Astrophotography Book Review

Astrophotography ( ISBN 0540083127 ) begins with a brief introduction to the solar system, planet rotation, and our night’s sky. The book then covers astrophotography equipment, such as various cameras, film, lenses and tripods. There is a nice section that runs you through what’s involved in a night’s photography such as preparations and ending the

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BBC The Cosmos – Episode 3

BBC The Cosmos – Tue 21 Aug, 7:30 pm – 8:00 pm 30mins The third episode in the series asks how far out into space and back into time could we see? Adam Hart-Davis travels across Chile’s ultra dry Atacama desert to the world’s largest telescope, the appropriately named Very Large Telescope, to discover how

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Solar System Observer’s Guide Book Review

The Solar System Observer’s Guide (ISBN 0540088277) is one of many of the great astronomy books from Philips. The book is around 250 pages long, with some great colour astronomy photos throughout and the book is thoroughly readable. Solar System Observer’s Guide begins with a basic introduction to our solar system and how the human

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My First Copy of Astronomy Now Magazine

Whilst in town this morning waiting for the bank to open, I wandered into WHSmith and looked at the astronomy magazines. There only seems to be two astronomy magazine choices either The Sky at Night or Astronomy Now. The Sky at Night is slightly more expensive as it comes with a CD/DVD disk on the

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Using an SLR Camera for Prime Focus Astronomy

Prime Focus is the name given when you take the lens off of the camera and insert it directly into the telescope. In order to do this you will require a number of extra astronomy adaptors. T-Ring The first one is the T-Ring which screws directly into the neck of the camera. Not an expensive

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Annual Perseid Meteor Shower Night

At the beginning of the evening of the 12th August, I thought we we’re going to have cloudy skies as at around 9pm the heavens opened and it was raining heavily, but at around 11pm when I looked out the sky was crystal clear. I managed to stay up until 00:30am and then I ventured

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Free BBC “The Cosmos” Posters

There are 2 free posters accompanying the BBC series called “The Cosmos”. They can be obtained by telephoning: 0870 900 0312 Calls do cost, so get the bill payers permission, but it took me only about 1.5mins to record my details. Or you can go to the Open University website: www.open2.net

The Cosmos: A Beginner’s Guide New BBC Series

Saw Adam Hart-Davis discussing his new series entitled The Cosmos on BBC Breakfast TV this morning, from the clips it looks really good and a definite must watch for us astronomers. The series spans five weeks. First Episode of The Cosmos – Tue 7 Aug, 7:30 pm – 8:00 pm Life in the Cosmos Are

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The Planetary System Book Review

The Planetary System ( ISBN 080538734X ) gives you a complete overview of the solar system. It gives you a great introduction to watching the sky together with the theory behind orbits, eclipses and the history of major researchers of astronomy.   Each chapter in turn in The Planetary System then discusses each planet in

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The Sky at Night (Robonet) August 2007

I am looking forward to the next “The Sky at Night” episode, which I am told by Windows Media Centre will be broadcast on the 4th August 2007 at 20:30 on BBC Four 1st Broadcast: Saturday 4th August 2007 at 20:30 on BBC4 2nd Broadcast: Monday 6th August 2007 at 01:10 on BBC1 3rd Broadcast:

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