Aramcheck

I think it's just a convenient to get the "0" at the top, so that it's easier to position Polaris at the correct time. Here's a picture of my polarscope taken through a DLSR right-angled viewfinder which I temporarily attach when setting the position. It's got a 2.5x magnification switch for fine tuning. Obviously once Polaris is in the right place, you rotate the RA back to it's home position...

Just a thought - was the scope positioned near (or down wind) of a condensing boiler flue? Also - as Marvin Jenkins says, there no need with a newtonian to leave it out that long. I keep our scopes in a dry storage area underneath our house, and haven't found any need to let the equipment stand... Mind you that may be because I haven't really got to grips with setting up in a short space of time... Cheers Ivor

Having just been outside to align a finderscope, I noticed that I've made a mark on the mount with a Sharpie pen to show approx. how far round I need to rotate the RA in order to orientate the polarscope reticule correctly. (i.e. I rotate RA until the "0" is on the Sharpie mark) Not terribly accurate, but might be something to consider...

The instructions on our EQ6 say to rotate the RA axis until 12 o'clock is at the top. To me this seems a bit crazy, given the cost of the mount & the risk in not getting the reticule rotation aligned perfectly. Once the RA is rotated, I use the alt/az bolts to check the horizontal/vertical are aligned on the axis' as best I can, before positioning polaris at the required time on the clock face. Cheers Ivor

Hi, Apologies in advance as I'm sure this has been covered many times before. We're just over a year in on our astronomical journey & have recently upgraded from a basic EQ-2 to an EQ-6 GoTo & bought a DLSR. I'm rather nervous about having the scope set up in cold weather (like tonight) and presume it's not a good idea to have battery power-tanks & the DLSR exposed to the elements. I'm thinking of putting the powertank in a plastic see-through storage box & making a small hole with a rubber grommet for 12v lead to go through, but what about the DLSR? Once set up I'd thought about trying to put a clear plastic bag around it, but I'm not sure if that would work. I'm not too bothered about the Telrad + Finderscope, as the Telrad has a flap & I keep lens caps on the Finderscope when not in use. Both our OTA's are newtonians. Any ideas / suggestions / advice on how to protect gear from the elements much appreciated! Many thanks! Ivor

Slightly envious of the WYAS observatory... https://gostargazing.co.uk/events/locations/rosse-observatory/ Hope you find some dark skies! There's always the option of heading north into the dales, but with a soc. at least you get 'safety in numbers'. I've never tried the random car park ("Detectorists" put me off that idea). Cheers Ivor

Also on page 28 of the 'i Weekend' (23rd Nov)...

Apparently the article is now on the front cover of the print version of the Guardian (Sat 23rd), which is good news. Haven't seen it myself yet.

Does this apply for imaging with an 8" newt & DLSR? I'm extremely new to astronomy/photography so was thinking of getting a barlow as the first couple of images I took (M57 & M27) were quite small in relation to the picture size with a Canon EOS-600D. I presume it's the accuracy of the tracking that creates the problem? Cheers Ivor

I think this is the source of the orig. article (dated a bit earlier than the Biological Conservation publication):- https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3378835 A really good piece, that echoes many of the ideas in the DW Documentary "The Insect Apocalypse" https://youtu.be/GzhHHVFp32U and the Buglife review from 2011.

Have a look at the Light pollution map. The displayed VIIRS satellite data covers 500-900nm, so it doesn't match the human eye wavelength response & it'll only measures light that is near vertical, but it's still a good indicator of light pollution levels. In Leeds, the local soc. tends to meet up for observations at Eccup. Might be worth seeing where the WYAS go. Since getting into astronomy our holidays are now planned around dark sky sites & new moons! Cheers Ivor

One of them did back an Early Day Motion in parliament on Light Pollution back in 1994... Good article BTW. Cheers Ivor

It's on Page 83 (don't blink or you might miss it) Also - related to the points you raised is the Government's review of National Parks that called for a night under the stars for every schoolchild:- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49781600 BTW - there was an Early Day Motion in parliament back in 1994 on light pollution. Interesting to see who one of the backers was. Cheers Ivor

The BS-EN-13201 specification has different lighting criteria for "Collision" zones (such as intersections) which are brighter than for regular roads. I read that the Highways Agency are also now turning off lights inbetween some motorway junctions, which is a good thing.

That sounds like there is a difference of opinion between the Council Officers and the elected Members. At least it is an admission that light pollution is detrimental to wildlife. If Basildon's bid to leave Essex County Council fails then you could try pestering Essex CC, as they have declared a climate emergency. (The Government's 25 Year Plan for The Environment does have one mention of LP, saying "We must ensure that noise and light pollution are managed effectively." Worth also noting the National Trust et al's "State Of Nature 2019" report which also mentions LP, Buglife's Review of the Artificial Light on Invertebrates and this recent literary review) I think "Dimming" of the street lights is the way forward, unless areas are rural, but I don't think the BS-EN-13201 specification has anything to allow variable lighting in residential areas - only on main roads, where the required lighting level is linked to traffic flow. At least with the HAROLD study at Sheffield Uni there should be some scientifically based recommendations on the required lighting levels, rather than the current rather arbitrary minimum spec's. Cheers Ivor

I had a similar problem with the rings on our SW 200dps, where the OTA wouldn't rotate easily. The felt hadn't been fitted correctly on the inside of the rings & had folded over slightly in a couple of places, so it was bunched up and some of the adhesive side was facing the tube. I bought a 2nd set of rings & replaced the originals. Then I cleaned the OTA & cut away the faulty bits of felt on the original rings... Replaced the hinge bolt with a countersunk one (& drilled the ring so the countersink bolt would fit), then put them back on the OTA so that the one nearest the secondary butts up against the ring that's attached to the dovetail, and the other near the primary. This has made it easier to rotate the OTA when slackening off the two rings that hold the tube in place without the OTA sliding about, and the one near the primary can be used as a fine tuning counterweight, when nearly balanced. It's early days, but so far it seems to work ok. Cheers Ivor

I find it quite scary how light pollution is largely ignored, when there is a large body of evidence in scientific journals on the impact on wildlife and flora. I'm also wondering about how much our ability to view the stars has influenced our view (groan) over time of our place in the universe & the advancement of science in general. If we lived on a world that had always been light-polluted to the extent that the night sky was merely a dimmer version of daytime a lot of things may have been different. We might still be thinking the Earth is flat... No GPS, no mobile phone cameras (cccd), no wi-fi... Our calendar and even the days of the week would be different. At least with light pollution the negative effects on the environment are easy to fix with just a flick of a switch... which is a damn sight easier than a lot of the other stuff!

PS: I forgot to mention, one drawback I've found with the Baader 8-24mm zoom is that being very short-sighted I can't see the full field of view when wearing my specs... the view without them (which requires refocusing) is much better but that is still a bit of a pain!

I'd argue that even if it is cloudy, light pollution is still a big problem. I recently went through the ALAN (Artificial Light At Night) literature database to see how many scientific papers were listed relating to the effects of light pollution on wildlife & found over 600 entries. Related to the Climate change argument, the impact of aircraft contrails which create more high altitude cloud should also be considered. An old 'Horizon' documentary which is on vimeo is quite scary: https://vimeo.com/138779240 (More recent research has shown that the contrails have an additional net warming effect from reflecting more heat from the earths surface than they sunlight they block). I just need one of these: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/misc/zarkov-cloud-gun.html 😀

Our Baader 8-24mm zoom has made viewing sessions a lot easier, as there's no need to fiddle about swapping eyepieces & swapping over light-pollution or ND filters. However, on the Skywatcher 200pds the weight has proved a bit difficult to achieve balance & get the eye-piece in a reasonable position. Also a little re-focusing is still needed too when switching magnification from either extreme.

You can also get it done roughly in the daytime on whatever the most distant object you can see - preferably TV aerial / chimney etc and then fine tune it at night on a bright star like Vega. i.e. if you can centre a star in the finderscope, as long as that gets it somewhere in the field of view with your lowest power eyepiece, you can then centre the star in the eyepiece & then tweak the finderscope to bring that into alignment.

@Scooot Here's a direct link to the Austrian government pdf: https://www.land-oberoesterreich.gv.at/files/publikationen/us_Leitfaden_Guidelines_Outdoor_lighting_english.pdf Hope all goes well! Cheers Ivor

Thanks again David - a good idea about connecting a car bulb & measuring the voltage over time & I'll test the discharge rate as soon as I get the chance. I only got the Power Tank as it was the one recommended for the mount by FLO, so didn't really research it beforehand. The 14.8v is from the mains charger which came with it, and according to the instructions it's best charged at between 14.5 and 15.5 volts. It does also say that if the unit is used for too long after the yellow warning light comes on, recharging could take up to 20 hours.... It'll be interesting to see whether the 17 Ah holds up... the mount is spec'd at 3A so should in theory last about 5 hours 40mins. Cheers Ivor

Thanks David. I'm getting 12.18 volts on a multimeter but 11.5 from within the Synscan "Utility" menu. Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow night if the weather forecast doesn't change and we get some clear skies. The first couple of times we've used the Power Tank, I put it on charge immediately after use, but as only the "Fully Charged" LED came on, I didn't leave it on for long because of the 'instructions' warning about not exceeding the recommended charge times ("Explosion hazard"). However on the last session I noticed at the end of the night that the Yellow "Needs Charging" came on & I'm not sure how long that had been on whilst I was imaging that night. I probably then made a mistake not recharging it at the end of session, instead putting it on charge the next day. Cheers Ivor PS: The DC adapter for charging the tank is reading 14.8 v, so I know that is ok.

Austrian Government – “Austrian Guidelines For Outdoor Lighting” (2019) https://www2.landoberoesterreich.gv.at/internetpub/InternetPubPublikationDetail.jsp?SessionID=SID-8EA6F1BE-98F8EEDF&xmlid=Seiten%2F115999.htm&pbNr=300750&dest=ooe (Covers quite a bit of stuff, but includes a stat. saying that in a study of 248,000 UK burglaries, 48% had security lighting fitted) British Medical Journal – Journal Of Epidemiology & Community Health – “The Effect of reduced street lighting on road casualties and crime in England and Wales: controlled interrupted time series analysis” (2014) https://jech.bmj.com/content/69/11/1118 (This is the biggest / most exhaustive study I've seen on Crime and Road Safety - data from 62 local authorities & 16,000 km of road) DEFRA – “A Review Of Local Authority Road Lighting Initiatives Aimed At Reducing Costs, Carbon Emissions & Light Pollution” (2011) http://randd.defra.gov.uk/document.aspx?Document=LAStreetLightingInitiatives(Final140911).pdf (Older, but still some interesting stuff. After a pilot LED lighting dimming scheme in Leeds, 80% of residents hadn't noticed the reduction in light (20% at 9pm / 50% at midnight!), 89% thought there would be no effect on traffic accidents, 77% no effect on crime, and 79% had either not noticed or felt that the dimmed lights would make any difference to their perception of safety) Home Office – “The Influence Of Street Lighting On Crime And Fear Of Crime” (1991) http://www.celfosc.org/biblio/seguridad/atkins.pdf (also a lay summary: “The Effect Of Better Street Lighting On Crime And Fear: A Review” http://library.college.police.uk/docs/hopolicers/fcpu29.pdf (This highlights that although lighting has no effect on crime, it has a definite effect in reducing the fear of crime) Campbell Systematic Reviews – “Effects Of Improved Street Lighting On Crime” (2008) http://mws-73973.mws3.csx.cam.ac.uk/people/academic_research/david_farrington/light.pdf (If I remember correctly, this is a somewhat flawed study which has been criticised on statistical grounds & according to Private Eye had strong links to the lighting industry - and it found a reduction in crime in both daytime and night!) It's a shame Basildon Council don't seem to have made a Climate Emergency declaration - if they have then there is a tonne of evidence in science journals on the effect lighting has on animals & in particular insects, which have declined by about 75% over the last 30 or so years.... [Happy to post a list of links if you want] Thanks for taking the time to write to the council. You might think it doesn't get noticed, but the truth is hardly anybody complains about light pollution. Cheers Ivor