MAS useful links page
Please note - 'links' are frequently 'broken' when web sites update, rename or move their pages. Whilst we do check those below at regular intervals, if you find a 'broken link' below, please let us know (email subject "MAS Links page - broken link"). Even better, please help us by suggesting a new (or replacement) link !
General Information :
An Atlas of the Universe - From 12 Light Years (LY) to 14 billion LY. You must look at this !
Apollo Landing Sites - The Lunar and Planetary Institute
Astronomy Now - Magazine site for subscriptions
BBC Science and Nature - SPACE...
Cloudy Nights Telescopes Reviews - A good review site
English Telescope Makers - An interesting summary.
Heavens Above - Excellent site for observing satellites and astronomical objects
UK (London) Sunrise and Sunset times - plus all things time related (eg eclipses)
NASA Eclipse home page - For planning you next eclipse trip
QCUIAG - Quick Cam and unconventional imaging group
SEDS Messier database - Index of all the Messier objects with images and data
SOHO - The NASA homepage of the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory
Spaceweather.com - An excellent site worth checking out
Other local societies :
Herschel Astronomical Society. Address: Marten Building, Common Lane. Eton College
Phone: David 01753 526017
Bracknell Astronomical Club. Address: The Weather Vane (Public House), Bracknell Arlington Square, Wokingham Road
email contact
Aylesbury Astronomical Society. Address: The Scout House. Oakfield Road, Aylesbury
email contact
Basingstoke Astronomical Society. Address: Cliddesden Primary School, Cliddesden, Basingstoke
email contact
Phone: John Stapleton01420 568130
Newbury Astronomical Society. Address: West Berks Mencap Centre, Enbourne Gate, Enbourne Road Newbury
email contact
Reading Astronomical Society. Address: St Peter's Church Hall, Earley, Reading
email contact (club secretary)
Wycombe Astronomical Society. Address: Woodrow High House. Cherry Lane, Woodrow, Amersham
email contact
Equipment :
ATTENTION: Do your own checks before parting with any money (or your Credit Card / Bank details ) to some 'anonymous' stranger offering kit on auction sites such as Craig's List etc. !
The web is full of scammers and con-merchants and (unfortunately) telescopes and other kit can command some 'astronomical' prices, making it well worth the criminals time and effort to "part you from your money"
Astro specific non-auction second-user (eBay is recommended for auctioned kit, Amazon for new kit).
Astro Buy Sell - Established UK Second user equipment site
AstroMart Classifieds - US listing, get an account to login.
Astro buy and sell - a very new 'classified ads' site, with little kit for sale (as yet) mainly in the Kent area
Custom Manufactures.
Alexanders Observatories - Supplier of roll-off observatories
Astroparts - manufacturer of adapters, threads, rings, counterweights etc
David Lukehust - Telescope Maker e.g. Dobsonian
Orion Optics - Low to mid range telescopes based in Crewe
Starlight Xpress - CCD cameras
General Suppliers.
Ace Astronomical - Cameras, binoculars and telescopes
Altairastro - SkyShed Pod Observatories, Kendrick and more.
Astronomik - CCD and visual filters.
Astronomiser - Connectors, cable and CCD cameras
(BC&F)AstroEngineering - All sorts of parts. See also Telescope House
Coronado (OPT) - Solar filters and solar telescopes
David Hinds - Main Celestron dealer at Tring in Herts.
Evergreen Optics - Konus dealer
Green Witch - Telescopes, binoculars, courses.
Ian King Imaging - On-line shop for astro imaging equipment and courses
Losmandy Mounts - from Venturescopes.
MC2 Telescope Shop - Dealer in Frome, telescopes, binoculars, accessories etc
Meade - The dealer finder page for Meade UK
Modern Astronomy - Telescopes, mounts and accessories, video.
Opticstar - FLI, SAC Yankee Robotics CCDs
Oldham Optical UK - Mirrors and optical components.
Orion Optics - Low to mid range telescopes based in Crewe
OVL Optical Vision Ltd - Importers web site for Sky Watcher, TAL, Intes etc.
Phil Dyer Astrophoto - Telescopes, cameras and video
Pulsar Optical- Domes and more
QHYccd cameras - UK supplier is Modern Astronomy.
Rother Valley Optics - Telescopes, binoculars, accessories and more
Scopes'n'Skies - Antares telescopes and eyepieces, night vision.
SCS Astro - On-line store of major brands
South West Optics - On-line store of binoculars, telescopes etc
Starlight Xpress - CCD cameras
Strathspey - Supplier of binoculars
Telescope Service - motorised focuser, mounting plates, accessories
True Technology Ltd - Interesting astro items and technical information
Venturescope - Telescope dealer based in Hampshire
Widescreen Center - Telescopes-direct have a range of products
Astro-images and Image processing :
Astrophotogallery.org A growing image collection - varied equipment
Canon EOS 350-D reviewed
Canon by M.Covington - Useful starters page to DSLR imaging
Dave's Astro - Tutorial for Deep Sky Image Processing
LRGB imaging - By Robert Gendler in S&T 2001
Photo Shop Tutorial - Rick's astropics blogspot archive
Photo Shop Tutorial - Waid Observatory articles
Searching for objects :
Digital Sky Survey - Download areas of the sky
Minor planet and NEO ephemerides from Harvard
Distances to 1200 galaxies and links to the NASA Extragalactic Database (NED)
NASA Extragalactic Database Data on galaxies
Things to view RA-Dec lists from a US Astronomy club
Setting up and observing in practice :
Autoguiding and tracking - Helpful introduction
Astronomical Filter Transmission Curves - a comparison
O-III filters compared - transmission line spectra.
Collimation, Basics - Sky & scope - How to collimate a Newtonian by Nils O Carlin
Collimation, A Treatise - Features the CatsEye collimator by Scott McCluney
Collimation, AndyShotglass - Good explanation with movie (best with Broadband)
Collimation, Barlowed laser - A useful method for Newtonians (pdf)
Collimation, Laser collimation - Howie Glatters Page
Collimation, Myths - A collection of misunderstanding's
Collimation, Schmidt-Newtonian - Diagram of a home made collimation tool
Collimation, The - An overview with diagrams
Telescope Optics - a nice summary with useful diagrams.
Using robotic telescopes :
Faulkes Telescope project - Two instruments (Hawaii and Australia). These are "real-time" 2m class instruments for use by Schools and collaborating Astronomical Societies. Images can be obtained during school hours (daylight) while the telescopes are in darkness. The archive of images can be searched without logging-on. To request an account, certain criteria need to be met. Service is not charged (see Faulkes Education Resources).
SSON - Sierrastars - Three instruments in the US. 37, 61 and 81cm Cassegrain. These are pay to use. $50 will buy about 60min of exposure time (Credits). Details here http://www.sierrastars.com/gp/SSONPricing.aspx
Note: The British Astronomical Association has preferential rates if you are a member and involved in an observing project. Details here http://www.britastro.org/robotscope/
Liverpool Telescope - The National Schools Telescope is a 2m instrument on La Palma, for schools use, however it is also used by researchers at the Liverpool John Moore University - more info here http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/.
Bradford Robotic Telescope - Run by University of Bradford, is located on Mt Teide, Tenerife at 2,400m. Was free, now makes a small charge (£3 a month)
Tenerife Observatory - There are three cameras on one Paramount ME- Constellation (40d), Cluster (4d) and Galaxy (24' arc). Submitted jobs are queued for acquisition, and you are emailed when its completed and ready for download. More information here
http://events.slooh.com/ - Telescopes on Mt Teide and in Chile - subscriptions available for
3 months upward. Details here: https://www.slooh.com/create_your_account.php
Las Cumbres Observatory - A network of telescopes for professional research and citizen science, which includes the Faulkes Telescope North, South, and the Liverpool Telescope - and others. See the >educational resources pages.
Software for astronomy :
Astronomy Software Links - another List of Free software.
Midnightkite - a long list of software, free and commercial
ASCOM-standards - Interface for telescope control.
AstroArt - MSB software for image processing and CCD control (commercial)
Bitmap-2-Avi - bmp2avi conversion utility
Cartes du Ciel - 'Sky Map' CDC Celestial atlas
CCD calculator - Wadaski's on-line software from Adirondack
EQMOD documentation project - for EQ6 mount users opting for direct (EQDIR) control from the PC, and not the Hand Controller. More info from the Yahoo! group.
GuideDog - Auto guiding software from barkosoftware
GuideStar LX200- Emulator for non LX200 mounts
K3CCD Tools - Now a mature product (commercial)
Nexstar Observers List - Observing aid with telescope control. Useful for non Celestron users also
PHD guiding - From Stark Labs, easy auto-guiding interface
Project Pluto - Guide (commercial)
Project Pluto Manual- HTML guide
RegiStax - Now version 6
SkyMap - Software and catalogues (commercial)
Software Bisque - The Sky and other products (commercial)
TUBA - Touring the Universe through Binoculars star Atlas - aimed specifically at binocular users (freeware)
Stellarium - Easy to use 'sky map' software for Windows 32/64, Mac, Linux 32/64, Ubuntu (Open Source)
Stellarium for Android phones - commercial version
Stellarium for iPhone
Stellarium for Symbian phones (Nokia N900)
Video and Web cameras :
WATEC 120N comparison - The ultimate low light cameras compared
StellaCam II images - Examples of what can be done with integrating video
Steve Chambers - Modified web cams for long exposure
DIY Philips Webcam mods - applicable to Philips SPC900NC
Star Party / Sky Camp and Astro. Holidays :
Spring Star Party (Kelling Heath, spring) - organised by Norwich Astronomical Society
Equinox Sky Camp (Kelling Heath, autumn) - The major event at Kelling Heath (near Weybourne Holt), Norfolk.
Kielder Forest (spring) - Northumberland, usually March
Kielder Forest (autumn) - Northumberland, end Oct/start Nov
Isle Of Wight Star Party - held at the Brighstone Holiday Centre.
Peak Star Party - near Chelmorton, Buxton (in the Peak District).
Starfest (autumn) - by Scarborough and Ryedale Astronomical Society, held in Adderstone Field, Dalby Forest.
CDEPA Portugal (Algarve)
COAA Portugal (Algarve)
Societies etc. near Maidenhead :
Aylesbury Astronomical Society
Basingstoke Astronomical Society
The Herschel Astronomical Society (meets in Eton)
Newbury Astronomical Society
Reading Astronomical Society
Wycombe Astronomical Society
Braywick Nature Centre (uses Javascript and Cookies). Where we hold most of our public events, MAS Star Gazing Live! etc.
Maidenhead Heritage Centre - the home of Maidenhead's Local History
Technical discussion groups :
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/astro_narrowband/ - Yahoo Narrow Band Imaging group
Radio Astronomy :
Listening to meteors - Automated meteor detection by radio
Jordanian Astronomical Society - Observing Meteors by FM Radio