Weekend plan's?

[OXO]

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if you have anything planned for this weekend?

On sunday i will be attending the blackpool Airshow it's quite a good show and this year my 2 fav planes are to flyby the Spitfire and Lancaster bomber. Add to this helicopter displays and the famous red arrows it should be a great day out if the weather is ok(forcast is good).

James

[Astroman]

I'll be building a mount for the 5" F/14 solar scope, and hopefully get some stargazing in, too. I'm way behind on my variable star estimates, and should get beck to it. :oops:

[AndyMac]

All I've got planned is a on Saturday night.

Not going to be much fun though, as I'm not allowed to drink at the moment!

[OXO]

Astroman good luck with that Mount sounds like an interesting project your doing.

Andy i know how you feel i forgot to mention i am at a friends party sat night but alas my tablets wont allow me to drink so there will be at least 250 people sloshed and me sobber still more room for food

James

[AndyMac]

Yes, same here as I'm on tablets, too.

A work colleague is also going to my local with some friends - so I'll be able to watch both her & my mate have a great time while I have a BB (Britvic Bonanza)!

[OXO]

while I have a BB (Britvic Bonanza)!

I feel a headache coming on saturday :? nah i promised i would go so no getting out of it, besides i can drink milkshake allday long ah strawberry....... plus i will be fit for the airshow the next day..

James(feel thirsty all of a sudden)

[Ant]

I'm going to a BBQ oin sunday at my parents, which should be good fun...

Also loking at the forcast looks like I might get a clear night on saturday. So I'll start imaging from aroud 11 and see what happens.

Going to go for the ring and dumbell I think, but I guess it'll be what takes my fancy on the night... not sure what time the double cluster's going to be visible from my back garden but might just look visually at that with my new 2" EP.

Also by midnight M31 is 28 degree's up so maybe have a look at that as well.

Ant

[Rob]

Andy if you on the pils try Becks No alcohol... its really drinkable!

[OXO]

Beck's Rob? is it a form of lager?

James

[Rob]

Yep!!... I know its not bitter, but I drink both!... come to think of it, I drink any Alcohol!!!

Takes the pain of life away! (screaming kids, Rubbish job etc)

[OXO]

I may try some of that dont wanna look a stiff at the party lol...... I used to drink lager so shoudl be ok..

Cheers :drunken:

James :oops:

[OXO]

Well The weekend has come around again so what does everyone have planned?

Tonight it's Party time again this time i will be going..

Sat+Sun doesnt look good for me being out with scope the forecast is cloudy with poss rain. So Astro Art for me then..

James

[Ant]

Morning guys.

Well I had a fun weekend - spent an absolute fortune (bought a house) on saturday. Saturday night was clear but I was knackered (jamie hasn't been going to bed till 10pm and then he's up again at 6am) and I really need my sleep...

Sunday we has a call from the estate agents, can [this couple] comeround for a viewing in 10 minutes... Jane was in the shower, the house was OK but not tidy enough for a veiwing... So Jane got out of the shower and I (with the help of Jamie :roll: ) started just putting toys away etc etc etc...

About 2 minutes after the estate agent called there was a knock at the door (very short 10 minutes)... B'stards.

Then we went to my brother in laws house for tea - which was actually very good. They have a 1000 foot garden, with 2 gold greens and a tennis court at the top. and we got onto talking about astronomy and they have said that I'm welcome to take the scope up there and do some observing - they live in a semi rural area so the sky will be quite a bit better than mine - Result!

What about you lot? get up to anything?

Ant

[AndyMac]

Good luck with the house move Ant. Are you staying in the same area or moving elsewhere? What about your job?

I had a very productive weekend as my autoguider was working again (just been on the phone to Astro Engineering to explain that I won't need to return the autoguider for repair, after all. They were as mystified as to why it suddenly decided to work as I was! :shock: ). Managed some observing & imaging both Saturday & last night.

I'm just about to post off my film to The Darkroom to be processed & put on CD.

[Ant]

Ahh the darkroom, excellent company - sent many a film there in my brief exploration of film astrophotography.

The house is great! It has [amongst other things] two buildings outside in the garden... The first is a 10 x 10 brick built utility room which will become my office - so I can finally have broadband at home. The second is a wooden shed about 8 x 8 that sits next to my office. I've got permission to use this shed as an observatory - so I can run the wires through the wall an into a PC. So once the scope has been pointed (have to do that manually ATM) I can get the PC to control the camera while I surf the internet (and sit in the warm) in my office. What a result eh?

Ant

[Ant]

Just realised that the shed is due south of the house... therefore Polaris won't be visible from the shed. [removed word]...

Going to have to polar align the hard way!!! I feel a few weeks of drift aligning coming on

Anyone want to buy a polar scope for a HEQ5 (Joke BTW)

Ant

[AndyMac]

Excellent! 'Result' indeed!

Be nice having you posting at weekends for a change, too.

And having a permanent set up will save you the tedious process of polar alignment.

[AndyMac]

Just read your post of two minutes ago, Ant.

Scrub that last sentence in my previous post!

Still, if you've got the scope permanently set up, hopefully the drift alignment will be a one off affair (I've only ever had to polar align my scope the once - back in 1992).

[Ant]

Yeah the polar aligning might be fun to start with - but you can get fairly close by making sure the tripod / pier is level. Using a compass to get north (with the specified offset) and the right altitude on the mount. Thats probably more accurate than I get now!

A little work at the beginning will make life a lot easier in the long run!

Ant

[OXO]

Congrats on the house matey sounds wonderfull

Polar aligning shouldnt be too much of a problem ant i havnt seen polaris from my garden since winter(tree/leaves etc). I just level the mount use a compass and set the mount to the right Altitude and wey hey..

James

[AndyMac]

I would recommend the drift alignment method. It's painstakingly slow - but accurate.

Plus once done, it should set you up for a long time to come.

[Ant]

I'm going to use both Andy, in the first edition of Sky at Night mag they had an article of polar aligning scopes withour polar scopes. So I'll use that to get it roughly right and the drift alignment method to fine tune.

Ant

[AndyMac]

Page 74 matey.

[Ant]

god, your a sad git andy

[AndyMac]

'Takes one to know one' - as they say!