JamesF

3 minutes ago, Moonshed said:

Perhaps if any members are the proud owners of a wooden tube scope they could stick their hand up.

Here's one for you.  Not mine, but Patrick Moore's, with Damian Peach in attendance.

James

Excellent :)  It was a bit of a guess, so I'm pleased it worked out.

James

3 minutes ago, Neo_uk said:

Hi ...

I was wondering if any one can help with the setup process of a starlight xpress sxvr-h694 ccd with astrophotography tools .

I've download the drivers from sxpress and installed them laptop has found and recognized the camera but doesnt appear in the camera selection in apt ....any help would be much appreciated. 

Many thanks chris.

It may be that you need ASCOM drivers installed too.

James

11 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Presumably it will have boosters strapped on the side to escape Earth gravity.

The rocket tested yesterday is actually intended to be a second stage.  There will be a much bigger first stage to get it off the ground, I believe.

James

1 hour ago, neilmack said:

Is it because I have been out of the market for a while, or is there really a shortage of stuff on the shelves with the major dealers? And, if so, is that because more folk are pursuing the hobby during lockdown, or because the Bat 'Flu has disrupted supplies?

 

I'm struggling to find things to squander money on!

A bit of both, I think.  Steve@FLO said that lockdown resulted in a noticeable boost to sales, but the virus has disrupted manufacturing and even if that is now recovering there appear to be all sorts of congestion issues at British docks (perhaps not just British, to be fair) meaning that new goods and materials can't even be landed.  There was a piece on the BBC News site a couple of days back suggesting that at least one problem is that many empty shipping containers are not getting back to the exporters and are just clogging up ports instead.

James

3 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

You could mount a red dot finder in the flash host shoe and align with that. This is what I do.

I've done exactly that before now, too.

Regarding the weight of the lens, when I've used larger lenses I've sometimes fitted a lens mounting ring to support the lens instead of the camera and fitted that to a dovetail.

James

1 minute ago, Davey-T said:

One of the guys said the fuel tanks were single skin which is why they got ice on the outside.

When the top half of the rocket crumpled on impact it did give the impression of being a single skin too.

James

10 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

It's good for spraying on rusted on nuts and setting fire to it 😂

Well, heat can sometimes work in such situations :)

James

I think it was mentioned last night that there is intended to be additional shielding for re-entry.  It's possible they also said that they were "upgrading" the construction to use 314 stainless, but they'd not switched over to it completely as yet.

James

I'm very much looking forward to seeing how SN9 does now.  Last night they seemed to think it wouldn't be too long before it is ready to go, though I guess they need to address the fuel pressure issue first.

James

8 minutes ago, wulfrun said:

Yes I remember Jenolite, my Dad's favourite rust treatment in the days when cars' steel was biodegradeable.

I've been there too :)

8 minutes ago, wulfrun said:

WD40 is something I've always shunned, it's a water-dispersant (clue is in the initials, and the 40 is for "40th attempt") that seems to have gained a reputation is doesn't deserve as a do-it-all wonder fluid. It's pretty good as a water-dispersant and inferior for anything else.

These days even the manufacturer says that it's good for almost anything.  They may have changed the composition of the product I guess, but I agree, there are better products for many of the purposes for which it often gets used.  Sometimes even just a splash of light oil.

James

1 hour ago, johnfosteruk said:

Yep. Just heard the R2 news, they went with ‘A revolutionary new SpaceX rocket exploded last night’

I think that tends to give an impression that perhaps misrepresents what happened :)

James

Oh dear.  BBC News headline for this story today:

"Elon Musk's Starship prototype makes a big impact"

James

"All they need to do for SN9 is fill in a big hole in the landing pad"

James

3 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Hmm, if this is the way Starship is supposed to touch down on Mars, it just seems like an awful complex maneuver to undertake, too much that can go wrong.

I wonder if there's enough atmosphere on Mars to "fly".  Perhaps somewhere like that the landing would be done differently?

James

1 minute ago, Ags said:

I was worried on the way up, it looked like there was a fire or malfunctioning engine as the the rocket tail was irregular and smokey.

I thought that too.  Perhaps that's just the way they shut down, but there did seem to be a big flare at one point.

James

It looked to me that the rocket didn't fire early enough to get the descent under control before it hit the pad, but otherwise that was so impressive.

James

34 minutes ago, Nugs said:

Total newbie here looking to explore the 'dark art' of astrophotography.

I have zero knowledge of astronomy, so I'm sure I'm set for a steep learning curve, but i will embrace the journey.

Welcome from just over the border in Somerset :)

James

Interesting that they have to unload the fuel to chill it again and then reload it.

James

Just now, Seelive said:

Good job they don't have a fixed launch window - or do they?

The party has to be all over by 11pm our time, I believe.

James

1 minute ago, johnfosteruk said:

I'm picturing an old boy in a Cessna

Anyone know what Harrison Ford is up to?

James

Hmm.  Mary is a documentarian?  How old is that?

James

I don't reckon "Mary" really exists.  Everyone else gets to speak, but not her.

James

2 minutes ago, Jonk said:

Like this?

Very similar, though I can't have it full-screen because we don't have the bandwidth.  And it doesn't help that I'm trying to upload new builds of oacapture either.

James