Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society (MSAS) – Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society (MSAS) is a registered charity its objects being: "the advancement of education for the public benefit in astronomy and its associated sciences."
The Society is registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales as charity 064103 .
We were formed in 1978 and have been working to promote astronomy since then. If you would like to know more about how we began and how we have developed over the years, take a look at Our History.
Serving Mexborough, Swinton, Rawmarsh, Kilnhurst, Wath, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and beyond.
West Yorkshire Astronomical Society – This is the West Yorkshire Astronomical Society based at the Ross Observatory at Carleton Community Centre Near Pontefract.
Astronomy For Begginers – Welcome to Astronomy For Beginners! As I was getting into astronomy I found it difficult trawling through all the virtually infinite amount of information on the internet, so I've tried to bring together what I've managed to learn here. Information about what sort of equipment to buy, what to look for in a telescope, and where to point the thing once you've got it! Theres also other useful stuff about astronomy in general, and some handy links to other useful pages. If you're interested in astrophotography you can have a look at the pictures I've taken, upload your own, and learn how to do it in the astrophotography section. Have a look at the brand new telescope reviews section- if you've got a telescope, tell everyone what you think about it by submitting a review!
Peter Meadows Solar site – This is Peter Meadows site, he is one of the BAA's most experienced solar observers – lots of information on how to observe and locate the position and size of sunspots. Terrific website a brilliant on-line resource!
Sungazer.net – Greg Piepol's solar site. Terrific images and a superb resource section showing how the H-alpha filters work!
Brierly Hill Solar blog – This is an excellent web site of Mark Townley a very dedicated Solar Astronomer from the West Midlands area of the UK. Mark specialises in full disc shots in various wave lengths.
Jim Lafferty – This is Jim Lafferty's stunning solar site
Amun-Ra – This website is dedicated the our nearest star, the sun. Its main purpose is to share the results of Luca Valentini's hobby, which is imaging the sun in high resolution and in different wavelengths. Luca's images are awesome!
James Kevin Ty website – James observes from Manila in the Phillipines, here is his excellent site.
Harald Paleske – Here is Harald Paleskes website, he uses his 225mm unigraph to take the best stills ever produced by an amateur at focal lengths of 5 and sometimes 10m. Just astonishing and very inspirational!
Alexandras photos – Here is Alexandra's stunning solar photos on Flicker and taken from Cheshire in the UK
Gary Palmer the Sun in Motion – This is the excellent site of Gary Palmer a true pioneer of solar movie making techniques and a great inspiration to me
Larry Alvarez – This is Larry Alvarez web site, Larry's work on the Springer book Observing the Sun using Coronado Telescopes and his movies on the web inspired me into the more serious side of solar astronomy – Thanks Larry!
This is Robert Arnold's brilliant web site – Robert is a solar observer based in the Isle of Sky and he produces some extraordinary work from a very cloudy part of the UK
Mick Nicholes excellent solar site – Here is a new site by my long time good friend Mick Nichols in Sheffield, Mick has recently bought a 60mm Coronado solar Ha telescope
Spectroheliograph – Here is Spectral Joe's home made spectroheliograph – brilliant
Theo Bakalexi – Here is Theo Bakalexis excellent solar website
AZ BOUND 360 SUNSHINE – Here is Randy Shivak's excellent solar website from Arizona USA
Sun Gun – A telescope incorporating a back screen to safely view the Sun in white light, a stunning design.
Paul Haese – Check our Paul Haese's web site he has an unbelievable full disc solar image gallery
Rother Valley Optics – Equipment suppliers based near Sheffield South Yorkshire England. Excellent customer service very knowledgeable and forward thinking.
Harrison Telescopes – The UK Telescope & Binocular Specialists
Call 01932 703605 or Email and start stargazing
Celestron – SkyWatcher – Meade & Takahashi Astronomy Telescopes & Accessories at low prices from the leading UK specialist online Telescope Shop
Grovers Optics Shop – Here is a Real Store In A Real High Street – With Product In Stock & On Display 01609 898098. They are based at Grovers, 216 High Street, Northallerton, North Yorks
DL7 8LW.
SDO – Solar Dynamic Observatory – this is a stunning mission that became operational in March 2010
SOHO – This is the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory SOHO website this science mission has been delivering superb space based data since 1995.
STEREO – STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) is the third mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program (STP). The mission, launched in October 2006, has provided a unique and revolutionary view of the Sun-Earth System.
Swedish Solar Telescope – This is the 1m Swedish Solar Telescope (SST) on the island of La Palma, Spain, had first light with a stopped down 60 cm aperture on March 2, 2002. On May 21, the telescope was opened to full aperture and the adaptive optics system was switched on for the first time.
Big Bear Solar Observatory – The Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) is an astronomical telescopic observatory with main interests in studying the physics of the Sun. The instruments and telescopes of the observatory are designed and employed specifically for studying the activities and phenomena of our solar system's star. The observatory is also participating in an experiment in helioseismology with the use of a GONG telescope from the Global Oscillation Network Group. The BBSO has been operated by the New Jersey Institute of Technology since 1997.
Global Oscillations Network Group – The Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) is a community-based program to conduct a detailed study of solar internal structure and dynamics using helioseismology. In order to exploit this new technique, GONG has developed a six-station network of extremely sensitive, and stable velocity imagers located around the Earth to obtain nearly continuous observations of the Sun's "five-minute" oscillations, or pulsations
Solar Influence Data Centre – The Solar Influences Data Analysis Center (SIDC), which is the solar physics research department of the Royal Observatory of Belgium. The SIDC includes the World Data Center for the sunspot index and the ISES Regional Warning Center Brussels for space weather forecasting.
Large Solar Optical Telescopes – Here is a comprehensive list of large optical solar telescopes with links to their respective sites.
Mauna Loa Solar Observatory – Here is the excellent website of the Solar Observatory on the Island of Mauna Loa Hawaii
IRIS – Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph. Understanding the interface between the photosphere and corona remains a fundamental challenge in solar and heliospheric science. The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission opens a window of discovery into this crucial region by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromosphere and transition region into the corona using spectrometry and imaging.
SMART – The Solar Magnetic Activity Research Telescope (SMART) which was built in 2003, is a state-of-the-art instrument that combines high resolution H alpha full disk observations and vector magnetic field measurements. This allows them to investigate the development of magnetic activity and the mechanisms responsible for energy storage and release in the solar atmosphere.
JHelio viewer – JHelioviewer is visualization software for solar image data based on the JPEG 2000 compression standard. JPEG 2000 offers many useful new features and has the potential to revolutionize the way high-resolution image data are disseminated and analyzed. The JPEG 2000 Interactive Protocol (JPIP) enables serving data in a highly compressed, quality-progressive, region-of-interest-based stream. These features minimize the data volume transmitted while maximizing its usability. This is especially relevant for solar physics since NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has started providing more than a terabyte of image data per day.
Mount Wilson Sunspots – Here is an excellent article about Steve Padilla and Mount Wilson Sunspots
Sol Vu Filters – Astro Engineering safe solar observing filter (with free observing guide!) The filter comprises a rigid aluminium mounting with three attachment screws with specially reinforced threaded bosses that fit over the front of the telescope objective or tube to allow safe, full aperture, solar viewing.
The flexible filter material is tough Mylar based Astro-Solar film by Baader, and allows the telscope to be used to safely observe and monitor white-light solar phenomena (sun spots, faculae etc).
Daystar Calcium H filter – DayStar is proud to offer Calcium H ( 3969Å ) and two Calcium K-line (3933.7Å ) filtering systems.
Baader Products for Solar Observing – Solar observing has never been more popular than nowadays. Baader Planetarium offers a broad range of products for solar observers.
Solar Chat – Here is Stephen Ramsdens solar chat forum.
Cloudy Nights Forum – Here is an excellent forum to share information on all aspects of solar astronomy
Astronomy Shed – Astronomy shed is a very useful forum for exchanging ideas and has a wealth of tutorials
Space Weather – Forecasts of solar flares and geomagnetic storms, plus daily animations of the sun.
The Helioviewer – Here you can check the SDO data to observe past solar eruptions. A great way to confirm that solar flare that you witnessed!
Solar Monitor – NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Solar Data Analysis Center (SDAC). These pages contain near-realtime and archived information on active regions and solar activity. For information on our new SolarMonitor IDL Data Object (SOLMON), check out the SOLMON Tutorial. Check out News for other updates.
BBC Science – This is a very informative site run by the BBC
American Astronomical Society – Solar Physics Division (SPD) is the advancement of the study of the Sun and the coordination of such research with other branches of science. As of May 2005, there are 566 members of the SPD from all around the world. The SPD holds annual scientific meetings, awards several different prizes, and supports students in various ways.
Calsky – Information on ISS transits and space launches and much much more
NASA Science News – This is the NASA Science News site where all the latest discovery releases are posted.
Space daily – Space daily gives bulletins of recent developments
The Sun Today – NASA's C Alex Young this is his dedicated solar website.
Carrington Super Flare – Richard Carrington observed the first solar flare in September 1859, it was the largest ever recorded. Here you can see his discovery drawings and a more recent NASA analysis.
The magnetic Topology of Solar Eruptions – An explanation for the well-known observation that complexity of the solar magnetic field is a necessary ingredient for strong activity such as large eruptive flares.
index of refraction of air – Refractive Index of Air Calculator is a web-based tool for calculating the index of refraction of air and wavelength of light in air as a function of various input parameters, using the Ciddor Equation or a modified version of the Edlén Equation.
Index of air pressure at altitude – Elevation above sea level – in feet and meter – with barometric and atmospheric pressure – inches mercury, psia, kg/cm2 and kPa
Butterfly diagram – Here is the butterfly diagram showing the latitudes and numbers of sunspots
Huge solar flare – Here is a movie of a huge X-class solar flare caught on the 9th September 2005 Ar798/AR808 was responsible for 9 X-class flares including an X17 super flare on the 7 September. This movie was caught and prepared by Brigit Kremer from Almaria in Southern Spain.
The Sporer Minimum – Launched on June 15, 2010, CNES's Picard microsatellite is designed to simultaneously measure parameters such as the Sun's speed of rotation, radiated power, sunspots, figure and diameter, in order to better understand its inner workings
SIDC – SIDC Solar Influences Data Analysis Center here all the sunspot data is collected for comparison to previous solar cycles.
Big Bear Gallery – Here is the superb high resolution gallery of the US National solar observatory – enjoy!
Solar variability and terrestial chlimate – In the galactic scheme of things, the Sun is a remarkably constant star. While some stars exhibit dramatic pulsations, wildly yo-yoing in size and brightness, and sometimes even exploding, the luminosity of our own sun varies a measly 0.1% over the course of the 11-year solar cycle.
The Imaging Source – Here is the Imaging Source site they are the producers of the excellent DMK cameras.
Ian King Imaging – Ian King is an excellent supplier of all types of astronomical imaging equipment including the DMK cameras that I use.
Point Grey Imaging Systems – Here are the Point Grey high speed imaging cameras – may of the top imagers are using their high speed Flea 3 and other cameras.
Field of view calculation for CCD imaging – Here is a simple calculation to show the field of view delivered by your camera in relation to the focal length of your telescope.
Avistack – AviStack is a freeware tool for astronomy that registers, stacks and processes movies and image sequences.
Focus Magic – Focus Magic uses advanced forensic strength deconvolution technology to literally "undo" blur and recover lost detail. It can repair both out-of-focus blur and motion blur (camera shake) in an image.
Some of the top astro-photographers use this program and it looks like a very interesting way forward!
Solar Primer – Here is an excellent PDF showing you how to make the best Ha images – Brilliant.
Nick Howes Astronomy Now Solar Observing – If you're thinking about taking up solar observing this summer be sure to consult these fantastic video guides, in which Astronomy Now's equipment expert Nick Howes first introduces you to the different types of solar telescope available and the different wavelengths used to observe the Sun, before guiding you through aligning your telescope with the Sun, which can be a surprisingly difficult feat! If you want to take things further and learn how to image the Sun then Nick takes you through some imaging tips, before heading indoors to suss out the basics of image processing. Finally, he shares a few imaging tricks to get your images looking like those you can see in the Astronomy Now magazine's picture gallery.
The tilting sun – Here is the excellent tilting sun program to help find solar co-ordinates
CCD image scale – Here is a way to calculate the scale of your image on your CCD
Processing images – Here is a stunning image and some processing tips on the CN forum from a real expert imager Alan Freeman – his work is awesome!
CaK Observations – Excellent explanation of CaK features prepared by Alexander.
Polar aligning your mount – Here is Alexander's tip for polar aligning during the day you can also check out her superb website
Photoshop CS5 plug in – Plug in for merging photos via Luca.
All you have to do, once you have the zipped file, is open it and look for the PhotomergeUI plugin. Extract that in the Plugin folder and the next time you open photomerge, you'll have the interactive layout option.
Solar chat reference library – If you want to find out the best imaging tips etc from the worlds top amateur solar imagers check here first
Newtons Rings – Mark Townley – expert solar imager says – A circular polariser placed between the 2 may remove this effect – possibly? However, if this effect works it will come at the expense of reduced transmission. Most of the polarisers i've seen have a transmission of
Problem with Newton rings – Having problems with Newton rings here is the cloudy nights forum solution!
Removing prominence shadows – This is Chris Schurs excellent tutorial for removing these deconvoluting rings.
Tilting Sun – This superb software lets you understand or calculate the orientation of the sun or allow you to include an orientated overlay grid on to your captured image – brilliant!
Photoshop tutorial on making full discs – This is the first four of an eight chapter series of Solar image processing tutorials by Ken Crawford. These are some of the methods I use to produce my solar images using Photoshop CS5. These do not cover stacking or producing the master frames from your raw data. These are meant to provide a good processing foundation that you can build on to produce more dynamic solar images.
Smart sharpening for full discs – This is five through eight of an eight chapter series of solar image processing tutorials by Ken Crawford. These are some of the methods I use to produce my solar images using Photoshop CS5. These do not cover stacking or producing the master frames from your raw data. These are meant to provide a good processing foundation that you can build on to produce more dynamic solar images.
Calculating the ideal imaging focal length – Here is an excellent submission from Mark Townley using calculation to find the optimum focal length for your imaging system.
D-station image processing – DStation is a GUI testbed for various not so well known image deconvolution algorithms. It can be used for various applications, including astronomical image processing.
Amateur Astrophotography – Here is an excellent internet best magazine that focuses on astrophotography.
This magazine has been discontinued on Magzter and you'll not be able to subscribe to it. However, you can purchase the back issues of this magazine.
Read more at:https://www.magzter.com/GB/Amateur-Astrophotography/Amateur-Astrophotography/Science/
Solar Observer Magazine – Solar Observer, the first international magazine devoted to solar astronomy. Solar Observer is a magazine published by a group of solar astronomy enthusiasts. It covers all areas of solar astronomy including the current knowledge of solar science,solar observation, solar astrophotography, solar radio astronomy, as well as solar spectroscopy. Solar Observer publishes articles written by an international team of dedicated amateur and professional astronomers and invites submissions from its readers. Solar Observer intends to attract a broad range of readers, from the beginner to advanced astronomer. Solar Observer aims to provide an international platform of communication, discussion and debate among the solar enthusiasts, educate the public, and promote international professional-amateur collaboration.
Astronomy Now Magazine – Astronomy Now magazine is the UK's longest standing astronomy magazine, providing a monthly source of information for amateur and professional astronomers alike.
Sky and Telescope – Sky & Telescope, the Essential Magazine of Astronomy. News, observing tips, how-to advice, and more!
Sky at Night – The world's best practical astronomy website, Sky at Night has telescope reviews, advice for observing the night sky, beginners astronomy, and how-to guides …
Resonant Spaces Part 2 – Resonant Spaces – Part 2: An Introduction to Solid Spaced Etalons and Solar Telescope Technology
by Colin Kaminsk
Experiment in double stacking – Bob from Cloudy Nights forum posted this on his double-stacking Coronado SM 90 experiment
Double stacking – Here is Bob Yoesle's excellent piece on double stacking Ha front ethalon units
Single v Double-stacking – Here is an excellent Cloudy Nights forum thread discussing the differences between single and double stacking H-alpha telescopes
Is the sunspot cycle about to stop – Here is an excellent article giving three perspectives due to this weakened 24th solar cycle considering new evidence available.
Solar Stormwatch – Solar scientists need you!
Help them spot explosions on the Sun and track them across space to Earth. Your work will give astronauts an early warning if dangerous solar radiation is headed their way. And you could make a new scientific discovery.
Sunspotter – We need your help to organize sunspot images in order of complexity to better understand and predict how the Sun's magnetic activity affects us on Earth.
Sunspot observations by Heinrich Schwabe – This work gives an inventory and evaluation of the images obtained from the log books of Schwabe. They are now digitized and held in the possession of the Royal Astronomical Society
Solar Flare Monitor – Here is Dave Gradwells excellent solar flare monitoring site for solar flares.
Heliotown – Here is Thomas Ashcrafts excellent website he catches full disc shots of solar flares and shock waves together with radio monitoring of these events.
Astronomical seeing Part 2 – This is the second part of Bruce MacEvoy work and covers measuring techniques to assess the magnitude of this problem that affects all ground based astronomy