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And so it begins....

I am now trying my hand at imaging DSOs. Yes, I am about to practice the 'dark art' that is deep sky imaging. I bought an Atik 16ic from FLO the other day and am now just waiting for the skies to get a little darker..... Had some good news the other day, my astronomy book is in production through Springer Publishers, so watch this space:D.....(won't be out for a few months though!)
stefski

stefski

2

Riding Bareback

Clear night at last and finally a chance to get the new scope out. My clock drive arrived yesterday morning so i was even set up for tracking. My first task was to check the collimation which had drifted slightly but was still good. A little tweak. I then used Venus to align my finderscope. Rather frustratedly I couldn't get it in sight in the scope and the finder was out of focus. A quick search on the grail of knowledge SGL revealed how to focus the finder ...wow. I then continued my mission
crowlord

crowlord

0

Frustrated little man

So, as i think I mentioned, I have been selling a slew of Doctor Who books on eBay (and making then a fortune in fees). This has resulted in my wonderful new 200P EQ5 setup. First impressions...its heavy. Second impressions. Assembled it is nigh on immovable...good. So i've been feeling the motions of it, blancing tubes and weights. Practicing slewing. Collimating (the secondary was awfully out, the primary not too bad). Setting up, breaking down. Checking out the polar scope. Mavelling at the s
crowlord

crowlord

0

what is a blogg etc

Hi, im new to all this so can someone pleae advise what a blogg is and why i cant see anything out of my nat geographic telescope ( and yeas i have removed the lenscap )...:iamwithstupid::icon_eek:
stuart hannah

stuart hannah

1

HEQ5 Pro won't work

Today is Sunday and on Saturday I purchased a used HEQ5 Pro. I powered it up and the GPS set date, time and position but the motors won't move. I used my cars 12v to power it up, I have tried replugging everything, unplugged the GPS in case it was interferring and loosened the black knobs on either side of the North leg of the tripod. I don't know if there is something in the handset (Ver 3.12) I need to set. I have read the manual backwards and forwards. Help
AllanM

AllanM

1

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
gareththegeek

gareththegeek

0

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
gareththegeek

gareththegeek

0

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
gareththegeek

gareththegeek

0

Transferring passions

I have long been a lover of Doctor Who, in the 90s I collected the Virgin New adventures and the BBC books and its time to say goodbye. You see I now have a new passion. I want another telescope :D. If you have an interest in Doctor Who then it may be worth taking a look at my auctions. http://shop.ebay.co.uk/psonger/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340
crowlord

crowlord

0

Things to do when its cloudy.

Another few frustrating weeks. It does start to get annoying after a while, take last week for instance. Tuesday afternoon the weather report says clear skies until at least 4am so I decide I'll give it a go. Get all setup and then some nasty looking thunder clouds roll in so because I dont have my imaging setup in an obsy I decide to take it all down just in case. Couple of hours go by and like magic its clear again so I spend another half hour getting it all setup. Polar alignment is spot on,
simon84

simon84

1

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
gareththegeek

gareththegeek

0

Mid session blog!

Ok so I am in here typing, how odd. Really i am waiting for Jupiter to raise its head an am ill prepared for hunting. I have however caught: M31, its a kick to see Andromeda for some reason. Maybe its the name? It was a lovely clear fuzzie though (is that an oxymoron?) and was wonderful to behold. NGC 869 The Double Cluster looked gorgeous in my clear NE skies i could make out a myriad of pinpricks all trhough the clusters and centered on the ...well...centre! I then took a look at Almach, thi
crowlord

crowlord

0

2nd June (already!!!)

An unexpected but welcome session greeted my shift swing night, with no work till 4pm tomorrow it was a great opportunity to get out and work on those messiers. I was firstly chuffed to discover that Venus could help me get early alignment! Using that as a 1st reference I could make the 130 slew to Arcturus which was still not visible to (my) the naked eye. Ditto Capella. I then had the sightly epic feeling of viewing saturn in near daylight! Very odd. TECH PROBLEMS Throughout the start of th
crowlord

crowlord

0

Solar filters...Awesome!

Tried out my new baader solar film + continuum filters today on the new TMB 80:). Wow, is all I can say!!! I've never seen sunspots quite so clearly before.....I also saw a hint of granulation as it 'popped' in and out of view with the seeing!:D I had a go at viewing through my toucam + a ir blocking filter. It was a real beast to try and focus....Not convinced that I got it quite right. I might try agin tomorrow with the watec instead. Either way I had a great time viewing a couple of spots:gla
stefski

stefski

0

Great day at Lord's

I'm not sure whether these blog thingies are supposed to be only astro related?....:confused: After Saturday's debacle with the weather, the Stefski clan had a great day in the sun at Lord's on Sunday. Wife and I had far too much wine early on:)....(very bad parents). Realised that a whole day is probably a bit much for two boys under the age of seven. Mind you they got very excited when the bat was hit in our direction and they got Alastair Cook's autograph:D! Apart from that, not much to repor
stefski

stefski

0

Starting to be an Astronomer

Hello, As I read some books about Astronomy, I became mad in Astronomy.... I'd like to learn something about astronomy an astrophysics... what Books do you prefer me to start reading ...? As I'm in Iran, it's not possible for me to buy books from America or other counteries which abounded US!:icon_confused::confused: Please Prefer a Book which has Ebook Version! :hello2::) Thanks MHM5000
MHM5000

MHM5000

0

My baby has gone....

:crybaby2:Well she's gone....Little Meg has left me for a new home. I'm sure she'll be happy there - Dusko seems like a nice chap who will look after her..... So now the TMB adventure begins! The solar filters arrived yesterday but I haven't had a chance to play with them yet. Hopefully will be able to get back from work at a reasonable hour in the next few days to give them a crack. Played my first game of cricket for the village team on Sunday afternoon. Enjoyed that a lot (25 n.o.) - hadn't p
stefski

stefski

0

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
gareththegeek

gareththegeek

0

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
gareththegeek

gareththegeek

0

Complete moon now and a fudged up saturn.

Quick update. My moon work last night was very satisfying and got me a 9 tile mosaic. On the flip side i underexposed saturn so badly that on 2 of the three clips you wouldn't know he is there at all! If at first and all that.
crowlord

crowlord

0

Ok,...I'm an idiot!

:o Maybe next time, I shouldn't have a few glasses of vino before trying to align a mount!!!!:iamwithstupid::p Got it sussed now, I hope!.... Looking forward to the arrival of my new baader solar filter etc.....:D....but also sad to be saying goodbye to my old friend Little Meg.
stefski

stefski

0

Polarscope

:mad::mad::mad: This little thing is starting to get on my nerves......
stefski

stefski

0

My first one!

My first blog....Am being dragged, finally, into the 21st century and writing my first ever blog.:confused: The question is, what should I write? And, frankly, who is going to bother to read it? Well, for all you Stef-enthusiasts, here it goes.... I've just finished writing aa astro book for Springer Publishers. I sent it to the editor about 3 weeks ago...still waiting for the ok for it, so fingers crossed! I've got no idea when it will be released for public consumption. But for those of you wh
stefski

stefski

0
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