Society for Popular Astronomy

Hello John Cant go far wrong with a Canon EOS 1100D. The standard lens 18-50 lens is fine for general photography but as for other lenes such as telephoto's I would suggest buying old M42 screw thread lenses off EBay .I did this and it was amazing how cheap they were. Youll need a M42 adaptor ring f...

This slender crescent was spotted at 17:00 GMT 1 November 2016 as it was getting dark taken with a telephoto lens and a Canon 1100D on a undriven tripod.

Over the last few weeks Ive been amazed and depressed at the ignorance shown of astronomical subjects on University Challenge.One contestant suggesting that Neptune could transit the Sun. Last week was even worse when ignorance was also also shown by Paxman. JP- What is the main star alpha in the co...

A few minutes after the ring nebula shot I imaged M13(with the clouds moving in ).

HI Brain, The RA drive on my EQ5 mount is very old and very basic,it plays up sometimes especially after slewing and takes a little time to take up the slack .Also it has to carry a rather heavy DSLR and I'm not always conscious enough in balancing the tube properly between shots.Both camera and mou...

Spotted Venus very low SW this evening around sunset with the sky still bright using 10X60 binoculars.

Wonderful image of a wonder object,next on my imaging list.Dont know why but its not a object I visit that often.

HI Brian, This evening while looking through my 8X50 finderscope between Beta and Gamma Lyrae locating the Ring I was startled by a slow moving zero magnitude meteor. :shock: It seemed to take more than a second to pass through the FOV and I had enough time to look up to see it move into Draco and e...

Thats a result well done

Omega Nebula 05.10.16.JPG Using the same setup as my M11 thread I took what could be my last chance this year to image what I think of as the exotic area of the sky Sagittarius. M17 Omega Nebula to me it looks more like a lobster than the Greek letter!And of course M57 The ring nebula ,its the firs...

Hi Brian, Probably right about the collimation Brian,the old Helios never seems to need adjustment I've never collimated ever since I got it new 14 years ago.I must say it has been a great piece of kit the mirrors are still pretty much A1 with very little tarnish.As for the naming of the cluster I o...

The evening the 2nd October had exceptional seeing for dso's. I took some time out to image M11 with a Helios 200mm/f5 refl,with a driven EQ5 mount fitted prime focus to a Canon 1100D DSLR .10sec Ex 1600ISO. 21:10BST

Living in the country the rustling and snuffling of creatures in the pitch darkness is heightened in the wee small hours it can be so peaceful sometimes I can here the fluttering of bats wings as they swoop by unseen,the telescope motor drive becomes a irritant along with the occasional boy racer wi...

Its always a joy to see constellations out of season.I once observed Antares and Scorpius in late winter in sub zero temperatures with the ground frozen hard with ice and snow,surreal seeing such a symbol of summer in those conditions :shock: On the 22/23 August 2007 I had the pleasant experience of...

The Harvest Moon looked slightly odd earlier this evening with noticeable dimming in the Lunar northern hemisphere.Taken with a Canon 1100D and a Top Max telephoto fl set at 400mm fl.Fitted to a undriven tripod 1/60th sec ex.