Bornfree's bedroom obs

[Mariner]

Jupiter Transit.. cant see the GRS..

not sure if it is because collimation not done properly or a barlow 2x with a 8mm televue has reduced too much contrast that i can only see the 2 bands.. and focusing is really hard on such high magnification. tried to boost it higher using a barlow 2x with a 4mm hyugen. when focused, just let it drift down to keep vibrations at a minimal. still no GRS.. the elusive GRS, hope the next time can have a good look at it.

It means you need a bigger mirror i

[bornfree]

Jupiter Transit.. cant see the GRS..

not sure if it is because collimation not done properly or a barlow 2x with a 8mm televue has reduced too much contrast that i can only see the 2 bands.. and focusing is really hard on such high magnification. tried to boost it higher using a barlow 2x with a 4mm hyugen. when focused, just let it drift down to keep vibrations at a minimal. still no GRS.. the elusive GRS, hope the next time can have a good look at it.

It means you need a bigger mirror i

just get a 6" sct.. wahaha

[bornfree]

came home to find clouds cleared to reveal a very bright moon. as quickly as i could set up the scope, less than 3 minutes, i still couldnt get to the moon. it has risen higher than view.. shifted the whole mount just next to the window, n sticking part of the slightly out the window but still could not get the moon.. all i could do was to lie on the floor n use the bino.. n boy was the moon bright.. very bright.. then i decided to keep the scope n use bino to sweep around. being a full moon n all, i dont expect much stars to be visible. then i spotted some with the bino.. and quickly i remounted the scope n for the first time, try to locate the very faint stars with the telrad.

ok, i am a noob at using the telrad, bobbing my head up n down trying to get the crosshair to reflect off the glass, then dimming the cross hair and try to centre the dim star that sometimes just kind of disappear from view is really not an easy feat. first sweep the sky with the bino to see if any bright stars in sight, then try to stare at the section of sky until i think i see the star in the approximate location. i might be staring too hard at times, until i think i saw a streak of light go southeast to east direction. then again, i might be just seeing things..

the first star seen is either Baten Kaitos or Altawk probably Altwak as it is the slightly brighter star, part of the Cetus Constellation. to the right saw another bright star probably Deneb Kaitos part of the same constellation. then spotted more stars higher, and i tried using the telrad to aim as high as the telrad can see the sky, from the scope i caught sight of a few dim stars, trailing the stars higher, i found Fomalhaut. when i look at the telrad, i was practically aiming at the parapet, from the scope's view it's still the sky..

will clouds start to roll in abit, moon is too high n too bright, i guess i will call it a night.

ps. name of the stars are taken from the Android App Skeye

[bornfree]

unable to get some decent shut eye while tossing n turning in bed, i decided to see what's up in the sky.. looking out the window.. a familiar red/orange glow signaled that Aldebaran has risen. this can only mean 1 thing, the 7 Sisters are up and about. scanning with my naked eye no dim cluster of light in sight.. time to switch to bino!

locating Aldebaran, then moving left and up, bingo! there the beautiful clusters of stars. from the bino, they were all nicely framed in the FOV. with alot of space around. a very beautiful cluster of stars that never cease to take my breath away. How does it view thru my scope? i just had it collimated and had a view of the moon n some stars earlier during the night around 10pm and a nice double star narrowly split using a 8mm TV plossl.

how do i point the telrad at the 7 sisters when i cant even see them? it turned out to be a real challenge. i only have a very rough idea where the sisters are and trying to star hop doesnt seems to get me anywhere near the sisters. then an idea struck me. what if i combined the telrad with the bino? will that work? with one side looking for the sisters and the other looking at the cross hair of the telrad, technically if i can centre it thru the view of the bino, i should get the 7 sisters in vilew correct? then comes the biggest question. can the bino focus on the crosshair of the telrad, since the glass is just less than 10cm away from the objective lens of the bino and the manual says the minimum focus distance is 3 meters. heck, never try, never know. so, using the bino, i located Aldebaran again, and moved the up and left again until i spotted the 7 sisters. then move my bino to just behind the telrad. no red circles in view.. or was it the angle was not right? and it turned out it was due to the angle. i found the crosshair and saw that the stars were also visible! i slew the scope to and aligned the crosshair and the 7 sisters. now i from my bino, i can see the sisters in the middle of the crosshair. time of reckoning has come. peeping thru the 20mm EP, the sisters are right in the middle!

EUREKA!! it worked!! ( i am not going to run out of the house naked). i tested it a few times and whatever i can centre the view from the bino with the telrad, that is what i am looking at. not only do i have a telrad, i have a 8x42 finder that works better than any other 8x42 finder as well! unless they are also a bino with better optics. LOL!! i am so going to keep the bino n telrad no matter how many scope i will change in the future.

then since i can easily find the 7 sisters, i tried to use star hopping method to get to them. using a AZ mount, i know the rough direction i have to slew and trying to use the stars as a guide, but looking at an inverse and inverted image proof too much for my level at the moment. then again, i have to share this discovery, so i lost the patience to try and learn the star patterns to lead from Aldebaran to Pleiades.

then, Orion is up. looked at Nebular again. managed to see the 4 stars in the core of the nebular using the 8mm. tried to use the 2x barlow with the 8mm. although it still manages to show the stars, but the view is awfully dim.the a familar brownish orb starts to be visible just over the top of the hdb. Jupiter is up. the 2 bands are barely visible and as always, the newt cant resolve more than that.

[Gary]

Nice report! Sky is now very clear for a night of gibbous waning Moon in Singapore!

For Pleiades, try to use averted vision to spot at least 1 star in that cluster before you point your optics at it. If it's that dim that you could not even see it with averted naked eyes, even if you find it through your optics, the view may not be fantastic. Unless you are seeing it for the first time of course!

[antares2063]

i know the rough direction i have to slew and trying to use the stars as a guide, but looking at an inverse and inverted image proof too much for my level at the moment.

Not easy to look thru main scope and starhop..will be lost and misdirected by too many stars..

Anyway grats, very interesting method of using a bino lining up with telrad combination.

Sky was clear but i dozed off at midnight..damn monday blues.

[bornfree]

today has bee a nice day... skies are cloudy but jupiter and Orion are visible. today is just a test for a mobile phone accessory. one that helps me take pics something like a ccd. All thanks to Hasrie who helped me buy it all the way from Thailand. and i found out i was just saying shoot.. shoot.. smile.. cheese like a kuku but here are the pictures taken, no editing done at all.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/108332868@N08/

jupiter's bands are visible. moons are visible. orion nebular is visible.. NOT! just the stars. but its a nice start.. then will be going to test out different camera apps.

[Gary]

Good job! No breath-holding, funny handphone gripping techniques involved. Stress-free and hands-free afocal astrophotography.

[bornfree]

today's moon is the highlight. cuz it is blocking out every other things in the sky.. even when reducing the aperture to about 2" it is still so bright. well, more shots of it
my shots uploaded to flickr

[Gary]

Nice shots. When life gives you bright Moon, be a lunatic!