Photo by Paul, G1GSN

In this first talk to the club about his interests in astronomy, Steve described the fundamental methods and techniques for navigating and observing the night’s sky. Included were recommendations for making the right decision on equipment to aid observation. Steve pointed out what can be observed with such equipment, including the sun, moon, planets, nebulae and deep sky objects. He also touched on astral photography

The first of two telescopes displayed was a Russian built Tal1 110mm (4.5″) f/7.3 Newtonian Reflector Telescope, with a German Equatorial Mount and Slow Motion Controls, and the second was a Skywatcher EXPLORER-130P SynScan™ AZ with a ‘GOTO’ mount 130mm (5.1″) f/650 Computerised parabolic Newtonian Reflector.