Scratch any amateur astrophotographer and underneath you’ll find a person sitting anxiously, waiting for the nights to close in and the nebula-rich skies to rise high above the horizon. Yesterday was the autumnal equinox. It’s now getting dark at roughly 8pm and staying that way until around 5am. That’s a solid 9–10 hours of darkness, and it’s only going to get longer! So while the shelves in the shops are already being filled with Christmas goods (WAY too early), astrophotog

Smart Scopes – I Just Feel They Are a Cheat First of all, I want to make the best counterargument for this. I have never used, nor do I have any inclination to buy, use or even test a smart scope. And that lack of experience is probably the biggest weakness in my argument! I once watched an episode of Astrobiscuit (one of my favourite astro YouTubers – I highly recommend him!), and Rory once referred to it as the “Anti-Biscuit”. And I must say, my feelings on this are mirrore

Well that was a waste of time So on the hottest week of the year, the famalam and I went on a staycation to Scarborough and then away to the folks in the North East for the week. I had a gander at the old MET Office for the weather during the eclipse and lo and behold, 3 clear nights over the week! Now at this point I should explain that my parents live in a Bortle 4 zone and are very close to a UK dark site in the North Yorkshire Moors and sit about 100m higher in elevation