This will sound weird but....

[EA2007]

A few weeks ago I was just out in the garden and was looking at all the available constellations and when observing Ursa Major, I was thinking "megrez looks faint".Now, I have been looking at Ursa Major for years and have always thought that the 7 main stars that make up 'the plough' are all reasonably the same brightness....I know this seems weird, but I have never really noticed that it was so much fainter.......especially given that I have just seen Lady Isabelle's widefield image in the 'imaging' section and again it appears faint.Quite strange.

[Lady Isabella]

Hi EA2007

The excellent image was taken by Psychobilly. Delta UMa has been suspected of being variable for many years, it is on the SPA observing program.

[EA2007]

ah, okay, think the other was a replier to his image then.

Its kinda cool to observe it....

[thing]

It might just need cleaning. Bit of a rub down with an oily cloth and it will probably be fine.

[Johnboy]

It might just need cleaning. Bit of a rub down with an oily cloth and it will probably be fine.

No, not an oily cloth - it might damage the coating. Use 100% cotton wool and gently wipe from the middle to the edge and rinse wih distilled water...

[mjcp]

Nah, it gets its gas from Russia, so they turned down the brghtness for a bit ;-)

mjcp