What a bright night sky, due to the full moon, which was incredibly bright tonight. The brightness of the moon literally blinded me when looking through either the viewfinder or an eyepiece. The brightness also knocked out a lot of the night sky and a number of stars became invisible. This brought it’s own new
For a long time Philips web cams have been the defacto standard of web cams to use for CCD imaging of astronomy objects. Many people own or have used a Philips ToUcam web cam, the latest version of this is the Philips SPC900NC web cam. I originally already owned a Logitech Quickcam Pro4000 so I
I could not believe it another clear night. I decided to out a bit earlier tonight whilst it was still light and set up. The moon was out and a nice site in my garden. I decided to try and take some video of the moon using my Philips SPC900 to try and compare the
Astronomy for the utterly confused (ISBN 0071471588) reminds me of the dummies guide series, as the front cover is black and yellow, plus the content is similar to what you would expect in a dummies guide. The content of Astronomy for the utterly confused is very good and gives a very good overall coverage
The second clear night in a row – was this possible? Tonight (19th July 2007) I decided not to take out the telescope but just take out my new Canon 400D and my remote control and tripod. I had ideas of trying out the Bulb setting which everyone talks about and trying out some photography
At last after what seems forever there was a clear night on the 18th July. The only problem was that because it had been raining earlier in the day the dew level was amazing. The telescope was absolutely soaking, and I was more worried for my laptop and new Canon 400D – but I had
Adding the Adaptor to the Quickcam Pro 4000 meant you had to unscrew the webcam and take it apart first, but luckily the Philips SPC900 webcam is really easy to take apart and add your eyepiece adaptor to. Remove monitor clip The large plastic clip on the webcam can be removed, there is no screw
Star Ware (ISBN 0471750638) is now in its fourth edition, this is maybe because star ware instructs amateur astronomers on how to choose telescopes and accessories and how to use them, and the technology behind telescopes and accessories is always changing with new versions of telescopes and lenses being released all the time. Star Ware
Just a quick post to tell you all my Philips Webcam SPC900NC arrived today. It appears that all Pixmania products are shipped from France. Anyway I have managed to take the webccam apart and screw in the webcam adaptor, now I just need a cloud free night to give it a go and compare it
Skywatching (ISBN 0002200287) is an all rounder type of astronomy book which claims to be the Ultimate Guide to the Universe. This is the type of book a grandmother or aunt would buy you for your birthday or Christmas once they have learnt that you are interested in astronomy but this is not a bad