11536 replies to this topic

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jupiter 

criterion RV6

color 

BW

red

 

 

[photiost]

 Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) from my backyard - first with my 7x50 Binos and with my SPC80 .

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[cavedweller]

The wind, dust, and Moon has kept me indoors. I did point my 8” RG out the window to see cars on US395.

[Roger Belveal]

Well, I finally got to see the beautiful comet without the hindrance of the bright moon this evening. What a fantastic sight! Made my way around the sky and peeked at Saturn,  the Ring Nebula, m13, m31, even got to see the StarLink array go over. Really enjoy this Comet Catcher for a nice grab and go. Mount included it only weighs about 25lbs... Clear Skies!!!

[cavedweller]

Wind has subsided and it was a very clear Moonless evening. Observed the comet and the Starlink train.

[Cavs56]

I finally got the Meade 826 collimated correctly the second try ( I had Majestic recoat the mirrors and I think I didn’t have the secondary set perfectly the first try). I viewed Saturn. The best view I have had so far. I drew the moon placement then checked on Star Walk verified 5 moons . Imagine was sharp at 300x. Contrast was excellent rings were beautiful. I’m in Ohio so skies don’t ever seem to be completely stable but when I did get moments of clarity it was amazing.

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Jupiter  red light

orange tube c8

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prom with Edmund 4 inch F15 and quark

[deSitter]

prom with Edmund 4 inch F15 and quark

Capture 2024-10-21T11_12_21ed4qs.jpg

WOW

 

-drl

[Cavs56]

I took out the Sears 44540, Vixen 90mm, Unitron 150 and the Meade 2080. Looked at Saturn Sears is very good very sharp views but Vixen destroys it. Vixen is very close to the Unitron both give beautifully sharp views. I really like the sharpness of a refractor. The 2080 being 8 inches obviously had a light gathering advantage and can resolve more moons. I have had it out two or three times now. I usually only observe for around two hours. It does worse the longer it is out. I think I’m having thermal issues. I insulated it today I’ll see how it does tonight. I did view Andromeda with a 2 inch 26mm wide angle and it was very nice it had a nice bright core. It will be up against the Meade 826. It’s going to loose.

[deSitter]

I took out the Sears 44540, Vixen 90mm, Unitron 150 and the Meade 2080. Looked at Saturn Sears is very good very sharp views but Vixen destroys it. Vixen is very close to the Unitron both give beautifully sharp views. I really like the sharpness of a refractor. The 2080 being 8 inches obviously had a light gathering advantage and can resolve more moons. I have had it out two or three times now. I usually only observe for around two hours. It does worse the longer it is out. I think I’m having thermal issues. I insulated it today I’ll see how it does tonight. I did view Andromeda with a 2 inch 26mm wide angle and it was very nice it had a nice bright core. It will be up against the Meade 826. It’s going to loose.

Which Vixen?

 

-drl

[Cavs56]

Custom 90m

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[John Higbee]

Last Saturday night was the first time in a long time for observations (finally am back to battery six months after my "two knee replacements on one knee" saga). 

 

Got the C14 stood up with the help of my friend Tim (we were at the beginning of a nine day stretch of crystal clear weather).  Before using it, we observed the comet with 7x50 binoculars.  It was beautiful, albeit dim.  Would have been great with my Zhumell 25x100 "big eyes", but a key mounting bolt was stripped (so it's OOC until I visit the hardware store for a replacement).

 

The C14 did not disappoint...The Moon was razor sharp and showed great detail for being only several days after full...and Saturn showed a very thin ring and several moons.

 

Closed up early.  It was a "heavy dew night" and I had to use my wife's trusty hair dryer to dry out the corrector plate...will have the DewBuster on tonight to take care of that.  Also, was surprised at the number of mosquitos that came to dine...usually they are gone by late October.  Hope we get the first frost soon.

 

John

[starman876]

Last Saturday night was the first time in a long time for observations (finally am back to battery six months after my "two knee replacements on one knee" saga). 

 

Got the C14 stood up with the help of my friend Tim (we were at the beginning of a nine day stretch of crystal clear weather).  Before using it, we observed the comet with 7x50 binoculars.  It was beautiful, albeit dim.  Would have been great with my Zhumell 25x100 "big eyes", but a key mounting bolt was stripped (so it's OOC until I visit the hardware store for a replacement).

 

The C14 did not disappoint...The Moon was razor sharp and showed great detail for being only several days after full...and Saturn showed a very thin ring and several moons.

 

Closed up early.  It was a "heavy dew night" and I had to use my wife's trusty hair dryer to dry out the corrector plate...will have the DewBuster on tonight to take care of that.  Also, was surprised at the number of mosquitos that came to dine...usually they are gone by late October.  Hope we get the first frost soon.

 

John

The C14 is a great scope for viewing the planets.  

[deSitter]

Custom 90m

Ah - I have the 80/910mm in Celestron trim. See my mod to take normal rings ("What did you do..." thread). My 80mm matches my AO scopes in optical quality. The OTA is the same as here, you could unscrew the 90mm and put it on the 80mm tube. Puzzled how they squeezed in another 10mm Maybe the supplier of the 80s went away and they had to make a change?

 

-drl

[Defenderslideguitar]

heavy dew night?    Boy I'll say........     went to Chatham in Cape Cod  Friday  and Saturday     Showing the comet was fun     Had   the 1944 WW2  Navy binoculars  and a small Celestron 7x 35 to pass around

showed Saturn  edge on ring   looks like a planet on a bar b que   rotisseries stick   

had the old FC 76 Tak out and it is so nice  but the overly heavy dew  Saturday night made me concerned enough to pack it in early and pour a drink    

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Jupiter with orange tube c8

 

tried to push limit with barlow

 

 

[Cavs56]

Ah - I have the 80/910mm in Celestron trim. See my mod to take normal rings ("What did you do..." thread). My 80mm matches my AO scopes in optical quality. The OTA is the same as here, you could unscrew the 90mm and put it on the 80mm tube. Puzzled how they squeezed in another 10mm Maybe the supplier of the 80s went away and they had to make a change?

 

-drl

The cell doesn’t collimate maybe that helped. Collimation is perfect.

[Terra Nova]

I got home Sunday night from a week in New England. I was visiting my friends on their farm in rural southern Vermont and had a great time. Two of us celebrated our mutual 75 anniversary of going around the Sun, (born 4 days apart). One night (Thursday, the 17th) we went out to find a place with good western horizon from which to view the comet. We each had classic 1949 eyes, 7x50 binoculars (Nikon and Soviet), and also took along a 4” F6.5 refractor (ATM with a Japanese objective and with a classic 2” Erfle military surplus eyepiece (~32mm f.l.)). We got out there and set up around 7:30 EDT (It’s dark there in VT around 6:30 this time of year. The full moon was up 15 to 20° in the East, the comet at similar altitude above the West horizon. The comet was easily naked eye including the tail. In the 7x50 binoculars the tail stretched across the entire field. The head was really bright! Here are a couple of iPhone (13) pics I took. It was the brightest comet I’ve seen since Hale-Bopp and the fourth brightest I’ve seen in my lifetime. The comet was breathtaking and naked eye, looked very much like in the pics.

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Edited by Terra Nova, 22 October 2024 - 01:23 PM.

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comet T*-ATLAS

with comet catcher

[Bomber Bob]

Great Comet pix!!

 

After a day of (hard) yard work, I kept it light with the Carton 101 F5 + SkyCancer EQ.  Used an Astronomik CLS 1.25" filter + my RKEs 28 (18x) & 21 (24x) for sweeping; and my LVs 10 (50x) & 5 (100x) for details.  M11 & M27 are brighter with this filter.  It adds blue to the stars, but I saw more faint stars in & around both objects.  In fact, I'm gonna thread-in my 2" CLS in the Extender, and make that my default for this RFT.  No Moon, and very clear skies, which made M31 & co. large and impressive.  Had no problem nabbing NGC 752:  Normally, I go south to Mu Andromedae, lock the DEC, then glide east until that bright wide double hits the field... really didn't need it last night.  Blue stars, but I'm not gonna quibble from my city back yard.  

 

M31 was very good, so I tried for M33... nope.  Not even a suggestion.  During COVID, I saw it with my Selsi 20x60 binos.  May move those to the shed, and try again with the Moon gone.

 

Saturn... at 100x + CLS it's tolerable to me, but at 200x, I think CHAS would get nauseous!  At 100x, it's a good view, about like a decent 60mm for detail -- one distinct belt, sharp rings & shadow, plus Titan, Rhea, & Dione.  It's an RFT for sure!

 

BIF:  For the first time in a long time, I moved my Jaegers 6" F5 RFT out to the shed.  Let's see how it does with the Comet...

Edited by Bomber Bob, 22 October 2024 - 03:46 PM.

[ericb760]

Seeing was exceptionally good tonight in the desert. The temps have cooled enough that radiating heat is no longer a problem. I looked at Jupiter with my Carson ST80 and decided that the view warranted a better quality glass so I maneuvered my Meade #295, a 60mm Mizar refractor, out the door. The Galilean Moons were in a particularly interesting configuration tonight. I then slewed up to the Hyades, and then on to the Pleiades. Saturn was in the South but is a bit small in the 60mm. All in all, a fun thirty minutes on the back porch.

[Bomber Bob]

My J6 blew the sox off on every object last night.  M11 was stunning -- so many stars!  Got about a dozen intermittent faint twinklers from M15 at 75x (UWA 10).  Got to seriously study M110 at 150x (LV 5) -- it's much more than a faint irregular globular, and more like a very small galaxy.  Man!  So Many Stars.  I did a very slow & greedy sweep from Deneb to Almach - that gentle arc of the Milky Way thru Lacerta & Cepheus, and ending in Cassiopeia.  Y'all, I saw so many clusters & binaries.  Faint ones at the field edge would break into Two near the center of field -- often a hairline split.  The S-V M7 AZ is like holding the scope yourself -- glides along as fast / slow as you like.

 

No Comet for BB!!  Pacific hurricane + front met about 200 miles south, and some moisture seeped NE, and put a thick layer between it & Me -- dang it!  (Gonna try again tonight.)

 

Setting Up the M7 is not for the faint of heart.  And, I'd forgotten the tricks to do it solo.

 

 

Remembered AFTER it was up on the pool deck.  NEWBIES:  Nothing like sweeping the Milky Way with a Classic 6" RFT.  Objects that were OK in my Carton 4" F5 are amazing in the J6.  IF you can manage it, go for it.  Just be advised, it needs a Hefty Alt/Az mount to enjoy it.

 

 

Edited by Bomber Bob, 23 October 2024 - 04:53 PM.

[Paul Sweeney]

Finally a few hours of clear skies. I went out to see the comet. I found it in the SW sky with my Zeiss 7x50 binos. Not very big, but clear an showing quite a long tail. Then I brought out the Monolux 415 on a GP mount. The view with a 23mm aspheric was bright, but the tail was really weak. That is not surprising because my western sky is lit up by the sky glow from Heidelberg. Lastly, I brought out my 120 mm refractor (may or may not be a classic) and the core of the comet was bright and well defined. The best view was in the Zeiss binos. The whole comet was visible with enough sky visible to nicely frame it.

[highfnum]

well after a few weeks I'm comet-tose

did comet with seestar

classic Meade ds-10 with night vision

and using comet catcher for BW shots

also visual with lumicon comet filter

last night with comet catcher