Dirty dog does me a favour!

[mark7331]

A fellow astronomer on the forums told me that he had been up until 7am the other night and I thought mmm, dont think I could stay up all night but having seen the Orion nebula in the early hours I have changed my mind. And yes indeed my heart was glad and my bones reinvigourated by that wonderful site in the night sky:)

7am? That guy must be crazy

Good for Max! Not the whoopsy part but you know what I mean. Orion is amazing and in the early hours it's magical - glad you saw it.

[Quatermass]

7am? That guy must be crazy

Good for Max! Not the whoopsy part but you know what I mean. Orion is amazing and in the early hours it's magical - glad you saw it.

Hi Mark Hows it going yes looks like my dog did me a big favor the Orion Nebula was incredible to look at. I feel inspired to get into doing what your doing and trying to get some cool images of it. Took a look at the nexus imaging camera from celstron recently but seems it wont work with windows 7 so might give that one a miss. I guess if I am going to get into imaging I will have to get a motor drive upgrade for my eq5 mount first then think about getting a ccd camera.

Have you taken any more shots of the ring nebula or the dumbell lately.Took a few more shots of the moon and posted them on my blog if you want to check them out by the way. Hey are you crazy staying up till 7am naa I dont think so more like very keen and dedicated I would say! All the great geniuses were like that Darwins 5 year voyage of discovery must have taken some dedication for sure.

[Brunty12345]

it was a sign! he done it on purpose so then you could go out and then see it

[Quatermass]

it was a sign! he done it on purpose so then you could go out and then see it

I always knew my dog had strange psychic powers he probably thought the only thing that would get me out of bed would be to drop a smelly package for me to find. Happy to say he has not repeated the dirty deed again for fear of being taken out in the cold at 4am, he likes his bed too much

[Petrol]

I tend not to fuss about polar alignment too much unless I really want to track an object for ages. Most of the time I plonk my scope down and just point at what I am looking for if its easy to find. And if you check my blog you can see some more pics of the moon all taken with my mobile phone held up to the eye piece but hoping to get an SLR camera soon to get some better shots. One thing to get right with the telescope is the colmination though. If its out significantly your images will suffer. Easy why to check it is to point at a bright star and when its in focus defocus inwards then slowly come back into focus. If you see little perfect rings and a bright point in the middle your pretty much ok but if the star is looking like a comet with an off centre tail then its time to collomate your scope. Great job on the car I have just started doing up the underbody of my old caravan so might pick your brain for some tips on how to tidy the metal work up.

No probs with any Q's you have..I will have a look at your blog later but for now.... Orion is up and my scope is out! Just removing the frost from the finder... Yes that's right frost Right then, Fan heater sorted the finder...Oh and dissapointment I guess it's light pollution at the front of my house... Gutted!

I guess I will have to wait a bit longer and venture to a higher place to get better views

[Quatermass]

Hi Petrol Well I was up till 2am last night and Orion was just making its way over the houses to the left of the car park in my neighborhood. I managed to shift my telescope close to my back wall and get a nice view of the Orion nebula despite 9 street lamps blazing and a full moon. Ok not as good as it could have been in a darker area but still pretty reasonable. You must have a lot of light pollution where you are my be a filter would help. If you get a copy of the sky at night mag this month there is a good article on how to cure light pollution that you might find helpful. Hope you get to see it soon mate.

[Petrol]

Hi Mark,

In all fairness, westerly is not the best place for me to look due to an elevated road with street lighs I am sure my time will come later in the year. I took this pic from my back garden last year and this is what inspired me to buy a scope

Thanks for the heads up on this months sky at night - I will get a copy and read up on light pollution I guess some filters will be on my list of things to buy - It's getting bigger all the time

Pete

[Quatermass]

Cool pic the sky looks a bit like mine with all that light pollution. I would be tempted to bung the scope in the car and go off to find a dark sight for an evenings observations. In fact thats what I am doing tonight when I go fishing if the fish dont bite I will get out my telescope and try out my new moon filter!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Sorry, but "the dirty dog had done a whoopsee in the hall way " is just too much shades of Frank Spencer! LOL

Read it with a theatrical French accent and you "'Allo 'allo":D

[Quatermass]

lol

I will zay zis only once...

zee dirtee dog ad done a voopsee on zee carpit

[Petrol]

I would be tempted to bung the scope in the car and go off to find a dark sight for an evenings observations.

That's my next plan and I have found a good place. I have now got a Williams eyepice that should take me to about 180X so fingers crossed

[Quatermass]

I am hoping the skys will be clear this friday then I am off to the observatory site and get shot of all these dam street lights ruining my views dont forget to take your woolly hat and gloves its getting very cold now.brrrr

[Petrol]

How did it go? It was cloudy up North last night but saw a gap in the weather. Up at 4 this morning I saw it! Awesome

Camera adapter arrived and couldnt resist giving it a go -

Unmodded Nikon D70S

1600 iso

7 secs (ish)

No tracking

1 frame

and a bit of gain up

Thats my first pic Can't wait to get a GOTO

Pete

[LukeSkywatcher]

I'm tempted lately (when its not raining or cloudy) to take a trip outside before bed (2-4am) and have a quick gander at Orion. The only problem is my dirty dog. She would fight her way past me and proceed to charge around the back garden yapping her mouth off and wake all the neighbours.

I would in due course be served with an ASBO (or whatever the Irish version is) and it would be more trouble then it is worth. I think i will wait a few weeks and go outside after dinner to observe Orion and the dog can make as much noise as she wants until 10:30pm.

In Ireland noise pollution laws only come into effect in a built up area after 10:30pm.

[mark7331]

Seriously Paul? A dog barking is noise polution? My two would probably get me locked up!

Anyway it's worth a look. After not seing it for months it's astounding. Made me remember when I saw it as a child against black skies and no LP! Also this year will be my first change to seriously image it. If the skies clear that is!

Mark

[LukeSkywatcher]

Well to be honest i dont know if a dog yapping its mouth off is considered noise pollution by the police but it is certainly something that could get complained about by neighbours and the police may pay a visit. Thankfully i an on very good terms with ALL of my neighbours and i cant imagine any of them lodging a complaint with the police.

I tend to keep my Chara indoors after 11pm out of respect for my neighbours. She has sl;ept outside in a kennel all night on a few occasion and her yapping dies down after about 10 mins so she is not the worst in the world.

[Quatermass]

Hi Pete and all..

I had a great night at the Norwich Astronomical Society although did not do any observing as it was cloudy and wet. I chatted to the club members about astro photography for ages and going to get some help next friday talking to a few more guys that are just starting down that route. However last night was brilliant the sky was the best its been for ages and I made the effort to get in the car and find a darker site to view from just outside of Bungay half way between bungay and halesworth, check that out on this night map showing light polution and you can see how good it is in that area.

DaylightMap

I had wonderful night stayed up till 2am and by that time Orion was in full view with a bright orange moon on the horizon and the sky ablaze with stars. The milky way was bright and clear and Jupiter was incredible and I saw the red spot which was fantastic to look at and much more detail then I normally get. Just goes to show what a big difference getting to dark site can make.

But oh how I wish I had a better camera set up the moon was simply awsome as it came over the horizon but my llousy phone camera could not take a shot of it as it was orange and not as bright this time. Still great night and I am not going to do a day time hunt for the ultimate dark sight between Bungay and Halesworth Im thinking air fields and old farms. Nice pic pete bet that was fun.

[Petrol]

I saw the red spot which was fantastic to look at and much more detail then I normally get. Just goes to show what a big difference getting to dark site can make.

That must have been fantastic seeing the red dot – nice one My advice would be not to worry about the pics for now. I am trying to sort everything out in such a short space of time and my head hurts with it all. Maybe I am trying to run before I can walk although the very poor pic did put a massive smile on my face.

I really need to do what you have done and get down to my local observatory for a chat with people in the know. You can read all you want but there’s nothing better than a chat

I am also still working on a viewing venue. I did a 50 mile trip tonight I thought height was the answer (went up 300m) but I was wrong. Seems to me that distance from street lights is more important.

I have also found this link that indicates light pollution in the UK

http://avex.org.free.fr/cartes-pl/uk/UK-pl-relief-topo.html

Pete

[Quatermass]

Great link Pete I found that getting as far away from street lights as possible was the answer which meant for me getting 5 miles out of Bungay with a flask of tea and chicken sandwiches some warm clothes note book etc and parking the car up getting the telescope set up and planning my observations a bit better. This is worth doing however as you get more out of the session. Also sticking to a plan of things to observe is cool because when you have done that you feel that you have actually spent your time well instead cursing street lights and struggling to see things. A bit of height does help but a big flat area away from street lights is best old airfields might be a good option.

I think if I start to do more photography I will plan that a bit better as well. I am beginning to find out that it pays to be organised when doing this as you get many nights when you cant do any observing at all due to clouds and rain. Also taking the binoculars with me is good as well because you can just get off the telescope for a while and spot constellations for bit.

50 miles crikey thats quite a way to travel I'm lucky to live out here in the country I guess.