chiltonstar

....above the gorse. Always a thrill to see the elusive planet! I started to set a scope up but while waiting for a band of cloud to pass, some local lamping yoofs appeared with shotguns, so I changed my mind. 90mm macro lens, Nikon D750. Chris

I've spotted The Pup with my ED80, but it was not easy - (aperture makes a difference) but I've seen it quite often with my 180 Mak. With the Trapezium, my 5" Mak shows the E star quite well but F takes a very dark sky which I don't have. With my 180 Mak, both E and F are visible on nights with excellent seeing and transparency. Chris

I am just converting my 12 yr old SW 127 Mak into a grab 'n go with an AZ GTI for my grandsons to use. I took off the dovetail and used tube rings, but I want to put the dovetail back to reduce weight and moment. Anyone any idea of the thread and pitch of the two small bolts holding the dovetail in position? They seem rather too small maybe? Many thanks if you do.... Chris

A poor image of it with a 70-300mm lens on my Nikon D750. I've enhanced the intensity to show Uranus, but obviously as a Moon image it's rubbish as it's wildly over-exposed. Chris

Just caught it - difficult withe haze, but the 10x50s managed it with the Moon just out of the fov. More obvious in a couple of images. Chris

Doesn't look good here tomorrow. Someone's bought some kit! Chris

I have had the odd stiff back from lifting mounts over the years but I think the worst injury was when we were living in the Italian Alps. Out on the patio with my bins at midnight, clad only in pyjama trousers (30 C, 90% humidity) when I trod on a 10 inch slug, skidded a couple of feet, then sat down on another. Traumatic! Chris

Just being facetious Stu - I'm sure there's nothing wrong with being a variable star observer. Chris

Beta 603 and Sigma 1517 (I've marked them on the SS chart below) have eluded me for some time due to our dreadful climate, but got the chance last night after looking at a selection of 8 globular clusters to test my viewing conditions after the streetlights had been changed recently to LEDs. Beta 603 is close to Beta Leonis, and Sigma 1517 close to Delta. Beta 603 has a separation of 1.0 arcsec - this was clear and well separated with the Mak 180 despite the lower magnitude of the secondary. Sigma 1517 (0.7 arcsec) was more difficult - at times it merged, and then the secondary appeared as a small dot just touching the disk of the primary. Certainly a pair worth looking at if you like a challenge! Chris

Absolutely - whether you enjoy the view of a globular cluster on a clear and still night, with a huge number of diamond points twinkling away, or getting your best image yet of a faint galaxy the main thing is you are enjoying it. Chris

Just, with averted vision with 7". Chris

Yes, I agree - birds look obvious with structure and cross very quickly. I wondered about a half inflated weather balloon, but I think the apparent movement doesn't match the wind direction. Chris

Taking a series of images of the whole Moon last night (16th March) that an object appeared on two successive frames 2 secs apart at 23:32:20 and 23:32:22. Any guesses as to whether this is a satellite or what? Seems an odd shape for a satellite to me. Chris

Maybe add the 'serpent' as a unit of length and particularly poignant for astronomers, the 'moz' as a unit of frequency. Chris

Some superb images Trevor. Shows what a good scope the Mak is for resolution! Chris

Not the programme it was. I tend to record it, and then f forward through to the bits of interest if any. Chris

Very nice - good to see the Plato craterlets beginning to show. Chris

Nice image - caught the pale blueish colour very well too. Chris

Agreed Mike, slightly less than due E at the moment. This is what it looks like with my 180 Mak. Chris

Looks like it. B trails behind A, ie due E. What is the orientation of your images? Chris

I'll try and fish it out. It's one I found three years ago when I was writing the light pollution section for a local plan. May have been Gloucestershire or Gloucester, plus several others. Chris

My observing site (aka garden) has two visible streetlamps to the north, one at 50 m and one at 115 m. In summer, these are bearable but without leaves in winter cause quite a lot of LP. Both were sodium lamps until a few days ago, when one (at 50 m) was changed for an LED type lamp, so-called warm white I believe. Visibly, there is a lot less light pollution and the garden is very much darker. I took a phone image last night with a transmission grating taped over the phone lens to show the relative brightness of the two lamps, and a coarse spectrum showing where the light energy is concentrated (uncorrected for spectral response). In the image, the LED lamp is relatively dimmer despite being less than half the distance of the remaining sodium lamp. More worryingly, it's obvious how much of the LED's output is in the blue, which will cause scatter in hazy conditions (blue light scatters more that orange) so I suppose in due course, I may get less LP but may perhaps see more background scatter when conditions are less than perfect. LED lamps are being blamed for a dramatic effect on UK's moth population because of this blue emission (moths only see blue light) - some councils have dealt with this by fitting yellow filters over the lamps. They get the added bonus too that the lamps don't get coated with flattened mozzies. Chris

A very nice post! Beta Mon and the Christmas Tree are favourites of mine too. Chris

Yes! (title). Chris