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5.3.2009

Refitted handlebar modification to my dob today. Looks mighty impressive. All I need now is some handlebar grips and a couple of those plastic blanking caps that fit ito the ends of box sections. Then gave the dob a polish and a bit of TLC. Just finished work 22.00 and the sky is clear and perfect for stargazing but I have to be up at 06.00 so no stargazing for me tonight:(

Doc

Doc

First view of the moon through my telescope.

Hi, im new to astronomy although have always been interested in it. I recently bought my first telescope a bresser skylux ng 70mm refractor. Went out to go sky gazing for the first time tonight (4th March 2009) and finally after years of wanting to look at the surface of the moon through a telescope, I did!:). What a sight!. I never thought that my telescope would produce such a clear image of the craters and mountains. Does anyone have suggestions of other great sights i could look at, that my

darrendfc

darrendfc

4.3.2009

Finished my barn door project today. Will take photo's later. Looks impressive just need a clear night now hopefully Friday or Saturday. Also sprayed my dob handlebars black today. Outside drying as I'm typing.

Doc

Doc

3.3.2009

Got my "At Risk" letter today at work and luckily for me I'm not up for redundancy. I know at least 8 work colleagues who are. It doesn't mean that they will definetly go it means they will have to apply for a different position. But there will be 40 compulsary positions to go. In total 175 jobs to go but a lot are voluntary. Took my handlebars and wheels of my dob today and primed them with undercoat for a nice fresh coat of black paint tomorrow. Still no news form the supplier who sold me the

Doc

Doc

2.3.2009

Spent the morning writing up my observing log for last night. It can be seen here... http://stargazerslounge.com/showthread.php?p=1185328#post1185328 Then dismantalled a old alarm clock so I could use the face on my barn door. Off to work later, I'm on the late shift so no stargazing for me tonight.

Doc

Doc

A NIGHT OF TWO HALVES

I shan't complain cos it's just been SOOOOooo long since the scopes have been out. It was a very pleasant surprise to see that the forecasters got it almost right. Set up early for cooling about 7:30 but too cloudy to get out until 9:30/9:45- finished off the setting up and then started dodging the clouds trying to get some pics of Lulin (haven't checked the results yet). Clouds started get heavier about 10:45 with total cloud cover due at midnight pah ! waited waited and waited some more.......

beamish

beamish

1.3.2009

Lovely day today, nice and warm with clear skies. Cleaned the house throughout, sort of spring clean. Love a clean house, hate clutter. Then took James down park for a game of football before coming home and watching Carling Cup on TV. Man United beat Spurs on Penalties. And to cap it off great night, it was clear at last, stayed out till 22.30 and bagged another 4 Messier objects. Will write up my report tomorrow.

Doc

Doc

28.2.2009

My daughter's 14th birthday today. She's at the cinema at the moment and then her 4 friends are having a sleepover upstairs in the loft, all sharing a blow up double bed. She wants domino's pizzas and plenty of ice cream. I don't think I'll be getting much sleep, lets hope it's clear so I can stay up late. Talking about clear, scopes outside cooling and at the moment it's clear. Done some more work on my barn door mount today. Looking great now. Watching England in the six nations at the moment.

Doc

Doc

27.2.2009

It is a day of bad news. Compulsary redundancies started in work today. My Group Leader and good friend was made redundant. I personally think he was s***ed on big style as he is not a "Yes Man". He will be missed. Then I knackered my Azimuth Encoder by accidently getting the wires ripped from it. Cloudy once again so all in all a carp day.

Doc

Doc

Project removable roof and Natures blueprint by dan hooper

After watching QI and seeing them talk about the higgs boson I thought I would get a book on the subject and see what it was like. I did what I usually do and searched through the books on the ereader site and picked the one which seemed interesting to me and not too tedious. I went for "Natures Blueprint - Supersymmetry and the Search for a Unified Theory of Matter and Force" by Dan Hooper and I was pleasantly surprised as it is quite an enjoyable read. He narrates a tale, rather than going in

ncjunk

ncjunk

EQMOD - why? Must resist the urge to tinker....

A week off of work plus wall to wall cloud has given me lots of spare time (probably too much!). One things that I keep on coming back to is EQMOD. Here's my conundrum: Will it help me set my imaging kit up any quicker? - Not that I can see. If anything, having to connect a few more wires and fire up one or two more apps would make the process longer, albeit only a little :). Does it provide me with better software than I currently use for image capture and guiding? - No. Will it provide me wit

Whippy

Whippy

26.2.2009

Not much to report today. I did warn you that not all my days are interesting. ;) I did look out at 18.00 and the sky was pretty clear. Orion was shining and Venus looked awesome. So have a guess I wheeled out the dob and then the clouds rolled in. I should have known better. :) Up at 05.30 so an early night for me.

Doc

Doc

Something new on the horizon... maybe...

Renfrewshire Astronomical Society are looking at the possibility of relocating our weekly meeting venue to incorprate a "darker" sky than the light polluted one we have at the Paisley observatory. One of the possibilities we are consudering is a place called Lapwig Lodge on the Gleniffer Braes overlooking Paisley. The members are going to attend a meeting there this Friday night 27.02.09. Kind of like try before you buy. ;) Lapwig Lodge is normally used as a base camp for the scouts. We have of

Jamie

Jamie

25.2.2009

Went for a visit to IDAS (Ilkeston District Astronomical Society) tonight with Rob (Red Dwallf). First time either of us have been to a astronomy club so didn't know what to expect. They were very friendly bunch, very informal but some great people with some great advice. No scopes were there, but one lad did bring his EQ6 Pro mount which we looked around. There were some astrophoto's to look at as well. A good night.

Doc

Doc

Things to do when its cloudy

Set up all your kit to see if you can beat yesterdays time and then take it down again Clean anything glass related Start to think how to image Starry Night (at least its clear there) Drink Drink Nibbles Drink

Kai

Kai

24.2.2009

Pancake day....... Cloudy again so having a few beers while watching Man Utd v Inter Milan in the Champions league. Have made arangements with Red Dwalf (Rob) to go to ilkeston Astronomy Society tomorrow so cannot wait for that. Finished 0-0. But a good game.

Doc

Doc

Ah-ha! (No, not the 80's group, a clear night!)

So, Saturday I did a little dusting of the scope (SWMBO thought I was going to do the whole house!), moved some bolts about between finders so that the Right-angled finder now has a grub screw and can be swiveled to suit. Lovely sunny afternoon so took dog for a long walk and joined in jumping in puddles with the little man. Come the evening and it was clear. Did my usual of letting the dog out and glancing at the sky. Double take - twinkly things! Out with the kit - grab and go - looked at M

TheThing

TheThing

23.2.2009

Cloudy again. it's getting a bit beyond the joke now have not done any major observing since 13.1.2009. Seems a lot longer. I have over 2k worth of stuff sitting in the conversatory looking like a cannon or as someone said a time machine. Have found out today my 13 year old daughter has got a boyfriend. First one that I know off. New territory for me lets hope I've played it cool.

Doc

Doc

I see a pattern emerging....

... another moan about the weather! Just looked at the 5 day forecast and once again fully clouded out. Joy. I came to the conclusion a while back that to get some real depth to my images, I'd need at least two evening's worth of exposures (about 6 hours or so) but the complete lack of time under the stars have me wondering if it's worth imaging at all and just sticking to observing. As much as I love being able to 'see' much more than I could ever do with my eyes is great but the hassle and pl

Whippy

Whippy

Day 3 - first light for 2009

Seems like an age since I got out, but finally got a chance to do some imaging this year. Have the 190MN for a while (nice scope) and managed to get some Venus data in CaK, IR Pass and white light, which I will process over the next few days. Remarkable optics on the scope it has to be said, but the lack of a dew shield put paid to any deep sky last night, shame as it was quite good/clear, but some thin mist still.. It's got me spurred on though to gert out a lot more this year, and the micro AS

NickH

NickH

22.2.2009

Would you credit it. Sunday should be the day to have a lay in bed and the postman knocked on the door at 07.30 as we had to sign for a parcel. Aghhhh I could have cried. Spent sometime photographing my Barn door Project it can be seen here: http://stargazerslounge.com/showthread.php?t=75703 Just cooking Sunday dinner now and I think I will relax later and watch football on TV.

Doc

Doc

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