cajen2

I need counselling. Last night, the seeing was excellent at the SWAG party site and I looked at Jupiter (again!). He looked gorgeous through my 6.5mil Morpheus (110x mag), with pin-sharp moons and the most surface detail I've ever seen. The image was a bit small to make out more than a couple of the bands, so I switched to my Pentax XW 5mm (143x). A bigger image, but fewer of the subtlest details seen with the Morph. So I've just shelled out £229 on a 4.5mm Morpheus. At these high mags, it strikes me that small f/l changes become important in my Starfield 102 frac. I'll now have: 6.5mm Morph (110x) 5mm Pentax XW (143x) 4.5mm Morph (159x) 4mm StellaLyra 80° (179x) I can always sell one if I find I'm not using it. And this is all after congratulating myself on not needing any more EPs!

For clear, dark skies, my best ever star party. I'm staying on tonight to (hopefully) get some more!

Just to say I've had an extended session with the Sightron under dark skies at the SWAG meet. It performed impeccably: I'm really pleased with it. I don't even miss tracking as the slow motion controls are very smooth. Vibrations are almost negligible below about 120x mag and quite manageable above.

For the first time ever for me, an extended dark-sky session! I know I should have been looking for faint fuzzies but spent all my time on Saturn, Jupiter, the Pleiades and double stars in U. Major (apart from Mizar, no idea what the others were!). Finding anything was a challenge because of the sheer number of stars. Apparently, tomorrow will be the same....🤔

Can't believe this: possibly my first ever star party under dark skies which are clear for more than 10mins! It's only taken six parties to achieve this.....😂 I've probably put the kybosh on it now and the sunset will bring a hurricane.....

I've just bought a Sightron Japan alt/az. It has a 7kg max payload and weighs peanuts. Not cheap though. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/alt-azimuth-astronomy-mounts/sightron-japan-alt-azimuth-mount.html

Nice. I wish the 150mm one had been available a few years ago when I bought my Heritage 150p.

From L to R, my daughter's SW 100p, my SW Heritage 150p and my StellaLyra 8" (now gone). Just to show the difference in sheer physical size as dob apertures increase. Sorry about the rubbish photo quality - very poor phone camera.

Yes, I was there. Unfortunately, I didn't get there till Saturday, so nothing but cloud and rain for three nights. I enjoyed it, though - always well organised.

I found it rather lightweight and lacking ambition. Come back, Prof Cox, all is forgiven! 😆

A good place to start is Turn Left at Orion, which labels the brighter doubles and multiples in each constellation. For a more comprehensive view, Agnes' book (above) is excellent.

Home again now. Last night was another washout; tempting us with brief holes in the cloud which disappeared as soon as I swung the scope to them. So my sum total of observations over three nights was two thirty-second views of Vega! 😂 Still, it was a great, well-organised weekend with good talks, etc and a chance to catch up with people I haven't seen for months. Some.people with DSLRs swore blind they'd imaged the aurora, though I'm less than convinced! 😆

Let's hope the weather is better than Cwmdu....

A brief clear spell - enough to get the finder aligned...on to Jupiter, just got it centred, cloud....on to Vega, just got it centred and focused, cloud.....Then the clouds came over with a vengeance and that was it. So the only thing I can say is the slo-mos allow the target to be centred very easily. So tonight is the last chance and is looking encouraging - it's actually sunny ATM!

Nothing extra yet, sorry. I'm sitting here at Astrocamp in Wales, hoping to try it out under proper dark skies, and we've had 10/10ths cloud and thunderstorms since I arrived. It's supposed to clear up later (😂) and I'll still be here tomorrow night so maybe it'll improve.

Anyone at Astrocamp wanting to inspect the Sightron more closely, I'm on Pitch 26. The way things are going, that's the nearest we'll get to any actual observing!

Be good to see you, mate.

Here and wet....! Why am I not surprised? 🥺

Up to your usual reporting standards, Magnus! With skies as dark as yours, plus 300mm aperture, views must have been spectacular. Not that I'm jealous or anything.......🥺

Another under-the-radar option at this sort of f/l is the StellaLyra (= Long Perng) 4mm 80° LER/UWA. I've just got one and it's very good: long eye relief, wide AFOV and sharp / flat from edge to edge. The only downside is that it's huge - definitely a holy hand grenade job!

I especially like the pic of Albireo - quite dramatic.

Well done, mate! Glad to see the platform being put to good use, even exceeding its design specifications!

For those with wider OTAs like Maks and SCTs, I've just noticed the last photo on @FLO's website with the scope on the outside and a counterweight bar. No problem then with the scope hitting the mount. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/alt-azimuth-astronomy-mounts/sightron-japan-alt-azimuth-mount.html

Hi Shazzanne and a warm welcome to SGL. Do you want to tell us about your equipment and interests?

@The60mmKid You're welcome.