WADAS (Wakefield and District Astronomical Society)

[2STAR]

11 hours ago, Vicky050373 said:

Thanks Sam and Soupy.

Fab images Mark. Brilliant stuff. I failed to locate any galaxies on my CCD chip on Saturday night. Getting 5 of them is amazing!

Hi Vicky, I failed last night to get anything on my chip lol, pretty good visual though, I was out from 10pm to 2-30, I must be doing something basically wrong , my locating with the precise goto got me some Galaxies & Clusters in exact centre of ep, but could I heck get them on screen lol. ( Tracking tested and worked well so not that)

Eric 

[astrotyke]

Hi Eric, im not an expert as you know, but which eye piece were you using. I ask because I thought things were centred when i used my lower mag eyepiece, but then when i stepped up the mag and used something like my 8mm eyepiece and it was amazing how off centre some things were, so i always use that eyepiece now for alignment.

When i use vickys mono camera, the chip is tiny! and i think i was very lucky to have got a bit of m13 on it the other week, i havnt had chance to try again yet though.

chris

[Soupy]

Yes a brilliant session even though I struggled with no finder scope!

saturn, Mars and Jupiter looked great if a bit blurry being so low down, and the views through Damian's scope were truly breathtaking, with M13 looking amazing in the 8mm.

 

Eric have you tried to use an illuminated reticle to get the objects centered before putting in the camera?

[mapstar]

6 hours ago, Uplooker said:

Just in myself. Had my first views of Mars & Saturn this year. Seeing was alright but not brilliant. Was only able to go to X 132. Saturn showed more detail than Mars. Not looking forward to alarm going off at 0600hrs ?

Nice to get out Ian and I'll agree Saturn showed a lot more detail. Did you view from the light polluted suburbia

Both of us could pick out 4 moons very close in and with the seeing in and out could pick out some detail on the surface of mars. For most of the time it was like a fuzzy orange blob.

Jupiter got better through the night. Great views at both 95x and then 145x in my scope. GRS was well on its way round by the end of the session 

 

[rockystar]

I very nearly joined you last night (with a new friend), but decided it was a bit far for a school night. I did get out to a not bad site, a bit nearer to home and had a reasonable session; still no luck with any of those virgo galaxies, but did get 2 of the leo triplet, and added M5 to the list of successes. M13 was looking fantastic - can't wait to see that through Damian's scope

Got my first view of Mars this year, though the only thing I could say about it was: "it's definitely not a star!", we left before Saturn rose.

[Uplooker]

1 hour ago, mapstar said:

Nice to get out Ian and I'll agree Saturn showed a lot more detail. Did you view from the light polluted suburbia

Both of us could pick out 4 moons very close in and with the seeing in and out could pick out some detail on the surface of mars. For most of the time it was like a fuzzy orange blob.

Jupiter got better through the night. Great views at both 95x and then 145x in my scope. GRS was well on its way round by the end of the session 

 

Hi Damian,

I did indeed view from the light polluted suburbia, beneath 2 off 40 foot LED street lights. They are very, very bright! It's the only place where I can a get a suitable aspect to view Saturn and Mars. I had to shield the EP from light with one hand while either focusing or nudging the scope with the other.

I was able to see dark and light patches on Mars, but not able to discern what it was that I was looking at, Saturn gave up a few more details.

Since it was a school night I could not afford to be up late but the forecast was due to be clear most of the night so I went to bed at 2030hrs. My alarm went off at 0130hrs and I was up and out. I hit the sack again at about 0400hrs and alarm went off at 0615. Not feeling too bad today, considering. It was worth it though, to see the planets

[2STAR]

2 hours ago, Soupy said:

Yes a brilliant session even though I struggled with no finder scope!

saturn, Mars and Jupiter looked great if a bit blurry being so low down, and the views through Damian's scope were truly breathtaking, with M13 looking amazing in the 8mm.

 

Eric have you tried to use an illuminated reticle to get the objects centered before putting in the camera?

Soupy/Chris, I bought the Orion 20mm illuminated reticle eyepiece just for this one job of alignment, last night it worked perfectly  as per Atik Instructions I centered on a fairly bright star, I focused correctly on the star, (left it for a few minutes to check it was tracking ok, fine ) switched the eyepiece for the camera again as per instructions, used the precise GOTO on the Celestron Handset (it goes to the closest star to object) focus was again good and in center on laptop screen, pressed enter on handset, scope moved to object ? but could not get object on screen from chip.

Prior to all this with the 20mm ep I tested the precise GOTO on the Hercules Globular Cluster and it was spot on, and also tested on leo triplet  m66 & M66 same spot on.

Eric

[cosmicbug]

From Sunday evening:

After a wonderful day out with visits to Fairburn Ings RSPB, a couple of pubs, a yummy evening meal and a drive around the gorgeous Lincolnshire countryside; it was great to end the day with a glorious night under the stars with Tony Summers and Victoria Bennett. We observed from sunset to sunrise and the only suffering was the sleep deprived 80 mile drive home in the morning!
No awards here for image quality. With average seeing and Mars/Saturn hovering about 14degrees above the southern horizon, it was fabulous to visit old friends in the sky. 
(Tak 5inch refractor and ZWO 178MC camera)

[mapstar]

1 hour ago, Uplooker said:

 

Since it was a school night I could not afford to be up late but the forecast was due to be clear most of the night so I went to bed at 2030hrs. My alarm went off at 0130hrs and I was up and out. I hit the sack again at about 0400hrs and alarm went off at 0615. Not feeling too bad today, considering. It was worth it though, to see the planets

As Roy Castle used to say 

Dedications what ya need

I like it 

[Sam Baker]

Anyone fancy winscarr tonight? 

[mapstar]

Sorry Sam we're at the WADAS committee meeting 

[Sam Baker]

i managed to get for the first time in forever. 

Seeing wasn't the best tbh but it was still good to get out.

saw Jupiter, Mars, m81, m82, m51, m101, m13. Had a quick gander at the Leo triplets but could only make out two of them. Turned for a quick look at the owl but was too feint really, m57 didn't fail though, forgot how cold it got over there. A random guy turned up with with his main beam blinding the life out of us then I packed up. 

Realised how easy it is to become unfamiliar with the sky, seriously need to have more trips out.

 

all in all was a good night and my scope is satisfied the cob webs have been brushed off ?

[mapstar]

Just been having a check on viewing locations as I'm off work next week. There is quite a bit of time between now and then so things could change.

Sutton bank is looking extremely good Monday night and I am considering an all Nighter based on that which may mean a drive from the transit meeting.

Wednesday and Thursday at Winscar are also looking something like at present deteriorating after midnight slightly but if its anything like Monday it will be superb.

Fingers crossed 

[Physopto]

26 minutes ago, mapstar said:

Just been having a check on viewing locations as I'm off work next week. There is quite a bit of time between now and then so things could change.

Sutton bank is looking extremely good Monday night and I am considering an all Nighter based on that which may mean a drive from the transit meeting.

Wednesday and Thursday at Winscar are also looking something like at present deteriorating after midnight slightly but if its anything like Monday it will be superb.

Fingers crossed 

Didnae think they allowed cheap old Audi's up there on Sutton Bank  

[mapstar]

19 minutes ago, Physopto said:

Didnae think they allowed cheap old Audi's up there on Sutton Bank  

Ha ha yeah I guess I'll not be having any visitors whilst I'm there then 

[2STAR]

On 5/3/2016 at 12:34, 2STAR said:

Soupy/Chris, I bought the Orion 20mm illuminated reticle eyepiece just for this one job of alignment, last night it worked perfectly  as per Atik Instructions I centered on a fairly bright star, I focused correctly on the star, (left it for a few minutes to check it was tracking ok, fine ) switched the eyepiece for the camera again as per instructions, used the precise GOTO on the Celestron Handset (it goes to the closest star to object) focus was again good and in center on laptop screen, pressed enter on handset, scope moved to object ? but could not get object on screen from chip.

Prior to all this with the 20mm ep I tested the precise GOTO on the Hercules Globular Cluster and it was spot on, and also tested on leo triplet  m66 & M66 same spot on.

Eric

 Hi, I think I may have 'stumbled' on at least what may be part of  my problem, as suggested I think the distance between the FR and Chip was too close, I just looked at a somewhat under exposed image of the Bubble Nebula NGC 7635 I took on my first attempt with the Atik, and have just realised that when I took this I had the FR to Chip  at 110mm, so I will use this set up again next chance I have to get out.

Eric

[Sam Baker]

What time would you be looking at going up to Sutton bank on Monday Damien? 

[mapstar]

2 hours ago, Sam Baker said:

What time would you be looking at going up to Sutton bank on Monday Damien? 

Maybe about 6pm from the cricket club after the mercury transit 

[mapstar]

Scope been out an hour now cooling down.

Going to give it another hour then set up for a couple of hours viewing 

[mapstar]

Guys I have put a post in the lounge after our committee meeting discussions about the forum last night.

Here it is if you would like to add anything 

 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/269255-forum-speeds-and-other-issues/

Cheers guys 

[nicks90]

1 hour ago, mapstar said:

Maybe about 6pm from the cricket club after the mercury transit 

That sounds really good. Desperate to get the dob out somewhere dark for a proper session, not been somewhere dark in over 6 months now. Let me know what the plans are

 

 

[mapstar]

If the forecast doesn't change then sutton bank by 7:30-8 would be good.

Get set up in the daylight and wait till darkness drops fully at 11pm. Scope should be cooled down nicely by then 

[Grant]

Test post

Nothing to see here....

[Grant]

Guys I experienced a significant delay posting in this thread something I've not experienced elsewhere in the forum - I can imagine this delay could lead to timeouts during certain times or when using certain devices / connections.

I imagine for some of you posting in this thread makes up a large percentage of what you do on SGL so I can understand why the performance could be frustrating.

I have never seen a topic that is so long and been going so long - over 12,000 replies in one topic is pretty unusual so it makes me wander if this is the issue - it's the only difference I can see between this thread and other threads where I have no delays in posting.

Can I suggest a new chat thread is created and this one closed and then see how things go with a new thread?

If that resolves it then perhaps then start a new chat thread every 1000 replies?

Also, out of curiosity is there a particular reason why a long thread is preferred to starting smaller topics of conversation? Just wandering in case there is an issue that can be addressed in a different way.

Thanks,

Grant

 

 

[WADAS]

Hi grant thanks for checking this out for us. It's not ideal to start a new thread but we will give it a go. 

Please make this the last post in this thread so anyone coming to check on us can easily follow where we are.

We will monitor how the new thread works and let you know if we continue to have issues. 

The new thread can be found here

 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/269275-wadas-forum/