Remember the Countryside Code

Tuning our astronomical telescopes and bird watching binoculars for migrations and celestial events like Norfolk’s Keeling Heath Star Camp, there’s no time like the present to brush up on a few countryside etiquette basics.

Take All Rubbish Home
We all share the responsibility to take good care of the countryside around us. Rubbish is a big, BIG problem in many of the UK’s much-loved nature reserves simply because of the massive number of seasonal visitors. Think of it this way – you drop a chewing gum wrapper… but so do the other five hundred people visiting the park that day. Within a week there are thousands tiny bits of debris littering the park. Most nature reserves provide bins, but it makes their job a little easier when visitors take their waste home. This also applies to biodegradable waste like partially eaten burgers and orange peel; ecosystems are fragile, and the introduction of any foreign substances can cause damage, as well as interrupting any scientific work being carried out on the area, as is often the case in most of the UK’s nature reserves.

Good Manners
Keeping dogs under control (including picking up their waste as you would on an urban street), leaving gates as you find them (this could mean leaving them open too), not kicking a few dry stone wall stones down to give your astronomical telescopes or bird watching binoculars a better rest etc. – it’s essential that we all do our best to maintain the lush greenery of the UK.

Get Ready for Autumn Astronomy in Norfolk

Always on the lookout for great opportunities to try out the latest in astronomical telescopes, we’re all looking forward to the 2011 calendar of celestial events across the UK!

Organised annually by Loughton Astronomical Society and Kelling Heath site management, the 2011 Autumn Equinox Sky Camp – held on Kelling Heath, Norfolk – looks set to be one of the brightest and biggest group astronomical viewing events in the 2011 UK calendar. The main event runs over the weekend of 24th-25th Septemer 2011, with extending camp options covering the 19th-30th September 2011.

Astronomical telescopes aside, the party is a great place for hundreds of like-minded astronomers of all abilities to get together and trade celestial tips and astronomically useful star gazing guidance. Children are welcome, as are groups.

The evening/night of 24th September is considered the main event, but there are plenty of lectures and discussion groups to get everyone through daylight hours too! Non-camping entry is free, but those wishing to drive home should be aware that car movement is stringently restricted once darkness falls.

Special Sky Party camping areas are set aside at a reduced rate for groups or individuals wishing to stay the night (or a few!) Lighting regulations are strict, so, as past Sky Camp attendees, we’d have to say that night vision optics can be invaluable for everything from finding dropped keys to adjusting the sight of your telescope!

If the Sky Party sounds like your cup of celestial tea, we’ll see you there with our night vision gadgets and top of the range telescopes!

Don’t Forget to Watch the Perseids Meteor Shower in August 2011

Always on hand to offer our little bit of wisdom when it comes to telescopes, star charts and such, we thought you might need reminding of the Perseids meteor shower, one of the summer’s most prominent and consistently stunning celestial events.

The Perseids garners its name due to the perceived origin of the shower (called the “radiant”), the constellation Perseus. The Perseids enjoy the venerable parentage of the Swift-Tuttle comet. The amazing Perseids meteor cloud consists of detritus ejected by Swift-Tuttle as it passes close to the sun.

An interesting side note of the Swift-Tuttle comet; upon its rediscovery in 1992 it was feared the comet would likely strike the earth or moon. However, upon further calculations this appeared not to be the case. Swift-Tuttle will next be highly visible to the naked eye in 2126.

The 2011 Perseids show is estimated to last from the 17th July – 24th August, peaking on 13th August. The long viewing life of the shower makes it the ideal practice ground for pushing astronomical telescopes to show off the best celestial marvels the night sky has to offer. In the UK we can expect a peak of around seventy meteors per hour. One of the great things about

Parseids is that you don’t necessarily need even one of our beginner astronomical telescopes to see its brilliance.

For more information on telescopes and stargazing tips, take a look at the comprehensive guides in our “Books & Maps” area.

Best Telescopes for Beginners

Like cameras and all truly fantastic devices, it can be tough to pinpoint exactly which options are best for your beginner use requirements. So, if you’d like a little help on what, why and how much to pay, read on!

What Use?
Most of our customers are after astronomical telescopes for varying degrees of use. Some are professionals looking to expand their viewing pleasure at home, whist many are enthusiastic novices wanting budget friendly telescopes that do the job but don’t break the bank. When shopping for astronomical telescopes it’s always worth remembering that what you see through the lens of a budget range refractor telescope won’t be a reproduction of the celestial photographs you see in textbooks etc. That said, a cheap (£200 range) compact telescope, when properly used, can produce absolutely splendid results.

Magnification is often a concern of the novice astronomer. What if it’s not enough?! The simple fact is that lower budget telescopes tend to come around the 32x magnification mark, which is perfectly adequate to see the craters of the moon, Saturn’s rings and even the Orion nebula. They may be small, but a good beginner telescope will produce crisp, clear images.

What Budget?
Since they’re highly tuned and tend to last a lifetime, telescopes don’t come cheap. The usual price for good quality beginner scopes ranges between £200-500 approximately. Telescopes don’t lose their value rapidly, so you should always be able to sell on a well maintained second hand device when you’re ready to upgrade.

Astronomy for Kids

If you’re looking for a hobby to occupy your little monster this summer, why not consider star gazing and visual space exploration? Our range of astronomical telescopes includes some brilliant beginner models to set the imaginations of little stargazers flying at the speed of light!

Books and Guides
We currently offer a great astronomy introduction guide called “Stargazing for Beginners” The book is full of tips, facts, charts and techniques to help the novice astronomer get the most out of their equipment and the night sky.

Equipment
Astronomical telescopes are essential if you want to get the most out of viewing time. Telescopes are steady and designed specifically for the purpose of viewing celestial objects. Binoculars, even high end models, are rarely a patch on even the cheapest telescopes. A good quality telescope, when properly cared for, can last a lifetime.

A Little Real World Help
Days out to the stars may be off the table, but a visit to somewhere like Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre can be of astronomical (get it!) benefit to budding young stargazers and celestial enthusiasts. Kids love to see things in real life, and the working team at Jodrell Bank are always on hand to demonstrate techniques and show just how far the speed of light can take your little one’s enthusiasm!

Get Online
NASA, the BBC and such organisations offer brilliant online resources to aid in all things astronomical. You could also look to open source (free) software like Stellarium to install excellent 3D planetarium tools on your computer.

Summer Astronomy Tips for the Novice Stargazer

On balmy nights as the hazy sun goes down, the urge to wander outside and indulge in a little stargazing could happen upon you. The great thing about summer is the weather (clear skies make for ideal viewing conditions), but one of the frustrations for stargazers is the shorter night. It’s particularly very young astronomy enthusiasts who suffer, as bed time tends to be just before it gets dark!

Equipment and Clothing
Even the warmest summer night can get chilly once the sun’s gone down (or rather, once the earth’s turned away from it!) so be sure to keep some warm clothes (including shoes and socks) on hand and a couple of blankets.

Astronomical telescopes are designed for celestial viewing. Binoculars, no matter how great, tend to be a little shaky (very frustrating!) and not really suited to this kind of observation. Best to leave the binoculars at home for twitching! Our range of astronomical telescopes covers beginners right through to professional/advanced enthusiasts.

Light Pollution
Although light pollution happens throughout the year, the warm summer is the ideal time to really push the boundary and travel to somewhere remote for your celestial observation. Consider Dark Parks like Galloway Forest Park and Exmoor.

Celestial Mapping
A reliable star guide is essential. A good book will usually provide hints and tips as to how to find your bearings in the changing seasonal sky. It could be worth downloading an application onto your smartphone too!

The Law of the Stars and Telescopes

Whether you are new to astronomy or a long time enthusiast, using telescopes to search the skies is a fascinating and at times exciting experience. The word astronomy means ‘law of the stars’ and we have our forefathers in ancient times to thank for plotting out the early maps of the skies.

Of course, these people did not have anything more than the naked eye to chart the stars, but the early work they did without the aid of telescopes was later picked up by astronomers who did have the means to see the stars and planets in more detail. If you are new to astronomy and you want to familiarise yourself with the constellations, using a star map is one of the best ways to do this.

Once you have an idea of what you are looking for and it‘s location in the sky,  a good pair of binoculars will allow you to see our neighbours in the solar system. If possible, try and find a spot which is free from street lighting and other illuminations as this will allow you to see the stars without it being tainted by light pollution.

Many astronomical societies who are based in towns and cities will often travel out to isolated rural areas in order to make the most of the inky blackness of the skies above, and if you have never had the experience of looking through binoculars or a telescope in this environment, you really will notice the difference when you try it.