Nik Szymanek on Astrophotography – Lecture Monday 12th November

Lecture Photographing the Night Sky with Nik Szymanek on Mon 12 Nov

We are very pleased that well-known astrophotographer Nik Szymanek, will be giving us a talk on Monday 12th November at 8pm in the Cranbrook School Lecture Theatre.

Nik Szymanek

Nik Szymanek

The title of Nik’s talk is ‘Photographing the Night Sky’ and covers the use of modern equipment to photograph the deep sky.

The talk is suitable for all levels and features basic camera-on-tripod sky photography, film, DSLRs and more-complex methods of colour CCD imaging.

It features many pictures taken in exotic locations like La Palma and Hawaii and at the end is a short film showing what it’s like to visit professional observatories.

As usual, Members/Under 16s – free, others £2 on the door please.

The Electron – A Centenary, Lecture 15th October 8pm

next meeting 15Oct2012-TheElectronACentenary

Please join us in the Lecture Theatre on 15th October at 8pm for a lecture by Humphry Evatt.

His talk  is titled “The Electron, A Centenary”

Here is a taster..

“It is about 100 years since Robert Millikan measured the charge of the electron, e and proved (very controversially at the time) the unique and discrete nature of the electronic charge. His experimental technique was a work of genius and had many important ramifications in a historical and modern context in physics, chemistry, atomic theory and of course electronics. For example, it enabled Avogadro”s Number (used every day by chemists) to be measured for the first time, demonstrated and used the theory of Brownian motion, as theorised by Einstein.

Millikan was a fascinating man. He bicycled from Paris to Berlin to see the lecture when Roentgen demonstrated X rays, for example, and knew Einstein, Michelson and other famous people of the period well.”

Free for members and under 16s.  Others £2 on the door.

Image of M31 and M110

M31 and M110 in Andromeda

One of our members, Graham Caller, captured this image showing m31 and M110 in Andromeda.

He describes it.. “Andromeda stacked shot taken last Friday. I’ve had to really eek out the detail but you can see the disk of Andromeda and M110 faintly.

Details were:
25 x 10s exposure
f1.8
ISO 1600
50mm focal length
RAW format stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and post processed in Photoshop

Equinox Skywatch – Friday 21st September at 7.45pm

Equinox Skywatch 21st September 2012 at 7.45pm

Join us at the Cranbrook Observatory on Friday 21st September at 7.45pm for a guide to the Autumn night sky, on the day of the equinox.

This will be outdoor observing (if clear), so bring appropriate clothing. If the weather is poor, we will move inside the Observatory for computer-based presentation.

DOWNLOAD: Equinox Skywatch meeting script. Do use the guide yourself.. Equinox Skywatch Guide

Stepper Motor Drive For Declination Axis – Successful Test Flight!

Declination Axis Stepper Motor Drive Test

Declination Axis Stepper Motor Drive Test

Today we tested the newly developed mechanism for the Alan Young telescope’s declination axis drive. It is powered by a stepper motor, controlled by an Arduino microprocessor and EasyDriver board.

We have fabricated a system of three belts and pulleys to give a reduction ratio of 398:1.  This means the stepper motor running at a practical maximum speed of 30 rpm, produces a slew rate of around 0.5 degrees per second.

The motor is controlled by software running on the Arduino and so its rotation speed can be easily slowed to give a lower slew rate, as we did today.

When testing it today for the first time, it worked well and easily moved the telescope tube smoothly up and down. It also locked the tube in position once stopped, because of course, the stepper motor remains powered up, even when not moving.

It was a fun and promising test.  We now need to complete the fly-off, main belt tensioning mechanism and refine the software-based control system.