Stargazing with a telescope

Stargazing with a telescope bookI actually received this book as part of the AstroBox when I purchased my Bresser Messier 130N telescope. Philip’s produce some really good books on all aspects of astronomy and this book is no different.

Stargazing with a telescope begins by taking you through how telescopes work and the various types of telescopes available and which may be right for you. The book also contains a lot of information on the various types of mounts from various manufacturers and how they all work. There are also some great tips on what to look for when purchasing a second hand telescope and a section on how to maintain your telescope.

Stargazing with a telescope then moves onto using your telescope, it begins with setting up your viewfinder and getting its alignment correct. The book also describes each part of the telescope in turn and gives help and advice on how to make the most of your nights viewing.

Stargazing with a telescope shows you how to set up and use setting circles, and get used to use RA and Dec settings, and polar align your telescope. It also instructs you how to use the Philips Planisphere.

There is then a section on the planets and how to view the sun and about viewing nebulae and double stars.

The last major chapter is about the extras you can purchase for your telescope including eyepieces, filters, dew shields, power supplies, astrophotography and web cam use.

Finally the book has a number of sky maps depicting the sky throughout the various seasons and a list of the various nebulae and other interesting objects to observe.

At around 190 pages Stargazing with a telescope packs in so much vital information for astronomy beginners.

I actually think that every person starting astronomy should read Stargazing with a telescope. I still am, for reference as well. This book could also be read before you purchase binoculars or a telescope as there is lots of good advice about the different type of telescope and which may be right for you.

This book review is based on the 2004 edition.

Stargazing with a Telescope is available at Waterstones

Imaging Mars with a Webcam 3rd Attempt

I decided to brave the cold last night and go out at about 10.30pm. I did not find it that cold, although this time I did wear a ninja type balaclava. After setting up, I wondered why I had even bothered coming out as a kind of icy fog then appeared.

I recently purchased a 2″ ED Barlow and wanted to give that a go to try and capture a larger Mars. I did have problems though get Mars on the computer screen via the webcam when using the Barlow. I usually start by getting Mars in the centre of the eyepiece and then I sync the LX200. I then swap the eyepiece for the webcam. I then re-focus and play with the webcam settings and then record.

If I am using a Barlow on top I then add the Barlow, but last night everytime I added the Barlow I lost Mars on the computer screen – very frustrating!

Mars on a cold night in December 2007I wonder if the webcam went to sleep or just gave up, so I tried unplugging the webcam and shutting down VLounge as well. I tried several times then got annoyed and just took some footage without the Barlow lens.

What are the best procedures to follow to get webcam footage when using Barlows? Do I need another piece of equipment to see what is going on at the telescope at the same time as what the webcam can see?

I think the other problem was that the Barlow is 2″ and my eyepieces are 1.25″ and so is the webcam so I kept taking the Barlow out and then I had to add the adaptor back into the telescope to just use a 1.25″ eyepiece.

The Barlow does have a 1.25″ adaptor, I did try to align Mars in the eyepiece when using the Barlow and then swapped the eyepiece for the Webcam, but there was no Mars on the computer screen.

Ho Hum – try again next time, probably when the outside temp is not -2.

Meade MySky

Meade MySkyIt was amazing to see the Meade Sky gadget on Channel Five last night on The Gadget Show, when it was up against the Sky Challenger Picoo Z helicopters and won.

The MySky is definitely an amazing gadget, and particularly useful if you want to add GPS functionality to your Meade Non-GPS telescope.

The only thing that worries me is that from the image above, people may think that what you are looking at on the screen is actually a live shot of what is in the sky, when it is really just images stored on the MySky.

I have written more about the Meade MySky here.

The Meade My Sky is available for £196 online here.

Imaging Mars with a Webcam, 2nd Attempt

This was my 2nd attempt at imaging Mars with my Philips SPC900 Webcam. This time I decided to go out a bit later, so headed out at around 10.30pm and started imaging at 11pm. Leaving it later in the evening meant that Mars was in Gemini and quite high in the sky, so hopefully the atmosphere would not affect my imaging so much.

This time I made sure that VLounge software was recording at 10fps, I also played around a lot more with the setttings.

Both images are the same, just at different resolutions and magnifications.

Mars via Webcam 3rd Dec 2007 Mars via Webcam 3rd Dec 2007

This image was stacked in Registax 4 and the clip length was around 2 minutes. I originally took the clip at 10fps, but now I have looked back at the .avi, it says the fps is 24, this may be because I had to convert the original .mpg clip into an .avi

I did not use a Barlow, so it was taken at f10, I did try to use a 4x ImageMate, but this was just too powerful, so I stuck to just using the webcam with the UV/IR filter.

I am a lot happier with these images, and I am learning a lot doing this. I think the next step is to try and fill more of the CCD chip with the red planet. This means getting hold of a good quality 2x Barlow lens.

Webcam Imaging Mars

As Mars is very prominent in the sky at the moment, I feel it is my mission to try and get the best possible image I can whilst I have the red planet in sight.

I purchased a new Baader UV/IR lens the other day so I was really itching to give it a go. I used my Philips SPC900 web-cam, and I took around 100 seconds of video each time at 10 frames per second and 15 frames per second, in order to get lots of frames to put into Registax.

I still do all my recording in the supplied Philips VLounge software, although I don’t think this is the best way to go about it, one reason is because the output format is .MPG and I have to then convert it to .AVI to get it into Registax, which is a real pain.

Mars via Webcam

See my second attempt for better Mars images. I have learnt a lot since this post.

You can make out some terrain marks of Mars in the image, but I want more! I still think I can get a better image, as this footage is a bit fuzzy and kind of out of focus. The video was taken when Mars was quite low in the sky. As at the moment I just can’t stay out too late as it’s so cold outside by the time Mars is high in the sky, but hopefully during December and January I should be able to get some more imaging done. I am also reading The Lunar and Planetary Webcam User’s Guide book, so hopefully I should pick up some more tips from this book.

National Geographic Star Planetarium

National Geographic PlanetariumOn my travels around the internet I found the National Geographic Star Planetarium. This planetarium can transform a room into a space theatre. A Cyber Sky CD-ROM comes with it and is packed with facts and ancient legends to learn about as you watch projected stars move across the ceiling.

I think this kind of childrens planetarium has been around for many years now and has been updated in it’s look and now comes with a CD where it used to come with a cassette tape (remember those?).

“Transform your room into a 360-degree planetarium filled with stars and constellations. Includes a CD audio tour of the night sky and a hand-held meteor maker to add streaking meteors on command. Use the constellation dome outdoors as a 3D glow-in-the-dark star map. With lights, sounds and fascinating facts, it’s just like being in a real planetarium at home!
Age 8+”.

A great gift for the junior astronomer and not too expensive either, I found a similar Star Theatre which looks an improved version at The Science Museum for £29.99, or the version pictured above from The Toy Shop at £19.95

View the National Geographic Star Planetarium here.

UK Astronomy Buy & Sell

A short while ago I discovered the UK Astronomy Buy & Sell website. It was nice to find a website where you could list any astronomy item for sale for free, instead of having to pay the high listing and final auction fees of eBay.

A couple of weeks ago I listed an LX200 data cable, and some astronomy books for sale, a couple of the books sold and the communication between the buyer and myself was easy via email and the transaction was easy, payment was made through PayPal, so eBay (who own PayPal) still got some commission!

This week I have now also become a buyer from the site, as I purchased a Baader UV/IR Rejection Filter for £16.50 including delivery and it turned up in the post today, again a nice straight forward transaction.

Admittedly I do frequently look at eBay for astronomy listings, but I also regularly visit the UK Astronomy Buy & Sell Website, if you don’t know it have a look yourself, you may find a bargain!

View my astronomy listings here

Comet Holmes 17P Update

I have not been out for a couple of weeks, it seems the colder weather has put me off and I have been very busy in the evenings as well. But I managed to get outside for a couple of hours the other night after wrapping up warm. I went looking for Comet Tuttle but could not really see it or Autostar was pointing me in the wrong direction.

Anyway, I managed to have a re-visit to Comet Holmes, to see what has happened since I last looked at it about 14 days ago here. It appears that the outer dense ring has decreased or should I say thinned out.

This image was taken by my telescope mounted Canon 300mm lens.

Comet Holmes Update 15th November 2007

Using a Palm with the LX200

I was amazed to find a program called Planetarium which can be installed on a Palm top with Palm OS 3.5 and above. Planetarium is a full astronomy program which can also control your telescope.

So the first thing I did was go and get my old Palm M505 out of the loft and charge it up. The Palm is something I have not used for ages as I kept finding the battery was always out of charge whenever I went to use it. Another thing is that nowadays the mobile phone can do most of things that the Palm can, but now it has a new lease of life as long as I can get it to talk to the LX200.

I then downloaded the Planetarium software and installed the extra LX200 drivers. Installation was easy, after I tried to install the latest Palm Desktop software onto my Vista PC, which was not too happy, so I ended up installing it instead onto my XP laptop which worked.

After starting Planetarium I entered the latitude and longitude co-ordinates and the date and time. Overall the software looks good, you can even set the read out to display in night mode where the screen turns red.

The next thing I need to do to is now find a Palm to RS232 Serial cable so that I can try and connect the Palm to the LX200 somehow. If anybody has any ideas on how to get the Palm to talk to the LX200 then please leave your comments.

Solar System Mobile Kit

Solar System MobileI saw this Solar System mobile kit on the web. It’s a mobile of the solar system that comes in kit form and has to be put together.

The solar system mobile kit comes with everything you need including paints, brushes and a full colour poster.

What a great idea for a kids present though, something for them to do and educational at the same time and something for them to hang in the bedroom afterwards. A good introduction to the solar system for budding junior astronomers.

“Create the entire solar system in your own home. This fascinating kit has everything for making a beautiful, glow-in-the-dark mobile featuring all our known planets. 75cm high, 75cm wide when complete. Includes a bonus wall chart full of fascinating facts. Ideal for supporting Key Stage 3 of the National Curriculum. Age 7+”.

The Solar System mobile is available here from The Science Museum for £16.99