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Post by NIAAS Webmaster on Sept 16, 2004 22:27:19 GMT
Anyone interested in doing some observing in the North Down area? Next clear night looks to be cancelled until mid-October though we might be lucky one of these nights Clear Skies Mark Stronge
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Post by Aaron on Sept 17, 2004 14:38:44 GMT
Count me in ;D
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Post by paulevans on Sept 17, 2004 17:02:04 GMT
I'm up for that Mark - beeing as it's my birthday next week my dear wife has bought me a nice pair of 15x70 bins to keep me amused through the dark winter nights!
Paul.
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Post by NIAAS Webmaster on Sept 17, 2004 18:31:07 GMT
Cool ,Paul. What make r they? have you tested them yet? My brother Nigel has a pair of 20x80s but they are slightly out of collimation. My pair of 13x70s are nearly there but not quite. I must print out some sort of resolution test so I can fine tune.
Have you got a tripod yet? for anything more that casual quick looks, a tripod is a must.
Mark
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Post by paulevans on Sept 17, 2004 22:01:46 GMT
They're Celestrons - not hugely expensive but affordable. Not tried on the night sky yet, just a quick look down the road which seems to confirm the reviews I found on the internet - very sharp in the middle, not so sharp towards the edges. Now where will I be looking? Through my photographic exploits over the years I have a little collection of tripods, the tallest of which will come in most handy for these bins When are these clear skies of which you speak? Paul.
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Post by johnmc9929 on Sept 18, 2004 12:57:54 GMT
You'll maybe get the chance to try them tonight Paul? BTW Happy Birthday next week!
Johnmc9929.
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Post by paulevans on Sept 18, 2004 18:41:39 GMT
Yep, looks like at least some clear sky is a possibility tonight
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Post by markdj on Sept 18, 2004 18:55:32 GMT
So anyone free tonight? looking promising so far...
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Post by paulevans on Sept 18, 2004 19:38:55 GMT
I apologise to people in the Bangor area for mentioning my new binoculars - this seems to have caused the sky to cloud over rather dramatically in the last hour or so although I did see a very nice crescent moon low in the sky earlier.
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Post by markdj on Sept 18, 2004 19:42:50 GMT
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Post by markdj on Sept 18, 2004 19:45:15 GMT
I should have trusted the cloud forecasts - they are just too accurate...
Have you seen them on my weather website? They're under Weather Charts "GFS Cloud cover prediction".
Mark
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Post by paulevans on Sept 18, 2004 20:32:41 GMT
Yep, I've seen your web portal - very useful, although as I live in Bangor which seems to have its own very special microclimate one can pick and choose between the entries for "Belfast" or "Down" which are often quite different and often different again from what happens in Bangor!
P.
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Post by johnmc9929 on Sept 18, 2004 21:47:29 GMT
You folks in the East should move West! clouds,what clouds? J9929.
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Post by paulevans on Sept 18, 2004 22:50:37 GMT
They've gone away from Bangor too now! First impressions of my new Celestron 15x70 binoculars..... Very sharp indeed and lots of light being collected. M31 looks very good - I set it up on the tripod and my wife loved the view. Other things I looked at - Albireo is just split as a binary and it is clear that one component is orange while the other is blue. I couldn't find M81/82 which I thought would be a hard test - my ETX105 gives poor views of those two galaxys as their towards the light pollution of Greater Belfast from my QTH. Contrary to my interpretation of internet reviews, it is only at the extreme edge of the very generous field of view that these binoculars start to lose definition. For the price, which was £75 + £12 deliver to NI,they were and are an absolute bargain! P.
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Post by paulevans on Sept 18, 2004 23:36:52 GMT
And to add to that, as M45 (Pleiadies, 7 sisters) rose over my house after 2330 Sat evening they looked very poor to the naked eye as they're in the same direction as Bangor town centre hence light polluted, but the binoculars showed many dozens of stars in the cluster! P.
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