Beulah

What observing equipment will you be using for these targets?

Me too. :)

3 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

Thank you for the info, most kind. Funny how we all seem to have a love hate relationship with the moon.

I thought the picture was quite sharp, but I do know what you mean as I have posted a couple of pics and they appear way worse on here than my pc screen.

I recently looked at Samyang lenses on the web, but that is a discussion for a different part of this forum.

I am however going to try and find a manual focus, wide angle, prime lense from back in the day to fit my Nikon D3100 whilst in London. If successful I will post any results on here.

Cheers Beulah.

M

Let us know what you get. 

19 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

Sorry to say I will be in central London for the Ursids, what a shame. Will be visiting the meteorite room at the natural history museum.

Got to say, not just a great picture because of the streak, but a great wide field milky way. Any info on exposure duration ISO etc ?

Marv

Thanks for the kind comments, Marvin. The Ursids are normally not much to write home about but it's got the benefits of no Moon getting in the way for a while during the peak, unlike all the other meteor showers this year!

First of all, the photo is a little 'blurred' due to image quality loss - the original TIFF is sharper!

The info is as follows:

Canon 6D (apparently great at picking up H-alpha in its unmodded state)

Samyang 14mm f/2.8 at f/2.8

12 x 25 seconds on static tripod, ISO 6400

Painfully stacked in Sequator (to eliminate Mr Musk's latest venture 😁) and slight tweaks in Adobe Photoshop 2020.

The weather has majorly sucked this astronomy season. The amount of rain, snow and hail we have had since October is hard to be believed.  So no Geminids observed here and out of all the meteor showers we have had this year, managed to catch one, lonely Monocerotid (image below)... Oh well, let's hope for clear weather during the Ursid peak of December 23rd... 

On 19/11/2019 at 11:55, JOC said:

How about 'Taken from the photographers own house or garden'?

That's a fab idea.   @Grant

The white cylindrical altitude bearings?

Diameter: 20mm

Length: 18mm

I believe it takes an M6 screw. 🙂

Over the years I've owned telescopes across the Skyliner range, from 6 to 16 inches and it seems the bearings are all the same size.

Minus 5 last night, remote location, 12 inch scope, army softie suit, lots of layers, hot flask, stunning clear skies = bliss.  I don't care how cold it is, as long as I am well away from man-made light pollution!

3 hours ago, Ships and Stars said:

Yes, same here, I just prefer living somewhere that would probably bore the pants off most people (except Ray Mears) after about two hours. 

I bet it's incredible there in NW Ontario, sounds like a canoe or kayak is a must have when not wheeling out the dob! Sounds like heaven. I made two very memorable trips up and down the mighty Alaska-Canadian Highway back in the early 1990s when long stretches were still gravel (or under extensive repair). On the way up from Seattle one year, somewhere around Haines Junction, my co-pilot accidentally missed a warning sign and drove our van off a unmarked vertical drop, apparently cut into the road by night repair crews.  I was sleeping in the back and was so tired from driving, my friend said I floated slowly upwards against the roof of the car under zero G and then landed with a thud when we touched down. I didn't even wake up 👍 I don't know how the van survived, but it was unharmed and still went in a straight line. 

Canada is just a HUGE country with some really sparsely populated areas, but you don't fully appreciate it until covering some vast distances by car. I've been across Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC and Yukon. Haven't been to Ontario or eastern Canada. I know someone from Labrador City of all places... Another friend years ago from Eyebrow, Saskatchewan (pop 119-ish) wittily remarked 'it's so flat there you can watch a dog run away for three weeks'. Still makes me laugh...

I'd love to buy a small parcel of land here, but my other half is not so inclined. I should look for a hunting cabin or similar to rent or at least have access to on short notice, but my old camper van has served me well for quick escapes. Much of rural Scotland is only owned by a relatively small number of people holding large estates. The website 'Who Owns Scotland' gives some idea. Still, there are parcels or small houses that come up with some frequency.

http://www.whoownsscotland.org.uk/geo/index.htm#zoom=7&lat=56.92913&lon=-4.51548&layers=B0TT

I've never been in -42C, hard to imagine, but was in -30 or -35C in Arctic Norway in Feb 2016 with some excellent clothing. Even with the right gear on, it just had this definite life-threatening feel to it, no matter what you were wearing, like you'd crossed some kind of invisible physiological boundary where people shouldn't really be unless, you were a reindeer herder or Inuit. Just a gentle breeze felt like razors nicking bare skin when I took my gloves off for a few seconds to take some photos.

I agree, I think my best night sky view eve was in Scotland was after some snow in January this year. It sharply dipped to -15C around midnight for a few hours, but rose back up to -2C by morning. That was not far from where this land is for sale actually. The view finally prompted me to seriously take up astronomy. 👍

 

 

Sounds ideal. Wouldn't bore me in the slightest as it's something I'd like to achieve although I am nearly there. Access to work is imperative, though, so I live in a sort of 'Goldilocks Zone' where the remote wilderness is accessible just by stepping out of the garden and a short drive takes me to work...

Cananda is a place where you can really get away from it all; all the remote places in the UK always have some form of tourist industry...

Scotland sounds like the next best place. Hope you succeed in obtaining that cabin; or even how about buying a bit of land and building your own?

The guy below is my hero and I would love to achieve this:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIMXKin1fXXCeq2UJePJEog

Well I woke at 4:15 AM in hope that the permacloud had shifted. Alas, no. 

Sleet, hail and low cloud scudding over us at incredible speeds. Thank goodness for Slooh!

14 hours ago, Carbon Brush said:

A word of caution if I may. See where the kit was made, and if it has safety approvals. A bit like you do for electric blankets.
Also look at the provenance of the retailer.
Is it an online only never heard of? Or a known high street name?

Get the kit checked over by someone who understands this elastictrickery stuff if it does not have easily traceable approvals.

Last winter my wife bought some heated gloves from a seller at that well known South American river company.

The lithium cells were a type that did not include short circuit or overload protection.
There was no fuse or other protection in the wiring from the power cells to the glove heating elements.
The gloves were made from a flammable material.

It doesn't take big leap of imagination to see a wiring short in a glove causing excessive heating in the glove and hot dripping or burning fabric stuck to skin.
An unprotected lithium cell can involuntarily dissassemble (tech speak for explode) if short circuited.

I have seen mains powered products (though not clothing) from China that contains fake fuses, fake approvals labels and incorrect unsafe fuse/mains cable combinations.

If a dubious charger, or music player, or computer goes 'pop' and you are around to turn off the power before the house burns down, fine.
Disrobing when layered is something different. Anyone who has ever had a wasp sneak into clothing will understand the urgency and problems.

Caveat emptor!

David.

 

 

Just had the mandatory fire training at work and it's shocking how fast a charged, dubious lithium cell can 'disassemble' and burn a house down!

With all the dark sky designations that Wales has, 20% is now protected from encroaching light pollution.    

(Photograph: Milky Way and Zodiacal Light over Pont ar Elan, Elan Valley, by Ian Collins)

Wales Goes Starry-Eyed for New Astro-Tourism Trail

Move over Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta Jones, Wales has just landed its own star-hunting trail, and it's more star-studded than an A-list red carpet.

The Cambrian Mountains destination of Wales has just opened a new astro-tourism trail recognising its recent accolade as one of the UK’s top spots to go star-gazing. Six stellar places  have been awarded Dark Sky Discovery Site status, putting them right up there on the celestial map.

The trail, which covers a driving distance of just over 50 miles, can be visited over the course of a few nights for a glimpse of Orion, The Great Plough and the North Star. It is accompanied by an illuminating Cambrian Mountains & Elan Valley Dark Sky Guide which details what to look out for throughout the year with a pair of binoculars or telescope.

“The Cambrian Mountains is one of best places in the world to view dark skies,” said Dafydd Wyn Morgan, Project Manager for the Dyfodol Cambrian Futures project, which is running the astro-trail.

“The clear skies offer incredible views of the Milky Way, meteor showers and the International Space Station when it passes over.”

“By day the six locations allow you to discover a community woodland brimming with wildlife, the UK’s tallest reservoir, a 12th century abbey and mining heritage stretching back to Roman times.”

The public can find the new Dark Sky Discovery Site locations at Coed Y Bont; Pontrhydfendigaid and the Arch near Devil’s Bridge; Llyn Brianne car park, Rhandirmwyn and Llanllwni Mountain; Pont ar Elan at the Elan Valley and the aptly named Star Inn Pub in Dylife. The new sites have been added to the Cambrian Mountains’ three previous established night sky locations of the Dolgoch and Ty’n Cornel Hostels and at the National Trust’s Llanerchaeron property.

“The fact we have many pubs and restaurants near the astro-trail should help soothe things. If it's a bit cloudy or cold, people can pop in for a meal while they wait for the crystal clear dark skies,” Dafydd added.

“Visitors can enjoy a day walking on the hills then wrap up warm for a night of star gazing in the Cambrian Mountains.”

Visit https://www.thecambrianmountains.co.uk/discover-dark-skies and find out more about the dark sky of the Cambrian Mountains.

Weed barrier fabric and a sewing machine makes a wonderfully useful, light and cheap blackout curtain and folds up to quite a small size.

Looking at Google maps it looks like you've got some lovely open moorland to the South of Elgin. I'd be scouting around during the day to look for any sort of layby or old forestry tracks to set up as there's not much light pollution southwards....as long as your vehicle can get there and back...

The Sony is so full of win.

In this age of social media and wanting to have an audience it appears that AP is more popular than OA/stargazing. We all want a tangible result and a picture tells a thousand words. 

Observational astronomy, however, can only be expressed in words and the online world does not have the patience to read reams of text. Shame, as it's a rich store of knowledge to find out what can be seen through various optical apparatus under a variety of skies. 

I for one, use the search function often for that purpose as it aids my own observing journey...

That is freaking epic.

1 hour ago, Nigeyboy said:

I recall one night while on the north Norfolk coast seeing a bolide. It seemed to be slowish moving with pieces breaking off it as it headed for the horizon. It appeared green and as you say, surreal to see it with no noise! 

That's the word: bolide... I was trying to remember what the term was! Yes, I also saw pieces breaking off, like molten metal...

Amazing - wish I had seen it. Saw a green fireball at 6am one morning, a few years ago. Very similar to this (please excuse the 'quality' source):

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5282970/wakefield-green-fireball-sky-yorkshire-video-new-years-eve/

You just don't know what to think when you see it - a very surreal experience, especially when it is so silent!

@quaoar....absolutely amazing. Well caught!

38 minutes ago, DaveS said:

I'm feeling increasingly annoyed with myself for wimping out last night.

Yes, me too.. I was going to go out tonight to try again but have to plan for an astronomy event. Ohhh, the irony... 

Yup, wanted a first light on a new dob but after a very physically active day, was too tired to make the trip. Day job also gets in the way!😁

Breathtaking image!

How is the Sony compared to the 5D iii? (If I recall correctly?)