Beulah

Stick to tricycles next time! Seriously, that must hurt. Hope you have adequate pain relief and a fast recovery.

Fab! Good to see some familiar faces there. Do you issue day passes? Haven't got any annual leave to spare at the moment!

OoOooh an osby build. Bookmarked.

Agreed on all counts!

Good idea and there could be a 'guess the MPSAS' competition...

Globe at night accepts the 'Loss of the Night' app for mobile devices which must mean the apps is okay to use! Certainly saves some dosh!

I think I remember that site, it was a user created one. Didn't know it vanished. I use this: https://www.globeatnight.org/maps.php 2018 map: https://www.globeatnight.org/map/

Pm sent

As a user of an SQM in a professional capacity I have found exactly the same. And another thing, there can be a slight variance in 2 SQMs! I have use of at least 2 SQM-Ls (one of them being my own) and a few SQM-LU-DLs, too. The 2 SQM-Ls produce a consistent difference of .21-.23 MPSAS....it's not a precise art but it provides useful ways of determining how dark a site is, if used properly. Other things to consider: low battery power can produce false, high readings. Disregard the first reading due to initial sensor temperature being out of whack with ambient - several readings should be taken and draw out the average. A fabulously but cloudy dark sky with little to no light pollution can produce readings in excess of 22 MPSAS...22.55 about six weeks ago! Another phenomenon discovered with a lot of SQM users is that readings tend to improve after midnight...

Yeah, I was just being uber cautious.... Heat shrink is also fab for cold aluminium tubes...if you have a hot air gun (hair dryers won't work) :https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BLACK-HEAT-SHRINK-TUBE-ELECTRICAL-SLEEVING-CAR-CABLE-WIRE-HEATSHRINK-TUBING-WRAP-/160809668245?var=&hash=item0

Yeah, hoping to upgrade to them, too Don't fancy losing wing nuts as they fly off into the ether after furtive attempts to tighten them with cold hands...

I used around 10swg (3.25mm thickness), just under an inch diameter (roughtly 22cm) tubes and they are pretty sturdy. If you are planning to connect the 8 truss tubes as one unit, make sure you don't overtighten the fixings as there needs to be some flexibility and movement when you construct the telescope. Once connected to the primary box and secondary cage (those fixings should be hand tight), the truss tubes are sturdy, trust me!. The great thing is that parts can be replaced as you have made them and mods are never ending! I'm using metal wing nuts and have promised myself to replace with ergonomic plastic ones as soon as funds allow. Pics, please!

You're welcome. It's flipping hard work getting out there, especially difficult getting the composition right in the dark - sometimes daytime recces can help to a certain degree but you have to have a lot of imagination! - so can appreciate the effort required.... my last 'batch' was done in -10 wind chill and sometimes you don't even know if there's going to be a breeze interfering with the subs...

Number 3 for me. Excellent processing and compositon where you have brought out the stars but also used the ground light polluton to create interest in the hills. A fabulous image.

Nice haul, @Paz !

Most of my astro-reading is done digitally so not many books... Just wondering how many times SPM's Observer's Book of Astronomy is going to pop up in this thread...

Thanks mate, I'll probably put one up if it all works out.

How about a potential dob? Ingredients below... Hoping to convert my Skywatcher 400p to a full truss...the company I work for gave me some 1 inch thick wood (very old spruce with some mega tight grain...) shelving that had been used in a laboratory for >50 years and was about to go to landfill...some pieces were warped but the rest were stable. Mirror and rocker boxes have been weight tested and are very strong. Still a long way to go but I am really looking forward to getting this made. I want to be able to take a decent size dob out in the wilds and still fit in a small car, or even hand pulled in a trolley...hoping to save some of the timber for my guitar building! All wood will be painted matt black and over-coated with exterior varnish.

I see you built a conservatory to match the scope. Very nice... Very original idea with the alt-azi movement mechanism with hand wheels ...love to see a vid of it in action.

The SAS are an epic bunch of people. Their outreach sessions at Attingham Park are amazing; such an enthusiastic bunch of people. Good luck with your Salopian adventures - from my recent 20 years of existence in said county, the further towards the Marches is better as most of the street lit communities are part-night to save spondoolies. Fabulously dark, too....even where I lived before (a dozen or so miles from the Welsh border) with the West Midlands conurbations' light domes. If I was shielded by a hill or house, the Zenith and right down to the Western horizon is pretty dark...excellent structure in the Milky Way, M13 and M33 visible with the MK1 eyeballs. Good luck with getting a group together and I hope you enjoy the SAS sessions...