oobydooby

I once suggested to a District Commissioner in the UK Scout movement who was enquiring about astronomy badge testers and the type of knowledge required by the tester that there was no solar knowledge in the curriculum, his reply was "what has the sun to do with astronomy, it's not important for the Scouts to learn about the sun." After I had picked myself up from the floor I told him in no uncertain terms that if there were no sun the Earth would not exist. The sun grows all the food we eat directly as in plant, food or indirectly by feeding the animals we eat. He answered, "well it's not astronomy anyway!" God, if you believe in him, help us all if that how they teach our kids!

Hmmm. Giving fast internet to poor people who cannot afford computers anyway, seems a bit suspect. Surely it would be more economically sound to build land based transmitting equipment than sending billions on sending up a space network that would cost billions more on maintaining stability of all the satellites. Just a thought to add to the pros/cons.

Recieved the mags late last night, with thanks. I have a small HA telescope and this will give me something to peruse on cloudy days to compare what can be found on sunny days. Thanks for sending them Tony

Is this SciFi stories or about Sol? It seems nobody really wants them so can I take them please.

Not a stupid question at all. I have never considered projecting sun or moon but I would guess that even though the moon seems extremely bright it is nowhere near bright enough to project through a telescope. Others may well prove me wrong.

First I hope you get the damage repaired, up and running soon without too much financial or physical problems. Second and more important... How did the shots come out? 👍

Not seen it yet but will keep a lookout. My guess is they were trying to find an object below the horizon, assuming the were not in a spaceship, in which case maybe they were hoping to sneak a view of a crew member in the lower decks?

My star is 82EGSWJR9-39979280 which I think is probably it's magnitude but I do have the co-ordinates..... 13h 15m 6.7s right ascention, +6deg 6Min 41.2 sec Declination. If anyone can find it please send it to me I will happily pay any excess postage on receipt.

Yes I would like to be added to the growing list of zoomers please.

I blame the Russians, they started it by sending up a dog! (PS. that's a joke not a political statement) Happy new year all.

I have replied with an apology to the seller and I believe he is happy to deal with me. I admit I have acted hastily and wrongly in the past few days for reason I don't wish to discuss and apologise to you all for stirring up a hornets nest. oobydooby

I hope I am not stepping on toes here and there may be a reason, but a few days ago I responded to an advert if an item was still available. I have since heard nothing and cannot be bothere if the seller will not respond. Either he/she wants to sell or does not.. either way a reply would have been courteous.

Long ago in a galaxy far away I had a Star Adventurer which I had accidentally damaged, losing breaking the USB connection, but it still worked. When I tried it earlier this year it would not work so I decided to get a new one, as my age and health does not allow me to use more than a few pounds of weight. (I cannot drive and have to rely on others to take me wherever I go) A few days ago my parcel arrived from a company called First Light Optics, and I noticed it had a warning on the box "May contain clouds". I did not order, nor did I want clouds, and wonder if I should return them, and will I have to pay the return postage. More to the point, how do I get the Star Adventurer out of the box without releasing the clouds, and if they do manage to escape how will I get them back in the box?

I have searched online and cannot find a replacement DEC motor for connecting the motor units to the main control panel. I have been told that this cable is quite inflexible and after some use may fray and break at the plug. I assume it's likely that a replacement may be obtainable from Sky Watcher, but it seems likely that the problem might re-occur. Do you know of a replacement manufacturer who makes or could make a cable that it more flexible and not prone to breaking? Many thanks oobydooby

Surely the moon is "egg shaped" due to distortion caused by the gravitational influence of Jupiter's close proximity. I believe this negates the judges reasoning and thus should disqualify the entry. I demand a re-count! (even though I have not taken part in this excellent and highly contested contest.)

Oh dear! I was going to place an order next week too. Sadly I don't really want any of the bundles.

Thanks for making the effort. I've tried just about everything to figure out where I purchased it to no avail. I only use it to carry my 35mm Lunt solar scope, so batteries last a long time, and I am intending to get one of these new wifi mounts and tripod in a few weeks time, but I will make sure i get it from a reputable dealer who I know looks after it's customers, FLO looks most promising in this respect. Thanks

I'm not sure, it was over four years ago. I will have to look through my accounts. All I can say is it would have been through PayPal, but I cannot find it online. Have looked through my receipts, but as it was over 4 years ago I have most likely thrown it out.

The first time I tried the Star Adventurer with a power pack to USB the socket disappeared into the works and when I tried releasing the cables the socket came out with it. The soldering on the three connections was simply not strong enough. Unfortunately I am not proficient enough to do any soldering and would not be sure I would be soldering to the correct bits of the board. Batteries only from now on it seems, unless we have some one who knows about these things and could repair it.

Show off!!!!!!

You leave Patience out of this!

Better get my sol image in too. This was taken through the eyepiece of my Lunt 35mm solar pride and joy with a hand held Sony Steady Shot pocket camera. I think that camera satisfies the rules. The second picture has been processed with Photoshop, but is only to demonstrate the before and after processing. The red fuzzy thing is my entry.

Just a thought. Assuming the building is advertised in a brochure, what about the addition of a night time view of the building with the dark sky in the background. A brilliant milky way and a recognisable asterism would do it for me.

Too smart for their own good

My offering. Sol through the eyepiece of a Lunt 35mm solar telescope with a pocket camera hand held. Would this be a worthy entrant? I have added a second picture which will surely not qualify as it is so bad, even after Photoshopping in an attempt to get finer detail out of it.