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About this blog

I have just started out in amateur astronomy and intent to use this blog to keep logs of the things I see as well as to keep track of things I intend to do. Mainly for my own use...

Entries in this blog

12/08/10

Scope: C100 EDR 100mm/900mm Lenses: Celestron Plossl 20, TeleVue Plossl 8, Meade 2x TeleXtender Location: Dark Site Visibility: Excellent Light Pollution: Low My wife and I took our scope and some friends up to the dark site to check out the meteor shower and have a look at some of the more 'touristy' celestial objects which we had been dying to see, but which haven't risen past the trees in our own garden yet. And so we set out armed with coffee, cheesy baked potatoes, crisps and beer! As w
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19/06/10

Scope: C100 EDR 100mm/900mm Lenses: Celestron Plossl 20, TeleVue Plossl 8, 2xBarlow Location: Back Garden Visibility: Good Light Pollution: Heavy First observed IC4665 since my wife missed it last time and we especially enjoy seeing open clusters, visibility was very good. At this point waves of clouds came skimming across the sky but fortunately this only lasted ten minutes or so and we were back in business. Next we took a look at Alberio, another sight that my wife missed when feeling ill
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17/06/10

Scope: C100 EDR 100mm/900mm Lenses: Celestron Plossl 20, TeleVue Plossl 8, 2xBarlow Location: Back Garden Visibility: Good Light Pollution: Dusk Another evening session viewing the Moon; the phase was now approaching half moon. Several craters viewed last night now looked quite different and we spent some time enjoying the moon at 45x magnification reviewing what we had seen the day before. We could now see the Sea of Tranquillity, the Sea of Nectar and the edge of the Sea of Serenity. Vie
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16/06/10

Scope: C100 EDR 100mm/900mm Lenses: Celestron Plossl 20, TeleVue Plossl 8, 2xBarlow Location: Back Garden Visibility: Excellent Light Pollution: Dusk A nice clear evening and an excellent opportunity to take a look at the crescent moon. First identified the two seas Mare Crisium and Mare Fecunditatis at 45x then took a look at the Atlas and Hercules craters, noting Atlas' central peak. We then viewed Mare Crisium at 112.5x and spotted Peirce, Yerkes, Picard and Lick. At this phase we notic
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04/06/10

Scope: C100 EDR 100mm/900mm Lenses: Celestron Plossl 20, TeleVue Plossl 8, 2xBarlow Location: Back Garden Visibility: Good Light Pollution: High My wife was feeling ill but it was such a clear night I decided to venture out to the garden, alone, cluctching a list of Messier object coordinates mianly located around Lyra, Hercules and Ophiuchus. First up was M13 so I pointed the scope at Eta Hercules and checked the declination and right ascention setting circles. They were fine so I moved ov
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22/05/10

Scope: C100 EDR 100mm/900mm Lenses: Celestron Plossl 20, TeleVue Plossl 8, 2xBarlow Location: Back Garden Visibility: Good Light Pollution: High After a beautiful sunny day we were in for a beautiful clear night and set out once more into the garden with a list of Messier objects and their coordinates printed out. We first tried to look at the open clusters (M36, M37 & M38) in Auriga since these would be near the horizon and setting soon. We aligned the scopes setting circles on Pollux
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17/05/10

Scope: C100 EDR 100mm/900mm Lenses: Celestron Plossl 20, TeleVue Plossl 8, 2xBarlow Location: Back Garden Visibility: Average->Poor Light Pollution: High Thought we'd have a go at viewing some planets as the sky seemed to be clear but by the time it got dark bands of cloud were roaming the heavens. We had a quick look at Mars since although it is past its best its the last chance we'll get for a while. Mars resolved to a disk under 112.5x and 225x magnification but no surface detail could
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15/05/10

Scope: C100 EDR 100mm/900mm Lenses: Celestron Plossl 20, TeleVue Plossl 8, 2xBarlow Location: Back Garden Visibility: Good Light Pollution: High First Light with our new scope! While aligning the polar scope we realised that from the only level part of our garden Polaris is behind a tree. However I managed to see Polaris between a couple of leaves and we were ready to go. Looking West we spotted the new crescent moon below Venus and decided a nice big target like the moon would be a good t
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Who Stole The Stars

Haven't been able to get out with the scope recently due to clouds which only seem to come out at night so I have been thinking about what telescope to upgrade to replace the wobbly Bresser. I started off thinking of getting an Explorer 150PL, good value for money and a decent focal length to look at planets and forgive the use of cheaper lenses. Then I decided it would be better to stretch to the Explorer 200P and get a 'fast' scope, later on getting a slow refractor to compliment it. Then afte
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16/04/10

Scope: Bresser Sirius 70mm/900mm Lenses: H20, H12.5, 2xBarlow Location: Back Garden Visibility: Good Light Pollution: Low - Sunset A look out my window today showed me the stunning sight of the thin crescent moon over Venus. This is the moment we have been waiting for, so my wife and I rushed to the garden for our first look at the moon. An awe-inspiring sight, seeing the moon under magnification makes it seem more real somehow; it really is a giant sphere of rock marked with craters not a litt
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15/04/10

Scope: Bresser Sirius 70mm/900mm Lenses: H20, H12.5, 2xBarlow Location: Back Garden Visibility: Good Light Pollution: Heavy Decided to have another go at viewing Messier objects in Ursa Major as it is currently overhead but didn't hold out much hope since my neighbours are turning lights on and off so frequently I suspect they are signalling to someone in morse code! View finder on the scope is not allowing me to see enough faint stars to make star hoping viable and I decide to leave the search
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11/04/2010

Scope: Bresser Sirius 70mm/900mm Lenses: H20, H12.5, 2xBarlow Location: Semi-dark Site Visibility: Intermittent Cloud Light Pollution: Medium Last night was a little cloudy but we could see clear patches and since it looks like it'll be cloudy all week my wife and I decided to try and take a look at Saturn. The wind was knocking our scope around something fierce and at 45x and 72x all we could see of Saturn was a star and I thought that we were going to have the same failed experience we got whe
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07/04/2010

Scope: Bresser Sirius 70mm/900mm Lenses: H20, H12.5, 2xBarlow Location: Dark Site Visibility: Excellent! Light Pollution: Low Took the scope out to a prospective dark site with good views to the West in the hopes of spotting Venus and Mercury. A great location with excellent views apart from the suicidally bumpy road leading up to it. My wife was kind enough to drive us there and at first took the road at a bone jarring 10mph! Clouds over Western sky at sundown, but a break in them allowed us
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04/04/2010

Scope: Bresser Sirius 70mm/900mm Lenses: H20, H12.5, 2xBarlow Location: Back Garden Visibility: Good! Light Pollution: Heavy Learning to use telescope and interpret star charts. Examined a bright red star which subsequently turned out to be Mars. Not able to see any real difference (apart from colour) from any other star using all lenses. Looked at Cappella in Auriga constellation, cheap lenses supplied with telescope are showing false red and blue colour around star. Had a closer look at Mizar
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Observing Log

I have just started out in amateur astronomy and intent to use this blog to keep logs of the things I see as well as to keep track of things I intend to do. Mainly for my own use...
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