Sky at Night Magazine

[philc]

Recently joined this forum but have been interested in astronomy for years using nothing more than binoculars and averted vision. Family treated me to a SkyWatcher 130P on an Supatrak mount last year and it has sparked new enthusiasm and taken my interest to new levels.

Sky around here is reasonably clear of light pollution - for example, I can pick out the double cluster and Andromeda galaxy with the naked eye.

Some of my recent "discoveries" have been the Owl Cluster (aka ET) - this fits perfectly in the field of view of my 10mm objective (65x). I also was pleased to see the smaller companion galaxy (M32) to Andromeda (M31) which showed up faintly and was improved with the help of my light pollution filter.

I'm starting to try astrophotography as I am also a keen photographer, my initial experiments with afocal using an old Canon A80 leave a lot to be desired but you can see my attempt at Jupiter below. This is a composite of two exposures one to try and tease the detail in Jupiter, the other to catch the moons.



[image]local://5391/DBD91C4D283E4CD2B4B2BC0D709D9220.jpg[/image]

[ronin]

Another from Rural Cambridgeshire, there is a slightly earlier post of almost the same.

Which part of Rural Cambs are you? There is a fair bit of it, Peterborough, Kings Lynn, South to Royston (just north of), East to Newmarket.

[philc]

[quote]ORIGINAL: Ronin

Which part of Rural Cambs are you? There is a fair bit of it, Peterborough, Kings Lynn, South to Royston (just north of), East to Newmarket.
[/quote]

I'm on the edge of the village of Longstanton, as you say it's a big county. I'm not too far from the Institute of Astronomy at the University and have enjoyed a few of the Wednesday evening lectures and observing sessions. I'm not sure if there are any amateur astronomy clubs nearby though.