stuarts

I was looking at the alert for Nova V4370 Oph https://www.aavso.org/aavso-alert-notice-856 and got wondering about the amount of novae discovered by amateur Japanese observers over the years. Is there a geographical or cultural reason its so successful (or both)? There have been a fairly high amount of comet discoveries from Japanese amateurs over the years as well. Also I would be interested to know about the techniques they use. I see a DSLR and a fast lens ranging from about 100mm to 200mm seems a common setup, but has anyone come across anything in more detail ? How the images are checked, is it automated or done manually and with what software? Is there a preferred area of sky (Milky Way) that may not be looked at by professionals or other sky surveys ? I don't see many websites or 'how I discovered this nova' type posts I would expect from western amateurs. Or am I not looking in the right place (with google translate) ?

Happy birthday to your fine website. I particularly enjoyed the posts like Observing all Open Clusters in Cassiopeia brighter than Mag 12 or Observing every Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus in a Single Session. thanks

Doesn't MaxIm DL, AIP4WIN and Astrometrica have Blink Comparators ?

Glad to help. 😊

Here is my astronomy library with a range of books collected over many years. My first was the Observers book of Astronomy. The large format atlases are elsewhere along with most of the year books. Because of the weather I seem to spend more time reading than observing !!

Are Omegon Argus 25x100 binoculars essentially the same as Helios Lightquest HR 25x100 just rebadged? I've seen good things mentioned about the Argus and wondered if the same can be said for the Lightquest ones. (I guess that goes for the 16x70s as well) Thanks

The review of the Skywatcher AZ GTIX in this month’s Sky at Night magazine has got me very interested. Apart from it looking like a very capable AZ goto mount, the ability of taking short exposure photos with lenses as big as 400m is a huge plus. Has anyone with this mount had chance to confirm that this is do-able, and if so what sort of lenses and exposure times are you finding acceptable?

Hi Martin... many thanks for replying. What sort of quality do you get at the edge of FOV with the Altair (particularly with the 18mm eyepieces) ? Are there any niggles , however minor, you have with the binoculars ? I was wondering about the 10mm flat field eyepieces so its good to know they work well. I was also thinking about the 24mm ones as well, that with my calculations should give x23 with a 4.4mm exit pupil. thanks Stuart

Many thanks for the replies and suggestions. I'm getting a feeling from what has been said, (and lack of comments on the Helios) that the Altair binoculars are the better option.

I plan to mount it on a heavy duty Gitzo Carbon Fibre tripod and Manfrotto 503HDV Fluid Head I have, along with a long mounting plate to help balance it. It should be enough to keep it stable. Also I do have a SkyTee 2 mount which I guess could work.

Hi, After coming out the other side of a serious illness over the last year I've decided to treat myself to something I've always wanted, a pair of 100mm astronomy binoculars with 90 degree interchangeable eyepieces. The two main contenders I'm looking at are the Helios Quantum 6.3 22x100 Semi Apo Triplet Binoculars and the Altair 100mm 90 Giant Binoculars (which look like the same model sold by Omegon, Explore Scientific and a few others). As I'm not in the position to test any of these out beforehand, can anyone here give some feedback, if they own or used either of these binoculars? My main questions are: The most obvious generic question...out of the two, is one 'better' than the other and why? Is the Helios really semi apo, in that it has better colour correction etc? Why spend approx £300 more on the Altair model? Do both accept and focus a range of 1.25 eyepieces easily? What would be the maximum usable magnification you'd expect from these? What is the general build quality of both ? I'm assuming both have similar specs regarding things like multi coatings on all surfaces, type of prisms and they actually use the full 100mm aperture etc. thanks for any replies Stuarts