Doing some observing tonight

[BobsYourUncle]

Ok, so it's the coldest night we've had so far, going to get down to -2, but the weather is glorious. I've got uni tomorrow, but I'm doing my final year project, I can come in late ;). Dark sky, not a cloud in site, and the jetstream is behaving, stars are perfectly still. I'm rugged up, ready to go, letting the scope cool a bit. I figure I might make a few posts here while I'm at it - I'm as amateur as amateur can be, so maybe someone might be interested, dunno. I'm in my neighbours backyard (I've got trees blocking the south in mine) so I have to move a little bit to get a wireless signal, but I'll cope. Now to decide what to look at...

[BobsYourUncle]

Well, I haven't been that successful. My scope needs to be collimated, it's a bit out, I'll have to read up on that. Second, star hopping sucks, lol. I think I might end up spending some of my tax return on an argo navis or similar, I'm not too good at finding those DSOs. I had a bit of a look at Jupiter to start with, less surface detail than last time I looked, and couldn't get it focused exactly right (collimation issue I figured). Also checked out the jewell box, w cent, and eta carinae (well, I'm pretty sure it was eta carinae I was looking at, I'm not sure what it's supposed to look like through a scope, I've only seen the colour photos). Couldn't locate M83 or M104 :(

Getting cold now (don't have a thermometer, but laptop CPU is running at 18 degrees, compared to its usual 50-55 :lol: ), and I suppose I should get off to bed. Slightly disappointing session, but practice makes perfect.

[iceman]

-2 in QLD? That is cold!

A shame the session didn't go as expected, but you'll get the hand of it in n time. You really need to read up on collimation. it's extremely important to getting that sharp image where you're not always trying to adjust focus because it looks "off".

[BobsYourUncle]

Yeah it gets cold here in Ipswich. Brisbane was supposed to be like 8 degrees warmer :( Still, it's not really normal for the temperature to get down that low this early in winter (well, it's not even winter yet).

[ving]

hey next time you are out try my doubles list for crux :)
just click the blue text in my signature.... that'll give you something to look at :)

at leaset you got out hey :)

[JimmyH155]

Got my grab N go 90mm refractor last night and pointed it to Jupiter. I reckon I definitely saw the spot (it is on the southern side isn't it?) which I have never really seen with my 8 inch Meade. Then pointed to Eta. What a view.. just point anywhere towards the brightest bit, there were dark lanes, luminosity and a yellow star that just Had to be Eta. I'll be out there tonite - Brisbane Burpengary surrounded by sodium vapour lamps Ugh.

[ving]

g'day jimmy, sounds like a blast! whats the focal length of your refractor?

oh and the grs should be easy in an 8" :confuse3: is it colimated properly?

[fremanwarrior]

I spotted the spot for the first time a few nights ago too.. I fired up the 'Jupiter II' program just to double check.

It was the first time I had properly had a look at Jupiter with my Meade x3 Barlow (Thx Tony) ---> x417 magnification :eyepop:

[fremanwarrior]

I'm doing the same thing sort of. I bought the encoders & cable from the Argo Navis guys (Cheapest I could find in Aus...got quoted $245 for EACH encoder from a so called wholesaler :screwy: ), sourced the mounting kit from Bintel. All fitted and just waiting for the guy that sells the kit for the 'Dave Ek's Digital Setting Circles Project' http://home.earthlink.net/~david.ek/digicircles/ (He is on a week long HAM radio convention ATM)

[BobsYourUncle]

I had a go at collimation today, couldn't find any 35mm film containers, so i just used a piece of cardboard with a 5-6mm sort-of circular hole in the middle. Seemed to work OK, i had a quick test just then on jupiter and it looked much better, and that was with no scope cool-down and slightly worse seeing, so I was happy. I'm thinking of getting a collimating eyepiece though, $29 from Andrews for something that should be pretty useful sounds pretty good to me.



The microelectronics engineer in me wants to have a go at a DIY solution using a laptop, it'd be an interesting project.

[JimmyH155]

My 90mm has focal length 990mm. Its a Celestron Firstscope. I'll check out the 8 inch but think it is OK. Got to be the location. The other night was the clearest I've seen it in years - actually saw a bit of the milky way as well. Last night - no good. high cloud back!:)
I'm going to Bunya Mountains in a few weeks - that's awesome. Thinking of getting a 12 inch dob