Category Archives: Astronomy

Paper Planet Models

Posted on August 1, 2012 by james

I found a set of “nets” for icosahedron models of planets and moons recently and made one each of Jupiter with my daughter. They’re quite tricky to make the final joins on — you really need delicate slim fingers, not … Continue reading →

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Observation Report, 22 July 2012

Posted on July 23, 2012 by james

Having had an excellent night two nights ago I had six Messier objects left to find and set myself the goal of finding M7 this week on the basis that whatever happens in August, between the Moon and the turning … Continue reading →

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Observation Report, 20 July 2012

Posted on July 21, 2012 by james

With almost horizon-to-horizon blue skies yesterday evening I gambled on putting out both the 127 Mak on the EQ3-2 so I could polar align it for any solar imaging that I can find time for, and the ST120 with its … Continue reading →

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Dovetail Adaptor for Old EQ3-2 Mounts

Posted on July 12, 2012 by james

My EQ3-2 is one of the older models that has fittings for scope rings, but doesn’t have any form of dovetail clamp. The new models have both. I prefer to use dovetails as it makes swapping scopes around between mounts … Continue reading →

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50mm Binocular Objective Finder Howto

Posted on June 28, 2012 by james

My second right-angle finder based on a binocular objective is now built (if not yet cosmetically finished) and this time I’ve taken photos so I can now document the construction process. My aim was to make a functioning right-angle finder … Continue reading →

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Revisiting Naked Eye Limiting Magnitude

Posted on June 23, 2012 by james

Back in March I tried checking stars in Usra Major to get an idea of the naked eye limiting magnitude (NELM) for my home. The seeing wasn’t great that night, but I obtained a figure of 5.55 for NELM. Earlier … Continue reading →

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Fan-Cooled Xbox Live Camera Howto

Posted on June 23, 2012 by james

I modded a second Xbox Live camera to add a fan today and this time took photos, so here’s how it’s done. This one is slightly different from the first in that I’ve not chopped down the lens housing to … Continue reading →

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It’s mid-summer, so where’s the Sun?

Posted on June 20, 2012 by james

Someone was asking today why the sky is so bright at night at this time of year, so I had to have a think about where the Sun actually goes… So we’re clear what I’m talking about, let’s say you’re … Continue reading →

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Observation Report, 19th June 2012

Posted on June 20, 2012 by james

Well, it’s been a full month since I last got out with a telescope thanks to the weather, which has been on the wrong side of depressingly atrocious for all of the last four weeks. Despite feeling fairly tired therefore, … Continue reading →

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Fan-Cooled Xbox Live Camera for Planetary Imaging

Posted on June 17, 2012 by james

The Xbox Live camera has found something of a following as a cheap planetary/lunar imaging camera since the SPC900 (which is undoubtedly a far better camera) started fetching silly prices. I’ve always found it very noisy however. The camera does … Continue reading →

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