11893 replies to this topic

[Garyth64]

Here's my "window". It's in line with my driveway, and right over the garage:

 

-Selsi 247 on CG5 looking at the Orion Nebula.

 

Here it is 46, I wish I could have gotten out.  It is a very clear night.  This photo is from last March.

 

 

 

 

[Defenderslideguitar]

So yes there are sometimes problems with Trees  hence  window   we live were we live and we aren't moving just for telescope viewing   or   are we?       but   when we downsize    we will look at tree situation as well....

  Trees   

love em   hate em   need um   kill em  prune em 

  have done some pruning and cutting    Had the pros do it  that is

 

I have the Selsi 247   APL in white      I loved it  and  gave it to my brother 6-7 years ago    to use with his grandkids   they still have it  

Edited by Defenderslideguitar, 09 March 2025 - 09:45 PM.

[Paul Sweeney]

I took the 60mm Novalux 415 out to look for Mercury last night. The seeing was terrible with some thin clouds.

I started on Venus. Even at 18x, the image was breaking apart constantly. When the sky held still, Venus looked very dramatic. Brilliant white (with some CA) against a blue sky. Very nice.

Mercury was a bright pinkish fuzzball. For one brief instant, I got to see a clear half-Mercury. Otherwise, just mush.

There was no sense looking at the other planets, and the bright, hazy sky washed out virtually all the stars, so I packed it in early.

[Airship]

I had an interesting evening out with my 6” f/15 Jaegers. I actually set it up in the afternoon to take a peek at Venus which is getting a bit low in the west at dusk. The crescent is getting big and slender! I was also hoping to get a good look at the moon. A problem that I have had with this scope is that we just haven’t had an evening with seeing good enough to really show what this telescope can do and tonight was no different. Fine detail on the moon was fleeting and poor seeing seems to bring out the CA a bit more. I usually don’t see the CA except for maybe just a tad when looking at the moon as it brightens towards full. One nice thing about a large scope is that the light grasp gives you a bit of room to play with and just for yucks I added a 2” Baader Semi-Apo filter onto my star diagonal. It did a great job eliminating the last little traces of CA and improved the contrast and apparent sharpness and gave a nice warm image palette. Ugh. The seeing was still teasing me, but I had a wonderful time watching the sun rise over the floor of Copernicus. The tops of the 3 primary central peaks were just catching the first rays of the morning sun. Try as I might I couldn’t convince myself that I could glimpse the rille threading along the floor of the Alpine Valley, but it was close. Maybe next month.

 

There’s always something to look forward to.

[scout]

So yes there are sometimes problems with Trees  hence  window   we live were we live and we aren't moving just for telescope viewing   or   are we?       but   when we downsize    we will look at tree situation as well....

  Trees   

love em   hate em   need um   kill em  prune em 

  have done some pruning and cutting    Had the pros do it  that is

We just had several branches cut back from some trees that were blocking my views to the South and Southwest. That's not why the branches were cut, but now I can see Orion much better and it will open the sky to the Southernly Summer constellations like Sagittarius without having to constantly move the telescope around the yard. Last night's tour of Orion's double stars was great with my old 60mm Asahi-pentax.

[highfnum]

Jupiter with the most popular classic scope - Criterion DX8

color  and  deepred light

 

notice red light has more detail longer wavelength less effected by seeing and rough corrector plate

 

 

 

 

 

[steve t]

Now that the weather is getting warmer, last night, I set up the 4" F10 Newtonian to observe Venus, Mars and Jupiter. The Jet Steam had moved far enough south of my place in SW Ohio so that the seeing was steady. 

 

Starting off, Venus was already in the trees, but I was able to make out a nice slender crescent just before it set. Mars was very small at 125X, but with a Moon and Sky Glow filter, I could just detect hints of dark patches during moments of steady seeing. Jupiter was the star of the show at 125X plus the M&S filter. There was a lot of detail, in the bands, that was just on the edge of being detectable. 

 

Over the winter I mostly stick to white light solar observing, so it was nice to get out and do some nocturnal observing 

 

Steve T

[ccwemyss]

Jupiter with the most popular classic scope - Criterion DX8

color  and  deepred light

 

notice red light has more detail longer wavelength less effected by seeing and rough corrector plate

 

 

 

Capture 2025-03-10T21_14_30dx8jcEdl.jpg

 

Capture 2025-03-10T20_58_04dx8Edl.jpg

The first one looks just like what I saw visually through the C14 last night, at least in moments when the high altitude turbulence allowed it. 

 

Chip W. 

[highfnum]

C14 larger better scope

 

I had one once

Hard to handle 

My largest is c11

[highfnum]

Jupiter  Tasco 13T JB FC --  and C8

 

 

 

[PawPaw]

A few days ago I captured a beautiful Sun ring or Halo.  High cirrus clouds.

Attached Thumbnails

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[Bomber Bob]

The Galileans were dancing last night -- eclipses, transits, shadows gliding over belts -- never a dull moment.  Seeing was near perfect (almost as good as Christmas Eve).  I had a SxS between my Kenko A80M F12.5 and Tak FC-76 F8.  [Swapping my FC's for the TS's in the shed.]

 

On Jupiter, the Kenko kept up with the Tak to about 125x.  After that... the fluorite zoomed ahead.  200x (LV-5) is the best power for the Kenko; though, it stayed sharp at 250x (Radian 4).  But not as sharp or as detailed as the Tak at 240x (LV-2.5).  And, only the Tak put any hint of color in the GRS; though, both scopes had brown in the NEB at 200x.  Got out my sketch kit - first time in months.  Off & on, I spent 3 hours attempting a reasonable version of the Kenko's outstanding views...

 

Mars is getting small.  I left the Kenko tracking Jupiter, and used 300x (LV-5 + GSO 2.5x) with the Tak:  Polar Cap & dark Hood; faint & fuzzy smudges for Utopia & the Mares.  I didn't wait on Syrtis.  Instead, I put the FC in star mode:  RKE 21 (30x) + RKE 8 (75x) for sweeping & splitting.  With this APO, I know red stars are really red; blue-white stars are really blue-white...

 

How FUN is our hobby?!  Well... enjoying high-res views from 2 Classic 3" refractors with Dark Side of the Moon playing in the background, and a couple of wee nips of the JWR (after 2130L - it got cold!)... I get transported.

[Bomber Bob]

I knew before I took my FC-76 out tonight that the sub-tropical Jet was < 30 miles south of The Swamp and creeping north.  The air was even clearer than last night, but unstable.  But the FC still delivered fine views of the Io Shadow Transit (missed the Disk by about 20 minutes) at 240x (LV-2.5).  I had to be patient and wait at least 15 mins to nail best focus during a calm moment -- tough for me not to "chase" focus...

 

How "bouncy" was the air?  FC at 200x:  7 Belts last night, 5 Belts tonight.

 

For Newbies:  SEEING matters!  If the Jet Stream is near / over your location... Planetary Observing is gonna be tough.  OTOH, your spot could be ideal for nabbing faint fuzzies -- and I envy you!  My backyard is too close to a Light Pollution Dome.  And, it's The South:  Humid almost all the time, at the surface, and all the way up to outer space.  My only advantage are Calm Nights.  Like CHAS, I can run up the magnification to each scope's limit, so high-quality refractors & reflectors can really show their stuff.

 

Take your location & SEEING into account if you're new to our hobby.  And, learn how to clean & collimate your scope (good rainy day projects!), so when the weather does cooperate, you're ready to nab The Views.

Edited by Bomber Bob, 13 March 2025 - 11:56 AM.

[Airship]

Tonight I spent some time getting my 5" f/16 Unitron 510 ready for NEAF by setting it up in its stock configuration. The sky wasn't particularly clear, but while I had it set up I decided to have a bit of fun. I started with Venus in daylight before losing it to the trees (the crescent is looking huge!) and it look super sharp, from there to Jupiter to watch the end of an Io transit and its shadow looking like a tiny speck between the south equatorial belts. Next Mars looking tiny but wonderful with its snow-white polar cap, then the brilliant moon, Alnitak, Sigma Orionis, M42 and the Trapezium, Beta Monoceros (gorgeous triple star system), Sirius, and M41.

 

 

What a wonderful evening!

 

[deSitter]

Tonight I spent some time getting my 5" f/16 Unitron 510 ready for NEAF by setting it up in its stock configuration. The sky wasn't particularly clear, but while I had it set up I decided to have a bit of fun. I started with Venus in daylight before losing it to the trees (the crescent is looking huge!) and it look super sharp, from there to Jupiter to watch the end of an Io transit and its shadow looking like a tiny speck between the south equatorial belts. Next Mars looking tiny but wonderful with its snow-white polar cap, then the brilliant moon, Alnitak, Sigma Orionis, M42 and the Trapezium, Beta Monoceros (gorgeous triple star system), Sirius, and M41.

 

Unitron 510 (3-12-2025)-1a.jpg

 

What a wonderful evening!

Wow Now that's a Unitron!

 

-drl

[highfnum]

Just like old unitron ads in magazines 

[Bomber Bob]

Just like old unitron ads in magazines 

Don't know about All Y'all, but the UNITRON Ads inspired me more than the Questar...

[highfnum]

I agree

[Kasmos]

Don't know about All Y'all, but the UNITRON Ads inspired me more than the Questar...

Like this one?

[highfnum]

quiet day on sun 

Tasco 8v

[oldmanastro]

Don't know about All Y'all, but the UNITRON Ads inspired me more than the Questar...

I treasured their catalogs and kept them  several years. They were lost in one of our many moves back in the 60s and 70s along with Edmund and Questar catalogs. In the case of Questar and Unitron they were more like brochures.

[cavedweller]

Total Lunar Eclipse through my Celestron C8 Orange Tube on Schaefer Fork Mount and Pier.

[steve t]

Last night spent some time observing Jupiter with the 4" F10 Newtonian. According to the S&T Jupiter GRS prediction tool, the GRS was going to transient at about 9:30 PM EDT. The skies were clear but less stable than I expected (Jet Stream was shown to be to the south and north of SW Ohio).

 

At 9:15 PM EDT I started looking for the GRS, but at 125X with the Moon & Sky Glow filter, I was unable to detect it. I ended up swapping the M&SG filter for a #80 blue filter and during moments of clear seeing I was able to make it out as a slightly darker, detached, spot next to the southern band. If I hadn't known, it was in transient I would have completely overlooked it.

 

The star last night was two of the moons that make a nice double star like view.

 

Of course, at 3:00AM EDT the total lunar eclipse made a nice view with my 60+ y. o. naked eyes (I'm not sure if this counts them since I had cataract surgery last summer)   

 

Steve T

[rcwolpert]

It was worth getting out of bed at 1:45 to view the total lunar eclipse. Here's a pic of totality (that began at 2:59) and a group photo starting at 2:07 and leading to mid-eclipse. It was a really dark and red eclipse.

 

 

[steve t]

It was worth getting out of bed at 1:45 to view the total lunar eclipse. Here's a pic of totality (that began at 2:59) and a group photo starting at 2:07 and leading to mid-eclipse. It was a really dark and red eclipse.

 

 

Nice photos, thanks for sharing

Steve T