Monday 4th January, 2010

Observing Report 3rd January 2010 (Quads workout)

Posted by at 10:21 am in Observing Reports.
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After having had the weather spoil most of the meteor events of 2009 I was hopeful that the clear skies of the current cold spell would permit a reasonable view of the 2010 Quadrantids. Late in the afternoon the skies darkened and the clarity was good, so I prepped for a 2-hour session to start at 18:00.

The view northwards from the top of our plot is reasonable, looking out across dark gardens and a large low retirement-home.  The radiant was just visible above the artificial horizon, so there was a fair chance that I'd be able to see most of the upper 180-degree arc of the display. Doing some rough maths I figured that if the peak rate was 120/hour I'd get a reduction of 50% due to the 180-degree restriction and a further 50% reduction due to the low elevation. If all went well, I'd be looking for 30 meteors during the 18:30 - 19:30 peak hour.

18:00 arrived and I set up the camera. Despite having taken it outside early to acclimatize, the internal optics hazed up within minutes due to the low temperature (-4C and falling) so pics were a no-no. I've an aversion to forcing heat into any camera, so I took it back indoors for a gentle rewarm and resigned myself to a visual-only session. I found myself a comfy place from where to watch.

As the minutes passed the horizon became a hazy yellow mess due to a combination of a thin fog and light-pollution from the local street-lights and from the retirement home. Seeing 30 meteors in the next hour was going to be a challenge.

The show started at 18:46 - a trail straight through the head of Draco. And another a minute later, this time up near Cepheus. Things were looking good, but then it stopped. I saw only one more trail - a gloriously-bright streak almost overhead, passing through Cassiopeia at about 19:20.

In summary, the show wasn't much of a success, but it was good to be out again, despite the biting cold.

The next half-decent show should be the Lyrids in April, active from the 16th to the 25th with peak activity on the 22nd. Hopefully there'll be better conditions allowing me to get some pics as well as views.

Saturday 2nd January, 2010

Slow start

Posted by at 7:39 pm in Astrostuff.
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The first quarter of the year is always poor for meteor viewing, there being only one major shower. Fair enough, there are a few minor showers in the first three months, but they hardly ever amount to much, which makes this post short and sweet...

The Quadrantids (QUA) are going to be peaking at around 19:00 on the 3rd of January, but seeing them isn't going to be easy as the waning Moon will be ruining the show. If you do get clear skies and the urge to observe, expect rates of 120/hour with the possibility of some variation between 60 and 200/hour. Speedwise we're looking at 41km/s. The Quadrantids are probably associated with minor planet 2003 EH1 (= comet C/1490 Y1?).

The Quadrantid radiant


There, that was easy. If you're going out to see them, good luck!

Self-Assessment 2009

Posted by at 7:30 pm in Blog on Blog, Rambling on....
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In my first post of 2009 I set out a few objectives. Well, that year's done and dusted so it's time for a reality-check.

Here's the list again...

 

1a. More actually getting out and doing "stuff"
1b. Less talking about getting out and doing "stuff"

I reckon I did about the same amount of "doing" as I usually do in an average year, but you're no doubt relieved that I didn't waffle on about it too much. Yeah, that's right - I don't tell you everything. Mind you, this is WordPress, not Twitter.

 

2a. More "pushing the envelope"
2b. Less "comfort zone" dossing

Having had a relatively high injury-rate last year, I had to be content with just licking the envelope. Fellwalking with injury or in the post-recovery stage was definitely out of my comfort zone, but it was hardly what you'd call dossing.

 

3a. More meaningful blogging
3b. Less blogging of drivel

You lot can be the judges of that. The total number of posts for 2009 is 145, way less than the 215 totals for 2008 and 2007. Exactly how many of those 145 posts are drivel is a moot point.

 

4a. More gear-testing
4b. Less gear-envy

I didn't test anything new, apart from the Argos tent. I managed to fight off the urge to acquire a NeoAir, but the attraction of an updated Scarp 2 is still there. - hopefully Henry Shires will eventually get around to making one. As for the envy factor, there's very little kit out there that I've looked at and thought "that's a must-have item". If I'm envious about anything, it's the abundance of hill-time that others seem to have.

Actually, I've just lied to you about the envy thing. Truth be told, I'd like one of these.

 

5a. More improvement in use of the camera
5b. Less "missing the moment" while faffing with settings

I feel that I've done better with the camera, this being helped by the acquisition of the new lens. That said, I did faff with the settings while in Brum and therefore ballsed-up some potentially-good night-shots.

 

6a. More time out with the scope
6b. Less time-wasting while faffing with settings

Did well at this. Having the observatory up-and-running has helped a lot.

 

7a. More progress with astrophotography
7b. Less set-up time

I got my first images of Mars late on in 2009, but still managed to miss all of the major meteor showers due to unsuitable weather. On the bright side, there'll be some new kit here in time for the next closest approach of Mars on 27th January 2010 - this should enable me to make some major improvements.

 

8a. More Wainwrights
8b. Less use of traditional routes

Yep, did some more Wainwrights, but only seven "new" ones - nowhere near as many as I'd have liked to have done. Current tally is 180 out of 214. Tried hard to plough a different furrow, but had limited success. The solo ascent of the West Face of Ullscarf was fun, though!

 

9a. More local walking
9b. Less hiding behind the laptop

I failed miserably on this one. Had a few local walks but nothing special. That said, there were so many other things that kept me away from the countryside and the laptop.

 

10a. And, thanks to George, more data-storage, and hence
10b. less dross on the internal HDD

The huge USB HDD is excellent - how I managed without one for so long is a mystery that I'll never figure out.

 

So there you go - 2009 in a nutshell. More or less.

But what of 2010?

I reckon I'll stick to the same objectives, and try to do much better.

 

Whatever plans you have for your New Year, I wish you the very best of luck.

Friday 25th December, 2009

Delightful

Posted by at 1:41 pm in Thanks.
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Well, that's me sorted for a few days :mrgreen:

Saturday 19th December, 2009

Probably the best skivers in the world.

Posted by at 10:38 pm in In the News.
Tags: ,

The Copenhagen Accord (actual document here).

Wasted time. Wasted money. Wasted opportunity.

Enough said.

Wednesday 16th December, 2009

Jumping Jack Flash

Posted by at 1:48 am in A bit of a rant.
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Sometimes you get a feeling right at the start that a job's going to go tits-up...

 

It all started with the letter from M1 Gas Alliance. Dated 03/12/2009, it told of the impending gas supply interruption due to the improvement of the gas main on the estate. "We plan to start work between 07/12/2009 and 11/12/2009", it said. Maybe it would have been better to deliver said letter a tad earlier than 10/12/2009 then.

Since then road-crew have dug holes all around the Close and have festooned the place with miles of plastic fencing. They've worked fast and with due consideration for the residents. No problem there.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was the day when they would shove their little yellow pipe through the old steelie that stretches from the road, under the garden, under the footings and into our meter. We were told at 08:30 that this would happen and that someone would have to be in to allow access, and sure enough the little yellow pipe did make it into the house... at about 16:30. So that's only eight hours of me sat around doing sweet Fanny Adams.

That phase ended with the capping of the incoming pipe, the complete removal of the meter and the assurance that a qualified gas fitter would arrive within the hour to reconnect the meter and the supply, to test the system and to restart our appliances. Now that sounded like a good plan. As the ground crew departed for the pub, two fitters arrived and worked their way around the Close.

17:30 arrived sans fitter. I went outside for a quick scan and noted that one fitter was three houses away. I figured that he was busy so I didn't trouble him.

18:30 arrived sans fitter. I went outside for another quick scan and noted that he was one house away. We would be next.

19:30 arrived sans fitter. I went outside for a yet another quick scan and noted that he and his mate were nowhere to be seen. They must be having trouble somewhere, I assumed. They were still about, though, as their van was still parked next to our house.

20:30 arrived sans fitter. I went outside for a yet another quick scan only to be told by a neighbour that the fitters had both finished and gone off in a different van... just after 18:30.

CUE THE RANT/RAGE/ANGST/EXPLETIVES

 

20:50 was when I had calmed down enough to restrict the language to no worse than a string of fecks liberally peppered with ba5tards and a few tw@ts. During this slack period I phoned the number printed in two places on the letter. 01162 574540. Imagine my glee when I found that I'd just phoned Direct Line Insurance. Undeterred, I dialled again and got the same message.

CUE THE RANT/RAGE/ANGST/EXPLETIVES AGAIN

I found out later that when they'd shut their office yesterday, the last one out had set the phone to redirect to the wrong number. Doh!

 

21:00 was when I called the emergency number. The kind folk there gave me a sensible number for National Grid, so I dialled that and told them of the situation. They arranged for a fitter to attend within the next four hours.

22:00ish and the fitter arrived. He fitted the meter and eventually turned on the gas supply. All of the appliances worked fine so I thanked him and let him go. We put the fire and the central heating on to warm the house, and sat back, relieved that it was all fixed.

23:00ish - that's when I started to smell gas. The meter cupboard stank of it.

CUE THE  RANT/RAGE/ANGST/EXPLETIVES YET AGAIN

 

I called National Grid again and they promised me a fitter within the hour, as this time the situation was classed as an emergency. He turned up at 23:45, it was the same bloke that had fitted the meter. At first he couldn't detect the leak, but we could both smell it. After repiping and then remounting the meter he found the leak, some way along the downstream pipework, in his opinion caused during the initial removal of the meter and hence the responsibility of the road-crew. He had no choice but to turn off the supply, cap the meter and place a warning on it which effectively says "If you use this you'll all burn in hell".

 

So now it's 01:45 (Wednesday) and we've no gas/heating/hot water. Again.

At 08:00 this morning the road-crew will be back to disconnect our spur from the old main and to connect it to the new one.

I really don't fancy the chances of the first one of them to knock on my door.
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