Star gazing

There are 88 Constellations/Zodiacs altogether. In the Northern Hemisphere we can see..

In the Polar regions..

Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Draco, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor.

Spring Constellations are...

Bootes, Cancer, Crater, Hydra, Leo, Virgo.

Summer Constellations.........

Aquila, Cygnus, Hercules, Lyra, Ophiuchus, Sagittarius, Scorpius.

They're some of the major Stars I can see in the skies at the moment

It's not rare for me, on a good imaging night, to head for bed around 3.30 am.

 

Do you mean Astrology symbols such as.........

 

Or Astronomy symbols...............










I have some Astronomer friends who get apoplectic when Astrology gets mixed with Astronomy!!

 

Due to the adverse weather I spent the afternoon


taking apart the Skywatcher ST 80 refractor which I will use as a Guide scope for making sure that the main scope will stay exactly on track with a star when used with a Guide camera. I bought it, second hand without the small scope attached to it, [it's useless for my purposes], some months ago but have only just got around to checking it out. The whole thing will strip down to the main hollow body, the front cell holding the two large glass elements, the Dew Shield [the bit with the name "Sky-Watcher" on it, the rear cell which houses the focuser. The screws were put into a magnetic dish [as I always lose at least one]. The two glass elements were carefully taken out of the front cell and definitely needed cleaning with marks on the inside of both of them. So I cleaned the two glass elements, and put them. back in the right order, into the front cell. Then I put inside, [stuck] the body of the scope a matt black material called "Flock" which stops light reflecting inside the scope, took the focuser rack and pinion gears apart, cleaned them and repacked with with Lithium Grease to make focusing smoother. Then it was a case of putting everything back, hopefully in the right way, putting the screws in without losing them, and finally painting the inside of the Dew Shield with Blackboard paint which, again, stops light reflecting. If it doesn't work properly now it will get slung over the fence!!

 

Explain a bit more, Gail. Do you mean Astrologically or in the Astronomy sense. Astrology usually relates peoples personalities to the Signs, forecasting their future, etc. The origin is from the Ancient Greeks and represents the Greek Myth of the Nemean Lion killed by Hercules which was one of his twelve labours"

 

Ah, just read that post, Gail. The answer is that I haven't taken any images of the Leo Constellation as yet. I won't get a chance to do that until April when it first appears in the Northern Hemisphere.