Stars / Astronomy / Astrophotography / Telescopes / Astro

The mount is typically independent of the tripod, so a new tripod should do the trick. Possibly available on eBay?

That's good news, I haven't used it in years... The last place we lived in London didn't have a view of the sky then when I unpacked the tripod in Oz it had snapped!

Annoying... Also too bulky and fragile to carry around, wish I'd got a refractor or a pair of good binoculars instead...

Well you have to start somewhere, all the advice I read touted binoculars hard. I ignored it and went on for heavyweight when binoculars would have been a better fit. Over a decade I've got to the point where a heavy tripod and large scope are now a better option.

On the flip-side, I went for binoculars first (can't remember if they're 10x70 or 10x50) followed by the 130mm flextube Dobsonian and honestly I'd recommend foregoing the binoculars. I was able to pop the scope in a backpack and the mount on a pannier and cycle up to Crystal Palace with relatively little hassle.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/21/how-to-see-jupiter-and-saturns-great-conjunction

jupiter / saturn conjuction happening at 1700hrs today.. look towards south western direction away from the moon just below the Capricorn constellation. Ideally from a high point, as this event will be short lived dropping below the horizon in no time. Just look for the brightest object in the sky, brighter than Venus obvs.

Not sure we will get a break in the clouds though.

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Not sure we will get a break in the clouds though.

Crap photo three days after the event. Thanks clouds.

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Great!

Taking a photo with Saturn's clearly rings visible is anything but crap.

Having read that the conjunction would appear as one bright star, from that image it would seem Saturn's contribution is pretty negligible. Was it really that much brighter than just Jupiter alone?

Saturn is not only much smaller than Jupiter but also many millions of miles further away, so you’re right, it doesn’t really compare. Saturn was only just visible to the naked eye in the twilight, whereas Jupiter was quite easy to spot.

I took this photo on the 17th, I missed them at their closest but when I saw photos of it online it wasn't much more of a spectacle anyway... Which made me feel a bit better, it was pissing down and cloudy AF on the big night...

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Nice one joe. I missed the moon joining the party.

Our local observatory on its own little planet

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Bright thing in sky, any ideas?

Today on the Norfolk-Suffolk border I saw a very bright meteor-looking thing, 3:40pm, heading roughly north and low in the sky to the WNW, just on sunset. Sky perfectly clear.

It left a very long white trail and broke up into 2 or 3 fragments. Easily the most spectacular meteor/satellite thing I’ve ever seen. Appeared to be travelling quite ‘slowly’ as meteor things go. Was visible for perhaps 2-3 seconds.

I can’t see any meteor showers advertised and the Ursids a couple of days ago were emanating from the north.

It was very reminiscent of those films of the shuttle breaking up.

I don’t suppose anyone saw anything similar ? Or has heard of anything?

sssssssssssssssssssssss

T H E Y * A R E * H E R E

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Sorry, I obviously have no idea what it was. :)

It would've been a fireball. Other reports of it here - https://twitter.com/UKMeteorNetwork/status/1342535048059359235

You can check for sattelite and booster re entries on heaven's above.com I think.

Ah well, it's obviously just the Second Coming, then.

I've seen a couple of shooting stars/meteors (I guess) the last few days - I'm in the south of France, light pollution is low (although still present).

The sky is otherwise beautiful.

I caught the, ahem, tail end of one last week while we were moonlight walking along the beach... My other half caught the whole thing, she was so hyped about it... I was a teensy bit green with envy!!

Those Twitter reports would coincide in time and place with what I saw ...

@UKMeteorNetwork
My daughter and I saw a green one over Cambridge at 3:45pm Christmas Day 😁

Replying to @UKMeteorNetwork
We saw it over bury st Edmunds at 3.46pm

I didn't check the time, I only know that I was rather chuffed to have predicted sunset at 3:40 to my son and we saw it go down right on time, and it was just after that.

Definitely rather special. Maybe Oliver's suggestion is right?

https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/meteor-shower/quadrantids.html

check here for meteor activity, see if this aligns with what you have seen or perhaps alien invasion.. to be honest nothing surprises me anymore..

Our local disused observatory yesterday

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https://youtu.be/Na-aBhc_gTY