What did you see tonight?

[John]

16 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

....I would emphasise, though, that I am now in my late 60s and it's only been in the past few years that I have found the Tak setup a bit cumbersome to move about.

And I have found, in the past 2 years or so, that the periods of clear skies we get where I live are noticeably shorter than they were, so a lighter setup should encourage me to take those quick session opportunities more often.

 

I'm in my mid 60s and both these chime strongly with me.

I've recently parted with my TMB/LZOS 130mm F/9.2 for those reasons despite it probably being the best scope that I've ever looked though 🙄

Got to be realistic though and I'd much rather a fine instrument is homed where it will get frequently used 🙂

Edited May 28 by John

[Mr Spock]

I find the same. Last night I took advantage of a 40 minute window thanks the the 6" CC being portable. Setting up a larger scope would have been off putting. Exactly why (plus weight on my dodgy back) I got rid of the EQ6 and C9.25.
I got my mojo back with the EQ5 and, first, the Starfield, then the Tak, and now the CC.

Normally I would have looked outside and decided I couldn't be bothered. 

[F15Rules]

29 minutes ago, John said:

I'm in my mid 60s and both these chime strongly with me.

I've recently parted with my TMB/LZOS 130mm F/9.2 for those reasons despite it probably being the best scope that I've ever looked though 🙄

Got to be realistic though and I'd much rather a fine instrument is homed where it will get frequently used 🙂

Hi John,

Sorry to hear of you no longer having your fantastic Lzos scope, I know you made some amazing observations with it.

You still have some excellent scopes I believe, and maybe you will choose to acquire another, large, but lighter scope at some point? 

Whatever your plans, I am sure you will continue to inspire us with your interesting and informative observing reports!

Dave

[Paz]

I've been out tonight doing more testing of various grab and go arrangements to get the best set up out of the kit I have available lying around at home, something easy to take out in one go and observe straight away.

I think I am almost there using my 72mm refractor and Porta 2 as the starting point. I had a great time cloud dodging and doing doubles in Lyra, Cygnus, and Ursa Major.

[Stu1smartcookie]

13 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

I find the same. Last night I took advantage of a 40 minute window thanks the the 6" CC being portable. Setting up a larger scope would have been off putting. Exactly why (plus weight on my dodgy back) I got rid of the EQ6 and C9.25.
I got my mojo back with the EQ5 and, first, the Starfield, then the Tak, and now the CC.

Normally I would have looked outside and decided I couldn't be bothered. 

Michael , how well does the 6" CC hold collimation ? I ask because i had one of these scopes briefly and was put off by the thought of collimating them. The plus point is that they have a reasonable cool down time . Also do you lose a  contrast due to the secondary obstruction ?

Stu

 

[Mr Spock]

13 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Michael , how well does the 6" CC hold collimation ? I ask because i had one of these scopes briefly and was put off by the thought of collimating them. The plus point is that they have a reasonable cool down time . Also do you lose a  contrast due to the secondary obstruction ?

Not sure about the contrast as I've only had it on stars so far. I'd expect it to be similar to an SCT due to the secondary size which is quite large.
Collimation appears solid. I adjusted mine quite easily. The primary just aligns the optical train as the mirror is fixed; it has a doughnut on the secondary to help. No real need to touch it. The secondary is just like an SCT - star test is best, but, as the secondary is hyperbolic, much smaller turns of the screws is required. It's easy to overdo it as I found out. Tiny 2-3° turns only.

[maw lod qan]

I was out early, maybe 4am for a little Lunar viewing. The terminator was a few hours away from being perfect for the Apennines. Was still good viewing.

Later a brief windy look at Sol, keeping my fingers crossed for another light show.

Two more days off with little rain in the forecast. 

[lunator]

I popped out with Binos. The sky was too bright for R Virginis and there was no sign of noctilucent cloud. A very bright satellite flew over it had the appearance of the ISS but checking SS7Pro the ISS was not visible. Not sure what satellite it was.

Cheers 

Ian

[Epick Crom]

Nothing but constant clouds and rain over here 😞 

[Mr Spock]

I can see Vega - but that's all. Cloud everywhere.

[John]

Just now, Mr Spock said:

I can see Vega - but that's all. Cloud everywhere.

Similar here. The "sucker gaps" are just that - they close over real fast 🙄

[Ags]

Maybe...

[Ags]

1 hour ago, Ags said:

Maybe...

Maybe not.

[Mr Spock]

Come on sky, hurry up and get dark!
 

[Mr Spock]

I'm planning some doubles in the Canes / Coma area. It'll be a new area for me. Keeping it simple with the eyepieces. Just three LVWs - 42mm = x48, 17mm = x108, 8mm =x230. 

[Epick Crom]

I had 1 clear hour last night before the clouds rushed back in to give first light to my Skywatcher 15x70mm binoculars.

I'm impressed with them so far, a very noticeable jump in resolution and light gathering power over my Nikon 10x50's. The true field of view is approximately 3 °. Scanning star fields with this bad boy was very impressive 👏 

 

I have them mounted to a photo tripod, works well to stabilise the images but I think I will need a taller tripod as observing above 45° is a pain in the neck, so for higher elevations I just left up the entire tripod which still provides a more stable view compared to hand held mode. Costing $180 AUD new, I'm very happy, a great bargain!

 

Joe

[Mr Spock]

Early verdict on the 6" CC... It's a nice scope, but, Σ1643 (9.03 + 9.45, 2.7") and Σ1639 (6.74 + 7.83, 1.8") are actually easier in the FC-100...

[Mr Spock]

Just had a look at Antares. Nah, no split. It's too fuzzy. It's just above the fence in a gap between bushes!

[Nik271]

It takes soo long to get dark now, about 11pm is when I can see the brighter stars. I checked up on T CrB. Still at mag 10. I'm sure it's waiting for  long spell of thick cloud during which to blow up 🥱

 

[Mr Spock]

I finished the night staring at Cor Caroli. At x211 in the Tak it was mesmerising. The primary looked off white and the secondary pale blue - it's listed as F2 and A0, so I'm not sure if the colour is a contrast thing. 

You can keep your grey fuzzy blobs, this is what I have a scope for 

[Mr Spock]

The Tak has been out a while cooling. I was out a short time ago lining up the finders now I've changed things a little. I couldn't resist a peek at γ Vir. It's a lovely sight at x211. Seeing low down is a touch wobbly here but it had two lovely Airy discs.

[Paz]

I was out briefly at 11.20, with a 72mm refractor and 4.5mm Delos for 96x and an 0.75mm exit pupil. The background sky was bright grey but I could see around mag 9+ directly and around mag 10.4+ with averted vision.

I checked out struve 2474 amd 2470 in Lyra, Albireo, and M13.

I've been slowly refining and improving my grab and go set up by trial and error in the field and I'm close to getting it as good as I think I can.

[Mr Spock]

Just been looking at Σ1632, 6.83 + 9.98, 10.8". Secondary at x93 looks like a little pin prick. That's usually as faint as I can go in my LP with direct vision. Surprised I can see it so easily with a lighter sky.
I found Σ1656, 9.67 + 9.70, 26.7", which isn't to far away, to be quite easy.

I think the difference is the eyepieces. I've just started using my LVWs instead of the Nirvanas. I'm guessing they let more light through.

[IB20]

M3, M5, M10, M12, M13, M92, Coathanger, La Superba and a blue satellite. Boy these IS binoculars are something else. 

[Mr Spock]

Just in for a break and a warm.

Couple of tough ones as a challenge. Σ1610 secondary at 10.62. Then OΣ 241 at 6.82 + 8.74 at 1.8" - kept glimpsing the secondary in moments of steady seeing. 1.8" isn't that hard, but the 2 mag difference makes it really hard.