biscuit news

  • My new favourite mount: ZWO AM5

    My new favourite mount: ZWO AM5

    My New Favourite mount: ZWO AM5 The best astrophotography mount on the market: powerful, portable and accurate.  And I’m not saying this due to some sponsorship deal – I don’t even own an AM5. My mate Andrew Abbott lent me his for my astro trip to the Canary Islands. ZWO AM5 is $2k in the…

  • What can you see through a $10k Telescope vid drops tomorrow (sat) at far too early AM!

    What can you see through a $10k Telescope vid drops tomorrow (sat) at far too early AM!

    The video is basically me looking through a giant C14 HD edge telescope

  • Orion in Iron (and other weird narrowband filters)

    Orion in Iron (and other weird narrowband filters)

    I’ve been experimenting with unusual narrowband filters. In this pic BLUE= iron and methylide emission lines (aka the G band) , Green = Mg and Orange= Sodium. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it turns out to be most  interesting. A bit like an onion there seems to be layers. The green magnesium hangs…

  • Naked Astrophotography

    Naked Astrophotography

    This is not a new clique of naturist astrophotographers who enjoy parading around star parties in their birthday suit. Not that I am against taking your kit off for a good cause such as performing the ancient Hopi Indian rain dance backwards around your telescope to ward off the clouds. This is more about having…

  • OOOPS I got a C14😲

    OOOPS I got a C14😲

    The Celestron 14″ Edge HD Optical Tube costs £9k – GULP! My suggestion of donating a few of the kid’s less important organs to pay for a C14 fell on deaf ears so rather than buying one, I’m hiring one for a few months. On Monday I picked up a C14 from Alex Gill’s farm…

  • We bagged RIPPLES IN SPACE!

    We bagged RIPPLES IN SPACE!

    This is a 5 month timelapse of Hubble’s variable nebula. Pretty astonishing innit! And a testament to the power of us AMATEURs when we band together. Well done BAT members. This makes me very proud. The video squeezes 5 months of the nebula’s life into a few seconds. Those ripples are moving at the speed…

  • Storm Barra Fells My Scopes!

    Storm Barra Fells My Scopes!

    Midnight Monday; after a brief spell of extreme astrophotography between the clouds at my folks place in Devon, I covered up my scopes and headed for bed. . Next morning I awoke to carnage. The storm had pushed both my travel rigs over, the impact dented my tak fs60, broke one of the tripods and…