8" F8.8 Istar-optical Sidewalk in 2015

[jamesling1000]

Hi all...

Last night...which is just one day after Jupiter opposition....our group did our monthly sidewalk at the public library open area...

I decided to bring out my 8" F8.8 Istar-optical telescope for this special event...

As usual... bringing this big refractor needs a lot of preparation.. by preparing and loading everything into my saloon car..then need to travel all tbe way from my western side to the central region ..of this small city Island..

Upon arrival to the public library open area.. need to unload everything from my car...then need to drive the car to the parking area.. some walking distance away..

But all these time consuming preparation is no longer an issue when you start to set up the big telescope infront of the curious looking public....

Looking at these public queuing for hours just to take a look at Jupiter and its 4 amazing moons..which most of them have never seen or heard of.. really make me coming back month after month for the sidewalk..

Below is an utube video link from last night sidewalk which after almost an hour of non stop guiding and explaining to each and every person when they view through the eyepiece of my big ISTAR...I took out my hand phone and shot this videp clip and download to utube after the event, before I am back explaining again to the other people..

Watch "Istar-optical 8" sidewalk At TPY library Open Area" on YouTube - Istar-optical 8" sidewalk At TPY library Open Area:

Regards

James Ling

[jamesling1000]

Hi All...

As last night we only can show the public the giant gas planet, Jupiter and its 4 moons... coz the moon is only visible around 10pm...
Yet the crowd last for around 3 hrs, and there is hardly any time to allow the public to use their hand phones to snap the photo of Jupiter....

BY the time around 11pm, I setup my small pinic bench and TV display, and then I brought out my canon 550D DSLR and together with the TV 5X barlow, inserted into the diagonal of the 8" ISTAR-OPTICAL telescope to get a decent image size , even the focal length of the scope is 1800mm...

After some setting adjustment on the speed and ISO, I managed to get a nice image of Jupiter displayed onto the TV display..
And I recorded the video footage and today I downloaded onto utube under the following link:-

07-02-2015 Jupiter Through The 8" ISTAR-OPTICAL Telescope: via @youtube

Pls take note that this is a raw video footage directly taken through the DSLR , and you will see some CA, coz I forgotten to bring my UV/IR cut filter....
If you are physically there last night and looking through the eye piece of this 8" ISTAR-OPTICAL telescope, this raw video footage is still not able to compare with what the eye is seeing....

REgards

James Ling

[jamesling1000]

Hi ALL....

Here are some of the photos that my astronomy friends sent to me, which I would like to share with all of you the exciting moments of the night that we enjoyed...



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Regards

James Ling

[jamesling1000]

Hi All..

Could not download any photos as the forum reached its limit?

Regards

James Ling

[jamesling1000]

Hi All..

Not sure is it coz I attached the 2 video clips which have exceeded this forum post max attachment capacity..
Now only able to add one small file size , which is the Jupiter photo that I extract from the video clip....

REgards

James Ling

[boomboom]

Hi James,
Long time no hear from…. so good to see your still out and about with your 8" Istar.

One heck of a nice refractor yours is too.

Hear more from you soon I hope!

I'm about to drag my 6" f12 around and see what happens!

Nothing like a big refractor to get people interested….though yours is bigger than mine.

Matt

[jamesling1000]

Hi Matt..

Thanks..

Hi ALL

Is really tough to find time to do our astronomy hobby when we are working...
especially like myself working oversea and back during weekend..

Then weather always disrupt our sidewalk planning especially during year end..

I really enjoy bringing this big ISTAR out for sidewalk as many of the public at that library area known us for few years and keep asking me why never bring ISTAR..

Come to this May when is Saturn opposition time I will do the next video clip for this big ISTAR agsin...

Hope all of you enjoy the use of your ISTAR regardless of its size...
I love mine...

Regards

James Ling

[jamesling1000]

HI All....

As tomorrow will be the 1st lunar day for our Chinese New Year 2016, I take this opportunity to wish everyone in Istar Scope Club a Happy Chinese New Year 2016.

And is a year that most of you who regularly visit this website, does not see any posting with regards to my 8" Istar F8.8 scope in any sidewalk activities, which are due to a couples of reasons from the library open area that been undergoing extensive renovation, to other personal work related issues...

But astronomy is always my interest and I still continue to participate in my group's regular sidewalk activities, which I bring along smaller scopes like my APM 6" ED APO and the 10" Mewlon, as they're very easily transportable and setup in another location which is within a park...

And I would say our small group of just 10 person, now being featured in 2 local TV channels recently, whereby the following photo shows a TV crew filming our sidewalk activities in a Park...just next to a Macdonalds outlet...




Regards

James Ling

[jamesling1000]

Hi All..

This is another photo showing my group member , Gary , appearing in our local CNA station explaining on our regular sidewalk activities, and the background TV screen is showing our regular sidewalk activities at the open library area whereby previously we used to do it monthly in a regularly to promote astronomy.....

You can see the long queue of people waiting anxiously to get their turn to look through the eyepiece of this big 8" F8.8 Istar , showing either Jupiter , Saturn and the moon....



Regards

James Ling

[jamesling1000]

And lastly I want to take this opportunity to post my 8" Istar F8.8 participating in the coming 9th March 2016, Solar Eclipse event at our local NUS university...

This year March Solar Eclipse is best viewed in Indonesia area, but as my country is very near to Indonesia, Singapore is still able to get more than 85% coverage....and it will be a big event in Singapore...

And this will be the 2nd time I will setup my 8" IStar F8.8 at this local university whereby the last one is during the Venus transit...

The following photo shows the last setup at this university big field......



And is one month from now, I will be setting it up on 8th March 2016, evening time , and at that time, Jupiter is exactly opposition time, and hours later Saturn and Mars will appear.... and I will be able to setup my DSLR and TV display to capture all the planets in both videos and photos.....

The following photo show my last setup at the local park for the last year lunar eclipse...



Will give everyone an update on this coming 8th and 9th March event .......

Regards

James Ling

[mikey cee]

So now we aren't using the Chromacor? Why not? My Chromacor N stays inside my scope 100% of the time for apo like images! Mike

[jamesling1000]

Hi all...

Tonight will do a sidewalk using this 8" Istar as part of preparation for coming Jupiter opposition as well solar eclipse at one of our local university...

Will give an update once I am back....as now is just one and a half week away from Jupiter opposition

REgards

James Ling

[jamesling1000]

Hi All....

Last night sidewalk at the local park just beside a Macdonalds outlet is really one that I can never forget.....

The view of Jupiter shows numerous cloud bands from the central region to the pole region.

And setting my baader zoom ep at 8mm or 225X even when Jupiter is raising at 30 deg elevation.

Below photo shows the crowd of people queuing behind the 8" ISTAR..



James Ling

[jamesling1000]

Hi All......

As last night 11pm Jupiter great red spot will appear, I set up my DSLR and TV display to capture this moment.

Following photo shows the setup....



James Ling

[jamesling1000]

Hi All...

And you can see the GRS on the TV screen....



James Ling