11382 replies to this topic

[Alanvogt]

Yes I did!!!

[ElGran]

Scope? Nice, never saw Mars during the day!

-drl

SkyWatcher 200P, a polarizer improved contrast substantially.

Edited by ElGran, 16 August 2024 - 06:59 AM.

[CHASLX200]

Jup and Mars and M42 in the 125 ETX.  Seeing was a little better since the planets are higher now.  M42 was chopped up and tried to see E and F and forget it no way.  Jup looks snappy but a 5" scope is not enough for my taste no matter what kind of scope it is.  8" is where it starts.

[CHASLX200]

Jup was the best yet this AM with 9 seeing with the 826.  Best views were with 5mm to 2.8mm Eyepieces. 3.5mm Nag tag gave the best view. Seems the red spot has faded some and looks smaller.

 

Mars shows easy darker area's but still small.  

[vineyard]

Tried to potter around the skies last night w my HD145 - reported as a clear night, but so much murk.  Moon was red as it rose.  Not sure if it was the moon washing things out, or reports of some wildfire smoke maybe having made it across at v high altitudes from the US?  Had a dual narrowband imaging run going on, so will be interesting to see what that reveals.

[ElGran]

The occultation of Saturn by the Moon, about 1h ago. Also Jupiter and Mars, of course.

[John R.]

With a surprise break in the weather, Saturn and next door, the moon.
The refractor used was of unknown origin, a 60x700mm f11.7 found at a Goodwill about 35 years ago. 
It has been considerably altered, with a 1.25 visual focuser, all the holes in the tube filled and tube painted. Now riding in plywood rings with a 120mm vixen rail. 

[Bomber Bob]

Despite the heat (83F @ 2000L), got out last night with my 2 x Mizars - 130SL F5 & GT-80S F7 - and tried to nab as many DSOs as I could before The Moon lit up the eastern sky.  I'm still testing the new-to-me Vixen LV Set, plus the AT UWA 82* 10mm (a very good double-splitter!).  As usual, I did some Milky Way sweeping with the GT-80 + 2" accessories - 18x (UO 32mm Erfle) shows a lot of stellar real estate!  The GT nabbed M13 about 15 mins after sunset - a very fuzzy star.  Much better in the 130 @ 144x (LV 5).  Popped in the UWA 10 for 72x, and star-hopped to M92, and by then the west was dark enough for 225x (Paradigm 3.2) - and I could easily see its out-of-round body.  (Back when I was using my Tinsley 6" F20 Cass, I made a point of studying M92 in detail, as M13 gets all the attention.  Even attempted some sketching.)  The UWA 10 has a wide enough field in the 130 that I could star-hop from Hercules to Lyra, pausing to split doubles.  Ended the night enjoying a golden Moon in the GT.

 

The 130 got me psyched for week after next, when The Moon won't be a factor, and I can turn my Meade 826 loose on Hercules - before it gets any lower.

 

------------------

 

WHEW!!!  Glad I got out last night:  Next 2-3 nights are gonna be cloudy - spin-off Low is headed back north & bringing rain with it.

Edited by Bomber Bob, 21 August 2024 - 05:13 PM.

[ETXcetera]

I have a new to me Orion by Vixen 102-f9 fluorite that I have been doing many side by sides with since acquiring. This morning around 4:30 PST the 4" fluorite got to challenge my Nexstar 8se for the first time on Jupiter which coincidentally and to my pleasure had a double moon shadow transit occurring, and with one of the moons also moving from off-planet to on-planet (whatever that is called). There was a lot going on at Jupiter at this time and was great to see it through two different scopes to see how they compare.

 

 

I had read many articles about APOs vs SCTs, and I was excited to see for myself how the views would compare. I tried to use the same magnifications when doing my back-and-forths. Obviously, the SCT was much brighter, and I would say (and maybe this is just on account of the brighter image) but the SCT colors were cooler and the dimmer fluorite images were warmer. The sharpness of the 4" is really what i think allowed it to keep up with the SCT. Maybe it was seeing limited, but there was nothing the SCT could see that the fluorite could not. One thing the fluorite did do better was resolve the moons. It was really neat to see the moons as discs whereas in the SCT the moons had little diffraction marks of sorts. Although I typically find the viewing comfort of an SCT more favorable, there is something about those refractor views that are quite addictive.

 

[Bomber Bob]

Went solo last night with my Mizar GT-80S F7 + VersaGo.  DSO seeing was a 7/10 initially, but did improve (pesky small mid-level wisps!).  Did a bunch of comparisons between my RKEs, new ATs, & Vixen LVs.  Grabbed 3 x globulars while I could - M5 / M92 / M13 with the RKE 21.  Previously, I've used a pair of RKEs - 28 / 21 + the 8mm, to visually acquire a DSO, then "zoom in" with the 8.  But... the AT UWA 10mm has such a large & sharp field, and very comfortable eye relief, that it's a better zoom-in.  But, if I use the RKE 28, I really have to rack in to focus.  My solution is to use the LV 20 (28x) to acquire, the UWA 10 (56x) to zoom, and the LV 5 (112x) to split the tighter doubles.  Minimal racking in / out, and all 3 are comfortable.

 

What can I say?  Gettin' Older, and comfort matters (y'all should see my Sketchers shoe collection!) - I'll only rub my cornea on an eye lens for Mars / Jupiter / Saturn!  (Yeah, I'm referrin' to The Brandons!)

 

Dumbbell was near zenith, and was large & bright in the UWA 10.  This eyepiece made Albireo look close to natural - very good in an F7 achro.  I could not nab M56 - a globular I've seen 100's of times.  Thought about switching to an EQ to help.  Bounced between it & the LV5 on the Delphinus Doubles.  

 

I still prefer the RKE 28 (20x) for Milky Way sweeping, but these new eyepieces from Astronomics can wring some of the best Views from my old scopes.  Can't wait to try them in my mighty Meade 826.  But - not next week.  NWS says we'll be back in the oven come Monday...

[scout]

I took out my 60mm f/13.3 Asahi-Pentax last night to look at double stars. It's amazing how sharp this little refractor is. The unique double-clutch alt-az mount and tripod are very sturdy, yet incredibly light, so it's a perfect for grab and go scope and to dodge trees for the now low-lying planets and Moon.

 

I've been using the original A-P .965 diagonal and A-P eyepieces and some orthos I have. I also tried an old crummy .965" to 1.25" diagonal I so I could get up to a 2° field of view.

 

I usually prefer to use all-original equipment for that nostalgic feel, but I know I'd get superb views using my modern 99% dielectric 1.25" diagonal. So I just ordered a 1.25" visual back after doing some research on CN about what kind might fit, since some Asahi-Pentax drawtubes have different threads depending on the year. Hopefully the visual back fits. If not, it was only $3.50 and I'll try another sized thread that owners have had luck with.

[davidmcgo]

1973 C14 waiting for dark and Saturn.  Sadly the marine layer came in before Saturn got high enough for a good view. M13, 92, 57, 15, and 2 were all amazing even with the light pollution in town.  With a 22 Panoptic the stars in the globulars are pinpoint and there are tons of them!

 

M57 was huge and bright.  And NGC 6210 and 6572 took to higher power really well.

 

 

Dave

Edited by davidmcgo, 24 August 2024 - 11:16 AM.

[Roger Belveal]

Well... I've been waiting patiently to have a look at the planets through this old Comet Catcher and find out if these are as bad as some have advertised. I certainly picked a great night to do it.  It's 96° with a real feel temperature of 102° at 10:00pm. Nice breeze however, makes it feel more like 101°.🥵 😄 The manual for this scope says 150x is its highest usable power. So, just for fun I went up to 200x on Saturn and was pleasantly surprised! Crisp, bright image! I'm starting to think that the eyepieces we have at our disposal are much better on this scope than the one's from 42 years ago... I wasn't expecting a view like I was treated to. With Saturn's rings in the position they are in, it gives me an opportunity to really focus on the planet itself rather than being enamored with the rings. I can't wait for Jupiter later on...

[davidmcgo]

Great to hear!  Mine seems to do higher powers best with a Barlow compared to an eyepiece alone.  The old Celestron silvertop 2x Barlow is parfocal with the Celestron silvertop and TeleVue Plossls which helps.  
 

Mine will just split both pairs of Epsilon Lyra and Castor and stuff like that after tweaking the collimation on a star.  A helical focuser helps a lot.  I still have some tilt in the light path that gives bad images if I center up all the alignment marks but I can tweak on a star and get decent results for such a fast scope.

 

Dave

Well... I've been waiting patiently to have a look at the planets through this old Comet Catcher and find out if these are as bad as some have advertised. I certainly picked a great night to do it.  It's 96° with a real feel temperature of 102° at 10:00pm. Nice breeze however, makes it feel more like 101°. The manual for this scope says 150x is its highest usable power. So, just for fun I went up to 200x on Saturn and was pleasantly surprised! Crisp, bright image! I'm starting to think that the eyepieces we have at our disposal are much better on this scope than the one's from 42 years ago... I wasn't expecting a view like I was treated to. With Saturn's rings in the position they are in, it gives me an opportunity to really focus on the planet itself rather than being enamored with the rings. I can't wait for Jupiter later on...

[Bomber Bob]

Did a scope swap this morning:  Now my TS-65S / 1000, FC-76, C80, & C8 are in the shed.  Got a wild hair, and tried the FC-76 on the old Sky Cancer EQ... and, By Jove, this small mount carries it like a champ!  So, gonna play cloud-dodging tonight with just the FC-76.  Gonna compare my AT vs Vixen LV eyepieces in my 2nd-Best TAK...

 

IF the puffies continue to evaporate, my C8 is gonna come out, and grab some globulars.

 

No Joy - gotta pack it in after barely 90 mins:  Uncommon W-E puffy belt sliding in towards the west, and creating overcast skies - Dang It!

 

FC-76 + LV5 (120x) gave near-perfect Views of Epsilon Lyrae in the twilight, and M13 about 45 mins after sunset.  Managed to see in a break some doubles in Ophiuchus -- and pretty orange to red stars.

 

BIF:  The Double-Double stayed sharp @ 240x with the LV2.5 -- the black hairlines were gaps -- in 7 seeing at best.

 

Tough to Beat a Tak...

Edited by Bomber Bob, 25 August 2024 - 08:00 AM.

[Cavs56]

Skies were pretty good this morning, at least for Ohio. Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Orion. I used my Vixen 90x1000. It is an amazing grab and go telescope. 15.9 pounds, tripod folds up as you pick it up. The alt-az mount is perfect. No shakes if I want I can keep my hands on the slow motion handles and make adjustments without affecting the view. I used 40x to 220x. First time for Neptune my skies are so light polluted there are no guide stars. Used Saturn an app and my neighbors roof as guides. Titan was very close to Saturn there moons at 110x. Some detail on Mars at 220x. Jupiter had some detail in bands GRS. I love looking at Orion. Even with the moon up it was very nice , trapezium at 40x. Stars in the Vixen are so pinpoint it is a 90mm so obviously has aperture limitations but I just love it for what it can do in such a light package. It’s coming to Florida with me this winter.

[deSitter]

Skies were pretty good this morning, at least for Ohio. Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Orion. I used my Vixen 90x1000. It is an amazing grab and go telescope. 15.9 pounds, tripod folds up as you pick it up. The alt-az mount is perfect. No shakes if I want I can keep my hands on the slow motion handles and make adjustments without affecting the view. I used 40x to 220x. First time for Neptune my skies are so light polluted there are no guide stars. Used Saturn an app and my neighbors roof as guides. Titan was very close to Saturn there moons at 110x. Some detail on Mars at 220x. Jupiter had some detail in bands GRS. I love looking at Orion. Even with the moon up it was very nice , trapezium at 40x. Stars in the Vixen are so pinpoint it is a 90mm so obviously has aperture limitations but I just love it for what it can do in such a light package. It’s coming to Florida with me this winter.

90mm f/11 is a very sweet spot if the scope is well made. And they are easy to find. Challenge! Pi Aquilae, a 6th magnitude double near Altair. Easy to find. The components are the same magnitude and they are only 1.4" distant - a real test. Use high magnification.

 

-drl

Edited by deSitter, 25 August 2024 - 06:52 AM.

[Cavs56]

Thanks I’ll try it. 220x is all I’ve got . I can get to 330x but neither 6mm are as good as my 9mm. A good 5mm is on my list to buy.

[deSitter]

Thanks I’ll try it. 220x is all I’ve got . I can get to 330x but neither 6mm are as good as my 9mm. A good 5mm is on my list to buy.

Oh that's plenty!

 

The decent eye can comfortably resolve 3 arc minutes, 180 arc seconds. Divide by 1.4 arc seconds and you get a power of 128x to expand it to 3 arc minutes. Go to 150x for a cushion.

 

-drl

[ccwemyss]

Rare case of having a clear night and visitors, so I opened the observatory. Mainly using the C14 with a 41mm Pan. M57 was a good size and solid enough that one said, "Wow! A ring!" M13 was later described as a dust cloud of stars. Alberio and Almach were appreciated for their colors. M31 lead to a discussion of intergalactic distances. Finished up with Saturn and a 19mm Pan, and they were easily able to see Tethys, Rhea, Dione, plus Titan as a dot on top of the planet. After they were done, I was also able to fleetingly spot Mimas and Enceladus hugging the ring. Then went over for a brief view of Neptune, looking like a tiny bit of blue sky that was left behind after sunset, or as if punching a hole in the hemisphere of night reveals that daylight is just covered over. 

 

The previous night I took the 110mm Jaegers out to try it with a 30mm ES 82. Disorienting number of stars in the Milky Way. The double cluster was so small that it took a moment to realize what it was. M81/82 were tiny and faint. M13, like a frothing star. Interesting experience, but I'm not sure it's my kind of observing. Although better balance and sitting in a chair versus kneeling, might make it more enjoyable. 

 

Chip W. 

[davidmcgo]

Friday night I took my C14 down when the fog and marine layer came in around 9:30pm,  yesterday afternoon skies were really hazy and white hued so I didn’t set up anything in the evening.  But lo and behold, it stayed clear overnight and when I started tossing and turning at 4am it was clear.  So I got up, fed the cat, and popped outside with the Questar.  Last Quarter Moon almost overhead, Saturn in the West, Jupiter and Mars high up, and Orion well placed.

 

I saw a decent view of the Triesnecker Rilles and Hadley Rill lit from the other side as well as the Straight Wall as white instead of black.  All with the 80-160x eyepiece and Barlow.  So closer to 200x with the Barlow I have and the stated 13mm fl for this eyepiece in the Questar literature.  The magnification markings were for the earliest shortest fl main optics I think.  Anyway, really nice comfortable views.  Jupiter showed a barge and festoon from the NEB down into the EZ, but no GRS, moon, or shadow transits.  Mars was a gibbous little disk. Hint of a dark marking or two but air was a little turbulent.  
 

Saturn was pretty nice.  Not like the C14 would have done by any means, and with the smaller aperture of the Q, the rings look narrower as in more edge on than the 14 showed last weekend where I could still make out Cassini’s division at the ansae.  Titan wasn’t too far from the planet, and Tethys was tucked in just over the rings close to the globe.  Really cool to see it at that angle and within the N/S span of the globe.

 

Had to call it after about 45 minutes when I noticed Jupiter dimming and getting a halo and saw dew forming on the corrector.  

 

Dave

Edited by davidmcgo, 25 August 2024 - 03:39 PM.

[Bomber Bob]

[Big Sigh]  IF I could switch off the Sun right now, The Swamp would have near-perfect seeing.  Alas, most of Mississippi is covered by a blanket of popcorn clouds that, contrary to yesterday, is drifting slowly east...  last night, the flow was E - W.  Fingers crossed that the air mass here is so hot & dry that any puffs evaporate at the state line...  I had planned to get the C8 out.

[deSitter]

[Big Sigh]  IF I could switch off the Sun right now, The Swamp would have near-perfect seeing.  Alas, most of Mississippi is covered by a blanket of popcorn clouds that, contrary to yesterday, is drifting slowly east...  last night, the flow was E - W.  Fingers crossed that the air mass here is so hot & dry that any puffs evaporate at the state line...  I had planned to get the C8 out.

Decisions decisions - I have good seeing and transparency all night, a last 1/4 Moon, Saturn well placed.. new Mak or old Sears? I just cleaned and collimated the 6335 - I've never given that scope a workout since I got it last winter. TBH the same is true of the Mak from last year. Haven't felt much like setting up a bigger scope.

 

-drl

[Werckmeister]

Usually I do my sunspotting with small refractors. Yesterday I put the C8 out with a newly constructed full aperture Baader astrosolar ND 5 filter. That was really impressive. 

[starman876]

You guys can see things in the night sky.  They installed these new LED street lights.   Now I can only see the brightest stars from my yard.   I might have to take drastic measures to get my night sky back.   My county supervisor gave me his card last time I talked with him and said call me and we will see what we can do.   I am not holding my breath.  This is the worst case of light pollution I have seen with these new LED lights.