Monaghan 11/2/11

[hal2000]

Here's a short report from Monaghan on Friday night.

http://eaas.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=observing&action=display&thread=3608

[rjgjr]

Seems as though you had a very interesting observation period though not as clear and crisp as you had hoped. Thanks for sharing your report with us.

[Big Dipper]

Great read as always Stevie.  

I think that us amateurs in the UK have really been short-changed this winter!  
On the few 'decent' nights that we've had, I've been thwarted from setting up either by the ice rink/snow conditions (I was not going to risk seeing my portable equipment going crashing to the ground) or by 'ole Luna which, of course, dominates the scene for us in the UK due to its high northern declination when nearing the 'Full' stage!

Leaving the moon aside, it sounds that your new mount has nevertheless paid dividends for you. Good to hear also that it was quick & relatively easy to set up & align & no doubt it will add a new 'element' of fun in future sessions, too. BTW prior to the NextStar mount, what method did you normally use for tracking down DSO's?

Sorry to hear that many of your targets were drowned out somewhat. Do you ever use a broadband filter for observing clusters & galaxies or is he site normally pretty much light pollution-free?
However, at least you know that your new mount is working perfectly. Also by having an enjoyable observing session after a bit of a hiatus, it will have no doubt done wonders to help boost/revive the old morale once again after a pretty crap winter.   

[markt]

Interesting to read your account!  I'm considering one of those Nexstar mounts as a portable option for my solar setup...

[hal2000]

Andy, the scope was originally bought as a C6-SGT, so it was on a CG5 mount. But the mount was really far too big for the scope, after all, the same mount is sold with the C11! I remember reading the review in Astronomy Now when the C6-SGT first became available, and the reviewer described it as like looking at a sparrow sitting on a fence. The CG5 was taking me about 20 minutes to get put together and aligned, and I was a bit naffed off with it. But then a mate , who owns a Nexstar 8SE, suggested we do a swap, as he wants to get into serious astrophotography. So it all worked out well in the end. Normally I wouldn't take it to Monaghan, I usually take the lightbridge instead, but I just wanted to give it a good try out.
As for the broadband filter, I occasionally use one at home, but it wouldn't have made much difference on this session. I'm not really a great filter fan to be honest.