Excellent video. Many of these are in my kit. Love the goose neck red clip on light for sketching or journaling. Here in the high desert of Nevada, I haven't needed any dew heaters (yet). I like the idea of the fishing bag to organize (I have similar bags full of guns, ammo, hearing protection...lol its a western USA thing); I may have to repurpose one. My cold weather gear is similar- goose down pants, coat, etc. I do have a heavy hooded North Face fleece jacket that is my official observing coat- many pockets and festooned with astro patches. I am on my 4th spiral ring notebook- Date, location, weather, moon/sun info, equipment used, targets, sketches, notes, etc. Very handy to see what was going on a year or two previously at the same time. It also correlates with my computer astrophotography files that are organized by "equipment configuration" (scope, camera ) and have dates of each target data set. Keep up the great work! Clear skies!
Thanks for the video Mark. Your work is awesome and you provide great intros for newer folks like me. Do you happen to know what brand your fishing bag is? It looks like a great gear bag for Astro.
It’s by a brand called Dr Fish. There’s a link in the video description to the Amazon store (if you want to see more details) and yes it’s really useful. I have all my accessories in it so I just grab one bag. Oh and thanks for signing up on patreon - really appreciated. Thank you!
Rigel starlite torches, dual colour and very dimmable. I’d invest in some glow in the dark paint to add tiny dots to help find stuff and orientation yourself eg glowtec. Clear plastic sheets (eg cut open document wallets) to keep the dew off the star atlas (unless you’ve got a waterproof one!), clipped on to stop them blowing away. Mini binder clips to hold things together, mark your page in an atlas/sketch book, make led lights etc etc etc. Muck Arctic sport or skeetex boots, makes observing on damp grass bearable. Dim red flashing led marker lights homemade with a coin cell, resistor and a small insulated binder clip to hold it together, in a little clear plastic bags to help mark where things are so you don’t trip over them. Glow tape/paint/ glow in the dark plastic “stones” for fish tanks/ tritium fishing “isotopes” can also work. A coat with deep pockets is good to store things you need and keep them warm, DryRobe does a good job and has a big hood as well. I see you’ve got foam rubber round metal scope tubes, to stop them getting cold to the touch!. A Sky quality meter is useful to give you a way to track “how good a night or location) is, especially if you observe from different location. Found a clear ended ballpoint pen with an orange led light in the tip which can be helpful when making notes.
@@RefreshingViews …and for everything else there’s the 3D printer. Filter holders, finder brackets, bino dew shields, tripod adapter, eyecups, astro torches
Excellent video Mark. I love the idea of using glow in the dark tape on eyepiece caps and other locations on your mount etc. How long do they glow for and do they need re-energising through the night?
Very interesting video Mark I am trying to do more visual observing this year and really like the idea of the sketch book. We only get to around zero here in Victoria, Australia but I agree, good clothing essential. I also really like your mount setup, I used to have that mount it is a solid performer. Great channel. Cheers Ollie.
Thanks for your kind words Ollie. I’m very jealous of your southern and warmer skies. Yeah the AZEQ6 is great isn’t it? Loving have two scopes ready to go! What are you using now?
Interesting Mark, nice overview of some necessary equipment. The selection of red lights and star charts are individualistic, if I can say it that way. I have so many different versions. I’ve been using sky safari since its inception being a Mac/apple user. But they are missing a lot of objects and there are many errors. I wish they’d focus on the content clean up rather than changing the interface for a next version. Red lights, I must have a dozen headlamps and hand held lights. Hard to find the right version that has just the right amount of light and is controllable without a PhD. I hope you’re doing well. We’ve (Vermonters, not me) seen flooding now 2 years in a row on the same day! Climate change is hitting us hard.
Great fun picking all the accessories isn’t it? It gives us something to do on the cloudy nights. I was reading that Sky Safari just buy their object database rather than produce their own so the errors are perpetuated. Sorry to hear about the flooding - not much fun at all. We can’t be surprised as scientists have been warning us the weather will get worse for the last fifty years or so!
I would say that an observing chair is probably the most important purchase after the mount and telescope. Its a revelation (and adjustable elevation) Deepsky Atlas has targets identified by aperture too which is nice and also has a companion which has sketches of many of the targets. Sketxhing is delightful, dont worry about being good either. Mine are awful, but they are recognisable. My only contributions is a large thermos mug for tea and a secret stash of chocolate biscuits to help keep warm. I find Aldi's chocolate oaties to have their flavour particularly improved by starlight.
I wasn't going to watch this, but did. I do aatrophotography. I bought a 10" Dob a few weeks back. This observing is going to be fun 18:27 ! I got serious with it past two nights. Finder scope got covered in dew, and was wishing I had a hair dryer haha... I'll be going to the thrift store this weekend. I'll be putting a dew heater on it. Any suggestions for keeping the mirror warm? Thanks for the chair ideas. I'm old and need something easily adjustable, but not too cumbersome.
Hi Mike, I would suggest going the dew heater route. If you take a look down your tube, see if there is sufficient gap around the mirror to fit a heater band. There may be a suitable gap on the mirror cell for the cable to come out. Tim
You could also try a fan behind the primary that keeps air moving to stop dew. There are special dew heaters you can stick on the secondary which stick on. Check out first light optics. By far the biggest cause of dew on my secondary is me changing the eyepiece and breathing down the focuser 😮
Great advice already so I’ll only add one comment. Is your tube open/trusses or a sold tube? Stopping radiating to the sky with a shroud or dew shield is pretty important to. Let us know how you get on.
Its an open truss design. I'll most likely get the shroud. It's $100! The Telegizmo 360 is only $70, with considerably more material. I guess you have to pay a premium for specialty. A fan sounds doable. I'm new to this, all suggestions welcome.
Lived in Canada and Britain, and managed to be miserable and warm in both countries in winter. 70% of Canadians live in a region that is the Northern United States latitude, so location is a big qualifier when they whine about cold…😅.
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Excellent video. Many of these are in my kit. Love the goose neck red clip on light for sketching or journaling. Here in the high desert of Nevada, I haven't needed any dew heaters (yet). I like the idea of the fishing bag to organize (I have similar bags full of guns, ammo, hearing protection...lol its a western USA thing); I may have to repurpose one. My cold weather gear is similar- goose down pants, coat, etc. I do have a heavy hooded North Face fleece jacket that is my official observing coat- many pockets and festooned with astro patches. I am on my 4th spiral ring notebook- Date, location, weather, moon/sun info, equipment used, targets, sketches, notes, etc. Very handy to see what was going on a year or two previously at the same time. It also correlates with my computer astrophotography files that are organized by "equipment configuration" (scope, camera ) and have dates of each target data set. Keep up the great work! Clear skies!
Excellent video Mark
Thank you Steve.
Another reason why I like Interstellarum Deep sky is that for each object is written what is the best filter to use
Thanks for the video Mark. Your work is awesome and you provide great intros for newer folks like me. Do you happen to know what brand your fishing bag is? It looks like a great gear bag for Astro.
It’s by a brand called Dr Fish. There’s a link in the video description to the Amazon store (if you want to see more details) and yes it’s really useful. I have all my accessories in it so I just grab one bag.
Oh and thanks for signing up on patreon - really appreciated. Thank you!
Rigel starlite torches, dual colour and very dimmable. I’d invest in some glow in the dark paint to add tiny dots to help find stuff and orientation yourself eg glowtec. Clear plastic sheets (eg cut open document wallets) to keep the dew off the star atlas (unless you’ve got a waterproof one!), clipped on to stop them blowing away. Mini binder clips to hold things together, mark your page in an atlas/sketch book, make led lights etc etc etc. Muck Arctic sport or skeetex boots, makes observing on damp grass bearable. Dim red flashing led marker lights homemade with a coin cell, resistor and a small insulated binder clip to hold it together, in a little clear plastic bags to help mark where things are so you don’t trip over them. Glow tape/paint/ glow in the dark plastic “stones” for fish tanks/ tritium fishing “isotopes” can also work. A coat with deep pockets is good to store things you need and keep them warm, DryRobe does a good job and has a big hood as well. I see you’ve got foam rubber round metal scope tubes, to stop them getting cold to the touch!.
A Sky quality meter is useful to give you a way to track “how good a night or location) is, especially if you observe from different location. Found a clear ended ballpoint pen with an orange led light in the tip which can be helpful when making notes.
Loads of great stuff here! We should do a video on household stuff adapted for astronomy.
@@RefreshingViews …and for everything else there’s the 3D printer. Filter holders, finder brackets, bino dew shields, tripod adapter, eyecups, astro torches
👍 Thanks.
You're welcome
Excellent video Mark. I love the idea of using glow in the dark tape on eyepiece caps and other locations on your mount etc. How long do they glow for and do they need re-energising through the night?
They last for ages - and as the glow lessens your eyes are becoming more dark adapted so they’re still visible.
Very interesting video Mark I am trying to do more visual observing this year and really like the idea of the sketch book.
We only get to around zero here in Victoria, Australia but I agree, good clothing essential. I also really like your mount setup, I used to have that mount it is a solid performer. Great channel.
Cheers
Ollie.
Thanks for your kind words Ollie. I’m very jealous of your southern and warmer skies.
Yeah the AZEQ6 is great isn’t it? Loving have two scopes ready to go! What are you using now?
Interesting Mark, nice overview of some necessary equipment. The selection of red lights and star charts are individualistic, if I can say it that way. I have so many different versions. I’ve been using sky safari since its inception being a Mac/apple user. But they are missing a lot of objects and there are many errors. I wish they’d focus on the content clean up rather than changing the interface for a next version. Red lights, I must have a dozen headlamps and hand held lights. Hard to find the right version that has just the right amount of light and is controllable without a PhD. I hope you’re doing well. We’ve (Vermonters, not me) seen flooding now 2 years in a row on the same day! Climate change is hitting us hard.
Great fun picking all the accessories isn’t it? It gives us something to do on the cloudy nights. I was reading that Sky Safari just buy their object database rather than produce their own so the errors are perpetuated.
Sorry to hear about the flooding - not much fun at all. We can’t be surprised as scientists have been warning us the weather will get worse for the last fifty years or so!
Sky Safari Pro - Celestron issued Celestron Sky Portal - which is almost identical to sky safari but is free
That’s interesting. I assume it’s only for Celestron mounts?
I would say that an observing chair is probably the most important purchase after the mount and telescope. Its a revelation (and adjustable elevation)
Deepsky Atlas has targets identified by aperture too which is nice and also has a companion which has sketches of many of the targets.
Sketxhing is delightful, dont worry about being good either. Mine are awful, but they are recognisable.
My only contributions is a large thermos mug for tea and a secret stash of chocolate biscuits to help keep warm. I find Aldi's chocolate oaties to have their flavour particularly improved by starlight.
Good points all round koomber and yes defo agree with snacks and biscuits. Sounds like I had better go round Aldi again!
Also can you link to your patreon in the description?
I think it’s there - I’ll check in a mo. In the meantime: www.patreon.com/RefreshingViews.
15:01 to 15:08 subtitles: Ah, so that's how that problem is sorted. xD
Went a wee bit Michael Jackson there
Sounds like Bo Selecta!!
I wasn't going to watch this, but did. I do aatrophotography. I bought a 10" Dob a few weeks back. This observing is going to be fun 18:27 ! I got serious with it past two nights. Finder scope got covered in dew, and was wishing I had a hair dryer haha...
I'll be going to the thrift store this weekend. I'll be putting a dew heater on it. Any suggestions for keeping the mirror warm? Thanks for the chair ideas. I'm old and need something easily adjustable, but not too cumbersome.
Hi Mike, I would suggest going the dew heater route. If you take a look down your tube, see if there is sufficient gap around the mirror to fit a heater band. There may be a suitable gap on the mirror cell for the cable to come out. Tim
You could also try a fan behind the primary that keeps air moving to stop dew. There are special dew heaters you can stick on the secondary which stick on. Check out first light optics.
By far the biggest cause of dew on my secondary is me changing the eyepiece and breathing down the focuser 😮
Great advice already so I’ll only add one comment. Is your tube open/trusses or a sold tube? Stopping radiating to the sky with a shroud or dew shield is pretty important to. Let us know how you get on.
Its an open truss design. I'll most likely get the shroud. It's $100! The Telegizmo 360 is only $70, with considerably more material. I guess you have to pay a premium for specialty. A fan sounds doable. I'm new to this, all suggestions welcome.
Angry Canadian’s? Do they even know how to get angry in Canada? Maybe ask Chris and Shane the next time on their podcast. 😂
It sounds like a Zen riddle "If a Canadian gets angry whilst observing on his own, who does he apologise to?"
I’ll defo pass the question on!! I don’t envy the bitter winters, black flies, mosquitoes, forest fires and scorching summers.
Lived in Canada and Britain, and managed to be miserable and warm in both countries in winter. 70% of Canadians live in a region that is the Northern United States latitude, so location is a big qualifier when they whine about cold…😅.
I don’t envy the bitter winters, black flies, mosquitoes, forest fires and scorching summers. Maybe damp mild England isn’t so bad after all!!