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Comet Hartley 2

on October 01, 2010

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You should deffo try and see this!

MJ

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New Ritchey Chrétien scope

Just a quick update to keep things flowing.... I have recently upgraded my kit to a 6in Ritchey Chrétien by Revelation Astro (from Telescope House). Complimenting this I have a 1.25in quartz diagonal and the Celestron 8-24mm zoom eyepiece. (This beauty was first introduced to me by Al during the Sheffield Astro Star Party a few weeks ago and is a great eyepiece with a wide FOV through all the focal lengths). Contrary to popular belief I bought the scope primarily for visual but the scope design is also superb for astrophotography as well. As both mirrors are fixed (with no corrector plate in the front) it acts like a Newtonian reflector but with the added benefit (in my opinion) of operating like an SCT. Two crucial differences are that (1) both mirrors are Hyperbolic - they bring all the wavelengths of light to the correct focal point and (2) It is coma free. There is also a quicker cool-down time as the tube is open. There are also baffles down the length of the tube to avoid st...

A night at the observatory

Well, what can I say - everything just slid into place. I had been given a voucher for Kielder Observatory some time ago which (with some date jiggling on the calendar) finally got used back in June to book a place this December - the 18th to be precise. So with a bed for the night sorted I headed for Kielder for my 11pm to 2am slot. It was a crisp, clear, moon lit and very still evening. Nicely greated by a staff member at the gate to the track (which incidentally had literally just been cleared that week by Forestry England due to the damage left by storm Arwen.) I headed up. Anyone who's been to this part of Britain will know how stunning it is here and the small drive up the track to the observatory just heightens this feeling. The trees and track glistened with a hard frost. On arrival we were greated in the car park and taken to an ante room for an introduction. The night was arranged into 4 stages all with very experienced, knowledgeable (and excited) staff talking along the...

The Moon, 11 days Old

Apologies to those who are bored with moon pictures but I thought it would be a good comparison to show the moon just two days apart. When these shots were taken, 19-11-2010, the moon was 11.77 days old and 251.601 miles away. It was also at 90% illumination so features like Tycho, where as they are just visible in the pictures below are rendered almost flat when viewed face on. Depending on the skys tomorrow I will try and get a shot of this again as Crater Schickard looks very impressive if the light is right. Finally, as more of the surface is revealed what were prominent features before start to look flat as you view them "face on". However Crater Copernicus, 2/3rds up on the right hand side above Tycho, looks impressive with it's ejecta clearly showing as opposed to the picture of the moon at 9 days old where it looks like any of the other craters, all be it deeper. Al

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Comet Hartley 2

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