Moon tonight!

[Mr Spock]

The sky is clear and the 250 is out. Even though it's still sunny I couldn't resist a peek. The area Theophilus to Piccolomini is perfectly placed and looks spectacular! Rupes Altai is sharply etched.

Only had a look at x96, but I have a feeling it's going to be a great lunar night.

[xvariablestarx]

It will be partly cloudy tonight, but that is better than totally overcast like it has been for weeks.

 

[wookie1965]

Forecast is clear here I've got the Celestron out cooling just in case. 

[Mr Spock]

Lovely and clear. Just had another look. Seeing is a bit unstable - I'll leave it another 45 mins to let it cool a bit more.

The flextube goto dobs are amazing. With no alignment, after 45 mins it needed a little lift in Dec but RA was spot on. Best of both worlds for visual.

[johninderby]

Can just make out the moon through the thin cloud but hopefully clearing soon. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

[Mr Spock]

It's just started to disappear below the houses opposite mine. Had a few minutes though.

Seeing is really poor. Very wobbly with occasional large scale smears. A few fleeting glimpses did show me my collimation is good and my new 4mm ortho is a beauty - very sharp and surprisingly easy to use. I didn't find the eye relief tight at all. The jump from my 7mm (x171) to 4mm (x300) didn't seem all that troubling. I quite like it!

[johninderby]

Skies cleared nicely and seeing was very steady. Was worth the wait. Used the little Bresser 100 mak for some lunar observation. Gave me a chance to compare the SW dielectric diag with the Baader prism. Views were OK with the SW diag but the Baader prism was a big improvement with much better sharpness and contrast. Much better suited to the mak. You get what ypu pay for. 🙂

The Bresser 100 mak on the Report tripod is a lovely light weight grab’n’go setup. 👍🏻

Edited July 15, 2021 by johninderby