Nice View of Jupiter Tonight

[JamezF]

One suspects nothing will be perfect because others will always have a pricier and better scope with optics. Then one starts spending really silly money that isn't worth it for what one needs to see.

That's very true, and as prices rise you're really getting into marginal gains.

James

 

[W0otz]

Unfortunately I don't have the right telescope mounted up at the moment, so in proper Blue Peter fashion, here's one I took earlier

Or if you like a bit of animation...

James

Very nice

One of these days I'll actually get the Great Red Spot. Despite the ~10 hour rotation period the GRS has never been visible when I've switched to my planetary scope (Celestron C5, on the hunt for a cheap C8 or similar).

 

[user 819]

The c5 & 8 look very nice but both though more then I would like to pay for a first proper scope.

 

[Amari]

AKA Uranus?

 

[JamezF]

The c5 & 8 look very nice but both though more then I would like to pay for a first proper scope.

I'd suggest that they're not an ideal first scope anyhow, unless you're really only interested in solar system objects and things like planetary nebulae and star clusters. The field of view is far too small for many deep sky objects. The Andromeda Galaxy, for instance, appears six times wider across the sky than the full Moon.

James

 

[user 819]

Which bit of kit do you use James , just out of interest ?

 

[JamezF]

Which bit of kit do you use James , just out of interest ?

Ah, well... this is where it gets a bit embarrassing

I think I have over a dozen telescopes in total It's a bit like beehives: once you have enough, no-one notices if you get another one or two

For solar system stuff I used to use a 5" Maksutov (an early version of the Skywatcher Skymax 127) and I've since replaced that with a C9.25, but I never could bear to part with the Mak. I also have a heavily-modified solar telescope that just works in the Hydrogen Alpha band, and a Star Travel 120 that I use with a Herschel Wedge for white light solar. For DSOs I have a pair of Skywatcher 80mm scopes that I don't think you can buy any more and an MN190.

The 5" Mak has been on holiday in France with us a few times when we've taken the ferry, and I also have a little 72mm scope with a retracting dew shield that can be carried as hand luggage on an aeroplane.

Most of the above I use for imaging, either with dedicated astronomy cameras or sometimes a DSLR. I've built extra bits such as dew controllers and auto-focusers based on Arduinos and lots of it is run from a PC. For purely visual use I have a scope that I reassembled from bits of several scrapped 10" scopes (most of what I own I bought used or damaged) and put the whole thing on a home-made Dobsonian mount:



And then there's this, which I was given. It was in a bit of a state when I got it and I was in the process of rebuilding it when Covid happened and I couldn't travel to my parents' place to use my dad's milling machine to make various new parts. I've yet to get restarted on it. As well as the mechanical work it also needs the mirror recoating which is probably going to be expensive

It probably dates back to the mid-80s when it would not have been cheap at all. It's a 12" aperture f/6 scope, so probably about seven feet tall in that orientation and the tube is probably 14" in diameter.

There are a few others that get used as guidescopes and finders -- I have an 80mm scope that I intend to put on that last one to use as a finder, for instance.

James

 

[Amari]

Ah, well... this is where it gets a bit embarrassing

I think I have over a dozen telescopes in total It's a bit like beehives: once you have enough, no-one notices if you get another one or two

For solar system stuff I used to use a 5" Maksutov (an early version of the Skywatcher Skymax 127) and I've since replaced that with a C9.25, but I never could bear to part with the Mak. I also have a heavily-modified solar telescope that just works in the Hydrogen Alpha band, and a Star Travel 120 that I use with a Herschel Wedge for white light solar. For DSOs I have a pair of Skywatcher 80mm scopes that I don't think you can buy any more and an MN190.

The 5" Mak has been on holiday in France with us a few times when we've taken the ferry, and I also have a little 72mm scope with a retracting dew shield that can be carried as hand luggage on an aeroplane.

Most of the above I use for imaging, either with dedicated astronomy cameras or sometimes a DSLR. I've built extra bits such as dew controllers and auto-focusers based on Arduinos and lots of it is run from a PC. For purely visual use I have a scope that I reassembled from bits of several scrapped 10" scopes (most of what I own I bought used or damaged) and put the whole thing on a home-made Dobsonian mount:

View attachment 35110

And then there's this, which I was given. It was in a bit of a state when I got it and I was in the process of rebuilding it when Covid happened and I couldn't travel to my parents' place to use my dad's milling machine to make various new parts. I've yet to get restarted on it. As well as the mechanical work it also needs the mirror recoating which is probably going to be expensive

It probably dates back to the mid-80s when it would not have been cheap at all. It's a 12" aperture f/6 scope, so probably about seven feet tall in that orientation and the tube is probably 14" in diameter.

There are a few others that get used as guidescopes and finders -- I have an 80mm scope that I intend to put on that last one to use as a finder, for instance.

James

Reassuring to see a slightly untidy workshop (apols James). Unfortunately SWMBO enters my workshop daily+ to use the family freezer so I'm frequently reprimanded on the untidiness.......

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ah, well... this is where it gets a bit embarrassing

I think I have over a dozen telescopes in total It's a bit like beehives: once you have enough, no-one notices if you get another one or two

For solar system stuff I used to use a 5" Maksutov (an early version of the Skywatcher Skymax 127) and I've since replaced that with a C9.25, but I never could bear to part with the Mak. I also have a heavily-modified solar telescope that just works in the Hydrogen Alpha band, and a Star Travel 120 that I use with a Herschel Wedge for white light solar. For DSOs I have a pair of Skywatcher 80mm scopes that I don't think you can buy any more and an MN190.

The 5" Mak has been on holiday in France with us a few times when we've taken the ferry, and I also have a little 72mm scope with a retracting dew shield that can be carried as hand luggage on an aeroplane.

Most of the above I use for imaging, either with dedicated astronomy cameras or sometimes a DSLR. I've built extra bits such as dew controllers and auto-focusers based on Arduinos and lots of it is run from a PC. For purely visual use I have a scope that I reassembled from bits of several scrapped 10" scopes (most of what I own I bought used or damaged) and put the whole thing on a home-made Dobsonian mount:

View attachment 35110

And then there's this, which I was given. It was in a bit of a state when I got it and I was in the process of rebuilding it when Covid happened and I couldn't travel to my parents' place to use my dad's milling machine to make various new parts. I've yet to get restarted on it. As well as the mechanical work it also needs the mirror recoating which is probably going to be expensive

It probably dates back to the mid-80s when it would not have been cheap at all. It's a 12" aperture f/6 scope, so probably about seven feet tall in that orientation and the tube is probably 14" in diameter.

There are a few others that get used as guidescopes and finders -- I have an 80mm scope that I intend to put on that last one to use as a finder, for instance.

James

Is an observatory in the “Growing Plans” ?

 

[JamezF]

Is an observatory in the “Growing Plans” ?

Already built one, though it's in a constant state of evolution. I posted a couple of photos last year:

Extractor part names

James

 

[JamezF]

Reassuring to see a slightly untidy workshop (apols James).

It's a perfectly fair comment, and one of the "difficult" issues of sharing a property with one's in-laws.

My mother-in-law is probably the most OCD person I know by some margin. Perhaps as a result, outside the house my father-in-law is the most untidy person I know by an enormous margin. I like to keep the workshop tidy because it's a safety issue as much as anything else, but if I have a clear space for me to work and leave it that way, the next time I want to do anything my father-in-law will have spread stuff all over it because it's easier than tidying up the mess he made last time. I've therefore adopted a state of "defensive messyness" that I can actually tidy up quite quickly

I should take a photo of the workbench that I mostly have him confined to at the moment otherwise future generations will not believe it

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

Already built one, though it's in a constant state of evolution. I posted a couple of photos last year:

Extractor part names

James

And I replied. Ooops!
It’s gorgeous.

 

[Somerford]

View attachment 35098

At least you didn’t show us Uranus….

S

 

[Erichalfbee]

At least you didn’t show us Uranus….

S

Keep up. That one’s been done

 

[JamezF]

Keep up. That one’s been done

The photocopier hasn't been the same since...

James

 

[JamezF]

Here you go. I hate to say it, but this is relatively speaking quite tidy...



James

 

[Newbeeneil]

Here you go. I hate to say it, but this is relatively speaking quite tidy...

View attachment 35117

James

positively pristine compared to mine!

 

[JamezF]

positively pristine compared to mine!

I can't cope with it, honestly I am a long way from the world's tidiest person, but I do like the space to be organised when I'm doing a job. So if I'm assembling hive boxes for example, I'll have all the different parts sorted into different stacks, all the fixings will be removed from the packets and sorted into similar types and all the tools needed will be laid out where I can see and reach them. When I was doing some stuff recently I needed a drill for a pilot hole, a countersink bit and a screwdriver, so I had all three of the cordless drill/drivers sitting next to each other with an appropriate bit in each and so on.

By comparison I recently went into the workshop to find my father-in-law grinding himself a new metal scribing tool. We already have at least two that work perfectly well, but he couldn't find them. And they were somewhere on the bench in front of him.

Is it time to mention that he keeps a couple of 20 litre jerry cans of petrol alongside a pair of 3.7kg propane bottles for his blowtorch right underneath the grinding wheels (where all the sparks end up), too?

James

 

[JamezF]

And I replied. Ooops!
It’s gorgeous.

Thank you. I really must try to get out and use it a bit more during the day as well as the night. At one time I got quite into solar photography and used to do a lot of stuff like this:

The colour is false, added by me, but helps to show up some of the features; the original image is monochrome. It's fascinating to watch sunspots develop over a period of days.

James

 

[pargyle]

Ah, well... this is where it gets a bit embarrassing

I think I have over a dozen telescopes in total It's a bit like beehives: once you have enough, no-one notices if you get another one or two

For solar system stuff I used to use a 5" Maksutov (an early version of the Skywatcher Skymax 127) and I've since replaced that with a C9.25, but I never could bear to part with the Mak. I also have a heavily-modified solar telescope that just works in the Hydrogen Alpha band, and a Star Travel 120 that I use with a Herschel Wedge for white light solar. For DSOs I have a pair of Skywatcher 80mm scopes that I don't think you can buy any more and an MN190.

The 5" Mak has been on holiday in France with us a few times when we've taken the ferry, and I also have a little 72mm scope with a retracting dew shield that can be carried as hand luggage on an aeroplane.

Most of the above I use for imaging, either with dedicated astronomy cameras or sometimes a DSLR. I've built extra bits such as dew controllers and auto-focusers based on Arduinos and lots of it is run from a PC. For purely visual use I have a scope that I reassembled from bits of several scrapped 10" scopes (most of what I own I bought used or damaged) and put the whole thing on a home-made Dobsonian mount:

View attachment 35110

And then there's this, which I was given. It was in a bit of a state when I got it and I was in the process of rebuilding it when Covid happened and I couldn't travel to my parents' place to use my dad's milling machine to make various new parts. I've yet to get restarted on it. As well as the mechanical work it also needs the mirror recoating which is probably going to be expensive

It probably dates back to the mid-80s when it would not have been cheap at all. It's a 12" aperture f/6 scope, so probably about seven feet tall in that orientation and the tube is probably 14" in diameter.

There are a few others that get used as guidescopes and finders -- I have an 80mm scope that I intend to put on that last one to use as a finder, for instance.

James

And there was me thinking I had a problem with five (or is it six ?) woodturning lathes !