Category Archives: Articles

Sometimes rainy days are useful for getting jobs done

I had an electric focuser lying around so with a pulley and timing belt from Radiospares I put together an electric focuser rig for the Canon 5D MkII and the 100mm macro lens that took the mega-wide-field Virgo/Coma galaxies shot. … Continue reading

Posted in Equipment, Projects | Leave a comment

Simon Parkin at the New Forest Observatory on near miss night

Simon Parkin and the Meridian Weather film team – together with satellite transmission van – did a live broadcast from the New Forest Observatory on 15/02/2013, the evening of the near miss flyby of the asteroid.  Here are a couple … Continue reading

Posted in People and Places, Television and Radio | Leave a comment

Robofocus – unbelievable service!

I ordered a Robofocus unit for the TS 80mm triplet APO last Friday after lunch – and it arrived at 2:00 p.m. today (Monday) – and that’s all the way from the States!!  Unbelievable speed of delivery – well done … Continue reading

Posted in Equipment, mini-WASP Array, News | Leave a comment

A new camera for the Hyperstar III

Well I don’t think there is going to be much let up in the rain for a good few months now – I have just received a new camera for the Hyperstar III.  For quite a while now I have … Continue reading

Posted in Equipment, News | Leave a comment

A “Little Planet” image of the New Forest Observatories

I was sitting at the computer yesterday (Saturday) typing out some rubbish or the other when for some unknown reason I suddenly twigged how those “Little Planet” images are taken.  So I grabbed the Canon 5D MkII and a fish … Continue reading

Posted in House and home, Observatory, People and Places, Projects | Leave a comment

Registar says 68,200

A number of people have asked me how many stars appear in the Cocoon nebula 3-frame mosaic.  I use a program called Registar to link separate frames together so I can see how they all fit – and Registar will … Continue reading

Posted in Deep Space Objects, News | Leave a comment

Starmus memories II

As it continues to pour with rain here in the New Forest – thoughts go back to the hot, dry days at the Starmus Festival in Tenerife June this year 🙂

Posted in News, People and Places | Leave a comment

Mini-WASP “First Light” party at the New Forest Observatory 21/08/2011

Here are a few pictures from the day – I still can’t believe how lucky we were with the weather.  Had a few drops of rain first thing in the morning just to put the scarers on us – then … Continue reading

Posted in mini-WASP Array, People and Places | 2 Comments

Starmus memories

As summer definitely starts retreating and autumn approaches a bit too rapidly – thoughts go back to a warmer time at the Starmus Festival on Tenerife – June 2011.  This is the sumptuous Abama Hotel where most of the Festival … Continue reading

Posted in People and Places | Leave a comment

NGC6883 and NGC6871 open clusters in Cygnus

This pair of open clusters has a Milky Way backdrop and they are surrounded by faint emission nebulosity.  They can be found in the constellation Cygnus lying just underneath the Crescent nebula region.  Image taken 19th August 2009 using the … Continue reading

Posted in CCD Images, Deep Space Objects, Hyperstar and SXVF-M25C | Leave a comment