Attention all astro-geeks

Hi,

Welcome to the Flamsteed forum!

Very pleased that you managed to see the lunar eclipse last week. Hopefully you've seen a few images which Flamsteed members took from the report on this website.

You'd be very welcome to come to our next Blackheath event. These events are open to all, not just Flamsteed members. I'm sure that you will find people who can give you good advice.

Note that we have scheduled the next Blackheath event for this Saturday. However, if the weather prospects look better for Friday evening, then we will bring it forward by a day. In any case, check the website for the "no/go-go" message at about 5pm.

I look forward to seeing you at a future Flamsteed event.

Mike.

Hi Mike,

This is awesome, I mean seriously I feel welcomed already.

Can not wait to come along, meet you fine people and look up in the heavens and appreciate the beauty with my own eyes through the scope eye piece 🙂

You mentioned about the possibility of the date being brought forward and to check by 5pm on Friday on the website. Any particular place on this website? Also I'm now following you guys on Twitter as well. Will it be announced there too?

Thanks

It'll be on the front page of the website on the right hand side where the upcoming events are listed.

It's also on the event webpage here http://flamsteed.info/event/blackheath-observing-saturday-10-october/

Yes, if you are following us on Twitter, then this will also give you any go/no-go messages or changes to plan.

Cheers Mike, can't wait ... hopefully there will be plenty of scopes to look at and see exactly what they are capable of because right now I have so many questions and a confused mind as to which scope to buy lol I would be lying if I said I don't dream being in a shop buying a scope 😀

Please note that we've brought forward the date of the next Blackheath event by 24 hours.

It will now take place TOMORROW evening (Friday 9 October).

All other details remain the same.

http://flamsteed.info/event/blackheath-observing-friday-9-october/

Please note that we’ve brought forward the date of the next Blackheath event by 24 hours. It will now take place TOMORROW evening (Friday 9 October). All other details remain the same. http://flamsteed.info/event/blackheath-observing-friday-9-october/

I'm going to attempt to come along also. Ive looked on Google maps. Is parking available in that car park in Talbot Place? (Its locked in the image - but apart from there - or on the grass, I cant see anywhere else to park.

Is parking available in that car park in Talbot Place? (Its locked in the image – but apart from there – or on the grass, I cant see anywhere else to park.

We don't use the car park, as it's normally locked. You can just park on the road, on Talbot Place. It's free parking after 6.30pm. Just leave enough room for cars to get by and don't park in front of the car park entrance or the entrance to the house.

Blackheath is confirmed on.

http://flamsteed.info/event/blackheath-observing-friday-9-october/

Excellent mate, cheer. I'll be there for 19:15 ... best to be early than late. Will be coming straight from work.

By the way, where will we guys be doing the observing session? right at that place where it says on the map or are we doing somewhere else in the park?

We will be about 50 yards to the north of the road (Talbot Place). You should be able to see us quite easily.

Hi souls33k3r, was a pleasure to meet you at the Observing event yesterday.  You certainly were a man on a mission with lots of good questions about telescopes!  Hoped you got a clearer feel for what you going for.  Seemed like you did at the end 🙂

Hi souls33k3r, was a pleasure to meet you at the Observing event yesterday. You certainly were a man on a mission with lots of good questions about telescopes! Hoped you got a clearer feel for what you going for. Seemed like you did at the end

<span style="line-height: 1.5;">Tej, or as I've been calling you Ted for most part of the night (lol),  it was an absolute pleasure joining you friendly bunch yesterday. I was one of the first ones there and the very last one to leave. Seriously I didn't want to leave but it really got cold after after everyone left. Did you manage to do some astrophotography of the Uranus then? What time did you leave? I guess it was around 11:45 when I left so if you left later then my friend my hats off to you. You never know we can be 8SE buddies and spend nights Observing the heavens hahahaha. </span>

I came to the session with a clear understanding of what I needed and left with so much more, thanks to Mike,  Rupert and yourself. You lot were awesome. I never knew the power of a refractor but I guess Rupert stole the show with the beast he brought with him,  such a nice guy and willing to share his knowledge and scope for us to view. Also he taught be my first star hopping.

The whole experience and seeing the nebulae and star clusters and double stars and galaxy and Uranus experience was so surreal that I couldn't sleep till late. Am still buzzing.

Right so I've been quite for the last few days but I've been doing my home work in the mean time. When I met with you guys last week Friday, I spent a lot of time with Tej and he mentioned that Nikons are not much supported in terms of Softwares. So took it upon myself to find out a bit more on that. That was true until the boys who brought us BackyardEOS have now developed the BackyardNikon (hold off on them fireworks) but the unfortunate thing is that my model of DSLR isn't supported because Nikon for some reason has decided not to release an SDK for it. DigicamControl is another one, ControlmyNikon is another but same story. But in the end I guess DigicamControl does help with the Nikon D3100 connection but lacks the Live View ... so maybe I might live with that or maybe I just buy a Canon body to do astrophotography and mod the camera ... that remains to be seen.

Any who, when I left the observing session, I knew exactly what scope I wanted to buy (not dissing your brilliant APM refractor Mike 🙂 ) which was the Celestron Nexstar 8SE but then I also wanted to do Visual and Astrophotography so thought I might as well spend a little bit more and get something better optics and a sturdy mount. So in the end I pinned them down to two choices "Celestron Advanced VX 8” SCT" & "Celestron Advanced VX 8” EdgeHD" (leaning more towards the EdgeHD) ... both have Stainless Steel mount. I know I know it's not an CGEM but still it's better than the Alt-az mount don't you think?

So what are your thoughts on the choice that I'm trying to make? 🙂 (Sorry Tej, I know I said we could be the 8SE buddies but I guess i'll take the pinch of salt and move up a level if I could afford it)

If you can afford the extra for the Edge-HD, go for it. It's an excellent scope. Good solid mount as well.

You might want to think about getting the .7x focal reducer if you are going to use it for astrophotography.

Oh, and make sure you get a dew-shield!