Philips Astronomy

For over 100 years, the famous Philip’s guides have been helping stargazers of all ages and all abilities find their way around the night sky and discover the joys of astronomy for themselves.

Among Philip’s authors are Heather Couper & Nigel Henbest, Mark Thompson (BBC Stargazing Live), Robin Scagell and the late Sir Patrick Moore.

 

Mark Thompson’s 5 Tips for Astrophotography

1. Try turning your DSLR skyward – a standard DSLR fitted to a normal tripod can capture some beautiful night-time shots. Try setting the ISO to about 200, the aperture to about f/5.6 and expose for about 30 minutes to capture beautiful star trails. Be sure to use a camera remote to fire the shutter and focus the lens on infinity.

2. Capture the Milky Way – on a dark moonless night try increasing the ISO to at least 1600, set the aperture as wide as you can and try 30-second exposures to capture pinpoint stars and the beauty of the Milky Way.

3. Boost focal length for beautiful moonscapes – to get great pictures of the Moon low on the horizon requires a lens with a focal length of at least 200 mm. Much shorter exposures can be used but try experimenting to find the best setting.

4. Turn your smartphone into a space cam – the high quality of smartphone cameras can be used in conjunction with even a modest telescope by placing its camera lens to the eyepiece to get close-ups of the Moon or planets.

5. Be adventurous with a DSLR – remove the eyepiece from your telescope and replace it with the body only of your DSLR. Attach it to the telescope to make the ultimate astronomy camera. If you have a telescope mount of the equatorial variety you can even try longer exposures of galaxies and star clusters.

What is a Planisphere?

Explore the skies, season by season

 

This beginner’s guide to stargazing introduces the novice astronomer to the principal celestial objects visible at different times of the year. Major constellations are used as signposts to navigate the night sky, locating hard-to-find stars and some fascinating deep-sky objects. The movement of the stars is also explained.

Find your way around the sky in minutes. This beginner’s guide to stargazing introduces the novice astronomer to the principal celestial objects visible at different times of the year. Major constellations are used as signposts to navigate the night sky, locating hard-to-find stars and some fascinating deep-sky objects. The movement of the stars is also explained.

 

Turn the oval panel to the required date and time to reveal the whole sky visible from your location. The map, by the well-known celestial cartographer Wil Tirion, shows stars down to magnitude 5, plus several deep-sky objects, such as the Pleiades, the Andromeda Galaxy and the Orion Nebula.

The planisphere is supplied in a full-colour wallet that contains illustrated step-by-step instructions for how to use the planisphere, how to locate planets, and how to work out the time of sunrise or sunset for any day of the year. It explains all the details that can be seen on the map – the magnitudes of stars, the ecliptic and the celestial coordinates. In addition, the section ‘Exploring the skies, season by season’ introduces the novice astronomer to the principal celestial objects visible at different times of the year.