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saac

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Everything posted by saac

  1. As a flight of fancy it's fine and a fun thought but personally I think this notion of "terra forming" will forever remain the stuff of science fiction. It's easy to suggest what may be done, to let the imagination have a free hand, the hard realities of engineering however are a little more sobering. We can barely land on Mars, we can't control weather here from the comfort of our own benign environment, it took the treasure and industrial might of the richest nation on Earth just to get two people to the Moon. Anyway, should we want to practice at terraforming we have an excellent and urgent practical case waiting to be solved closer to home. As a fun exercise in imagination though I would go with building a wrap around shield around Mars - kinda like a Christmas tree bauble . Jim
  2. We have all been there, trust me. If you still do not get enough clearance with that perhaps using a side by side mounted arrangement may help. Mounting the scope on the rail furthest from the mount. Anyway, hope you get it sorted, these things can be a real niggle that just gets in the way of what you want to be doing. Jim
  3. That looks amazing. We are planning a visit to London this summer but sadly this ends In Jun otherwise it would be getting added to the list of things to do. Jim
  4. That's a cracking start then Nigella and a lovely thing to photograph, one of my favourite targets. Jim
  5. I've just looked at the calendar and it falls on a Thursday - that's a weekday so an extra day at work Jim
  6. Yep Jan was kind. I had a run of 5 clear nights in succession used 4 of them to capture 10 hours on the garnet star. With the moon bright in the sky I did some visual on the remaining clear nights - I reckon we had a good run of at least 10 clear nights throughout Jan. Come on Feb you have a lot to live up to Jim
  7. x2 for the embroidery hoops - used to good effect on my 8 inch newt. A neat and inexpensive solution. Jim
  8. Right at the very beginning when the camera is first held or attached to the telescope. Jim
  9. What happens if you don't look, is the room even lit then? (not a serious question please don't waste any oxygen considering it) And if nobody is in the room why is the light even on - have you seen the price of electricity these days - get that light off! Jim
  10. That was my thoughts. It would be good to have the versatility of using non ZWO cameras etc but the price difference is pretty significant compared to an ASiAir. Maybe this will encourage a little more development on the part of ZWO regarding software bugs on the AsiAir. I must admit though, I'm still really pleased with what the AsiAir does, it get's me up and imagining on target and guiding within minutes of rolling back the roof. I've resisted rolling over to the most recent firmware - this works so I'm leaving it alone lol. Jim
  11. I had wondered if the likes of Google Maps offered something that could easily be adapted to do this - I know for example that you can embed Google Maps into a web page. Re sharing location, yep I can see how that would be sensitive, I certainly wouldn't like to drop a pin on my home coordinates! So with that in mind, I thought the location could be at say county level (Local Authority/State etc) rather than anything that could reveal a more precise location. Here's a thought maybe one of the web sites that allow you to upload data from a home weather station would be suitable. The idea is just to have a quick visual indication of where it is clear and observation activity. Jim
  12. Here's a thought! It would be nice to have a map of the UK where we could say drop a pin or similar to show on a daily basis if we have clear sky and are observing or imaging. If each night could be saved then we would have a UK record for the year where maybe the pages could be played in movie mode so we can see the changing pattern and average activity across the year. Ok so it's cloudy here and I have nothing better to do than think of this type of thing lol. So over to the clever talented people of SGL who can do web design/coding Jim
  13. Calm before the 2nd storm here tonight after yesterday's hammering we are now awaiting Storm Jocelyn. I guess we are paying for last week's good run. On the positive side - it can only get better Jim
  14. Alan, Olly, tx - I agree the colour is a bit muted. I do tend to go for a light touch on colour but yes I agree that there is a bit more it can give here. I'll check the debayer pattern has been picked up correctly as well. The colour in the stars could certainly be brought out. Thanks guys, first time with data over multiple nights (only used Flats/Darks from the last night) so I was a bit anxious to see how it came out. Jim
  15. We had a good start to the new year last week in NE Fife with 4 good clear nights in succession; gave me an opportunity to image over multiple nights for the first time. I managed to capture close to 10 .5 hours (240s subs) with my RedCat and ZWO 183MCPro - no filters save UV and IR cut. Processed in PixInsight then PS. Criticism, hints and help most welcome. Jim
  16. There is a very complementary review of the CQ350 in this month's edition of BBC Sky at Night magazine. Jim
  17. If both are red-shifted then as Andrew said both are moving away from Earth. The respective red shift ratio would give an indication of their recessional velocities. Jim
  18. 60F that is shorts and T shirt weather here - I dream of being able to do astronomy in those conditions, that is the proper way Jim
  19. Are they optical fibres, being used to do spectroscopy? Jim
  20. @900SL we are sharing Helsinki's clear sky tonight but thankfully not your temperature! NE Fife sky is crystal clear and calm, temperature a balmy -8 oC. So far the start of 2024 has delivered - I've never done so much imaging on school nights Jim
  21. That is a lovely setup you have there Nigella. I don't know much about the Cq350 so looking forward to hearing how you get on with it. How are you planning to raise the pillar? I suffered the opposite problem when I upgraded with an Esprit 120 this summer. It collided with the internal roof supports! I ended up lowering the pier by cutting in a new foundation for it. The added benefit made it an easier lift when putting the scope on and off the mount. Anyway, looks like you are having fun there, these are the enjoyable projects. Jim
  22. I was way too optimistic earlier on this evening, totally clouded over now. But as @Chaz2b said Thursday night looks like it may have some potential Jim
  23. You need a blow torch Dave - nothing worse than wood that won't burn. My observatory thermometer said it was -4, that seemed a bit too low, though it was really cold when standing in the wind. One of those nights where you can smell that there is snow in the air. I'm almost glad that the clouds have rolled in, I'll be pulling the roof back shortly I think. Jim
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