badhex

I have used goto plenty with an AZ-GTi, and it is great, especially for short sessions - but I also quite enjoy the satisfaction of hunting down objects. I also own/ed a couple of older EQ mounts and used to find polar alignment generally easy enough, but an additional pain when setting up since I've always loved in flats and have to basically start from scratch each time. I do wonder if having a more permanent location in the future would change my mind though.

Thanks, a very good point. This thought had occurred to me too - best of both worlds, so to speak. However the problem currently is that I won't have place to set up a large mount for at least a year, and I have genuinely no idea what that will look like in terms a more permanent setup.

Indeed this is the concern. I do have the space and I've already spent the money, but it will be at a least a year before I live somewhere that I can realistically use such a mount, and for visual only, I'm not sure that it's the right fit. That said, because I've never been able to use the mount in earnest, I don't really know how well or badly I would get on with it, so there's some guesswork based only on my last few years of observing with alt-az.

Thanks, I've come across this before but did not have it bookmarked. Depending what figures I input, I'm getting limiting mag of 12.7-12.9. Stellarium suggests that Enceladus is mag 11.73 so it should be possible if everything aligns nicely! I live in hope 🙂

Hello all, Of late I've been wrestling with a problem of my own making which has left me perplexed and unsure of my next move, so I'm seeking some guidance. Around three years ago after a hiatus from astronomy I jumped right back in with both feet, and I was fortunate enough to be able to afford an EQ6-R Pro, reasoning it would be a forever mount and future proof me for likely any potential scope I may later buy. Unfortunately, as is sometimes the way, I have not had the circumstances in which to use it; in fact I have since come to the conclusion that I prefer alt-az mounts, being purely a visual observer, and don't really use goto at all. Thus the mount has not been used in earnest, only to test it works. With hindsight it probably wasn't the right purchase, and indeed if I had my time again I'd probably buy something like a Rowan AZ100 with encoders, and the potential option to upgrade to push-to or motors later if I wanted. As it happens, the AZ100 is roughly the same price as the mount head! Anyway, on one hand I could cut my losses, sell the mount and make possibly a significant loss on an essentially brand new item, maybe make a bad decision into a worse one, and / or end up regretting my decision. On the other hand I could hold out and see if in the future my circumstances change and the EQ6-R becomes the right thing, which may never come to fruition and have a excellent mount sitting doing nothing, which is also sad. To be honest I'm not really sure what to do for the best, especially since currently I'm not flush so making a loss hits more than it might a couple of years ago - although I must note that I don't need to sell in order to recoup money to live so to speak, any money recouped would go back into the purchase of an alternative mount. I've spent quite some time now thinking myself into a corner! Any thoughts or opinions welcomed on this matter, or advice from anyone who has found themselves in a similar position.

Great stuff! What are your skies like, LP wise? I'm currently in Bortle 5 skies, and only observing with a 73mm F5.9 ZS73 currently so really not the right scope for the job, and in honesty I think probably not possible - but we make do with what have and it makes the challenge more interesting!

Actually, I meant to add that if anyone fancies joining in on the Enceladus challenge i.e. seeing what aperture is required to observe it, I would love to hear anyone's results!

Ah, I thought there might be a small scale model there. I understand the first of the two speculum primarys is in the London science museum, and the remaining 10 feet of tube is in the Greenwich observatory.

Had a few clear nights over the last week, and conditions have varied a little with light haze and seeing. I may do a longer write up but at the moment I'm absorbed in a self imposed Enceladus challenge, so that was the main object of my observations for last night. Sadly I did not manage to observe Enceladus even with at least an hour of trying, but did manage Rhea, Iapetus and obviously Titan, as well as Saturn himself looking pretty majestic with cloud banding visible even through a light haze. Meantime I tracked down Neptune which was surprisingly easy, a very light eggshell blue disc compared with nearby 20 Piscium and SAO 146912. Also observed were the Veil, M29, Jupiter, with Ganymede hanging out at the edge of the disc, and then finished with the Hyades, Pleiades and the double cluster.

Ooh don't they have a model of the 40-foot telescope there? Very topical for me as I'm also trying to track down Enceladus, albeit with a much smaller scope 😂

After sufficient scope cooling (warming!) and a brief detour to find Neptune, I got back to the job in hand, mostly using the PM and SZ 7.7mm combo (which is honestly just silly for a "planetary" EP 😂) Iapetus was easy, but Rhea still not always present. Oddly, dropping down a few notches on the SZ to lower mags helped. I also tried the 24mm UFF with the PM giving me 36x - Super sharp, again Rhea now quite visible. Tried for at least an hour at various mags but still no dice on Enceladus unfortunately. More mags, aperture or darkness needed perhaps, or better transparency which was generally good but clearly not quite right with this slight haze around the planet, and possibly contributing to hiding Enceladus.

Ah damn, sorry to hear. I replied at the same time as you!

I'm out and it's clear, although the scope is still acclimatising, as are my eyes. Already running at 112x with the APM Superzoom and 2x Powermate. There might be a fine mist about as I'm picking up a nebulous glow around Saturn, and seeing is not exactly perfect. Titan is no problem, catching fleeting and faint visibility of Rhea but nothing else as yet!

Noted, cheers John. So far skies are looking good, I'm going to powermate the APM Superzoom which should give me a bit of extra oomph (112x, so not exactly super high power 😂) and see how I get on!

Cripes, that is a big lad! What's the OTA weight?

Maybe they've used an Oiii filter too often? 😂

I'm going to have a play with the tool @John linked to and see if I can find a good time for it in the next few days. Please report back if you also find anything!

Is it as good as Morse/Lewis/Endeavour? Need a new police procedural to watch, have watched those so many times I know everything that happens in every episode!

Nothing new here but not posted this little gem for a while! William Optics ZS73 with Baader BBHS clicklock, Lacerta 40mm ED, Scopetech Mount Zero and Gitzo Series 2 Traveller. Hiding in the tray below are and APM 24mm UFF, APM Superzoom and Astronomik Oiii, UHC and CLS filters. A very capable and portable little package - last night managed the Veil which is pretty good going for a not-quite-3-inch scope 🙂

I prefer the bottom one too although I'm hardly a connoisseur!

Yes, my thinking is it will be pretty tough with a small aperture. I don't have any scope larger than 6" though so I'll have to work with what I have!

Cheers John, nice to hear it might at least be possible in a 6", perhaps I may need to wait until I have access to larger kit. Thanks for the link - I had forgotten about that tool, and actually my Stellarium is acting strangely so that will be very useful.

Hello all, After my weird time travel incident the other day (which is jsyva weird Stellarium bug) I was thinking again about my favourite satellite Enceladus, and how I would really love to observe it. I appreciate that generally it gets lost in the glare of Saturn since it is so minuscule, but since we're viewing Saturn edge on, I was thinking that perhaps dark skies, high mags, plus great seeing might make it possible - but what about aperture? With kit at my disposal currently I can do 112x with a ZS73, 2x Powermate and the 7.7mm end of the APM Superzoom, under Bortle 5 skies. So not completely ideal! But could this actually be possible? Would love to hear people's experiences and observing conditions where they have managed to see it!

I was thinking only fools and horses but maybe it's Absolutely Fabulous? About 2 mins in

Haha the Ghost Tortoise of Delabole!