John Lewis Telescopes

Whilst I was searching lately for a new Skywatcher telescope I was amazed to see that John Lewis appeared in the lists on Google. So I had to have a look, John Lewis now sell telescopes. They don’t sell too many, about 7 in total. Maybe telescopes are becoming mainstream, maybe it’s the Brian Cox effect?

John Lewis currently stock the following telescopes:

• Celestron Reflector 114
• Celestron Firstscope
• Celestron Astromaster 130EQ
• Celestron Travelscope
• Celestron Astromaster 76EQ

Still a great Christmas present for the budding astronomer and a great place to start.

View all the John Lewis Telescopes

Solar Image with Coronado PST and Canon SLR

I decided to have a look at the Sun today whilst it was out for a change and not cloudy. The weather this summer in 2011 in the UK has been terrible cloudy by day and cloudy by night.

I began by putting my standard Coronado PST on my Manfrotto tripod and put in my 9mm eyepiece, I had a good look around and decided to try and attach my Canon 550D to the telescope and take an image. I had not done this before as I usually image with my PST on my EQ6 mount and then use my Imaging Source DMK21 camera to do the imaging. The only problem with doing this is that the CCD chip is quite small at 640×480 so you can never get the whole of the solar disc in the image, you would need to create a mosiac. This is something you don’t have to do the with the large CCD sensor of a modern DSLR camera.

Anyway, I added my T-ring to my DSLR and attached a 1.25″ nosepiece and my trusty 2.5x Televue Powermate. I managed to get the image in rough focus and take a few images, not expecting much. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had managed to capture prominances in one image and surface solar detail in the other images.

This was not guided and it was clumsily handheld, I did set the 2 second timer on the SLR to try and cut down on the camera shake, as my Manfrotto tripod could barely hold the weight of the PST, DSLR and Powermate.

Prominances layer: 1/125 exposure, auto ISO (it selected ISO1000)
Surface detail layer: 1/1000 exposure, auto ISO (it selected ISO1600)

The two images were then put on top of each other and tweaked in Photoshop.

So there could be some more work to do in order to lower the ISO setting to try and reduce the noise, but otherwise I was very happy considering it was handheld and not guided.

Click on the image below to enlarge it.

Cosmic Challenge Book Review

Cosmic Challenge contains nearly 500 pages and lists over 500 star targets for you to find. The book is aimed at both beginners and advanced astronomers alike, as the book contains a mix of Solar System and deep-sky targets to hunt for.

The first 25 pages of the book tell us about our own eyes and how they work, as well as information on binoculars, collimation, using baffling/flocking, eyepieces, the best filters to use on what objects and the things to think about when it comes to your observing site. This includes information on the jet stream, the Pickering seeing scale, the Bortle scale of darkness and more.

Cosmic Challenge is then split into objects you can hunt out with your naked eyes, binoculars, small telescopes (3 to 5 inch) and giant binoculars, medium telescopes (6 to 9.25 inches), large telescopes (10 – 14 inches) and very large/monster telescopes (15+ inches).

I think it was a great idea to divide the book up this way, as you don’t want to find yourself looking for an object like Palomar 1 with a 3 inch telescope. Having the naked eye chapter also means you don’t even need a telescope to benefit from Cosmic Challenge. Then if you do decide to invest in some large binoculars or a larger telescope you can then come back to this book and try hunting some more elusive targets.

There are also then subsections within each size of telescope required, informing you in what season the object is visible.
Each of the 188 targets in the book are well laid out and begin with a large title with RA and Dec co-ordinates, the name of the constellation and magnitude information. There is then a diagram within the constellation (if applicable) of where to find the object. Each target also contains a very nice description of the target and it’s background plus tips on how best to view it.

There are three appendices. The first appendix is called the cosmic challenge, this displays all of the 188 targets into a large table for easy reference. The second appendix is a guide of suggested further reading whilst the last appendix supplies you with 100 challenging double stars to try and locate.

Cosmic Challenge is a very fun book, what makes it so good is that the layout is very pleasing on the eye and objects are really easy to find in the book (maybe not so easy in the sky!). Another great thing about Cosmic Challenge is that the book has longevity as I mentioned before. As you could use the book at various times of the year as the sky changes, and again if you decide to upgrade your telescope aperture. Also you don’t even need any astronomical hardware to use this book, just your own eyes as it contains 21 naked eye challenges.

The Cosmic Challenge book is available at Waterstones

Skywatcher New Quattro Telescopes

There seems to be an array of new Skywatcher telescopes coming out soon. They range from the Quattro f4 Newtonian telescopes which are coming out both in Steel and Carbon Fibre.

Why offer both, it just adds more confusion, as I can’t make up my mind whether to buy a Carbon Fibre version or the steel, or whether to go for the 8″ or the 10″ version.

The 8″ non-CF is going for £399, 8″ CF for £599, 10″ non-CF £520 and 10″ carbon fibre for £799. There is even details of a 12″ version but that will just be in steel at the moment.

Does carbon fibre really make that much difference? I am thinking of only using the scope for some planetary imaging and perhaps some deep sky targets that require the extra light gathering capability.

It’s not just the carbon fibre or steel versions I have to think about, but if I go for a 10″ version, then I will also need to purchase an A3 EL light panel to go with it, otherwise if I buy the 8″ model, I only need an A4 light panel, but the difference in price of these is small, about £30.

As this would be my first newtonian for a while, I would also need a collimation tool and let’s no forget probably a dew shield or dew strap, and a Bahtinov mask. The cost is starting to rise!

I also saw that Skywatcher are planning some 5 element 120ED and 150ED refractors, which look really good. But who knows the prices on these. I expect we need to think about £2,000-3,000 for the 150mm and probably £1,500-2,500 for the 120mm?

We may have to wait for these scopes though, probably until October 2011, is it worth the wait, will they just be too expensive for most of us, and I will have to resort to getting a 120mm ED DS Pro Black Diamond instead at around £1,000.

Patrick Moore Data Book of Astronomy Book Review

This is a very heavy and solid book which includes an enormous amount of detail within its 575 pages. This is the latest edition of Patrick Moore’s book and it’s the first time I have seen an astronomical  book of this type containing so much data.

The data collected in this book is very much up to date and anyone interested in say the facts about the dates of the return of periodic comets with be very happy indeed.

The book begins with data about all of the planets within our Solar System which consumes the first 250 pages or so. The book  then contains information on comets, meteors and meteorites, as well as information on double stars, variable stars, stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxies and finally the constellations and a star catalogue.

At the rear of the book you will find details on observatories around the world, as well as the history of astronomy and a list of well known astronomers, there is also a handy glossary.

You won’t find any colour images in this book, but there are is a smattering of black and white images, such as one of Patrick Moore’s outline Moon maps, constellation drawings and surface details of some satellite worlds  as well as the odd image of asteroids.

Jupiter is covered in 20 pages and no less than 63 satellites are included together with the four Galilean satellites covered in even more detail. The actual work that gone into creating this book is amazing.

It’s nice to see even simple data displayed well such as the list of Solar Eclipses, in this list they date back to 1923 and you can find all of the upcoming solar eclipses up to the year 2039.

I think Patricks Moore’s Data Book of astronomy amazing, but probably not a book for the beginner. This is definitely a book you will keep coming back to time and time again in order to obtain the astronomical information you need for planning an observing session, astronomy training course material or as an educational text.

Patrick Moore’s Data Book is available at Waterstones

Coronado PST Images

Well I went out and purchased a Coronado PST from ScopesNSkies the other week and was itching to try it out, but it seems since I have bought it, it’s now cloudy every day – typical! I did get to put it on my NEQ6 mount and do some imaging one Sunday morning though.

I used my Televue Powermate 2.5x with my DMK21 camera for these shots. The video was stacked using Registax 6.

These images show the Sun in Hydrogen Alpha or Ha. I think for the price of the scope it does not do a bad job. This a basic entry level version of the Coronado PST which can be purchased for just over £450 new.

I was not so happy with the first image, I took two images for this shot and then layered them in Photoshop, but to me they still look a bit fake, perhaps because I added the false colour first to each and then layered them, next time I will layer them first and then flatten the image and add the false colour.

But overall I am quite happy with my first efforts, I have also subsequently learnt how to take flats against the Sun, so I need to subtract the flats next time to remove the dust bunnies. Then I just need more Sun and more free time!

The International Atlas of Lunar Exploration Book Review

The International Atlas of Lunar Exploration is one of the most detailed books on the lunar missions I have ever seen. If you want a book that goes into so much depth, then this is for you, that is, if you can handle the expensive retail price of around £100 for this book.

The International Atlas of Lunar Exploration provides details of every spacecraft mission to the moon since the dawn of the space age. Each mission is illustrated with a combination of maps and annotated photographs. Usefully the lunar missions are listed in chronological order through the book, so it’s easy to follow the history.

The book includes such information as how landing sites were selected.  The book also includes details on lunar missions that never happened. There is even material in this book which has never been published before together with specially created panoramic lunar photographs from every lunar mission.

This is a large sized coffee table type book which contains over 440 pages packed full of information. The panoramic photographs are truly stunning and for me a high point of the book is the detailed information and maps about the EVA routes and exactly where core samples were taken.

There are some really great moon mosaic images and details on exactly where flags, TV cameras, solar wind collectors and antenna were placed. There are even details on where the lunar landers should have landed and where they actually landed.

As you can probably tell from my lists of information, this book has everything. If your interests lie with the Moon and the lunar missions then this would make a great book for you to marvel at.

How To Stop Maxim DL cycling through filters

One of the main problems I found with Maxim DL when setting up the Autosequences was that if I set it up to do LRGB imaging and repeated each filter by say 20 times, instead of Maxim doing 20 frames in Red, then moving onto the Green filter to do 20 frames, it would do 1 frame in Red and then move onto 1 frame in Green and then onto Blue etc etc.

This seems a bit crazy and it also means your filter wheel is constantly on the move and it may wear down your filter wheel faster than you think.

Another downside to this is that you really want to take all your frames through one filter then take your flats for that filter, as the filter wheel may not move the filter back into exactly the same position again once you have moved filters.

To stop Maxim DL doing this choose the option “Group by Slot”.

It can be found by clicking on the ‘Autosave’ button on the ‘Expose’ tab then when in the Autosave Setup screen choose ‘Options’ and select ‘Group by Slot’.

Moon Images with 5x Powermate

I decided to try and push my Skywatcher ED80 Pro to it’s limit on the moon. I am really impressed with my Skywatcher ED80 Pro telescope, as it gives me some nice widefield views, and I also use a Williams Optics version 3 flattener 0.8 which gives me even more view.

The Skywatcher gives me nice views of the Sun, Moon and Deep Sky Objects. I think the only thing that an 80mm type scope is not good at is planetary imaging and small Deep Sky Objects, like the Ring Nebula or Eskimo Nebula.

I was a bit worried that my 80mm scope would not cope well at imaging the lunar surface close-up. But I was pleasantly surprised that I managed these images with the scope.

The setup included the 0.8 William Optics flattener/reducer together with my Televue 5x Powermate and the DMK21 CCD camera.

Focusing was tricky, as the moon looked liked it was underwater from the atmospheric turbulence. But once I had stacked the images using Registax (version 6 is now out) they looked a lot better.

This time I also took a flat image, by using my EL panel which I have encased between 2 A4 acrylic sheets. I took a 1 second snapshot in the IC Capture software in order to get the flat image. I then opened it up in Photoshop and checked the histogram, and it was about nearly dead centre.

For the first time I then used Registax to stack the frames of the AVI videos with a flat frame selected. The results were good, as my DMK21 camera seems to have lots of dust bunnies in it, but I think most DMK cameras must suffer from this problem.

Second Hand Astronomy Equipment

I’m sure this is a highly emotive subject. But this is the question should you buy 2nd hand astronomy equipment?

I myself have bought and sold lots of astronomy equipment, either through AstroBuySell, Stargazers Lounge or eBay. But there seems to be so much astronomy equipment constantly on the second hand market, I wonder how many people have actually owned some of the items and how many ‘hands’ have touched them. I imagine there must be items that are constantly being passed onto the next person.

There are of course savings to be made on buying second hand equipment, which is the main reason we buy it. But sometimes it’s just nice to pay that little bit extra and have the assurance that you are buying new and that the item will come with at least a one year warranty.

The thing that makes me laugh is when people try to sell astronomy equipment when it only costs about another 10-20% to buy it new.

Selling your items not on eBay is the best thing to do as you don’t pay the eBay and PayPal commission, but I do think your items may go for a higher price on eBay just because of the number of visitors that eBay has.

You also have to watch out for dodgy astronomy sellers – they are out there. It’s always best when buying larger equipment to check the history of it, if you look on the archives in AstroBuySell or search the forum on Stargazers Lounge or search on Google, you may find some information on your item – especially if it has been bought or sold before.

Most astronomers look after there equipment very well, but I still like to have the end caps on an eyepiece and have the item boxed. That tells me that the owner has looked after the equipment, plus it means that the original box with help when I come to sell the item on.

Make sure the item works, and make sure the item is complete in everyway, it’s also advisable to see an image of the item when buying it. I have purchased a couple of items that did not work, like an illuminated reticule which did not illuminate! I asked the eBayer for a refund to help me fix it, but I did not get one. In the end I visited Maplin bought a new cable and an LED and fixed it.

If you are a seller and know something is wrong or missing, please be truthful and tell us about it, and don’t try and hide it and hope we as the buyer don’t find out about it.

Once you get hooked on the second hand astronomy items, I swear you never go back to new items unless you have to. I have lots of second hand equipment and I love it. But sometimes I wonder if I am mad, sending complete strangers hundreds of pounds for equipment I have never seen. So please think twice before buying, and if the item is over a couple of hundred pounds or so then why not visit the person and collect it – that is as long as it’s not too far away – especially with fuel costs being so high.

So should you buy 2nd hand astronomy equipment over new?