cajen2

Ouch!

No, we're not jealous at all.....😥

Nice, Stu, but I hope you're not paying for the petrol! I often consider getting up early for the same reason, but there's no way. I'm like a zombie until I've had at least two cups of coffee....staying up till 2am doesn't bother me, though.

That would be great, as I'm interested in the 9mm 80° 1.25" one myself. Tell @FLO, not me! Mind you, they haven't said much about my review, so maybe they hate me now! 😝

Does anyone know if it's possible to shade sodium street lights? My front garden is bright yellow, all night.

Dithering is when you can't decide which new scope to buy.....🤔😄 Sorry, I'll go away now.

All I can say is wow! Has she got a sister? 😄

I note that several members have commented on the advanced ages of the people visiting the Free Astronomy Show! 🤣

Just had an awful evening. In my efforts to solve my street light problem, I decided to try my local common. I took my smaller scope (150p Flextube dob) to try and keep the weight down, but I had to bring down the scope from upstairs, load up all the ancillary stuff (its stool, my stool, eyepiece case etc etc), drive to the site and walk twice to my chosen spot, worrying that stuff would get stolen in the meantime. Once there and set up, the transparency was awful. I could just make out Orion but even Ursa Major and Cassiopeia were almost invisible. I couldn't find the Andromeda galaxy or anything else I hadn't seen before, except a split on Castor, which I'd never tried. I also missed the resolving power of my 8" dob. I persisted but it didn't improve, so had to do the whole performance in reverse. Sorry to do nothing but whinge, but I just had to unload! I seem doomed in my search for a good night's session.

I agree wholeheartedly. Please, people, post observing reports. I love reading them and learn so much from them.

And so, apparently, are soap operas! 😝

Believe me, it really was. I can remember it as clear as a bell over 50 years later.

One of the best nights in my life was on a boat.....alone at the helm of a 35 foot yawl on the east coast of Malaysia as a teenager. Everyone else was asleep, the Milky Way was glorious, the water was full of phosphorescence....it has never got better than that.

So you've never been out in the middle of the night in freezing weather, then? 😄😛

How lucky you are to have a partner who shares your interest. Mine was oblivious to all things astronomical, until one evening when I persuaded her out to view the moon and then Jupiter, with all four Galilean moons strung out......"Wow, that's amazing!" she said, "but I'm freezing." She went inside and hasn't ventured out since. She uses my stargazing as a good excuse for watching wall-to-wall soap operas. Each to his own.....😄

I've done windsurfing several times too.....but as a confirmed sailor, I still think it's silly! 😄

I actually, I have tried skateboarding.......not for me, though. And I think you've missed the tongue-firmly-in-cheek slant.....😛

I had a feeling this thread would cause a certain....indignation! Everything that has been said is true and valid, but I still get the feeling that just peering into a scope isn't exciting enough for many. We already have computerised scopes which will stack good images in seconds....what will happen when the price of these inevitably falls, perhaps to that of a common or garden dob or achro with mount? Convenience is a powerful attractor, along with the attraction of being at the forefront of technology.

No doubt this will cause some controversy, but I've noticed the visual observers' section is well down on posts compared with the imagers'. I also note that the older members are, on average, often visual and the younger into imaging. With the advent of imaging from a warm room with a computer, electronic/computerised scopes, etc, plus the excellent images that modern equipment and software are capable of producing, is the guy standing by himself on a hill peering into a scope going the way of the dodo? Consider the result of all these trends in, say, 20 years.

I'm sure it's fun, but to me skateboarding shares with windsurfing the title of the silliest way to get from A to B that man has ever devised! 😛😄

Skywatcher 200p: £369. Ursa Major 8": £369..... coincidence? 🤔😄

1) Good question! 2) Manageability, I suppose. My 8" F6 is quite long enough!

Have you tried the SL 2" 30mm 80° EP on your 10", Steve? I'd imagine that would be a match made in heaven!

Ouch! Poor you......and I don't suppose knowing the photons from your target took umpteen thousand years to reach you (which puts your tooth into perspective) is any consolation at all! 😥

I was out on the green a few yards from my house the other night, in the vain hope of finding a viewpoint that wasn't totally spoilt by streetlights. A youth in a hoodie came along on his bike, stopped and said, " Excuse me, what are you doing?" "Uh-oh", I thought. "I'm looking at the stars. Up there's Orion," I said. "That's so cool!" he answered. "Bye." And he rode off. There's hope for the younger generation for sure.