The only thing that is "mine" is the Vixen refractor. Everything else is either the client's (mount and pier) or piece and parts that came with various inventory I've picked up. The only upgrade is the GSO focuser, which was a massive upgrade from the stock Vixen unit. It's no Moonlite or anything, but even being Chinese crap it blew away the Japanese crap that was on the tube :P

OK, that makes more sense to me. The watermarking are the dark dashes. I assume the dust is represented by the donuts?

When you stacked the images, the watermarks didn't always exactly align, so didn't realize that was what it was.

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted any images...thanks to the rainy Pacific North West.
Anyway, I was able to get out last night and test my new telescope for the first time.
I trained the scope on Messier 51, The Whirlpool galaxy in the Big Dipper. The main subject is two interacting galaxies. If you look closely you can see at least 3 other faint fuzzy galaxies in the shot.

https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...43&oe=5EDD2533

Wow, great shot. M51 was always a target of mine for visual, but in Houston, I'm not certain that I've ever seen it. I think I saw it very faintly once with averted vision. I need to get out to someplace darker.

Thanks. Was out in West Texas in March...Alpine. Looked up on a clear night and couldn't hardly recognize anything there were so many stars. Gonna retire there.

That's exactly what happened to me on my first dark sky trip. I couldn't even find Polaris!

Spent a few nights in Big Bend park about 32 -33 years ago. Stayed at the camp sight right at the border and the Rio Grande. I had no idea there were that many stars!

Noob question. I see pictures of the sky where you can see the Milky Way clearly from earth.

Are those real time or time lapse and where would be a spot "near" Northeast Ohio be that would approximate? Near meaning maybe closer than Texas.

This map was interesting. Looks like way up in the Michigan UP would work.

I bet there are Black Flies up there. Always a treat on a northern camping trip but I sure would like to see one of those views before I kick.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1590321449.jpg

Any photo that you see of the sky is going to be different than what you see with your eye. Yes, they are pretty much all going to be longer exposure than your eye, and then they'll have been post-processed to increase contrast and bring out more detail. There are places where you can readily see the milkyway, but don't ever expect the sky to look the way it does in photos.

https://www.darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html#7/40.922/-83.524
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1590330933.jpg

The dark blue sites can be good too. Cherry Springs PA and Spruce Knob WV for instance.

Thank you.

Just found that based on masraum's recommendation of "look for blue".

Spruce Knob is 300 miles. Out one day back the next if hardcore.

Brockway Mountain in the UP is 800 miles. Plus slim pickings up there for another point of interest aside from nature.

Just picked up a vintage Japanese refractor. Not my style, but I was buying a different mount and the guy brought it along. It was his dad's, he offered it for a great price, and I jumped.

These old Japanese long refractors are a HUGE collectors market, they were damned near handmade optics with surprisingly well build spindly mounts.

This also back from the day when "Tasco" didn't mean "absolute junk made from COVID plastic".

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1590641823.jpg

A view of it being dwarfed by a CGEM...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1590642027.jpg

Cool one Mike.

Alt/Az adjusters?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1590677341.jpg

They're declination and right ascension controls. It's a true equatorial mount, the early Japanese design that ended up being the model for the Vixen polaris, and later, every cheap Chinese mount for decades.

And now I just traded a worthless (to me) Orion 8 inch Dobsonian (that I got as a bonus in one of my business purchases) for a Meade 2080 early 8 inch SCT.

Oh, wait, no, I traded for #1171, a 2080 from the first year of production, 1981.

So...trade a Dob that cost me nothing for a very well maintained, first year, first ever Meade SCT scope, with an Accutrack drive corrector, original manual, and the original Meade wedge, which was only made for 1 year, and has surprisingly nice At/Az polar alignment corrections? Twist my arm.

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Eric, any good shots of the comet?