Dark Skies are Fading

we moved it there, and moved it back.
The Tal-120 in our chalet on our dark skies trip.

We recently lugged out TAL 120 to a dark skies site for a week.

Guess what, it was pretty cloudy all week, and we didn't get any observing done. 

In the end, on the final evening, I just got out the binoculars for a casual glance about between the band's of cloud passing overhead. 

It was enough to demonstrate that the site had "Dark Skies" potential, subject to the weather.

But many of the World's folks do get dark skies, and it is expected to get worse. Here is a study on just that subject:
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/6/e1600377

Low-cost, high-value binoculars.

I have a set of cheap (as in 15 quid) 10x50 binoculars from Lidl. 

They are Bresser branded (Bresser is a subsiduary of Meade, whom are well known in astronomy) 

I've used them a few times for quick, casual viewing of the night sky.
10x is about as far as you want to go with hand held binoculars, otherwise the magnification makes it all a bit shaky when hand-held.

The Bresser binoculars actually have a tripod mounting in the front of the "hinge", but you'd have have to have a pretty tall tripod, or be sitting down, to use it.

Lidl currently have a pair of 8x60 binoculars for 25 quid that I would consider, but I don't really need 10x50 and 8x60 binoculars, given the amount of use they get (limited!).
 

Anyway, here is another review of the Lidl/Bresser 10x50 binoculars, and they are compared to a set of fancy "astronomical" binoculars too.
Well worth a read.

TAL -1 servicing and repair

http://www.astro-baby.com/TAL%20Telescope%20Rebuild/TAL%20Telescope%20Restoration.htm

The TAL-1 is basically the same as my TAL-120, and in the link above, a lady has stripped, serviced, repaired, and rebuilt one.

You want to know what a Russian telescope looks like, and how it is made - then just read her piece.

The comet that never quite made it.

Comet Ison was approaching fast.
I had three nights off work, with surely a decent chance of at least one clear view.
Time to dust off our Tal 120 'scope, and set it up in the back garden for some wonderful viewing with my daughter.

I get to last night (Friday 29th November, 2013), the first of my three "viewing" nights, and find

Telescopes and Summer Days

What to do with a telescope in the summer?

The nights are shorter, and the only decent time is in the "middle of the night".
Heading towards the "Longest Day", the time for decent observation is getting shorter and shorter.
The Sun spoils the view of the Moon and the stars.

Digiscoping with a TAL-120 telescope (part 1)

A small panasonic compact camera attached to a digiscoping bracket,
which is mounted on a TAL-120 telescope

.

"Digiscoping" is usually taken to mean

The new 'scope arrives ...

  The new telescope arrived as scheduled on the Monday.
Unboxing shots:

In the shipping box, after I have removed the "pier" stand.

The various "bits and bobs" included with the TAL-120 telescope.
The "adapter" is really a short T-mount extension ring, and would be used with SLRs with a relatively short flange-to-focal-plane distance. Not used with my Sony dSLR, but could be useful if you have a Canon or suchlike.
The "Cross-hairs Reticle" screws into one of the eyepieces and is used during setting up for aligning the main telescope tube with the smaller finderscope (which has its own built-in reticle).
The "Barrel"