asset189

Good info on the heavens above web site for anyone looking to see them. Saw them fairly easily from Dumfries last month

Here one of mine , 20 minutes from home clear low horizon to West and added bonus of wickerman for foreground interest

Thanks for this info

Thanks so much and apologies for being a bit thick. This is an upgrade on an old manual barn door mount for me so wee bit more technical

Thanks , I'll give it a read . An other daft question - the blurb boasts 60min tracking time yet based on the 100/focal length equation only around 2 minutes tracking is recommend which is a fair difference , or have I got this wrong ? So do I have to adjust track every 90sec or simply shoot next exposure and align with software , ta

Thanks , I'll give it a read . An other daft question - the blurb boasts 60min tracking time yet based on the 100/focal length equation only around 2 minutes tracking is recommend which is a fair difference , or have I got this wrong ?

When calculation max exposure before star trailing becomes an issue , is the crop factor relevant for Aps-c sensor ?

Cant help with any groups but ive previously been at Playa Blanca and skies were fantastic, got my first view of Scorpius down there , worth packing the bins

these three book are a bit dog eared now but its where it began for me in early 1960s as my grandfather used them to show me the night sky.

Title of the thread is misleading, for a beginner like me the sonyvA5000 is more than adequate . the attached image is a 30 sec+ exposure and does not appear to have eaten many stars. All in all for the price its a smashing wee camera.

Thanks Mark, appreciated, less than 30 secs should keep me busy for a while

Part of me wishes I'd read this thread a,month ago before I got the A5000. That said I got it principally for a day camera and so far it been real value for money. I've now started to consider using it at night. As a novice it's likely ill stick with A-focal and prime work so hopefully camera will perform ok. Has anyone had much sucess using this camera in this fashion ? I take it I need an e-mount tring adaptor to mount it for prime photography ? Thanks in advance for any views / advice.

My first telescope was probably a 66TR , it was relatively expensive back then (late 80,s) too, it worked ok for a while then i threaded one of the two bolts on the yolk and could never lock the elevation properly after that. Good introduction to the world of telescopes though.

Got it now ( or enough for my wee brain anyway) thanks

Thanks Olly, I'm getting there now. Regarding the methods of determining the true brightness of a star (wattage in your analogy) I take it there are a limited number of different types of stars out there in the first place which make comparison and assessment of brightness less of a guess ?

Can some one explain in simple terms how stellar distance is measured please. I've got high school maths and have got my head around parallax however I'm lost once things move on to cephid variables and beyond. Anyone care to simplify things a bit? Be gentle please

Moon Man show me your Feet I was driving through Langholm recently and passed the Armstrong Trust museum , as I did memories flooded back. Picture the scene:- A small village in Galloway Scotland, Star date :- 1969 Time :- hell knows , deep in the middle of the night. Mother and father lying half asleep in the sofa bed in my gran’s lounge. Me (some 45 years younger than now you’ll be please to hear) lying between them sound asleep. The old black and white TV still working away in the corner , hard to see at times but it’s the only place the ariel got a good picture. Suddenly I jump up and scream at the top of my 9 year old voice “ moon man show me your feet” scaring the “old yins” half to death before I plunge back into a deep sleep. The incident has been the source of amusement at family get together’s ever since. We were of course all waiting for Neil Armstrong’s historic first steps on the moon. Id been introduced to the night sky (I away hesitate to use the word astronomy, as it conjures up images of folks with big brains and intelligence well in advance of my own) by my grand father a couple of years earlier (in Galloway every where had a true dark sky in those days) but the Apollo program captivated me. The 1:50 scale model of the Saturn V rocket complete with command module and LEM soon took pride of place in my bedroom relegating my model Lancaster bomber and spitfire to the dusty outer reaches of the top of the wardrobe. Two years later when Armstrong visited his ancestral home to be awarded the freeman of the town honour the streets of the “muckle toon” were mobbed. Sadly a planned trip to see his visit failed to materialize (langholm been about as far away from me as the moon in those days) and as I get older its one of the few real regrets I have in life, not getting to see the great man himself . I maintained an interest , some times only passing, sometimes intense such as when Halley made its return in the 1980’s. I ve seen some amazing sights including the northern lights, comets, lunar and solar eclips and even possibly a UFO! But that an other story. In recent times ive got back into my hobby like never before ( the internet has a lot to answer for) got myself a brand new 8” Dob and open up even more of the deep sky . Ive managed to drag myself along the coast to the spring Galloway star party (which was freezing even in April by the way). Met some friendly folks who with out exception warmly accepted me and my better half even though im very much a part time star gazer. Anyway I digress, back to the present for the time being, to day I got myself a big ol pair of lined moon boots to keep my feet warn during the winters nights , so 45 years later the moon man may not have shown me his feet but ive now got a pair all of my own! Clear skies