MalcolmM

The polite reply is 'because I'm old fashioned' Malcolm

OK, so this a mixture of imaging and observational, but I am a visual observer and I was intending to do a good visual session. That, and my approach to imaging would probably offend the real imagers! It's also a lesson on how not to do astronomy 🙂 Laurel and Hardy could have done a better job! A couple of days ago it was looking like it was going to be a clear moonless night. So under a blue clear afternoon sky, I thought I would do a double; try some imaging and visual at the same time. I generally take one picture a year. I do not do it seriously. So a rough polar alignment, an unmodified DSLR attached to the back of a scope, and fairly short subs does for me. For the first time in ages, I was able to prepare, so I put the scopes out at sixish to cool, and had time to get the rig ready to take some pictures. I attached my camera to the back of my FS60CB, did a test focus on some distant trees and locked it. I attached all the bits, charged the camera and USB battery pack (for the mount), didn't think I needed to adjust the polar alignment from the last time, dec should be fine, just a rough tweak in RA. I preprogrammed the intervalvometer for 40 shots of 40 seconds. I was ready. All I had to do was point and click! I had taken a picture of Markarian's Chain a couple of years ago, only 20 second subs and where you could see most of the galaxies, I thought I could double the exposure and get more detail and more galaxies. Generally 20 seconds gives no appreciable drift with the rough polar aligning. The Mewlon was also out and cooling. I was going to star hop to Markarian's Chain and see how much I could see. To this end I had created a crib sheet on my phone in order to help me star hop there, and provide a 'tour' of the area. I was ready! Or so I thought! I went out at 10ish thinking an hour or so should do it before coming back in and getting into bed before my partner fell asleep (she had her first day back at work after Easter the next day). First off, rough polar alignment. It was miles off, I couldn't see Polaris, all I could see was the wall of the house. Ah, the scope was too low to see over the house. I'll just move it a couple of feet. Move the tripod, that's better, now I can eyeball Polaris. Still way off though. Then I remembered I had sent the mount back for tightening up a bit of backlash and had had to adjust it way down to fit the packaging. So much for my preparation. However, no bother, a few turns on the dec screw and we're in business. So far so good. Now to adjust the focus. To do this, I point at a dim star, turn on the LCD on the back of the camera and zoom right in. I then simply try to minimise the size of the star in the LCD. This goes well, so now try to find Markarian's Chain. It is in a fairy blank part of the sky so even with the finder, in my light polluted skies, it can be a bit tricky. Finder? What finder? In all my preparations I had forgotten to attach the finder (normally the 60CB plus a 28mm Erfle has no need for a finder and it makes the scope even more portable than it already is). So back inside, rummaging around all the bits trying to find the finder, the correct screws, and the correct size allen key. Thankfully my partner is still reading, she's not asleep yet! Only by the grace of God did I not loose one of the screws down a drain. It dropped, it rolled, and it stopped 1cm short of ruining my evening totally. With the finder attached, it needed to be aligned now. "Bother", or words to that effect! Back inside, rummaging around for micro screwdriver, partner still reading (thank goodness), no she's not, she's fallen asleep, book in hand, light still on. Or she was untill I tripped into the coffee table! It's going well! So much for my preparation! Back to finding Markarian's chain. I'm using my phone crib sheet and the finder to try and work from Vindemiatrix. Upside down and left to right, you just gotta love star hopping. I get to a blank bit of sky in the finder that I think might be close and I'm sure to recognise some of the star shapes from the crib sheet. A quick 10 second exposure and ... nothing. Not one star! Lens cap definitely off, intervalvometer definitely set for 40 seconds (and I interrupt it after 10). Try again a couple of times before remembering Einstein's famous quote and start to think what else might be wrong. Eventually I remembered the 'bulb' setting on the camera. So much for my prearation! A 1/1000 second exposure might just be a little to quick. A lot of fiddling later and I was pointing at the right place. I think! My crib sheet seems to bear no resemblace to what I'm seeing. Very little is visible with a 10 second shot. So I give it 40 seconds and wow ... enormous star trails. Is the mount on? Has the polar alignment shifted? Everything looked OK. Maybe 40 seconds was just too much; I had never taken such long exposures before. I'm getting fed up (as you, the reader, probably is too!) so I go back to 20 second subs and just let it go. I want to do some visual observing. I start at Denebola and hop across to M65 and M66. It's at this point I remember I usually have the 60CB dual mounted with the Mewlon and use it, with a 28mm Erfle as a finder. So much easier than straight through viewing and dealing with upside down as well as left to right! But the 60CB is taking pictures! Call me vain, but I will not alter the beautiful lines of the Mewlon, so it's down on hands and knees and squinting through the otherwise excellent finder - I'm too tired to raise the tripod and besides, a bit of Mewlon worship is no bad thing 🙂 M65 and M66 are easy in the Mewlon. I can see the different shapes, M65 being thinner and M66 possibly looks a little lumpy. I can also, with averted vision, just occasionally see a smudge where NGC3628 sits between the 2 stars of the upright of a 'T' asterism. I can even sense the plane of the galaxy is perpendicular to the upright, so it's a definite sighting. I can see all three in the same FOV and in the moments when I can see NGC3628, it's a very immersive view. I then roughly point the scope half way between Theta Leonis and Regulus and look for 52 Leonis. From there it's an easy hop down to M95, 96 and 105. I can fit M95 and M96 into the same FOV, but need to pan to see M105. All are just appearing as misty orbs, no structure. A quick look at M81 and M82 as they are easy and I'm getting cold and I'm concious I'm going to awaken my partner when I go in. A very obvious difference in shape between the two and a lumpy appearnce to M82. These two fit in the same FOV (32mm 85 degree Masuyama) and there is something humbling about seeing multiple galaxies in the same FOV and ponder on the sheer scale of what you are looking at. I never did get to Markarian's Chain. The imaging is still going but I cut it short as it's now one in the morning! My one hour has turned into three. Pack everything away, bring it inside, knock the door rims with the tripods, wake my partner, fill a hot water bottle, go to bed wondering how the images will look. Can't sleep so get up to look at the images on a laptop. They're awfull. Big star trails. Something's badly wrong. A total wash out. Back to bed and thinking what might be wrong. I come to the conclusion that there must be some setting in the handset that is wrong. Lunar rather than sidereal tracking, though I didn't think there was such a dramatic difference. The next day I went through all the menu options on the handset. Turned out that the tracking speed can be set to be loads too fast or too slow. I can't think why you might want this option, but it's there. Again, so much for my preparation! I need to try again some night. I want to know if rough alignment will allow me to take 40 second subs. But, in reality, the attempted imaging just got in the way of a good night's observing 🙂 If you've got this far, thanks for reading! Malcolm

Fabulous! Malcolm

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

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

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

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

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

That's correct @JeremyS. They have a number of beautiful old medium sized scopes, but the Grubb refractor is the nicest by far Malcolm

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

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

That's a very helpful post. Thanks @dweller25 Malcolm

Great tip thanks @Gfamily Arrived a few days ago and looks excellent! Malcolm

Thanks @mikerr from me too. This is exactly what I was looking for. Malcolm

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

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

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

Here's my AP tracking Jupiter. Unfortunately the seeing was not great. Just occasional moments of clarity. Malcolm

Thanks @Nik271, next clear night I'll try and get a photo. The scope had been out for over an hour so I'm pretty sure it should have been cooled. I don't think it's diffraction spikes, but that's an interesting thought. I assume diffraction spikes would be static? I'll bear that in mind next time I'm looking though. Malcolm

I have been touring Orion's double stars with various scopes. I have found the Mewlon 180 less satisfying than my 100DC. In the DC, the stars are the typical small dots surrounded by diffraction rings. In the Mewlon, the stars are slightly hairy, for want of a better word. Sure I can see deeper in the Mewlon, Trapezium E being easy in the Mewlon and invisible in the 100DC. But despite giving up 80mm to the Mewlon, the 100DC splits close doubles easier. When I do a star test in the Mewlon and defocus, the donut is ever so slightly off center. It's not much, but if you look hard, it's there. I'm wondering if I need to tweak collimation, or is this (hairy stars) simply the difference between a refractor and a reflector? I'm a great believer in 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' and I have a history of fixing things and making them worse! So, I really don't want to touch the collimation, despite people saying it's not as hard as it sounds, unless I really really need to. Are slightly hairy stars to be expected in a Mewlon? Thanks, Malcolm

Now that's what telescopes and mounts should look like! Beautiful! Malcolm

Thanks @Franklin. I normally use a USB pack. It's very small and light but lasts forever! Malcolm

Emmm, slightly over 6kg I read somewhere once that Vixen typically understate load capacity and I took that to heart. Particularly as I'm visual only and not after very accurate tracking. But all the advice here would suggest I maybe should not burden the little AP with the Mewlon. Certainly not loaded up with 2" eyepieces or Binoviewers! Malcolm

Interesting. I wonder do the motors on the AP drop the load down from 6kg. If that were the case I really shouldn't put the Mewlon on the AP! That's a long wait for the Mewlon! But it'll be worth it it's a really lovely scope! Malcolm

Some might say foolishness Malcolm