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Post by Watcher3 on Mar 7, 2012 10:24:21 GMT -5
I'm sure if you get good weather, you'll get some pretty nice views with the great 8. Only Mikey cee with his big 10 inch will have an easier view this time around!
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Post by jamesling1000 on Mar 7, 2012 22:55:22 GMT -5
Hi Joe and All.
I know Mars would be great when I am able to see it with my 8"...., although it is still quite small with 400X to 500X.
But this time with Saturn rises 2 hours later, I should be able to see its beautiful rings, coz last year, the view is not great with the rings tilted at an smaller angle......
REgards
James Ling
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Post by jamesling1000 on Mar 13, 2012 1:34:33 GMT -5
Hi All.
Last weekend again the poor weather has caused our sidewalk to be cancelled, and this weekend will be our 3rd and final attempt..... Coz the 4th week of March, I will be joining both the university and college students and teachers for the star gazing at Johor Punggai resort.
This time the March star gazing trip will be attended by 54 pax, and we will be staying in chalets, whereby a big open space will be catered for star gazing....
As usual, I will bring the ISTAR there, so that I can test it out on the DSO.... , beside the planets......
Will give everyone another update, if this weekend sidewalk is successful......
REgards
James Ling
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Post by Watcher3 on Mar 13, 2012 2:40:29 GMT -5
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Post by jamesling1000 on Mar 13, 2012 6:04:30 GMT -5
Hi Joe..... Weather at our equatorial region is always wet and humid throughout the year, with plenty of rainfall..... As such I just need to be patient and wait for the weather to change.... Even I miss out March, i still have April to do my sidewalk, which Saturn will be the main object to look at......, although Mars is just getting a little smaller than now..... Hi All. I just brought my WO88ed over to my oversea working place, as I also do not want to miss the beauty of Mars, which I managed to view it last week through my friend SE4. I am very sure my WO88ed will perform as good as the SE4 at 300X. Regards james Ling
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Post by jamesling1000 on Mar 23, 2012 4:52:50 GMT -5
Hi All.
Although the past 3 weekend , the weather has never been good in our region , to stage any sidewalk event......
As for this coming weekend, we will not be staging any sidewalk event, as 3 of us are taking part in another star gazing activites, at our usual place, which is Punggai chalet resort, Malaysia, facing South China Sea.
As of this moment , I am preparing to head North, and weather seems to be very good, as today has been a sunny day , with lesser clouds....
Even last night was also having quite good sky after heavy downpour during day time.... I rush home, and do a simple obs by myself , with my Ultima 8" , and managed to crank the magnification to around 400X at Mars, although the details on the surface is not very clear....
Tonight by the time I reach the chalet, will be midnight, and I will set up my ISTAR 8" for the students and lecturers from both the university and college, to see through this big Achro....
I hope when I am back on this Sunday, after 2 nights of star gazing, I can bring to all of you, how the ISTAR performs on both the planet Mars, Jupiter , Saturn and DSO......
REgards
James Ling
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Post by Watcher3 on Mar 23, 2012 10:33:30 GMT -5
Hi James. I'm really looking forward to your reports, especially on DSO's. I may have to downsize my dream scope because of compromises that I had to make involving my move, and an 8" F/6 might be as long as I can go in a scope for some time.
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Post by borispider on Mar 23, 2012 12:46:00 GMT -5
Yes, looking forward to your report James. Sorry to hear that Watcher. Somehow it will hopefully work it's self out in the end.
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Post by jamesling1000 on Mar 25, 2012 8:51:41 GMT -5
Hi All. Just back from the 2 nights of star gazing at Punggai Chalet, Johor, Malaysia. A total of 54 participants, including myself attended this trip specially organized for students and lecturers from both a university and a college. Following photo shows all the participants taken before we left the place back to our country, Singapore. REgards James Ling Attachments:
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Post by jamesling1000 on Mar 25, 2012 9:47:59 GMT -5
Hi All. The following is a brief report on the 1st night of star gazing......... We left our country around 8pm, and our hired coach bus, brought us to the chalet, almost 12am...... Upon arriving, I immediately started to unload my equipment and set up my 8" ISTAR and as usual 3 person are needed to mount the big achro onto the G11 losmandy G2 ..... I just do a simple 2 stars alignment to Procyon and Pollux, straight away I use goto and slew the ISTAR to M44, using an 2" 55mm ep, at 33X.....and is a wonderful sight to show the students.....although the power is still too high... After which I slew the scope to M67, another open cluster....much fainter, but can see the closely packed stars... By this time, Mars is still quite high, although is at the West side, I slew the ISTAR to my first view at Mars..... Mars is still very bright, although is small , and I have no problem to push the power to 450X with an 4mm ep..... The contrast is not very sharp, but I can still easily see the dark surface marking , and the small polar cap..... I am sure if equip with ISTAR RAYCORR 6, it will show more details..... As we are at equatorial region...., I slew the scope to omega Century, and this again shows the best globular cluster seen..... Next object I shown to the students is M4, which near to Antares, and this is also another fine , but smaller and faint globular cluster. M6 and M7, is always the easiest open clusters to show around....which I slew the scope to, after M4... And then I move to M8, Lagoon Nebula, and you can see similar glowing of gas clouds like M42, Orion Nebula....... After which I slew the scope to M22, near to the Teapot, and it looks similar like M4...., both are fainter and smaller globular clusters compared to Omega century... By the time, the students dispersed back to their rooms to sleep, and the time is already 4am in the morning...... A few of us decided to stop the obs , and after shower, by the time we get some sleep the time is already 5.30am..... Below is the photo showing the new classic look that I transofrm my 8" ISTAR.............. REgards James Ling Attachments:
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Post by jamesling1000 on Mar 25, 2012 10:00:57 GMT -5
Hi All.... The 2nd night of observing is really disappointed..... The sky was good all the way from morning, till late afternoon, then the clouds start to cover up the whole sky..... Although I managed to pick up Venus and Jupiter after sunset, but thunder starts, and all of us have no choice , but to cover up the scopes and take shelter.... And so although 2nd night is wasted, but at least we have good sky for the 1st night..... The next day morning, we packed up and returned back to Singapore..... As for the 8" ISTAR, there are still many activities lining up for it..... Next weekend, we will try our 4th attempt at our usual side walk venue..... And the follwoing week, Good Friday, we will try our 5th attempt side walk activities.... Below is a simple video link to my flicker.... Hope you will enjoy the short video clip of the 8" ISTAR........especially Ales and Mike , haha...... www.flickr.com/photos/james_ling/7014038587/in/photostreamREgards James Ling
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Post by Watcher3 on Mar 25, 2012 12:30:52 GMT -5
Thank you James. Great report, as always. Sounds like that ISTAR is a real DSO machine! I guess I won't feel too bad if I have to limit my dreams to an 8".
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Post by jamesling1000 on Mar 25, 2012 23:08:00 GMT -5
Thank you James. Great report, as always. Sounds like that ISTAR is a real DSO machine! I guess I won't feel too bad if I have to limit my dreams to an 8". Hi Joe and all. I want to admit that although this is my 2nd time using the 8" ISTAR with the GOTO losmandy G11 mount , at this Punggai Chalet area, and is very useful to search for DSO , rather than all those previously planned trip at this place, using a losmandy tracking mount... The views from the DSO, is nothing I have seen before , from all my previous 8 trips.....The last time , is when I acquired the Losmandy G2, I do not have a high capacity battery to run, and the mount always stalls and cannot slew...., and also I am new to using the GOTO alignment method... But this time, I am using a higher 17AH rechargeable battery, and I already know how to do simple star alignment, and the tracking is still good at above 400X.... Although this 60 lbs capacity mount is still under capacity, for the big 8" achro, which I estimate the full OTA with accessories is near to 70 lbs, but for visual, is still ok.... And my comment for this 8" ISTAR F8.8 is really a dual purpose scope, for both planetary and DSO..... Now just eagerly wtg for ISTAR RAYCORR 6 to hit the market....REgards James Ling
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Post by mikey cee on Mar 25, 2012 23:22:11 GMT -5
Now just eagerly wtg for ISTAR RAYCORR 6 to hit the market.... Yeah you and me both!!
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Post by Watcher3 on Mar 26, 2012 8:19:16 GMT -5
Hey. I'd be happy at this point if they would get my scope done first. I can worry about the Raycorr later. ;D
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