Archive for the 'Astrostuff' Category

Observing Report 2nd April 2013 Part 2 (Bigger Sunspots)

Posted by on April 5th 2013 in Astrostuff, Observing Reports, Pics
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As promised, sunspots with added bigness.

AR1711 is huge (run your mouse over the pic to see a pasted-in Earth for comparison), in the full-size version you can even see some vague detail down inside the dark region (the umbra):

Active Region 1714 (02/04/2013).
DMK mono camera with 2.25x Barlow on C80ED-R, Baader Solar Film filter.

Active Region 1704 (02/04/2013).
DMK mono camera with 2.25x Barlow on C80ED-R, Baader Solar Film filter.

Active Region 1711 (02/04/2013).
DMK mono camera with 2.25x Barlow on C80ED-R, Baader Solar Film filter.

Observing Report 1st-2nd April 2013 (Another pop at Pan-STARRS)

Posted by on April 4th 2013 in Astrostuff, My vids, Observing Reports, Pics
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Same Comet, same conditions, same tree, same faff, different night:

Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4).
Subs: 25 light @ 30s, darks, bias frames, ISO1600.
1000D on the 6" R-C, unguided.

The main difference is that this time there's a time-lapse movie. I created it from 100 frames, each representing 30 seconds of exposure and 5 seconds of "gap", so that's nigh on an hour crammed into this 10-second clip:

Observing Report 2nd April 2013 Part 1 (Sunspots)

Posted by on April 3rd 2013 in Astrostuff, Observing Reports, Pics
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See? This is what happens when you decide to keep your winter beard - three consecutive days of almost uninterrupted dawn-to-dusk sunshine.

🙄

Here's a stitched pic from yesterday morning, mouseover for labels, click it to see the bigger version:

Active Regions 1704, 1707, 1708, 1710, 1711, 1713 & 1714 (02/04/2013).
DMK mono camera @ prime focus on C80ED-R, Baader Solar Film filter.

I grabbed some more shots of the main sunspot groups at a higher magnification, it'll take me a while to process the stuff so I'll put the results in a "Part 2" post as and when.

Observing Report 29th March 2013 (A quick and dirty Pan-STARRS)

Posted by on March 30th 2013 in Astrostuff, Observing Reports
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Managed a few binocular glimpses of Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) between the clouds last night, then I got to wondering if it was sufficiently north and high for me to be able to train the obsy-based telescope on it.

After a bit of a faff moving the roof a good foot further along than usual, and then removing the screen that keeps out the glare from the retirement-home up the road, the only obstruction was the neighbour's Japanese Maple. I couldn't cut it down and it wouldn't bend out of the way so I decided to just pretend it wasn't there and take the shots through it anyway. After all, if this hobby was easy, everybody would be doing it!

Despite the tree, the light-pollution haze near the horizon, the comet's low altitude, the glare from several 500W halogen burglar-helpers and a mere 15-minute window of opportunity when the comet was visible between houses, the result's not so bad after all:

Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4).
Subs: 6 light @ 60s, darks, no bias frames, ISO800.
1000D on the 6" R-C, unguided.

Price Fail

Posted by on March 20th 2013 in Astrostuff, LMAO!

I have an Inner Stickler. Poor spelling, punctuation and grammar really irk me.

Many folk tell me to lighten up, saying that accurate spelling is no longer important and that it's the meaning of the words that really matters...

 

eBay item number 181102927230

  😯

I rest my case.

Observing Report 13th March 2013 Part 2 (Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4))

Posted by on March 16th 2013 in Astrostuff, Observing Reports
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As promised, some more pics from Wednesday evening's Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) observing session:

Moon and Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4), 13th March 2013.
Nikon D50, 35mm prime lens, 0.8s @ f/2, ISO 200, static tripod.

Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4), 13th March 2013.
Nikon D50, 70-300 lens @ 300mm, 5s @ f/7.1, ISO 800, static tripod.

Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4), 13th March 2013.
Nikon D50, 70-300 lens @ 300mm, 10s @ f/7.1, ISO 800, static tripod.

Moon with Earthshine, 13th March 2013.
Nikon D50, 70-300 lens @ 300mm, 1s @ f/7.1, ISO 800, static tripod.

We're hoping to bag some more pics sometime during the next few evenings if the weather decides to play along.
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