Akyra

Some of it made sense yes, and thankyou for such a long and detailed reply. I was looking on ebay for a cheap panel to play around with during the summer while off from uni, click here, this one claims to produce 30w max (i guess thats with a cloudless sky) @ 13% panel efficiency. So am I right in thinking that 3 of these panels could power my laptop's power adapter? 30w x 3 = 90w (adapters rating) My adapter obviously has input for AC and output for DC, and the panel produces DC. But to get a clean steady 19.5v @ 4.62a I would have to construct my own adapter, which is above my abilities.

Hmmm What I was thinking was that the light energy that natually falls on a 1" x 1" square would be less than if the square was made up of say 10 focused dots of light (5 rows x 5 columns), because wouldnt each dot's energy be equal to the amount of light that entered whatever magnified its's opening?

I sorry that I haven't been around since I left to go to Uni, but I really didn't realise just how little time I would have to myself! Anyway, drifting into my daydreams while tucking into my sunday's dinner (yes I know the mere thought of having a cooked dinner at 7 o'clock is taboo to many) I suddenly found I had come up with a strange idea. I did a quick look through the top hits on google but found nothing really so I thought I'd come back to see old friends and ask about it. I was wondering if it had been done or if the science just isnt behind it. Some people claim that solar panels work at night, obviously they dont work as well as in the day (not as much light and because the moons light it 'polarized' <--- not my words) So I was wondering how much more power these 'lunar' panels could produce if the light from the moon was focused into multiple points on the panel using an array of magnifying glasses or telescopes for example. Does focussed light contain more energy per dot (as in being focused to a point) than the unfocused area that the light will natually fall on? Is this a just rubbish or am I onto something here? Is this is the case then solar panels have much room for improvement!

When we were in the plane going to Bulgaria, the clouds made a huuuge unending almost fantasy like landscape beneath us, it looked awesome! Very sharp images too, obviously not taken with my digital camera!!

Did you follow the advice I sent you in a PM about the focuser? EA2007 pretty much covered it in an above post too.

Was super suprised by just how clear is was yesterday morning @ 5am, the moon was high in the sky beside Orion which I have never looked for before getting into Astronomy, I could visualise the lines linking all the stars together to form the constellation, I really nice sight to see. I wanted to get the scope out and look for the orion nebula but I had to go to work :tearyeyed: Could also see Venus this morning while driving up the M4, the blob of light looked huuuuge in the sky compared to the odd other star up there.

Stellarium and others such as StarryNight, etc. are great for finding what you want in the sky. Just input your longitude and latitude and it generates a virtual sky that should match the one you can see outside. They are very handy for locating planets and DSO's.

Kind of depends on what is required from the software.... Stacking? Capturing?

I shared your same enthusiasm, but gave up before I lost the will to be in the same place as my scope.

Exactly! The first column says 'Clear' but the last says 'Moderate', so predictions for rain and/or clouds might be on the cards!

Gaz you have over 9000 posts! and.... Have you consider seeking help to remove that mouse from your hand?

Sounds like a job I would want!! Well done on reaching such a milestone, and I'm sure the whole forum thanks you for your input, and continued posts.

How do you manage to spend so much time on here? If you dont mind me asking that is....

It is alright for some aint it?!

Post [removed word]!!! You just self confessed that you obviously spend far too much time on the forum!