First Light and Beyond Astronomy Book Review

First Light and Beyond by D A Jenkins – Making a success of astronomical observing.

‘First Light and Beyond’ is for the visual observers, it covers all aspects of how to get you equipped and prepared for the observing night ahead. A large section of the book is then given to the constellations and where to find the main astronomical objects to view.

The beginning of ‘First Light and Beyond’ starts off by covering all the basics of the night sky including the motion of the sky, how to measure distance, which constellations appear in certain seasons etc. There is more information on such things as how to find the object you are looking for whether it’s via an App or a planisphere. The beginning of the book also covers magnification and the use of various eyepieces. It then goes onto discuss collimation, cleaning your telescope and polar alignment of your mount.

The next chapter covers where it’s best to observe from, as well as about universal time. It tells you when is the best time to view the planets and meteor showers as well as about observing conditions.

Chapter 3 is about your equipment, this chapter covers binoculars, finderscopes, star charts, eyepieces, dew prevention, filters, GOTO telescopes as well as many other things. It actually has a section about useful household items you don’t want to forget about using such as carrying cases, observing chairs, notebook, spare batteries, extra clothing and using mosquito repellent.

This chapter ends with a section on completing observing report forms and how to star hop. Then the next 100 pages are dedicated to constellation maps and images of the night sky and how to see them. This section is split up into 2 sections, one for star clusters and nebulae and the other for galaxies. Each of these sections provides you with many star maps, some images of the object in question as well as written useful information about the objects.

Chapter 6 tells you to treat yourself to dark skies. This chapter introduces you to the international dark sky association and asks why observe under dark skies? Mainly because the next section is given over to a number of objects that are suited to being viewed under dark skies. This chapter ends with some useful information on travelling to dark sky locations and what to expect and of course what to take by the way of packing tips.

Now originally I said ‘First Light and Beyond’ was only for observers, well there actually is a small chapter on getting into astrophotography, when I say little it is only about 12 pages. It covers simple point and shoot cameras, and DSLR cameras. It mentions imaging through the eyepiece, piggyback mounting your camera onto your mount and camera tracking mounts. There is also a brief introduction to a few astronomy software programs like FITS Liberator and ImagesPlus.

The last few chapters cover topics such as astronomy magazines, astronomy books, astronomy websites and about public outreach programs and how you may want to start your own astronomy club etc.

Overall thoughts

Overall I quite liked ‘First Light and Beyond’ because it wasn’t just about star maps and where to find objects in the night sky but it also contained extra information such as travelling to dark skies and about the equipment you need for visual observing and how to plan an observing session.

I would say this was aimed at the beginner to intermediate astronomer. It contains a good number of images, some colour some black and white. I think this is the kind of book that you would read cover to cover as each section is well written and does not go into massive amounts of detail it just gives you the right level of information and allows you to go off and find out more if you are interested in that area of astronomy.

Where can I buy the First Light and Beyond book?

You can buy First Light and Beyond from Amazon UK

Astro Imaging Projects Book Review

Astro Imaging Projects for Amateur Astronomers – A Maker’s Guide by Jim Chung

This book is part of The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy range of books from Springer. Astro Imaging Projects for Amateur Astronomers has a large range of astronomy projects that you can undertake. I find that as an amateur astronomer whatever you buy or however you setup your observatory (if you are lucky enough to have one) you will still end up performing some DIY on your setup or making a small accessory. This may be making a dew shield or a lightbox for flats etc.

Chapters in Astro Imaging Projects for Amateur Astronomers

Five main chapters can be found within the book, with even one having multiple projects in each.

The first chapter is entitled “DSLR Astro Imaging” this discusses taking a colour DSLR and turning it into a Monochrome camera (astro-modding it), as well as performing planetary imaging with an DSLR. There is also information on how to make a fine focuser for a DSLR lens. The chapter finishes by showing you how to make a thermally cooled true monochrome DSLR for less than $300.

Chapter 2 is all about advanced imaging and here the author covers taking a basic high frame rate camera and modifying it for long exposure deep sky imaging which is in the section called ‘how to image like the pro’s for under $1000’. Projects exist on how to create your own on-axis guider.

Chapter 3 covers projects that could help you in public outreach evenings. The first of these is taking a standard PST and supersizing it, as well as making it possible to image in CaK. There are also projects on making a digital schmidt camera and how to make an eyepiece turret. Finally there is a project on how to make a real time narrowband visual viewer with image intensifiers.

Chapter 4 is called Amateur Telescope Making, in this chapter the author makes a collapsible 8.5” refractor. He also takes a Skywatcher 12” Dobsonian telescope and makes it a tracking telescope by using a Meade Handset and some gears and motors from a Meade DS telescope. There are also lots of other small projects including finding some old telescopes at garage sales and then re-conditioning them. There are also details on making an Ha solar scope and re-conditioning bolts and telescope parts and nickel plating them.

Chapter 5 contains a number of projects, these include making an affordable atmospheric dispersion corrector and making an electrically powered variable height pier. The author also creates an observing tent out of PVC piping. There is also a project about building your own CT laser collimator like the Hotech advanced laser collimator.

Overall thoughts…

Overall there are lots of astronomy projects covered in Astro Imaging Projects for Amateur Astronomers. You can either reproduce them or they may just give you inspiration to start your own astronomical project. It was good to see lots of colour images throughout the book, with some nice detailed images. It was also nice to see that the book was up to date as the use of modern technology was discussed and covered.

I don’t know if there is enough detail in the book to allow you to easily follow what exactly was done in each project, but hopefully there is more information online about each project. This book is for the DIY astronomer, give it a look if that’s you.

Where can I buy Astro Imaging Projects for Amateur Astronomers?

You can buy Astro Imaging Projects for Amateur Astronomers from Amazon UK

Astrofest vs International Astronomy Show (IAS)

We have visited AstroFest in London for a number of years, but this year we decided to visit the International Astronomy Show (IAS) near Coventry. The IAS celebrated its fifth year in 2016 so we had to see what the IAS was all about and if we are missing out. Should the IAS takeover from Astrofest?

Location

Astrofest for me is in a good location in Knightsbridge, London. I don’t live in London, I live near Cambridge, but I find it easy to get down to North London then jump on the tube across London. I would never dream of attending Astrofest and travelling to London on a Friday so we have always attended on the Saturday.

IAS is outside Coventry and for us about a 200 mile return journey – around 2 hours with no traffic. You approach Stoneleigh Park and follow the signs and you actually park inside one of the covered halls. It’s a short walk to the entrance.

Exhibition Halls

Astrofest exhibitors are split over three floors, so you really never get a feeling of how many exhibitors there really are. The problem with the three floors is that the stands do seem crammed in and it’s difficult to move around them sometimes and actually see what is being sold – especially on the Saturday.

The IAS exhibition hall is large, open and spacious, nowhere near as crammed as Astrofest. It’s a real breath of fresh air. We attended IAS on the Friday, so it may be busier on the Saturday. But on our visit on the Friday, it allowed us to get close to the equipment and have a good chat to all stall holders. It did seem like there were more exhibitors at IAS than Astrofest, that could be because at IAS all stands are on one level. There were certainly some stall holders we had never seen at Astrofest before.

Lecture Halls

The lecture hall at Astrofest is very large and well attended – sometimes sold out. The reason may be because at Astrofest you choose your session AM or PM and the day and then you get to see all those lectures in that session compared to IAS where you pay for each one you want to attend.

Catering

The catering at Astrofest has been in decline over the years and there are only a few seats. At Astrofest you used to be able to get toasted sandwiches, tea, coffee and the odd drink, but there does seem to be less choice there now. I suppose Kensington High Street is on your doorstep so you could step out and find something close by.

At the IAS the restaurant area is large with lots of seating. There is a coffee bar and a separate fridge containing sandwiches and rolls. There is even a hot meal option, including breakfast and lunch. We paid £6 for a large fishcake, mushy peas and chips. Although you could choose anything and mix it up and just pay £6 per plate. The tills were even contactless!

Cost

Ignoring the cost of travel (as that varies for everyone) the price of entrance and two talks at IAS is just slightly more than entrance to Astrofest and an afternoon of talks (usually 4 talks).

Conclusions

Overall it’s a difficult call to say which one is better. The problem may be because Astrofest feels like home as we’ve been so many times. IAS does seem a long way to drive for us, but I do like the extra space in the exhibition hall at IAS, it is horrible being crammed in at Astrofest. The lecture halls are nicer at Astrofest and you get more talks for your money. The catering is miles better at IAS, but you don’t really have any other choice at IAS like you do being in the centre of London. At the moment I’m torn between the two, but I may be slightly leaning towards IAS. What do you think?

Canon 200mm 2.8 lens for widefield imaging

I have been trying out widefield imaging with the Geoptik adaptor and my Atik 460 mono camera using a relatively cheap Canon 75-300mm zoom lens. I have found that you need to step down the focal length to a more reasonable f6 or f7 to get some nice round star shapes. But really you want to me imaging at about f4 or f5. This means purchasing a more expensive camera lens like the Canon 200mm f2.8 or Canon 100mm f2.8.

I began looking at the beige Canon zoom lenses. I was interested in the 70-200mm 2.8 lens. Expensive new, but they can go for about £500-£600 used. I had been looking at the second hand market for a while. But what put me off is that I imaged in Ha and OIII at 100mm on my zoom lens and as you have to take apart the imaging train in order to change filters I found it impossible to not move the zoom when doing so.

This meant that the Ha images may have had a different Field of View compared to the OIII images. That’s usually not a problem you have with telescopes which are fixed. So a fixed prime lens did make more sense, plus it may be sharper.

As most of the widefield images I have taken are between 100mm and 200mm. I thought that a 200mm prime lens and a 100mm prime lens would do the trick. So I then started looking at the Canon 200mm f2.8 lens. I was trying to discount it as I had purchased the smaller version of the Telefokus to help me focus and the maximum diameter on those rings are around 78mm. I was worried that the rings would not fit around the barrel of the 200mm lens, but it turns out they do fit.

How I know is that I ended up buying a used Mk 1 version of the Canon 200mm prime f2.8 lens. I can’t see much difference between the Mk1 and Mk2, although the Mk1 does have an in-built lens hood.

The Canon 200mm f2.8 lens is a bit heavier – maybe more glass elements and a larger diameter is the reason.

I am yet to give the lens a go yet as it has been cloudy every night for the last week, but I’ll post some feedback and some images once I have used it.

Viewing and Imaging the Solar System Book Review

Viewing and Imaging the Solar System from Jane Clark is an easy to read beginners guide to viewing and imaging the Solar system. It explains in some detail the principles of the telescopes and the in’s and out of star maps, which are best to use in the garden on a cold dark night and which are best used indoors. One item I found interesting was the explanation of what to wear and why, which you don’t often see in Astronomy books.

‘Viewing and Imaging the Solar System’ goes on to explain telescope mounts, the different types and the advantages of Altitude – Azimuth such as a Dobsonian and Equatorial Mounts. There’s an explanation of how to carry out alignment of the Equatorial mount using polar scope.

The next chapter titled ‘Telescopes Binoculars and Light’ explains the principles of light. It covers the different types of lenses, convex and concave and it covers Eyepieces, Barlow Lenses, Binoculars and filters. The different types of telescope are described and the advantages of each type. The next chapter introduces the reader to photographing the solar system, explaining the hardware, the importance of focusing using a Hartmann and Bahtinov masks.

Photographing the Moon and planet is explained by outlining the different types of cameras such as a DSLR and Web cams. The pros and cons of each type are discussed as well. Then comes the processing of the images with the help of computer screen shots of software K3CCD and RegiStax. There is a great section on using Dark frames to remove the thermal noise on the CCD chip during processing.

The next few chapters’ deal with what you can realistically expect to see with the naked eye and a camera. The superior planets are covered in detail with the aid of the author images and explanations. Jupiter sections outlines how best to view the four moons through a telescope and observe the moons rotation of the planet with a number of detailed drawings. I will say that some of the accompanying photos were a little dark which made the surface detail hard to see clearly.

Chapter 8 completes the solar system with observing the Sun using different types of solar scope at the different wavelengths of the light. This section included white light, hydrogen alpha and details on solar spectra. The book finishes its tour of the solar system with Asteroids and Comets and observing the solar system from your armchair.

This book is quite strange as it covers a lot of different areas of astronomy. I do feel that this book is very much for the beginner. A beginner will get a lot out of reading this book, but I would prefer books that deal with specific in-depth topics.

The book an interesting read for the beginner but I feel its let down by the authors photographs.

Reviewed by Mick Jenkins

Buy from Amazon UK