TheSkySearchers

Well, this is less of an observing report and more a follow up to the report:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=20939

in which I expressed the hope to be testing the Altair Astro 2” Quad Band OSC Filter for visual use. It didn’t happen, this is why and what I did otherwise.

My first mistake was to violate my customary practice of setting up in daylight. The plan was to use the TS 102 ED f11 with the new Apertura RACI finder that I got based on the @Bigzmey recommendation,

viewtopic.php?f=94&t=18360

the CG5 mount, along with the Altair Astro 2” Quad Band OSC, the new Baader T2 Prism diagonal, the Maxbright binoviewer, and the Baader Mark IV zooms. This would try out a whole bunch of stuff that was waiting to be tested. It didn’t happen.

The floodlights weren’t on! So, I started setup at 9pm. The first glitch was that the hand controller for the CG5 was nowhere to be found. Last use was at a friend’s place. (Emails confirm its discovery and eventual return, so a temporary inconvenience.)

The Porta II mount should be able to carry the refractor. I set it up. Loaded as it was with the frac, finder, filter and binoviewer, balance was tricky but a success. I could not reach focus. At this point I am starting to miss my Baader Mark V binoviewer and regret selling it. Nevertheless, never having trouble with binoviewers on CATs I decided to switch to the VMC100L on the Orion Star Seeker III and move on to Plan B.

That failed too. It turns out that my complaint about the Celestron battery failing was unjustified. The connections to the SSIII mount are shorting out on both the power and hand controller side. Looks like I’m in the market for an altazimuth mount that is goto and in the 10-20lb capacity range.

By this time, it was 10pm and my neighbor with the floodlights appeared at his back door complete with an evil grin and turned on the floods. At that point I noticed that he had trimmed back his trees in a way that the shade from his floods was minimized.

Plan C. Quad band filter off, tri band filter on. VMC110L on the Porta II. The binoviewer would not come to focus.

It was time for plan D. Off with the binoviewer. Back with the Vixen diagonal and the Baader Mark IV zoom for enjoyable viewing of Jupiter and Saturn. Seeing was comparable to the previous report with maximum magnification at about 10mm equivalent. Being able to dial in the maximum magnification for seeing conditions was very convenient and I think that the Baader Mark IV zooms may actually outperform my pseudo Masuyama collection. Some details for this hypothesis follow.

I could make out Titan, Dione, Rhea and Tethys at Saturn and the rings were crisper with the shadow of Saturn more distinct across the rings. No Cassini division though.

At Jupiter definition of the belts was better than last time and with Io to one side and Calisto, Europa, and Ganymede to the opposite side in increasing distance order the Galilean satellites were all on good behavior.

Having at last achieved some success I decided to pack it in. I like to always end a session on a positive note.

That was quite the outing.
Dang!
Your endurance is commendable Sir.
From my reading it seems like you took things in stride and the satisfaction with Jupiter and Saturn was well deserved.
I am glad for that.
Thank you for sharing and clear skies to you.

I hope, seeing Jupiter, Saturn and their moons brought the blood pressure back to normal?

turboscrew wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 3:28 am I hope, seeing Jupiter, Saturn and their moons brought the blood pressure back to normal?

I doubt it ever got too high except for the normal exercise of shifting plans.

I never get terribly excited about setbacks. They are always temporary. That is, except for the last and final setback! I tend to work methodically through difficulties. The nice thing about having much gear is that there is always SOMETHING that works.

The downside of being fairly level headed is that I tend to attract romantic partners who think that they can get away with anything and I'll just methodically work through things. I'm less forgiving of human intentional disasters and follow a 3 times and out procedure. Equipment doesn't try to mess with you and is malice free, mostly.

Your neighbor sounds like a word I will not type out, starts with p, ends with k.

I know you are planning on moving soon enough, but if I were in your shoes, I'd build a HUGE fence. Which in retrospect, is probably what he wants.

Although, it sounds like if you did that, he'd erect a pole for this flood lights.

KingNothing13 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:16 pm Your neighbor sounds like a word I will not type out, starts with p, ends with k.

I know you are planning on moving soon enough, but if I were in your shoes, I'd build a HUGE fence. Which in retrospect, is probably what he wants.

Although, it sounds like if you did that, he'd erect a pole for this flood lights.

Fortunately, I'm only renting at the moment so I'd not invest in a fence. I've been thinking about a portable hunting blind, though. Perhaps creating some mystery about what I'm up to?

notFritzArgelander wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:46 pm (...)I've been thinking about a portable hunting blind, though. Perhaps creating some mystery about what I'm up to?

I think that is a great plan!

On one of my holiday adresses, a neigbor stood a long time in his garden, watching me. Then he decided to put all his garden lights on. I am sure he rejoiced at the inconvenience he caused.
I didn't flinch and turning my back to him I showed glaringly that I was using his profusion of light to peer into my atlas. And put my hood on. The next night the lights stayed out......

Neighbors, right? After all the "pleasure" they gave us over the years our top priority for the new place was as few and as far away as possible.

As for the AltAz Goto after much of researching I picked iOptron AZ Mount Pro. So far I had only two session with it but I like it. It is rock solid, trucks and GoTo nicely, has built in battery, can be used in one or two scopes mode, and rated 33lb on the main side an 10lb on the other. It also has native support of SkySafari. And of cause as many nice products now is out of stock. I got mine used.

https://www.ioptron.com/product-p/8900.htm

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 2021 7:02 pm Neighbors, right? After all the "pleasure" they gave us over the years our top priority for the new place was as few and as far away as possible.

Agreed on that! The previous home in VA had that advantage. This place is temporary.

As for the AltAz Goto after much of researching I picked iOptron AZ Mount Pro. So far I had only two session with it but I like it. It is rock solid, trucks and GoTo nicely, has built in battery, can be used in one or two scopes mode, and rated 33lb on the main side an 10lb on the other. It also has native support of SkySafari. And of cause as many nice products now is out of stock. I got mine used.

https://www.ioptron.com/product-p/8900.htm

I've been looking at that, actually. I think that I'm done with the Star Seeker line. I'm a klutz and have been known to drop hand controllers and batteries which over the years has probably caused the connectors to get loose. I'd hope the iOptron has more robust connectors? The price of it may persuade me to wait, use the totally manual Vixen Porta II for gab and go sessions and then simply get the iOptron CEM40. :Think:

notFritzArgelander wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 2021 7:47 pm I've been looking at that, actually. I think that I'm done with the Star Seeker line. I'm a klutz and have been known to drop hand controllers and batteries which over the years has probably caused the connectors to get loose. I'd hope the iOptron has more robust connectors? The price of it may persuade me to wait, use the totally manual Vixen Porta II for gab and go sessions and then simply get the iOptron CEM40. :Think:

I can't talk about longevity yet, but both AZMP and CEM lines have good reputation. But stay away from CubePro, nothing pro about it.

Glad to hear your Porta is handling that beast!

I had a c102 f11 achro on mine years ago and it wasn't too happy.

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 2021 8:18 pm

notFritzArgelander wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 2021 7:47 pm I've been looking at that, actually. I think that I'm done with the Star Seeker line. I'm a klutz and have been known to drop hand controllers and batteries which over the years has probably caused the connectors to get loose. I'd hope the iOptron has more robust connectors? The price of it may persuade me to wait, use the totally manual Vixen Porta II for gab and go sessions and then simply get the iOptron CEM40. :Think:

I can't talk about longevity yet, but both AZMP and CEM lines have good reputation. But stay away from CubePro, nothing pro about it.

Yes, I had really a bad experience with one, a present for my younger daughter. We went with an ES altazimuth manual mount. The CubePro is too plastic for words.

Ylem wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 2021 8:28 pm Glad to hear your Porta is handling that beast!

I had a c102 f11 achro on mine years ago and it wasn't too happy.

Well, balancing it was a bit of care!

Hi nFA. An excellent report all things considered. I am glad that you got to have the observing session, even with the problems you incurred. As to neighbors, I would suspect this in some large cities but not out in the west. And, I looked up the Altair tri band filter from your last report, and it is now on my future purchase list for a versatile 2" DSO observing filter. Thanks for your report nFA, and the best of wishes on your next session.

Makuser wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 2021 9:04 pm Hi nFA. An excellent report all things considered. I am glad that you got to have the observing session, even with the problems you incurred. As to neighbors, I would suspect this in some large cities but not out in the west. And, I looked up the Altair tri band filter from your last report, and it is now on my future purchase list for a versatile 2" DSO observing filter. Thanks for your report nFA, and the best of wishes on your next session.

I hope you like the Altair filter as much as I do. I'm eagerly awaiting sweeping about in Orion. Long term plan is to compare the Altair 2" Quad band and the Baader 2" H-beta on nebulae in Orion and Monoceros.

I think the extreme political polarization is expressing itself in folks becoming mean, nasty, paranoid, and tribal everywhere. That's, of course, a YMMV opinion. Partly, it might be that I am a religious minority. :shrug: I know that my daughter's family in SLC has plenty of trouble when her husband takes the kids to events without her. Folks question whether he is really their father and such.

An interesting and successful report on Jupiter and Saturn observations notFritz, though you weren't ultimately able to test out various combinations of new gear, hopefully you will be able to do so in a future report. Congrats on winning the VROD for today.

helicon wrote: ↑Fri Oct 08, 2021 1:32 pm An interesting and successful report on Jupiter and Saturn observations notFritz, though you weren't ultimately able to test out various combinations of new gear, hopefully you will be able to do so in a future report. Congrats on winning the VROD for today.

Oh, gee…. I’m speechless. Thanks. Will try as soon as weather permits. My wandering CG5 controller came home yesterday.

Enjoyable read, nFA! Reminds me of many nights I've experienced over the years. Well deserved VROD!!

I'm moving the end of the month to a "darker" neighborhood. Fortunately I've never had a malicious neighbor...just several inconsiderate ones!!

Dave

Unitron48 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 08, 2021 2:36 pm Enjoyable read, nFA! Reminds me of many nights I've experienced over the years. Well deserved VROD!!

I'm moving the end of the month to a "darker" neighborhood. Fortunately I've never had a malicious neighbor...just several inconsiderate ones!!

Dave

I hope your move turns out well and mine too!

Congratulations of your well deserved VROD fritz !