u/_anupamroy

At this point I’m literally begging! Somebody, ANYBODY, make the clouds go away! I got a new-ish, kinda expensive telescope that can show amazing stuff in the night sky, but since buying it around end-April I’ve had about 2-3 nights of clear sky so far in Chennai. Any metro city is already the worst possible place for stargazing because of the horrendous light pollution, and then these fucking monsoon clouds all the time! Went almost broke buying the scope that’s since been gathering dust for the past 3 months!

Rant over.

P. S. Some of you might have come across a few pictures of the moon I took with my scope a few days ago, but here they are again anyway. Along with my scope. Because the moon’s kinda the only thing I’ve been able to see so far. Except on those 2-3 nights of miraculously clear sky (by Chennai standards). The last picture is of what’s called the Butterfly Cluster (famous cluster of stars in our Milky Way galaxy), taken from my Koyambedu apt. balcony with a handheld iPhone looking through the scope on one of those clear nights. Even with Chennai’s light pollution, you can still make out the shape resembling 2 wings spreading out of the butterfly’s body. That (and much more) is what the scope is capable of, if only the fucking clouds went away.

Rant really over.

At this point I’m literally begging! Somebody, ANYBODY, make the clouds go away! I got a new-ish, kinda expensive telescope that can show amazing stuff in the night sky, but since buying it around end-April I’ve had about 2-3 nights of clear sky so far in Chennai. Any metro city is already the worst possible place for stargazing because of the horrendous light pollution, and then these fucking monsoon clouds all the time! Went almost broke buying the scope that’s since been gathering dust for the past 3 months!

Rant over.

P. S. Some of you might have come across a few pictures of the moon I took with my scope a few days ago, but here they are again anyway. Along with my scope. Because the moon’s kinda the only thing I’ve been able to see so far. Except on those 2-3 nights of miraculously clear sky (by Chennai standards). The last picture is of what’s called the Butterfly Cluster (famous cluster of stars in our Milky Way galaxy), taken from my Koyambedu apt. balcony with a handheld iPhone looking through the scope on one of those clear nights. Even with Chennai’s light pollution, you can still make out the shape resembling 2 wings spreading out of the butterfly’s body. That (and much more) is what the scope is capable of, if only the fucking clouds went away.

Rant really over.

Not the biggest problem in the world atm, but I’d like to know why nonetheless. Why are some calendar events stacking up diagonally while others are perfectly vertical? There’s no overlap between them. My OCD riddled brain would like them all to be vertically aligned, so if anybody can tell me the fix, I’d be grateful. Stock Calendar app. TIA

Not the biggest problem in the world atm, but I’d like to know why nonetheless. Why are some calendar events stacking up diagonally while others are perfectly vertical? There’s no overlap between them. My OCD riddled brain would like them all to be vertically aligned, so if anybody can tell me the fix, I’d be grateful. Stock Calendar app. TIA

Taken with an iPhone peering through my telescope.

With a 12” Dobsonian telescope. Shot on an iPhone aiming through 3 different eyepieces for 3 different zoom levels. Lightly edited on stock iPhone photos app.

Have had zero chances lately to take the scope out because monsoon has set in. Until earlier this evening when the tiniest of windows of opportunity opened up. Quick collimation while running the primary mirror fan at the same time, then out to the balcony. First time looking through the 1 week old ES 24 + 14mm 82° eyepieces on the 2 months old Celestron 12” Dob. Also used the Celestron 3-axes mobile phone holder for the picture through the 14mm (the thicker 24mm is too big for said holder, so the first picture was just hand held iPhone). The scope/eyepieces did an ok enough job, given Bortle 8-9 sky + monsoon clouds.

P. S. Also realised why moon filters are a thing. Left eye got blinded staring at it! Kept seeing weird colours for a good few secs after looking away.

Have had zero chances lately to take the scope out because monsoon has set in. Until earlier this evening when the tiniest of windows of opportunity opened up. Quick collimation while running the primary mirror fan at the same time, then out to the balcony. First time looking through the 1 week old ES 24 + 14mm 82° eyepieces on the 2 months old Celestron 12” Dob. Also used the Celestron 3-axes mobile phone holder for the picture through the 14mm (the thicker 24mm is too big for said holder, so the first picture was just hand held iPhone). The scope/eyepieces did an ok enough job, given Bortle 8-9 sky + monsoon clouds.

P. S. Also realised why moon filters are a thing. Left eye got blinded staring at it! Kept seeing weird colours for a good few secs after looking away.

Slightly odd question, specifically for Kolli Hills/Yelagiri locals: Are there a lot of firecrackers burst during and around the Diwali period? I'm looking to plan a road trip from Chennai (I know it's thinking quite far ahead, but hear me out!) with my new-ish telescope to spend 3-4 quality days in one of these 2 places, when I need the night sky to be as clear and pristine as possible (because otherwise there's no point), and firecrackers would be a complete deal breaker even if the weather is perfect! So help out a brother here, people!

Secondly, anybody with a lead on a place where I could stay, that has access to open fields where I can set up the scope, and is safe in the dark? I'd need a car park and a ground floor room (telescope is heavy) unless there's a lift. Don't require any luxury, just a decent clean room will be fine. I do have the contact details for a home stay in Yelagiri, but nothing for Kolli yet.

In return for this favour, if you're interested and can join me on any of those nights, I can show you some cool stuff in the night sky. I have quite a high-power telescope with some pretty high end accessories to go with it.

Thanks in advance for any help possible.

[OC]

I drove to a dark sky spot with my new Celestron 12” Dob earlier today. Right now I see those 3 marks when I look down on the primary (the one at the bottom is the most prominent, the others are fainter). Suggests that the primary shifted a bit during the drive. Obv needs to be properly collimated again, but hopefully ok otherwise? TIA

Edit: Thank you all. I feel truly relieved to hear people saying this is ok. For a few terrifying moments I was like, did I just ruin my expensive new Dob by driving it ~225km to a dark sky spot?! Also, upon some more brainstorming, this place I’ve driven to is a hill station, and I had to navigate as many as 14 hairpin bends on the ascent. Quite likely that’s when the primary became fidgety, in spite of my cushioning it with the neatly cut foam pads it came with in the box.

Do appreciate all your inputs. First time loading this monster along with its base on my Octavia all on my own, then driving it this far. Was quite a learning curve in itself lol. Will hopefully do better in the future.

In and around Sagittarius, last night around 2:30-3:00am from Chennai, India. Had just come off the Butterfly and Ptolemy Clusters and part of the Lagoon Nebula, when I saw this. AI says it’s apparently the ‘teapot asterism’ based on that part of the night sky, but I know better than to trust it blindly.

Edit: Before I get a barrage of ‘get Stellarium and DIY’ comments, I tried that already. Couldn’t make out that exact shape amidst all the other bright-ish objects in that region.

At the cost of sounding tedious, here’s what I bagged in quite literally my second night looking through a scope all on my own. Last night was a bit of a dud. However, final night tally, May 8-9, 2026:

Constellations: Centaurus, Scorpius, Libra, Sagittarius

Messiers: M6, M7, M8, M25, M22

Naked-eye spotting: Sirius, Spica, α/β Cen, Menkent, Shaula/Lesath split, Zubenelgenubi

Bortle 8-9 sky, cloudy to begin with, cleared up reasonably as the night dragged on. Hadn’t even remotely dreamt of this kinda haul in one night with zero expertise. This is from my balcony which isn’t big enough to even move the scope freely. StarSense was a hero today, because the sky was a lot clearer than last night.

I leave you with my dubious-at-best clicks of the Butterfly Cluster, my ultimate wow moment so far. Even in these crappy pics, one can make out the butterfly shape. Looked 1000x better in reality of course.