Vargojones

It was a Nikon D3100 using the kit 18-55mm lens at (I think) 18mm for roughly 20 seconds shooting in RAW. I haven't checked the exif data for the exact details, i was using a remote release and just counting in my head . I'm glad my suspicions about Andromeda seem to be right

I've been playing around with some night shots, unfortunately all i have to play with in a very urban setting in north Swindon. To say the light pollution is bad is some what of an understatement and this is the best of a considerably bad bunch. Would love to get into proper astrophotography at some point. space by Nuclearsquash, on Flickr I do think i might have just about managed to catch a very faint hint of Andromeda though maybe Anyway hints tips comments etc very welcome.

Well it was clear so i thought i'd have a play with my camera, this was purely experimental to see what I could achieve. Anyway here's a slight iffy attempt at M42, it's only a short exposure 3 or 4 seconds, and i was fighting awful light pollution, but as a first attempt I'm vaguely happy. Now just to get somewhere dark so i can take some nice wide field shots. This was with a Nikon D3100 with a 55-300mm lens at 300mm. Orion Nebula by Nuclearsquash, on Flickr

Cosmos by Giles Sparrow, yes it is the big coffee table book, the images in it really are gorgeous.

I just popped into Asda Swindon (Orbital), and they have a book called Cosmos selling for £10, normally £40, it's a gorgeous book with stunning pictures of the solar system and beyond. I got my copy, but thought others might be interested, I presume it would be the same in other large Asdas.

It takes 33 minutes for light to return back from jupiter, which would account perfectly for your delay

It might have been yes (i didn't notice that that word got asterisked).

It's amazing what you get used to and put up with. Most of my observing occurs in Swindon itself, so invariably I mostly look at planets, and very obvious DSO stuff. However last Friday, I ventured out of Swindon to Hackpen Hill, which is about 5 or so miles south. The view there was fabulous, with a very clear milkyway, I got hopelessly lost when looking for constellations, only really able to find Ursa Major. The only downside is I reckon that location is quite likely a ******* site how sad.

Looking at the planetary imaging section, it seems the skywatcher and celestron 127 maks are very popular for imaging, where the likes of the 5 and 6 SE Nexstars are less so. Is there any particular reason? I'm looking at getting into planetary imaging, and want to make the right choice of scope, if the 127 is genuinely an excellent place to start then I may go that route, but I have a nagging feeling that I should buy the most aperture (i can afford), for example an 8se. So what are peoples thoughts? Cheers

Awesome pics from such a modest scope I'm looking at getting into the planetary imaging lark at some point, and just gleening as much infor from the forums as possible atm. Why do you use an extension tube? Would you not get such an image with just a barlow? Cheers

How much do you want for your 8SE (kinda serious)

Love that, definitely worth a go! I'll report back if it works or not.

Not jealous, not even slightly nuh uh, not me. That sir is a gorgeous telescope, I want one now, but not sure i can quite justify £1700 (well not with the gf reading this over my shoulder)

There are erm ways and means of turning off streetlights.

3d TVs rock, mine can convert a standard picture into faux 3d... Eastenders has never had such depth