseplate with dark foam, presumably to stop spiders crawling in and dying on the mirror !!!. Well...Job done at last AND there was a clear night forecast for later. Carried the Dob outside and as I waited for the cool down, I sat on a garden chair and marveled at the first clear sky in two months. Binos pressed to my eyes I observed the Orion Nebula in all it's glory and Pleides as well. Both VERY visible to the naked eye....I stole a quick look through the eyepiece (25mm Wide angle lens).....and OH!!! WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT !!! :mad: The focuser would not focus!!! It wouldn't wind out enough and everything was a blur......anyway I calmed down after a while, the neighbourhood dogs stopped barking and the residents closed their curtains again. With a heavy heart I packed my equipment away and came and scoured the lounge for a solution...if there was one to be found. I'd got visions of screwing the old, clunky standard focuser back on and re selling the Crayford. It turns out, thanks to the knowledge of stargazers in the Lounge, that all I need is an extension tube to allow a bigger wind out in order to achieve focus,which I ordered from FLO not 10 mins ago...and guess what?....you'll never guess in a hundred years!!!...I looked at the long range weather forecast and they are saying ..:clouds2:"CLOUD FOR THE NEXT THREE WEEKS":clouds2:..AAAaaarrrggghhh!!!...I hope YOU have clear skies Mes amis...say a prayer for mine!!!
  7. Hi, like you say, blogging is a good way to record your viewing and how you do it. I occasionally blog and get comments from other people on the forum and I follow a few other 'bloggers' with interest, so I for one would read yours. Feel free to drop in and read whatever drivel I write . Clear skies to you mon ami.
  8. Patrick1948

    Third lecture tonight

    Another inspirational read MrsR... You transmit your excitement through your words !!! I found 'Turn Left at Orion' a valuable aid to finding my way around the night skies and I hope you will be thrilled with what you will see with the binos. I get on well with Stellarium and have even had my laptop outside on the garden table whilst working my telescope...then the DEW came and the computer shut down...took me two days to dry it out!!!...Anyway MrsR, keep blogging and I hope your course goes well.....
  9. Patrick1948

    So very new

    MrsR, your blog is a delight to read and I concur with all that Isabelle says...you keep writing, and you will be added to the few blogs I follow on a regular basis. I'm not an old hand at Astronomy, though I am at life itself!!, and it is always a pleasure to follow someone else's developing interest in a subject the excites the mind. Clear skies to you. XXX
  10. As ever, you write a mean blog...very good read and the picture of the moon is great....The other picture is equally as stunning...is it the constellation 'Vulpecula' ?? lol.... It certainly looks very wolf like to me !!!....Clear skies to you.
  11. A very interesting read Jimmy. Glad you found your way back to stargazing. Keep blogging, you do it well. Clear skies to you.
  12. Glad you are sorted Pat...I always use Rother Valley Optics, service with a smile and very efficient and knowledgeable...They even Collimated my 10" Dob for me when I was having problems (with my ability to do it!!!)...first class.
  13. Once again, very good reading, thank you. As I'm plagued with either cloud or fog at the moment (The moment has lasted for over a month !!!) it's refreshing to read about someone having a good time with their scope...and dinner!!...Keep writing and I'll keep reading. Clear skies to you.
  14. Patrick1948

    Dara o dear !!

    I agree fair isle, for me, Dara ruined the program, being annoying, verbose and too full of himself . I didn't switch off but stuck to it till the end. I think they could have got a better co presenter.
  15. Happy new year to you too, Neil. Glad things have improved in the rogue water dept., ..... very good read, brought a smile to my clouded over face.
  16. A very worthy blog, Stolenfeather and I enjoyed reading it. In fact it inspired me afresh to get the dob out again once this accursed weather and cloud move on...loved the photo of the Orion nebula. Keep blogging, you have readers!!!
  17. Thanks for putting up with us Cez...and yes, it was a shame about the clouds.
  18. Thanks, nice report Ray. I enjoyed reading it...rather inspiring actually....clear skies to you.
  19. I think you are right Warren, just time and experience will smooth things out for us. The eyepieces I use are : Antares x2 Barlow...Super 25 wide angle with long eye relief (that's a good all rounder)...super 10mm...and a Plossl SP 12.5mm.....I've only managed 4 of Jupiter's moons, not even caught a hint of the other 59!!...clear skies Mon Ami.
  20. I accidently spotted my first Messier object last night...M45...The Seven Sisters or Pleiades, and was truly amazed. If I hadn't been hooked before, I was the instant I saw M45. I had never seen the Seven Sisters before last night, I didn't even know it was a Messier object!!! and I was overwhelmed at the beauty of it......I have been a little frustrated of late (wanting to run before I can walK!!) and I have been having a 'spot of bother' translating what I see in books into what I see through the scope...Yes, I know it's upside down and back to front..but I can cope with that (I think!). The problem is when I look through the scope, or even the Binos, There are an extra few hundred or more stars and I can't pick out the one I need to orientate myself on before I 'Hop' somwhere else. I have purchased a Telrad Finder, but cant really use it unless the object is VERY bright I.e Jupiter!! So I'm thinking of getting a right angled finder scope and trying that. I suppose it will come with practice and time....Well, back to M45...finding that, first with the naked eye as a large 'smudge' with a star at it's centre, then with the 10x50 binos and finally viewing it with the 10" Dob with a 25mm wide angle eyepiece, made all the frustration well worth the effort. Plus JUPITER and the four moons (couldn't see the other 59 !!! lol) was still sexy.....clear skies to you all.
  21. Patrick1948

    Clouds!!!

    Is it true??? I have heard there will (might) be a small gap in the clouds over Yorkshire sometime in the next three weeks!!!...whichever back garden the small gap is over when it appears, can the owner organise a star party and let me know please???...........talk about having withdrawal symptoms....
  22. I see the 'Le Chez' observatory is comming along....I must say you have much better views from your back than I have from mine. I can only see well to the North and South and a limited view to the SE. I need a sunken bungalow in a big flat field !!!
  23. :hello2: Hi fellow Dobbers!!...seems ages since I had a session with my Dob, so, being as the forecast tonight was for clear skies from 10pm till 1am, I thought why not ****** a couple of hours in the back garden and try for a few DSO's. I set up at 9pm, got delayed and made it outside for 10.30pm...twenty minutes with the bins whilst my eyes got accustomed to the light pollution/darkness and lined up the Telrad. Didn't get to see ANY DSO's, 'cos I couldn't find any. I'm getting a little dispirited with not being able to see/find any DSO's. Maybe I'm trying to run before I can walk...Anyway good old Jupiter popped up from behind the neighbours house...(did you know Jupiter has 63 moons????..I didn't till tonight. I didn't see any more than the four larger ones...but 63...wow!). I found the seeing conditions not too good as it was rather hazy and viewing over houses didn't help, but it was Hobson's choice..... Did I see Uranus ???? I don't know but there was what appeared to be another moon (dimmer) a little way off to the left (or right in real life!!) of Jupiter...I'll check on stellarium later. Anyway it was getting cloudy and more hazy and seeing conditions were getting worse by 11.30pm so I called it a day, but not before my better half brought me out a hot cup of tea and a couple of munchies so I had those, cursed the clouds and the fact that I'm STILL a DSO virgin!!! and went in.... Clear skies to you all. ..............PS..I did check stellarium and it WAS Uranus I saw!!!
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.