Simon128D

What an incredible night out I had last night. The views were hair raising, the sky was delicous. I was in paradiese for 5 hours. 30 second exposure taken on the Samsung S21 Ultra. I was transfixed by the increidle view I was having of NGC6888

Took me longer to get around to doing this than I expected but I finally got in the mood to do it when setting up for an observing session. It's crude, all done on my phone, so is lacking in any professionalism and was all done on the fly in one take. Hopefully it's helpful to anyone else wanting to know more about these scopes as a possible next purchase.

Using the ZWO ADC there too I see. An amazing tool, ain't it. I cannot look or image the planets with out it anymore. A must have item.

Great to know Michael, I shall keep on the look for a PST and its owner. Be sure to bring all the umbrellas and rain coats you own, that way it increases the chances of sunny weather.

Anyone from here for Skelligs this weekend? (south Kerry in Ireland, Bortle 2 skies) I will be there, so if anyone is going and sees a long haired fella - with a lot of grey - with the hair tied back feel free to say hello.

Not in action but setup the family for a spring clean and inspection of all systems and gear for the season ahead. It was a good photo op too.

I saw another the following night just after midnight and was between Andromeda and Pegasus. I do see these often and make me wonder what they are. I suppose I saw many in the past too but with Iridium flares being prominent then I would have just marked it off as one of those. I suppose there is the chance of seeing a meteor face on, that could give a similar effect but would be much shorter lived. They are fun to see and will continue to enjoy the phenomena but of course we all know the real answer to this, its so obvious and simple that no one even bothers to say it any more... It's ALIENS!!!

That moment will stay with you for your entire life. There nothing quite like seeing the king and queen of the planets for the first time.

I was just out doing some tests on a scope when I saw a star like object just under a degree south of Alpha Aries, flare up to at least -2 for about 14-16 seconds. It was not a satellite as it was totally static. I was just glued looking at it until it faded away into nothing. Sadly it was not my dream of getting to see a super nova in the moment lol! Just wondering if anyone else saw it or would have any idea what it is... This isn't the first time I've seen something like this either. Over the 25+ years of observing I've seen dozens of very bright static flares, neve this low though.

I am in the North and most of July was excellent weather for the majority of the month in the twenties and then 4-5 days of 26-31.5c (Being the highest, which I took photos of my thermometer). I was out so many nights just observing or imaging the planets that I was starting to get bored with it lol.

It is deeply frustrating. First clear nights I've had since the end of April and the moon buggers all. I can't do a full on grumble as it has allowed me to get some scope maintenance done with scope tests on stars.

The thought did cross my mind. It's Twitch that don't allow you to show nipples and I very much am a 'visual' observer. 😁

Here in Ireland we had a mighty heat wave in July last year. For a few weeks it was in the mid to high 20C and then went up to 32c for three to four days. I remember on the hottest day of them all - near the end of July - it was clear and I set the C11 up at 22:30 for some imaging of Jupiter and Saturn, anyway when I went out at midnight I was literally only wearing my underpants and slippers and the outside thermometer was showing 27c, being almost naked, at the scope and feeling perfectly comfortable was a fabulous experience for me. Seeing was useless but I still got okay results on Jupiter and Saturn was passable enough to not get Shift+Del

Wow, I would love to one of these out, just for the fun of it. I know they'd be totally useless in my fast reflectors but I would still like to give it a go

These eyepieces are incredible, I went mad a few years ago and bought the 13mm and 4.7mm and there is nothing to compare them with. These stand alone and are (in my opinion) the best eyepieces ever made. The 13mm never leaves my 16" and the 4.7 is so good it questions reality. I cannot even use any of my Naglars any more, the downgrade in image quality and FoV is just too dramatic.

It seems daunting at first but it becomes a very enjoyable experience and I have fun with it. I got the ASI 290MC in 2020 and getting the planets at high frame rate is just the best. Here are a few of my results from last year, with very little practise.

The sky of dreams.

NLC were imaged on the Isle of Skye last night, through a crack in the clouds. And of course after I post this I go to Spaceweather.com and see they have and article up with this very photo lol

I am mad ready to get this season under way. The past 10 years have been great but I've noticed that the seasons are getting later over the last 5 years. I remember one year catching NLC near the end of April.

This is excellent news all around. Thanks for the detailed overview and explanation.

Just happen to see this ad in Astronomy Now and it has FLO listed as an authorised Meade stockist. Is this something that's about to go live or is it a mistake?

If you want to have the nice weather back I'd be happy to take the scope of your hands. 😁

I have a CPC1100 and only use it in F10 for planets and lunar, visual and imaging . If seeing is really bad I will drop it to F6.3 to help compensate for the poor conditions. My main reason for dropping to F6.3 would be for visual use on DSOs. As someone who is used to used to F4.7 with a 10" Newt, 14" Dob and one 16" UL Dob at F4.5 I find trying to look at galaxies, nebula and PN unbearable at F10. The image is so faint and resolving detail is usually not possible. Dropping to F6.3 really brightens up the image and helps provide a nicer range of medium to semi low magnifications.

Ha! I know a fella that has been trying to get a shot of a plane cross the moon for a long time. This would be the kind of thing he'd be chuffed about. Looking like it could be a clear night for me and you've stirred me up to give this another try, so I may just do so. Not much else to do on a night near a full moon.

Outstanding work. I keep trying to do it myself with a C11 and keep missing a bit.