JamesF

I wonder if the crew know what's going on outside?  It must be a real downer if you don't know and you see the hatch open.  Even if they do know, they must be aware that there's a very narrow launch window and any problem has the potential to write off the launch.

James

I was planning to get a reasonably early night, but I think I'm going to have to stay up to watch this one.

James

Well done, Nigella :)

James

When you say you "cut a clamp in half", what sort of clamp do you mean?

James

Is it upgrade time already?!  Seems to come around so fast these days.  I wonder if it will even run on my 2013 MBP.  I seemed to be quite near the bottom of the list of supported hardware when Catalina came out.

I'll have to look for some instructions for downloading for manual installation.  It takes so long for  Apple's stuff to download over my <3Mb/s ADSL connection that I want control of when it is happening.  Downloading the 7GB Xcode 11 image was a nightmare.  Took me about a week.  And I see Xcode 12 is up to 10GB.  I've not dared try that one yet.

James

4 hours ago, DaveS said:

I saw This on the BBC site and wondered how it would affect FLO.

Yes, I noticed that and thought that it probably wouldn't be good news (for all sorts of reasons, not just astronomy).

James

I've not bothered with a display on the one I've built so far.  If you're at the telescope it may be helpful, but I'll be in the warm room or perhaps even in the house if I get the observatory roof automated, so for me I don't think there's a need for it.

James

1 hour ago, wormix said:

Not that I have any need for 10 boards whatsoever (or any for that matter) - but it’s useful to know for future projects that this company exists.  In fact I may build a focuser - cost for 10 of the recommended boards is only £7.65

Ye gods!  That's insanely cheap.  I have one focuser already built and intend to build a few more.  At that price it's hardly worth the effort of trying to do it on stripboard.

James

Just now, andrew s said:

Chain saw! What's wrong with you teeth beaver style.

They're at the dentist, being repaired from last time :D

James

Actually, it's just struck me that one of  the interesting ways astronomy has brought about a reconnection with nature for me is that I now recognise many of the nocturnal denizens of our area just by the noises they make as they wander around looking for food or doing whatever else they do.  And whilst it's not common for me to be able to hear them, seeing the bats hunting in the twilight is a great pleasure too.

James

Well, I am reconnecting with nature through the use of technology today.  Just having a break from chainsawing up bits of felled tree to feed the log-burners this winter, out in the wind and rain.  (In fact, the reason I'm having a break is because it suddenly got a bit torrential :)

James

8 minutes ago, andrew s said:

lacks durability externally

"Rots at the merest whiff of damp air"   I've seen a few nice pieces of furniture made from it though.

We have a large ash tree at the back of the house.  Unfortunately a few others around it are starting to show signs that might be indicative of ash dieback.  If we have to have ours cut down as a result I'm going to try to have it cut into floorboards that I can use in another building project I have in mind.

James

10 hours ago, Mr Thingy said:

I have a slightly different quandry, but still related to the topic of nature. 

My neighbour has asked if we have objections to removal of a massive sycamore tree from their garden. I have mixed feelings as this thing blocks my NE view but it's also a great habitat for bird and insect life. Such a massive tree can't easily be replaced, of course.

I appreciate your point of view, though I'm no particular fan of sycamore I have to admit.  We have a lot of it around here and it feeds a lot of aphids which in turn attract other insects and birds such as swallows (which I do love to see).  However, it's also hideously invasive to the point of almost being a weed.

In your situation I think I'd be inclined to say that you can accept that it may not be the ideal tree to have in their garden but it's a shame to completely remove something that provides a home and food to so many animals and why don't they consider planting a different tree (or two) to replace it (not necessarily in the same location).  It could be an ornamental tree, but perhaps a fruit tree on a rootstock that will keep it to a manageable size and which will also feed many insects might provide more enjoyment.  If they won't run with the idea then they won't, but if they do then it's at least some small mitigation for the removal of the sycamore.

James

11 hours ago, Waddensky said:

I try to follow the natural rhythms as much as I can. I enjoy darkness, and not only from a stargazing point of view. I like to take long walks in the night, the sound of migrating geese, a sudden encounter with a deer, well that kind of stuff 😉.

More and more I find myself wanting to "reconnect" with nature.  The greater the time I spend doing so, the more content and peaceful I feel.

James

2 hours ago, fozzybear said:

blonde moment what about soldering the diode to a jst pin then inserting that into the board or would that create any problems? 

After I gave up trying to file down the diode leads I soldered fly leads to them (as suggested by someone else on SGL) and soldered the fly leads to the board (having covered the exposed parts in heatshrink).  I see no reason why using pins should be any different.

James

I tried filing down the leads on one of those diodes.  That was sufficient to persuade me to find another way :)

James

10 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

I always take flats because of dust bunnies on my sensor, which change from time to time.  But I have wondered whether angle matters much because as far as vignetting is concerned telescopes are rotationally symmetrical.  

I find myself wondering if vignetting is symmetrical in practice even if it might be in theory.

James

17 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

I'm always surprised by those who think that humanity will endure beyond a few seconds into the future

I am often amazed that we've even got this far.

James

Indeed.  Looking very promising.  I've been very happy with my Todmorden piers, btw.  You shouldn't have any problems there.

James

1 hour ago, Floater said:

Reread it but still can’t find the bit where ‘it went political’. ??

I couldn't either, but on a second reading it occurs to me that describing Joe Biden as "President Elect" might be considered political by some and not by others.  If that's the case perhaps for the sake of harmony and in observation of the CoC we'd best just skip over that bit and stick to the photos.

There are a few I'd love to own.  The Yuri Gagarin one, and the Ed White spacewalk ones.  And the Earthrise photos too, especially the sequences.  And on the Moon itself the classic "footprint" and the Buzz Aldrin on with the reflection of Neil Armstrong in his visor.

All likely to end up way, way, way beyond my pocket though.

James

1 minute ago, fifeskies said:

Only trouble with cloud storage  (and I do use some myself) is that astro files are so big it takes ages to upload or download significant amounts of it.

Not the "only" trouble, perhaps.  Personally I don't trust any third party not to turn around one day and say "Oh, sorry, we lost all your data and we can't get it back".  Privacy is also an issue, but one that is perhaps a little easier to keep some control of.

James

This is a problem I've been pondering on myself of late.  Perhaps it's down to my age :)

There's lots of stuff I have in electronic form -- photos, useful documents and suchlike, that I'd like to be able to save somewhere for the people who will inherit my debts when I finally shuffle off.  There doesn't seem to be a modern equivalent of the shoebox full of old family photos on top of the wardrobe though.  We need some reliable high-volume storage medium that is pretty much guaranteed to be readable (ie it won't have degraded and the technology will still be easily obtainable) in, say, fifty or one hundred years time.

It's an odd thought that we still have access to the original Magna Carta, now over 800 years old, but, say, an ebook published now and available to far more people may completely disappear without record within a few tens of years.

James

My, my.  Monstrously murky.  Marvellously managed.

James

No, don't trouble yourself :)  I have sometimes thought that it would be nice not to have to go out in the rain to open or close up the chicken houses and that perhaps I could motorise the doors, but if it bothered me that much I'd have done it already :D

James

I feel so behind the curve now for actually having to go out and open/close chicken house doors every morning and evening.

Do you also have a little conveyor belt to deliver the eggs to your kitchen? :D

James