Clear Skies!...So whats on sky?

Any luck seeing Catalina, Tej?

Sniff, no 🙁

I went to a b&b near Sevenoaks that had an open clear piece of land EXCEPT for the bloody South Easterly direction where a huge expansive block of trees blocked my view.  And by the time it clears it, the sun was up.

However, before that disappointment, I entertained the hosts to a tour of the main objects and then through the night I thought I have a go at Bodes Nebula for the for the first time as I have kindled a special love for viewing those two contrasting galaxies simultaneously in my eyepiece.  Not sure how well its turned out as I am yet to stack them and my dew heater failed.  But still glad to have squeezed an astronomy night before xmas as the skies have so astro-unsociable, lately.

Ill put up my galaxy pic later but sorry I failed to see Catalina to describe it to you guys.

Hi Guys,

I had a look this morning around 5am. Couldn't see anything that might be the comet through binoculars, the proximity of Venus in that part of the sky didn't help. Took some photographs through my DSLR with  a 200mm lens and I think I can make out a very small faint fuzzy green object that's in the right place, but its going to take a telescope to resolve anything more. Let's hope for another clear morning soon!

Well done Clive, fuzzy green object sound like a comet!  If you have Venus in the same frame that will be great to see,

Based on some of the images that I've seen published today, the comet doesn't look very bright at all (mag 5 or 6 maybe? - difficult to tell).

Definitely two tails, though... a dust trail and an ion trail, about 150 degrees apart.

What a perfect night for stargazing it was last night. Clear crisp skies and for the first time in months I was able to see the Big Dipper and was able to star-hop to Polaris (previously been right by guessing it) but sadly my nightly passion got ruined when the clouds rolled in after 2hrs in to the session. Such a shame.

Then woke up in the early hours to catch the comet and yet again them pesky clouds just ruined it for me

Based on some of the images that I’ve seen published today, the comet doesn’t look very bright at all (mag 5 or 6 maybe? – difficult to tell). Definitely two tails, though… a dust trail and an ion trail, about 150 degrees apart.

Yeah, I'm seeing them too, looks like Catalina underperformed to expert's expectations...still sorry I missed it though.  Some of these comet passby's are once in a lifetime opportunities.  Last year's Lovejoy was my first ever, which has an 8,000 year orbit.  This one is...3 million years! Not only that, this will be its last passby as its now on an ejector orbit entirely from the Solar system.  What a lonely fate.

What a perfect night for stargazing it was last night. Clear crisp skies and for the first time in months I was able to see the Big Dipper and was able to star-hop to Polaris (previously been right by guessing it) but sadly my nightly passion got ruined when the clouds rolled in after 2hrs in to the session. Such a shame. Then woke up in the early hours to catch the comet and yet again them pesky clouds just ruined it for me

Shame you got unlucky with some clouds, its was really clear skies in most places all through the night.  I hope you enjoying your new awesome Celestron telescope, last night!  What objects have you seen with it so far?   Or are you yet to get grips with its setup?

My new favourite of recent times is Bodes Nebula, two galaxies in one go!

Mate this was my second night out with the scope,  haven't really had the chance with this weather to do some viewing but quite rightly as you said,  I'm just getting the grips with my kit. The beast needs to be tamed first 🙂 so hopefully with my few hiccups I won't look like a complete idiot when setting up my kit amongst you veterans 🙂

By the way,  correct me if I'm wrong mate you are using one of the Kendrick Dual Channel dew heater controllers on a 10Ah tracer with a cigarette plug splitter to power both the dew heater controller and the mount correct?

By the way, correct me if I’m wrong mate you are using one of the Kendrick Dual Channel dew heater controllers on a 10Ah tracer with a cigarette plug splitter to power both the dew heater controller and the mount correct?

Yep, that's exactly my power set up (though my tracer is a 14Ah).   But I seem to have a problem with my  Kendrick controller not drawing power from the Tracer after a couple hours elapsed time.  Looking online, it appears to be a problem with some Kendrick controllers and I am one of the unlucky ones.  The controller work well for over year until now, so I sadly cant vouch for its longevity!

I try to remember the details when I possibly can 🙂

I got a 22Ah version just so in future if I decide to run 4 heater strips,  I've got enough juice for it even when at full power all what each channel is drawing is 1.18Amps. A bit of a overkill but hey when you can do it,  why not do it properly 🙂

Kendrick are pretty top of the range controllers so there shouldn't be any reason for them to be behaving that way.  Mind you tracer also does not recommend you using them cigarette splitters but hey if it works then who cares what the manufacturer says eh? Tracer are heavy duty batteries so should cope up with these little things when plugged in.

I would imagine that you've tried just the dew controller plugged in to the tracer (Without the splitter)  to see if it works?

Well I've been using the same splitter from the beginning but that would be a good test to see if splitter is part of the problem.  Thanks for the idea.  I'll test without it.  If it is the splitter, maybe I'll buy a smaller tracer dedicated for my dew controller.

I seem to have a problem with my  Kendrick controller not drawing power from the Tracer after a couple hours elapsed time

This could be because of voltage drop-off, Tej. LiPo batteries often have a higher voltage when initially charged, but this gradually falls off over time, until it rapidly decreases near the point that the battery is depleted.

It may be that your Kendrick controller can't operate when the voltage drops below a certain level? The electronics of certain equipment can't always cope with handling this drop off.

If could be worth using a separate battery for the dew controller in any case, as it does draw a lot of current.

No worries mate, i sincerely hope it's your splitter which has gone kaput (cheaper to replace £9 max)

Let me know how this goes mate

<div class="d4p-bbt-quote-title">Tej wrote:</div>
I seem to have a problem with my Kendrick controller not drawing power from the Tracer after a couple hours elapsed time

This could be because of voltage drop-off, Tej. LiPo batteries often have a higher voltage when initially charged, but this gradually falls off over time, until it rapidly decreases near the point that the battery is depleted. It may be that your Kendrick controller can’t operate when the voltage drops below a certain level? The electronics of certain equipment can’t always cope with handling this drop off. If could be worth using a separate battery for the dew controller in any case, as it does draw a lot of current.

I agree, since it's a Dual controller it will draw 10Amp when being used at full (5Amp per channel) but is only required for if you have a scope larger than 10/12" or when you initially power the controller on/if the dew is on a serious scale on the corrector plate. When run at 10% throughout the night, it shouldn't draw any more than max 1.5Amp per channel.