Gfamily

Really? what's the point? I have a very good Seiko Solar powered watch that just 'goes' And a fun retro classic Casio watch if I want to 'go out with a digital watch' - but, I really don't see how anyone can see a 'specialness*' for a particular watch design. * especially a 4 figure 'specialness'

If it's the same piece that MrsG heard, it would have been Megan Argo who teaches at UC Lancaster. A great speaker, if you get a chance to catch her at a local astronomy society it's well worth going along. We were fortunate to be able to get a Zoom talk from her at our Astro Society last May.

One of the features of the previous Student Loan Scheme is that it was relatively progressive, in that those who were well paid would pay back more of the value of their loans, whereas those who are on low or average earnings over their working lives don't pay back the majority of the cost of the loans they received. However, the most recent changes to the earnings at which the loan begins to be repaid in tax, and the extended number of years before which the loan is written off means that far more will end up paying back a greater part of their loans. Every year there are industry sponsored PhDs in applied science, mathematics and engineering, that give students the opportunity towards a doctorate, but it has to be said, that the strictly academic career is looking less attractive for many for a number of reasons.

Liverpool John Moores University is offering a MSc in Astronomy for those with a first degree in a mathematical based subject. There's a cost of just under £50 per unit, and has a core of curriculum comprising 120 units and 3x optional modules 30 at units each. Hard work over 2 years, but it has a good reputation as far as I can tell. https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/study/courses/postgraduates/astrophysics-msc There are more general courses open for anyone with an interest, but not necessarily a background in science https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/study/cpd/astrophysics-distance-learning-cpd-courses

As you say, that's not a correct interpretation as it only relates the Rest Mass and the energy equivalent The full relation has to include the contribution from elements with Momentum within the system, which includes the photons of light. As outlined here, the full equation should be meaning that for photons, the appropriate relation is E= 𝑝c, where 𝑝= the momentum of the photon = ℎ 𝜆

I have a rubber band loop attached to the cable so that I can hook it up on the mount. Otherwise it can act like a pendulum and wobble the camera.

Well, the 15 day weather forecast is suggesting that we'll end up in France just as the current excellent weather ends and we get a week of cloud and rain. However, I have prepared a Google Sheet for the Messier Marathon based on Dan Machholz's suggested sequence, beginning with M77 in Cetus as the evening starts, and ends with M30 in Capricornus as the light begins to grow again. Shame it'll be cloudy, but here's a link to it if anyone wants to try (NB M69 and M7 are probably not possible for anyone basically in the north of UK) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L2jp_22MnaoI4cD_hnvzZvcM8z2pLOATz35xKsvpAwE/edit?usp=sharing

90% visual, but I have used it for imaging the Moon and the Sun occasionally with my mirrorless camera. I'm half thinking of seeing whether to use my SA wedge for AP, but to be honest I've wasted too much time getting less results that didn't really seem to warrant the effort.

Mrs G is an almost exclusive binocular user, downloading the @BinocularSky newsletter every month, particularly when we're able to get away to dark sky sites; though she reckons that finding the fainter planets and brighter asteroids from our suburban garden is always a rewarding challenge.

In my experience, high magnifications for the Moon and Planets are often limited by atmospheric effects, so you may find that the longer inherent focal length doesn't give a lot more usable power as such. I've recently bought a 72mm refractor and it's almost totally taken over my viewing, with the 127 Mak often staying in the bag all evening. Seeing open clusters against the open sky background puts them in context in a way that the much smaller field of view of the Mak just can't match.

The 150p Heritage Skywatcher is a collapsible Dob. With a small camping table it's quick and easy to set up and use.

Yes indeed NGC457 is a great cluster. The telescopes I started with were Maks and SCTs, so I missed out on the delights of many open clusters. I have a particular affinity for NGC457 as it was one of the first OCs I look at with a short ED refractor that I had borrowed while staying at Astrofarm France. I was using the scope on my GTi mount and one of the "Tonights Best" was the Dragonfly Cluster - not one I was familiar with. Under the dark sky with a crisp contrasty scope it was a real delight, easily visible as a dragonfly, and as it was rising at the time, with the diagonal I was using it looked like a dragonfly as opposed to an upside down Owl or ET. "Ah, so that's why people like refractors" was my take-away thought

I don't know where they got their estimate for the kennel though, as it seems to have gone for only about a quarter of what they were expecting.

What I think it does is give the time that the Moon would rise if the moon was at the position it is at at 00h00m00s on the date given. If you check with Stellarium it does much the same thing, so that it gives different rising times depending on whether you ask for the rising time at 0h, 12 h or 23h

One way of reducing the thermals when settling up is to insulate the scope. It sounds counterintuitive, but it's the rate of temperature change that causes the thermals, so wrapping the scope in a couple of layers of radiator foil can slow this down and make the scope usable almost straight away when setting up.

You may be aware that the name Pluto was suggested by an 11 year old English girl called Venetia Burney, after her grandfather pointed out the newspaper article about its discovery. As it happens, her great uncle had suggested the names Phobos and Deimos for the moons of Mars.

Without wishing to diss your approach; I used a sheet of Proplex (box-wall sheets used as temporary floor cover by builders), which can be bought for about £5 for a 1200x2400mm sheet from Wickes DIY shops over here. Cut a suitable length / width and used sticky Velcro pads to hold hold the bits around the OTA. Folds flat, so even less volume than a foam mat, and the Velcro sticks pretty well to the plastic so less need for jabbiness. You could probably do half your astro society members' scopes with one sheet.

Yes, working now. Thanks

Thanks John It mostly works, though the links on the 'grubb-parson/documents' page https://sites.google.com/site/grubbparsons/home/grubb-parsons/documents Show as "Google Drive - you need access " messages

Illuminated by starlight! Amazing. And here's the initial configuration mosaic image showing the 18 individual element images

It's unfortunate that is not on Android, as I'd really want to try it out. The science content is provided by Dr Jen Millard, who also contributes to the Awesome Astronomy podcast as well as often appearing on the TV and radio when someone is needed to talk about astronomy matters. If anyone's been to Astrocamp they'll know Jen.

The Wayback Machine seems to have archived a copy from 2014 - there may well be later copies. https://web.archive.org/web/20140320080000/https://sites.google.com/site/grubbparsons/home

As their aim is to get a distribution of different orbits to ensure their constellation has a comprehensive coverage, I speculate that having a launch to an initial low orbit with an extended period of adjustment makes it easier to get a wider variety of final orbital elements, and maybe an initial deployment to a higher orbit would make that more difficult given that each launch releases upwards of 50 satellites at a time. This is pure speculation mind - though we know that SpaceX do seem to be remarkably effective at producing efficient solutions to whatever they see as being needed, so I assume there's a good reason. Though why they thought it a good idea to launch just the day after an M class flare hit the Earth's atmosphere is a good question.

Dangerous irony there (I hope).

Yes, loosen the collar and the whole front of the finder holding the objective is on its own (internal) thread so it can be adjusted.