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Marvin Jenkins

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Posts posted by Marvin Jenkins

  1. 10 minutes ago, wibblefish said:

    Im going to be very newbie here. I see a lot of people saying “splitting doubles” what exactly does that mean / how does one do it 🤔

    Thanks for the suggestion I will go look those books up!

    I have joked with great and greater of the forum about this exact subject. Double stars, even triple stars are a ‘must do’, just not for me.

    A lot of individual stars to the naked eye are in fact two stars orbiting each other and are of very different compositions.

    The main star may be a red giant being orbited closely by a white dwarf! Some doubles are not doubles at all but optically aligned so appearing to be together.

    There is a whole Astro world that observe doubles as sometimes they eclipse. I sadly am not a fan, but doubles are something that you can observe well when the moon is around full as they are bright enough when everything else is drowned out by moon light.

    Marv

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  2. 6 hours ago, mozzauk said:

    Hi, 


    I have had an interest in Astronomy since a kid thanks to my Dad, and am about to start a degree in Astronomy part-time 🙂 

    Looking forward to getting involved in the discussions.. 

    If you don’t mind me asking, how do you go about starting a degree in Astronomy?

    I ask, as I was one of those kids that could have done much better! The report card kept on saying. Certainly no world shaker but I realised much later in life that I had an enquiring mind and it’s never too late.

    Marvin

  3. 17 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

    For my 12" dob... A new 16mm Nirvana EP, an Aero ED 35mm EP and the dob mirror itself back from OOUK having been recoated.  Nothing better than brand new Hilux 😍.

    Refurb of this 20yr old David Lukehurst dob is almost complete!

    Forgot to take pics of the EPs 🙄

    20201221_192517.jpg

    20201221_194513.jpg

    20201221_195548.jpg

    There is another picture of one of those fancy observing chairs/clothes dryer things. Is the wheel on the front so it can be pushed into the garden for observing?

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  4. On 18/12/2020 at 16:46, Skipper Billy said:

    'Star of Bethlehem' - I am seeing in the media more and more reports about next weeks conjunction being a re-run of the 'Star of Bethlehem'.

    For a kick off they are NOT stars! Giving them poetic licence and ignoring that fact I looked the location of Jupiter and Saturn around the alleged date of the happening and they were nowhere near each other!! Not even close.

    See attached and notice the date - Christmas Eve just before the 'event' - I also scrolled backwards and forwards a few years each way and they were never even close to conjunction !! [I am assuming that Stellarium is accurate for years BC?]

    For the pedants - you are quite right my house was not there over 2000 years ago!!!

    Screenshot 2020-12-18 14.49.46.jpg

    I want to say a big thank you to the OP, the esteemed ‘Skipper Billy’. What a truly remarkable thread from an observation of how the press report this stuff.

    I am very sensitive to this kind of thing as I try in my limited way to show the people around me about the universe surrounding this planet to a deafening silence.

    Over the last week or so I have been bombarded by the same non Astro folk saying “you are an astronomer, what about this amazing Bethlehem star” frankly I am left in silence.

    I cannot reconcile how the very same people who have no interest in observations from their back garden suddenly seek me out for validation after reading a news paper!

    Marvin

    • Like 1
  5. All this talk of wise men following a wandering star to the baby Jesus made me think I would share a recent Christmas card. 
    Recieved from an unlikely source, a C of E Vicar and his wife. I think it is the final statement that me laugh out loud.

    781531E9-EB50-4EF9-AB7A-0D205F2EF589.jpeg

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  6. Splendid work Zermelo. I knew they were in the 30’s but all my gear including books and charts are packed away due to building works.

    I didn’t want to be one of those experts (I am not) that advises someone new to the magic and then gets the numbers wrong.

    wibblefish, if you do get to observe them please post your views and impressions of these open clusters in the observing section. I will look out for your avatar.

    Marvin

    • Like 2
  7. Don’t despair, I am sure you will be successful in your hunt. I will say that your description of bortle 4 with street lights may mean you are more like B6 which explains why M31 is so hard to track down. M31 is large but very diffuse so light pollution really robs it from the EP.

    Crab nebula took me over a year in B4 skies. It is so small I was massively underwhelmed. Perhaps leave that one for a time with a slightly larger scope.

    The double cluster in Perseus is a great target, go for it. I am not much of a star/double star observer so someone else will be along shortly about the stars in your list.

    If I may offer a suggestion? There are three star clusters in the lower half of Auriga. This constellation is to the left and slightly higher than the V of Taurus. Auriga is a bright five star circle and large, so easy to find. I can’t remember off hand what the three open clusters are called but they are three of the Messier list so we’ll worth a visit. A further plus point Auriga is visible in the east after dark so no having to stay up after midnight.

    Good luck and clear skies.

    Marvin

     

    • Like 2
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  8. I think you are all incredibly wealthy or your cheese has slid off your crackers. All that to reduce star halos! What a whacky world we live in. All this is going a long way to making me think that pursuing AP is complete waist of time.

    I might just spend ten grand on a huge Tak and another ten on Televue EP’s including the Apollo 11. Obviously observational astronomy is much better value for money 🤣

    Marvin

    • Haha 1
  9. 3 hours ago, Mr Thingy said:

    Maybe emigrating to Spain should be on our wishlists? 🤔

    Why is Spain any better. I am just 100kms short of the Pyrenees and my skies are zero, for now nearly two months.

    There are a few Spanish members and I am sure sure that one has something like the following as a signature. “From the all the all too often cloudy central Spain”.

    I am 1000 KLM’s  south of the UK and the weather has been awfull. To put it into perspective, I have not been able to do any winter observing and we are only a little over three months from the clock change! 

    Marvin

  10. Supply and demand! That old school economic model of the world that seems to be forgotten. If you have it and a lot want it up the price.... it’s called capitalism.

    We all have a choice, if you feel offended by blatant profiteering DO NOT BUY IT. If it doesn’t matter to you then buy it.

    I will not buy an inflated product unless it is something that leaves me hungry. I will say on behalf of the consumer, those establishments that profiteer from a time of loss and financial pain, I HAVE A LONG MEMORY and the short term gains will not be beneficial for long term growth.

    Marvin

    • Like 3
  11. I am sometimes surprised by how little some people need to fulfill their dreams. On the other side I am very respectful to anyone who wants that small upgrade or small thing to make the difference and nothing more

    I, on the other hand have a grand plan. After spending seven years pulling a stone ruin out of the ground and turning it into a house far too big for my wife and I, I have received the official blessing.

    I have no idea how this came about, but my amazing wife of twenty years said. ‘Let’s downsize’ smaller, cheaper to buy, cheaper to run and you can build that obsy and get a dedicated imaging rig and have enough for a big Dob!!!

    Was I dreaming? Have I been hanging out with #bukko to often? Cannot be a dream as my last one had a giant hedgehog appear in the garden and eat my Astro kit.

    If all goes to plan (🤮) then  ROR obs CEM 70, possibly a ten inch RC, mono camera, LRGB and as I am definitely going to run out of funds I am planning on building my own 14 inch tt Dob and some nice eye pieces.

    Just a thought..... do you think she wants me out of the house at any cost? 

    Marvin

    • Like 2
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