Bringing Refreshing Views of the planets and deep space with camera and notebook from a garden observatory.
Mark Radice is an amateur astronomer and photographer based near Salisbury in England (a stone’s throw from Stonehenge) with a passion for observing the night sky.
He started actively observing using a borrowed pair of binoculars when comet Hyakutake crossed the sky in [too many years ago now!] and now enjoys using his own equipment from a garden observatory.
Astronomical interests include high resolution lunar and planetary imaging; live stacking the deep sky; sketching and binocular observing - all with a cup of tea. Surprisingly, he was shortlisted for the 2021 AstroPhotography of the Year competition.
Mark writes for Astronomy Now; enjoys visiting dark skies and star parties in the UK and overseas; and writes too infrequently on his own blog at www.refreshingviews.com.
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!
I have been studding up on RU-vid video's on solar imaging and processing, I have a PST40 solar scope, and I have been using my DSLR 1300D and a ZWO120 MC PRO. I noticed in your video right at the start when you load up FireCapture and get the sun on screen I noticed a gradient I have the same thing with my 120 and I cant seem to get rid of it. Any clues? I have tried expos,' gain, moved camera in and out. I have been using AstroSurface for my stacking and processing because you can do everything in one program even enhancement, I reckon it is going to king of the heap in the near future. I have watched other videos of yours but I have not noticed that gradient before. Cheers Robert Aust'
I suggest reading up on solar flats. I’m inherently lazy so don’t normally bother but did make a flat panel from frosted plastic (from a cereal packet IIRC). This helps evenly illuminate the field of view despite differences from the etalon.
Cheers from Santa Barbara and Glendora, CA!. Thanks so much for sharing your build. My brother and I each made our own parallelogram mount based on your video. Fun to build and such a game changer for astronomical binocular viewing.
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!
I bought one as a portable set-up for travelling before seeing your review because my SkyWatcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro lacks stability, payoad capability and GoTo. I am not criticisng the SW SA2i, it's just that I wanted to go beyond standard camera imaging once I realised how much a tracker helps with DSLR / Mirrorless astrphotography. I now have an 80mm f/6.25 refractor with automatic focusing, a colour CMOS camera and a guide scope + camera on top all linked to ZWO's ASiAir Mini , all of which are handled well by the mount. The AM3 was a natural selection to go with the rest of my ZWO ASi set-up. The mount was delivered promptly by FLO but today is the first time I shall be able to test it (as long as the skies clear). I already had a suitably rated portable power supply and relevant cables for the rest of the kit so that wasn't an issue for me. I didn't buy ZWO's carbon fibre tripod or the pier extension (although I may add that in due course) as I have a nice sturdy carbon fibre tripod from 3-Legged-Thing that has a 20Kg payload.
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.
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?
Thanks Mark. Nice summary of useful bits. BTW I really enjoyed your observatory tour video and think your observatory and warm room are just about perfect.
@@RefreshingViews I am in the design phase so watching every home observatory video on you tube for the last couple of months. I think yours is really nice!
Realise this is from a few months ago but just came across it. In it you talk about hopping between moon processing software programs (Firecapture, Autostakkert, Registax). If you don't want to have to do that why not try Astrosurface? (which has wavelets too) or if you want an "all in one" then since v4.1 last December Sharpcap now does absolutely everything - it even has Wavelets too (and an even better contrast enhancer too).
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
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 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.
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?
Great minds! I was using the AZ GTI. They’re very different mounts with corresponding weights, priced and performance. Either way you won’t be disappointed.
Great review and suggestions for cutting down peripheral light, thanks! I have two questions: I live in an area prone to fogging lenses. Any tips for dealing with that? Also, to go along with the bandit and lens shield, what filter, exactly, is used to cut down the light pollution in the suburbs? Thanks so much. I’ve been following astrophysics with great interest for a couple of years and have been looking at telescopes. I’ll be retired in a couple of years, and will be able to travel to dark skies in the American west. These look like a very good addition to be able to look up without any setup or takedown, and to get a constellation size part of the sky. I’m down to this pair, or the newer Canon 10x42 L IS WP. From my understanding, 10x would allow you to see whole constellations, but with IS, it seems to me the 15x would allow you to see more detail, though perhaps cropping several constellations. Is that a fair assessment? Do you have any thoughts about this? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
You can get dew heaters but they’re bit of a faff for binos so I sometimes use a hairdryer. Of course if you stop observing pop the dust covers on. As for LP filters I don’t use any but you’d have to find a way to mount them on the lenses or eyepieces. To answer your question re size that’s a never ending question. I’d suggest working out how you like to observe eg wide field or close ups and then choose.
@@RefreshingViews Thanks for your reply! I’ll be retiring in ~3 years, at which time I plan to convert a van for camping, which will give me a lot of room for astronomy gear. I’m pretty certain I’ll get a Celestron 8”EdgeHD telescope with a SkyWatcher HEQ-5 mount, but for equipment that will form a system, I don’t want to buy after binging RU-vid videos, only to find I didn’t know to ask crucial questions that would have made a difference in my decision. I do want to get the gear and learn to use it so I have time to learn the scope at home, even though I’m in the suburb light pollution zone, but I’m not in a hurry. I decided I’d start out with binoculars, which led me to image stabilized ones (from previous experience). I can use them for other things, as well, but I’m getting them to refresh my knowledge of the night sky (even though the Star finding and tracking scopes allow you to skip this, I’d rather see the wide open dark sky as an old friend that I’m familiar with. I just received The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide, which has a ton of great information. Anyway, it came down to this set (Canon 15x75 IS) and the newer Canon 10-42 L IS WP. I’m convinced that I will like the extra magnification and will still have a field of view that’s reasonable. Your suggestions of the bandit and lens hoods should make dealing with my neighbors’ porch lights more tolerable. I’ll probably go ahead and get a pair of light pollution filters (couldn’t you use 52mm filters and screw them in before the lens hood?) to see if they make a good difference. Does this sound like a good plan to you?
Hi Chris thanks for the great video, as always. I’m about to pull the trigger on a pair of these but considering 18x50. Do you think that’s too dialled in and rather go for 15x50?
thanks, I got the 18x50 and happy so far. By the way I also have a C11 but clouds in London over the last year have been quite frustrating. Hopefully better by Q4.
Could u be able to share me the dimensions and materials used and everything that was required for this mount as i have some project on this and am interested in doing this so could u please give me the required info
I am afraid I just made it from whatever I had to hand in my scrap wood pile. You can make it from whatever you want. I am making a new video for a 3D printed version - watch this space.
I am afraid I just made it from whatever I had to hand in my scrap wood pile. You can make it from whatever you want. I am making a new video for a 3D printed version - watch this space.
I have this mount from last 6 months but when the load is around 8 kg, the performance on long exposure time (more than 90 seconds) is poor. Star elongation and u will be attaching counter weight certainly destroys the basic idea of purchasing this mount. And in my case using quattaro reflector 150 mm even with counter weight the tracking is still terrible. So better to go for am5. I will not recommend it certainly. It is just like a fancy star tracker.
Sorry to hear you haven’t enjoyed your mount. You defo have a heavier set up than me. As you say unless weight is a priority (eg overseas travel) you may as well go for AM5.
Hi Mark - Great review. You mentioned the weight limitation of the AZ GTI is 5kg. Can you please tell me if the weight of your complete telescope setup, including OTA, dovetail, rings, finder, diagonal, bino-viewer and eyepieces exceeds the 5kg limit? I asking because I'm trying to determine if the mount would support a 102mm refractor that has a OTA that weighs 4kg plus the, dovetail, rings, finder, diagonal and eyepiece. Cheers?
The Megrez is 3kg so I’m approaching the limit. I recall reading that the harmonic mounts are to avoid the mount toppling rather than for the motors - do check in case I send you down the wrong path.
Yours is one of my fav YT channels , and now multiplied by this wonderful video with Mary . What a fascinating insight to her set up . One question , what direction is the back garden facing ? Very jealous of the fact you have a lovely clear out look , Mary .
Thank you Stuart. The back garden is NW facing, so the hill behind shields us from light pollution but the downside is that it often cuts off aurora and noctilucent clouds. But we'll take that for the amazing view we have :)
