Dick Smith Posted May 12, 2006 Author Share Posted May 12, 2006 It arrived today!I haven't unpacked it yet, partly because I've been down the pub, and partly because I won't see much here in the Smoke, but that's pretty good service, I reckon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unknown Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 Hello DickHappy belated brthday.[:)]I quite fancy the idea of a telescope, the sky is absolutley fab here in dept 79. Last summer the kids and I spent hours siting in the dark, laying back in our chairs, watching the shooting stars and seeing the milky way. Prior to moving here we lived by Gatwick airport, where as you said, never gets completely dark.Oh I'm quite jealous, I'm definately going to look into getting one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted May 12, 2006 Author Share Posted May 12, 2006 I think it will be wonderful. It gets so dark in rural Normandy that you can see the colour of the stars with the naked eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali-cat Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 HI Dick. OH of Ali@ards here again.Glad you got your new scope but don't feel you have to wait until July to try it out. Most people have to observe from a light polluted area and I've heard of many who observe from an apartment balcony in the middle of the city. Light pollution will only affect 'faint fuzzies' i.e. the distant galaxies etc that you need a fair knowledge of the sky to find in the first place. Saturn and Jupiter are well placed at the moment (in the South/Southwest after dark) and totally unaffected by skyglow. Also easy to find - just look for the bright stars that don't twinkle. Also many star clusters and the Orion Nebula and Andromeda Galaxy are relatively unaffected by light pollution.Anyway enjoy - once the skies clear.CheersMark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali-cat Posted May 20, 2006 Share Posted May 20, 2006 Hi Dick,Mark was wondering if you had had a chance to try out the new scope, yet? There have been no clear nights here, for weeks, but how is it in England? [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted May 20, 2006 Author Share Posted May 20, 2006 No, we've not had anything clear for the last week, so I've packed it away, as it was taking up a large chunk of the living room!We have really bad light pollution here, and it is never fully dark. It looks like it will be the same for the next few days, but might be better at the end of next week. I hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 Not too far away (next spiral arm in from us) (these pictures are from NASA and thus are not copyrighted) though you may need a fairly large telescope. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali-cat Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 Would the telescope need to be called ....... Hubble? [Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 The one where they ordered it, got it delivered, etc. then found it didn’t work. So they had to send a repair man round. (Eagle Nebula M16?) Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 I don’t know where you are in France Dick (or anybody else) but you may be interested in an astronomical conference in dept 73 29/July to 4/Aug 2006. Details http://www.hautemaurienne.com/astronomie/. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted August 26, 2006 Share Posted August 26, 2006 Dick,How did you get on observing this summer ? A bit less to see these days now there are only 8 planets rather than the 9 there were when you got the telescope.Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted August 26, 2006 Author Share Posted August 26, 2006 In four weeks we got one evening of truly clear skies, and there were no planets in view, but the starfields were wonderful. It was also the evening of the Perseids, so lots of shooting stars and fast-moving objects I took to be satellites.A promising start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted August 26, 2006 Share Posted August 26, 2006 I was back in the UK for the night 12/13 Aug (Persid peak) and it was totally clouded over so I missed them (Persid meteor shower).Unlucky to have had that much cloud cover. I'm a bit further south and pre Aug we had (mainly) fantastic clear skies most nights (an occasion cloud came over to obscure Jupiter for a it but it cleared pretty quickly)..Winter can be great as well, plus in winter you don't have to stay up until the next day morning waiting for it to get dark. I remember taking the dogs out some nights and it was fabulously clear, sky full of stars.If you need to check if something you see is a man made satellite you can check on http://science.nasa.gov/Realtime/jtrack/3d/JTrack3D.html or http://www.n2yo.com/.Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted August 26, 2006 Share Posted August 26, 2006 Sorry, only just noticed this thread. A few weeks ago we had a couple stay with us and the Mr. brought his telescope. Set it up in the garden and dialed in some sort of co-ordinates on acomputer gizmo that lined his instrument up with Jupiter in the south west horizon, and there it was with all its moons perfectly aligned. Amazing! A posh telescope is now on my wish list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted August 26, 2006 Share Posted August 26, 2006 A couple of months ago I spent every night out measuring Jupiter's moons - at least the Galilean 4 (every night and several times each night for the inner/faster ones). Normally up until gone 3 a.m. and it became a bit "hard work" by the end. Still I managed to get 95% mark for the project which made it all a bit more worthwhile.In fact Jupiter's moons are quite easy to see and you can often see them with binoculars (always in a rough line, but there may be less than the 4 as some might be behind/in-front of Jupiter at the time).If you have Google Earth you can use the placeholder at http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/269432/an/0/page/1#269432 to give an estimate of how much light pollution you will suffer from (sorry I cannot hot link it so if you are interested you will need to cut and paste the link). I'm pretty lucky in that I'm blue, but it is always interesting to look back at the southern UK light pollution levels.Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted August 27, 2006 Author Share Posted August 27, 2006 I have a piece of software called Starry Night Backyard, Phil. It may only be for Macs, I'm not sure, but it shows a skymap for any place, date or orientation with all sorts of objects labelled (can be switched on or off). We don't get to see Jupiter clearly until January, and then it will be in the east, which is the only difficult direction for observation. Anyway, Starry Night helps to make clear what you are seeing (especially as on a laptop you can take it out with you) and what you will be able to see, by putting in future dates. And it was free!Nope - it's for PC as well, several different versions starting at $50.http://store.starrynightstore.com/cpack2006.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 Here's Deimos' link hardened up:http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/269432/an/0/page/1#269432Think I need a telescope first, Dick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted August 27, 2006 Author Share Posted August 27, 2006 Phil - you can have a lot of fun with a good pair of binoculars - I buy loads, a bit of a strange obsession...Cross-channel ferries are quite good value! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 Cheers, Dick. Can anyone tell me what's a good spec for bins for a not-too serious skywatcher and would that be better than a telescope of the same price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 There is loads of free Planetarium software for PCs (probably better that Starry Night backyard and free). I also have Starry Night Backyard though tend to use it only occasionally. Normally I use CdC (Cartes du Ciel) - actually developed by a French group of enthusiasts. Open Source, free, etc. Different people prefer different packages, not because they are necessarily better or worse, just that they fit better with how they want to use them. CdC is more techy (i.e. loads of options, etc, supports loads of catalogues which you can download separately). Best version is 3.0 beta (the pre 3.0 versions are available but the 3.0 beta is very reliable (no major "beta" issues"). A bit harder to install as you need to different components separately and install them separately. If you try it, explore the downloads areas and install the bits that sound interesting (its not but in terms of disc space and the installed options can be enabled and disabled from within the program).Windows and Linux versions available (but no Mac version I'm afraid)http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/index.php (again I'm afraid if you will have to cut and paste the link).Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 Here's Ian's latest link:http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/index.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 [quote user="Cassis"]Cheers, Dick. Can anyone tell me what's a good spec for bins for a not-too serious skywatcher and would that be better than a telescope of the same price?[/quote]Astronomical equipment is quite a bit more expensive in France than in the UK. My telescope was about 12% more expensive in France than the UK prices. that said I got excellent service from the French importer/distributor. Also, quite a few UK companies do not like shipping telescopes overseas both because of costs (couriers and weight/volume) and risks of damage. Same probably not true for binoculars.There is an astronomical equipment shop in Le Mans.If you wanted to do a bit more observing before selecting, the winter is excellent (as it gets dark much much earlier). There are quite a few astronomy clubs around. They normally have a selection of telescopes. If Le Mans is not too far for you, there is one based in Le Mans that has quite a selection of telescopes and normally does observing Tues evening/night (evening in winter, night in summer as it gets dark so much later). Let me know if you want contact info.Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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