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JamesF

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JamesF last won the day on May 25 2021

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    Wiveliscombe-ish, Somerset

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  1. Perhaps this might particularly appeal to @ollypenrice given his past profession though possibly he already knows. I have to confess my complete ignorance... My wife has been binge-watching some of the "Who do you think you are?" series recently and as we have no children at home tonight she insisted that we watch one programme whilst eating dinner (last of the great romantics, she is ). In this case the subject of the programme was Judi Dench. Whilst she may perhaps be best known by some for her film work, she and her husband apparently nicknamed Shakespeare as "the man who pays the rent". She claimed at the start of the programme that she knew absolutely nothing of her Irish mother's family history, so obviously they were going to do some digging there. It turned out that a nine times great grandfather on her mother's side, a member of the Danish aristocracy, had a sister Beata who married a chap called Otto Brahe. In time they had a son called Tycho. Yes, that Tycho. Beata was apparently a senior member of the Danish court and spent some years serving the Queen at the castle in Helsingør, or in its Anglicised form, Elsinore, where Hamlet is set (also the first major play in which Judi Dench starred). Apparently there's an engraving of Tycho Brahe from the mid-1800s showing the coats of arms of his relatives which include the families Guldesteren and Rosenkrans. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern also appear in Hamlet. The engraving also bears Brahe's motto, "Non haberi sed esse". I'm not sure I follow the translation used in the programme, but they claimed it means "Not what appears (to be), but what is" and that a very similar line is also used in Hamlet. I don't know the play well enough to comment on that one, but it strikes me as a particularly appropriate motto for Brahe. Who knows whether Shakespeare knew of Brahe or his work, but it's a nice idea that he might have provided some little inspiration for the play. James
  2. In that case I'd suggest trying #10-24 UNC bolts. They're available on ebay for a pound or three in small pack sizes, so if it isn't the right size you shouldn't have wasted too much cash. James
  3. And if you're interested, the source code repository appears to be here: https://github.com/celstark/OpenNebulosity James
  4. A hunt around on the net suggests that 3/16" BSW is interchangeable with #10-24 UNC and if the same diameters of UNC and BSW are also supposed to be interchangeable then some #10-24 UNC bolts should do the job I think. Could be worth waiting to see if @inFINNity Deck can confirm the sizing though. James
  5. To the best of my knowledge UNC threads are specified by diameter and the number of threads per inch meaning that 3/8-16 would be a 3/8" diameter thread with 16 threads per inch, but I'm fairly sure that all threads of the same diameter have the same number of threads per inch so just giving the diameter (3/16" in this case) should be sufficient to get the correct thread. That said, I thought all UNC threads smaller than 1/4" diameter were given numbers and tpi rather than sizes, so I'm not sure what 3/16" might actually be if you wanted to buy some. It might be #10-24, but don't quote me on that. A 3/16" BSW thread should also fit, I think. BSW and UNC threads are mostly interchangeable. I hate non-metric threads James
  6. You need at least one, so you can tell people who can't keep their hands to themselves to go and stand in it. James
  7. Our posts crossed, but vlaiv appears to have confirmed what I posted, explaining it better in the process James
  8. The mechanical performance of the mount will obviously impose some sort of limit -- the better it tracks or can be guided, the longer exposure is possible. My understanding is that there's also a "signal processing" type of limit as well, beyond which increasing the exposure time really doesn't usefully get you any more data. From memory (ie, I could well be wrong ) it's the point at which the background noise from the sky swamps the read noise from the sensor. Robin Glover (of SharpCap fame) made a very informative presentation a couple of years back that you may find helpful. I've not used SharpCap for years, but I think there's support for doing some of the necessary calculations built into the software. The presentation is here, amongst other places: James
  9. Good idea. It's expensive enough as it is getting started in imaging. Being able to save a bit of cash when starting out by using GIMP instead of the paid-for alternatives has got to be helpful. James
  10. @Peter Drew as far as I'm aware. It being Texas however, I was expecting something much bigger James
  11. Much as I don't really enjoy Christmas (partly because I tell people that and they look at me like I have two heads, which I can live with, but the other head apparently feels self-conscious about it), I think this is a fun idea. James
  12. Also series such as James Burke's "Connections". Barring the occasional unfortunate excesses of 1970's fashion I reckon those programmes could be broadcast pretty much verbatim today and still be really engaging. I really should try to get hold of a copy of "The Day the Universe Changed", too. James
  13. Yeah, that Barry Lineker is well overpaid, I reckon. James
  14. Quite possibly cyanide too unless they manage to pulp and press the fruit without damaging any of the seeds. James
  15. Well why not? Bananas contain potassium-40 which is radioactive so I'd have thought other food items might be likely to do something similar. James
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