Charles Kirk

Thank you for sharing a very interesting observing report.

One or more of his series are available pretty much continuously on BBC iPlayer.

Not quite sure that I see the point of a compilation other than the impossibility of shooting a new series around the world in a pandemic.

Only Attenborough gets more repeats!

Space Junk Is Our New Tragedy of the Commons 

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-04-17/space-junk-like-overfishing-and-pollution-is-a-global-tragedy-of-the-commons

Good to see this getting coverage in the mainstream media.

Surely it is not a visual scope at all, but an imaging scope.

I had a quick look through the EAA document.

The images are very impressive and show what EAA can achieve. It does not make sense to compare EAA with Astrophotography which uses far longer exposure times and a lot more post capture processing.

But it is clear from your posts that you aren’t interested in the technology driven approach. To observe Nebulae and Galaxies you really need very dark skies. Star Clusters and double stars, not so much, because you can increase the magnification to darken the background.

I would go with option 5 which will make it much easier to come to a purchase decision. Availability of equipment will likely return to normal when the pandemic is over.

What you are no doubt trying to do is virtual network computing, or VNC for short.
A non gamers VNC alternative:

https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/home/

Thank you for an excellent inspiring report.

I thought that the Sky At Night program was excellent, one of the best I have seen.

5 hours ago, Macavity said:

I was kinda hoping it would remain a secret until the announcement.
But then scientists (everyone?) "leaking stuff" seems to be the norm. 😐

That’s what happens when they announce the announcement instead of just making it.

My guess, for what it is worth.

The Event Horizon Team on Monday will announce that they have captured the first image of the super massive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.
A follow up to last years well publicised first image of a black hole.

My guess.

The Event Horizon Team will on Monday announce that they have captured the first image of the super massive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.

I very much enjoyed reading your report, even if a few months have gone by since you posted!

Thanks for posting.

I watched the first half on iPlayer. Disappointing, so far, perhaps the second half will get better.
 

More bad news for astronomers and stargazers.

Taking on SpaceX, Amazon to invest $10 billion in satellite broadband plan 

Why not just wait 4 to 6 weeks by which time there is a high probability that the restrictions will have been removed.

Great report.

Thanks for posting.

I think that you would have a chance of seeing the pulsar at the heart of the Crab Nebula with your 20 if you like a little challenge.

Another interesting article here https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/is-betelgeuse-approaching-a-crossroads/

These are really interesting images.

Thanks for posting.

I don’t watch this stuff on principle, it encourages more of it.

1 hour ago, paulastro said:

Betelgeuse is a highly evolved red supergiant--the type of star that could collapse and explode at any moment.

Take this line from the article quoted in the first post, you remove the hyperbole which now seems to be part of most of what is written online, that sentence would read something like this.

Betelgeuse is a highly evolved red supergiant the type of star that could collapse and explode some time in the next 1 million years.

The temperature and pressure in the core of a star is a result of gravity, which is proportional to the mass of the star.

In a star like the sun, the pressure from Hydrogen fusion balances the force of gravity preventing further collapse and corresponding temperature increase. At a certain point the star will run out of a Hydrogen in the core, the Helium core will then star to collapse increasing the temperature and pressure until, if the star has sufficient mass, Helium Fusion starts.

Given a long enough timescale all stars are variable.

https://www.assa.org.au/resources/variable-stars/observing-variable-stars/

Experienced visual observers can see 0.1 mag differences under ideal conditions, and 0.2 mag more typically.

To make comparisons between variable stars and comparison stars in the same field you would need to have 100% field illumination for the circle containing the two stars. For that reason you would want a larger central obstruction than you would in a reflector optimised for observing fine details on the planets and/or moon.

Personally I would not be interested in purchasing a coma corrector that cost twice as much as the telescope that it was going to be used with.

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My 5.1" Newt is showing its ugly coma in my ES eyepieces (but less in my TV Plössls).  I also think that, because of coma I am not detecting faint magnitude stars due to a low perceived contrast.

I would have thought that the difference between the two is more likely to be due to astigmatism.

Firstly you need to observe after the end of Astronomical Twilight, you can find that by googling astronomical darkness, which will give you the latest date before the summer solstice and earliest date after it when you have Astronomical Darkness.

To achieve the optimal view from the UK you would really need a sea horizon where you are facing south, which rules out north Cornwall and north Devon, that way you eliminate any light pollution.

The Scilly Isles would be a great location.