October Meeting Report

We had a great turn out for our October meeting, and it was particularly good to see a few new faces at the meeting. That was particularly good as our topic 'finding things in the night sky' was aimed at helping out beginners getting to grips with a telescope.

We had loads of good questions and plenty of tips from some of our more experienced members. One topic which is always an issue is setting up and aligning an equatorial mount. We had one available at the meeting and were able to provide some demonstration, but I said I would try and find a suitable video which might help for future reference. I found a useful video on YouTube here.

Chris.

CAS observing night postponed

We discussed the planned observing night at our meeting on Tuesday and although we didn't reach a firm conclusion at the meeting it was clear that many people were unavailable due to the half term holidays. We are therefore postponing the planned observing until November. Keep an eye in the website for details of where and when to meet.

In the meantime make the best use of any clear skies we get!

Chris.

NGC 1848

For the first time in about 6 months I managed to grab a few hours outside with the stars last week. Although I was eventually clouded off I did manage to get 1.5 hours of NGC1848, sometimes called the "soul nebula" as it resembles a foetus in long exposures. (mine doesn't do it justice unfortunately)

NGC1848, Cassiopeia

SN-190mm f/5 with EOS300D

11 x 8 mins @ iso800

Processed with ImagesPlus and Photoshop

October CAS Meeting

Our next meeting is on 25th October. The topic this month is "Finding things in the night sky".

This is always a topic of many questions and frustrations, particularly when trying to get to grips with a new telescope. I will be talking about some equipment and techniques which will hopefully help. It would be good to have a few telescopes around to help demonstrate and this would be an opportunity to bring yours along if your are struggling with set up etc. So if anyone can bring a telescope along please do.

Chris.