OBSERVING EQUIPMENT
Here is the equipment I use when observing. It is pretty basic as I am not an astrophotographer and I much prefer to use my eyes than a computer screen to look at the cosmos.
Binoculars:
I use a pair of 8x42 binoculars which are brilliant for scanning the Milky Way. I am currently using them to see how many of the 110 Messier objects are visible with them and it is quite surprising how much can actually be seen with them. The ones I use are made by Leica and are the best binoculars I have ever used, bar none, providing clear, bright, sharp images. They are so well-balanced that I find them easy to use unsupported - I can use them for some minutes without the image dancing around.
Telescopes:
- 12-inch (30cm) f/5 Dobsonian.
- Second hand 4-inch refractor on a driven equatorial mount.
- 4-inch f/10 Meade SCT for travelling
4 inch
12-inch
Eyepieces:
- 40mm TeleVue Plossl
- 35mm TeleVue Panoptic
- 25mm TeleVue Plossl
- 15mm TeleVue Plossl
- 11mm TeleVue Plossl
- 8mm TeleVue Radian
- 5mm TeleVue Radian
- 4.8mm TeleVue Nagler
- 3mm TeleVue Radian
- 2.5x TeleVue Powermate
Finders:
- Telrad 1x finder (on 12 inch)
- 10x50 finder (on 12 inch)
- Red-dot finder on small scope
Filters:
- Lumicon OIII, UHC and H-Beta filters acquired second hand.
Atlases and books, etc:
- Cambridge Star Atlas 2000.0
- Sky Atlas 2000.0
- Sky and Telecope's Pocket Sky Atlas (small-scale version of Sky Atlas 2000.0 - perfect for travelling with)
- Uranometria 2000.0 Volumes 1 and 2
- Night Sky Observer's Guide, Volumes 1 and 2 by Kepple and Sanner
- Webb Society Deep Sky Observers' Handbooks Volumes 2-7 (2: Planetary and Gaseous Nebulae; 3: Open and Globular Clusters; 4: Galaxies; 5: Clusters of Galaxies; 6; Anonymous Galaxies; 7: The Southern Sky)
- Saguaro Astronomy Club's database
I don't do imaging, apart from wide field constellation shots, so here's my sketching equipment:
- Sketchbook; pencils - HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 6B; black drawing pen, eraser, eraser shield, blending stick
Miscellaneous:
- A large plastic box to keep and transport all my observing items (except scope) in. I can put my charts, books, binoculars, sketchbooks, drawing stuff, etc, into this and carry it into the garden and it will sit next to the scope and doubles as a table (it has a hinged lid) for charts and sketchbooks, etc. You can buy similar boxes in hardware stores. FYI UK astronomers, I got mine in B&Q for just over £7.
- My eyepieces and filters live in a foam-lined aluminium case, the same sort as photographers often use - I cut the foam to fit the eyepieces and this keeps them safe and prevents them from rolling round and bashing into each other. There is plenty of room for more eyepieces, etc, as necessary.
- Nikon D80 Digital SLR with 18-250mm lens for wideangle astrophotography and also to photograph the sketches for this site.
- Sky Watcher LED Night Vision torch which can be switched between red and white light and the strength of which can be adjusted.
- HP Pavilion dv4450 laptop with 1GB RAM and 100GB HDD for processing digital photos and creating and maintaining my websites.