Show us your set up in action at night.

[John]

Uncertainty over the conditions tonight has led to a very lightweight approach. I can carry this 70mm setup in and out with one hand 🙂

In between the clouds, the views are rather nice 👍

 

[John]

Not quite in action yet but with high hopes - my oldy but goldy (literally !) ED120. This is one of the originals and I'd guess it's 17 years old now. The focuser has been swapped to a Moonlite to add a splash more colour to the ensemble 😁

Edited March 3 by John

[Vroobel]

First time two rigs in my garden, both are mine. ☺️

 

[Stu]

Tak out this evening, nice session again.

[WolfieGlos]

After Sundays glorious session in the evening, we have another clear night and allegedly tomorrow too 😳 Total shock…my reaction was like Del and Rodders in the auction house.

Finally some good weather and clear skies, with my new Samyang 135 riding atop with the 585mc.

Id prefer to go down @Vroobel’s route of two rigs, but that requires more ££££ ! £6.5 million from an auction of a watch might help!

[JeremyS]

[Sunshine]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Is this yours? I’m surprised, I didn’t think you owned anything other than Tak’s.

[JeremyS]

8 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Is this yours? I’m surprised, I didn’t think you owned anything other than Tak’s.

Don’t worry, it’s just a support for my Tak:

Edited March 7 by JeremyS

[JeremyS]

Unexpected clear skies

[Sunshine]

35 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Unexpected clear skies

Interesting, I had no idea you imaged.

[JeremyS]

50 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Interesting, I had no idea you imaged.

Not imaging as such, as in making nice pictures. I carry out photometry on cataclysmic variable stars. So yes, it involves taking lots of images of the stars and extracting photometry from them. I collaborate with amateur and professional astronomers around the world in this endeavour.

[Sunshine]

3 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Not imaging as such, as in making nice pictures. I carry out photometry on cataclysmic variable stars. So yes, it involves taking lots of images of the stars and extracting photometry from them. I collaborate with amateur and professional astronomers around the world in this endeavour.

Amazing!

[mikeDnight]

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Sunshine said:

Amazing!

Jeremy is a proper ‘stronomer, unlike the rest of us mob (with a few notable exceptions!!) 🤣🤣

[mikeDnight]

Not really very interesting as the background is quite boring,  but this was my 128 looking at a thin crescent moon through thinning cloud.  It gave me a chance to look through my recently acquired Altair 10mm UFF. Its gorgeous, as was the beautifully detailed lunar terminator. It was a very mild night too, so perhaps this is a sign of things improving.  Shortly after my look at the moon, Jupiter made an appearance,  so I changed from the 10mm UFF to the 3-8 SvBony Zoom for a very nice view. Soon though, cloud covered the sky again, but I'd still had a good time.

FS128

Comfortable observing is nice too!

And a hand held greasy phone camera pic of the moon through encroaching cloud.

Edited March 12 by mikeDnight

[DirkSteele]

Sometimes you want a really wide field of view. Sadly, the clouds only occasionally thinned out last night and the wind was pretty biting. Balance was a bit of an issue as well….

 

Still it was nice to take the baby out. Not seen starlight in quite a long time.

[Peter_D]

I bought an older Skywatcher 120/1000 achromat last year and had it out yesterday observing the Moon - no cool down, no collimation, no cameras, no complications  🙂 Yes, there was a little bit of CA but nothing too off-putting. I was able to push magnification up to x250 using a 4mm eyepiece and the image wasn't losing sharpness. 

I have it mounted on a Vixen GP that has the Skywatcher Goto upgrade fitted. 

[Sunshine]

On 14/03/2024 at 02:34, DirkSteele said:

Sometimes you want a really wide field of view. Sadly, the clouds only occasionally thinned out last night and the wind was pretty biting. Balance was a bit of an issue as well….

 

Still it was nice to take the baby out. Not seen starlight in quite a long time.

Which is the telescope side? 

[Vroobel]

I nearly forgot what is the 17kg OTA + accessories...

Hunting the James Webb Space Telescope last night 😊

https://www.astrobin.com/gmh64m/

 

 

Edited March 16 by Vroobel

[Simon Pepper]

Just now, Vroobel said:

I nearly forgot what is the 17kg OTA + accessories...

Hunting the James Webb Space Telescope last night 😊

https://www.astrobin.com/gmh64m/

2 minutes ago, Vroobel said:

I nearly forgot what is the 17kg OTA + accessories...

Hunting the James Webb Space Telescope last night 😊

https://www.astrobin.com/gmh64m/

 

 

 

 

 

That’s amazing I never knew the JWST could be imaged at its current point. Not sure my 5” refractor is up to that 😂

[Vroobel]

8 minutes ago, Simon Pepper said:

That’s amazing I never knew the JWST could be imaged at its current point. Not sure my 5” refractor is up to that 😂

Yeah, I guess that its albedo must be around 1, so there is no choice, it's much brighter than other small observable flying stones...  

[WolfieGlos]

Attempted to capture an image of 12p/Pons-Brooks with the 585mc tonight with some early evening clear skies, but the clouds put a stop to it after about 20 minutes 😒

Still, it did leave the sky with a spectacular Moon bow captured below on the 77D. The line to the right that coincides tangentially with the bow (and another one at the bottom just visible),  makes it look like the beam of light calling for Batman 😂

Aimed up now to get some views on the Moon, almost the only thing left visible so might as well make the most of it.

Edited March 17 by WolfieGlos

[Vroobel]

Airing my Altair 102EDT F/5.6 while waiting for a piece of clear sky. Tonight taget: comet 62P/Tsuchishan as my first comet ever. 🙂

 

 

[WolfieGlos]

14 hours ago, Vroobel said:

Tonight taget: comet 62P/Tsuchishan as my first comet ever.

Did you catch it? I packed up at 10, it looked to be mostly clear by midnight to my dismay 😕

[Vroobel]

25 minutes ago, WolfieGlos said:

Did you catch it? I packed up at 10, it looked to be mostly clear by midnight to my dismay 😕

Yes, I did. I had clearer sky after midnight, but high clouds didn't allow me to do it properly. Nothing to show yet, it's very faint.