What did you see tonight?

[josefk]

Sounds good @bosun21 - sounds like you may have enjoyed M13 quite a little bit 🙂 Insulation next or not needed till the autumn do you think? 

[bosun21]

1 hour ago, josefk said:

Sounds good @bosun21 - sounds like you may have enjoyed M13 quite a little bit 🙂 Insulation next or not needed till the autumn do you think? 

Yes, it's just that M13 was the best I had ever seen it. I'm going to put the insulation on this weekend whilst it's cloudy. I'm just thinking of how I'm going to insulate the rear of the scope 🤔.

[josefk]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

Yes, it's just that M13 was the best I had ever seen it. I'm going to put the insulation on this weekend whilst it's cloudy. I'm just thinking of how I'm going to insulate the rear of the scope 🤔.

if you come up with any bright ideas on the last bit then let me know - i'm not sure i need to (i haven't had 1st light on my SCT yet) but if i need to then i want to try and do it without sticking anything to the OTA itself... mmmh.

[bosun21]

4 hours ago, josefk said:

if you come up with any bright ideas on the last bit then let me know - i'm not sure i need to (i haven't had 1st light on my SCT yet) but if i need to then i want to try and do it without sticking anything to the OTA itself... mmmh.

I have a few ideas in mind. I won't be sticking anything to the scope either. I'm just waiting for the electric focuser mounting kit to arrive then I can get on with the insulation.

[F15Rules]

6 hours ago, bosun21 said:

This was my first light for my 180 Maksutov and also first use in the field for my AZ-EQ6 mount. I made sure that it was cooled properly as I needed to check the collimation accurately before covering the scope with Reflectix insulation. I set up the mounts home position and balanced properly with scope and its accessories etc about 5pm to give it plenty of time for acclimation. Aligned my RDF which I swapped over to from the RACI. Polar alignment is a lot easier with a 90° adapter fitted. Once I did the customary 3 star alignment I went straight to Arcturus to check collimation. It was ever so slightly out, but not enough to really notice with the views visually. But now that I knew about it i had to sort it. I used a reticle eyepiece to ensure that the star was centered each time before adjusting the collimation. Several adjustments later and the magnification increased to 432x I was happy with it so locked it down. Final check and all was well. The transparency was good and the seeing pretty mediocre. I tried to capture a hand held photo with my phone but Arcturus had slightly moved off centre or it's the angle I'm holding the phone.

I then was amazed at the resolution and detail that I could see on M13. The stars were easily resolved and could even start to make out the propeller. I then shifted to M3 next door for an equally impressive view however I immediately returned to M13 to soak up the view. Next was M57 which I'm glad to say was centered in the eyepiece. The go to was extremely accurate and everything was held solid. The mount is heavy but it's a price I'm more than willing to pay for NO vibrations. CA and vibration are my nemesis. M57 was well defined in the eyepiece although I do like to use a UHC filter on it which I forgot to include in my gear. I then had a look at Albireo to get a look at the colour differential which was lovely. Up to M51, M63, M81 & 82. The galaxies although dim were easily seen in the eyepiece. M103 in Cassiopeia next followed by a return to Hercules and M92. Finished the night off with a final look at M13. I am pleased with both the 180's performance and the overall solidity and accuracy of the AZ-EQ6 mount. I bought the 180 mainly for lunar, planets and double stars but it's also pretty capable on some of the brighter DSO's like clusters and PN's. It's now 1am and time to put the kettle on.

 

Great report and a good read😊👍!

I do like a good Mak..when properly collimated, they can rival an apo refractor for colour free, sharp images..

Dave

[Mr Spock]

Lovely session on the moon with the 4" and 3.5mm eyepiece - x211 - until it dipped behind some trees. Amazing terminator. Humboldt well presented and looking spectacular.

Also an interesting south pole. A very fine line of illumination to three 'peaks' (I'm guessing) then another fainter line to a fainter peak.

Rubbish phone snap to go with it. I really need something to hold other than my shaky hands... Shame its lost the detail in Humboldt. Too much faff to attach my DSLR for such a short session though.

 

[Whistlin Bob]

Bought this scope as my first 9 years ago, and have owned and observed through many others since, but nothing has ever given me better lunar views then my humble sw200p. 

Arcing siren the young moon tonight against the twilight and the run through Fumerius, Petavius, Vendelinus and Langrenus just take my breath away in my Nirvana 4mm ep at 300x. 

Petavius central peak looks like a volcano!

Edit: @Mr Spock scooped me by three minutes!!! That was what I was looking at 😀

Edited May 10 by Whistlin Bob
Shared experience

[IB20]

Bagged some new doubles tonight in VV Corvi, Pi1 Bootis and Xi Bootis. Spent a while on Zeta Bootis before realising it was a 0.1” separation 😅. Two more for the messier list in M53 and M3, the latter looking stunning despite the sub optimal conditions. Great resolution in the 8” dob, single stars visible on the edge and towards the core, can’t beat a good glob!

The dreaded milkiness seems to have descended over my skies so that might be the end of the fun though.

[Froeng]

Lost for words…

[Mr Spock]

I can't see many stars... because of the aurora!

D500 and Sigma 8-16mm @ 8mm 1/8th @ f4.5, ISO 10,000.

[PeterStudz]

From Southampton city - my back garden. You can see the beams and colour naked eye! These are hand held iPhone snaps. Cannot believe it!

Edited May 10 by PeterStudz

[Stu1smartcookie]

I've joined the party... It's all a bit emotional really isn't it? Truly amazing. 

Edited May 10 by Stu1smartcookie

[malc-c]

 

From Stevenage, Hertfordshire... I've never seen such a bright display this far south - Naked eye visibility even in a town !

[Littleguy80]

Dream come true to see the Aurora naked eye like this. My daughter loved them too. Can’t believe this is all happening above my own home 

[Pixies]

52 minutes ago, IB20 said:

The dreaded milkiness seems to have descended over my skies so that might be the end of the fun though.

Well - that's one way of putting it!

 

[Pixies]

Looking south!

[Mr Spock]

[John]

It's the sheer scale of the thing that amazes me. In the past I've been searching for something happening towards the northern horizon. This stuff covers most of the sky and we seem to be right underneath it !!!!

 

[dweller25]

Awesome Aurora

 

Edited May 11 by dweller25

[Pixies]

5 minutes ago, John said:

It's the sheer scale of the thing that amazes me. In the past I've been searching for something happening towards the northern horizon. This stuff covers most of the sky and we seem to be right underneath it !!!!

 

There were a lot of posts around 11pm on the local facebook page - people on the (north facing) beach trying to see something on the horizon and failing. 

Err - turn around!

[Mr Spock]

8 minutes ago, John said:

This stuff covers most of the sky and we seem to be right underneath it !!!!

My lens covers 122° and I can't get it all in!

[Whistlin Bob]

Mind blown!!!

[John]

A night to remember 😁

What did we do to deserve this ? - put up with all that rubbish weather over the past few months I guess 😁

[lunator]

1 hour ago, IB20 said:

Bagged some new doubles tonight in VV Corvi, Pi1 Bootis and Xi Bootis. Spent a while on Zeta Bootis before realising it was a 0.1” separation 😅. Two more for the messier list in M53 and M3, the latter looking stunning despite the sub optimal conditions. Great resolution in the 8” dob, single stars visible on the edge and towards the core, can’t beat a good glob!

The dreaded milkiness seems to have descended over my skies so that might be the end of the fun though.

That is  the Aurora 😁

I had the same feeling as I saw the sky slowly 'mist over' from the north. It suddenly clicked what it was.

It is quite astonishing to see this. I took a pic of Spica being obscured by the Aurora. 😁😁

[Littleguy80]

Just now, John said:

A night to remember 😁

What did we do to deserve this ? - put up with all that rubbish weather over the past few months I guess 😁

Haha I was thinking about how we’ll be talking about this for years to come. The bad weather is soon forgotten!