Tag: Sky-Watcher 76Ha

Partial Solar Eclipse 12th Aug 2026

I supported the local Basingstoke Astronomical Society today in showcasing the partial eclipse with the public from across Basingstoke. We were running a last minute event from Cliddesden Primary School in the playing field which is surrounded by beautiful countryside. We expected as with similar viewing events for a few 10s of people to turn up, however due to social media and the the story running on the local paper website we were about to swamped by many hundreds of visitors all eager to see the eclipse safely.

Car mayhem in Cliddesden ahead of the event
Car mayhem in Cliddesden ahead of the event

I arrived and started setting up at 4:30pm. There was already a queue waiting to be told to come on the field. As soon as my Sky-Watcher HelioStar 76Ha was setup I called the public onto the field and they started to queue and view through my scope whilst the others from our society setup. My queue never let up for 4 hours!

My queue!!!

Absolutely amazing and the plaudits given from the very young to the very old were so rich and welcoming. It is an absolute pleasure to inspire the public and share the wonders of the universe around us, I hope that many will look us up online and become interested in our little society.

The crowds start to build up

I recorded the event with the Seestar S50 with my family member Luke running not only my Seestar but also his S30 at the same time. The end of the eclipse was missed due to the Sun setting behind the trees in the distance.

Seestar S50 Partial Eclipse

A selection of frames from this image can be seen below.

Viewing Report 7th Aug 2026

17:00 – 03:00

I received my new solar scope today, the Sky-Watcher 76Ha. It is superb! I setup and tested out with the 20mm eyepiece that ships with it. This is ok but the eye relief is very shallow and not great. I replaced this with my TeleVue 24mm Panoptic. The scope only takes 1.25″ and not 2″ which is a shame.

Afocal image using iPhone

With the 24mm Panoptic the view is lovely and the eye relief is much better. I did try putting in the TeleVue barlow, however the eye relief once again becomes poor, despite the view and detail seen being much improved.

I can see filaments on the surface of the Sun. I can see granulation. I can also see many prominences today.

I then put my ZWO ASI290MC planetary cam in replacement for the eyepiece and refocused. This sensor is small and I could not get a fan disc, however what I saw with no processing was great, I now need to improve on it.

I have the scope mounted on the Sky-Watcher AZ GTi little mount that I bought off my friend Nigel. This is great for solar. I need to remember to setup the scope pointing towards Polaris roughly in the daytime sky before I turn on the mount, else it goes the wrong way, mainly pointing down.

Once I got the mount working with the the SyncScan Pro app, adjusting it was easy. However as I was slightly off Polaris, the scope does tend to drift. No matter, a few taps on the hand controller and it reenters well. All of this in preparation for the 12th August the partial eclipse of circa 93%.

Test image. Screenshot.
Test image. Screenshot.

Now the Sun has gone down I have opened the dome and have slewed to NGC 5985, a galaxy with other associated galaxies in Draco. This has been on my list here https://sites.google.com/site/shavewall/objects-to-image under Galaxies for a long while.

NGC 5982 and friends

I started imaging at 22:57 and captured 46 images at 300s throughout the night. finishing at 3am.