# General > Photography >  Astrophotography on BBC Stargazing live.

## Mystical Potato Head

Mon ,Tues and Wed Night BBC2 8PM.

Anyone interested in taking shots of the stars with or without a telescope then heres a clip from 
Wed nights upcoming episode with some tips on how its done.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00d1b8l

Might even be a picture from Caithness on it.  :Wink:

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## Ricco

Brilliant, MPH.  Now, how do I persuade the missus that I must have a telescope?  I must say that I was amazed at the quality that is possible.

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## jings00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11949767
and I see that one of "our" chaps has a photo on the BBC site too....

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## Mystical Potato Head

> Brilliant, MPH.  Now, how do I persuade the missus that I must have a telescope?  I must say that I was amazed at the quality that is possible.


Cheers,telescopes have actually become quite cheap,you can still pay a fortune for them but the quality at the "lower" end of the market has improved so much that you can get a very good scope 
complete with a mount that tracks the stars and also has GoTo capability,thats where you align it to a couple of stars so it knows where it is and you tell it to find objects in the sky with its computerised 
control and database of thousands of stars,galaxies and deep sky objects.
Heres an example of one for £200,it really is amazing value. http://firstlightoptics.com/proddeta..._1145p_az_goto Great for visual but are limited in their use for photography,you would still be able to get great shots of the moon and brighter star clusters though.Long exposure shots,thats when it does become expensive,a good quality mount does not come cheap,one of this quality is a must for photographing faint galaxies and nebulae. http://firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=heq5
You will need to get a Power tank to run the scope as its easier to use this than constantly charging smaller batteries.http://firstlightoptics.com/proddeta...Wpowertank17ah

For about £120 you can get an "ordinary" one without tracking or the goto and still be able to see the wonders of the night sky,you just have to find them yourself
which sometimes is a lot more difficult than you would think.

I'm not saying get the one i've mentioned but it gives you an idea of what you can get.
I would stick to the Skywatcher make though as they are hard to beat for value and quality.

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## Mystical Potato Head

> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11949767
> and I see that one of "our" chaps has a photo on the BBC site too....


Very well done that man.  :Wink:

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## Ricco

Thank you MPH. Much to think about; had a look at a range of scopes using Google.  May have to wait until next Christmas, though.

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## astroman

Congratulations on getting your superb photos used by the BBC MPH.

I agree with your comments on Skywatcher scopes - I have 2 of their refractors and find them to be excellent quality considering their cost. With the cold weather at the end of last year, I'm now wondering if there is a way to get a body shaped electric blanket that can be connected to the power tank you mention ;-)

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## Mystical Potato Head

> Congratulations on getting your superb photos used by the BBC MPH.
> 
> I agree with your comments on Skywatcher scopes - I have 2 of their refractors and find them to be excellent quality considering their cost. With the cold weather at the end of last year, I'm now wondering if there is a way to get a body shaped electric blanket that can be connected to the power tank you mention ;-)


Cheers Astroman,i think Dragonfly came up with a good keeping warm solution. http://forum.caithness.org/showthrea...onlit-Timlapse

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## gollach

> Very well done that man.


Very well done, indeed!

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## Kenn

Well done MPH just wish the cloud cover would break so that we can see some more of your pictures of the night sky.

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## astroman

> Cheers Astroman,i think Dragonfly came up with a good keeping warm solution. http://forum.caithness.org/showthrea...onlit-Timlapse


That would do the trick, but I'm not sure it's something I'd be comfortable wearing in public :-D

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## astroman

> Well done MPH just wish the cloud cover would break so that we can see some more of your pictures of the night sky.


Sky was fairly clear in patches for the stargazing event at Castletown tonight. Quite a few Quadrantid meteors were spotted by the gathered audience - unfortunately they're a bit tricky to catch on camera.

I too look forward to more of MPH's efforts - did Santa bring you that GOTO setup for your telescope gear MPH?

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## Mystical Potato Head

> Sky was fairly clear in patches for the stargazing event at Castletown tonight. Quite a few Quadrantid meteors were spotted by the gathered audience - unfortunately they're a bit tricky to catch on camera.
> 
> I too look forward to more of MPH's efforts - did Santa bring you that GOTO setup for your telescope gear MPH?


Yes he did,got it installed but were suffering from new gear aquisition syndrome.........constant cloud.
Was clear for a couple of hours but didnt bother setting up the scope because of the very moist air .Spotted a few Quadrantids as well.

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## dafi

Well done on the BBC, it was a very nice photo!

We managed to see no shooting stars tonight but the eclipse was fantastic!

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## Liz

I am recording these programmes and watched the first one tonight. Very well done on getting your great photo shown MPH. :Grin:

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## Mystical Potato Head

Thanks all for your kind comments,much apprreciated.

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## Liz

Wonder whether you will have a third photo shown? :Grin: 

It was so good to see your photos on a bigger screen and they looked amazing! Nice that a wider audience got to see them as well.

I am loving this programme!

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## Gizmo

MPH, i've just been looking at your pictures on Flickr, and they are truly stunning.

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