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ian_d's Blog

Comet PanSTARRS

Well hooray! Managed to get a look at Comet PanSTARRS this evening, with 10x50 binoculars, at about 6.45pm - just before the clouds got in the way. Very nice it was too - looked great against the twilight background, with the tail clearly visible and a pretty bright coma. Glad I caught it this evening, because the weather prospects look rubbish for the next few days. That's the first comet I've seen since 17P/Holmes a few years ago, and the only naked eye one since Hale-Bopp. It's no HB mind -
ian_d

ian_d

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DIY Build - 8.5" reflector

Primary mirror springs

Going for a simple mirror cell using steel angle brackets, silicone, ply, threaded inserts, 4mm-hex head bolts and springs. The whole lot will be mounted to the bottom end of the bottom tube with external brackets. The springs I've chosen are one inch in length, half inch internal diameter, 2mm wire diameter, 5 turns. Using the kitchen scales, it takes about 5 kg of force to compress each spring to about 2/3 of its length. They will compress down to about 1/2 an inch, unknown force to get there.
furrysocks

furrysocks

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DIY Build - 8.5" reflector

First light...

...strictly speaking, perhaps. But not really. I placed one of the mirrors on a cloth on some ply and put it on the ground. With a 35mm eyepiece taped to a washing line prop, and standing on a stool, I tweaked the twist-grip 'focuser' and saw some stars. Quite a few considering the <1deg TFOV. Some of them looked more or less like points - the bright ones looked like a mosquito wing presumably because I was viewing off-axis. I think I proved nothing more than that the mirror reflects light an
furrysocks

furrysocks

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perks2008's Blog

Orion nebulae

Hi its perks again , just seen my very first nebulae the greatOrion nebulae happy days , could really see it well with the 25ep thats my first messier ov many I hope 8) loving astronomy with my 200p
perks2008

perks2008

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harryt's Blog

A mixed bag in Surrey - 5/3/13

With that excellent app, Scope Nights, showing that last night would be the only clear-ish night of the week another session beckoned, but it was patchy at best with light cloud rolling in for much of the time but in between the sky seemed pretty clear. Ronl had previously mentioned Hyades so this was my first target and what a target it is for bins. There was a crystal clear view of the Theta Tauri 1 & 2 pair at the centre with surrounding, similar magnitude stars and many more smaller one
harryt

harryt

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harryt's Blog

Jupiter's moons 4/3/13

Came back from sporting exertions in London last night to find clear skies and a suggestion, by ronl on my first light post, that 2 of Jupiter's moons should be visible with my bins. I had previously found Jupiter very hard to focus on so popped out (10.15) and really concentrated on microscopic focusing movements and was thrilled to see 2 small specks on either side - 1 at 10.30 and the other opposite at 4.30. Now just a case of finding out which they were... Actually, having checked Stellar
harryt

harryt

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harryt's Blog

First light in 3 sessions

My Praktica 10 x 50 bins arrived on Wednesday and, after seemingly weeks of cloud, I found a 20 minute window in the cloud from my back garden. I live in a relatively dense suburban area near the M25 so I have a fair amount of light pollution to contend with but I had not realised how bright a street light in an adjoining road is - it kept catching my eye and ruining my night vision. :angry: I started with Orion and was totally unprepared for what I saw. In naked-eye vision Beetlejuice and th
harryt

harryt

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ian_d's Blog

Been at it again - M45 this time

Well, must be on a roll! Got about 25mins of clear sky here tonight, and in that time I managed to get my 4" refractor out on the EQ3-2 mount, with my Canon 400D stuck on the end at prime focus. Pointed roughly at the Pleiades, and took some 20s exposures. Cloud came in. Packed up. Uploaded images to computer, did the "false flats" thing, and hey presto! Very poor by most standards, but infinitely better than anything I thought I'd be able to pull off with the time / experience / gear I have. Ch
ian_d

ian_d

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Astralstroll's Blog

Dave's Blog 14/2/13

Just a brief session this evening. Conditions weren't the best, but still managed to enjoy M89 and M98. I also had a good view of M13 and M92. Rather short and sweet, but every cleanish night counts.
Astralstroll

Astralstroll

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ian_d's Blog

Inspired to have a go with DSLR

Having attended the excellent BAA Deep Sky Section meeting today, I came away determined / inspired to have a bit of a go at taking some photographs of the sky. I've never really been into the idea too much, and largely assumed it was all a bit too expensive / tricky to be bothered with. But the talks today made me think I should have a go. As luck would have it, clear skies greeted me when I got home, so I grabbed my old Canon 400D, a little tripod, and set about fairly randomly shooting the sk
ian_d

ian_d

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Planetary Geologist's Blog

1. The Moon:

Hi all, Using the 150pl the Moon's detail was very crisp. With just the 25mm the craters were sharp, but with the 2X barlow the peaks with in the impact crater were seen with clarity. A lovely sight! Hoping for clear skies, PG.
Planetary Geologist

Planetary Geologist

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Planetary Geologist's Blog

The start:

Hi all, Just received my Skywatcher Explorer 150pl. This this the longer model of the popular Skywatcher Explorer 150p. This means it focal length is 1200mm and is great for planetary observation. I will keep posting about what I have seen and I hope to keep a log book. Hoping for clear skies, PG.
Planetary Geologist

Planetary Geologist

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ian_d's Blog

Open clusters in Cassiopeia

After lots of being involved in public astronomy events this weekend, it was nice to just get out in the back garden with the Dob tonight for an hour or so. Nice conditions - good seeing, no clouds, although maybe not the best transparency. Certainly not a night for faint galaxies with the Moon dominating things. I decided to spend some time exploring the open clusters in Cassiopeia. First up was M103 - first time I've seen this as far as I can remember, and it's well worth a look - nice, compac
ian_d

ian_d

3
Tibbz's Blog

Whey! ...But... oh wait!

Well today I finally ordered my 200p. However there is no stock until the end of the week! :( Looks like I won't have it until this time next week earliest now. Oh well, the forecast spells clouds for the next few days so i'm not missing much...
tibbz2

tibbz2

2
ian_d's Blog

2 nights Stargazing Live with Cotswold AS

After having to postpone our Stargazing Live events from January due to the snow and ice, this weekend saw the rescheduled public sessions in Shurdington on Saturday night, and Nature in Art near Twigworth on Sunday. Our luck was in hugely - Saturday was clear enough (but with some cloudy patches) to be worthwhile, and tonight's session was very clear indeed. Two decent nights on the bounce, coinciding with our public events....what are the odds?! In the interests of simplicity, I used my 4" ref
ian_d

ian_d

1
Jonathan's solar observations

First decent sunny day for months

Yesterday was alright weather-wise, threat of clouds and mist not far away. Today it has been the clearest sunshine I've seen for what seems like many months. 2012 was just wall to wall cloud and rain, the start of 2013 has not been much better, but hopefully the weather patterns are now changing for spring now that it's mid-February. I had a few hours outside with the Lunt LS60 today, enjoyed using my telescope and seeing the sun, even if there was a bit of a thin cloud streak (probably from
jonathan

jonathan

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Alfven's Blog

The Heavens Open.

At last the heavens have opened and the stars are burning bright in their lofty domains. I am unprepared so I will use my trusty little ETX70 and head out to the back garden. I will report my experience later....
Alfven

Alfven

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TransparentBadger's Blog

The ususal suspects

Well, last night turned out to be a nice little outing with the scope. I was hoping to see Asteroid 2012 DA14 but this, as for many people, was not to be. However, I did get to see a few of the objects that I've looked at on my last 3 outings. The Moon - Only my second go at The Moon and even more successful than my first attempt. The disk was a little more illuminated than it was the previous time and also a little higher in the sky. The terminator displayed some dramatic chiaroscuro, wit
TransparentBadger

TransparentBadger

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TransparentBadger's Blog

Lunar Valentine

Well, that has to be the best Valentines I could have hoped for. After spending yet another day bemoaning the clouded sky, there was finally a break. On my way home from work I spotted the crescent moon floating in amongst the clouds and ran home like a giddy child. This was the first time since I got my scope that the moon has been up and visible after dark. All I can say is, this is what I'd been waiting for. Jupiter was lovely, M42 was enchanting but The Moon, my lunar Valentine, was sub
TransparentBadger

TransparentBadger

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ian_d's Blog

V quick Dob sesh

A bit of a brief observing session this evening - fairly knackered generally, but sky too clear to ignore! Spent a bit of time on the moon, which I wouldn't usually do but it did look pretty special at x50 through the Dob. Blasted my dark adaption though! Then on to Jupiter - some really crisp detail tonight, much better than the other evening. Lots of bands etc in northern hemisphere in particular, Pleiades next, and specifically wanted to see if I could make out the reflection nebula by using
ian_d

ian_d

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