Northampton

[tich]

I'm guessing one of the stars you're aligning to is Vega which is pretty much straight up when it starts to get dark so I'd suggest lining up on another one if you can as I'm sure you can scroll down to another one on the handset. I know looking through finders can have you in some right positions but as soon as you've sorted out the alignment you're away, I make it sound easy but even now I still have had some issues so it will take some time to get it right.

I've been to a few CMS observing sessions & I've done a spot of imaging too so it's always good to be out with like minded folk & pick up a few tips along the way.

[andyboy1970]

As tich said, you don't have to pick the suggested alignment star, if you use the up/down arrow keys you can pick another to use.

Having a planisphere or skymap will help if you don't know the sky that well.

You are using a star diagonal arn't you?

Andy

[Willows1]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by ' a star diagonal?'

Ive only had my scope just over a week now.

[tich]

One of these where you fit the eyepieces;

[Willows1]

Hi, yes I'm using practically the same one, I phoned up opticstar where I brought my telescope and enquired about an easier way to align the stars, apparently the guy said " you can use the red dot finder to align and set up that way"

he was quite helpful and suggested I try this method?

[tich]

Yeah you should be fine using the red dot finder just remember to set it up first on something fairly distant like a light or tv aerial for instance, get the object centred in the eyepiece first then set up the red dot finder on the same object. When it gets dark go through the alignment feature as you would normally using the red dot finder but if you can check using the eyepiece as well just as a secondary measure just to make sure the star is centred.

Hope that makes some sort of sense.

[Willows1]

That makes perfect sense to me now thank you,

ive a question about ep's and barlows.... I've been looking into getting a nice set, or buying just a Barlow and a few ep's,

can you suggest a few that I would use quite a lot? Also a good make of a good Barlow?

Ive a 15mm wide angle ep, a 20mm ep, and a 10mm ep, I brought the 15 mm separately as advised by the helpful people where I purchased my scope.

any suggestions??

I don't mind spending a bit on them, just as long as they perform well.

paul

[tich]

I haven't got high end EP's or barlows really I've got a 4X imagemate which I use for planetary imaging but only had one successful image using it but they do make a 3X & 2X. If you can find a TAL barlow then they are supposed to be good. Eyepieces are another thing as there are so many to choose from. I just use Hyperion eyepieces which work well in my 6" SCT but in my 200P they tend to have soft edges. You could put a post in eyepiece section & give details on what scope you have then I think you'd get a better response from folk a lot more knowledgeable than myself.

If you can make it to one of the observing sessions with the CMS group then you could look through other peoples scopes as well as try different eyepieces in your scope with peoples permission of course which would give you some idea on what to get.

[Willows1]

Thank you ever so much, could you kindly send the details for the CMS group again as my iPad seems to have lost a few emails, conversations etc, really appreciate your advice, everyone on here is really nice and helpful.

many thanks again, may see you at a future CMS meeting perhaps?

regards

paul

[tich]

If there are sessions at the weekends I'm usually there although occasionally I've been there alone but that doesn't bother me to much. If you do decide to come along we could always meet on the way then you could follow me there.

Here's a link to the group, you'll need a Yahoo account to join in case you don't have one already.

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/CentralMidlandsStargazers/

[andyboy1970]

With the long focal length you don't need high end eyepieces thes are much more critical on short focal ratio scopes f5 and below, your scope is f12 if memory serves me.

Best thing is try because eyepieces are a very personal thing.

[Willows1]

Thank you, I'm setting up my yahoo account today, I would like to attend a meet with you and the other members, meeting up would be good so as I could follow you to my first meeting.

Paul

[andyboy1970]

Just keep an eye out for emails from the Yahoo group regarding meetings, they are often at short notice.

[JimmyC]

Thread hijack! I'm from a village in northants and generally the skies are pretty good considering the proximity of Northampton and Rugby (about 10 miles away in each direction). The skies can get to be a real deep black - a really breathtaking sight even with the naked eye. I would have thought a few places along the way to Banbury would be suitable as well, as it's quite 'hilly' meaning if you get on top of one you aren't obstructed much at all. But even then, there are areas like that around my village.

Anyway, Pig, i'd be interested in meeting up some time if it's cool with you? I don't want to be alone and only socialise with other SG on a forum!

[hobsey]

I was born and lived in Northampton until I was 20, I often wonder what the skies are like up there now.

[tich]

Thread hijack! I'm from a village in northants and generally the skies are pretty good considering the proximity of Northampton and Rugby (about 10 miles away in each direction). The skies can get to be a real deep black - a really breathtaking sight even with the naked eye. I would have thought a few places along the way to Banbury would be suitable as well, as it's quite 'hilly' meaning if you get on top of one you aren't obstructed much at all. But even then, there are areas like that around my village.

Anyway, Pig, i'd be interested in meeting up some time if it's cool with you? I don't want to be alone and only socialise with other SG on a forum!

We still often go to the dark site although we don't use the Yahoo forum anymore as it just wasn't very reliable when setting up events so we have switched to Google+ so you will need to set up a Google+ account,  If you contact one of these guys then they will send you an invite to join up.

[JimmyC]

I'm having trouble being able to contact the appropriate people on the website, so not sure how to go about contacting them. Are there any meetings soon? Maybe i could come along.

[Pig]

Jimmy,

I am also a member of the group, did the link above from Tich not work ?

PM me if you wish

[Pig]

I was born and lived in Northampton until I was 20, I often wonder what the skies are like up there now.

Anthony,

The skies are not bad up here TBH, observing has got much better since they replaced the old fashioned steel lamp posts with the low voltage leds

[tich]

I have to say I was well impressed with the skies there last week after the moon had gone down as it was the darkest I'd ever seen it there.

[Pig]

Tich,

I have 12 days off work now, if you are going over to the dark site at anytime let me know and I will join you.

[tich]

No worries Shaun I generally post in CMS  when I'm off up the darksite but I'll let you know, I went there last night as the Met was saying the skies were going to be clear,,,,,,but they lied lol.

I still managed to image Mars although not a brilliant image due to the seeing. I did Jupiter & a bit of lunar imaging before packing up.

[floppygoose]

Can you let me know if you find any decent dark sites around Northampton, it's getting more difficult

Phil

[tich]

Can you let me know if you find any decent dark sites around Northampton, it's getting more difficult

Phil

The site we use is pretty good & it has hard standing but as it's on private land I cannot give the details of where it is on here. If you contact the guys at CMS then they will send you an invite but you will need a Google+ account as the group itself is private for the reasons I've stated above as regards the darksite.

If you have any more questions then send me a PM & I'll do my best to answer them.

[Pig]

Phil,

+ 1 for the above