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petevasey

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    http://www.madpc.co.uk/~peterv

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    Hexham, Northumberland 55N 2W Alt 208m

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  1. Actually nothing to do with tonight although I can see a few stars and a bright Moon in between the clouds. But perhaps you can give me a heads up. My Solarview50 is with Solarscope in Ballasalla at the moment. So if you've had lots of clear nights, did have you had some good clear sunny days as well? If so I'll not feel guilty giving Helmut a nudge to see how he's getting on with the resetting 👹 Cheers, Peter
  2. I've never been particularly strong, and once I retired the upper body strength I acquired from years of handling stuff as part of my business has mainly deserted me! So as the years progress I find my telescope increasingly difficult to lift off and particularly lift on to my observatory mount which is quite high on its pier. Some of you may recall in other threads I was considering selling the quite heavy RC10 and getting something easier to handle. It's not just the weight, there is plenty to get hold of and the truss tubes at the front are ok, but although the rear plate has lots of slots in it they are quite small and of course have uncomfortable square edges. But I had a thought, and after some browsing bought a grab handle which I fitted to the back plate. And it has made a considerable difference. Much more comfortable and the shape I chose allows for my grip to move as required when positioning the telescope's dovetail in the mount clamp. I shopped around, and eventually bought this one. Not cheap I know, but of very good quality. BUT if anyone wants to follow my lead, you need to be able carefully to drill and tap the backplate to accept suitable screws. I used 6 mm socket cap. The position I chose works well for me - I am right handed, but of course the position is a matter of personal preference. Cheers, Peter
  3. Thank you. Not exactly free. They do pay for using them, generally £10 every time - the image of M48 also in that issue was paid for each time it has been used - this is the third time! As was my Sharpless 284 image first time used, again in the March issue - I could hardly believe I had 3 images in the same issue. Picture of the Month is the one that really gets the prize - £50! Cheers, Peter.
  4. For those who are too far north for J0529-4321 the twin or double quasar QSO 0957+561 A/B in Ursa Major is nicely positioned at the moment. Just NE of galaxy NGC 3079, there's a photo on my web site that I completed in January 2021. I submitted it to Astronomy Now, but I don't think it was used at the time. Coincidentally it's in the current March issue Night Sky section! Cheers, Peter
  5. Most will have seen the artists impression of this on line - the brightest quasar discovered so far. But very few mentions of the RA and DEC coordinates. They are of course intrinsic to the name, RA 5 Hours 29 minutes, DEC 43 minutes 51 seconds South . I've plotted it on Skymap Pro using a background image, and I reckon more accurate coordinates are (J 2000) RA 5 29 15.8 and DEC -43 51 54. In Pictor and too far South alas for UK observers. Olly Penrice is also out of luck - maximum altitude for him is just over 2 degrees. Someone at COAA might stand a chance, just over 9 degrees altitude. Go to the Canary Islands and things are looking better at over 17 degrees altitude. The image below is from one of the zoom in shots on line, the stars are real, and the coordinates match. If anyone is in a suitable location, worth a try out of interest - do post your result. Cheers, Peter
  6. Yes indeed, superb! Of course the Dawes limit for an 8" optic is 0.57 arc-secs, and the resolution of the 2600 at 400 mm fl with its 3.76 micron pixels is 1.94 arc-secs per pixel - I would think easily obtainable at your location. But I'm not sure how the one-shot colour affects that resolution. Nevertheless to obtain the detail shown in your image with such a wide field is undoubtedly exceptional. Your close up is similar to the field of view of my QSI 683 on my RC10. But at its f8 ratio it would take 16 times as long to collect the same amount of data. Ouch! And of course my camera is far too large to go on an 8" RASA - I'd need to lash out on a 2600. Nevertheless that target is now on my must do list. Getting a bit late in the year for me now - I'm tied up in early March, but might get a chance under dark skies at Kielder - a weekend on 8th March coming up. Probably my Sharpstar 140, at f 6.5 only 10 times slower than the RASA 😉 Cheers, Peter
  7. As I mentioned in Tomato's thread his beautiful image inspired me to revisit this nice galaxy, 17 years after first imaging it. And a clear interval on 11th Feb followed by most of the later night of 12th gave me an opportunity. This magnitude 10.3 galaxy NGC 2336 in Camelopardalis is one of the nearest reasonably sized galaxies to the North Pole, lying only 10 degrees from it, so accessible all the year round for Northern observers. Quite small in the sky at 7 x 4 arc-minutes, but physically very big - approximately 200,000 light years across, twice the size of our own Milky Way galaxy. As I say, a long time since that earlier image and well overdue for an update. The tiny galaxy just above the main one is mag 17.4 PGC 213387. There was occasional cloud and slight haze which probably contributed to the halos on the brighter stars. But I was able to collect a worthwhile amount of data with this result. Luminance 22 x 10 minutes, RGB each 13 x 10 minutes. All binned 2x2, QSI 683 on RC10 with SX AO unit. Because of the relatively small size of the galaxy, I've posted the full size image. Cheers, Peter
  8. Hi, Olly, Wow that's one heck of a project! And the image of Sharpless 257, when in the vertical configuration, puts me in mind very much of Dan Dare's arch enemy 'The Mekon', particularly with a colour adjustment. I wonder if calling it 'The Mekon Nebula' will ever catch on 🤡 Cheers, Peter
  9. Hi, Damian, That looked like a grand day out - even better than moon cheese 😉 The viaduct looks particularly interesting, and a bit of browsing led me to this site. He's obviously a keen walker in the area, and there are several interesting walks shown. Some of them pretty l o n g, but for those who are able (my walking days are pretty well done although I'm hoping to get a new right knee this year) a good way to blow away the cobwebs after a long night in the warm room! In one of his walks (Killantringan Lighthouse Circular) he mentions Portpatrick. We visited it when at New England Bay Caravan Park in 2022 - a delightful little town and well worth a visit even if not on a long walk. Hope to see you in October. Cheers, Peter,
  10. That's well worth the effort - lovely image. I got a very mediocre image in 2007, and it's been on my 'Must Do' list for a repeat since then. But you've inspired me! Whether there'll be an opportunity this season of course is not looking good with the current weather patterns, but at least it stays pretty high all Spring. we shall see! Cheers, Peter
  11. Hells bells, Derek, what rotten luck. Dare I say 'join the dodgy leg club'? At least my tendon injury is healing although still quite weak - I made the right decision not to come. But with only a week to go it sounds as though you have no choice either - so sorry. Best of luck with your recovery. And also that of your friend if you get to see him. Peter
  12. Kettering or Stoneleigh - not much difference for me, only 10 miles less to Stoneleigh and still 240! Just as well. I don't really need anything. But once trapped among all the goodies, and particularly after a lunchtime pint, need goes out the window and want kicks in! So it's just as well I'm not intending to make the 480 mile round trip 😉 But for those who are going, have a great time and don't overheat the plastic! Cheers, Peter.
  13. A good response to the question is 'Do you have any binoculars?' Preferably around 50 mm aperture. If the answer is 'Yes' point them at an Astronomy magazine which has a binocular target section such as Sky at Night magazine. That will get them looking at the night sky. And at adverts for the huge choice of telescopes available. If no binocs, and they are not sure what to do, an alternative to an astronomical telescope might be a spotter scope of around 60 mm or more aperture. They usually have a zoom facility so no extra eyepieces needed. But will need a tripod for the best experience. Then if the astro side doesn't kick off, at least they will have an excellent instrument for birdwatching etc. Surely can't go far wrong with something like this one from Amazon. By the way. thanks for the mention of Sorel boots! I'd never heard of them, but obviously you find them very satisfactory. They have a sale on at the moment and I needed some new boots for observing - my old ones are split and leaky. So I went for the nice but not too bulky Buxton Lite Lace. Looking forward to getting them in a few days. With the current freezing weather I wish I had them now 😉 Cheers, Peter
  14. This new all in one imaging system has just been announced by Celestron. 6" f2 optics giving a focal length of 335 mm. They state 'extraordinarily wide field of view'. Well. I'm not so sure about that! They use the Sony IMX178 sensor which is quite small at 7.3 x 4.9 mm. It's the sensor used in the Altair GPCAM3 178C camera. So the actual field of view is 1.3 x 0.8 degrees. Just enough to enclose the whole of Messier 33 or the Orion Nebula, just manages the Rosette nebula, doesn't quite get all of the Pleiades and M44 (the Beehive cluster) and fails miserably on Messier 31. So not exactly a huge field of view, a larger chip might have been preferable, but I suppose they had to set a limit somewhere. And of course very 'fast'. No autoguiding facility yet but they say it's coming . Technically it looks like an amazing piece of kit, but at US $3,999 it needs to be! Budget allowing, certainly an easy way into astro imaging. It will be interesting to see reviews. Cheers, Peter
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