Hello from Milton Keynes

[nCognitos]

Hi,

Another born-again hobby astronomer here.  I got started in astronomy in the last century, and pursued it for 20 years, but then got bored and couldn't be bothered lugging around all the gear so packed it up 10 years ago.  Dabbled in astrophotograhy a bit, modified a DSLR, and bought a horribly expensive SBIG camera but my real interest was spectroscopy, which gave me many happy nights.  What really killed it for me in the end, was I was doing very little observing and a lot of computer processing.

Then, on a whim, I bought a Seestar S50 and OMG, as my kids say, it completely reignited my love of the sport.  Three-minute setup, clockwise and anti-clockwise compass calibration and level to 1mm, and I can retire to the sofa.  What used to be a rather lonely and solitary hobby now has the whole family involved, even my wife looks on with interest as the image emerges on my phone.  It was an absolute revelation, I've included some pictures, processed either in the S50 or on my phone.  These were taken on a recent family holiday to Spain, where I chucked the S50 into my luggage. I was astonished by what my little 'toy' could do with almost no effort on my part, and seeing what others achieve with more subs and more processing effort is amazing.

So I looked into it a bit more and discovered that you could recreate an S50-like experience with 'real' astronomy equipment.  Hooked at that point, my first thought was to do solar, so I enquired about a Lunt and an ASI533MM, luckily for me they were out of stock.  As I poked about a bit more, I discovered the Sol'ex/Star'ex project, which having assembled Heath Robinson spectroscopes in the past, looked right up my street.  I ordered an ASIAir Plus from those lovely people at FLO and the parts to build a Sol'ex.  I picked up a second-hand ASI678MC Planetary camera locally, which I will use 2x2 binned for general use as its pixels are a bit small.  I also managed to pick up a very old ASI120 for a few ££.  At that point, my son and I went hunting about the garage, attic and storage unit to collect all the astronomy equipment we could find, we ended up with:

CGE mount - (No thank you, too heavy, staying where it is)

C9.25 Cat - (Ditto above)

iOptron ZEQ25GT - (That will do nicely)

Takahashi FS102 - (The only thing that comes between me and my wife as I hug it to slip into contented slumber)

Orion ED80 - (An original, bought from the Orion store in San Jose almost a lifetime ago, but at some point I did upgrade to a TS focuser)

Lacerta ED72/430 - (Nope, no clue where that came from, must have been one of the last things I bought!)

Pentax 105 ED HF - (Bit of a barn find, my daughter and I spent an afternoon stripping it down, cleaning the mouse droppings and extracting all the dust.  It has an internal field flattener so it helped to have a helper with small hands to do the cleaning)

After sorting through all the accessories, I spent the only clear night setting up, getting the main and guide cameras into focus, manually polar aligning and then refining it with the ASIAir.  I was able to connect the mount and both cameras to the ASIAir, so all I need is an EAF to get the S50 experience.  I seem to be over-refractored at the moment, so I think I will pick up a 152 Mak and focus on planetary and lunar with the ED72 for solar spectroscopy, and then see where life takes me.  I don't mind stacking planetary videos and taking spectra but I don't want to get stuck into the processing doom-loop that goes with deep-sky.  I quite fancy doing a mineral moon project over the winter as well.

One change I have noticed is that YouTube is full of young people who have this hobby nailed down and are happy to share their knowledge!  There is so much information freely available now on getting started, or re-started in my case.

So, that's my story, I look forward to starting a new astronomy chapter.

[CraigT82]

Nice shots 👍🏼. Unfortunately once the Astro bug is in your blood it is there for life…. You may dip in and out every now and again but sooner or later we all come back to the fold 😆

Thats great about the seestar…  you’ve got me wanting one now. Such a great time to be in the field right now as the technology and equipment development is moving at a real pace and it seems like every month there is something new and exciting, and unusually for the seestar relatively affordable! 

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL 

[AstroDad74]

A warm welcome to SGL from West Sussex👋 I also own a Seastar S50 purchased back in april of this year from FLO it is great and so simple to use and like you say your whole family and friends can get involved using it. I currently own two Canon Eos 6d full frame dslr one of which is astro modified with various lenses but particularly use Samyang lenses more for my astrophotography this will generally be my 14mm f2.8 wide-angle lens and then my 135mm f2 lens which is mounted on my Move shoot Move Nomad star trackers l,Or my larger Sky watcher star adventurer Gti tracking mount for longer subs. When I out in the field i try to keep my equipment as little and light as possible for mobility generally two cameras and two lenses with my portable move shoot Move Nomad star trackers.

Here is a picture of orions Nebula shot on my Canon 6d winter 2023.

 

[Floater]

Welcome. Hope you have lots of fun. 🙂

[2manytrees]

Welcome to SGL. I'm new myself so am also feeling my way around the much-changed landscape. I was amazed to see a photo of the Ring Nebula in your collection from the SeeStar; usually a bit awkward to image.

Yes, I rather fancy one of these gadgets myself; I'm hoping to head to Lundy next year for a week (my third visit), it would be an ideal piece of equipment to take; restrictions to 20kg (I think) when travelling on the boat. The skies there are absolutely great (when there's no sea-mist).

[Tony Acorn]

Welcome Incognitos - glad to hear of another one returning to the astro fold but MK is not an ideal area for observing, its pollution is even detectable where I am in NW Herts. I too have a raft of older "stuff" that hardly ever gets looked at now that I have a ZWO Asi-based rig. In my case that is an ASi-Air Mini, an 80mmED f/6.25 refractor on an AM3 mount, an ASi 585MC (with ZWO EAF) and 120MM cameras. I can concur that it is easy to get buried in software processing stacks etc. but I think that what we can achieve now is amazing.

[nCognitos]

47 minutes ago, 2manytrees said:

Welcome to SGL. I'm new myself so am also feeling my way around the much-changed landscape. I was amazed to see a photo of the Ring Nebula in your collection from the SeeStar; usually a bit awkward to image.

Yes, I rather fancy one of these gadgets myself; I'm hoping to head to Lundy next year for a week (my third visit), it would be an ideal piece of equipment to take; restrictions to 20kg (I think) when travelling on the boat. The skies there are absolutely great (when there's no sea-mist).

I got mugged by a seal in Lundy once, but thats another hobby.....🤣.  I guess you would be driving up the M5 but if you happen to be passing Milton Keynes, then you are welcome to borrow mine for a week.  Saying that you should definitely buy one, it opens up so many on the spur of the moment observing opportunities.  Don't forget to buy a power bank with it, having the dew heater on does chew up battery.

[nCognitos]

12 hours ago, Tony Acorn said:

Welcome Incognitos - glad to hear of another one returning to the astro fold but MK is not an ideal area for observing, its pollution is even detectable where I am in NW Herts. I too have a raft of older "stuff" that hardly ever gets looked at now that I have a ZWO Asi-based rig. In my case that is an ASi-Air Mini, an 80mmED f/6.25 refractor on an AM3 mount, an ASi 585MC (with ZWO EAF) and 120MM cameras. I can concur that it is easy to get buried in software processing stacks etc. but I think that what we can achieve now is amazing.

Have you got any decent dark'ish sky sites near you?  I used to know the ones towards Buckingham but they've gone a built a bloody great railway there since I was last observing!!

[Tony Acorn]

I wonder if Dunstable Down would be good, probably nearer you than me. It has an elevated position (O/S Ref005185) with potentially better views from SW to WNW.

A site that I want to try is at Little Paxton, to the north of St Neots (O/S Ref 635195). This is an RSPB nature reserve where the car park remains open through the night and was recommended by a bird photographer that we were talking to in the Rye Meads RSPB site. It has good views between NW and NE and is Bortle 4 I think. 

There are three good sites to the west (2) and to the northwest of Grafham Water but a fair schlep for either of us.

HTH

Tony

[Tony Acorn]

Of course we should be patient regarding light pollution - with the rush to solar energy (only powering us half the day), wind (anticyclones and depressions sit over the UK quite often) and an aging National Grid that cannot cope with the intermittant supplies from those sources, the lights will be going out all over the place. Make sure you keep your lithium power packs fully charged! 🤣

[2manytrees]

Yes; we could be getting dark skies more easily and quickly than we think!

[Tony Acorn]

13 minutes ago, 2manytrees said:

Yes; we could be getting dark skies more easily and quickly than we think!

But of course you will not be able to travel to any dark skies locations as your (mandatory) electric vehicle will have to be plugged in tp feed the grid! 🤣 🤣

[nCognitos]

1 hour ago, Tony Acorn said:

Of course we should be patient regarding light pollution - with the rush to solar energy (only powering us half the day), wind (anticyclones and depressions sit over the UK quite often) and an aging National Grid that cannot cope with the intermittant supplies from those sources, the lights will be going out all over the place. Make sure you keep your lithium power packs fully charged! 🤣

Funnily enough, I'm getting solar fitted on Oct 1.  27 panels and a Tesla Powerwall, with self-power in case of a power cut.  Mind you, only had two power cuts in 25 years, and they were over in minutes, but at least I won't have to reset the video recorder.  No, wait! I don't have a video recorder and the oven clock has a battery backup, starting to question the benefits now....😄

Edited September 6 by nCognitos

[nCognitos]

54 minutes ago, Tony Acorn said:

But of course you will not be able to travel to any dark skies locations as your (mandatory) electric vehicle will have to be plugged in tp feed the grid! 🤣 🤣

Halfway there, Mem'sahib got a hybrid, it's great gone from £80 a month in petrol to £30 a month in electricity.  I used to have a Polestar but didn't renew the lease, they are an awful lot of money for what they are.

[Tony Acorn]

31 minutes ago, nCognitos said:

27 panels and a Tesla Powerwall, with self-power in case of a power cut. 😄

I live in what is called a "One and a half storey" house. The pitch of my roof is a tad under 40º so the panels would not be at optimum capturing angle (51º) and there are trees growing to the southeast of the house The amount of my roof that faces south and isn't obstructed by bits sticking out (creating shadows from sunrise to sunset) is not sufficient to mount more than 8 panels.

Our electrical supply to this village is already strained by a 20% increase in the number of houses over the past 7 years, and that is before any consideration to the number of electric and PHEV vehicles in the village that require charging. We therefore have frequent power dips and even blackouts as it is. I have been considering the purchase of a 5Kw back-up diesel generator as we are so reliant upon electricity these days and that may get worse if national policy is to cut gas-powered electrical generation whilst our nuclear plants exceed their lifespans whilst relying on sub-sea cables from around Europe (what happens when they don't have spare capacity?).

I am also very averse to a Smart Meter - I actually know (not hearsay) instances of co**-ups by energy suppliers that caused stress and in some cases financial loss to people with these dastardly things. We have all been charged a premium on our bills for years to cover the roll out of smart meters yet there are still many that are ineffective and must be replaced if you move your electricity / gas provider - what a state con that is/was! My diesel car is comfortable, practical and runs very well - and probably will for another 125,000 miles (more than I will ever drive) so I don't see a need to replace it.

Having had a raw nerve exposed, I shall now crawl back into my candle-lit cave and await a clear night sky 🤣.

[Jim Franklin]

Welcome - nice images. 

[CraigT82]

On 05/09/2024 at 08:31, AstroDad74 said:

A warm welcome to SGL from West Sussex👋 I also own a Seastar S50 purchased back in april of this year from FLO it is great and so simple to use and like you say your whole family and friends can get involved using it. I currently own two Canon Eos 6d full frame dslr one of which is astro modified with various lenses but particularly use Samyang lenses more for my astrophotography this will generally be my 14mm f2.8 wide-angle lens and then my 135mm f2 lens which is mounted on my Move shoot Move Nomad star trackers l,Or my larger Sky watcher star adventurer Gti tracking mount for longer subs. When I out in the field i try to keep my equipment as little and light as possible for mobility generally two cameras and two lenses with my portable move shoot Move Nomad star trackers.

Here is a picture of orions Nebula shot on my Canon 6d winter 2023.

 

I really like that image! 

[AstroDad74]

4 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

I really like that image! 

Thank you

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire 🙂

[orion25]

Welcome to SGL. Nice images! I've been considering the Seestar myself.

Reggie

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL