Author Archive.

My legs are grey, my ears are gnarled, my eyes are old and bent.

Posted by on August 3rd 2012 in Astrostuff, Health, or lack thereof, In the garden, On the box, Video (YouTube, Vimeo etc.), Weather
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Apologies for the lack of regular posts. I fear that I'm becoming a virtual hiker...

 

Outdoorsy stuff

For me it's all on hold after the latest consultation. The expert reckons that I might have to wait another six months for my insides to heal fully, only then will they consider a further procedure to remove the tags and piles that were caused by the original op. Any exertion aggravates said tags, leading to inflammation, infection and blockage, this means that I only get limited exercise which in turn has led to significant muscle-loss and a reduction of core body strength. I'm now so unfit that wielding the vacuum-cleaner for only 10 minutes on Wednesday resulted in me straining my back and now I'm confined to quarters and popping the Ibuprofens. Looks like our week in Skye later this month will be a sightseeing tour rather than an opportunity to assault some classic ridges and peaks.

 

Olympics

Well, I have plenty of time to watch the events on the box as I'm pretty much a captive audience. Anna's down The Smoke right now on a school-trip, she was in the basketball arena this evening watching Team GB v France and Team USA v The Czech Republic, where the Beeb's camera caught her and her friends doing their bit of a magnificent Mexican Wave. After overnighting at Eton College she'll be spending the morning in Greenwich Park watching the equestrian events.

 

Astronomy

I have plenty of time for this too, but the weather's been naff at night. On the odd occasions when it's been cloudless the jetstream has been playing havoc with the seeing - the last time I imaged the Moon it looked like someone was pouring water over it:

 

 

 

Hailstorm damage

The Loss Adjuster's been around and we have agreed terms. We've already been paid out for damage to the outbuildings, primarily because I'd done the pricing-up myself, but we're still waiting for builders to provide quotes for the repairs to the house roof and the windows. There's so much property damage around here that we're on a long waiting-list for repair-work, we're looking at mid- to late-September at the earliest.

 

Ah well, never mind, things could be worse.

Observing Report 26th July 2012 (Sunspots)

Posted by on July 27th 2012 in Astrostuff, Observing Reports, Pics
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Managed to get a few sunspot shots during a short break from trimming the hedges yesterday.

I used a less-dense solar filter (ND 3.8 as opposed to the ND 5.0 that I've used before) which lets through more light allowing much shorter exposures in order to "freeze" the seeing. I also had a play with various magnifications - 1x (prime focus), 2x (Powermate) and 4x (Powermate + Barlow).

All 50/4000 stacked frames, DMK mono CCD camera on the C80ED-R, Baader Planetarium AstroSolar™ Safety Film (ND 3.8) with #58 Green and IR-cut filters.

There's a reference image at the end in case you're wondering what's where:

Active Regions 1528, 1529, 1530 & 1532 (26/07/2012).
1x (prime focus).

Active Regions 1529, 1530 & 1532 (26/07/2012).
2x (Powermate).

Active Region 1532 (26/07/2012).
4x (Powermate + Barlow).

Active Region 1530 (26/07/2012).
4x (Powermate + Barlow).

Active Region 1529 (26/07/2012).
4x (Powermate + Barlow).

Active Region 1528 (26/07/2012).
4x (Powermate + Barlow).

Active Region 1531 (26/07/2012).
4x (Powermate + Barlow).

Active Region 1526 (26/07/2012).
4x (Powermate + Barlow).

Reference image from SOHO.

The long and the short of it

Posted by on July 16th 2012 in Just for fun, Pics

Abbreviated catfood:

 

Face/Off

Posted by on July 15th 2012 in Health, or lack thereof, Just for fun, Pics
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Compare the Meerkats:

 A sad victim of last month's hailstorm

Observing Report 12th July 2012 (Sunspots)

Posted by on July 14th 2012 in Astrostuff, Observing Reports, Pics
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Thursday morning was surprisingly clear and sunny - an odd period sandwiched between countless hours of incessant rain. I managed about half an hour of solar observing before it all went claggy. The seeing wasn't that good but I managed to get fair views of Active Region 1520 and its satellites. Apologies now for the poor-quality images, I might have another bash at the stacking to see if I can get the noise levels down a bit without losing any detail:

Active Regions 1519 - 1521 (12/07/2012).
50/6000 stacked frames.
DMK mono CCD camera with 2x Powermate on the C80ED-R.
Baader Planetarium AstroSolar™ Safety Film (ND 5.0) with #58 Green and IR-cut filters.

The largest spots in AR1520 are even bigger than those in AR1504 which I imaged last month!

Past the sell-by date

Posted by on July 9th 2012 in A bit of a rant, On the box, Video (YouTube, Vimeo etc.)
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You've probably seen this ad on yer telly:

 

 

If so, you might have wondered what it's all about.

On the face of it, it's an ad about how National Lottery funding has helped one K. Edwards to represent GB in the 2012 Olympics as an 800m runner. It's oddly anachronistic and we still can't figure out why her mum looks so old at the end of it, but I suppose that only the nit-picking few would be bothered by that.

Of course, K. Edwards doesn't really exist. The ad is based on the story of Team GB athlete Jenny Meadows and her mother Barbara, who was also an athlete, but unable to compete in the Olympics because of a lack of funding. The Meadows are played by actors and the story is narrated by the mother, looking back at their lives.

Here are a couple of clickable quotes from the world of the meeja:

The National Lottery is launching the second phase of its "life-changing" campaign with an execution highlighting its funding of Great Britain's athletes and London 2012.

The National Lottery is repositioning itself as a "genuine supporter" of London 2012 and is rolling out an ad campaign to highlight the £2.2bn it has contributed to the Games.

The ad was first aired on June 11th, is still on the box today and is scheduled to run until July 13th.

Admirable stuff.

Until you consider the fact that on July 3rd Jenny Meadows was omitted from Team GB...

Jenny Meadows was struggling to come to terms with the mixed emotions of being crowned European Indoor 800 metres champion and omitted from the British Olympic team for a home Games on the same day...

Selectors gambled by picking Lynsey Sharp for the 800m despite her recording only a B qualifying time this season. The selection of the European silver medallist meant four other athletes who have run faster times in the past two years, including the 2009 world bronze medallist Jenny Meadows, missed out and two places went unfilled under International Association of Athletics Federations rules. UK Athletics' head coach, Charles van Commenee, has said he will take ultimate responsibility and fall on his sword if his 77-strong team fail to meet expectations at the London Olympics.

So, lots of funding yet no possibility of an 800m result for Jenny Meadows. Or for Marilyn Okoro, Emma Jackson and Jemma Simpson.

Surely the National Lottery folks should stop peddling this ad. It has become so detached from reality that it could be considered a lie.
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