steppenwolf

4 hours ago, tomato said:

Yes, the loos. After a visit we used to get fumigated on Nitro fumes when the fuelers were warming up in the pits. At the end of my career in the chemical industry I moved into health and safety, when giving COSHH talks I’m glad nobody had any footage of me as a youth in the pits  at the Pod, eyes streaming from Nitric acid fumes.☺️

🤣🤣🤣

On 30/05/2024 at 20:18, tomato said:

In the early 1990’s @Tomatobro put a data logger on our drag racing car to measure crankshaft, prop shaft revolutions and a 5th wheel to measure track speed at about the same time the Racepak computer became available in the US. It used to intrigue the spectators in the pits when we attached a little thermal printer to it and printed out all the numbers after each run.

Drag-racing, haven't been to Santa Pod for years - it used to be a regular 'Father and Sons' weekend and we loved it, the camping, the camaraderie, the barbecues, the music, the ease of access to the pits and the 'willing to talk' mechanics! Oh yes, and the loos, OMG, the loos ........ 😲🤣

4 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

I don't have any actual analog synthesisers (or digital ones for that matter) and do all my stuff from Arturia emulations which are so incredibly good you'd never know the difference and they integrate tightly with my Arturia Keylab keyboard.  I can emulate dozens of classic synths such as Korg MS-20, Jun6/8, SQ80 etc.

It's always a fascinating discussion and there is no correct answer/method as it is all a matter of personal choice! Time was when all I wanted to do was connect my computer to everything, my amateur radio gear, my telephone (remember CompuServe?), my camera, my homebuilt sports car, my telescope and so on but when I got the electronic music bug, I really wanted to distance myself from the PC and get down to some serious 'old school' analogue knob twiddling like they used to do in the 60s and 70s! I do use my PC as part of my workflow but only for recording the output from my synths after I have mixed them down into four channels on my Mackie mixer(s). I use four channels (two stereo pairs) so that I can choose which instruments will be recorded raw and which ones will have a touch of reverb added to them by my software reverb plugin (Valhalla Shimmer mainly although I do have several others).

All of that said, a good friend of mine uses a system similar to yours whereby everything is done on his PC using BitWig and Arturia V and his musical creations are magical, it's just not for me, I want real 'hands-on'! 

1 hour ago, tomato said:

I was going to ask if you wore some kind of wizard’s outfit when you were playing the keyboards, but I thought that might be a bit disrespectful.☺️

Trust me, when I am playing my keyboards, NOTHING is disrespectful but the sounds can be excruciating 🤣🤣 

6 hours ago, tomato said:

Wow, Rick Wakeman, eat your heart out!☺️

Sadly, I lack two very important ingredients there - talent and a gold cape🤣 

7 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

Do I spy a Korg there, Steve????

Funnily enough, I don’t have any Korg equipment although I do like the brand and was so tempted by their ARP 2600 clone but at the time, I just couldn’t justify the premium price! Other equipment there includes, underneath the Theremin, a Nektar Panorama P6 keyboard (that I absolutely guarantee you will be able to play several times better than me!!), above the Moog Subsequent 37 on the left of the main desk is a Roland AP300 keyboard, to its right are two Mackie analogue mixers that between them allow me to mix down a total of 20 channels, below them is my Presonus 6 channel audio interface for my DAW (Presonus Studio One) and below that is a Roland TR-8S drum machine. To the TR-8S’ right is an Arturia Mini keyboard that I use to drive my modular gear via direct voltage control. Underneath the Behringer ARP 2600 clone is my Doepfer Dark Time analogue sequencer that I have modified to be more Eurorack compatible BUT nothing KORG!

On 23/05/2024 at 12:04, Stuart1971 said:

Need some cable management there….😮😂

Yup, certainly do, both under the benches and on the modules although in fairness, the modules *should* look like that! 🤣 🤣

4 hours ago, 900SL said:

Is that an original Moog?

Although a lot of my equipment is genuine Moog, it is all current, not from the early 55/35/10 series. The vertical stack on the right has four Moog synths, the lower keyboard on the left is a Moog synth and the white object in the foreground is a Moog Theremin. The ‘vintage’ cabinet has three rows of AJH MiniMod modules - the top row is a modular recreation of a very early MiniMoog, the second and third rows are also by AJH and contain various LFOs, envelope generators and other utility modules that move the MiniMoog section closer to an original series 55/35/10 system. The synth on the far right is a clone of the ARP 2600.

@Mandy D I really hope you break this Covid cycle once and for all - it sounds like it is wreaking havoc on your life ☹️

5 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

The thing to remember about our passions (I hate the word 'hobbies') is that they're not compulsory. I felt ridiculously guilty over cutting right down on my cycling but the emotional need for it had just gone. So be it.

Enjoy the music making!  Erm, I like singing. Would you like to hear me? 😬👹🤪

Olly

You make a very good point, Olly and one that does come up from time to time - I have said on more than one occasion that we shouldn’t feel guilty if we don’t image on EVERY clear night!!

Of course we want to hear you sing, Olly 😂😂

5 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

I'm also into Electronic music production as well Steve as well as Piano playing blues/Jazz/classical.  Using Ableton 12 but I am falling more and more back onto Logic Pro.  I use an Alturia Keylab 88 Mk II on Apple Studio Ultra with 192G of RAM.  I use this same machine for PixInsight and Photoshop for my astronomy processing.

It is quite amazing just how many people with an interest in astronomy also have a passion for creating music in one form or another.

That is such a neat installation - sadly, because I am into old school analogue modular, my studio is a little bit more sprawling 😱

10 hours ago, tomato said:

Ah yes, the neighbour’s tree growth. All was well when I moved to a new build estate 5 years ago but the neighbour where my dome is adjacent to the boundary fence planted a laurel bush, presumably to shield his view of my glorious green dome. It has now reached a height where the top branches are starting to appear in the aperture when I image East. Their bungalow roof stops me imaging below 25 degrees alt anyway and beyond that is the sky glow from Telford, so I reckon I have a couple of more years before it gets a real problem.

I’m sorry to hear this, Steve - how very frustrating for you. How cool would it be if we could afford to move somewhere with no neighbours and no nearby towns? 😂

3 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

I am getting remarried in 18 months and moving home  - into Bortle 6-7 - and I am considering abandoning the obs in favour of a more portable setup for AP - I'm trying to think outside the box for my AP future.  You could do something similar perhaps?  I hope I don't appear to be interfering and of course respectful of your decision - but there are always other options?

Congratulations on your plans to remarry - I wish you all the luck in the World.

As you rightly say, there are indeed other options to consider. I have carefully considered several options including installing a remote installation from a commercial site abroad or renting time on a shared system but this really isn’t for me as much of the pleasure I have enjoyed has been from the ‘hands on’ aspect of my installation, despite it being operated ‘remotely’ from my own garden! I have also considered a portable rig and visiting dark sites but this simply wouldn’t fit in with my current family life which is why I went down the locally ‘remote’, automated route in the first place. So, much as I appreciate the suggestions and I really do appreciate them, I know that for me, they would not work out.

I am very fortunate in that I have other interests outside astronomy that can be enjoyed at any time and one in particular (electronic music production from my home recording studio 🙄 😱) will now benefit from the extra time that I have available so I will not be vegetating and I will still be keeping my astronomy hand in, albeit on a more academic level than before. 

I am very touched that not only this thread has been started but that it has also been commented in, thank you.

As those of you who know me will understand, this has been a really hard decision to make as astrophotography has been such an important part of my life for many years. 

Here in the UK, we are used to poor weather, it literally goes with the territory! I can cope with that and just make sure that I make the very best use of the good opportunities that present themselves but my issues, that have grown (quite literally in one case) worse over the last three years have made my situation intolerable.

The major issue has been a significant change in the unfortunate local microclimate that I have to contend with situated at the very foot of the South Downs - this has always produced a lot of excess moisture in the atmosphere but in recent years it has been exacerbated by climate change so even on nights when my astronomy friends are experiencing crisp, clear skies I am bathed in a thin mist that saps the detail from my images so it is even more rare for me to experience a really good sky!

The second issue is the encroachment of trees in my neighbours’ gardens and their refusal to do anything about them unless I pay to have them trimmed on their terms at my cost - the last trimming lasted less than 5 years and cost me over £1500 and that was for just one elevation! My ‘best’ local horizon is currently 32 degrees elevation….. I could move but that is really too much of an upheaval and there are so many important family reasons for not doing so.

One of the things that is really important to me is to try and progress and produce better images but the sky conditions discussed above are making that impossible. The other thing I have wanted to achieve is to seek out new (to me) targets as I have found myself re-taking the same objects again and again but I am thwarted in this endeavour by my horizon limits and although one could argue that perhaps I should be visiting dark sites and imaging there, my deep sky imaging model is observatory based so that’s not going to happen!

I have had a great time and met some wonderful people both locally and on SGL in the pursuit of deep sky imaging and my passion for astronomy has not left me but I am old enough and wise enough to know when the frustrations are taking too high a toll and that’s where I am now. I will continue to be a member here on SGL and remain as a moderator and I will continue to be a participating member of the small imaging group that meets monthly for a top notch dinner and astrophotography discussions that continue into the wee small hours so I am not leaving astronomy altogether and it certainly isn’t a sinking ship so please don’t follow my example on this one 🤣 !

I hope to continue to meet you all on here in the future.

Not seeing a problem - as an ex-astrophotographer, I now see these things as an object of beauty 😱 How could you NOT like something like this?

On 30/04/2024 at 20:08, Vroobel said:

This flat field panel sold by @steppenwolf looks like homemade, so ask him please for details.

The Panel was commercially made by a company called Earlsmann. My contribution to it was to mount the supplied panel on a sheet of Correx to protect it and keep it flat (oops, pun!) and to arrange the fine connecting wire to have a detent to ensure that it couldn't easily be pulled from the EL panel if it slid off the telescope!

@Captain Scarlet Hi Magnus, it's great to see it going to such a good home.👍

The Monkey Head Nebula 

The Monkey Head Nebula is an HII emission nebula located 6400 light years away in the constellation of Orion. The nebula is associated with an open cluster of mag. +6.8 located at its centre. With a diameter of approximately 40 arcminutes, the nebula is larger than the full Moon. There is much debate over the correct designation of this object as some sources cite the nebula as being NGC 2174 and some stating the nebula as being NGC 2174/5. What is not in contention is that Stewart Sharpless logged this object as SH2-252 in his second and final catalogue completed in 1959. Personally, I go for the nebula being NGC 2174 and the open cluster being NGC 2175!

It was my original intention to produce a bi-colour version of this image but the skies were atrocious and I was running out of time before a major re-shuffle of my gear so just the Ha is displayed here and even then, I only managed to capture 3 subframes before the clouds rolled in (AGAIN!).

Image Stats
Mount: Mesu 200
Telescope: William Optics FLT 98
Flattener: William Optics FR IV
Camera: QSI 683 WSG-8
Filter: Astrodon 3nm Ha
Subframes: 3 x 1800 sec Ha
Integration: 1.5 hours
Control: CCD Commander
Capture: MaxIm DL
Calibration, Stacking and Deconvolution: PixInsight
Post-Processing: PhotoShop PS3

Visually

This target lies 2.3° to the southeast of mag. +3.3 Propus and is a two for one object, comprising an open cluster (NGC 2175) and an emission nebula (NGC 2174) although most astronomers associate the nebula with NGC 2175. Lying in a rich star field, the almost circular shape is punctured by a dent in its western edge which stands out particularly well in images and helps to form the ‘monkey-head’ shape from which the nebula gets its common name. Inboard of this dent towards the east is an area of intense star birth. You’ll need a very large telescope to discern the shape of the nebula but a 4 to 6-inch telescope will show the open cluster very well.

Location of Nebula and associated Star Cluster

RA: 06h09m 36.0s DE:+20°29'00"

Location of the open star cluster NGC 2175

Star Birth Region

On the eastern limb there is a dent pushing westward into the nebula and here there is a huge stellar nursery that featured in the Hubble Space Telescope’s IR image (http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2014-18) released on 17th March, 2014. The nebula is comprised mainly of hydrogen gas which is ionised by the intense ultraviolet radiation emitted by the hot young stars within the nebula. This ionisation causes the hydrogen to glow red. Also associated with this nebula are some faint regions of reflection nebulosity giving a hazy blue appearance and some relatively faint dust lanes add interest to the interior.

I hope you find this of some use as sadly, it will be the last image that I capture using this particular telescope and camera.

Like several 'Smart Telescopes' before it, it is too much money - ZWO and Dwarf Lab may not be as potentially competent but they are so much more affordable for those wanting to dip a toe .....

7 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

What the heck is the world coming to?

Be careful though, you might get hooked 

I know, Michael, it is a shock and yet another example of the world changing  ..... I'll try not to do it too often 😄

9 hours ago, RobertI said:

Nice to see you here Steve! Glad you managed to share some views with the family and create some memories. Saturn always elicits a WOW from anyone that sees it. I was viewing from a mostly cloudy Kelling last night but managed to catch a Jupiter shadow transit. 🙂

It was really good fun, Rob  and made a very pleasant change from my usual imaging sessions and certainly made some memories.

Well, this is a rare experience for me! A lovely crisp, clear night last night apart from a few clouds skidding past so not really an imaging night. However, my son and daughter-in-law are currently staying with us and Naomi has always said that she’d like too see Saturn ‘for real’ so a great opportunity to take the camera off the Esprit 150 and replace it with a diagonal and eyepiece(s). Not well placed at the moment but Naomi was blown away by her first real life view of a planet so we followed it up with Jupiter which was equally well received. 
Two hours later ……… Highlights included, Vega, M57, M13, Albireo, M31, M81, M82 and The Pleiades.

Apparently, we are going to do this again on the next clear night where I will expect more really good and excited questions!

Excellent answer from Oddsocks 👍

Well here’s a first for me!

Over the weekend, the sky was remarkably clear so I set up an automated imaging run on NGC 2024 (The Flame Nebula in Orion) and was disappointed to discover that the autofocus system failed to focus correctly. I carried out a manual test and noted that bright stars had a huge doughnut shaped halo around them but a quick glance outside confirmed the CloudWatcher’s assessment that there was no cloud around.

It looked like this was local moisture but a close examination of the optics and field flattener of my Esprit 150 showed absolutely perfect condition and a quick glance at the filter with the camera removed also showed no sign of moisture so it had to be inside the camera.

The QSI 683 is factory supplied purged with Argon gas which normally lasts for 2-3 years and then the installed micro-sieve desiccant in the supplied desiccant canister takes over. However, I have had the camera for 9 years and even though it has been installed in a de-humidified observatory, the atrociously wet conditions and a change in the way I use the dehumidifier (humidistat control rather than always ON because of the cost of energy these days!!), I guess the desiccant became saturated. 

So, instead of spending money on powering the dehumidifier 24/7, I am currently paying to run my oven at 260°C for 5 hours to expel all the captured moisture from the desiccant canister!

Wish me luck – do you think I could bake a cake at the same time to get my money’s worth? 

Unscrew the Bolts on the Canister Cover

Remove the Canister Cover and Brass Canister

Remove the 'O' Ring from the Brass Canister

Place the Brass Canister on a brand new Baking Tray with the Opening upwards

Bake for 5 hours at 260°C

Serve with Favourite Meal

I have all my astro gear purchases on a spreadsheet too and it makes for somber reading. However, it also has the items that were subsequently sold and the funds raised used to buy stuff for my other ‘hobbies’ so I reckon that I’m getting great value all round. I even have a spreadsheet of the amateur radio gear that I sold in 2004 to finance the purchase of my first astro gear so I can fool myself that I’m actually quids in!!