Astronomy Pages

Astronomy Pages

This page contains a series of links articles generally of a more advanced nature than those in the beginners section. Some of the articles may deal with mathematics and concepts aimed at degree level students.

Please be patient with us as these articles take a considerable time to produce, and will be added as and when they become available.

SVO Articles

Telescopes and their optical layout A brief description of the most common telescope designs along with diagrams of showing their optical layout. The article also looks at the relative merits and disadvantages of each design and hopefully dispels a few myths.

The great chimney experiment Five telescopes and a chimney. An attempt to demonstrate the effects of aperture and focal length when imaging.

The Tasco scope The Tasco telescope has had a rough ride in the astronomy press, mainly in the readers letters sections of the popular monthly's. But how much is really deserved?
Find out the true story, and how to get the best out of these and other small budget scopes.

The e-Bay scope If you spend any time browsing astronomy related message boards/forums you will quickly become aware of the appalling reputation that 'e-Bay  telescopes' have among the astronomical community.
But there are still some good deals to be found, this guide is intended to help you spot the lemons!

Scope reviews

A collection of reviews on the scopes we own and those that are just passing through the bargain section of AstroShop

The ETX range - A brief review of the entire ETX range, from the now discontinued ETX-60 through to the ETX-125. Click here

Phenix Optics Co 127mm (5")  f = 1200mm F/9.5 Achromatic Refractor - Our review and further information on this telescope can be found here

Phenix
 Optics Co
127mm (5") f = 700mm F/5.5 Rich Field Achromatic Refractor - A sample we retained from the first batch of these scopes received from China. Check out our review here

An independent review written and kindly sent to us by Duncan Church who has used this scope to produce some rather nice images can be found here

Orion Apex 102mm (4") f = 1300mm F/12.7 Maksutov-Cassegrain - For a scope that measures just under 300mm (12") in length it's a real performer. You can read our review on the Apex 102mm here

Coronado PST™ 40mm f = 400mm F/10  - The Coronado Personal Solar Telescope produces Hydrogen Alpha images allowing one to see the Sun's Chromosphere.  Our review can be found here

Little Mak™ Maksutov Gregorian 30mm F/5.1 - T
he smallest Maksutov design scope on the market. This tiny scope has it's own page here

76mm f = 600 F/7.9 Short tube Newtonian Hybrid - This scope performs well for a small grab and go budget instrument. Our review can be found here

Bushnell Trophy 9 x 63 Binoculars  - Although intended mainly for terrestrial use these binoculars also have a place as astronomical instruments. Our review can be found here
 

Space 4 Kids

Space 4 Kids This site is still under construction, but feel free to browse through the pages we have completed so far.

A couple of neat little Java applet's by Gary Nugent. Observers may find them useful and we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Moon phase - Displays the phase and other information about the moon in real time.
Click on the image below.

moonph.jpg (24112 bytes)

Jupiter Satellites - Shows the current position of the four main satellites in real time.
Click on the image below.

jupsat.jpg (9774 bytes)

Projects

An observing torch - A nice simple project to begin with, although some soldering is required. The project is designed for use as a red observing torch. But by changing the red led for another colour (including white) it could be used for other purposes.

Click on the link for details. Observing torch

A simple motor drive -
 
This is the circuit we used to track the August 1999 eclipse. The circuit was designed for use with a small 12V D.C. motor (RS part n.o. 718-975) in combination with a gearbox (RS part n.o. 336-264) and a simple gear arrangement, giving a total gear reduction of 74240:1 (including the worm gear). Provided the total gear ratio remains approximately the same the circuit could be adapted to suit almost any small D.C. motor/telescope arrangement.

Click on the link for details. Simple motor controller


If you have written an article that you would like us to include on our site then you can send it to us at admin@seeviewo.org

Please remember to include your name and a location e.g. Chris Uden, Kent, England. Then your article can be correctly credited to you.

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