Show us your set up in action at night.

[Sunshine]

2 minutes ago, fireballxl5 said:

A brief session observing big J using my Lyra 80mm f15 scope with 8mm Delos on my newly motorised AZ100.  Great🙂

 

Ooh this scope is interesting, it seems to be chrome or something shiny!

[fireballxl5]

12 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Ooh this scope is interesting, it seems to be chrome or something shiny!

Is this against the rules lol!

A daytime shot of the Lyra Optics 80mm f15 Carton objective 😜 refractor, though on a skytee 2 mount, doubled up with my Borg 101ED for some solar observing. 

There's something special about seeing defraction rings around the moons of Jupiter🙃

Edited November 28, 2022 by fireballxl5
typo

[F15Rules]

8 hours ago, fireballxl5 said:

Is this against the rules lol!

A daytime shot of the Lyra Optics 80mm f15 Carton objective 😜 refractor, though on a skytee 2 mount, doubled up with my Borg 101ED for some solar observing. 

There's something special about seeing defraction rings around the moons of Jupiter🙃

Beautiful.

That should feature in this thread..

Was this scope one of Richard Days' (Skylight) or Mark Turners' (Moonraker) creations?

It reminds me very much of the 80mm F15 Meade 339 I had which Mark Turner built..

Dave

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by F15Rules
Photo added

[gorann]

On 24/11/2022 at 14:13, F15Rules said:

Thanks Malcolm, that's very kind.. I must say I love looking at this scope almost as much as looking through her!😊

Here's two more shots I took just after my short session.

Dave

Should you not change your signature to F8.1Rules?😁

[F15Rules]

9 minutes ago, gorann said:

Should you not change your signature to F8.1Rules?😁

Er..maybe I should..😊

..but if I changed it, it would probably be to "QualityOpticsRule" - since I joined SGL c 15 years ago (when there were relatively few apo refractors around) I've been lucky enough to look through many different scopes, from F6 to F16..and most (not all) gave extremely pleasing views!

Dave

[Sunshine]

2 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Beautiful.

That should feature in this thread..

Was this scope one of Richard Days' (Skylight) or Mark Turners' (Moonraker) creations?

It reminds me very much of the 80mm F15 Meade 339 I had which Mark Turner built..

Dave

 

Wow what a beauty! also, there’s no way this telescope is balanced, no way.

[F15Rules]

2 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Wow what a beauty! also, there’s no way this telescope is balanced, no way.

Well spotted!! Actually it was balanced in use..let me explain.

In the photo there was no (2")  diagonal or eyepiece, but the dewshield shown was solid, thick aluminium, about 15" long! It suppressed stray light brilliantly, being flocked with proper Matt black flocking, but it did mean the balance point of the whole scope was significantly shifted..

..so I usually used the scope without the dewshield, which allowed the position on the mount shown to be correctly balanced with diagonal and ep in place👍😊.

Dave

[Sunshine]

28 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Well spotted!! Actually it was balanced in use..let me explain.

In the photo there was no (2")  diagonal or eyepiece, but the dewshield shown was solid, thick aluminium, about 15" long! It suppressed stray light brilliantly, being flocked with proper Matt black flocking, but it did mean the balance point of the whole scope was significantly shifted..

..so I usually used the scope without the dewshield, which allowed the position on the mount shown to be correctly balanced with diagonal and ep in place👍😊.

Dave

Forgot to mention the perfectly manicured space you have there!

[Stu]

Here is my little FS60Q out tonight looking around Orion, then onto Mars and the  Moon.

 

[Vroobel]

Hi,

After welding the fork my mount is ready for the Fish Head Nebula (in action now).

 

 

It's so rigid now that regardless of the average seeing it's able to guide quite decent.  

 

[Sunshine]

1 hour ago, Vroobel said:

Hi,

After welding the fork my mount is ready for the Fish Head Nebula (in action now).

 

 

It's so rigid now that regardless of the average seeing it's able to guide quite decent.  

 

Whoa! It’s monstrous! a grab and go? maybe for the Hulk! what does it weigh and how long does it take you to set up? your neighbors must be speechless when they see it in your garden.

[Vroobel]

The mount weight is 90kg, the OTA + accessories are another 20kg. I assemble and disassemble it usually in around 30 mins, but it takes much more before I'm ready to the session. 🙂

Edited December 7, 2022 by Vroobel

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

10 hours ago, Vroobel said:

Hi,

After welding the fork my mount is ready for the Fish Head Nebula (in action now).

 

 

It's so rigid now that regardless of the average seeing it's able to guide quite decent.  

 

I've no idea what it does or how it does it but it looks like a fantastic bit of kit!

[CCD-Freak]

13 hours ago, Vroobel said:

The mount weight is 90kg, the OTA + accessories are another 20kg. I assemble and disassemble it usually in around 30 mins, but it takes much more before I'm ready to the session. 🙂

You need a garden observatory !!!  (^8

Impressive build.

 

 

[Ian McCallum]

Just checking out M42, the Orion Nebula there. Still quite low down. I also showed a neighbour the Moon, Mars and Jupiter. She could make out the equatorial bands.

[mikeDnight]

60mm F11.6 Carton Comet Seeker checking out Mars before the occultation 07/12/22.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

I managed an hour on Mars. The only issue being the wrong hour! Not so many albedo features or the poles visible. After consulting a map I felt better the telescope wasn't broken... 😆 Terra Sirenum stood out quite well.

A frosty Altair 102ED mounted on Wobbly Bob.

[woldsman]

5 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

I managed an hour on Mars. The only issue being the wrong hour! Not so many albedo features or the poles visible. After consulting a map I felt better the telescope wasn't broken... 😆 Terra Sirenum stood out quite well.

A frosty Altair 102ED mounted on Wobbly Bob.

Terra Sirenum was all I could see too. There is a neat online map that gives details of the Martian surface for any date/time: https://shallowsky.com/marsmap/. You can also get useful info from Stellarium by magnifying Mars.

[markse68]

First proper clear night in ages- not sure it’s going to be wise staying up for the occultation though- work tomorrow 

Mark

[Mandy D]

12 minutes ago, markse68 said:

First proper clear night in ages- not sure it’s going to be wise staying up for the occultation though- work tomorrow 

Mark

 

I'm trying to photograph and post every hour until Mars dissappears behind the Moon. Kipping on the settee in between sessions. That is an interesting shot of your scope pointed at the target. I just took a photo of mine half an hour ago, but haven't posted it.

[Sunshine]

18 minutes ago, markse68 said:

First proper clear night in ages- not sure it’s going to be wise staying up for the occultation though- work tomorrow 

Mark

Love the image but I am puzzled by your mount/tripod, the tripod resembles trusses on a dob, and the type of mount I cannot say I have seen, before.

[Mandy D]

Tonight's setup for Mars' encounter with our very own Moon is my D800 with a 300 mm prime lens and 2x teleconverter. It was too much effort to lug the scopes out tonight. But, hey, this lens has more aperture and focal length than some refractors!

[markse68]

31 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Love the image but I am puzzled by your mount/tripod, the tripod resembles trusses on a dob, and the type of mount I cannot say I have seen, before.

Thanks Sunshine, it's an old military fire control tripod I had for years and finally found a good use for, and I made the mount to use with my Cape Newise but that has a fatal flaw yet to be resolved so for now it's supporting my Tal 150p

 

Mark

[josefk]

Gratuitous shot of the mk2 DIY dew shield (camping mat - matt black on the inside) - not as good as the mk1 variant (kitchen worktop heat deflector). I think mk1 introduces glare, mk2 curls over and into the line of sight. Mk3 will be bought fit for purpose!

 

[Vroobel]

11 hours ago, woldsman said:

Terra Sirenum was all I could see too. There is a neat online map that gives details of the Martian surface for any date/time: https://shallowsky.com/marsmap/. You can also get useful info from Stellarium by magnifying Mars.

Hi, 

Is it working? I'm getting only empty screen, whatever I choose in the settings.