Show us your set up in action at night.

[HollyHound]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

What is going to get some used to is the focuser position which is practically behind the eyepiece. Still ok to access, but not as intuitive as on a refractor. But is anything?

Without wishing to state the obvious @JeremyS… I always mount my Mewlon on the right side of my mount, which conveniently puts the focuser right under the diagonal, where you can reach it with ease 🤔😄

I am aware that some say the AZ100 should only have single scopes mounted on the left, but I can’t believe that’s an issue with a lightweight scope like these 😬🤔

Edited September 2, 2022 by HollyHound

[Sunshine]

Cepheus has some wonderful stars within its boundaries, having some fun seeking them out tonight! 

[Marvin Jenkins]

Sorry far too many high end francs on this thread. Someone needed to gate crash the party with a low end newt.

The ota is my first scope an Orion USA 130 space probe (the name makes cringe) It has seen no use for over a year up until now, as I have just received an AZ5 mount kit. It doesn’t get much more simple than this, however the tripod is far too wobbly.

I told my wife it is the perfect grab and go setup and it is true, as when I grabbed it I disappeared 🤣

Marv

[Ags]

[Marvin Jenkins]

On 03/09/2022 at 09:03, Marvin Jenkins said:

Sorry far too many high end francs on this thread. Someone needed to gate crash the party with a low end newt.

The ota is my first scope an Orion USA 130 space probe (the name makes cringe) It has seen no use for over a year up until now, as I have just received an AZ5 mount kit. It doesn’t get much more simple than this, however the tripod is far too wobbly.

I told my wife it is the perfect grab and go setup and it is true, as when I grabbed it I disappeared 🤣

Marv

Just realised why it is so wobbly! It only has two legs🤔

[F15Rules]

Just arrived on the Isle of Mull today after a week touring Lewis/Harris/Skye with great daytime weather, but cloudy nights..

We're now in one place for a few days, so this evening, with promising looking skies, I've set up my trusty Vixen SP102 on SP mount and Tak tripod.

The scope is shown loaded with a Celestron 2" Axiom LX 23mm into a Baader Zeiss BBHS prism with 34mm clear aperture which is the same as the Axiom's field stop, so no vignetting.

We are 9 miles from the nearest lights, so fingers crossed it will stay clear!

Dave

Edited September 9, 2022 by F15Rules

[Marvin Jenkins]

41 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Just arrived on the Isle of Mull today after a week touring Lewis/Harris/Skye with great daytime weather, but cloudy nights..

We're now in one place for a few days, so this evening, with promising looking skies, I've set up my trusty Vixen SP102 on SP mount and Tak tripod.

The scope is shown loaded with a Celestron 2" Axiom LX 23mm into a Baader Zeiss BBHS prism with 34mm clear aperture which is the same as the Axiom's field stop, so no vignetting.

We are 9 miles from the nearest lights, so fingers crossed it will stay clear!

Dave

Fingers crossed for you. What an amazing place. I hope you get that clear night.

[Stu]

Looks idyllic Dave 👍

Fingers crossed those skies stay clear 🤞

[AMcD]

I have an eight hour layover at Miami International Airport on the way back from a work trip.  It is a lovely clear night in Worcester so I have fired up the observatory from the airport lounge and am collecting integrations on NGC6888.  I am sorry if this sounds a little like bragging (which I guess it is) but I (a) am quite proud it works and (b) cannot believe, when I think back 40 years to using a small Tasco refractor in the garden, that this is even possible.😊

[Simon Pepper]

50 minutes ago, AMcD said:

I have an eight hour layover at Miami International Airport on the way back from a work trip.  It is a lovely clear night in Worcester so I have fired up the observatory from the airport lounge and am collecting integrations on NGC6888.  I am sorry if this sounds a little like bragging (which I guess it is) but I (a) am quite proud it works and (b) cannot believe, when I think back 40 years to using a small Tasco refractor in the garden, that this is even possible.😊

Astro goals 👌

[Froeng]

Looking at Jupiter tonight. Tried to insulate the C8 with a rescue blanket (Mylar), from an old FirstAid kit. Not sure if there is a difference though…

[Marvin Jenkins]

3 hours ago, AMcD said:

I have an eight hour layover at Miami International Airport on the way back from a work trip.  It is a lovely clear night in Worcester so I have fired up the observatory from the airport lounge and am collecting integrations on NGC6888.  I am sorry if this sounds a little like bragging (which I guess it is) but I (a) am quite proud it works and (b) cannot believe, when I think back 40 years to using a small Tasco refractor in the garden, that this is even possible.😊

Maximum respect. 

[Simon128D]

What do you do when it is clear but there is a full moon to crush your visual observers soul? why you image the planets, of course! This was my setup for the evening of the 9th Sept

 

[josefk]

With the dew point and air temp being the same last night and relative humidity i think in the high 90's% i took precautions 🙂

No benefit to it being insulating material but its light and supports it's own weight/take a shape and stays there...

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by josefk
Typo

[PeterStudz]

Holiday setup looking at Orion. Just making sure everything was working after the flight, taxi and ferry. Location - Loutro, Crete, 23rd August 2022. Picture taken with my iPhone. Mind, not quite my final destination. 

Edited September 12, 2022 by PeterStudz

[Nigella Bryant]

Well, not night time but I've just set up the SCT on my new Eq8 r pro mount in anticipation of the planets being visible from my location this year. Saturn still to low for me with lots of trees in the way. Just got to get one more cable. Everything had to be examined and passed by AstroCat, lol. 

[JeremyS]

That looks amazing Nigella 👍🏻

[Nigella Bryant]

36 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

That looks amazing Nigella 👍🏻

Thanks Jeremy, I'm hoping everything works together, lol. Just need to do another polar alignment and tweak the collimation and of course get clear skies, lol. 

[Ouroboros]

Oooo! Nigella. That’s looking the business. What size dome is that? 

[Nigella Bryant]

1 hour ago, Ouroboros said:

Oooo! Nigella. That’s looking the business. What size dome is that? 

Hi, it's the pulsar 2.7m dome.

[Telescope40]

Hello. Bit of a shootout last night between my SW Evostar 150 ED and SW Skymax 180 Mak. 
Targets Jupiter and Saturn. 
Nicely caught a shadow transit for good measure. (That’s Jupiter in the background) Lovely session - it had been a while as life got in the way. 
 

John 

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Telescope40
Addition

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

4 minutes ago, Telescope40 said:

Hello. Bit of a shootout last night between my SW Evostar 150 ED and SW Skymax 180 Mak. 
Targets Jupiter and Saturn. 
Nicely caught a shadow transit for good measure. (That’s Jupiter in the background) Lovely session - it had been a while as life got in the way. 
 

John 

 

John, please don't leave us hanging! 😀 Which scope won the shootout? 😉

Edited September 14, 2022 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Telescope40]

4 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

John, please don't leave us hanging! 😀 Which scope won the shootout? 😉

Whoops. Would help huh. 
The Evostar. Just brighter and clearer. 4mm Nirvana EP at 300x. Some binoviewing included on both scopes. Very steady. The180 in its defence was great. I’d made sure it had cooled nicely. Please note I am no expert - just say what you see - LOL. 
Was a pretty good evening compared with the night before. Moon out of the way for a while helped. 

[badhex]

Managed a few hours by the side of a road with my travel setup while recently on holiday in Ponza, Italy. The skies were excellent - MW easily visible naked eye along with a number of other targets. The side of the road was not ideal, however, a lot busier than first thought so I had to close my eyes every few minutes when the cars whizzed past. 

[Sunshine]

On 12/09/2022 at 13:30, Nigella Bryant said:

Well, not night time but I've just set up the SCT on my new Eq8 r pro mount in anticipation of the planets being visible from my location this year. Saturn still to low for me with lots of trees in the way. Just got to get one more cable. Everything had to be examined and passed by AstroCat, lol. 

This setup is intimidating, I would feel small and insignificant in its presence.