YogSothoth

The mount and tripod together weigh around 13kg and the tripod is a thing of beauty. It’s not that bad to lift really and I will be keeping it in the garage, which means I only have to carry it abut 6m anyway. I won’t cart it about with the scopes attached. I’m too clumsy for that and will most likely bash them against door frames. For moving it about the garden with the scopes attached, it might be a struggle as the combined weight is in the region of 20kg and I wouldn’t want to move it very far. I’m lucky in that I wont need to move it about once it’s set up, though.

Good point about the clutches.

Just had my new AZ 75 mount with a Berlebach Uni 28 tripod delivered, although it doesn’t look like there are going to any clear skies this week to try it out.

There was an FS 60 in the for sale section, which might still be there

Thanks for the link. Gives me something to think about.

Hi All. I have an AZ75 mount on order and am wondering about tripods. I’m looking at either a Berlebach Uni 28, or a Stellalyra carbon fibre. The SL is rated at taking 40kg and weighs in at 2.5kg, so is ideal for carrying about, but I’m wondering if anyone has any experience with this tripod? The Berlebach has plenty of good reviews, so I know it’s a great tripod, but it’s a lot heavier to carry about. Any views would be most welcome? Many thanks

Great sketch

Another warm Autumn day. Perfect for getting out and doing a bit of white light solar…apart from a bit of hazy cloud.

Great shot and nice that you’re using 35mm stock. I used to have an AE 1- great camera

I can sympathise with that. My biggest problem is always scale and placement, whatever I’m sketching. Having said that, I just find sitting at the eyepiece and sketching very absorbing and you tend to see a lot more as well, I think.

Thanks for the positive comments. I think I’m improving. When l look back at sketches I did 6 months ago, the sunspot I drew then were huge and way out of proportion.

My latest attempt at sketching the sun.

Yes, it was just luck that I was looking at M81and M82 at the time. Usually this time of year I’m the looking the other way towards Cygnus and Hercules. I doubt there will be a definitive answer and will remain a mystery I guess, but great to have seen something so unusual.

I know what you mean but gut feeling is that it wasn’t a jet. I’m pretty used to seeing aircraft going in and out of Gatwick and if it was a commercial jet, then it looked like one that was about to crash. The flashes I saw certainly looked like random explosions within the smoke trail and my gut feeling would be that it was something breaking up as it hi the atmosphere. It was most definitely odd and I’m glad I was looking in the right place at the right time.

Lots of interesting stuff there, thanks. Like you say, I’m pretty familiar with aircraft coming and going from Gatwick and you’re right, if it was a commercial jet , it was certainly not looking too healthy. The flashes definitely looked like small explosions to me and my gut feeling would be something breaking up as it hit the atmosphere. It was certainly very strange and I’ve been looking up at the sky for 50 odd years and I’ve never seen anything like it. It’ll remain a bit of a mystery I guess, but I consider myself lucky to have seen it. It was only that I happened to be looking at M81 and M82 in Ursa Major that I saw it at all. I did see both galaxies as well, so not a bad night.

OK, so you’ll have to excuse my rather bad drawing, but this is basically what I saw. It’s about the right size and shape and was moving at about the velocity of a passenger jet. The flashes looked like small explosions to me and appeared randomly within the smoke trail.

Yes, the smoke trail faded fairly quickly. The whole thing only lasted around 10 seconds, maybe a bit less. It’s possible the smoke trail dissipated more slowly but wasn’t visible against the darker sky, I guess.

I’m leaning towards a satellite burning up as the most likely explanation, although it didn’t really look like the above photo. It was a solid ‘smoke trail’ similar to the vapour trail left by a passenger jet, but very short. The bright flashes were coming from within the trail. The whole thing disappeared abruptly after a few seconds.

No, not lightning. It was a clear sky apart from this ‘smoke trail’, which was similar to a trail left by a passenger jet, but much shorter. The flashes were within the smoke trail.

No, definitely not that. The whole smoke trail was moving and there were bright flashes within it.

Me neither. I guess it was something breaking up when it hit the atmosphere. It’s just that the flashes were not just at the front, but appeared throughout the smoke trail. It was quite visible, so hopefully someone else saw it.

Last night I was out with the scope at around 10.30pm when I saw something I’d never seen before. Just above Ursa Major and travelling from East to West, I saw what appeared to be a black smoke trail. It was maybe 10 moon diameters long (very rough estimate) and moving at about the same speed as an aircraft. The length of the smoke trail didn’t change. Within the smoke trail I saw several bright flashes from various parts of it. It lasted maybe 10 seconds and then abruptly disappeared. Not seen anything like this in all the years I’ve been observing. Any ideas?

We can see even further back than that, to t = 10-43 s. Beyond that the laws of physics become too spooky for us to understand (at the moment).

I have a Stellamira 80mm F10 and can confirm that it is a great scope. Well engineered and nice optics (FPL-53 and Lanthanum), which show no CA as far as I can see. I use mine mainly for solar white light. It’s not a small scope though at a FL of 800mm and is longer and heavier than my Tak FC100 D. It does only take 5 mins to set up in my back garden though.

There are any number of things to look at this time of year. Depends what you like really. There are plenty of double stars, such as the ‘Double double’ in Lyra or Albireo in Cygnus. Star clusters, such as M29 in Cygnus, or the double cluster. Globular clusters such as M92 near Hercules, or M56 in Lyra. This time of year with the Milky Way overhead it’s nice to just sweep around looking at that really. Perhaps get a decent book like the excellent ‘Turn Left at Orion’, which gives you the best objects to look at depending on the time of year and also gives you a good idea of what you will see in the eyepiece.