Red meteor

The new Astro Speakers is now live and has a completely new modern look and more functionality. Perhaps one of the greatest benefits is that Speakers can now join our community directly online and maintain their own details as they introduce new talks, etc. Over 100 speakers offering astronomy related talks already have their details on Astro Speakers. It is hoped that more will be joining soon. The new website has been made possible by partnering with Go Stargazing. The Go Stargazing website is already a well-established source of information on astronomy events and lectures around the UK that is regularly used by astronomers and those with a general interest in the subject. Neill Sanders, the owner of gostargazing.co.uk, has generously funded the design of the new website and personally completed the development work to get it working. Astro Speakers and Go Stargazing are two not-for-profit ventures run solely for the benefit of the Astronomy community. Astro Speakers was launched by Graham Winstanley and Glyn de Lacy in 2015, initially with the support of about a dozen speakers. Glyn prepared an attractive and functional site and it has proved popular for societies to fill their lecture programmes and with speakers seeking engagements. Glyn acknowledges that his web skills are outdated, and we have been seeking volunteers to help for some time. Thanks are due to Glyn for the huge number of hours spent on building and maintaining the old website. Go Stargazing have been active in promoting opportunities for anyone to attend stargazing experiences around the UK at dark sky sites or local society observatories. Through this activity they have been approached by organisations such as hotels, camping sites, etc to supply contacts able to deliver a stargazing experience. Around the country there are many amateur astronomers already doing this through local societies. Astro Speakers would like them to join on our website as it is an opportunity for your or your club to be paid for your outreach. Astro Speakers is here to help anyone engaged in astronomy outreach to contact their target audience. Also let Go Stargazing know when you are speaking or running an event. Many well-known amateur and professional astronomers are already members of Astro Speakers and just a few of the positive comments received are: “I am happy to make a donation. You do a terrific job and I have had some great opportunities (including national TV) on the back of your site.” “This is an excellent idea, long overdue and just what is needed for astronomy outreach. There has been a real gap in trying to connect those interested in giving talks/presentations etc with those who are looking for volunteers. I would encourage all those who regularly give talks to the public, societies and schools to sign-up to this excellent website.” By a past President of the RAS. Graham Winstanley is Secretary of Lincoln Astronomical Society and the current Treasurer of the British Astronomical Association. www.astrospeakers.org

ASTROSPEAKERS GOES WORLDWIDE Astrospeakers began in February 2015 with a small list of speakers and since then it has grown to be the goto website for UK astronomical societies to find the best speakers for their astronomy meetings. We have many lecturers, from enthusiastic club speakers to top level professors and doctors in the field of astrophysics and astronomy. We are in the process of expanding our reach to provide a worldwide list of astronomy speakers and professional lecturers together with a worldwide list of astro societies. It will undoubtedly take some time before it becomes a useful global database but we have made a start and it is constantly being updated. This development has been prompted by the recent growth of using online presentations and also the fact that a few speakers and societies had requested registration even though we had only envisaged catering for the UK. Astronomy has no boundaries and Astrospeakers has now opened theirs. www.astrospeakers.org Graham Winstanley, administrator and Glyn de Lacy, webmaster

Lincoln Astronomical Society will be 60 years old in October. To celebrate this, we are opening our facility to the public for three evening lectures. These will take place at 23 Westcliffe Street, off Burton Road in Lincoln with a 7-30pm start time. Thursday 3rd October- Dr Phil Sutton- Lincoln University-‘What do we really know about the Outer Solar System?’ Friday 4th October-Martin Lewis is coming from St.Albans His subject is ‘Planetary Imaging with a Dobsonian Telescope’. Martin’s planetary images show amazing detail and all taken from the UK. Saturday 5th October- Dr Pauline Norris is an Egyptologist with an interest in archaeo-astronomy and is coming from mid Wales to talk on ‘Astronomy of the ancient Egyptians’. She is returning from Egypt on the 3rd. Entry is free but donations are welcome. Children under 16 must be accompanied by a responsible adult. Contact phil@lincolnastronomy.org for more information.

Hi Lester. I own an etx90ra and like you wanted to do some imaging. The RA model is very old and has no computer. I managed to get some lunar and planetary shots with a webcam and at the time was pleased with my pics of Mars and Jupiter. It was difficult to find the target though. I attempted the Pleiades at one point and got something but soon gave up The DSLR was just too heavy and restricted where you can point it. To be positive I would suggest trying a camera like the zwo asi120. A lot less costly than your budget and really useful camera as a guider if you progress to dso's later. It will be good for taking lunar and planetary videos and can do longer exposure as well. Also works well for capturing fireballs. DSO's really need autoguiding but give it a try on something bright like the Pleiades. Good luck and don't give up too easily. Graham

I have downloaded a copy but Canon does not show up on the drop down list of cameras. Can anyone help please? Earlier it was confirmed that Canon cameras are supported. Graham

Just seen your post for the first time. Congratulations on a superb job. Hope you have some clear skies to get some observing done. I am in the process of building my own observatory at Bassingham not far from you. https://1drv.ms/f/s!At85D9aim9G0gQpsL4wanDU-WPXW I am at the Lincoln AS observatory most Tuesday evenings and would be pleased to meet if you would like to come along. The society's website is www.lincolnastronomy.org and my number is on there. Regards, Graham