Midpoint

How what?

I'm updating my blog again, that must mean it's chucking it down outside. However, rather than go on about the weather, I wanted to share my first attempt at imaging from a couple of weeks ago. As you may have read else where on the forum, a large number of SPC880NC web cams have become available very cheaply and that they can be flashed with the SPC900NC firmware. This has meant quite a few people (myself included) have been able to try astro imaging for the first time. Before anything else, here's my first Jupiter that I'm willing to share: I think I got very lucky here as I was just messing around with the capture settings and not only did I manage to catch the Great Red Spot, I also caught the shadow of Io's transit! Unfortunately, I forgot what settings I used and so when I next went out, I was unable to get anything nearly as good. I had trouble focusing the image and getting the exposure right. The new dimension I was referring to in my title was not imaging though. One of the other members of this board, rwg, has written a very nice bit of software called SharpCap for capturing videos on your PC. The best bit about this software is that rwg has also released the source code. This has allowed me to play around with it and add features I would like. It's been while since I've done any meaningful programming outside work and it's given me something to do while I can't get out with my scope. Although the weather is foul, I can still work on something useful for when the skies are clear. Rwg has very kindly accepted a couple of my features so I highly recommend that you at least download it and take a look :D

It seems like months since I last saw a clear sky. Before I took up astronomy seriously, I never realised how repressive these clouds cloud be, now it feels like I'm living in some sort of cave. Still, it's given me plenty of opportunity to play Starcraft 2 late into the night! As I've mentioned a couple of times, I'd been hoping to be buy something new like a nice eyepiece by now. I really fancied a Baader Hyperion to add to my collection, but as I've hardly made use of what I've already got, I may as well save my money until the skies clear up a bit. As an act of defiance, I've started reading The Cloud Spotters Guide after a recommendation from a friend. If nothing else, it's at least been an eye opener. Who would have thought that continuous, flat grey expanse of suspended moisture could be classified into so many types. So while we're sat here lamenting the state of the weather and cursing our now useless expensive purchases, is there a forum elsewhere with cloud enthusiasts singing the praise or the most glorious summer of viewing in recent memory? When the skies finally do clear and we can enjoy long cloudless nights again, spare a thought for the humble cloud spotter!

It's just gone eight in the morning and it feels like it has been raining for weeks. The rather bedraggled pigeon sitting on the roof opposite doesn't look best pleased either. By now, I'd been hoping to write a little something about things I have seen through my telescope. Instead I've had to make do with trying out various different eyepieces in Stellarium to see if it helps me decide what to buy next. It hasn't really, but given that I've not been able to make full use of my current collection of eyepieces yet, I'm not too worried. :) But I have had my equipment for a couple of months now and I have managed at least two good nights observing giving me a change to get to know how everything works. I've also had many failed nights observing where nothing seems to have worked. Fortunately, these failed nights has also been my biggest learning experiences. Nothing teaches a lesson you never forget than having to pack up after less than an hour and spending the rest of the evening researching what actually went wrong! On a couple of occasions, this has lead to new purchases. Previously, I wrote about the events lead me to buying a power tank. The next of my purchases came after a very pleasant camping trip to Cornwall. The weather was perfect and the camp site was quite a distance from any major sources of light pollution. To help things, it was on the coast so no lights or obstructions anywhere to the North of me! Even more exciting, Comet McNaught was also at its peak so I was hoping to finally get some great views through my little scope. The purchase of a slightly more portable scope was going to pay off for me on this holiday! That was the plan anyway. Now, I'm sure this will be nothing new to anyone who lives by the sea (or even anyone who regularly visits the coast), but the combination of a long hot day and a large body of water equals lots of moisture in the air and a very quick temperature drop once the sun goes down. I was suffering from dew far more than I ever expected to. It look less than half an hour for the front lens to completely mist over. I could see absolutely nothing through my telescope! My plans were ruined! After a couple of nights of this, I simply gave up and left the telescope in the back of the car for the rest of the holiday. On my return home, I bought a cheap dew shield to prevent a repeat of this when in my back garden. I've imposed a simple rule on myself with regards to purchases in order to stop myself getting carried away which is that I only allow myself one purchase a month. The dew shield meant that I wouldn't be buying any filters or eyepieces until next month. The lesson learnt here, there's no point spending a large amount of money on fancy equipment if you can't actually see out of it! :) If I were to return to Cornwall (or anywhere else by the sea), I'd probably also need to invest in some dew heaters, just to be sure I don't suffer the same fate again. I'm slightly glad I bought the 17ah power tank than the 7ah tank now. The heaters can be a future purchase though, I've just got to make sure I remember to add them to the check list. None of this helps solve my current problem with the rain and clouds though. The weather report doesn't look too promising for this evening and that's one thing I have yet to find a solution to...

Thanks, I started out using Stellarium (and even got as far as hooking it up to my mount), but I've found I'm using it less now as I always have my phone with me and I'm still picking things out of TLAO :)

So, having bought my telescope and set it up in the front room in order to learn how to use it, my thoughts turn to what I might buy next. A new eyepiece? Some filters? Maybe start saving for an equatorial mount? Once it starts to get a bit darker, I set up outside and give SkyAlign a go. Point at the Moon, point at bright star 1, point at bright star 2. Nothing. No match found. A couple more attempts using various combinations of stars but nothing matches apparently. Hmm, I must be doing something wrong. Back inside and a quick search online and a few forum posts recommending Auto Two Star Align instead. That's fine, I can point my phone at the sky and identify the Pole star and Altair. Unfortunately, after aligning my first star, the scope slews to a seemingly random part of the sky, almost flipping over in the process! This just isn't working. Giving up for the night, I ask on a forum if anyone else has had the same problem. It turns out that with all my playing about with my new toy during the day, I've managed to run down the AA batteries I was using to the point where the mount would stop functioning properly. A change of batteries for my next session and everything is finally working perfectly and alignment is a doddle. After all my imaginary shopping lists of fancy astronomy gear, it turns out that my next purchase would be a big battery. Being new to the hobby, I wanted to make sure I would get something that would work so I ordered a Skywatcher 17ah Powertank from FLO. Almost certainly more power than I need but I'm hoping that it will allow me to power a few more gadgets in the future. The powertank seems to last forever and I've not had any problems with my telescope since. It's also allowed me to take my kit away camping as I'm not tethered to a mains socket so it has definitely been a worth while purchase for me. Now I really can start thinking about buying something new and fancy!

Here, I'm hoping to keep some sort of record of my observations over time. My handwriting is not the best so rather than lose my notes in an incomprehensible scrawl, it made sense to attempt to log them on the computer. And where better to do that than here, where there is already an active community of astronomers who I can ask my silly questions? Up until quite recently, I'd been using a pair of 10x50 binoculars and simply sitting in a fold up chair in the garden. This allowed me to learn my way around a couple of constellations but it always left me wishing I could see a little bit more. However, they unfortunatly fell apart a couple of months ago and so I took that as a sign that I should really upgrade. I purchased a Celestron Nexstar 6se after reading a few reviews as it seemed the most convenient scope for me. It can be set up and ready to go in less than ten minutes and the GOTO feature means that I can spend less time on a chilly night searching for for my target and more time observing. It can also be quite easily stuck in the back of a car and taken to darker skies without too much fuss if desired. So far, I've been very satisfied with this little scope. Along with the scope I also purchased a Revelation Eyepiece Set to get me started and an additional 7mm Vixen Lanthanum to push the magnification that little bit further. I've found the Revelation eyepieces ok for now, but as a glasses wearer, I'm completely unable to use the 9mm EP. The Vixen EP has certainly shown me the benefits of spending a little bit more on your kit as the wider field of view combined with a longer eye relief means it's very comfortable when viewing planets like Saturn and Jupiter. To guide me around the sky, I've borrowed a copy of Turn Left at Orion from my local library and installed Google Sky Map on my phone. For a free bit of software, I can't recommend it enough! The ability to just point my phone at the sky and have it tell me what I'm looking at before all the stars have come out has saved me so much time setting up. If you have an Android phone and haven't got Google Sky Map yet, go grab it now! After a few nights observations with this equipment, I'm starting to think about what to buy next. What I initially thought I'd be buying has had to be pushed back a bit though as it soon became obvious that I needed a couple of more mundane things rather than fancy lenses and filters :) So there we have it, that was my initial purchase and hopefully, I'll get round to writing up some of my first notes and a little info on what I bought next and why (don't worry, nothing too exciting). Fingers crossed, the summer nights will remain clear for a while yet.