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Hi, A bit of light hearted fun as there is nowt doing astronomy wise Bordem Level 1 - Completely clear skies all night, no wind, Perfect. Astronomers are frantic with activity. Never recorded in the UK this year, at least not recently. Bordem Level 2 - Mostly clear skies, little wind, Excellent. Astronomers are running about, looking at things or pouring over images. Seldom recorded in the UK this year. Bordem Level 3 - About 20% cloud cover, small amount of wind, Very Good. Astronomers are hailing this as the best day ever, unless they have just had Bordem level 1 or 2. More chance of this level in the UK, but quite frankly still rare. Bordem Level 4 - About 30% cloud cover, more wind, Good. Astronomers are still twitching with excitment About as good as it has been in the UK. Bordem Level 5 - About 40% cloud cover, Light breeze, typical night. Astronomers are still getting good views and images. Bordem Level 6 - About 60% cloud cover, Lightish breeze, more typical night. Astronomers are wondering if tonight will go to level 5. Bordem Level 7 - About 80% cloud cover, Medium breeze, bog standard night. Astronomers rushing to see what they can through the gaps. Bordem Level 8 - Total cloud cover, but the odd gap, Medium/strong breeze, Not a promising night. Astronomers are thinking of going out but only if it is a slack night on telly. Bordem Level 9 - Total cloud cover, very few if any gaps, Strong breeze. Astronomers with obs are either out tinkering with their gear, or hanging on to the obs roof. Everyone else is inside leafing through mags and wondering what it was like to get a Bordem level 5 or lower. Bordem Level 10 - Total cloud cover, no gaps, Very strong wind, almost constant rain. See the weather report for almost any day in June/July. Causual Astronomers already have all their gear for sale. Serious Astronomers are eagly buying new kit in the hope of something better to come. If Bordem Level 9 or high persists for a long period then Astronomers looking for a new hobby (like bingo or fishing) or considering moving house to sunnier climates. We are currently Bordem level 8 in Newcastle. Enjoy or add as you see fit. Keep it clean though.

This image from 16th/17th July. Pentax K5 Pentax 12-24mm f4 DA ED AL IF lens Exp 25 secs iso 800 Aurora from Kelso, Scottish Borders July 16th 2012 by mikeyscope, on Flickr

Sometimes we find our images scattered in unusual places on the Internet but I was rather pleased to find one of mine included here and for a rather unusual purpose!

Hello, This one I needed to get it! Discovered by amateur astronomer Nicolas Outters in May 2011 it is the most difficult object I ever photographed! I let you here the catch and I hope to continue to collect some more photos this week :-) You may google for OU4 in Sh129 to find more about it! Tak FS102NSV @ f/6.3 + QSI 532WS-M1 @ -10ºC (due to the very high temperature here in portugal...30ºC at midnight). 210 min in OIII and no darks or flats for now! Regards, paulo

Morning all, Im looking for tips on the finder scope on the 200P. For those who dont have it, it 'locks' in position by 2 screws you tighten to position it. However, on mine i cannot get the object centred into the viewfinder, the main scope with both screws tightened, and stop the finder from wobbling in the bracket a bit, so that when i move the scope, it moves and is out of line again. Is this just my scope that this happens, or am i missing something obvious and doing it wrong, or is it worth replacing with a better quality one. Any info would be good.

Hello all! I passed from theory to action in astroimaging. After my ring nebula unsucessfull attempt due to the fact that i was using a 25x eyepiece when what i really wanted was prime focus, i finally gave it a go to prime focus. I aimed at the laguna nebulae, m8. I have a lot of light pollution and no filter. My setup is what i can afford for now, so i'm trying the best out of it: skywatcher 130mm, F=900mm, EQ2 (polar aligning is a challenge), 4x r.a. motor, Canon 1000d at prime focus. I stacked in DSS, 2 different stackings: 1st, 53x20s subs, 25 darks, 20 bias... the final TIFF file was something like i normally see, very bright. I played around with it in photoshop and i could only come up with this 2nd stacking: I added 10 flats to it (if i understood correctly, i can take flats with a t-shirt stretched over the cap of the scope, point to a clean morning sky and ISO100 and A/V mode on camera). The final stacking result was a darker TIFF than the first, the black of the sky wasn't to far from a normal picture. ( i suppose because in the 1st stacking, the RAW settings had brightness up to 10, although it gave me something closer to what i normally see as a final TIFF result: very bright picture). So, am i not getting that much detail from the nebulae because 18 minutes total isnt that much? is it light pollution the main problem? is it the processing? ( i used some gradient terminator in photoshop, i played with levels and curves, etc...) So i just would like your input please, once it is my first baby steps into it and im really excited...

I currently have a Skywatcher 10" Flextube which, in one sense, I am more than happy with, but now and again I keep getting a severe dose of aperture fever and longing for a bigger scope. I am 52 and weight is an issue with me. I can currently manage the 20kg of the base and 15kg of the tube but I am not getting any younger and minimise lifting as far as possible. I do take the scope to dark (within a reasonable travelling distance) sites and it does increase my enjoyment as I normally live in a city. Does anyone know of any large aperture, lightweignt (obviously within reason as I know mirrors are the heaviest part of a scope) scopes can break down to a reasonable size? I know they're not going to be cheap if they exist. As I said just dreaming ....... Simon

'Oh no...not more help needed for cloudbuster' i hear you all cry...and believe me when i say i share your pain, but this will be the last time of asking....me thinks? I've blown-out the core of my M42...here's the incriminating evidence: skywatcher 200pds 8" Canon 40d CLS light pollution filter 800 asa 11 subs 15 sec 10 subs 30 sec 10 subs 1 min 10 subs 2 min 10 subs 4 min 5 subs 5 min darks as above, but with only 10 darks at 15 sec, instead of 11 40 bias 1/8000th sec 50 flats 1/250 mode stacked in DSS Processed in Pixinsight someone told me: 'you might find that stacking only your shorter subs for the core layer will help preserve that detail.' does anyone know how i go about this, and how, using Pixinsight, do i combine the images. help much appreciated...honest g'vnor!

Hi Here we go http://www.harrysastroshed.com/HDR%20comp.html Harry

Hi Guys, I put out a couple of wanted ads for a flip mirror, and at £70.00 each I wasn't going to buy a new one, especially as its only for the guide scope, so after both ads went without a single reply, i thought I would have a go at making one, and purchased two diagonals, one from ScopeNskies 'astroboot for £2.50, and another one from UK astronomy for £10.00 (Thanks Tom) which had all metal and filter threaded holders, these and a blue chopping board from the £shop got me up and running. As you can see from the pictures and I hope you agree it all worked out very nicely, I attached the mirror base to an allen key as the hinge, and three small magnets from an old name badge holds the mirror in its relevant up & down positions. Please click on the image below to see the completed build. As always love to here your thoughts. Ian.M

What I did with PI is to use: * registration to get the images in the same locations (for long and short exposures) * the range tool to create a mask * use the mask to remove the core * process the outside * process the inside * use the mask to separate the inside * then use pixel maths todo insideImage + outsideImage and bingo a combined image

thanks sara. i'm goin to bed now...yet another cloudy night here in blighty, but will look up this link before lights out lol. also thanks for your appreciation tingting! cheers bob

Check out this thread http://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=3872.msg26577#msg26577 on the PI forum where I asked something similar. Seems like you can thrown in all manner of exposures in the HDRComposition tool.

Have you thought about making one? Here is a simple wooden mirror grinding stand: http://www.stardazed.com/MirrorGrindingStand.html The [removed word] Parker referred to in the website runs mirror grinding classes here http://mirrorworkshop.mtbparker.com/index.php Good luck, Mark PS The thought police have removed the word that is short for Richard!!!

this book is considered a must read, worth looking at before you start on the long, long, long road that is astrophotography. http://nightskyimages.co.uk/making_every_photon_count.htm i would certainly put that webcam to use though maybe starting with some nice lunar shots.

these guys do the canon mods http://www.astronomiser.co.uk/eosmod.htm

Hi John, all being well I will be attending Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Not quite, but I get your point James

Srri didn't realize your mount wasn't a EQ, forget the Polar aligne, just get it level and pointing north and bear in mind its motors will affect a compass so keep this a good yard away.....

£45 is definitely a very reasonable price for an illuminated reticle eyepiece. Just remember to turn it off James

Absolutely fabulous image well done.

Looks good to me they're listed at £76 at Telescope House new.

I'd go to the pub! You may get a "real" barrel if you ask really nicely - but they do hire them from the breweryso maybe a dead end idea......?

All i use on my mount is "Solar tracking" and make sure it Polar Aligned, mine will keep a star ect in the FOV all night if i didn't go looking for other DSO's , as for your GoTo get a star centered then change to a high power EP that's low MM and center it again slew to your second Star and repeat, center with low power then change to high power. Should all be sorted then, if it says it has failed try going to a object in its list it will properly find it....

When using GOTO the tracking mode will automatically be set by the object selected so you shouldn't need to do anything. It helps to get the mount perfectly level when doing the initial setup and to complete it as quickly as possible. The higher the magnification the more obvious the drift will be however. I have to use the Pointing Accuracy Enhancement (PAE) option every now and again to keep things going smoothly but I would be quite happy with 10 mins at that mag I think.

You can use sidereal for the planets as well. The barlow EP combo would have yielded about 0.4o field at 130x magnification (assuming it was plossl eyepiece with an apparent field of 50o). So you can see how the moon would have started to drift across the field given its relative motion versus sidereal motion over the timescales you talked about. Clear skies,

If you need portability, and want a scope that has a very happy user base, then go for a MAK127.

Are you "Like Broom Lynn?"

three things affect the appearance of galaxies and other faint objects : dark skies getting out under dark skies more aperture under dark skies Just in case I didn't mention dark skies, they are quite important too

Sad I know - but I was thinking about this post on the way to work this morning and I must say I really like your 'take' on the two sets of doubles and the beauty of the Struves over the Epsilon partners. Sometimes it's nice to forget the 'challenge' presented by splitting a double (double) and just admire the view!

nice pics

I knew there was a good thread - had to search ....... http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/127755-in-focus-issues-with-newtonian-and-dslr/page__hl__+low%20+profile%20+newtonian#entry1272878

Excellent stuff, gentlemen and thank you for your time and input. My own dovetail looks exactly like that linked to, so I guess I ought to purchase another and the spare will come in handy if I upgrade on aperture during the winter months or next year. Although folk have said an EQ is often 'complicated' to use, I found it quite intuitive, so the AZ4 will be a nice new toy to figure out. Thanks again, Jules and Mal.

I'll pass on the best bit of advice I have ever been given on the subject.... read this: http://www.astro-baby.com/collimation/astro%20babys%20collimation%20guide.htm Astrobaby's guide is possibly the definitive guide to collimation and will help you through pretty much any issue. The offsets in your photo looks like it could be in collimation for a fast scope but I am not an expert - all is explained in AB's guide. Hope this helps, James.

Just found this while sat browsing. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/880837561/skycube-the-first-satellite-launched-by-you?ref=users A company looking to crowd-fund a micro satelite that will tweet from space I've pledged a few dollars, since I'm a massive geek and cant resist the idea of controlling something in orbit NM

Hi! Your collimation isn't terrible, but there's room for improvement. Here is a collection of useful links: http://www.physiol.ox.ac.uk/~raac/collimationLinks.shtml The second link (about secondary placement) shows you what to look for in the eyepiece. You'll get that darkening in the centre of field regardless. The third link down most clearly explains the steps of using a cheshire/sight-tube tool. It's normal to see the secondary obstruction during the day. You are using lower power eyepieces which produce a large exit pupil and so a large image of the secondary obstruction. Your pupil is small during the day and so the size of the secondary obstruction image approaches the size of your pupil (and also your camera's iris, it seems). As a result, you will see a darker region in the centre of the field of view. With higher power this should become less noticeable. When observing at night your eye's pupil dilates and the darkening at the field centre becomes far less pronounced. The darkening is not related to your scope being collimated or not.

And it´s sealed with silicone = dust and waterproof

Looks like a 'lift-off' roof then

3rd attempt: http://stargazerslounge.com/gallery/image/13464-laguna3/

my bucket runneth over :clouds2:

Today, july 12 has been selected as Amateur Astronomy Picture of the Day one of my photos of the ray system of the crater Kepler the ejecta ray system and blanket of Kepler strongly contrast against the dark basaltic material of Oceanus Procellarum. When the asteroid impact, the ejected material reflect the stratigraphic sequence: the original surface materials become deposited far awy from the rim of the crater, however, the deepest materials at the very bottom of the transient cavity are dopiseted near the rim. Thus, the rays of ejecta can be interpreted as a geological survey. What we found in the ejecta of Kepler is a great uniformity since all the ejecta are basaltic debris. By the geometry of the impact kinetic it is possible to estimater that the transient crater goes as deep as 6km beneath the surface and still did not pass all the Mare material of Procellarum basalt, therefore, at this point, basalts deposits are, at least, 6km thick. Further comments on the geology of this impact at my web site: http://www.astrosurf.com/patricio/luna/kepler.htm The same picture but with a more agresive enhancing was selected as Lunar Photo of the Day (LPOD) last june 9, 2012: Other day I got this picture near the terminator: That combined with the first shows the extension of the ray system and texture topography details Eventually I create this geologic chart: Where the Formation Fra Mauro appears in blue, Domes in Orange and eject mantle in yellow. Note the dome Kepler 1 Clear Skies Patricio

Recoat the mirror. As others' have said, that big scope in a dark sight will be amazing!

This is incorrect, there are far fewer marae on the far side of the moon but there are some marae there

That is fantastic, thank you for sharing. I have huge admiration for those with an artistic talent such as yours. I am a proper numpty in that area.

Strange my images have vanished so here they are again: