Download this month's binocular and deep-sky tour charts. The charts are printed in black on white so they can be viewed under red light at your telescope.
Record your observations of Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus and the Sun with our handy printable forms.
If you observe the Sun, remember NEVER to look at it with your naked eye; either project it through your telescope or use a solar filter on your telescope's front lens.
Ced 214 Nebula
Daniel Zoliro, Chouteau, Oklahoma, USA, 21–26 August 2020
Equipment: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro camera, Astro-Tech AT115EDT refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount
Mars, Phobos and Deimos Harvey Scoot, Finchingfield, Essex, 14 September 2020
Equipment: ZWO ASI 462MC one-shot colour camera, Celestron EdgeHD 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain, Mesu-Mount 200
The Cygnus Wall Matthew Baker, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, 18-25 September 2020
Equipment: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro camera, TS-Optics 90mm apo refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5-Pro mount
The Crescent Nebula
Jamie Macdougall, Ely, Cambridgeshire, 1-13 September 2020
Equipment: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro camera, Sky-Watcher Evostar 80ED DS-Pro refractor, Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro mount
Cycling to the Moon
Susan Snow, Cleeve Hill, Gloucestershire, 27 September 2020
Equipment: Canon 77D DSLR, Orion ShortTube 80 refractor, Orion AutoTracker mount
The Heart and Soul Nebulae
Prabhakaran (Prabhu), Buraq and Mleiha, UAE, 14, 15 and 21 September 2020
Equipment: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro camera, Samyang 135mm f/2.8 lens, Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ6 mount
NGC 5367 and CG12
Nicolas Rolland, August 2020
Equipment: SBIG STXL-11002 camera, PlaneWave 17” CDK astrograph, Paramount ME mount
The Triangulum Galaxy
Emil Andronic, Bushey, August 2018 and September 2020
Equipment: Canon 600D DSLR, ZWO ASI 294MC Pro camera, TS65 quadruplet f6.5 imaging telescope, Sky-Watcher EQ3 mount
The Milky Way over Sicily Dario Giannobile, Punta Bianca, Sicily, 27 June 2020
Equipment: Canon 6D DSLR, Sigma 20mm lens, Manfrotto tripod
The Pacman Nebula, NGC281 David Mainwaring, Didcot, Oxfordshire, 25 September 2020
Equipment: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro camera, TS-Optics Photoline 107mm f/6.5 triplet apo, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount
Pickering’s Triangle, part of the Veil Nebula Trevor Searle, Surrey, 21 September 2020. Equipment: ZWO ASI 1600MM camera, Celestron C9.25 Schmidt-Cassegrain, Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ6 GT mount
The Heart Nebula Derek Foster, Sheffield, 14 September 2020
Equipment: ZWO ASI 294MC Pro camera, TS-Optics Photoline 80mm f/6 triplet apo, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount
Mars Luke Oliver, Bedford, 26 September 2020
Equipment: ZWO AI 178MM camera, Sky-Watcher Skyliner 400P Dobsonian
Bright and dark nebulae in Cepheus Terry Hancock, western Colorado, USA, 22 September 2020
Equipment: QHYCCD QHY410C camera, Takahashi E180 astrograph, Paramount GT1100S mount
Harvest Moon Stuart Green, Preston, 1 October 2020
Equipment: Nikon D5500 DSLR, Tecnosky 125mm f7.8 apo refractor
The Iris Nebula Nikola Milićev, Horgoš, Serbia, 15 August 2020
Equipment: Canon 1300D DSLR, Samyang 135mm f/2 lens, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer mount
The Milky Way Parisa Bajelan, lake near Mount Sabalan, Iran, 12 August 202
Equipment: Canon 6D DSLR, 16-35 Canon lens
The Andromeda Galaxy
James Downey, Ongar, Essex, 18 August and 9 September 2020
Equipment: ZWO ASI 533MC-Pro camera, William Optics RedCat 51 apo refractor, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro mount
Eye On The Sky
Merging galaxies NGC 2799 (left) and NGC 2798 (right)
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE, 23 OCTOBER 2020
IMAGE CREDIT ESA/Hubble & NASA, SDSS, J. Dalcanton, CC BY 4.0; Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)
frEGGs (Free-floating Evaporating Gaseous Globules) in J025157.5 600606
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE, 16 OCTOBER 2020
IMAGE CREDIT: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Sahai; CC BY 4.0
Martian craters found using artificial intelligence MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER, 1 OCTOBER 2020
CREDIT NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex touches down onto asteroid Bennu
OSIRIS-REx, 20 OCTOBER 2020
CREDIT NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin
Soyuz MS-17 and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus docked with the ISS
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION, 18 OCTOBER 2020
CREDIT: NASA
Mosaic of the northern sky from TESS images TRANSITING EXOPLANET SURVEY SATELLITE (TESS), 5 October 2020
CREDIT: NASA/MIT/TESS and Ethan Kruse (USRA)
TESS’s northern sky mosaic with constellations overlaid
TRANSITING EXOPLANET SURVEY SATELLITE (TESS), 5 October 2020
CREDIT: NASA/MIT/TESS and Ethan Kruse (USRA)
Massive binary protostar IRAS 16547-4247, growing in salty water vapour
ATACAMA LARGE MILLIMETER/SUBMILLIMETER ARRAY (ALMA), 25 SEPTEMBER 2020
CREDIT ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Tanaka et al.
Great Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE, 9 OCTOBER 2020
CREDIT: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team; CC BY 4.0 - Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)
Spiral galaxy NGC 5643 in the constellation of Lupus
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE, 2 OCTOBER 2020
CREDIT ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess et al.; CC BY 4.0; Acknowledgement: Mahdi Zamani
This month's deep-sky tour plan file can be imported into the Argo Navis Digital Telescope Computer using Argonaut software, a free utility available from Wildcard Innovations.Using Argo Navis with this month's deep-sky tour plan file, you can:
• display essential information from the Argo Navis database for each object
• slew your telescope to each object in the plan - requires a compatible mount.
• push your telescope to each object in the plan using the coordinates provided on the Argo Navis display.
To import this month's deep-sky tour plan file into Argo Navis using Argonaut software:
Download and save the file to your hard drive.
Run the Argonaut utility program and transfer the plan into your Argo Navis DTC.
This month's Deep-Sky Tour plan file is produced by Deep-Sky Planner 8 (see knightware.biz/dsp).
Deep-Sky Planner 8 astronomy software for Windows provides the tools you need to make your time at the telescope more efficient and enjoyable.
• sort the objects in the plan according to the best time and order to view each object.
• slew your ASCOM-compatible Go-To mount to each object in the plan - requires ASCOM software (free).
• show a sky chart centred on each object in the plan using one of the top planetarium software titles – requires TheSky, Starry Night, Redshift, Cartes du Ciel (free) or Stellarium (free).
• record your observation in the open, non-proprietary observing log.
Details about Deep-Sky Planner and how to purchase can be found here.
Download the Deep-Sky Planner compatible file of this month's deep-sky tour observing plan file so that you can visit each object directly with Deep-Sky Planner. Save the file to your hard drive and double click it to open it in Deep-Sky Planner.
If you are one of the many astronomers who use the ASCOM driver EQMOD to control your ASCOM-compatible Go-To mount, you can use an add-on application called EQTOUR to call up various sets of sky tours like Messier, Caldwell, Globular Clusters and simply click on an object name to slew to it.
Details about the application and how to download it free of charge can be found here.
Download the EQTOUR compatible file of our monthly Deep-sky tour, so that you can visit each object directly from your EQMod control panel. We've also included a PDF document that explains the system and how to get it installed with your telescope setup.
Copy the .lst file from the folder that appears into the same directory as the EQTOUR application file, EQTOUR.exe, and follow the instructions in the link above.
