Tiny Clanger

Woo hoo ! Unexpected (according to forecasts) clear skies over Leicestershire tonight ! I'm unreasonably pleased to have looked at Mars for an hour, then eased my poor old back by switching to look for Uranus, and actually finding the blighter ( first time I've been sure I actually saw it) with a the help of ocular view on stellarium. And as I established the relevant star/planet pattern with a 32mm ep, a couple of parallel meteors zapped across my field of view at 0:44 am and winked out while still in my field of view. Wow !

I just went back and looked, and it seems to have evaporated. The site is not exactly slick ! I'd contact him by e-mail and query it if the 'cheaper than ebay' guarantee appears to not hold, this is the contact page I used https://www.skysthelimit.org.uk/#xl_xr_page_index Heather

I'm only a beginner , but I've studied what kit is on offer at the more affordable end of the market, and (just as with cameras & photographic lenses) have come to the conclusion that you always have to make compromises, and you can always buy something a bit better for rather more cash ... It might be useful to think about getting into this in stages, maybe buying a 'scope which will be a good visual astronomy tool and will be suitable to take you into astro photo later on, but (for the moment) having it on a relatively cheap mount like a simple alt az while you learn what's up there and where it is by looking . Then you can upgrade just the mount when you feel ready to move on .... and have saved some more money !

I recently bought the Opticron Adventurer T WP 10x50s following the advice on the binocularsky site, and am very happy with them. I also bought the bracket to attach them to any standard photo tripod screw, which makes it easy to hold the binoculars steady . I already had a monopod to use as a support, but If you don't have one already (or a tripod ) you may wish to factor the cost in.

That is one ugly set of insecurity lights ! So high up by the gutter that a vertical 'shade' at your fence would have to be as tall as their house . I think you are wise to avoid escalating the situation, but maybe consider some sort of angled tarp to block the light to part of the garden, and duct tape a cheap mylar 'space blanket' to the side towards the light, give 'em some of their photons back , maybe the dazzle would make them realise what an annoyance they have created. Heather

That's a shame. My (nice) neighbour was quick to do something about the hideous , colour changing, solar LED monstrosity which was washing my garden with a sickly blue/green/pink sequence of light ... it was due to her adult son coming home to shield during lockdown, spending his days browsing ebay and his cash on tat. It was as if a part of Blackpool's illuminations had broken away and landed, and I was very annoyed for a couple of days (and nights) until I managed a calm and friendly chat over the fence , after which they shifted the main offending thing so it pollutes the garden opposite instead of mine. I'd done some research before the happy resolution , and considered the moveable screens some people have built from plastic plumbing pipe ( you could do a 2 in one and make it a screen for outdoor movie watching too ) or a washing line & tarpaulin rig, or even a cheap gazebo frame with the cover removed and tarps tied on as walls ... or to really annoy the neighbours, there's always the leylandi option ... Here's some ideas I saw https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/432511-on-blocking-neighborhood-lights/

Are you assuming the OP is male ? I've no idea if they are or not.

I'd suggest waiting until the husband is out, and having a chat with the wife, who sounds far more reasonable and might be able to talk her spouse round. If he has gone all alpha-male-defend-my-territory, he may find it hard to (as he might see it) back down to you. His poor wife presumably has learnt how to deal with him .

As a beginner with a limited amount of cash and a nasty suspicious mind, I saw the 'Sky's the Limit' listing when I went looking for an 8mm eyepiece, but with it being a small setup , I 'phoned the number given on the site rather than type my credit card details in over the www. Had a lovely chat with Alan, who is a very nice chap, and had him take my order over the 'phone (which was a novelty for him !) The EP arrived around a week later, and I e-mailed him my thanks, but mentioned that his own site says it will always be cheaper than his ebay shop, but adding the postage to my direct order actually made it more than ebay. I said I wasn't complaining at all, just pointing it out, but he promptly refunded me a couple of pounds, and I see there was some sort of special coupon code added to his site soon after that to reduce the prices a bit. I'll not hesitate to buy from him again.

Thanks for the warm welcome, much appreciated. Heather

That last google link didn't work for me, but the wayback machine has the page archived , here 'tis https://web.archive.org/web/20190525224540/http://www.wwnorton.com/college/astronomy/astro21/sandt/startright.html

Hi all, I've created an account to say thank you for all the excellent information SGL has provided me with in the last few months, as I hunted specific queries SGL often cropped up in search results, and I've very much appreciated the helpful, clear (and often very forbearing of beginners asking questions which must have been asked and answered dozens of times before ...) responses. You've helped me spend my money (relatively) wisely , when lockdown had me hauling out the old Celestron 114 on a wobbly cheap eq that I inherited in the 1990s , getting annoyed with it, and hoping something less irritating might be available within my limited budget. Happily my search coincided precisely with the arrival of the new skywatcher heritage 150p dobs, and since then (clouds permitting ) I've certainly had my moneys worth from the 'scope already both from viewing planets & Messier objects from a light polluted suburban garden, and in the daylight from tinkering to PFTE tape the focusser, make a light shroud, dew shield etc etc.. I've used your collective advice to inform purchase of eyepieces (the budget stretched to a couple of cheap plossls and one rather nice BST starguider 8mm ) and a pair of Opticron Adventurer T WP 10x50 binoculars, which work really well on a monopod & ball head I already owned. As well as a lifelong interest in the subject , I studied astronomy as a subsidiary subject as an undergrad decades ago, so have some idea of the basics ( altho' much of the detail has moved on apace !) and have been both a pro. and now a hobby , photographer , which helps with understanding the optical aspects (especially if your experience goes back to the days of film when good lenses were primes and autofocus was sci-fi ). For the good of my modest savings I'm going to try and stop myself from doing more than minor incidental dabbling in astro photo using the Nikons I already own ! So, again, thanks for all the help freely given, Heather