Yes, that's a poncho - but a cloth one. I don't think that would be terribly effective in the rain, unless one likes wearing a soggy, wet blanket while out in the pouring rain! But no accounting for taste, I guess.....

Looks like you have the same basic weather forecast for the coming week. Here's ours:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...3.21206791399965&site=all&smap=1#.VR236ZNZqM8

But it was 80°F. yesterday. So now we're going to pay for that pleasure. Which will be more rotten because now we're spoiled.

Ack!

Dave - getting his big-bag of feathers (Winter-Parka) back onto my coat-rack.....

 

Yeah, it seems typical April weather in many ways. It was quite warm here only a few days ago, although it wasn't so warm last night as I waited for the GRS to appear. Had to break out the emergency thermal vests lol.


I had to wait for a lot of cloud to move and it was very damp with a lot of water vapour in the air. So the transparency wasn't brilliant. If I looked directly up at Ursa Major I could distinctly see Alcor though.


I compared the #80A (30% transmission) with the #21 Orange (46% transmission) and #11 Yellow/Green (78% transmission) using a 6mm Vixen NPL for 150x at an 0.89mm exit pupil. The #11 was particularly good in the northern zones and I thought the image was bright with good contrast. I wasn't so impressed with the #21 though and I thought the image was dark and hard work to define at first. After a while I seemed to be able to discern more and I'll have to experiment more at a later date. I wanted to see if I could get 200x before the clouds rolled in so switched to a TeleVue Barlow/9mm EP combination with the Baader Neodymium filter threaded onto the Barlow.



Both the GSO 9mm Plossl and the 9mm Bresser 'Plerfle' focused easily with the helical focuser, which was a relief after the Celestron XL fandango. They both gave bright, sharp images and I couldn't really distinguish between them. The 60° Bresser did exhibit a tiny bit of light scatter but was sharp up to the EOF. So I don't know why Bresser think the 9mm is a bit of a turkey lol. The star was the 8mm TV Plossl of course, giving me 225x. I spent most viewing at 200x as it is about 40x per inch of aperture which is a good general rule of thumb for Jupiter. I called it a night after I'd witnessed the GRS appear. It was so damp my reflex sight dewed over! Plus, I'd forgotten to take my new dew removing hair dryer out with me. Fortunately, it takes some doing to dew a Newtonian. Condensation was running off the OTA as I was packing up. Bloody weather.



Whatever happened to fishtail parkas anyway? Or for that matter, Mods and Lambrettas?



Couldn't resist posting Mirror in the Bathroom as it's so good.



Oh yeah, Pinky & Perky have arrived today along with the Baader filters. The filters look very good. I've experimented with stacking the yellow and green filters and although it seems a little more aggressive than a standard #11 it is a very rich colour. The light blue filter is also very striking. I've compared them with the TS Optics (GSO) filters and the quality of the Baader filters definitely shows.



I think the Red and Dark blue Baader filters may be too aggressive for reflectors around 5", depending on conditions and target I suppose.

 

Just wanted to say: I'm enjoying your filter reports. Not many of them about. These should be good for something to do about that old, dusty bunches of coloured-filters many people got ahold of when they first went into this hobby. They seem to have a use afterall!

I hope our respective weather-patterns improve soon!

Later folks -

Dave

 

It's odd that most conversations/threads concerning filters seem to get closed on many forums. I've never understood this. To me, filters are just another tool, which can often be beneficial or not depending on circumstances. Everyone's experiences with anything are subjective, and can often be with astronomy especially. I stopped discussing filters on SGL and won't again, although I will on other forums. In fact, I recently received a review award from one astronomy forum for what I wrote about concerning the Solomark filters. It's a mad world.



It's sunny a bit here, but there seems to be a lot of light cloud which isn't doing much for the overall transparency.



I'm not totally optimistic for tonight.



It will be interesting to test this 4mm AH ortho'.



Now, if only the April skies let me test this gear ...

 

I've finally managed to get CDC running on Ubuntu.





And I have a new filter.

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop...s-Optics-Universal-Contrast-Filter-1-25-.html

 

I had a two hour session observing Jupiter up to about fifteen minutes after transit (00:06 BST, 32.6° declination, Virgo). The transparency wasn’t good and it was cool with a lot of water vapour in the air. I couldn’t see Alcor with the naked eye. I had a long session with the 470nm Baader Light Blue filter. Blue light falls between 490 ~ 450 nanometres (the Baader Dark Blue is 435nm).


Above: Baader 470nm Light Blue and Baader Neodymium filters.

The filter seems to me to be a slightly turquoise colour compared to a standard Wratten #80A filter. I find that it is a very pleasant colour to view with. The transmission appears quite high and is probably somewhere between the standard Wratten #80A and #82A filters (30% and 73% respectively). I was quite surprised how much detail the filter allowed me to see in the North Temperate Belt/Zone area.


Baader Light Blue filter with TS Optics (GSO) #80A and #82A Wratten filters. The turquoise colour of the Baader 470nm isn't readily apparent in the jpeg above.

Especially considering the conditions and I was using a 130mm aperture (Newtonian). After a while I increased the magnification from 164x to 200x still using the Baader 470nm filter, effectively changing from an 0.79mm exit pupil to 0.65mm. The Baader filter coped perfectly with this, and the view seemed as good as, if not better, with the increased magnification. I ended the session at 225x with the Baader Neodymium filter as the GRS came into view.



I later searched a bit for M104 which was in the vicinity but I couldn’t find it as the clouds rolled in. All in all, I’m very impressed with the Baader 470nm Light Blue filter for observing Jupiter.

 

I had a session observing Jupiter for around two hours until transit (00:02 BST). Early on the GRS was visible until about 23:32. At first I used a 164x magnification but soon raised it to 200x. Transparency was relatively poor at first but improved near the end of the session when clouds rolled in effectively ending the session.



I stacked the Baader Yellow 495nm Longpass and Green 500nm Bandpass filters to achieve a similar effect to the Wratten #11 Yellow-Green filter. The transmission wasn’t as high as a normal #11 filter I thought, but it gave a very pleasant deep yellow-green colour that seemed to give better contrast than a regular #11. The normally salmon pink GRS was distinctly darker and clearer with the stacked filters and the equatorial zones and bands, particularly the southern temperate zones, were easier to discern detail in.



I should imagine this combination will be very effective on Saturn. Saturn usually responds well to a #11 Wratten which can emphasise the Cassini Division as well as any surface detail. At the end of the session I switched to 225x (4mm TSO HR shown above) utilising a Baader Neodymium. I then directly compared it with the stacked yellow and green filters using the same eyepiece. Even at an 0.57mm exit pupil with the 4mm TSO the filter displayed just as much detail, if not a tiny bit more, as before. The contrast, by darkening the surrounding background particularly, was superior to just using the Baader Neodymium filter. The nearest thing to the contrast (considering the poor transparency) was when I compared the Baader stack to a TS Optics UCF 1 contrast filter with the same 4mm eyepiece. The UCF 1 gave a more natural view of course.

 

Glad you're feeling a bit better Ray. I nearly froze my bollocks off last night viewing Jupiter lol.


I did get to see the Sombrero galaxy though. You'll need 75x ~ 100x to make anything out. You do get a hint of the Sombrero shape with a 130mm aperture, well I did with the Bazooka. You should see more or less the same with your 102mm Meade.



Weather's turned a bit pants here after going warm earlier for a while. It bloody well hailed today! Chillax and watch this Flo video. Catch you later.

I don't know what's happened to Dave ... maybe his motherboard has exploded ...

 

You'll like this!

 

Yeah, I'm glad you're OK Ray, I was starting to get worried. The Sombrero's pretty bright so you should see it with the ST80. I think you need a really large aperture (10 ~ 15") to see the dust lane properly, but you do kind of get the impression of a sombrero hat as you observe it with a smaller aperture. I went up to 100x with the Bazooka but it's good at around 70x. It probably looks pretty good with the ST80. You'll know it when you see it as it is quite bright and definitely not a star.



It makes a sort of triangle with Jupiter and Spica at the moment. Jupiter's difficult to miss so if you can see Jupiter and Spica, M104 is below Jupiter and to the right of Spica as above.



I usually find it with Spica and Porrima (aka Alpha and Gamma Virginis ) making a sort of right angled triangle.



Apparently, it looks like this with a 16" aperture. It wasn't quite this good for me lol.

http://www.pbase.com/mike73/image/155538415

 

Dave here - catching up with some writings here in A-C et al. I have been gone since Thursday, the 20th. As I managed to fall down 22-steps of my &%!!#$@!! staircase. My right (favored-of course) shoulder was smashed to pieces and I've been in a hospital-bed (OUCH!). It'll be quite awhile before I'm running on all-8 at top-performance.

So I wasn't just being quiet in the corner like a Senatorial House-Cat. No access. And I doubt you'd much care for what I had to say for most of this time! Bah! Just got a phone-call from Visiting Nurses.....The fun has begun! Place bets on how long it takes me to scare one out of her white, Posture-Pedic® shoes?

Catch ya' later,

Dave

 

I hope you are feeling better Dave. I've spent far too long in hospitals, they aren't that good for your health. I've just been observing Jupiter for a while with the Baader Orange 570nm (longpass) filter. I also couldn't resist trying 164x on the Sombrero. Stay well.

 

Best way to recover from sickness and injury? Rest.

In the hospital - they wake you up every 15 minutes (at least) to say how sorry they are to wake you. Then they stick a big needle in some part of the anatomy (my stomach was their new, improved favorite to make you jump with) and then take blood-pressure, temperature, pulse, and likelihood of being an extra-terrestrial! And then...

After you've finally drifted back to restful, healing sleep - <shake!> <shake!> "What would you like for lunch?" "How about YOUR HEAD in a vat of Boiling-Lard?"

<"SHREIK!">

Encore! Encore!

Glad you're up and running part-way, Ray. Mak's right - avoid hospitals! I'm pricing dog-suits and looking for a good myopic veterinarian. I'll speak in a mixture of 'Woofs!' and English. Explaining I'm a Tibetan/BED Dog - a crossbread of Tibetan Dog and the Missing British Expeditionary Force that went missing in the High Himalayas in 1912. Surely they had 'needs', too...

Woof,

Dave

 

Dave, I wish you a successful and speedy recovery. All the best,Gerry

 

Yeah, that sounds like hospital. I remember having a stomach injection every morning for three months. It's a hell of an incentive to learn to walk again. And don't get me started about hospital food ...

 

I had a session observing Jupiter close to transit for around ninety minutes utilising the Baader Orange 570nm longpass filter. According to Baader, the transmission for all three of their longpass filters peaks at 98%. This seems very high considering a standard Wratten #21 Orange usually transmits 46% of available light. Compared directly with a standard #21 the Baader Orange filter does appear to be less aggressive than the TS Optics (GSO) filter next to it.



Orange and orange-red filters can improve contrast on the Jovian belts and can also help with detail in the polar regions, especially bluish-grey features. Although the conditions were below average, and the transparency wasn’t as good as I’d have liked, the Baader Orange filter gave a bright, highly contrasted view of the belt regions and did seem to improve contrast in the southern polar region. I watched Io gradually edge towards occultation and decided to call it a night when ground frost appeared. I would have waited for the GRS but it was getting too brass monkey.



In use it definitely has a higher transmission than the #21 longpass filter which traditionally blocks visible wavelengths below 530nm. I was using the 13cm Bazooka in conditions of below average transparency and it coped very well where a regular #21 may have been too aggressive. I should imagine the Baader Orange 570nm filter is also very good for lunar observing in daylight/twilight conditions. It did make Jupiter a bit 'Terry's Chocolate Orange' though. Overall, I'm very impressed with these Baader colour filters. I would have waited for the GRS to come around. I couldn't take another hour in Brass Monkeyville though lol.




Simulated planetary images by courtesy of Cartes du Ciel & PhotoFiltre 7

 

I waited from about 19:00 BST until around 21:20 for the clouds to clear so I could watch a setting Moon. I got a few minutes.


The main targets were Endymion, The Sea of Crises and Petavius.



All of the targets were observed for only a few minutes between clouds. I was planning on testing some new gear but basically viewed everything at 142.8x with a 6.3mm 'Sky-Watcher' Plossl re-equipped with a chromed brass smooth drawtube.



It performed very well, I'm still convinced these Plossls are Barsta (BST).