bosun21

I would rather have an HEM 15 as opposed to the AVX.

Welcome to SGL Rory. It's been a few years since I last visited Shetland. You may want to learn how to collimate your SCT scope with it being on a trailer and driving around the island.

Dismal failure last night unfortunately. Sky was nice and clear so I set up my 120ED on the AZ-EQ6 under blue skies. Went indoors for a sandwich and a cup of tea and on my return there was virtually 100% cloud cover. The photo show the difference in 30 minutes. Oh well that's how it goes sometimes.

Are you using a dew shield Magnus? I have found that using one keeps my secondary clear of dew throughout my session. You have my sympathies as dew can be a real joy killer. Great read Magnus.

Why a cooled camera? The ZWO 585MC comes in a cooled version which can also be used for deep sky imaging albeit with a smaller sensor than is normally used for DSO's. The standard uncooled 585 is also a good planetary camera with good sensitivity in IR. If you intend to use it for planetary/lunar only then I would buy an uncooled camera. There is also the 678MC and the 662MC which would be a good choice as well. If your scope is F10 then you will require a 1.5x barlow with the 585 or other camera with 2.9 sized pixels.

I hope you're not implying that I keep buying and selling stuff @Ratlet. Because that's definitely not me 😂🤣.

Postal delivery today of a Lynx Astro cable, a 40mm T2 extension for my flip mirror and a new air blower.

He can also make them for some SCT's . As well as my Maks I had one of them on my C8.

Good luck with the surgery Stuart.

I used to have the same strong belief as yourself that the tripod for an EQ mount had to be level just like it does for an alt/az setup. Giving it some deeper thought I discovered and proved that it doesn't. I have deliberately set up with an off level tripod but still polar aligned accurately. The tracking throughout the night was just as accurate. The mount will track in the same arc around the pivot point which is your polar alignment point regardless of the tripod level. Moving the tripod off level from a level setup will require a tweak of the alt/az adjustment bolts to keep Polaris in its proper placement. FWIW I still set up my rigs with a level or near to level tripod as a force of habit.

Nice early images Kostas. I abandoned the SER files I took recently of Saturn as I hadn't got the focus right. It was also really low as a neighbours tree blocked it as it got higher. Once past the tree daylight intervened. I'm going to wait a bit before trying again.

Yes the 180. It's the closest to the performance of an apo refractor i have used. The small central obstruction in comparison to SCT's also gives them better contrast. They are definitely a niche scope though with being F15 and with a focal length of (2700mm). This is what the Maksutov was designed to be as a lot of the newer Gregory Maks have been shortened to F11-12 but not the 180. SCT's are a better all rounder though. For planetary, lunar and double stars Maksutovs excel.

My 180 Maksutov is sharper and clearer than the SCT's I have owned previously. They are close to the performance of an apo refractor. Of course there's the downside of lengthy cool down times and requiring dew protection. I am willing to put up with these shortcomings for a similar performance of a 150mm apo.

I was initially intending to use the dob however it was windy last night and so the 7" Mak got an outing. Found it difficult to gauge an accurate focus on Saturn and eventually used the sharpness of the rings 🤞.

Out tonight to capture an image of Saturn which will be the first this apparition. I had to capture with the planet really low to the horizon as a neighbours tree intervened as it got higher. Hopefully the ADC did its job in this respect. Also shot a few short videos of the moon which was even lower than Saturn. I will process the captures later.

Lovely series of images Kostas. I have been out observing these past few nights and on two of these I was up until dawn broke more or less. I was considering getting my imaging gear out for Saturn but the seeing at such a low altitude was terrible. I don't think even the use of my ADC would have been of much benefit. Seeing the rings at such an angle in the eyepiece has me yearning to image it properly.

There is no way you can ascertain the accuracy of your collimation with such poor seeing/tube thermals etc. You should move the scope well away from the roof and indeed from the building. It took me 4 nights of trying before the seeing conditions were agreeable. This was after a good 3 hours of allowing the scope to acclimatise thermally. The scope in question was a 10" SCT.

Third night out this week! Why doesn't this happen when the skies are nice and dark? Back to the 120ED refractor last night and some doubles with a little lunar thrown in, the moon was scraping the horizon when I viewed it. I also observed the Garnet Star (mu cephei) with it's bright red luminance. I need to dedicate a night soon to only Carbon stars. I'm nodding off through the day now due to the three nights observing. It's supposedly clear tonight as well! Oh no!!

Red dot finder 👍.

Nice report Wes. I have previously owned the 6" classical cassegrain so what you say about accurate alignment being so important is spot on. I now have a 180 Maksutov which I use for visual and planetary imaging. After I polar align each time I immediately carry out the Synscan polar alignment procedure which is not only quick but is also accurate. I usually settle for my errors being measured in arc seconds. This is probably overkill for planetary imaging and EAA but it's a good habit I've fallen into. Nice M13 you captured which is showing good star resolution. With my Mak I found that a decent RDF is far better for scopes with a narrow FOV.

Yes Magnus i do like this little open cluster and its line of four stars is immediately recognisable. This was my first time observing it and that was only due to you mentioning it in one of your observing reports. At the time I wasn't even aware that there is a double(s) among its stars. I will definitely have to read up on it before revisiting it again. I did briefly read a post on CN discussing it, and it was stated that one of the four stars in line was a double but no mention of which one. I'm looking forward to a return visit to it.

Out last night again but this time with my 10" Synscan dobsonian. I have been neglecting this scope somewhat in favour of the new additions of a 180 Maksutov and 120ED refractor. Once cooled and aligned with Deneb and Rasalhague I quickly slewed to the usual suspects of M13, M27 and M57. This allows me to check the accuracy and positioning of the Synscan go to and also to set focus. The sky conditions were actually fair to decent for a welcome change with the stars sharply defined and stable. Diffraction spikes were visible only on the brightest stars. I check and adjust the collimation just before each session and with the telescope in place with a Hotech laser. I couldn't resist a final check of the collimation on Vega defocused which was also bang on. One can easily become obsessed with collimation if you aren't careful, constantly chasing perfection. I decided that with the sky not being dark that clusters would be a decent target as my last outing with my frac was spent on doubles. I kicked off with M13 and M15 both globulars with the later being Mag 6.2. Both presented nice crisp views however I felt that the resolution was being negatively affected by the sky brightness and that open clusters would be better and more satisfying. Next was NGC7243 an OC in Lacerta at Mag 6.4 and M39 OC in Cygnus at Mag 4.9. Slewing upwards to Cassiopeia next and M52 then followed by a personal favourite of mine which is the Owl Cluster (NGC457) with the nice yellow/blue double (Phi Cas) on its edge. NGC's 436, 659, 663 and 654 next which are indeed a cluster of clusters all in the same small region of space. Next was Trumpler 1 after reading @Captain Scarlet's observing report highlighting this. I increased the magnification to 150x with an 8mm eyepiece to get a satisfying view. I then finished off with the double cluster in Perseus (Caldwell 14). I was considering trying to capture an image of Saturn as it appeared in the dawn sky but the thought of having to bring out my camera, cables and laptop put an end to the notion. That sort of equipment will have to wait until darkness returns I'm afraid. If anyone has read this far I would like to offer a thank you.

Out again with another scope out cooling. This time it's my 10" dobsonian as I am thinking of trying to catch an image of Saturn in the early morning. It's really low in the sky at the moment but with the ADC it may be doable.

The IR pass filter is good on the moon especially when the seeing is particularly poor. For the planets I much prefer a OSC camera however I have used my 685nm IR pass filter on Jupiter when the Jetstream is directly overhead and the seeing is bad. It at least allows me to get a semi respectable image at the end of those nights albeit in monochrome. I'm really looking forward to the planets and darkness returning.

Got a scope out cooling in anticipation of it remaining clear tonight. Going to go after some carbon stars and a few doubles hopefully.