Steve Ward

An internal reflection of Jupiter is all.

And how massive.

Another take on the "Pillars" image with an overlay showing the immense scale involved relative to us here ... 😯 If you were ever in doubt as to our significance in the universe here is confirmation . Credit to NASA and Will Gater.

I see the question raised on numerous occasions regarding "narrow band" Ha filters and their use regarding Solar viewing/imaging . Here are two threads from the "Cloudy Nights" forum that will answer the questions once and for all I hope ... 🙂 https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/164085-using-a-nightime-h-alpha-filter-for-solar-viewing/#entry2124904 https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/430402-nighttime-h-alpha-filter-for-solar-viewing-part-2/ P.S. If the 'powers that be' could have this pinned to the top of the forum here I'd be very grateful as the question is raised on such a regular basis that it would be good to have the answers close to hand so's to speak , thank you.

Just popped up on my FB page as a 'Memory' and thought I'd share it here as there's nothing of note happening up there right now ... 😯

No , that was David Tatton , who used to work at the Astronomy and Nature Centre in Witchford just outside Ely , with Robert Dalby and the sadly no longer with us Ralph Bell . Gary Walker , the other director of Pulsar was also based there at one time.

Try Steve Collingwood who's now working with Gary Walker at Pulsar Observatories in Downham Market , there's not many things he cannot sort out telescope-wise and he's a thoroughly pleasant chap as well ... 😉 https://www.pulsarastro.com/about-us-1-w.asp

The 'new' Baader is 7.5nm down from the 'original' 10nm and £170.00 The Altair is 8nm but only available in 1-1/4" from what I've seen. Neither a massive improvement over an Oiii if you already have one in your arsenal ... certainly not a £170.00 improvement ... 😉

I think you'd be better off bunging Robin £12.00 for SharpCap 4 Pro. Then give Marty's tutorial a look here ...

Why do you feel the need to "upgrade" something , especially when you don't even know what the factory items are or what would constitute an "upgrade" ... ?

Seeing had dropped from bad to worse Solar-wise but I couldn't resist grabbing a few frames of the beautiful daylit Moon as it was about to slip from view behind the trees .

So you turn your back on him for a few days and he falls asleep ...

Bear in mind the 'standard' 10nm was £150.00 ... 😉 I felt the description was a bit more hyperbole as with the 'double-stack' continuum they brought out a while back which proved to be little more than waffle. I'll stick with my Oiii for the time being ... 🙂

It won't be any cheaper that's for sure .... the 7.5nm Continuum itself is £170.00 ... 😯 I was looking at them at the IAS on Friday , but couldn't bring myself to squeeze the trigger so's to speak ... 🙃

Dr Becky Smethurst's new book on Black Holes is one I'd recommend reading too ... https://www.bookdepository.com/Brief-History-Black-Holes-Dr-Becky-Smethurst/9781529086706?ref=grid-view&qid=1665721106988&sr=1-2#

A simple Google search soon takes you where you need to be ... https://www.google.com/search?q=huygens's+120+foot+telescope&sxsrf=ALiCzsbRE5P87ByvRQDpOK4a7RWQJ9M0zw%3A1665720541409&ei=3eBIY9bOGOHE8gLF3JvYDw&oq=Huygens's+120+foot+telescp&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYAjIHCCEQoAEQCjIHCCEQoAEQCjIECCEQFToKCAAQRxDWBBCwAzoHCCMQsAIQJ0oECE0YAUoECEEYAEoECEYYAFDDCVialAFgmagBaANwAXgAgAF0iAHVCpIBBDEyLjOYAQCgAQHIAQjAAQE&sclient=gws-wiz

Going to have to find my old copy of Roget's , I'm running out of words to describe the atrocious seeing here of late ...

Hateful conditions again , plugged away and ended up stacking 19/1000 ... !

Check the focuser locking screw under the focuser tube. If locked the tube will not move in and out but the wheels will still rotate giving the impression that it's working.

I'm coming up on Friday ... 🙂

Very poor seeing again but found a few to play with ...

Foul seeing again but a disc's a disc ...

Please upload as a .png so it's displayed in the post ... 😉

The monochrome image is pretty much what you see with Baader AstroSolarSafety film and is the "standard" capture for me. I invert it because it seems to emphasise the fainter faculae and the coloured version is just for the people who think the Sun is a yellowy-orange colour (as seen through the inferior Thousand Oaks and Seymour polymer filters ... 😉

Final stage of processing in GIMP. "Colorify" in "Colours , select the Yellow box then "Custom" , then knock the Green level down to 230 from 255 ... 😉