The best of 2006!

Well, here we are at the end of another year. I've been trying out astro-imaging now for about two years and built up quite an array of telescopes and equipment. As I look back to 2006, March and April seems to have been the best months. Captured some nice images of Saturn and Jupiter and some nice Deep Space Objects with my Skywatcher ST80 during this time. Summer was long and hot, in fact the hottest Summer on record! Although I tried to capture some DSO's at this time I did'nt have much success, mainly because I simply could not find them.

I feel a bit frustrated because I want to try to image new objects, but my knowledge of the skies are a bit limited. It's great to see colourful star maps in magazines and even using a computer map to find objects, but when i'm in the garden with hazy skies and light pollution it's challenge to find objects.

My decision to go computerised and try out the Celestron Nexstar system will be interesting. Theoretically, I should be able to find even faint objects easily...I hope so!

So what was the highlight of 2006? I have to say capturing images of the Swan 2006 Comet! It was wonderful to see the comet so easily and track it during late October and November! So here it is again...

My Christmas pressy!

Christmas has been and gone! I think the best part of Christmas is getting ready for it, especially when you work in school with children. The weeks leading up to Christmas with the Nativity Play, Christmas Carols, Christmas Dinner, Christmas Mass.... I could go on forever! Kids love it! Teachers love it too...honest! Thank you for all the presents brought in by the children in my class. One really nice present from Megan - A lovely Space 2007 Calendar now sits proudly on my desk.

So what did Santa bring me this year?

A super Celestron SLT Computer Controlled Telescope - Nexstar. I thought for some time before deciding to go for this one. Reviews have been good and the mount can be controlled from the handset or a laptop computer. My problem at the moment is that finding objects in space, particularly smaller objects are hard to find and somketimes I never find them at all. Although I know roughly where to look in the sky for objects like the Whirlpool Galaxy and the Pinwheel Galaxy, I cannot locate them. The SLT will hopefully allow me find these objects and maybe image them. The SLT mount came with Celestron 60mm scope, but it is only the mount that I want to use so I have now put my Skywatcher ST80 onto the mount which gives me a much richer field of view.

The weather this week has been misty and yesterday and today raining. Tonight the sky has cleared and the Moon is visible, but the wet atmosphere has made it difficult to see any stars. I think i'll wait for a clear night to try align and try out the SLT.

It never rains...

It never rains..but it pours! This week has brought some awful weather, even when the skies were clear, the wind was howling! Back garden is thoroughly water-logged...not good for bringing out the scopes!
I have now got the dovetail from 'Scopes 'n' Skies' and a USB adaptor from Maplin, so all go for the SLT after Christmas.
Tomorrow is forecast to be clear and sunny. If I manage to wake up around dawn i'm hoping to see the triangle of planets just before sunrise. Mars, Mercury and Saturn will rise together just before the sun. I have never seen Mercury yet, so this could be a first!

The image above is my first attempt at of The Orion Nebula (M42)taken a year ago (when the weather was better!) Image taken with my Skywatcher 130m on 12th December 2005 and processed with Registax 3.

Nearly Christmas!

Did some Christmas shopping yesterday, got a copy of 'BANG!" all about the begining of the universe. Well...it is a Christmas present, so I won't get chance to read it until Christmas!

It's a quiet period at the moment, tonight the full moon is beautiful, but the wind is blowing at 70mph...not good for getting the scope out. I've just got a serial lead for the SLT scope and have ordered a dovetail for the ST80 to mount on the SLT. I now need an USB to RS232 converter so that I can run my laptop to the SLT for computer control. I'm looking forward to trying out the computer controlled mount on a crisp, frosty night when Orion is in all it's glory!

Snug and warm in my little shack, pity I can't control the SLT from here!