badhex

Great, thanks! Just joined. To clarify, as long as the actual buy/sell posts are in the buy/sell area, we can post a notification thread in the EU group right? EDIT: I have joined, but can't seem to post anything. To save you having to mess about, is it possible to make me an owner/leader? Looking at the other clubs there are a usually couple of people in the *Leaders* section.

Thanks @Stu and SGL for making this happen! Just had a look, but I don't have any additional button for creating a club 🙂 Re buying/selling, I think the process will be something like posting in the main buying/selling section but perhaps just alerting EU folks via the club itself, assuming this is within the rules? Also, looking forward to the potential European announcement you mention - exciting!

Hi @Stu, wondered if there had been any feedback on this idea, or suggestions for any better ideas?

Nice report @Stu, thanks for sharing. Glad to hear you're back on the horse! I was in a similar funk with observing a while ago, and I found same as you, sometimes a little change of observing gear or a new toy helps to reignite the flame. In my case getting out a hefty tripod (2" steel tube) and mount (Skytee-2) and dragging it up two flights of stairs was definitely not helping and as mentioned elsewhere the Gitzo + mount zero combo has made a huge difference to motivation. Thanks again for the great writeup!

100% agreement. You can't take it with you as they say! I know I won't be able to buy much astro stuff in the coming months so getting a few things in now while I can. What was the scope BTW?

Yes, will do - when I'm out next I'll make sure to take some notes and report back.

Thanks ED, looking forward to more planetary observing in the months to come!

Cheers Glob, why didn't I think of that? 😂

Cheers Louis, also something I thought about today! My partner has these hair bobbles/ties made of a silicone type rubber which might be the right spacing, available in black as well - I asked if I could steal one but all the ones she currently has are too big to go around the thread without dropping off. Again I'm going to try and track down a rubber band of the right size and go from there.

Thanks Don, I suspect that a second extension will be too much, as it seems to be about the same optical length as the difference between the eyecup rolled up and Dow. I did have a play around earlier today and tried that, but not whilst looking through the scope. It did feel a bit loose, but I'm going to give it a go next time I'm out to see exactly how much spacing I actually need.

I also have an Astronomik Oiii, used in 72mm and 102mm fracs. I found it to actually be better than the UHC for Orion when it was around - it looked great! I did also use it with the 73mm to try and catch the Veil last year from a darker site (Bortle 3 but annoyingly with an almost full moon) and I just managed to get the Western Veil. I suspect the smaller aperture, inexperience with nebula filters and the moon played a part in it being tricky, and I imagine a larger scope and no moon would make all the difference!

DIVINITY 1/15 WAVEFRONT bat and ball, Olly 😂

Agreed. Definitely low quality, although I'm sure I saw somewhere some thumbscrews labelled as GSO and claiming to be aluminium. Perhaps when I've got the replacements, I'll get a torch to one of these and see how easily it melts! 😂

Thanks Paul. Sorry that you have suffered so much. I was saying to my partner earlier today that my particular struggles are nothing in comparison to what many have to deal with, but I think one thing that rings true is that regardless of what we have its important to make the best of it. Astronomy certainly helps there as no matter what our status we all look at the same stars, and it's something that I try to remember to keep myself in check 🙂

Ah, our old friend Cygnus with its many barely-discernable objects! I have tried and failed many times with various objects in that neck of the woods. Glad you managed to defeat a nemesis, sounds like a good session!

Thanks Mark. Easy to forget how exciting our planetary neighbours are to observe when they aren't around!

@wookie1965 also, and importantly, I am aware that I'm incredibly privileged to have been in a decently paid - albeit stressful - job for the last few years which has enabled me to buy some expensive astro stuff, something that I am extremely grateful for and realise that not everyone has that luxury. I recently quit for various family and personal reasons, including the effect that the job has been having on my mental and physical health, and it has brought home just how important astronomy is for my mental health - so I'm making the most of it!

Thanks Paul, I've been super lucky to have a few clear nights directly after picking up new kit which is all we can ask for! Always appreciate you reading and commenting, really happy to read that you will be away in dark skies soon. I have all my fingers and toes crossed for you that the weather plays nicely!

Another clear night, another two firsts. As well as Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, I was able to spot four moons of Saturn - Titan, Rhea, Tethys and Dione - the latter two being the first ever observations for me. Round the houses version here:

Hello all, Another very clear night earlier this week (and no moon!) meant I had the opportunity to test out the Powermate with my TS102 and do a bit more planetary work. First up was Jupiter which at this hour (~0030) is fairly well placed in the sky for me whilst Saturn is still hidden behind a tall building. I quickly switched up to the BCO 10mm + Powermate (179x). Seeing was pretty good, with excellent transparency. As with my ZS73 last week, I spent some time switching between the BCO 10mm and Pentax 10mm to see which plays best with the PM. I was really enjoying the FOV of the Pentax, and not really sure which is the cleaner image of the two. I have a suspicion that the high-end glass heavy EPs like the Pentax don't work as well with the cheaper GSO barlow I was using before due to cheaper barlows not being 'perfect', whereas the ortho is less affected by the barlow in terms of contrast because of the overall lower glass elements or surface count in the EP. Obviously the barlow also gives extra ER to the BCOs which makes them a bit more comfortable to use. Conversely, the PM is optically invisible, so it effectively turns a Pentax 10mm into an 'perfect' Pentax 4mm, and a BCO 10mm into a 'perfect' BCO 4mm, so it's not a huge surprise which ends up being the most comfortable to use. If nothing else the ER and eyecup of the Pentax really help. These were just my own musings in the dark, and might be nonsense! Anyway, Both NEB and SEB were clearly visible and well defined, but sadly no GRS transit at that moment which I think would have been very visible. The planet itself was super super bright! I think an ND filter might have been helpful here, so I'm going to make sure I take my ND3 with me next time. Thinking it might also take more mags, I tried the PM plus Morpheus 4.5mm (397x!) just for my own amusement; obviously it was too much, and too soft, but worth the test - I've been surprised before with over the top combinations! As I had the Morpheus 4.5mm (159x) I took the PM out just for comparison. It turned out to be a really nice balance visually between magnification, brightness and definition, possibly helping to bring out even more detail than had been observed already. The ER on 4.5mm is a bit of a pain, feels like it's 2mm too little with eyecup and extension ring, 2mm too much with eyecup rolled down (I talk about this here). I opted for the eyecup rolled down and the blackouts that go with it, but despite this the views were very, very nice. Whilst in this bit of the sky I figured I might as well go for Mars, but like last time it was just a tiny red blurry potato (Desiree anyone?). It's still too low down and not worth bothering. Uranus was next door, so after a couple of minutes search it was found easily enough. With the 4.5mm there was just hint of blue but again, a bit low on the horizon for any more. Saturn was now out from its hiding place, so I located it and switched this time to the Morpheus 4.5mm. Observing Saturn never gets old! It was really looking quite spectacular, with a ton of definition and detail visible both on the planet / cloud surface and the rings. The Cassini division was not even a challenge. Lots of cloud banding evident, a real treat to observe. Moving slightly out from the planet itself I was easily able to spot Titan and Rhea - only the second time I've observed this Titaness. An even more satisfying observation were two more of the Titanides; lurking on the other side and closer in were both Tethys and Dione! Visible at first only with averted vision, I was then able to located them - just - with direct vision. I am really enjoying spotting these great moons, and two firsts in one session is extra pleasing. I tried really hard to spot Enceladus - my favourite moon - but I think this tiny giant was perhaps too close to Saturn, or too small, to pick out. I tried out the Pentax 10mm + PM combo for a bit more magnification. Everyone was still looking great, but I decided that possibly the 4.5mm just edged it out. Still tonnes of detail, but I suspect maybe I was able to get a bit tighter focus with the 4.5mm. I switched back for a final look at Tethys and Dione. Averted vision again to start, a little tweak of the fine focus and they popped back into view. What a great few hours! At this point it was cold, and so I packed up and went off bed happy. Screengrab below from Stellarium - around the time I was observing.

My 2" replacement GSO diagonal has had issues with the thumbscrew *again* 🙄 so I've given up and got the Baader BBHS Clicklock instead (and 1.25" adapter) whilst I can still afford it!

Uh-oh...

Thanks Paul. The tripod in this night photo is the Gitzo 5 series which incredibly sturdy but a bit less portable than the Series 2 Traveller, it needs to go in a tripod bag or similar for travelling as it's about 60cm when fully packed so I can't fit it on the backpack. It's only 2.5kg though, so even if it's in a separate tripod bag it's very easy to take with you. In the night photo above, I travelled to a location outside of Berlin where I stayed for a week and took everything on public transport (one hour on a packed train, 30 mins on a bus, 15 mins walking). I had the backpack on my back, a medium-sized wheeled eastpak suitcase for my main luggage and I strapped the tripod bag with the Gitzo onto the suitcase with couple of bungee cords so I had a free arm.

Whatever they are made of now is a very lightweight, silver-white non-magnetic metal, possibly aluminium.

Hello all, I really enjoy this EP and it has been coming into its own since the planets have started to show their faces, however I have always found the ER of this eyepiece to be a bit picky. I do not wear glasses, so I found with my Morpheus 17.5mm that I need both the M43 extension plus the eyeguard for perfect eye placement. With the 4.5mm, I have tried without but still definitely need the extension, but then I find that with the both the extension and eyeguard, I can't see the full FOV and fieldstop unless I push my eye into the EP which is not good for high powers and manual push mounts like the mount zero. With the extension and eyeguard in place but rolled down, I can see the full field, but I have to float a few mm above the eye cup and end up getting blackouts half the time. Seems like I need the eyeguard to be rolled halfway down for perfect placement, which is not possible. Short of buying a new eyeguard and attempting to cut it down slightly I'm not sure what I can do. I have also looked for an M43 extension that is shorter but not had any luck. Does anyone else have this issue? Any ideas about what I can do?