The Liverpool Astronomical Society

And the same to you, David and to all other members.

John Crockatt

Thanks, David.  I had already resolved that I will always in future give any 'scope time to cool down.

I wish I could have a shed like yours. I have seen them advertised, but we don't have the room at the point where I have to site my 'scope.

Regards,

John

Many thanks, David.  Most helpful.

Two further points.  When I saw Jupiter the other day, using the same low magnification, I saw it as a small disc, too small for any surface detail, with its moons around it.  The whole group was in the centre of the field of view, with plenty of space around it.  Last night the white disc filled the whole of the field of view.

Secondly, referring to heat currents.   Last night I was testing another telesceope, with unsatisfactory results.  I finally gave up, and, hoping to get some observing time I got out the Sktwatcher.  My telescopes live in the garage,  which is completely dry, and now I think of it, is probably warmer than the outside temperature, tho' it has no heating.   What we saw last night was within less than five minutes after bringing the telescope out,  and it had had no time to cool.  Could this be the explanation?

John

In my last post I reported a good view of Jupiter.  It was rather brief.

This evening is very clear and a couple of hours ago I set up the same telescope again for another, longer look at Jupiter.

I focussed on Jupiter, and what I saw was a white disc, covered with black blobs and some black streaks.  Nothing I could do would change this.

Telescope is a Skywatcher Star Travel 102mm Refractor.  Focal length is 500mm and I was using a 20mm eyepiece giving x25 magnification.

Has anyone had this experience and can anyone explain it ?

John Crockatt

Many thanks, David,  the reply button has now appeared in this topic.

John

I want to reply to the string under "Apps",  but when I go to the last message in that string there is no "reply" button for me to press.

If I go into the "Hi guys" string there is a reply button there. Strange !

If I could get a reply button in"Apps", this is what I would say.

"Planetarium is a first class App fo our purposes, and if it will work on your device it will do what you need.  It is freeware."

John Crockatt

Thanks, Brendan,

I perhaps ought to have said that Sunday 6th.November was a perfect day.  Not a cloud in the sky from the early hours of that day for a full 24 hours.

During the day we got some good views of the sun's spots in both the Corenado PST, and in the 4" Skywatcher, fitted with a home-made Baader film filter.

In the evening a fine view of the moon, which was at waxing Gibbous.  The most impressive sight was the "bay" called Sinus Iridium, which was right on the terminator, and so the semi-circular "cliffs" of the bay were brilliantly lit, with the peaks of the Jura Montes showing behind.

Then a look at Jupiter, with our first sight of her moons.  We saw three, Europa, Callisto and Io.

Later study  of the diagram in Astronomy Now showed that we ought to have seen Ganymede,  which was right on the southwest limb of Jupiter.

A really good day for a pair of beginners.

John and Angela Crockatt

Week after week Gerrard tells us of the wonders we can see within the next day or two.  And time after time here on the Wirral we look out and all we see is the usual heavy overcast.

He told us to look out for Mars and Regulus yesterday morning (11th)  The sky clouded over solid some time before 0300.

But, at last, this morning at 0525 we saw them, and a very nice sight it was, though the contrast in colours was nothing like so marked as in the example Gerrard gave us,  Is it possible that our Irish friend was using some fancy filters ?

John Crockatt

David,

Sorry I bothered you.   I've found it.  It's in the SOHO site, but on the home page.   I had been looking in Archive.

SOHO seems to have just about anything a solar observer might want in the way of images.

Yours,

John

David,

I am sorry not to have come back to you sooner.  I got some Baader Solar film and made a filter for my 4" Skywatcher Refractor.   On March 8th I had my first chance of using it and was delighted to see my first sunspots.

Having made a drawing of them I went into my computer to see how it compared with any images I could find.  On one website I found a white light image whcih had, alonside each sunspot, a number, which I take to be the serial number of that sunspot.   So I put those numbers in my drawing.

Now comes my problem.   I cannot find that website again.   Tbere is an American site SOHO which gives numerous images showing sunspots, but no serial numbers.

If I Google for Sunspot numbers I get sites which tell how to calculate the number of sunspots, but not how to find the serial number of an individual sunspot.

I'd be grateful for any help about this.

John Crockatt

I think you're right about the meteorology David.

This month it has taken me five evenings to get my new telescope up and running because every time I got it aligned the cloud arrived before I could look at anything.   Three or four nights ago I finally got it aligned with no cloud about, and Jupiter, which I was after, disappeared behind a tree !

I did get a decent look at the moon, though.

John Crockatt

I would be glad to have comments or experience of using the Baader Solar film for Solar observation.

John Crockatt

Pauline,
My apologies.  The figure 260x is wrong.  The four magnifications we have in our Skywatcher 1300 are -

The 25mm eyepiece gives magnification 36x, and the Barlow doubles this to 72x.  The 10mm eyepiece gives 90x, and the Barlow doubles it to 180x.

Up to now I am comfortable with 36x and 72x.  Not had much success yet with 90x.   The narrower field of view takes some getting used to.   Haven't even tried the 180x.

John Crockatt

Pauline,

I too am new to astronomy and have the Skywatcher 1300.   The two eyepieces and the Barlow give you the choice of four magnifications up to 260x.   What more could you want ?  I reckon it will be a long time before I need anything else.

Why spend any more money ?

John Crockatt

Here in the web-site it says that Pex Hill is "open  to the public" on Wednesday evenings.

As a member, am I a "member of the public", and restricted to visiting Pex Hill on Wednesdays?   It would be strange if the Society's observatory only opened on Wednesday nights.  Is it accessible to members on other nights ?   We would not hope to use the equipment there as we are so new, but it would be very instructive to attend when other more experienced members are using the telescopes, and to watch what happens.

John Crockatt