11344 replies to this topic

[deSitter]

Hmm I wonder if its because this RV-6 focuser is cast iron, a pretty dark metal.

Or could it be my eyepiece selection. Old orthoscopic's that don't see much of

the focuser wall. 

 

Robert

On my focuser the issue was the tight fit of the inner tube (the drawtube) in the outer one (the focuser tube proper with a rack cut into it). Both were brass. The brass would leave a smell on my fingers from grasping it so rightly in order to move it.

 

-drl

[highfnum]

orange tube c8

jupiter

simple B&W shots

 

 

 

[oldmanastro]

 The Autumnal equinox has brought transparent skies again. The Saharan dust is gone for now. Yesterday the sky cleared up, with some scattered clouds now and then. Transparency was excellent and even though we had a northerly wind, the seeing was very good. I had the 57 years old Sears (Scope branded) model 2535 on the already 20 years old Astroview mount in no time. Everything was inside my "tarp observatory". My first object was Saturn. It was well placed and high. My best view was at 200x using the 6mm wide field SvBony with a 1.25" adapter on the original .965" diagonal. Saturn looked sharp with the closing rings and one atmospheric belt. Titan and Rhea were visible with Thetys observed using averted vision. Even at 300x (4mm UO ortho) the image was holding well. I decided to take some images and came up with one image obtained with a 2X Barlow and another with a 3X Barlow. The image shows the camera and setup. Everything was original in the optical path except the Barlows and camera. The scattered clouds cleared up after a while and allowed some more visual observations. These were the other objects observed:

 

-Gamma Andromeda- This double looked very nice at 200x with two well defined Airy discs, one orange and the other blue. This is a really fine pair.

 

- 36 Andromeda- I had no hopes for this close double but was surprised to find a small elongation at 200x that I confirmed at 300x with the trusty 4mm UO ortho. I had a bread loaf image.

 

-Double Cluster- It was so clear that even the north was showing dark skies. I star hopped from eta Persei to the double cluster using the original 12X40mm finder. I tested several wide field eyepieces and found that my old surplus 17mm Erfle did a great job. It accommodated the cluster in the field of view and allowed for a nice viewing experience with many stars showing up and even more with averted vision. I envy those that can see it with the naked eye.

 

- Eta Persei- Nice yellow and blue pair with colors showing well at 200x.

 

- 6 Trianguli-  Surprised to see all the stars in the Triangulum asterism, I star hopped from 7 Trianguli to 6. This is also a yellow and blue pair that shows up nicely at 200 and 300x.

 

-Uranus- This planet was an easy find south of the Pleiades. At 200x I could see the little blue disc and even at 300x I could focus it sharply. Uranus is always a reminder of serendipity discoveries in astronomy.

 

-Gamma Arietis- This white-white pair of bright stars reminds me of Porrima. It should be a good test for a 60mm telescope.

 

-1 Arietis- I had the impression of seeing a yellow and blue pair. Norton's mentions this pair as a good test for a 2" telescope. I think it would be a good test for a very good 2" telescope.

 

Before ending the observing session at midnight I welcomed back the Pleiades looking at them with a 20mm eyepiece that can accommodate only the four stars of the little cup. Jupiter was coming up in the east. I could see at least the two main belts under heavy atmospheric dispersion. 

The old 3" refractor provided an excellent night with the sharp optics from Astro Optical. It saw first light back in January of 67.

 

 

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[azure1961p]

It's been raining here for days. Last time I observed something with one of my classics was almost a week ago, when I observed some protuberances with the Quark on my Zeiss Telemator and at night I had my 85mm Zeiss apochromat out for a comparison with the TMB 100/800. 

 

 

Clear skies!
Thomas, Denmark

Thomas, I didn't know! How is that Zeiss APO?

 

Pete

[azure1961p]

orange tube c8

jupiter

simple B&W shots

Capture 2024-10-02T06_41_34c8jbE-dl.jpg

 

Capture 2024-10-02T06_41_34c8jbE.jpg

Amazing what a diff a detector/processor makes!

 

Sweet.

Pete

[clamchip]

More Saturn tonight.

I love the tiny moons with the rings near edge on dimmed way down.

It's starting to get cold here at night and the temperature is dropping fast while I observe.

Something I noticed tonight is with these present site conditions I think the insulating properties

of my RV-6 phenolic tube seems to be the best choice over my aluminum Edmund, I can see it

in the eyepiece. That's what happens when you take two telescopes out on a date together you

learn things about them you normally would never know.

 

Robert

Edited by clamchip, 04 October 2024 - 01:11 AM.

[highfnum]

Halloween is around the corner

the monsters are coming out

I got an early start 

took out my Beelzebub scope  (DX8)

Jupiter in red light

 

  

 

[deSitter]

More Saturn tonight.

I love the tiny moons with the rings near edge on dimmed way down.

It's starting to get cold here at night and the temperature is dropping fast while I observe.

Something I noticed tonight is with these present site conditions I think the insulating properties

of my RV-6 phenolic tube seems to be the best choice over my aluminum Edmund, I can see it

in the eyepiece. That's what happens when you take two telescopes out on a date together you

learn things about them you normally would never know.

 

Robert

No doubt the phenolic is thermally superior! A metal tube requires an insulating layer inside. Mine has a full-length rolled up cylinder of plastic flock board. Between the plastic and the tube wall is a thin layer of air. The classic solution was a layer of blackened cork.

 

-drl

Edited by deSitter, 04 October 2024 - 07:36 AM.

[clamchip]

No doubt the phenolic is thermally superior! A metal tube requires an insulating layer inside. Mine has a full-length rolled up cylinder of plastic flock board. Between the plastic and the tube wall is a thin layer of air. The classic solution was a layer of blackened cork.

 

-drl

I have an example of a cork lined tube, my Robert Plath 6 inch from 1959:

 

[deSitter]

I have an example of a cork lined tube, my Robert Plath 6 inch from 1959:

 

post-50896-14074106131384_thumb.jpg

post-50896-14074106137314_thumb.jpg

What an interesting mount! Appears maybe the DEC and RA axes can be interchanged so you can get to Polaris at any latitude.

 

-drl

[Cavs56]

I had my Meade 826 out tonight. First time I could spend some time with it. I also had a Meade 2080 8inch out. Spent a couple of hours mostly on Saturn. I did find Neptune and the Andromeda galaxy. The skies were pretty bad until around 10:00 the they settled some. Both telescopes performed well the 826 was noticeably sharper. It wants magnification. At low power objects are too bright.

[cavedweller]

Not my scope, but owned by all citizens of the City of Los Angeles, the Zeiss 12" Refractor at Griffith Observatory observing Saturn:

 

[ccwemyss]

Perfect night tonight! Clear, transparent, steady, no wind. About 45*F, so no bugs, but no frozen fingers. Opened the observatory and used the C14 and 6"f9, mostly with a 41Pan and 40 Konig, but broke out the 19 Pan for Saturn and Neptune at the end. With the insulation, the tubes had almost no currents (a little at the beginning)

 

Started with M27, which had a very clear hourglass shape in the C14, and was an elongated smudge in the 6. Then M56, M57, Alberio, M29, the components of the Veil  with the 6" (it was harder to see nebulosity around 52 Cyg than the other sections), split Rasalgethi in the C14, and low contrast views of M10 and M12 near the horizon. M101 was also pretty low contrast. Then back to M13 (resolved to the core) and M92 with its dense center and more diffuse outer stars. Went to the Garnet star (so bright in the C14 that I had to double check) before crossing the meridian. Then to the double cluster, which is lovely in the 6" but can only really fit one at a time in the C14. A peek at the Heart nebula, then a stop at M34 before going to Almach. 

 

Spent a lot of time on M33, as I always seem to do with the C14. Spiral structure nicely visible. NGC 604 was easy. 595 and 592 came through with averted vision. M32 in the C14, on the other hand, is just a massive white oval. The 6" was able to fit M32 and 110 into the view, and had enough context to make out the inner dust lane. 

 

Then on to Saturn, which showed nice banding. Found Titan, Rhea, Enceladus, Mimas, Dione, Iapetus, and maybe even Hyperion with averted vision and putting the planet just out of view. Neptune in the C14 is an incredibly deep blue.

 

Incredibly rare and wonderful to have such a fine night. Wish I could have stayed out longer, but tomorrow will be a busy day. 

 

Chip W. 

[davidmcgo]

Took my 1973 C14 and fork to the SDAA BBQ yesterday and aside from a bit of smoke form a fire in Mexico it was clear, dry, and warm.  
 

Showed a bunch of new folks some really nice views of Saturn, M13, M57, M92.  one little girl was so impressed with seeing Saturn she gifted me a little glow in the dark plastic ducky I now have on the dash of my van.  This old scope really impresses with its size and presence and as Rich (woodsman) attested, has really great optics.  

 

Seeing ways a little softer than I would have hoped but I still had really amazing resolution of the globulars.  NGC6826 and 6572 planetaries were really intensely colored.  After Mars and Orion were up, I caught the North Polar Cap and hood on Mars,  really intense and amazing view of M42 with a 50mm Axion and 32mm Wide Field.  Jupiter was starting to snap to focus with a 16mm Nagler, nice garlands, festoons, barges, and a shadow ingress.

 

Also checked out Thor’s Helmet in Canis Major, NGC 2371-2 the Bipolar Planetary in Gemini, Hubble’s Variable Nebula, NGC7331, IC418:and M79 in Lepus, and then M81 and M82.  Aside from a couple of 1 hour naps, I had the scope running until 5am.

 

 

Dave

 

 

 

 

 

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[clamchip]

For the past week I've been observing Saturn's moons with my RV-6 and I keep going

back to a Edmund 8mm RKE. 150X seems to be a sweet spot right now for me with the present conditions.

Tonight I decided to go for broke and double it with 300 power (50X per inch) double the 8mm with a 

Tani Optical Edmund 4mm orthoscopic. A little too much for tonight but I'll keep it handy. A nice eyepiece that

doesn't get used much around here with my collection of longsters.

Robert

 

Edited by clamchip, 07 October 2024 - 12:49 AM.

[Terra Nova]

I was out on my balcony looking at Saturn with the same 60mm telescope my parents gave me for my birthday 59 years ago next Tuesday. Owing to its 29.5 yr orbit, Saturn is in the exact same position in the sky as it was then. And it's rings are again nearly edge on as they were in October of 1965. You can see Saturn in the picture above the telescope.

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Edited by Terra Nova, 07 October 2024 - 08:13 PM.

[MGAR]

Seems Saturn is the object for viewing lately. Had my rig setup for the same, yeah the rings where certainly on edge. I caught Pleiades rising and got a nice view there too. 

 

Cheers!

Gary

[oldmanastro]

I was out tonight with my 1990s Celestar 8 (Scruffy). The sky was clear and the seeing was very good. I had Scruffy in the wedgepod in no time pointed at Saturn. The visual view was stunning. The image was sharp even at 444x using a 9mm eyepiece with a 2x Barlow. I could see the satellites Titan, Enceladus, Rhea, Dione and Thetys. The latter was hugging the rings. The planet showed several atmospheric bands. In the rings the Cassini division was clearly visible at the ansae and there was a hint of the C ring. It's a pity that we will not be able to see the rings fully edge on in March. I was able to capture several images like the ones below using a 2x Barlow and the ZWOASI224mc camera. Processing was done in PIPP, Autostakker and Registax 6. Collimation was checked using the star test (Folmalhaut) at 500x with a UO orthoscopic. It was right on the dot. By the time the session ended I was looking at Orion rising in the east.

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[Terra Nova]

I was out tonight with my 1990s Celestar 8 (Scruffy). The sky was clear and the seeing was very good. I had Scruffy in the wedgepod in no time pointed at Saturn. The visual view was stunning. The image was sharp even at 444x using a 9mm eyepiece with a 2x Barlow. I could see the satellites Titan, Enceladus, Rhea, Dione and Thetys. The latter was hugging the rings. The planet showed several atmospheric bands. In the rings the Cassini division was clearly visible at the ansae and there was a hint of the C ring. It's a pity that we will not be able to see the rings fully edge on in March. I was able to capture several images like the ones below using a 2x Barlow and the ZWOASI224mc camera. Processing was done in PIPP, Autostakker and Registax 6. Collimation was checked using the star test (Folmalhaut) at 500x with a UO orthoscopic. It was right on the dot. By the time the session ended I was looking at Orion rising in the east.

Great pics Guido! That’s just the way I saw Saturn last Saturday night with my 90mm triplet apo at 180X. Cassini’s division, normally a dominant feature was just visible in the nearly edge-on view of the rings, as was the black sky between the inside of the rings and the edge of Saturn’s orb. Last night, I was struck by just how much was still visible in my little 60mm Mayflower achromat! The seeing was exceedingly stable both nights and even last night, the rings themselves were quite sharp and the atmospheric bands as well as Titan could be seen at <100X. It’s higher now than it has been the past couple of years and that helps a lot!

[Bomber Bob]

Except for Saturn, last night was a BUST...  Large popcorn clouds piled-up in the SW, and mostly covered the Crescent Moon.  There was a cool effect around sunset, where the sliver sliver was touched with a faint rose color -- reminded me of Black Hills Rose Gold jewelry.  A popcorn kernel burst overhead, and briefly looked like the Omega Nebula.  Sure, it eventually covered most of the sky, but it was a cool effect...

 

Saturn in the FC-76 was darn near perfect -- very clear & calm patch! -- 240x (LV 2.5) was Tak Sharp, with hints of 2 cloud belts.  Didn't get a clear enough view of Cassini to say for sure that I saw it.

 

Should be much clearer tonight, but the air is volatile.  IF the Moon stays cloud-free, I'll turn my TS-65S / 1000 loose on it.  I have my C8 on standby for Saturn, too.

 

Gotta stay flexible in the Fall.