We are pleased to announce that the Starscape II Exhibition will open at 7.00 p.m. on Friday 17th August 2007 at the Brockenhurst Village Hall – which is within short walking distance of Brockenhurst main line station.

The exhibition is in support of the Brockenhurst Village Trust Stage Completion Project and is kindly sponsored by Exxon.

It will be open from the 18th August 2007 until the 24th August 2007 between 10.30am and 4.30pm.  Admission is £1 for adults and children admission is free.

We will be showing our latest images and Greg will be giving a talk about imaging deep-space objects (DSOs) at 7.30pm on the opening evening (definitely something not to be missed).  Opening night charges are £5 with free admission for Trade and Press delegates.

Note: Bar facilities will be available on the opening night only. 

So, please come down and have a look, ask questions and mix with other Astronomy enthusiasts! Download the Starscape Brochure to find out more about what we will be showing – but note – there are 19 new images to see in the Exhibition that you won’t find in the brochure!

Click the download icon to download a PDF version of the brochure.

We are incredibly proud that we have been given permission by Sir Arthur C Clarke to publish his tribute to both the BBC television programme The Sky at Night and to Sir Patrick Moore.   If you do nothing else today – READ THIS!

Read the rest of this entry »

According to the Guiness Book of Records this Quasar in the constellation Lynx is the brightest known object in our universe and who are we to argue with them [oops – see the Postscript below]! Read the rest of this entry »

 If you are to explore the heavens – you need a good map to guide you.
In my opinion there is only one star atlas you need to consider, Will Tirion and Roger W. Sinnott’s “Sky Atlas 2000.0”. 

Be prepared, this is quite big when it comes through the post measuring some 30 x 42 cm!  Each page has large clear maps showing stars, clusters and nebulae.  A must have book

You can purchase the book at Amazon or any other good book retailer.

The name for this project comes from the Wide Angle Search for Planets or SuperWASP project.   As you can guess it is used for hunting exo-planets.  

If you look at the SuperWASP site you will see an impressive imaging array comprising 8 Canon 200mm f#1.8 lenses with their associated Andor CCD cameras all sitting on a massive torus fork mount – certainly very nice gear!

Living in the U.K. we have a major problem to contend with trying to pursue our hobby – the weather.  There are very few good clear Moonless nights to take those perfect images.  I have also compounded the problem by moving from a very fast (Hyperstar) imaging system that worked at f#1.85, to a much slower refractor-based system working at only f#4.5, i.e. six times slower. 

I’m going to tackle this problem piece by piece and I will be posting details of my thoughts in the mini-WASP Array category.  You can also see a list of the posts below:

• Taurus Molecular Clouds, June 13th, 2017
• Arcturus, June 13th, 2017
• Asteroid JO25 2014 captured on the miniWASP 200mm Canon prime lenses, April 24th, 2017
• Asteroid JO25 2014, April 20th, 2017
• Asteroids in Leo from last night, March 26th, 2017
• Widefield Gomeisa region with the 200mm lenses, March 25th, 2017
• Procyon & Gomeisa, March 25th, 2017
• Gomeisa from 23rd February 2017, March 23rd, 2017
• Procyon region from 22/03/2017, March 23rd, 2017
• The Current Status of the Mini-WASP Array at the New Forest Observatory, January 24th, 2017
• M45 - Noel Carboni process, January 22nd, 2017
• Composited M45, January 21st, 2017
• Deeeeeep M45, January 21st, 2017
• Hind's Variable nebula, January 20th, 2017
• Taurus molecular cloud 2-framer, December 31st, 2016
• Taurus molecular clouds, December 31st, 2016
• Aldebaran and the Hyades, December 3rd, 2016
• The Full Monty, December 2nd, 2016
• Composite of the IC2087 region, December 1st, 2016
• December 2016 Deep-Sky Image of the Month, December 1st, 2016
• 17 hours on the NGC6914 region in Cygnus, November 9th, 2016
• The Double Cluster - yet again, November 8th, 2016
• The NGC6914 region in Cygnus, November 5th, 2016
• Sadr one and a half framer, November 4th, 2016
• New Forest Observatory - Image of the Month, November 4th, 2016
• Oriented and re-processed NA/Pelican, October 23rd, 2016
• Sadr region with the Canon 200mm array, October 23rd, 2016
• Last night's effort with the Canon 200mm lens array, October 23rd, 2016
• Image of the Month, October 4th, 2016
• From the Gamma Cass nebula to PacMan, August 31st, 2016
• The Canon 200mm prime lens does the Perseus Double Cluster, August 31st, 2016
• Central Lyra with the Canon 200mm prime lenses, August 27th, 2016
• A rich star field in Lacerta - with a bonus object, August 9th, 2016
• Test shot on the Sky 90 array, August 8th, 2016
• Noel Carboni process of the California nebula data, July 23rd, 2016
• The California nebula, June 30th, 2016
• The Caldwell 3 region in Draco, May 5th, 2016
• Pazmino's Cluster, April 11th, 2016
• La Superba, April 11th, 2016
• Kemble's Cascade - Akira Fujii-effect version, April 11th, 2016
• NGC3842 region in Leo, April 11th, 2016
• Rho Leonis - a very blue star, March 18th, 2016
• Mighty Merak, March 18th, 2016
• Stargate, March 15th, 2016
• Carbon star T Cancri with the mini-WASP array, March 15th, 2016
• La Superba Akira Fujii effect only, March 15th, 2016
• La Superba region with the 200mm Canon prime lenses, March 14th, 2016
• The Carbon stars of Kemble's Cascade, March 12th, 2016
• M44 - The Beehive cluster - in perspective, March 8th, 2016
• Polaris and the Integrated Flux Nebula, February 27th, 2016
• The Canon 200mm lenses and M26C OSC CCDs do the Twins, February 11th, 2016
• The Definitive Rosette nebula from the MegaWASP array, February 6th, 2016
• Caph region - brighter version, January 23rd, 2016
• The Caph region in Cassiopeia, January 23rd, 2016
• The Ruchbah region with the Canon 200mm lenses, January 20th, 2016
• IC2087 region, January 15th, 2016
• Twin Domes at the New Forest Observatory, January 9th, 2016
• Aldebaran, the Hyades & NGC1647, January 4th, 2016
• Unknown object near Aldebaran, December 12th, 2015
• Aldebaran 2-framer, December 9th, 2015
• Sulafat & Sheliak in Lyra, October 3rd, 2015
• V1331 Cygni region second dataset, October 2nd, 2015
• V1331 Cygni region, October 1st, 2015
• The MegaWASP array does a Kemble's Cascade 4-framer, September 23rd, 2015
• The Sky 90 array does the M57 region, September 22nd, 2015
• Deep-Sky Image of the Month for September 2015, September 16th, 2015
• Carbon star W Cassiopeiae, September 12th, 2015
• Epsilon Cassiopeiae region, September 12th, 2015
• The Mega-WASP array does Barnard's "E", September 7th, 2015
• The Double Cluster & Stock 2 with the Canon 200mm prime lens, August 28th, 2015
• The megaWASP array does Kemble's Cascade, August 16th, 2015
• The North America and Pelican nebulae Mega-WASPed, August 9th, 2015
• The MegaWASP array does the Crescent region in Cygnus, July 10th, 2015
• North America nebula region with the Canon 200mm lens, June 19th, 2015
• Astronomical Images on Flickr, June 14th, 2015
• The megaWASP array does Arcturus, June 5th, 2015
• CCDInspector result, May 27th, 2015
• R Coronae Borealis, May 27th, 2015
• Almost set up, May 21st, 2015
• The latest incarnation of "The Beast", May 7th, 2015
• X Cancri - Carbon star, May 6th, 2015
• The New Forest Observatory 05/05/2015 at 2:00 p.m., May 5th, 2015
• The mega-WASP upgrade has been completed, May 1st, 2015
• The mini-WASP array has now morphed into the mega-WASP array, April 29th, 2015
• Pac Man nebula reloaded, April 26th, 2015
• Polaris with the mini-WASP array, April 20th, 2015
• 13 Messier objects in one image, April 15th, 2015
• Work in progress - the whole of the Virgo/Coma galaxy cluster, April 13th, 2015
• Dyson Sphere around Polaris, April 13th, 2015
• The Virgo/Coma galaxy cluster region with the Canon 200mm f#1.8 lens, March 27th, 2015
• La Superba from 22/03/2015, March 23rd, 2015
• The Merak region in Ursa Major, March 9th, 2015
• Coddington's nebula & V Y Ursae Majoris, February 27th, 2015
• Gemini central, February 24th, 2015
• And here's the M106 image from last night's session, February 17th, 2015
• An extremely rare clear Moonless night last night 🙂, February 17th, 2015
• Carbon star SAO 77516, January 25th, 2015
• C W Leonis with insert, January 25th, 2015
• C W Leonis or IRC +10216, January 23rd, 2015
• Astronomy Now article on the mini-WASP array, January 21st, 2015
• Comet Lovejoy C/2014 Q2, January 19th, 2015
• NGC 1817 an open cluster in Taurus, January 19th, 2015
• 200mm NAN 30.12.2014, December 31st, 2014
• Canon 200mm lens images the Rose, December 30th, 2014
• Mini-WASP test shot on the Rosette nebula, December 30th, 2014
• The mini-WASP array does the T Tauri region, December 29th, 2014
• The mini-WASP array does the California nebula, December 28th, 2014
• The mini-WASP array does Aldebaran and the Hyades region, December 28th, 2014
• The mini-WASP array does the Northern Cone region, December 21st, 2014
• 5 hours imaging with the mini-WASP array, December 15th, 2014
• Carbon star VX Andromedae, November 25th, 2014
• The mini-WASP does the business on 23/11/2014, November 24th, 2014
• Mirach and "Ghost" in Andromeda from the mini-WASP array, November 21st, 2014
• The latest incarnation of the mini-WASP array 2014, November 19th, 2014
• Second light for the mini-WASP array, November 1st, 2014
• First light for the 3 x Sky 90 mini-WASP imaging array, October 29th, 2014
• Statrep on the mini-WASP array, October 12th, 2014
• UY Andromedae a Carbon star in Andromeda, October 6th, 2014
• Gamma Cassiopeiae and Navi region , October 6th, 2014
• The mini-WASP array does the PacMan nebula and Schedar, October 6th, 2014
• Another mini-WASP upgrade, October 1st, 2014
• Comet Jacques c/2014 E2 from 22/08/2014, August 25th, 2014
• Mini-WASP upgrade number 2 for June 2014, June 28th, 2014
• Upgrade of the week for the mini-WASP array, June 25th, 2014
• Statrep for the second Canon 200mm prime lens, May 16th, 2014
• What a clever chap!!, May 13th, 2014
• Mini-WASP array statrep May 2014, May 5th, 2014
• The new autofocuser for the Canon 200mm prime lens, May 4th, 2014
• New goodies from Tom How arrived today, May 1st, 2014
• Carbon star V623 Cassiopeiae, April 30th, 2014
• The current status of the mini-WASP array, January 28th, 2014
• The big 3, December 3rd, 2013
• Carbon star SAO 21002 NW of Caph and emission nebula SH2-168, September 5th, 2013
• Last night's mini-WASP imaging session, September 3rd, 2013
• It's a clear Moonless night, September 3rd, 2013
• The story so far - SAO 84015, August 11th, 2013
• The mini-WASP array captures globular cluster M10 in Ophiucus on 09/07/2013, July 20th, 2013
• The mini-WASP array captures the NGC663 region in Cassiopeia, July 20th, 2013
• Made in Heaven, July 19th, 2013
• Two Carbon stars in Sagitta, July 19th, 2013
• M11 in the Scutum star cloud all 3 data sets, July 10th, 2013
• The mini-WASP arrays grabs Carbon star V Aquilae, July 9th, 2013
• Hyperstar III deep 2-framer of the Tulip nebula region in Cygnus, July 8th, 2013
• The mini-WASP array grabs M11 in the Scutum star cloud, July 8th, 2013
• The Stars Like Dust, July 7th, 2013
• The NGC 6871 region of Cygnus with the Sky 90 and M26C, July 6th, 2013
• Clear night - no Moon, July 5th, 2013
• 2 Carbon stars and nebulosity in Cygnus, June 14th, 2013
• NGC 6791 and Carbon star U Lyrae in the constellation Lyra, June 7th, 2013
• A beautiful pair of Carbon stars in Lyra, June 6th, 2013
• The Navigator's companion, April 27th, 2013
• Greg's "3" asterism in Leo , April 13th, 2013
• The Coathanger Cluster, March 29th, 2013
• You will be assimilated, March 12th, 2013
• Tania Australis image - Noel Carboni process, March 7th, 2013
• Tania Australis and NGC3184 in Ursa Major, March 5th, 2013
• Abell 1377 in Ursa Major, February 21st, 2013
• The mini-WASP configuration 17/02/2013, February 17th, 2013
• Mini-WASP array bolt on goody, February 17th, 2013
• Asteroid 2012 DA14, February 16th, 2013
• The Meissa region in the head of Orion, February 12th, 2013
• Carbon star 4-Omicron 1 Orionis, February 12th, 2013
• Orion finder/guider scope fitted to the mini-WASP array, February 10th, 2013
• A tad annoying, February 10th, 2013
• The mini-WASP array does Meissa, February 8th, 2013
• Vega (Alpha Lyrae) - brightest star in Lyra, February 1st, 2013
• A Ring between two Diamonds, February 1st, 2013
• This afternoon I fixed a fault with the Paramount ME myself., January 22nd, 2013
• Hind's Crimson Star, January 20th, 2013
• New Forest Observatory this morning, January 18th, 2013
• Robofocus units fitted to the TS 80mm triplet APOs, January 15th, 2013
• Beautiful blue Bellatrix, January 9th, 2013
• A New Year's Day treat - Sirius 2-framer, January 3rd, 2013
• Saiph in Orion, December 12th, 2012
• The brightest star in the Sky - SIRIUS, December 12th, 2012
• The mini-WASP array roars!, December 6th, 2012
• Noel Carboni process of the Mu Cephei mini-WASP dataset, December 5th, 2012
• Mu Cephei - the Garnet star in Cepheus., December 4th, 2012
• The mini-WASP array is fully functional 🙂, November 30th, 2012
• The Coathanger cluster in Vulpecula courtesy of the mini-WASP array, November 16th, 2012
• The Double Cluster and the Stock 2 open cluster in Perseus, November 12th, 2012
• Star field in Perseus, November 10th, 2012
• Flattening the M26C APS-sized chip with a Takahashi collimator, October 29th, 2012
• Greg's Charm Bracelet - the Double Cluster in Perseus is the "charm", October 22nd, 2012
• Hyperstar III and mini-WASP array images from the same night., October 21st, 2012
• The latest images from the mini-WASP array, October 16th, 2012
• A clear night 🙂, October 15th, 2012
• The mini-WASP is up and running - of course it is a full Moon tonight!, September 29th, 2012
• I call it Plug City, September 20th, 2012
• mini-WASP now fully populated and ready to go 🙂, September 17th, 2012
• Ruchbah region with the TS 80mm triplet APO and a Sky 90 refractor, September 16th, 2012
• Ruchbah region with the TS 80 and no hot pixels, September 15th, 2012
• The mini-WASP array spaghetti junction, September 12th, 2012
• Ruchbah region test shot with the TS 80, September 10th, 2012
• TS 80mm triplet APO refractor - first impressions, September 10th, 2012
• Robofocus - unbelievable service!, September 3rd, 2012
• Images for fully-populated mini-WASP array, August 30th, 2012
• The third and final (?) imaging system has been fitted to the mini-WASP array, August 30th, 2012
• Update on Tom How's superb synchronisation program (ssp), August 28th, 2012
• Hyperstar reunited with the M25C, August 28th, 2012
• A third imaging system for the mini-WASP array is being prepared, August 27th, 2012
• The mini-WASP continues to fight back - this is now getting personal!, August 20th, 2012
• See and hear the mini-WASP in action, August 14th, 2012
• Vega region - 3.26 x 4.24 degrees, both M26C cameras - mini-WASP array, August 4th, 2012
• Kappa Cassiopeia with NGC 146 and NGC 133, July 30th, 2012
• Further adventures with the mini-WASP array, July 29th, 2012
• Downloaded PEMPro from CCDWare for 60-day free evaluation, June 13th, 2012
• Little steps, June 4th, 2012
• Vega - mini-WASP test shot, May 30th, 2012
• Re-collimation of second imaging Sky 90 successful 🙂, May 30th, 2012
• Deneb region using one scope and camera on the mini-WASP array, May 29th, 2012
• Statrep mini-WASP array, May 29th, 2012
• M57 region camera 2 mini-WASP array 26/05/2012, May 27th, 2012
• The New Forest Observatory control room, May 27th, 2012
• Mini-WASP statrep 23/05/2012, May 23rd, 2012
• Vega from the mini-WASP array, May 17th, 2012
• mini-WASP pier extender fitted, April 24th, 2012
• The never ending collimation problem, April 16th, 2012
• Sky 90 collimation statrep, April 15th, 2012
• Takahashi collimator delivered - mini-WASP fine-tuning good to go, April 14th, 2012
• Flaming Star nebula - composite image, March 13th, 2012
• The ED-100 quintuplet refractor does the Flaming Star nebula in Auriga, March 13th, 2012
• First Light for the Sky-Watcher Esprit ED-100 quintuplet refractor, March 12th, 2012
• The Sky-Watcher Esprit ED-100 quintuplet is loaded and ready to go!, March 11th, 2012
• Pointer Star Dubhe in the constellation Ursa Major, February 3rd, 2012
• Reprocess and crop to the Double Cluster and Stock 2, January 29th, 2012
• Double cluster and Stock 2 reprocess, January 29th, 2012
• Double Cluster sans spikes, January 5th, 2012
• This is precisely the sort of image the mini-WASP array was designed to capture!, January 4th, 2012
• Some earlier Stock 2 data added to the mini-WASP Double Cluster image, January 3rd, 2012
• Double Cluster from the mini-WASP array just before grabbing the lunar halo image, January 3rd, 2012
• Bellatrix, Polaris and Pollux re-loaded, January 2nd, 2012
• California nebula reprocess, December 30th, 2011
• The Cone nebula - a mini-WASP single framer, December 29th, 2011
• The mini-WASP imager is now fully operational, December 29th, 2011
• Pollux, December 24th, 2011
• Polaris, December 24th, 2011
• Bellatrix, December 24th, 2011
• Getting there - very, very slowly!, December 23rd, 2011
• Robofocus brackets completed, December 6th, 2011
• New Robofocus brackets, December 5th, 2011
• Aldebaran - correct orientation, November 23rd, 2011
• The eye of the Bull, November 23rd, 2011
• Icy Dock 8Tb storage solution for the mini-WASP data, October 26th, 2011
• Ruchbah and M103 in Cassiopeia - the forgotten data, October 3rd, 2011
• NGC7000 - the North America nebula - definitive issue!, October 2nd, 2011
• No added contrast or saturation, September 30th, 2011
• NGC7000 reprocessed, September 30th, 2011
• Well even with one wonky scope the mini-WASP can sure deliver the goods 🙂, September 30th, 2011
• The mini-WASP array - one step forward and three steps back., September 30th, 2011
• Momentous day today - the first (almost proper) 2-framer to come out of the mini-WASP array 🙂, September 29th, 2011
• It's 1:30 a.m. and I've finally set up the mini-WASP array 🙂, September 29th, 2011
• Parallel imaging - what the new mini-WASP array was originally designed for., September 6th, 2011
• Second Light on the NFO mini-WASP array, August 31st, 2011
• Mini-WASP "First Light" party at the New Forest Observatory 21/08/2011, August 27th, 2011
• New warm room for the mini-WASP?, August 20th, 2011
• Michael Hattey of Starlight Xpress brings the tested M26C down to the NFO - with Maglev fans for both cameras, August 10th, 2011
• The usual superbly efficient customer service from Starlight Xpress, August 9th, 2011
• First Light for the mini-WASP project - the Gamma Cygni region, August 7th, 2011
• First Light for the mini-WASP array Saturday night and Sunday morning:, August 7th, 2011
• Tom How's Patented dome rotation system 🙂, August 6th, 2011
• Blistering hot day here at the NFOs, August 3rd, 2011
• Cable mis-management, July 31st, 2011
• Thank you Tom How 🙂, July 29th, 2011
• View from the top - mini-WASP statrep 22/07/2011, July 22nd, 2011
• Statrep - mini-WASP array build, July 21st, 2011
• The mini-WASP array - over 4 years now and still counting, July 18th, 2011
• Twin Kecks at the New Forest Observatory, July 17th, 2011
• The mini-WASP array is now domed 🙂, July 16th, 2011
• Further progress today, July 15th, 2011
• mini-WASP observatory flooring completed today, July 14th, 2011
• The full Monty, July 12th, 2011
• The new Pulsar Observatories dome has just been installed 🙂, July 12th, 2011
• The mini-WASP array with three Sky 90s attached, July 11th, 2011
• Demi-Mini-WASP dry-run in the study, July 10th, 2011
• Computer networking masterclass courtesy of Tom How, July 9th, 2011
• The Starlight Xpress goodie bag arrived today!, July 7th, 2011
• The mini-WASP decking has been treated - dome due for delivery next week 🙂, June 30th, 2011
• The New Forest Observatory "Keck" facility, June 10th, 2011
• The all Aluminium pier is fitted, June 10th, 2011
• The decking is completed - now awaiting the Pulsar Observatories dome 🙂, June 8th, 2011
• It begins! The octagonal decking for the mini-WASP observatory goes down today 🙂, June 8th, 2011
• mini-WASP array project - the deck build, May 23rd, 2011
• Starlight Xpress Ltd sponsors the mini-WASP array, May 6th, 2011
• The Baader narrowband filter sets, April 30th, 2011
• Ian King Imaging sponsors the mini-WASP project 🙂, April 30th, 2011
• Concrete pillar support completed - with a lot of help from Tom How, April 16th, 2011
• The mixer and all the goodies arrived this morning 🙂, April 15th, 2011
• Kieron sponsors the mini-WASP array - again 🙂, April 12th, 2011
• The never ending hole digging saga continuums, April 9th, 2011
• It always begins with digging a hole 🙂, April 7th, 2011
• mini-WASP array - project sponsors, February 14th, 2011
• The mini-WASP array 2011, February 12th, 2011
• A video clip of the Paramount ME in action., November 9th, 2010
• Now the Paramount is in the study as well as the pier., November 9th, 2010
• The all-Aluminium pier for the Paramount and mini-WASP array, November 8th, 2010
• First video diary entry for the new mini-WASP imaging array, November 6th, 2010
• Slight change of plan, October 16th, 2010
• Another component for next year's mini-WASP array launch, October 15th, 2010
• mini-WASP, the latest, September 7th, 2010
• Not been able to set up the repaired M25C, August 21st, 2010
• The mini-WASP array - one step closer, April 3rd, 2010
• mini-WASP update, March 19th, 2010
• mini-WASP array and Brian May's new book, November 29th, 2009
• O.K. so I couldn't wait until tomorrow:, November 27th, 2009
• Current status of the mini-WASP array November 2009, November 27th, 2009
• The mini-WASP array project - statrep, November 21st, 2009
• Computational solution?, November 13th, 2009
• mini-WASP array - computational matters, November 7th, 2009
• It's now 2:30 p.m. and the Paramount is unpacked!, November 3rd, 2009
• It's 1:30 p.m. and the Paramount arrives at the NFO!!!, November 3rd, 2009
• A brand new Paramount ME is on its way to the New Forest Observatory, October 29th, 2009
• Statrep on the mini-WASP deep-sky imaging array, October 22nd, 2009
• Update on the mini-WASP deep-sky imaging array, December 23rd, 2008
• The mini-WASP array morphs into the NIP, November 6th, 2008
• mini-WASP Array Project - Part 3 - The Framework , December 8th, 2007
• mini-WASP Array Project - Part 2 - A Likely Solution, August 7th, 2007
• mini-WASP Array Project - Part 1 - The Problem, August 2nd, 2007
• mini-WASP Array Project, July 10th, 2007

I hope you’ll keep reading as I learn about what is needed and my experiences of putting together such an exciting piece of equipment.