Moonshed

Good point, let me give an example of a newbie with no manners. Only this last couple of weeks a newbie posted a question about their new scope, it was a problem with the Finder. At least six or seven members, including myself, responded and gave good advice and even put in links where to buy a Telrad. The newbie made not one response, not one thank you, nothing. He then went on to start a further 4 threads, all about problems with the same scope and the same thing happened, lots of help and advice and not a single response, apart from two he gave me, the first was “Yes” and the second “Only tightened screw on one side” that was his total responses in full from five threads. Such behaviour is nothing less than bad manners and being downright rude, if I had my way Dtfvmd would not get another single reply. I noted one of the moderators lumped some of his threads together and mentioned it would help if he replied with more information.

Hi vlaiv, I know nothing about debayering apart from having had it explained to me, by you I think, that I needed to do it in FireCapture in order to see some colour, I was originally only seeing Mars as a white circle. However, it only meant moving some sliders around until Mars looked the right colour. My question is do I need to readjust this for other objects, such as Jupiter or the moon? Or leave things as they are because that is the right settings for my camera and by selecting one of the other objects in the FireCapture menu, say Saturn, the adjustment is done automatically from my settings. I don’t understand why it’s even necessary in the first place to be honest because with every other camera the colour balance is automatic. I suppose there must be a good reason for it.

I was once told that on an equatorial mount it was not necessary to have it spirit bubble level. I don’t know if this true or not but I always make sure my mount is level with the bubble anyway, otherwise why have it?

I have never seen any other moon maps with contour lines either, and to think they had this much detail back in the ‘60s. Mind you they needed that much detail, they were going to land astronauts on its surface and they didn’t want their landers heading into unexpected crater fields at the last minute, that could have resulted in a very different outcome. I think that today’s generation with their sat nav mobiles and cars do not appreciate the importance of having accurate maps and the impact they have had over the centuries regarding everything from heroic explorers, scientific explorations, road building, laying pipe lines, the Panama Canal, planning a battle, the list goes on. I laugh now when I remember the days of driving a Ford Transit full of Tupperware products to various London destinations with the A - Z of London Streets open on my lap and trying to quickly study it at traffic lights and busy junctions. But you know what? It worked! Not only that but I very quickly learned my way around whereas today using a sat nav drivers can cover the exact same route ten times and still have no idea without it. Sorry, I’m rambling again, it’s lockdown cabin fever.

I purchased this wonderful atlas in 1969, the year of publication, and every now and again will refer to it after having taken a lunar photograph to establish the precise area covered. The detail is amazing, even down to the contour lines, and the quality of the paper it is printed on is first class. I love the opening words on the rear cover: “Man has walked on the moon and a new kind of map is needed. This atlas now provides it for him. “”Let us create vessels and sails adjusted to the heavenly ether, and men will present themselves who are unafraid of the boundless voids.”” wrote the astronomer Johannes Kepler in 1610.” How true that proved to be 359 years later. I can’t help wondering how many other members may have also purchased this superb atlas and indeed still use it.

You could be right which may mean that for the first time in my life I may not have been 100% correct 😄 It’s a long time ago since a friend named a star for me and that was as I described, impossible to pin down to a single star, more of a general area, all just a bit of harmless fun anyway. However, this company will allow you to name a single visible star within a chosen constellation for the mere sum of £46 https://www.star-registration.com/products/constellation So go ahead and treat yourself, we could have a star named vlaiv in the constellation (insert birth date) and have a competition to be the first to photograph it. Wouldn’t that be nice!

Hi vlaiv, from what I have seen of these “name a star” promotions they do not actually point to a specific star that you could identify through a telescope, more of a cluster or a galaxy and say it’s in this region here. So as it turns out you couldn’t even see it using HST.

Hi Lewis2020 and welcome to SGL, You have already been given some good advice here, I would just like to give a big plus to binoculars, they are so quick, easy and convenient to use, cover a wide field of view and they require no previous experience. I think they would be a good buy for you considering your budgetary restraints because for that money any telescope you buy will be a bit low end to be honest, and I feel you may be disappointed with whichever one you go for. FLO do a good range, some of which are well within your budget, furthermore they are in stock! Have a think about it anyway before buying a telescope, binoculars are a good beginners alternative that will allow you to enjoyably find your way around the night sky.

That’s odd because I have the same effect on my iPad too, but it is only slight, guess it’s an iPad thing. I have to say when I first scrolled down to the image it was a WOW! moment, followed by OMG! Next came a long, hard look as I lost myself among the dust lanes and then the countless stars. Those blue star fields seen around the outer ring look totally amazing. Congratulations, a brilliant image by any standards. EDIT: Did I see it was a Bortle 8 sky??? Good heavens!

Had a quick read at Amazon and must say it looks good, interesting in a quirky way, humorous and informative. Just made it onto my Santa List in the nick of time. It’s not possible to have too many books!

Thank you, I’ve had a quick thumb though it, as it were, and it really is very good, it has some beautiful photographs and excellent diagrams. I have happily parted with sums of £10 or more for similar paperbacks. it gets a 👍 from me!

That was my understanding, that it was a Pagan celebration - I believe of the winter solstice December 21st - and taken over by the Christian religion as Christmas. The idea was to use an existing Pagan festival and change it to Christmas as part of the program to change the country over to Christianity and using existing festivals made the transition easier

I think they picked December because Egyptian shepherds really love snow.

It’s always puzzled me how it’s possible to “follow” a star across a country and then have it lead you to one specific dwelling that it stops directly over. How can you tell which house is directly under a star? All this before sat navs!

One point of interest I would like to add. When describing tides they are always described as flowing towards the land or away from it, but this is not really what is going on. What really happens is that a bulge is raised in the ocean by the tidal pull of the sun and moon, there are tons of places that explain the how and why of it. So we have this bulge of water, but it does not move around the globe, the bulge stays in the same place under the sun and moon and the Earth rotates through it. Next time you watch the tide come in stop thinking of it as coming in, instead appreciate that it is staying still and the Earth is rotating towards it. Naturally geographic features alter the local flow of the sea.

On the large scale the universe IS the same everywhere. Yes, the early universe was different to how it is now, it began as being infinitely dense and infinitely hot and since that time has been expanding and cooling, forming matter, stars, planets, galaxies and so on. I don’t know what you mean saying the early expansion was faster than light, unless you are referring to the inflationary epoch? We can see galaxies that are moving faster than light. The universe cannot expand at different speeds in the same space. Not sure what you mean by that. I don’t understand what you mean suggesting maybe dark energy and dark matter are parts of local space moving faster than light. It’s a complicated subject that gets written and rewritten as newer data is collected and new discoveries made. It’s a subject I love and I can see it’s got you thinking about it too. Keep researching!

The most recent and accurate measurements we have show that the rate of expansion of the universe is increasing, which came as something as a surprise to the scientists, “dark energy” was invented as a means of explaining this. When studying the rotational speeds of galaxies is was realised that there was not enough visible matter to be able to create enough gravity to hold them together, “Dark Matter” was invented as a means of explaining this. All galaxies are moving away from us, apart from a few very local ones, as can be seen by their red shift, and the further they are from us the faster they are moving away. This is due to the expansion of the universe. To help visualise this imagine having a long piece of black elastic and paint white dots on it all equally spaced apart, they are galaxies, the elastic the fabric of the universe. Hold it up to your eye and stretch the far end. You will notice as you look along it’s length that the further away each dot is the faster it is moving.

I saw what you did there 😂

Same here except for lifting everything in and out of the shed onto concrete with indentations (and white painted rings). I check the pa with PoleMaster every time for astrophotography but the amount of adjustment is so small as to be pointless.

Good idea, might need some beer and peanuts as well.

I am glad you posted your unpleasant experience because chest pains should never be ignored and dismissed as heart burn or indigestion, it could be heart problems. A few years ago I went through a period, a month or two, of a nasty pain in my chest which I dismissed as heart burn. When none of the usual remedies worked I went to my GP. To get to the point it was angina causing the pain and I was given medication to prevent it. My GP advised me that had I continued to ignore the pain it could have developed into a full blown heart attack. Never ignore chest pains, better to chance feeling a little foolish than to feeling nothing ever again!

I decided to carry out an exhaustive investigation into discovering why it is so often cloudy. After dedicating many fruitless years to this vexing problem I eventually found the reason! It’s due to weather fronts! Who would have thought? It’s been hiding deep in the Met. Office small print all these years and I never knew. So with all due humility I reveal to world the startling fact that 4 out of 5 weather fronts create clouds! What’s more I can prove it. I managed to sneak into their basement and ignoring the warning sign about leopards I opened the filing cabinet drawers. This is what I found. I took a micro-dot photo of it with my mini camera cleverly disguised as a parsnip. Spread the word to all astronomers! We need to march on Downing Street and demand they force the Met. Office to banish all weather fronts at once! We can do this brothers!

The only bits I know are what sin and cos mean from my schooldays. Here I give the only solar calculation that I am prepared to use: sun = daytime = (get out of bed) + cup of tea...look at news + cup of tea... shower - PJs...(get dressed)... cup of tea + custard cream... lunch + cup of tea... afternoon nap...wake up + cup of tea + look at news...cup of tea ...dinner (+ cup of tea) - washing up...watch tv...sun gone = nighttime = cup of tea + bedtime. Feel free to use it, it took me many years of dedication and self denial to get this far.

Hello, are you still there? Have you managed to sort out your RA and DEC rings?

It’s always a thrill to see a meteor flash across the sky. Only seen two this year due to bad weather.