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The summer equinox has passed and people are looking forward to Star Parties. I have never been to one, don't know what to expect, have never met the participants. As a solitary observer tucked away in my small North West garden I have been happy to gaze the night skies alone (Mrs Polar Bear often pops out for high mag views of the Moon and Planets) but otherwise I enjoy my own company and get along very well with myself. So I have taken the plunge and committed to attend CSP9 oop North in Cumbria. Watching the CSP9 thread develop I noticed comforting words such as friendly, whisky, bacon butties, and with a host called delilahtwinkle what could go wrong? Being a tent snob, and loving Glamping my 'usual' nights out are spent in a Cabanon that is the size of a Jovian Moon and takes 2 people an hour to set up. Not ideal, so ebay to the rescue and luckily a smaller Cabanon (think Europa vs Ganymede comparison) was found just up the road from me. Sleeping will be the usual twin air bed and duvets, a single burner will suffice for snacks, unsure as to whether to take the BBQ and the fold away hanging wardrobes ! So camping equipment sorted, onto the scope. Easy decision as I only own one (this week) so the C8 will be coming. Do you put the scopes away each day? unsure, so I found a new moped cover on the local car boot for £3.00 that will do the trick of protecting it. Red light etiquette is an unknown to me, I always observe at home amongst the fairy lights strewn around the garden. As a smoker I worry about lighters, do they affect dark adapted vision? Can I open my car door or do I need to shield the interior lights if I do? So much to learn regarding Star Party etiquette. I am really looking forward to it, and to meeting up with like minded individuals (whisky drinkers) :wink:

Hello again, After many hours of researching and asking on forums I’ve decided not to go down the imaging road as I’ve come to realise it’s way out of my budget. Now after realising this I’ve narrowed down to three telescopes that I’m considering on getting purely for visual use.. Skywatcher 150p 150pl or the dobsonian 200p. What is the difference between the 150p and the pl? I’m after something that can let me see enough detail on planets that I’ll enjoy and also allows me to get views of deep sky objects. I have been talking to Martin from FLO as well and still can’t decide. I’m hoping you can help me make my decision. I’d also like to know how comefortable these three are as I’ll be most likely doing long sessions for sketching. My budget is £400 max. Thanks for for the help (again).

Probably a stupid question... Heyyy soo i am a begginer and about to buy my first telescope.A Skywatcher 200 p. I ve just though of something , Since i know filters can be stacked i ve been wondering if i could take visual RGB filters and stack them.Specifically blue green and red in order to create a visual full colour image ,like photography. I know its probably a stupid question because people all over the world would have done this by now .But i m just curious. -Kronos

Last night, having a look around with my 7x50s I was looking at M31, and could clearly see it as an elongated patch, not just the star-like core. Now I was thinking, Sidgwick says that an extended object like M31 cannot appear brighter telescopically than with the naked eye, and I get his math. With my old eyes, and under my less-than-dark skies I'm probably not even getting the full exit pencil of my 7x50s. Therefore, does this mean that I *should* be able to see M31 naked-eye given that it won't appear with greater contrast in the bins than by eye? As they say in examinations, please read the whole of the question before anwering, I'm not asking: "Should I buy bins with a smaller exit pupil"; Possibly, but not just now. "Should I buy a dob"; No, I'm 90% imaging, and don't like alt-az anyway. "Should I move to a darker site": Yes, it's on my to-do list.' If I *could* see M31 naked-eye that would mean I had Bortle 7 skies rather than the borderline 8 that I've assumed. Time was, I *could* see M31 naked-eye in Acton, even further in to London .

hello stargazers, I am getting close to pulling the trigger on a new scope ( i currently have some 25x100 bins and a 125 etx ). I was going for a normal 8 evolution but over the last few weeks the price has seemed to of gone up by nearly £200 so i have decided to save a little more and get better value for money by purchasing one of these other evolution scopes ( well, that's my excuse ) I have researched and researched but seem to get different answers wherever i look, so i will ask the question here. I will be using it for visual and video astronomy, i understand there is no advantage with the edge in video astronomy but visually, there is an improvement. is it big enough to warrant it over the 925 ? i know a focal reducer will cost more for the Edge when i do use it for video astronomy but i also understand that aperture is king and living 12 miles from central London the extra aperture may help a little ( and a beefier tripod on the 925 ), which would you go for ? i am edging ( no pun intended ) towards the 925 but i am just looking for confirmation i am not missing anything as i have no experience looking through either of these scopes and zero experience with video astronomy, any insight or advice will be welcome, thank you.

The February 2016 edition of the Binocular Sky Newsletter is ready. As well as the usual overview of DSOs, variable and double stars, this month we have: * Several lunar occultations, including a graze of 64 Cet * Two asteroid occultations * A mini-review of the Helios Stellar II 10x50 binocular I hope you find it useful. To get your (free!) copy, go to http://binocularsky.com and click on the newsletter tab.

Hi all I am at an "astronomical junction" in which I could really do with some valued advice from fellow astronomers. I have been having sleepless nights for a while now stressing backwards and forwards about what astronomical move to make next. My current set up is as follows: HEQ5 with a Skywatcher 80ED PRO Imaging through DSLR / Celestron Next Image planetary imager DSLR / Camera tripod for wide filed (non tracking) milky way work. I have been happy for a while with this set up, but to be honest, with not having a permanent pier, observatory, it's becoming a bit of a labour of love to drag it all out when we get a clear night, (spend 50 mins setting it up) then the clouds roll in..Grrrrrrr I am city based, so I can just about image some of the more bright DSO which I have been really happy with. My question is now what to do next, as it's becoming more frustrating going though the same motions overtime I want to quickly look at the moon. Here are my thoughts so far: Take a step back from Imaging for a while and focus on a investing in a nice 10" Dob and a great set up eyepieces and fall in love with the visual side of imaging again. Invest in a Skywatcher Star Adventurer for better wide field Milky Way work, and maybe add a small scope to this for bright DSO? Or go the other way: Invest in a 8" Cassergrain and mount this on my HEQ5 mount and focus on planetary / lunar work with a good quality web cam? I have had reflectors before on this mount, and to be honest the size and portability didn't work out to well. Maybe even do some planetary / Lunar imaging through the Dob? Tracking Dob perhaps? Arhhhhhh My dilemma. Is anyone in a similar position out there? or has been? city dwellers who have made a change of astronomical imaging based on their surroundings? time to set up and didn't have a permanent base to observe from? Thanks in advance all Ben

Hi all, i just spotted by chance the 2nd "fireball" / bright meteor in my life at 20:52 CET , dark orange with bright grey trail, no sound, east-northeast to east southeast, elevation 10-20 degrees ... Yay ! Unfortunately , no picture, just human observation while taking the dog out . PS.: might have been a "november orionid", they peaked yesterday.

The latest edition of the Binocular Sky Newsletter is ready. As well as the usual overview of DSOs, variable and double stars, this month we have: Several lunar occultations, including one of AldebaranComet Catalina now visible in the morning skyAsteroid Vesta in the same part of the sky as Uranus and NeptuneA mini-review of the Helios Stellar-II binocularI hope you find it useful. To get your (free!) copy, go to http://binocularsky.com and click on the newsletter tab.

Hey guys A guy in my area is selling a 13.1" Coulter Odyssey, the 2 mirrors. I'd want to get an idea on the optical quality of them. He bought the many many years ago, and they still in the original package, hasn't been used. 1. Would the optics degrade over time if they were wrapped up? 2. What is the general quality of the mirrors. I have heard the optics can vary alot, and they generally not that great for planetary views. 3. He is selling them (and he mentioned the Rocker once) for around $350, is this good for a un-used mirror. I'd like to build a really nice DSO / Planetary Dob, and this gives me hope if the optics are really good. Any advice, tips etc would be greatly appreciated. Tx guys

Having had such a great night observing Jupiter on 4th April, I thought I would start another discussion about what I saw and hope that others will contribute too. The idea is not some sort of competition, but to highlight what is possible with different scopes and hopefully for us all to improve and see more in future by knowing what to look for. John (broadway1) posted up a lovely image from his C14 which he has kindly given me permission to reference as it was taken at the same time I was observing. I always find it fascinating to see images like this as it helps validate and clarify exactly what you were seeing. John's post is here: I've attached four images to this thread. The first is a labeled diagram of Jovian features. The second is John's original image, the third is the image with highlighted areas showing what I could see (red is definite and purple is suspected/hard to see), and finally there is a detuned version meant to roughly represent the visual view although this is not exactly successful. It looks much more washed out than the actual view because I have had to knock it back to remove detail I couldn't see. Anyway, hopefully it helps the discussion. Kit wise I was using a Tak FC-100D on a Vixen GP mount with goto. I used a Baader Zeiss T2 prism plus a Leica Zoom and Zeiss Abbé Barlow giving me approximately x100 to x200 to play with. I found that roughly x180 was the most reliable in terms of the contrast of the fainter features vs image scale so I could see them. I tried a Neodymium filter but didn't think it added any detail although it did boost the perceived contrast. So, working from the top, the North Polar Region showed as a shaded area, with what I assume to be the North Temperate Zone a whiter band below this followed by the NTB again a lightly shaded grey underneath it. I could not see the NNTB or the zone, both of which are visible in John's image. Next up (or rather down) was the Northern Tropical Zone showing as a paler band above the NEB. Note that I am still unsure whether I saw the NNTB and NNTZ or the NTB and NTZ! I suspect the former but have assumed the latter! Any input and clarification is appreciated. I have the same confusion in the Southern region! The NEB itself had some subtle wavy detail on its northern edge (highlighted by the purple box). I could see some variation in intensity through it, but the main features were on the southern edge. Ahead of the GRS was a festoon, and directly above the GRS was a dark mark which I thought at the time was a barge. In fact it was just an intense swirl in the turbulence along the southern edge of the NEB as proved in the image. The main features I could see are highlighted in red boxes or ovals on the diagram. The Equatorial band was fairly featureless, but then we come to the SEB. GRS itself was a lovely orange/brick colour, surprisingly intense. I could not detect any variation within it, that's something I will look for more in future. The lovely white separation between GRS and SEB was very clear, as was the dark 'eyebrow' which ran down from the GRS then all along the lower edge of the SEB. The separation of the SEB was visible as a lighter band running within it, and it was slightly darker towards the top. Following behind the GRS were what appeared to be two white ovals and a fainter feature between them. From the image they appear to be bright swirls in the turbulence following it, but still very nice to detect. Finally, I could just detect some waviness/texture along the top of the SEB. We then had the Southern Tropical Zone, the STB and STZ and finally the Southern Polar Region. Same situation as in the north though, I could be confusing the STB/STZ with the SSTB/SSTZ. Either way I could see one and not the other. I could not see any white ovals in the Southern Polar Region which do appear in John's image. So, that's it. A very rewarding session and surprising levels of detail from what is an excellent scope, but still only a 4" one! Please do add your own experiences be they more or less detailed from whichever scope you used, big or small. Stu

I wanted a thread for the long refractor (f/9 or more!) because it is linked to me. I remember when when my grandad bought me a 70mm f/10 scope, the moon was crystal sharp, Jupiter showing its band in some detail, and, most important of all, no CA. (You know there was a little bit of CA but not much to ruin the experience) And so I thought to see your story of the long refractor, so post it below! ( I also had a 60mm f/11.5-ish telescope!)