Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Yes, C/2018Y1 has turned out well, even better that it was discovered by an amateur. I’ve been imaging this one since its discovery. It’s now got too large for the 36’ x 27’ field of view of my 315mm reflector so it’s about time I turned to my 200mm lens and DSLR as I did with 46P.
I could see C/2018Y1 in my 7×50 bino’s two nights ago even with all the light pollution. Here’s my image from the that night.
I’ll check out the 105 images I took during a mostly clear but very frosty night here in Leigh on sea Essex. See my montage below.Even at its brightest I had great difficulty in seeing 46P from my light polluted back garden with binoculars or a telescope, but it was easy to image. There was one time when I ventured to a reasonably dark site and could easily see it naked eye only to come home and then couldn’t find it with binoculars.
46P was a really strange comet that required unconventional observing techniques.
I take the S&T and can’t say I’d noticed.
Perhaps S&T thought the UK and Ireland are constantly shrouded in cloud so wasn’t worth putting them on the map.
Peter
I’m not sure I would have been quite as blunt as Owen, but I do agree that if the BAA is to remain the leading organisation in amateur astronomy it must be careful what it publishes. I’m not suggesting there is anything wrong in John’s observing challenge but in a wider context the BAA’s output does often get quoted in the general world of astronomy. If the BAA publishes something inaccurate, misleading or open to being misconstrued this downgrades the Association and the wider amateur astronomy world.
Perhaps the more expert and experienced amongst us need to come forward and volunteer to assist with what the BAA does?
To get back to the reason John issued the observing challenge, lets all encourage as many observers as possible to hunt out the pup before the chance of seeing it diminishes for the best part of a lifetime. (Seems Gary above is into his 2nd lifetime!)
Peter
Hi Owen,
About a year ago I observed Sirius B visually using a friend’s good quality 200mm APO refractor. It wasn’t easy but it was definitely observable. The refractor I was using had good contrast and colour correction which helped. Telescopes of poor contrast will struggle to show it because Sirius is magnificently bright in any aperture telescope.Peter
My records show I made 281 comet observations of 50 different comets over 72 nights. My worst month was March and the best was August. 72 nights is a lot less than 2017 when I was out on 118 nights.
A clear morning followed by a clear night on the same day counts as one clear night, whereas a clear spell in the evening that spans midnight I count as two clear nights. During last year I changed my observing habit to avoid observing until after midnight because of my neighbours’ nuisance lights that generally go out after they go to bed. This change has probably reduced the number of nights I record as being clear.
I also reported 821 comet astrometric positions to the MPC during 2018.All the best for 2019
Peter
Nick, You must have a good unobstructed SE Horizon to catch C/2018Y1. I worked out that at that AZ I can see down to 12 degs Alt from my observatory. I would have needed to wait until 06.50UT for the comet to clear next doors roof, 10 mins into nautical twilight by which time the sky would have been just too bright… but perhaps I should have tried.
Peter
This morning (2018 Nov 13th) the C/2018V1 is showing a nice long thin tail. My image is showing a tail over 23 arc minutes long extending out the field of view of my camera.I’d been away for a short holiday and was due back Monday evening. My return journey plans were running late but I returned home with time to spare before the event. The sky was lovely and clear and I started scrabbling about making preparations for the observing run only to realise there was too much to set up in the time available.
I then decided to have dinner put my feet up and plan how to make the observatory more pre-prepared for the next similar event.
Oh well.
PeterHello Michael,
I’m interested in the workshop. I’m in the process of setting up a meteor camera, so i’m keen to learn all I can. Please let me know when details of the event are available.
Peter
The LED streetlight change over is complete in my area. I understand the LED type in the lanterns are a mixture of 5700K and 4000K. Most LED manufacturers refer to 5700K as cool white, 4000k as natural and 3000k as warm white. I wasn’t aware of the implications of blue rich light when the change over first started in my area, by the time I became educated it was too late. Unfortunately the LED street lights have a service life of about 25 years so they will probably see me out!!
Hello David,Yes indeed it’s a new outburst…well spotted.
Here’s my image taken last night 2018 July 14th at 2358UT.
Peter
Andrew’s right to point out the clash. The choice of a meeting date is never going please everyone but in this case many of the potential attendee’s will choose Kelling…..I’m afraid I will!
Peter
Nick, Thanks for posting those pictures of Mike’s instruments. He had some lovely equipment and I do like that brass eyepiece with what I assume are moveable crosshairs or a bifilar micrometer.
Peter
Hi,
I’ve never used USB over Ethernet but I do know some who’ve tried but run into problems.
My observatory equipment is hooked up to a local cheap PC in the observatory and can be controlled via Real VNC by any device on the home wired network or even using my smart phone via the house wifi. Real VNC will enable control over the internet and I have been known to start the observatory going and then monitor it using my phone when I’ve had to go out in the car for a short while.My first observatory PC lasted 7 years and the replacement PC’s power supply blew up after a year but has been going for about two years since. The PC just has a plastic bag over it but no other precautions except that the observatory is regularly dehumidified.
Peter
Hi Lars,
The forced ventilation kit will help move the air around and reduce condensation in humid weather. It will also help flush out warm air after hot days so your telescope will reach night time temperatures more quickly.
However I find I get the most condesation problems when the mount and telescope have been cold for a long period, say after a prolonged period of cold weather, then the weather suddenly warms up. The warmer air carries more miosture and this condenses on the cold metal surfaces and even the optical surfaces. Additional ventilation at this point only makes things worse by supplying more moisture laden air to condense on the cold surfaces. Heat or dehumidification is the only way to resolve this situation. I said in an earlier post that I previously used small tubular heaters to reduce the condensation issues but have recently reverted to dehumidification which works perfectly and for a cost lower that the ventilation kit in your link.
Peter Carson
Hi Dominic,
I purchased an AstroTrac about a year ago without any trouble, perhaps things have changed recently.
I went for the AstroTrac after some research and experimentation with other DSLR star tracking mounts. Many of the small lightweight star trackers are fine for a DSLR and lens up to about 100mm in length. I wanted to use a 200mm lens and found most were just not up to giving really good results. My nearest contender was the SkyWatcher Star Adventurer which was very convenient to use but had a large periodic error which showed up in 200mm lens shots.
The Astrotrac is expensive but you are paying for good engineering…if they still make them.
Peter
