Jump to content

SkySurveyBanner.jpg.21855908fce40597655603b6c9af720d.jpg

MalcolmM

Members
  • Posts

    849
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

MalcolmM last won the day on December 17 2023

MalcolmM had the most liked content!

Reputation

2,419 Excellent

2 Followers

Profile Information

  • Location
    Northern Ireland

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

  1. This is the one marked C64 in my crib sheet. I was actually looking at this when I knocked the tripod which brought the double into view! It was a lovely cluster despite the brightish sky. I went out the next night to try and actually record my observations but a thin high hazy cloud prevented me being able to find half of them, and the half I could see were just smudges! Have you managed to see the little planetary embedded in M46 @Epick Crom? Malcolm
  2. Yes, it is a very extravagant finder But it is nice, giving a different perspective on what you are seeing, and I couldn't bear adding a botch to the Mewlon in order to create a right angled finder! Should have added in the report that I got all the targets except for C54. I tried star hopping to it from every which way, but I failed to catch it. Malcolm
  3. Spent an evening looking at clusters in Canis Major and Pupis, also taking in Hind's Crimson Star which really is a beautiful sight in a scope. I don't often look at this region as it's low, and also plagued by a bright sky glow from industrial lights! However, it's quite rich in some lovely clusters, and purely by chance, having accidentally kicked the tripod while looking at C64, discovered a beautiful double with a striking orange primary, and what looked like a grey/white secondary. A bit of research identified this to be 145 Canis Majoris or 'The Albireo of Winter'. A first for me, and one I'll keep going back to! Many of the clusters show lots of stars with that mottled haze in the background that hints of many more stars, just out of range. I would love to observe these objects from a darker site. Here's my crib sheet cobbled together from resources online plus my observation of Hind's Crimson Star. FS60CB as a finder, dual mounted with a Mewlon 180C on a Giro Ercole on an Innorel tripod. 28mm Tak Erfle in the 60CB and a 32mm 85° Masuyama in the Mewlon. Malcolm
  4. I have noticed the spongy feeling, but only when I've had the draw tube clamp tightened and forgotten to loosen it! So what @JeremyS says seems very possible to me. Malcolm
  5. No, I have not seen that before thanks. My supervisor may well have seen it, and I've been going off a list from Ian Glass's book about the Grubbs. I'll certainly check that out. Thanks again, Malcolm
  6. That's correct @JeremyS. They have a number of beautiful old medium sized scopes, but the Grubb refractor is the nicest by far Malcolm
  7. I'm currently co-authoring a paper on the Armagh 10" Grubb refractor. As part of our research we are trying to find out about other Grubb Standard Equatorials of 8" to 15". Are they still in use? Did they do scientific work? There are a number of these still in use around the world, a testament to their longevity and craftsmanship. Is anyone able to share any information on Grubb Standard Equatorials? Particularly around whether they are still in use and have done any scientific research? I've posted these pictures before, but here they are again, just because it is such a lovely instrument! Many thanks, Malcolm
  8. I think this is why I have not paid much attention to collimation to date. I mostly use the Mewlon for low(ish) power DSO and open clusters. I did a star test very early on and reckoned (to my inexperienced eyes) it was spot on, and never questioned it further. I have only recently started looking at double stars! Malcolm
  9. That's a very helpful post. Thanks @dweller25 Malcolm
  10. Great tip thanks @Gfamily Arrived a few days ago and looks excellent! Malcolm
  11. Thanks @mikerr from me too. This is exactly what I was looking for. Malcolm
  12. I had another go last night and the scope was cooling for 2 hours. The hairyness did improve a bit, but definitely not as good as my refractor (though I did not have the 100DC out to do a direct comparison). I did a star test on Polaris and tried to get photos, but my phone lacks the ability to alter the exposure much so the pics were either way over exposed or totally blank. However, the defocused star was moving around a bit; sometimes it looked spot on, sometimes it looked a bit off center. Again lacking experience here so I don't know if this is to be expected, or if the seeing was poor. I was able to split Alnitak, a gap between the two components, but again, a more difficult split than in the 100DC, and I'm not always able to split it. This scope has shown me stunning views of Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon; better than the 100DC, so I suspect if the collimation is off, it's not off by much. That being said, I really need to learn how to tweak the collimation, so I'll probably give it a go! Thanks again everyone for your help and advice. Malcolm
  13. Harry Potter reference? Very clever 🙂 I was actually using Alnitak, purely because I was doing the Orion doubles. Sounds like it's much to low in the sky to be a good judge of collimation. Thanks everyone for some brilliant replies and links. I've had this scope for a couple of years, but it seems I still have much to learn. It sounds like I'm maybe still underestimating the cooling time and I'll definitely check out Polaris. @dweller25, you have mentioned active cooling before, I really must look into that! Malcolm
  14. One of my parent's Bridge tables They had one themselves and then inherited two from each of their respective parents. We use it for jigsaws 🙂 Malcolm
×
×
  • 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.