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In reply to: tracking device
Posted by Andrea Tasselli at 08:31 on 2011 Jul 13
What telescope or lens are you planning to use? And what imager? BestAndrea T.
In reply to: Advice re telescope choice
Posted by Andrea Tasselli at 08:27 on 2011 Jul 13
For what you want to do I’ll go for the largest aperture you can afford. Contrary to others’ hints the Meade optics are not bad at all and as far as the field covered is reasonable the image is acceptably flat. More importantly, the Meade ACF optics are liable to be reduced (i.e. made faster) far more effectively than the EdgeHD and are more robust in collimation. If I may add a suggestion is to limit yourself to a 14" in both cases as the 16" is really a behemoth and I wouldn’t want to think how to deal with it alone. Another good thing about the Meade is that they’re cheaper than the EdgeHD.Andrea T.
In reply to: Advice re telescope choice
Posted by Nick James at 21:31 on 2011 Jul 12
Eric,Despite Richard’s advice I wouldn’t spoil a good Celestron by putting it on a fork. Meridian flips are not a big deal with modern GEMs such as the ME and, in my humble opinion, the advantages of a GEM for imaging in terms of balance, flexibility and sky access far outweigh the minor inconvenience of a meridian flip. There is certainly no reason why flat fields should be different one side of the meridian than the other since the instrumental flat doesn’t change and any sky gradient over a narrow field wouldn’t be handled by a library flat anyway.I’m biased since I have a C11 on a CGE but I would go for the Edge-HD Celestron and the ME. Celestron have a reputation for better optics than Meade and the ME will outperform any other mount you might reasonably buy.Nick.
In reply to: Advice re telescope choice
Posted by Richard Miles at 19:32 on 2011 Jul 11
Evening Eric,I saw Brian Warner’s response to your query and would support his comments, viz. that the 14" Celestron EdgeHD OTA would be a good choice. There is supposed to be a special telecompressor lens for this OTA soon. As to mount – here you would be better off with a fork mount to avoid the meridian telescope flip which causes a discontinuity in flatfielding of the CCD camera before and after the meridian flip. It is a great regret that Celestron have never made a fork mount and that their standard OTAs do not have support attachments on both sides of the tube. Presumably the bolt holes exist – maybe someone who has such an OTA will comment about putting one on a fork mount.Richard
Topic: Advice re telescope choice
Posted by Americo Watkins at 16:13 on 2011 Jul 10
Hello,I’m about to embark on setting up the best observatory I can before I get married. It will be the only chance I will ever get I expect.My line of research will primarily be photometry/astrometry of asteroids, and obtaining light curves of exo-planets. Also S/N and GRB’s DSO if time allows. I’m aware this may seem ambitious, but I have already started (as a novice) with the asteroids using robotic telescopes and I’ll just see how things progress.I plan to obtain a Paramount ME mount.Re- telescopes I’m considering either a 14" -16" Meade LX200 ACF or the Celestron 14" edge OTA only.The celstron being more expensive than the 16" Meade. But the Meade has the greater light gathering power and the new ACF may well perform well enough.I have obtained limited advice so far which tends towards the Celestron sharp edge to edge images.Does any body have experience of either or both telescopes. I would appreciate any advice re optical performance and/or performance of the tube. i.e flexture, mirror shift. Comments for or against either would be welcome.many thanks for your time,Eric
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In reply to: V1413 Aql
Posted by Gary Poyner at 21:57 on 2011 Jul 08
It really is the easiest method to do, and has always been regarded the best for beginners. You don’t need to work anything out at the telescope, just make the estimate. It’s just simple division, addition and subtraction to reduce the estimate to a magnitude. I can help you with that once you have secured your estimate. Just send me an e-mail and we’ll crack it!The Pogson method requires a bit more experience, as it requires you to recognise tenths of a magnitude. That’s not hard either, but harder if you’ve never done it before.Have a go, and let me know how you get on. My e-mail is…garypoyner@blueyonder.co.ukDon’t be put off by the numbers.Good luck,Gary
In reply to: V1413 Aql
Posted by Gary Poyner at 10:58 on 2011 Jul 08
Hi Paul,One easy question and one difficult. Easy first…V Sge is well placed for observation at the moment, and is a perfect star to begin VS observing with. It’s a Nova Like star which also displays eclipses. It’s ALWAYS active, and you can observe two or three times a week and you will see some variation. It’s range is 8.6-13.9 but it’s rare it gets brighter than mag 9 or fainter than 13.0 – perfect for your telescope. I have a 20 year light curve on my web pages if you want to take a look.We don’t have a BAA chart for it, but you can get one from the AAVSO. Their chart plotter is easy to use, but if you haven’t done it before it can take a bit of practice to get the best chart for you. With this in mind I have created a 30 arc minute chart with the correct orientation for a Newtonian from the AAVSO chart plotter, and uploaded it to my web page. This will be easier for you and save you messing around. We want to get you observing this star asap :-)http://www.garypoyner.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/VSge_chart.gifIt’s impossible to answer your second question here – too involved. We do have literature on this subject in the VSS, so if you contact the Director Roger Pickard, he will send you the details. It’s one of those things which looks very difficult when written down, but actually quite easy to do. You might want to have a look at this brief introduction I put together years ago when I was Director of the VSS (updated in 2009)…http://www.garypoyner.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/intro.htmlWe have a VSS meeting in Salford in October (details to be announced in due course), and we’d love to see you there. Bring all your mates too :-)If you want more information on VS observing, you can contact me directly. Details on the BAAVSS web pages. Cheers,Gary
In reply to: Gary Poyner talk
Posted by Paul A Brierley at 06:48 on 2011 Jun 23
Hi Guy’s.Despite the poor sound quality. I toughly enjoyed watching Gary’s talk. That 20" Is certainly some telescope. I take my hat of to you given you’re light pollution.Your accent didn’t bother me.
In reply to: Observing chairs WANTED
Posted by Gary Hendrick at 21:57 on 2011 May 26
Thx for your reply, Callum. I did look at them at the suggestion of the USA site. I looked at Telescope House too and found nothing on their lists either. I think I will have to call them and ask them to import it for me. They should make the effort as I plan to spend £1k on scope and equipment. I got some plans for a chair from the internet (attatched), but I’m dangerous with a saw Lol
Topic: Observing chairs WANTED
Posted by Gary Hendrick at 00:56 on 2011 May 26
I’m looking for an observing chair like the one in the link.http://www.telescope.com/Orion-Deluxe-Quick-Adjust-Observers-Chair/p/5939.uts#tabsI cant find it in the UK. The USA sites where I do find it, don’t ship to UK.Any ideas or suggestions?
In reply to: Help please, with setting UP a super nova search.
Posted by Callum Potter at 12:15 on 2011 Apr 01
Hi Paul,i’m not a supernova patroller, but have been to a few talks on the topic, so here are my thoughts…1. How many galaxies do people search. Is fifty a good number to begin with?I don’t know – you have to think a bit about your ‘pipeline’ – telescope slew, aquire short image, check field right, aquire long image, aquire second image slew to next target How long all this takes will dictate to some extent how many you can image per hour. You and your partner should choose different target lists to maximise your imaging time. You should try to minimise your slewing time – by choosing targets nearto each other in RA or DEC (ie. going in a pattern up-down, or right-left. I suspect up-down is better as new objects will start to appearfrom the east).If you have a very accurate mount, you may not need to check you have got hte right field – but you probably need a paramount for that…2. Is it a good idea to build up a set of reference image’s first. Or can these be sourced on the internet?It is best to use your own references, as you won’t need to worry about image scale & orientation. But you should check your first images against internet (DSS perhaps) frames. If you get a suspect, then check agains internet frames then too.3. What should you do if you think you have a suspect?First check your second image – is the object still there? (avoids hotspots / cosmic rays, other random effects). Get another image some time later, to check if its an asteroid (it will have moved).Then get your partner to check. If that confirms it, then get in touch with Guy Hurst, who’d be able to advise on best next steps.Guy acts as a clearing house, and will be able to get other independent observations, if needed.4. What exposure time’s are we looking at during a patrol. 30s/60s?Depends on how deep you want to go – i think 60s is fairly common amongst the patrolers. Hope this helps, Callum
Posted by Paul A Brierley at 18:52 on 2011 Mar 30
I’d like to ask members of the BAA and particularly members of the UK Nova Supernova search program. For some advice please. Myself together with another local astronomer, want to begin searching for Supernovae. And we’d like some advice on how to get started.Before I continue, I will give you a break down of our equipment.I use a 200mm F4 Newtonian with a focal length of 800mm, and a Atik 16ic camera.And my colleague uses a 200mm telescope, a Celestron SCT with a focal length of 2032mm and a SXV-H18 camera.The questions which I would like answers to, are in know particular order.1. How many galaxies do people search. Is fifty a good number to begin with?2. Is it a good idea to build up a set of reference image’s first. Or can these be sourced on the internet?3. What should you do if you think you have a suspect?4. What exposure time’s are we looking at during a patrol. 30s/60s?Thank you.
In reply to: CCD Cameras
Posted by Nick Atkinson at 17:36 on 2011 Mar 27
Thank You Adrea. My telescope is an APO triplet and is very well colour corrected I think on balance I will go for the Sony interline CCD as most people recommend it. I gather you can get away without dark frames.
In reply to: Polar Alignment
Posted by Nick Atkinson at 18:41 on 2011 Mar 19
My problem is a slight orthagonal differance from the mount and the telescope. This is detected by picking a star on the meridian and changing the telescope from side to side. This is achieved by adjusting the clock by plus or minus one hour.Any dispacement in RA is a measure of this. I have been intending to shim up the mounting plates but have never got round to this. Once done it should improvove both the pointing accuracy and guiding.Must get this done but I have a 50 -50 chance of chosing the right end!
In reply to: solar prominences
Posted by Stephen Durr at 19:56 on 2011 Mar 14
Thank you David, I am hoping to do much more with the sun as far as imaging is concerned and also increase my knowledge about our local star. I think the Lunt solar telescope is extremely good value and am looking forward to pushing the double stack to its limit. Steve
Topic: Polar Alignment
Posted by Norman Lavender at 17:49 on 2011 Mar 11
In "Turn Left at Orion" "How to Run a Telescope" refers to setting the equatorial axis as "It is tilted at an angle of 90 degrees minus the latitude where you’re observing"Is this correct, I thought you set it to the latitude. Have I missed something here?As I have high trees to the north of my garden I am relying on the latitude setting for approximate alignment.
Topic: M13 in Hercules.
Posted by Stephen Durr at 21:22 on 2011 Mar 08
This image was taken with my Canon 40D with a 25 second exposure and processed in Photoshop. The telescope was a 8" Schmidt on a NEQ6 PRO mount.
Topic: The sun in Ha
Posted by Stephen Durr at 20:30 on 2011 Mar 08
This image was taken on my Lunt 60mm DS solar telescope mounted on small skywatcher eq5 pro mount. It was processed with Registax and photoshop and was my second attempt with the DMK 41AU02.AS Mono camera.
In reply to: Robotic Telescope Project Web Page Updates
Posted by Peter Meadows at 17:03 on 2011 Mar 05
Hi Mike,Can I suggest that you email myself, as the RTP coordinator, if you wish to contact any of the project leaders (robotscope@britastro.org). As coordinator it would be useful to know who wishes to become involved in any of the current projects. I’ve added this to the main RTP page.The html problems have been fixed – these only occurred for IE.The question of the availability of images to other BAA members is still be considered. My view is that if the project leaders wish to make their images available to other members then this can only be done on a voluntary basis as there was no requirement to provide these when applying for the 50% BAA subsidy.Peter
In reply to: Robotic Telescope Project Web Page Updates
Posted by Jeremy at 19:05 on 2011 Mar 04
Of course the images paid for (at least partially) the BAA should be made available for all members to see and use (with appropriate credit). I see no problem with other people making use of the images for their own study/research. Science is all about making the original data for others to use the main challenge is often in the interpretation of the basic data (in this case images).Andrea asks:>>in the hypothetical case of (me) releasing all the raw images what would be preventing anyone else to do the data analysis and publish the results him/herself? <<Absolutely nothing prevents this. And thats a good thing: it should be encouraged. Maybe the final results and conclusions will be different from yours. In such a case, it may lead to further understanding. Thats what science is about. If one pays for the results out of ones own pocket, then one can decide when to release the images/data etc. But if BAA member services have paid, then they should be freely available to all members.This is already common in the field of VS research too. Every day dozens of observers upload their data (including data reduced from CCD images) to the AAVSO web site (and other groups like BAA VSS and Center for Backyard Astrophysics), making them freely available for others to use immediately.Go well!Jeremy
British Astronomical Association
Supporting amateur astronomers since 1890
