Who says you have to spend a fortune on telescope equipment?

In the current Sky at Night program, repeated on Saturday, the
telescope they use as a backdrop behind Sir Patrick is none other
than the veritable 70mm Skylux refractor. This is available at Lidl
stores for about £80 when it is on offer.

If its good enough for Sir Patrick....

I also found using the finderscope supplied difficult to master. As
Adrian mentioned, I purchased a reflex finder which revolutionised my
observing and I have never looked back (or used my finderscope since).

http://www.telescope.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?
itemID=164&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=6&iSubCat=27&iProductID=164


--- In nastro@yahoogroups.com, "mfnastro2005" <mfnastro2005@t...>
wrote:
> Hi everyone
>  Last night was another clear night at least where I live. I missed
> wednesday night as I was not feeling well but thought last night I
> can't afford to miss too many opportunities. So I put the scope in
> the garage to cool for a couple of hours. It isn't exactly the same
> as the temperature outside but it's probably only 2-3 degrees
> different. I thought this may benefit me as I've heard a lot about
> poor viewing when the optics are at a different temperature to the
> surroundings.
>
>  My target was to observe M57 the ring nebula, Derek Gardiner had
> observed it on wednesday I believe. As I've never seen it before
and
> my house faces directly east with an unimpeded view I thought it
may
> be a good object for a beginner like myself to find. It was about
> 11.30pm and all my neighbours security lights were off plus no
moon.
> I have to be very quiet as it is unfair to disturb people with
> tripod legs banging off doors and steps. All too easy to do but so
> far I'm managing. I checked my star map and figured out which
> constellation it was in - Lyra. I then used the finder scope to
home
> in on the target but this is where I'm finding inexperience really
> hits home. Mapping the finderscope view to the star map pictorial
> representation with magnitudes given as larger dots etc ( and only
> to perhaps 5/6 magnitude ) is not easy but I hope it will become
> second nature.I will eventually get my scope alligned and try using
> the setting circles. The other problem I find is  with image
> orientation always remembering inversions when moving the tube.
> After much to'ing and fro'ing ( and as with M51 good luck )
a "smoke
> ring" appeared in the eyepiece ( Hallelujah! ).This was it, so I
> went in the house to get the barlow lens to push the magnification
> up. After doing all of this it had left the field of view! I then
> spent the next 30 minutes trying to find it again! I succeeded but
> only a few seconds before the sky hazed over. Hopefully I've gained
> experience for the next time I look for it! Or perhaps a daylight
> hobby instead.
>
>  At this rate I hope to  find the 75 objects in Adrians list before
> 2065 - my 100th birthday.
>
>
>           Best Regards
>
>               Martyn

Hi everyone!

If anyone wants a cheap pair of binoculars then Lidl store on Shields Road,
Walkergate, have Meade 10x50s for £14.99.

They have the same spec. as the ones on offer at Telescope House for £24.99
and look the same apart from a few cosmetic differences.
http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk/page.aspx?theLang=001lngdef&pointerid=E905734EE1\
B142CD8BAFFD46E3523D27&action=lnkaction=lnk

I bought a pair today but haven't tried them out for astronomical use yet
due to cloud cover in my area, though they seem okay in daylight.

Keith

With it being relatively clear last night I jumped at the opportunity
to unveil the Dob. However with it taking longer to get fully dark at
the western horizon, I decided to set off looking at Jupiter and try
to bag the here to unseen red spot. The seeing was reasonable to
good, but there was about 40% cloud cover. Using a maximum of 190x
magnification I could still only make out the two equatorial belts,
but for the first time ever I could actually see detail in them, but
still no red spot. I took the chance to look at the difference
coloured filter would make. The two I have, Wratten 25, red & 82A,
light blue came in a set with a Skyglow & moon filter. The red one is
too red and cuts out too much light, I think it is 50% transmissive.
The light blue one however must be the one recommended for Jupiter.
Personally I think its very subjective as to whether the view is any
better, and I think the only way to really test them is to use one of
those fancy filter holders that allow you to swap between views
without removing the eyepiece and unscrewing them. It may have been
slightly easier to see the detail in the equatorial belts with the
filter fitted, but I only base that on the apparent time I think it
took to discern the detail in both views. As I saw the detail first
in the unfiltered view, I knew what I was looking for and it that may
be the reason why it appeared quicker in the filtered view. Checks
this morning, on the web, reveal that the transit times nearest the
time I was looking, 22:30 were 08 May 17:59 & 09 May 03:55. These are
Universal time (subtract 1 hour for BST) and show the GRS would not
be visible.
Next decided to look at some galaxies, and armed with my planisphere,
the best £8 I've ever spent, it turned out to be a 2 for 1 night!
The plough is south of the pole star at this time of year and so is
visible above the house. Following the line from the star at the
bottom of the bowl next to the handle, through the opposite rim star
for the same distance, M81 & M82 appear in the same field of view at
48x.
A further scan around for what was visible, Leo had emerged from
behind the tree and remembering my 1st all nighter at a dark site,
M65 & M66 were tracked down, again in the same FOV. By now it was a
case of dodging the cloud and picking areas of the sky that appeared
clearest. Back to the Big Dipper and found M51. Tried for M101 at the
other side of the handle, but because of the cloud and awkwardness of
been near the zenith, I gave up and went back to Leo. Realising that
the area containing the Virgo cluster had just emerged from behind
the tree, pointed at the middle and just scanned around, there were
another two easily discernible galaxies in the FOV, amazing. The
cloud was a problem by now, and a glance at my watch revealed it was
nearly 23:30. As I had to go to work in the morning thought it best
to pack up and head for bed.
One other notable event, at about 23:10 there was a really bright
meteor observable through broken cloud, moving East to West finishing
around about the plough.

Cheers,
Austin

Hello Everyone
  Over the past week up here in hauxley we've been gifted a couple of
very clear nights. These nights were clear enough for the milky way
to be visible, and with no moon as dark as you'll probably get. On
the thursday night I decided to set the scope up and have a general
look around. It was work the next day unfortunately so time is always
against me. Adrian had mentioned M13 a spectacular globular cluster
in hercules so I thought that should be easy to find as it is next to
lyra  where I had previously observed M57 the ring nebula. After much
searching using finderscope, binoculars and eyes I was beaten.
Checking the star chart back and forth and I still could not find it.
It was supposed to be visible to the naked eye in one of my books! As
the temperature dropped and time ran out I went to bed questioning
the state of my eyesight. But it was still a worthwhile hour.

  The second clear night was saturday. This was a bonus no work to get
up for and all the neighbours lights were off this was 12.30am. I
decided to firstly look at M57 and pointed the scope using the
finderscope to where I reckoned it should be. Within seconds I had it
in the eyepiece. This was a boost to my confidence. I pushed the
magnification to 200x and it was reasonably clear as a smoke ring. I
moved on to find the elusive M13 in hercules. I checked my star map
and sat looking at the sky outlining the main constellations
cygnus,lyra and hercules. Then it dawned on me, I had been looking
for hercules body ( a trapezoidal shape ) on a scale similar to orion
thinking he was supposedly a big chap. Unfortunately he isn't and I
spotted a smaller group of 4 stars used binoculars to narrow in on
the object and bingo there it was. I immediately slewed the scope
onto it and M13 appeared with a wealth of resolved stars. I think
this would photograph well if and when I set my scope up properly in
the future. This was another boost where would it end!

  I decided to look at the andromeda galaxy as this is large and
therefore for an amateur like me easy to find. I duly found it but
was a little disappointed. It did not look outstanding and I think
this may be due to the twilight drowning out a lot of its light. It
is low in the sky even at 1.00 am. My last target was M27 the dumbell
nebula. This is found by navigating down from the base star in
cygnus. I initially used binoculars and found a fuzzy patch.
Memorising the star patterns on the route I repeated this journey
with the scopes finder. A little more difficult but I was there
within minutes. This object seemed to fill the viewfinder at 200x and
the structure could be seen. Again I think to photograph this would
be best as the human eye sadly does not respond to any colour being
emitted. It's a bit of a black and white world. After this I decided
to pack up it was pretty cold and 1.30 in the morning. Overall I felt
much happier at the speed I found things compared to my previous
efforts. It's quite amazing when you're out at these times how many
sounds you hear of birds and animals. Its one of my favourite times
of day but work stops me enjoying it more!

Well thats it for now, I'm working out which objects to look for next
but I think I'll look forward to seeing the moon again.

Hope all my Messier references are correct.

Best Regards


       Martyn

Hello Everyone
   Following on from Keiths low cost binoculars there are some low cost
books at the works ( bargain book shop ) in eldon square near the
leisure centre. The one I acquired a copy of is titled "observing the
moon" by a chap called foulkes. The images are predominantly hand drawn
but it gives dates in each month for best observation of certain
features together with lunar librations until 2007. At £1.99 I thought
it was worth the risk of buying it. There were about 8 copies left on
friday. There were also phillips guide to the stars by patrick moore
for £2.50 at the book shop 50 yards further up. This is a nice compact
book covering the planets and all constellations.

   Good to see walkergate mentioned having been born and brought up in
walker I know the area very well.


         Best Regards

             Martyn

----Original Message----
From: white.keith@...
Date: 08-May-
2005 23:21:47
To: nastro@yahoogroups.com
Subj: [NASTRO] Meade
Binoculars

Hi everyone!

If anyone wants a cheap pair of binoculars
then Lidl store on Shields Road,
Walkergate, have Meade 10x50s for
£14.99.

They have the same spec. as the ones on offer at Telescope
House for £24.99
and look the same apart from a few cosmetic
differences.
http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk/page.aspx?
theLang=001lngdef&pointerid=E905734EE1B142CD8BAFFD46E3523D27&action=lnkaction=ln\
k

I bought a pair today but haven't tried them out for astronomical use
yet
due to cloud cover in my area, though they seem okay in daylight.

Keith




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Dear Keith,
Many thanks for the above info. What a
bargain!
I bought a pair last night and they will be ideal for the
"Space Scientists" where I work who want to get into observational
astronomy.
I am a fan of using binoculars both as a sole piece of kit
and also for "beginners" who may want to "try before they buy".

I
wonder if anyone will upstage this as the Bargain buy of the week!

The
performance seems perfectly adequate. The image brightness on the pair
I bought is NOT up to the standard of say the Minolta Activa binoculars
but they are easy to use and comfortable on the eye.

Just a point for
people rushing to buy their pair - some of the boxes do not contain all
the "bits" like a case, end caps and straps. So check the contents
against the info on the side of the box.
Drat! I might have been able
to get a price reduction if I had thought about doing without a case!

Again thanks for sharing info with us.
Best wishes,
Ian.

Hi Martyn,

As it happens, I also picked up a copy of 'Observing The Moon' by John S.
Folkes, but I got mine at Book Depot on Royal Quays in North Shields. Worth
keeping an eye on these type of bookshops as they do turn up some good
astronomy related books now and then.

Keith

Ian wrote:

>>The performance seems perfectly adequate. The image brightness on the pair
I bought is NOT up to the standard of say the Minolta Activa binoculars but
they are easy to use and comfortable on the eye.<<

Hi Ian,

I suppose that's the difference between £14.99 and £100+ binoculars :-).
Although I found the Meade ones to have a very bright image, but then again
I still haven't had chance to to any astronomical observing with them yet.
If anyone is thinking about grabbing a pair of the Meade binoculars from
Lidl then don't hang about as Lidl offers sell very quickly.

Keith

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd draw your attention to a nice astronomy planetarium program
called Stellarium on the web.  The menus and overall feel are perhaps
less intuitive than say, Starry Night Pro, but the program looks great
and depicts the night sky very realistically.  If you look carefully you
can see the stars twinkle in this program :-)

http://stellarium.free.fr/

Download it and play with it - it's free!

Cheers,

Adrian

Hi folks
I've enjoyed reading the reports which have been posted this week so
I'll add my own observations from last night.  I set the telescope up
just outside the back door.  I've got a very restricted view of the sky
but I used the custom horizon option on SkyTools 2 to plan my session
around the targets I could see.  I was observing with my 10" F5 Callisto
Dobsonian ("the scope") and the society's 15x50 Canon Image Stabilised
Binoculars ("the bins").  I began observing at 11.25pm.

The constellation Bootes, the Herdsman, is high in the sky at this time
of the year and there are a couple of nice double stars worthy of
attention.  The first was delta Bootes which is quoted in some of
Patrick Moore's astronomy books as a binocular double.  Through the
'scope at 39x this double was revealed as a bright yellow-orange star
with a faint and very widely separated companion star.  The companion
star seemed to have a contrasting colour - possibly a bluish tinge.  I
slewed the telescope to the next target which was Izar (epsilon
Bootes).  Izar is a double star with components separated by 2.9
arcseconds so I knew this would be a challenge, especially as the
telescope hadn't had time to cool down and I suspect the optics to have
some collimation problems at the moment.  However, despite the obvious
unsteadiness of the image this golden star was sort of oval-shaped in
the expected orientation due to the overlapping Airy disks. So, almost
resolved; will try again in the autumn under steadier conditions.

Jupiter wasn't yet visible so I got SkyTools to filter the NB75 objects
visible at that moment.  It came up with 9 objects and I'm happy to say
I bagged 'em all!

M10 and M12 are globular clusters in Ophiuchus.  They aren't as
impressive as the usual targets from these shores (M13 and M92 in
Hercules, which I also found time to look at).  They are well worth a
look.  I star hopped to M12 with the QuickFinder and observed it at 39x;
The cluster seemed to have a more irregular shape than the other
globulars I've seen.  The stars in the cluster were not resolved but
there is a trio of stars (possibly foreground stars) apparantly embedded
in M12.  Tried pushing the 'scope to M10 which I knew was nearby but
kept missing it somehow.  Picked it up easily with the bins and was a
glorious sight in the a rich field of stars.  M10 was just about visible
in the same field of view as M12.  It's a shame these clusters don't get
much higher in the sky from here.

There were several other open clusters to be found in this part of the
sky.  Through the bins, Melotte 186 is a big, bright scattering of about
a dozen fourth and fifth magnitude stars.  Nearby is the more impressive
NGC6633.   This cluster is fainter and more compact; the shape put me in
mind of an aeroplane or bird in flight.  To the south of the cluster is
a brighter, 6th magnitude star.  Final object in this constellation was
IC4665.  Despite the unimpressive appearance on the SkyTools star chart,
this is a smashing little gathering of stars as seen through the bins
with IS mechanism engaged.  A dozen or more faint stars sprinkled to the
NE of the orange star Beta Ophiuchi.  IC4756 is not a particularly
impressive 'cluster' in Serpens.  Observed with the bins by hopping from
the much more compact NGC6633.  Of all the objects I've seen so far on
the NB75 list....maybe this one deserves to come off!

Melotte 111 is the Coma Berenices star cluster.  It is a big bright
asterism which fits nicely into the field of view of the bins.  Looking
like a roughly drawn L-shape, the thing which stood out this time was
the binocular double star (17 coma berenices) at the corner of the L.

Towards the west I grabbed a few more objects giving them little more
than glances because they were so low in the sky.  The Beehive cluster
(M44) in Cancer was a nice sight through the bins with the IS mechanism
engaged and looks to me like a minature version of the Hyades cluster in
Taurus.  M67 is a fainter cluster in the same constellation and I've
seen it with my telescope before.  The low altitude and light pollution
made observing this slight smudge of light with the bins very tricky.

Finally, Jupiter.  The seeing was good enough to allow some rather fine
structure to be intermittently visible in the equatorial belts.  I think
the GRS would have been visible if it were close to transiting (I
haven't checked).  The moons Io, Ganymede and Callisto were visible (2
on one side and 1 on the other side of Jupiter).

Packed up at 12:45am wondering when I'd be out deepsky observing
again.....the moon phase is increasing and the nights are getting
shorter and brighter.

Adrian

Hi all,

Martin, sounds like you're getting to know your scope better and are
broardening your horizons so to speak. Nice report Adrian, some
excellent descriptions of the less observed objects. I was also out
observing last night, but earlier, 22:20 'til 23:10.

With the twilight to the West still in evidence, I started with
Jupiter, as it is so bright it can be viewed under relatively light
conditions. The view was disappointing, as the seeing was poor. Gone
were the details in the equatorial belts of the previous nights
observing to be replaced by tan smudges.  Decided to give the Wratten
25A light blue filter another chance. This time I believe there was
an observable difference. What it seems to do is cut the intensity of
the bright features, the main planet body, leaving the belts the
same, as they are redder, thus decreasing the contrast between the
two. The bands appear less washed out. The seeing was so poor that I
did not look for the GRS, which is fortunate as it turns out, because
it was not visible at this time.

Moved on to M65 & 66 in Leo, but again due to the seeing, the detail
or intensity was just not there. A vast proportion of the viewable
sky seemed slightly hazy to me.

Gave up on the deep sky stuff and spent some time scanning the
slender crescent of the setting new moon which was quite low in the
sky by now, so low that I had to open the garden gate to observe it.
The seeing conditions seemed to be fluctuating between poor and very
poor . Tried for the Beehive cluster, but just couldn't get a
visual on the two stars, Asellus Australis (mag 3.93) & Asellus
Borealis (mag 4.65), needed to point the scope at. This is the only
downside I have found of a reflex finder, if you can't see it
visually, you can't find it. Packed up at this point and went in.
Looked out about 20 minutes later and the seeing seemed to improved
slightly.

Regards

Austin

Hi Austin,

Austin wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>Martin, sounds like you're getting to know your scope better and are
>broardening your horizons so to speak. Nice report Adrian, some
>excellent descriptions of the less observed objects. I was also out
>observing last night, but earlier, 22:20 'til 23:10.
>
>
>
Some of the lesser observed objects are well worth hunting down.  I was
most taken with the open cluster NGC6633 in Ophiuchus.  It's a real gem
and probably virtually unknown because Messier didn't confuse it for a
comet ;-)

>Gave up on the deep sky stuff and spent some time scanning the
>slender crescent of the setting new moon which was quite low in the
>sky by now, so low that I had to open the garden gate to observe it.
>The seeing conditions seemed to be fluctuating between poor and very
>poor . Tried for the Beehive cluster, but just couldn't get a
>visual on the two stars, Asellus Australis (mag 3.93) & Asellus
>Borealis (mag 4.65), needed to point the scope at. This is the only
>downside I have found of a reflex finder, if you can't see it
>visually, you can't find it.
>

What I find myself doing with the reflex finder in the absence of bright
stars near the target, is to look at the bigger picture so to speak.
Look at a star chart (or planisphere) showing Cancer - it is sandwiched
between Regulus (in Leo, to the left of it) and Castor and Pollux (in
Gemini, to the right).  M44 lies approximately midway between Regulus
and Pollux (actually slightly below the line joining them).  When you
look through the reflex you have no problem seeing the brighter stars
you can trace that imaginary line out with the red dot.  I think with
practice you'll get the hang of not even needing those closer but
fainter stars to get your 'scope pointed in the right direction (and
this coming from me...the doubter who was frustrated by the reflex sight
when I first had to use yours!)  Look for lines/patterns on the star map
and transfer them with the red dot to the sky.  This was the approach I
was using to locate the star clusters in Ophiuchus last night where the
situation with no bright stars was very similar.

Adrian

Hi all,

In my last 2 observation reports I talked about my use of coloured
filters while observing Jupiter. The numbers used were wrong. The real
numbers should read Wratten 25 Red and 80A Blue. Sorry.

regards,
Austin

Hi Martyn
Nice report and it seems that you are getting the hang of your telescope.  I
have still to see M13 but have seen the ring nebula a few times.
Unfortunately I can only push my magnification up to around X130 or so
before I start to lose detail.  The Andromeda galaxy is the most
disappointing sight in a telescope compared to the photos you will have no
doubt seen.  I was very unimpressed when I first observed it.  The most
impressive thing is the distance to the galaxy, even if it is one of the
closest compared to galaxies in the Virgo cluster.
Clear skies
Simon


>From: "mfnastro2005" <mfnastro2005@...>
>Reply-To: nastro@yahoogroups.com
>To: nastro@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [NASTRO] Nastronomy Report
>Date: Mon, 09 May 2005 09:10:55 -0000
>
>Hello Everyone
>  Over the past week up here in hauxley we've been gifted a couple of
>very clear nights. These nights were clear enough for the milky way
>to be visible, and with no moon as dark as you'll probably get. On
>the thursday night I decided to set the scope up and have a general
>look around. It was work the next day unfortunately so time is always
>against me. Adrian had mentioned M13 a spectacular globular cluster
>in hercules so I thought that should be easy to find as it is next to
>lyra  where I had previously observed M57 the ring nebula. After much
>searching using finderscope, binoculars and eyes I was beaten.
>Checking the star chart back and forth and I still could not find it.
>It was supposed to be visible to the naked eye in one of my books! As
>the temperature dropped and time ran out I went to bed questioning
>the state of my eyesight. But it was still a worthwhile hour.
>
>  The second clear night was saturday. This was a bonus no work to get
>up for and all the neighbours lights were off this was 12.30am. I
>decided to firstly look at M57 and pointed the scope using the
>finderscope to where I reckoned it should be. Within seconds I had it
>in the eyepiece. This was a boost to my confidence. I pushed the
>magnification to 200x and it was reasonably clear as a smoke ring. I
>moved on to find the elusive M13 in hercules. I checked my star map
>and sat looking at the sky outlining the main constellations
>cygnus,lyra and hercules. Then it dawned on me, I had been looking
>for hercules body ( a trapezoidal shape ) on a scale similar to orion
>thinking he was supposedly a big chap. Unfortunately he isn't and I
>spotted a smaller group of 4 stars used binoculars to narrow in on
>the object and bingo there it was. I immediately slewed the scope
>onto it and M13 appeared with a wealth of resolved stars. I think
>this would photograph well if and when I set my scope up properly in
>the future. This was another boost where would it end!
>
>  I decided to look at the andromeda galaxy as this is large and
>therefore for an amateur like me easy to find. I duly found it but
>was a little disappointed. It did not look outstanding and I think
>this may be due to the twilight drowning out a lot of its light. It
>is low in the sky even at 1.00 am. My last target was M27 the dumbell
>nebula. This is found by navigating down from the base star in
>cygnus. I initially used binoculars and found a fuzzy patch.
>Memorising the star patterns on the route I repeated this journey
>with the scopes finder. A little more difficult but I was there
>within minutes. This object seemed to fill the viewfinder at 200x and
>the structure could be seen. Again I think to photograph this would
>be best as the human eye sadly does not respond to any colour being
>emitted. It's a bit of a black and white world. After this I decided
>to pack up it was pretty cold and 1.30 in the morning. Overall I felt
>much happier at the speed I found things compared to my previous
>efforts. It's quite amazing when you're out at these times how many
>sounds you hear of birds and animals. Its one of my favourite times
>of day but work stops me enjoying it more!
>
>Well thats it for now, I'm working out which objects to look for next
>but I think I'll look forward to seeing the moon again.
>
>Hope all my Messier references are correct.
>
>Best Regards
>
>
>       Martyn
>
>
>
>
>

_________________________________________________________________
Winks & nudges are here - download MSN Messenger 7.0 today!
http://messenger.msn.co.uk

Hi all,

When I got home last night, put the car in the garage and stopped to
look at Jupiter, I was unexpectedly treated to the full pass of the
ISS, which lasted about 4 minutes. I didn't know that was what it was
at the time, but the Heavens above web site confirm my suspicions.
Just a shame I didn't have the scope set up.

Regards,

Austin

from terms and conditions

Closing date for claims is 5pm BST Friday 20 May 2005. Any claims
received after this time will not be accepted

Keith wrote: -

> Plus, if you haven't already sent off for the free Hubble DVD then
complete the online form and use the claim code 1FCDVD5 and hopefully
there will be some left.

Austin wrote:

>>from terms and conditions
  Closing date for claims is 5pm BST Friday 20 May 2005. Any claims  received
after this time will not be accepted<<

Hi Austin,

Oops, didn't read the offer expiry date. However, I did send off for the DVD
myself and have now received it, so if anyone can get DVD copies made then
you are welcome to copy mine. I don't know what the content is like because
I've just got back from holiday and haven't had chance to look at it yet.

Keith

I was looking out my bedroom window on Sunday evening and watched the
sunset near the northwest. I had go at spotting Venus which is about 9
degrees to the right of the point of sunset and 10 degrees above the
horizon.  Found it easily with binoculars and could then see it without
the bins once I knew where it was.  Venus was much more visible, but a
lot lower in the sky, about 40 minutes later.

I've had a look at where in the sky Venus will be during the rest of the
year and it doesn't get any better than it is at the moment.  Although
Venus continues to draw away from the Sun (i.e. elongation increasing),
the horizon-Sun-Venus angle will be very shallow for us in the UK
meaning that Venus will continue to set shortly after sunset.

Adrian

A

Adrian Jannetta wrote:

>I was looking out my bedroom window on Sunday evening and watched the
>sunset near the northwest. I had go at spotting Venus which is about 9
>degrees to the right of the point of sunset and 10 degrees above the
>
>
>
....I mean 9 degrees to the left (9 degrees anti-clockwise)

AJ

John

A

Adrian Jannetta wrote:

>I was looking out my bedroom window on Sunday evening and watched the
>sunset near the northwest. I had go at spotting Venus which is about 9
>degrees to the right of the point of sunset and 10 degrees above the
>
> 
>
....I mean 9 degrees to the left (9 degrees anti-clockwise)

AJ

 TO INFINITY - AND BEYOND!!!

Stardate: Deep Impact

The popular OU & BBC TWO series returns on 4 July 2005 to cover NASA’s Deep Impact mission.

http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/

The programme is being hosted by Dr Brian Cox, particle physicist (at CERN in Switzerland, Manchester University, and Fermilab in the USA) and former member of the rock-band D:ream – along with Dr Lucie Green, who co-hosted prior Stardate programmes.

There will be two programmes on the day – one during the day-time on BBC One (likely to be 11.45am), which will broadcast the mission’s first images, and one in the evening on BBC Two (likely to be 8pm), which will detail the days events – please check TV listings for further details closer to the date of transmission.

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hi everyone
well my first scope arrived yesterday - unpacked it and eventually
assembled everything correctly
looked out of the window hopefully..............
managed to get outside at about 10.30  -there wer a few breaks in the
clouds......... but trying to align the scope was a no-go
the stars it tried to align with were under cloud - the only few stars
about were unknown to me - i didnt have any simple constellations to
orientate by, so i practised focusing and aligning my scope manually
which i suppose will help me.
so i was really dissapointed with the first night and started blaming
myself and the scope but realistically it was a poor night visibility
wise - icouldnt even see things in the bins so i spose id better learn
to be patient.
youve probably all been through this but this was day 1 of being a
scope owner.
hope the weather improves
cheers nigel

Hi Nigel,

You are right about last night, but hang in there it gets better.

What kind of scope did you buy? Sounds like a GoTo of some sort.

Regards,
Austin

hi
it was meade etx 125pe
i know lots of people will say i should have got maybe a refractor or
reflector as a newbie, but i am very impatient and wanted instant
gratification- and although i think im a quick learner i wanted to be
able to see named stars and planets straight away - being 47 i dont
have too much time  to learn it all    lol
anyway i hope i get some clear skies - i know with the size of the
scope i will use it in my garden most of the time - i have a large
garden with mainly trees around  - and its a bungalow so i do get
quite a good area of sky uninterrupted  - pity bout the sodium lights
nearby but i might buy a catapult !!!!!!!!!!!11
cheers
its nice to be in the group -do you know anything about the sunderland
group who meet at washington wwt








--- In nastro@yahoogroups.com, "austinbwmn" <bowmana@b...> wrote:
> Hi Nigel,
>
> You are right about last night, but hang in there it gets better.
>
> What kind of scope did you buy? Sounds like a GoTo of some sort.
>
> Regards,
> Austin

nigel759217 wrote:

>hi
>it was meade etx 125pe
>i know lots of people will say i should have got maybe a refractor or
>reflector as a newbie, but i am very impatient and wanted instant
>gratification- and although i think im a quick learner i wanted to be
>able to see named stars and planets straight away - being 47 i dont
>have too much time  to learn it all    lol
>
>
I think it would be worth investing some time initially away from the
telescope to learn the shapes of the constellations and where some of
the brightest stars are - these are usually the guide stars for your
'scope.  A planisphere will show you which stars are above your horizon
at any time of the year and in which direction (it won't show you the
moon or planets though).  You can get a planisphere from most good
bookshops.  South Tyneside planetarium sell a planisphere designed for
the northeast.  Also, there is quite a bit of astronomy software which
will do everything a planisphere does and will plot the positions of
planets, asteroids, comets, print star charts and loads of other
functions.  Some are free to download, some you have to pay for.  I'd
recommend a free planetarium program called Cartes du Ciel.  If you
search google you'll find it easily enough.

>anyway i hope i get some clear skies - i know with the size of the
>scope i will use it in my garden most of the time - i have a large
>garden with mainly trees around  - and its a bungalow so i do get
>quite a good area of sky uninterrupted  - pity bout the sodium lights
>nearby but i might buy a catapult !!!!!!!!!!!11
>cheers
>its nice to be in the group -do you know anything about the sunderland
>group who meet at washington wwt
>
>
In case you haven't seen it - here is the website.
http://www.sunderlandastro.com/

Cheers,

Adrian

hi
yeah thanks for that
at the moment im browsing the net for sites
also i bought 'astronomy for dummies' which is pretty good and ha
web addresses on.
ive found some sights with star maps on so its just a case of
practice
cheers






--- In nastro@yahoogroups.com, Adrian Jannetta <adrian@t...> wrote:
>
>
> nigel759217 wrote:
>
> >hi
> >it was meade etx 125pe
> >i know lots of people will say i should have got maybe a
refractor or
> >reflector as a newbie, but i am very impatient and wanted instant
> >gratification- and although i think im a quick learner i wanted
to be
> >able to see named stars and planets straight away - being 47 i
dont
> >have too much time  to learn it all    lol
> >
> >
> I think it would be worth investing some time initially away from
the
> telescope to learn the shapes of the constellations and where some
of
> the brightest stars are - these are usually the guide stars for
your
> 'scope.  A planisphere will show you which stars are above your
horizon
> at any time of the year and in which direction (it won't show you
the
> moon or planets though).  You can get a planisphere from most good
> bookshops.  South Tyneside planetarium sell a planisphere designed
for
> the northeast.  Also, there is quite a bit of astronomy software
which
> will do everything a planisphere does and will plot the positions
of
> planets, asteroids, comets, print star charts and loads of other
> functions.  Some are free to download, some you have to pay for.
I'd
> recommend a free planetarium program called Cartes du Ciel.  If
you
> search google you'll find it easily enough.
>
> >anyway i hope i get some clear skies - i know with the size of
the
> >scope i will use it in my garden most of the time - i have a
large
> >garden with mainly trees around  - and its a bungalow so i do get
> >quite a good area of sky uninterrupted  - pity bout the sodium
lights
> >nearby but i might buy a catapult !!!!!!!!!!!11
> >cheers
> >its nice to be in the group -do you know anything about the
sunderland
> >group who meet at washington wwt
> >
> >
> In case you haven't seen it - here is the website.
> http://www.sunderlandastro.com/
>
> Cheers,
>
> Adrian

Nigel, that's a belting little scope and you should get years of
great use out of it.

As for the streetlights, I've heard of guys turning them off by
shining a laser pointer at the daylight sensors. Then when you've
finished they come back on as normal, no harm done. Also there are a
lot of light pollution (LPR) filters available, which may be worth
investigating. I have an Orion Skyglow one, but have never used it
fully in anger, but the odd time I have used it, it seems to work.

Regards,
Austin

Nigel, I forgot to mention SAS, I've only had a couple of encounters
with them, last year when I was trying to negotiate an observing dome
for NASTRO which they had obtained and at the Kielder starcamp.