WADAS (Wakefield and District Astronomical Society)

[MattGoo]

A few pics from Sunday 9th March:

The Moon

Jupiter

[Soupy]

Nice captures Matt, and with a nice transit as well... :-)

[Sammyb]

Nice pics lads

[Soupy]

Good night last night at Bradford Astro with Paul Money. He is a very entertaining speaker and I have approached him to come do a talk for us so will discuss it at our next meeting... :-)

[Sammyb]

Paul in April's sky at night magazine it mentions Zubeneschamali as the only green star visible to the naked eye. This is the one you mentioned in the meeting during John's presentation. However when I looked at Cor Caroli in Damian's scope at Winscarr it definitely looked green to me. Not sure what's going on there.

Sam

[Soupy]

I think due to its spectral class, it is a blue star Sammy, which depending on the type of coating on the EP used might look a slight green colour, but it might also be affected a little by LP. Other observers have seen it as white or with a yellow colour. That's the only reasons I can think of. :-/

[hazegood]

Had another go this morning:

 

[Soupy]

Good effort and def getting better Leigh :-)

[hazegood]

Thanks Paul, someone said on the webcam mod thread my first attempt was over exposed and said to lower the gain and exposure, so I captured new data,  and played about this iwas the result,

[Soupy]

Good advice... Hope you don't mind me saying, but It looks lots better than the first attempt Leigh :-)

[Soupy]

Weather looking promising for later, possible trip up to winscarr?

[nicks90]

it is looking clear tonight, but its also going to be fairly blowy - so might have to give it a miss this evening an stay in then shelter of the back garden.

[Sammyb]

Met office has wind not too bad for tonight. Is anyone off up to winscarr?

[Soupy]

Wind looks like it'll be about 5mph so not too bad...

[Soupy]

Weather hasn't cleared so looks like winscarr might be off for tonight. :-(

[Sammyb]

Met Office reckons it will be clear around 9ish at winscarr. I don't think I'll make it as I've just got back from York. Weather has been weird today.

[nicks90]

tell me about it, I got hailed on as I was out running! It was not pleasant.

[hazegood]

Been thinking and have decided to upgrade my scope from my celestron 130, so am looking for suggestions,
Budget is about £1000, but part of that needs to go on a DSLR (am looking at canoin 1100d - unmodified ) so that takes about £200 out,  then would want to buy soe new eyepeices so another £200 outthe budget (if I went for BST ones at £49 each)

So realistically I have a budget of £600 ish, Ideally I could save money and buy an OTA only that would go on my SW AZ goto mount,  then I could spend more on optics rather than the mount,,  but if I need to nay a complete scope then so be it,
 

Goto or equivalent is essential, and I cant get my head around EQ mounts, I understand how they work I just cant make it happen (that was with the EQ 3-2 that originally came with my scope))

Scope will be used mainly for visual planetary and lunar, maybe some imaging with the DSLR or webcam,

Dobs are out of the question as getting them in and out of the house would be difficult and I have a lack of storage space for it.

So am looking for suggestions,

Thanks


Leigh


 

[Sammyb]

If you are into visual lunar and planetary how about a mak? The skymax 127 on the eq3 pro GOTO? That would be a lovely scope. I know you don't like eq mounts but I'm not sure what else to suggest bearing in mind your preferences.

[mapstar]

Been thinking and have decided to upgrade my scope from my celestron 130, so am looking for suggestions,

Budget is about £1000, but part of that needs to go on a DSLR (am looking at canoin 1100d - unmodified ) so that takes about £200 out, then would want to buy soe new eyepeices so another £200 outthe budget (if I went for BST ones at £49 each)

So realistically I have a budget of £600 ish, Ideally I could save money and buy an OTA only that would go on my SW AZ goto mount, then I could spend more on optics rather than the mount,, but if I need to nay a complete scope then so be it,

Goto or equivalent is essential, and I cant get my head around EQ mounts, I understand how they work I just cant make it happen (that was with the EQ 3-2 that originally came with my scope))

Scope will be used mainly for visual planetary and lunar, maybe some imaging with the DSLR or webcam,

Dobs are out of the question as getting them in and out of the house would be difficult and I have a lack of storage space for it.

So am looking for suggestions,

Thanks

Leigh

What about a set up like Soupy has?

[Soupy]

I know what you're thinking Damain... ;-)

There will always be someone there to help with all the set up until you get enough confidence to run with it, and once you get the hang of the EQ set up Leigh they are pretty easy to run with and excellent for visual and astro photography.

[Sammyb]

Would have to be second hand.......

[nicks90]

if its for planets and the moon, what about skywatcher skymax 150 pro? I dont know if it wouldnt fit on your existing mount, or if it would be stable enough - maybe fill the legs with sand etc. 

ps. you do know a  truss tube dob collapses smaller than an ota, tripod and mount   just thinking a second hand 10" goto dob might be in budget.

[MattGoo]

If you're planning on doing astrophotography - especially long exposure with a DSLR - then the mount is very important and unfortunately only a EQ type will suffice.

You can do Lunar & Planetary imaging on a Alt/Az or with a Dob, but DSO such as galaxies and nebula require an EQ mount.

DSO setup: A 2nd hand HEQ5 mount (£450-£500), 130PDS (£165) + coma corrector (£100) = £765

[Sammyb]

if its for planets and the moon, what about skywatcher skymax 150 pro? I dont know if it wouldnt fit on your existing mount, or if it would be stable enough - maybe fill the legs with sand etc. 

Maks are relatively heavy for their size and I wouldn't skimp on the mount