Bornfree's bedroom obs

Alright, this is for sharing of your observation experience. Or, if you are arranging gatherings, star-gazing expeditions or just want some company to go observing together, you can shout it out here.
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Gary
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Re: Bornfree's bedroom obs

Post by Gary »

bornfree wrote:yeah, now i pretty much dislike cloudy nights... :x
It's a great forum! [smilie=hell-yes.gif]
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"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
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bornfree
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Re: Bornfree's bedroom obs

Post by bornfree »

peeking out of my window.. i saw a meteor flash by.. n a few stars dotted the polluted sky, i thought maybe can setup my scope n have a look into the night skies.. a 6" in the middle of the room will be kind of intimidating for the neighbours in the opposite block.. so i kept it. took me 5 minutes to mount everything n when i take another peek at the skies.... cloudy!! is August such a bad time to view skies in singapore? :(
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Gary
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Re: Bornfree's bedroom obs

Post by Gary »

Wow! Still manage to see meteor! You are destined to be a stargazer. It's a sign I tell you! [smilie=cheer.gif]
http://www.astro.sg
email: gary[at]astro.sg
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"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
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bornfree
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Re: Bornfree's bedroom obs

Post by bornfree »

DROOOOOLLLLLZZZZZZ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [smilie=admire2.gif] Jupiter i finally saw u~~ [smilie=angel2.gif]

expecting another lousy morning, last night i packed the mount which was in the middle of my room to clear up some space.. 630am, alarm went off... looked out the window.. it doesnt seems too cloudy. took a look at Jupiter's direction. there she is!! [smilie=cheer.gif].. but wait.. where is my 6" newt?!?!?! [smilie=crying3.gif]

never fear~~ [smilie=angel.gif] FirstScope is here!!! [smilie=blocked.gif] in less that 2 minutes it was deployed a 20mm Meade Plossl , a 6mm Televue Plossl and a 2x barlow.

without a finderscope (its not zeroed and being floor level i cant use it anyway), i eyeballed down the tube to gauge roughly where Jupiter is. as it was not focus, it was easy to find a huge fuzzy ball in the field of view. centered the ball n focused. viola~~ [smilie=bye2.gif] JUPITER~~~
from a 3" scope + a 20mm lens, Jupiter was a 1 mm wide ball of light. with no details. however, i could still see the 4 moons. 3 one 1 side, and another 1 on the other side. they were very dim pixels. switching to the 6mm + 2x barlow it was slightly bigger and the 5 objects fill the field of view just nice.. and i have to manually track the objects as their drift was very apparent. with a bigger jupiter, i still could not see any bands. it was still too small for me to make out any details. wanting to see how it fared with its stock lens, i took out the 4mm Hyugen and had a look. the best focus i could have was still a fuzzy ball.. not a sharp image i can achieve with a 6mm + barlow, but its moons are still visible though.

dawn is breaking and fast, how can i let this chance pass by without looking at it thru the 6" newt?! [smilie=bsod.gif] [smilie=dying.gif] how hard can it be to setup the EQ mount? its not like i need it polar aligned right? hence [smilie=super.gif] , i took out the tripod spread the legs, mount the tray and screw in the thumb screw. attached the mount head. lock it in place, screw in the counterweight shaft. attached the counterweight and the stopper screw.next are the flexible tubes for minute adjustment, attached the tube rings, mount the tube and lastly attached the view finder. all done in under 5 minutes. it was like the pitstop crew changing a F1 car's tyre. and all done in under 5 minutes [smilie=cool.gif] . 5 minutes. fortunate for me i marked on the counterweight shaft where the weight should be and on the OTA where the tube rings should so that the setup is balanced.

Good thing i like about the viewfinder is that it manages to keep its zero quite well. even after repeated mount and dismount. trying to swing the scope to the target is a different issue. in the end, just got the planet into the corner of the viewfinder and used the slow adjustments to centre it. Yup, jupiter is in the field of view of the 20mm slightly off but still good. quickly centered it. jupiter is still a small ball of light with its 4 moons. with a 4mm + 2x barlow... [smilie=hell-yes.gif] the 2 brown bands are very clear. i can still frame it with its 4 moons.. although the drift is still visible, tracking it was still quite ok. its red eye is not visible this morning.. jupiter is probably still sleeping. had a nice view of jupiter for about 15 minutes, 645am to 7am. as the day got brighter, the planet got fuzzier.. sadly, i had to keep my stuff.. sun is rising..
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Re: Bornfree's bedroom obs

Post by Davegn »

Congrats on your first view of Jupiter and very good and fast response time!
Just a thought, Maybe it time to consider getting a solar filter? When the sun rises you can continue viewing the sun. =p
Dave Ng
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bornfree
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Re: Bornfree's bedroom obs

Post by bornfree »

and be late for work.. lolz... :D
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Gary
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Re: Bornfree's bedroom obs

Post by Gary »

Setting alarm to wake up and observe astro stuff in Singapore! So much fun thinking about the "crazy" things I used to do too. :) Now I don't. Because I am usually awake anyway. :P

Really enjoyed reading your first Jupiter sighting report! Keep the passion alive!

Do check out these useful links for predicting GRS and shadow transits in advance:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observin ... 04091.html
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observin ... pt/jupiter

Time to revive the Observing Jupiter thread soon. :)

@Davegn - One poison at a time. :P
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email: gary[at]astro.sg
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"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
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antares2063
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Re: Bornfree's bedroom obs

Post by antares2063 »

The first viewing wil always leave the deepest and fondest memory :)
My personal one is ngc 3532 (oc)
I miss the place where stars shine bright, to gaze upwards in awe of the sight
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bornfree
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Re: Bornfree's bedroom obs

Post by bornfree »

am very happy about viewing jupiter cuz the first day i got the mount, skies were clear but just the counter weight wasnt heavy enough, but could b sufficient for a short viewing. let the chance past. then subsiquent days, cloudy morning in the east.. n finally today Jupiter!
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bornfree
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Re: Bornfree's bedroom obs

Post by bornfree »

oh full moon, oh full moon. with u hanging in they sky, all the other stars just shy away.. almost couldnt see any stars from my bedroom. just one or 2 faintly dotted the sky.

looking at the face of the moon, all i can see are just patches of white n gray, with some visible craters around the side. those smaller craters which are cisible near the terminator during the half moon phase are not there anymore.. it just looks as if the moon powdered its face with a nice foundation which masked all those small craters.

a beautiful full moon is just like a woman whom after applying some makeup has smoothen those small holes on its face. while the larger craters cant be easily masked
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