Author Archive.
MI
Tonight I was on a mission. Covert ops. The remit was simple - find somewhere dark and quiet to set up an observation outpost.
I slipped out of the base at 2130 hours after being given my RV time by the CO - I had 2 hours max. Armed with little more than DPM trousers and a map of the district, backed up by a couple of hours of studying Google Maps (latest issue - with contours) I patrolled the local lanes seeking somewhere to lay up the transport and set up the surveillance equipment alongside.
Prime One was a locality that I used to visit in my youth, before I signed up. It was much as I remembered it, a rough track led to the crown of a hill, wooded on the northwest side, open to the other three points of the compass. Whitemoors. Of Battle of Bosworth fame. Still an ideal military point of vantage, except for the anti-vehicle barrier and the barbed wire intended to prevent access after nightfall. The group of other transports obstructing the entrance harboured a group of ne'er-do-wells and their stash of supermarket lager, which gave them the dutch courage to jeer and throw cans as I started to move away. Stirred but not shaken, and caring not for their cherished paintjobs and spoilers, I flicked off the traction-control and floored it to give their tin boxes 180BHP of newly-spread road-grit and then I moved on - Plan B would have to be implemented.
Five clicks west and one south... this used to be an unlit country lane connecting a couple of small farms to a remote village, the only other buildings being barns near the road. I recall plenty of places to pull off the track. Not so any more - each farm is now a mini-estate, each barn is now a prime residence, complete with CCTV and faux antique streetlights. No chance of seclusion here. I turned in one of the driveways and noticed disapproving faces at the pseudobarn windows. Ho hum, back to the tarmac, mission in the balance...
Taking the most direct route back to the RV, I was diverted by a Council Forces roadblock and soon found myself on an open lane that I didn't recognise. Open. Dark. Quiet. A sign indicated a pull-in, I duly did so. I got out and scanned the horizon - clear views all around, not a single light except for the glowing tip of the ciggie which I had lit to celebrate. And it was quiet, except for the foxes and owls in the woods a few miles away.
It was perfect, yet I was a little perplexed... where was I? With all the diversions I had lost track of my position on my map, and the road was unfamiliar. Then inspiration struck - I cranked up the xDA Orbit satnav to get a fix and stood there stunned by the result. I was only a straight mile and a half away from the village where I had spent nearly thirty years of my childhood. I must have been along this lane many times before, but still I didn't recognise the place.
I arrived back at the RV still confused. I'll have to do another recce in the daylight tomorrow. Nevertheless, the mission was accomplished, a site for the outpost had been determined.
Therefore it will rain. Incessantly.
Saturn reprocessed
As promised in my previous Observing Report, here's the final version of the Saturn pic that I made a few days ago:
All I've done is neaten up the edges by applying a mask, bring up the contrast and saturation on the face of the planet by using the burn tool, and desaturate the background. Yes, I know, I've probably overcooked it. I did use a reference picture for the colours in an attempt to keep it looking real.
Alpkit goodies
Today saw the arrival of a couple of Filo jackets, just in time for the snow that we've been promised over the next few days. These follow hot on the heels of the Hunka bivi bag which I put my name down for at the Outdoors Show. My thanks go to the Alpkit team for their commitment to customer service and for their never-fail next-day free delivery policy.
This influx of new kit has rekindled the outdoors spirit in Chris - all of a sudden, she's reminding me that we've still got to sort out our annual wildcamp together, and that we've got to get the kit lists sorted for our family summer holiday in Norway and Denmark.
Observing Report 3rd-4th April 2008 (standing on the shoulders of giants).
Last night I managed to sneak out for another attempt at webcamming Saturn with the scope. The seeing was much better, but there was a lot of cloud about which meant that I had to wait for gaps in order to capture data. To get some idea of the improvement in the seeing, here's a 20-second snip from one of the .avi files, in .mp4 format:
These .avi files were taken with revised settings as per the advice of the folk on the SGL Forum, and because of their suggested improvements, this stacked interim image is my best one yet:
I'll finish it off later, when I've more time to learn all about the use of Photoshop layers. Hopefully I can sharpen up the edges and enhance the surface detail without losing more than I gain.
I would have taken more pics and looked at some other celestial gems, but the temperature dropped and all the mirrors dewed-up, so I had to pack away. Never mind, there's plenty of future to look forward to.
Onwards and upwards!
I'll post the settings here for reference:
******** Capture Settings:03 April 2008 / 22:37:32 ********
Program :WcCtrl - WebCam Control Utility (V 1.5.46)
Cam Driver : Philips SPC 900NC PC Camera (0xaf42ab7)
Comment added : a comment
******** Capture Cam Settings:03/04/2008 22:37:32 ********
Set-String :
Brightness : 69%
Contrast : 51%
Saturation : 31%
Gamma : 26%
Color Mode : 255(0=off)
WhiteBalanceM : 4(0=lamp,1=sun,2=FL,3=manual,4=auto)
WhiteBalRed : 51%
WhiteBalBlue : 52%
FPS : 15
NonSC Exposure: 2(0..10=longest to shortest - depends on camera)
Gain : 81%
FlipHorizontal: 0(0=off)
FlipVertical : 0(0=off)
AutoExposure : 0(0=off)
AutoAll : 0(0=off)
-end of setting------------------------------------------------
Alpkit Sale
Just in case you missed the heads-up from those nice peeps over at Alpkit - they're having a clear-out of their Filo down jackets, the clearance price is just £50. Grab 'em now while stocks last!
So, which colour do you fancy?
Chris will be Chilli, and I'll be getting a Rocket. So, nothing new there, then. 🙄
Observing Report 30th-31st March 2008 (Saturn webcammed again)
At about 21:30 the light clouds parted and the stars were bright against a really dark backdrop, so I took advantage of this unpredicted opportunity and set up to get some more experience of webcamming Saturn with the scope. As expected, the seeing was rubbish again (too much air-turbulence caused by rising warm air mixing with the colder stuff higher up), so the images in the acquired .avi files weren't holding shape or focus. To get some idea of the seeing, here's a 15-second snip from one of the .avi files, in .mp4 format:
Anyway, I ended up with 9000+ frames to play with. I plugged the files into K3CCDTools to do a quality analysis, then exported the best 10% + about another 100 that the quality sorter ignored to a folder, manually sorted the best 360 of these in vdub and then stacked 'em in Registax, which didn't crash at all this time! The result's not brilliant, but it's better than previous efforts:
