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Space Ranger

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Posts posted by Space Ranger

  1. The attached image shows the bright winter stars that form the Winter Hexagon. It was captured from a dark location in Caithness in northern Scotland on a particularly chilly night (-12 deg C), but the view of the star filled sky made it well worth braving the cold. This single long exposure was taken with a soft focus filter over the camera lens in the style of astrophotographer Akira Fuji. I like how the filter makes the brighter stars more prominent, helping the constellation shapes & star colours become more distinct.

    The image is a single shot captured using a static tripod, DSLR and wide angle lens (astromodded Canon 600D, 16mm FL, f3.5, ISO6400, 30s). Processing was done in Adobe Lightroom 6 & Paintshop Pro.

    Hope you like it :)

    Polish_20210217_233349829-01.jpeg

    • Like 20
  2. Thank you Richard. That was a really fabulous presentation.

    Also being a chemist, this has been a topic of interest to me for years. Last year I was lucky enough to take a trip to see a chemical elements exhibit in the Ulster Museum in Belfast - https://www.nmni.com/whats-on/elements-exhibition. It was fascinating, and if in the area it's well worth a visit. The person who put it all together is Dr Mike Simms - one of the people who has been researching the location of the asteroid impact site in northern Scotland 1.2 billion years ago - https://blog.geolsoc.org.uk/2019/06/10/scotlands-earth-shattering-secret-how-to-find-a-meteorite-impact-crater/

    Here's a few weblinks I found of particular interest whilst reading up on the topic in the past few years. Maybe others will find them of interest too...

    https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-chemical-history-of-the-universe ; http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~jaj/nucleo/index.html

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3cyRVDoePNf_rLQlwKpdeg/videos

    https://elements.wlonk.com/ElementsTable.htm

     

    • Like 1
  3. On 14/02/2020 at 19:53, maw lod qan said:

    Wonderful!

     

    On 15/02/2020 at 08:05, Whistlin Bob said:

    That's very well done!

    Thank you both. Glad you like the end result.

    Just in case anyone is wondering why only 29 exposures were taken it was due to clouds interfering. I would normally look to have star trails covering a 20-50 min period (not easy at times in the north of Scotland)

  4. This image shows star trails over the largest of the two Neolithic Grey Cairns of Camster.

    It was produced by taking 29 exposures (Canon 760D, 30s, ISO6400, f/3.5, 16mm FL equivalent) in sequence, which were processed using StarStax to produce the star trails, with final image adjustments carried out in Adobe Lightroom 6 . This is a very dark location, so a dimmed LED light panel was located about 30m down the hillside to gently illuminate the stones of the cairn.

    I waited many months for the free time and right conditions to capture this image composition. I felt that the short passage of time shown by the star trails, would provide an interesting contrast with the 5000 years that had passed since these chambered cairns were originally built and used by humans. The imaging was timed so that some faint aurora above the horizon provided colourful backlighting to the scene.

    PassageOfTime_CamsterCairns_GMackie_24Oct2019.JPG

    • Like 22
  5. Earlier this summer I sent FLO some technical queries and sought some advice over planned new equipment purchases. I got prompt replies from Martin each time, and they always contained very useful advice. Eventually after much deliberation and plenty of research I placed an order and the order arrived safe and sound.

    One item (astrozap dew shield) was the wrong size, but as FLO had advised the size I needed to order they sorted out return and replacement with little fuss.

    Overall I have to commend them for their excellent pre-sales support. Hopefully I won't have to test it further, but there are also indications that their after sales support is just as good. I would certainly buy from them again.

    • Like 1
  6. Bought a ZWO ASI120MC camera and reticle eyepiece from this company about 2 months ago. I was extremely pleased with the customer service provided by Zoltan and the prompt delivery. I would certainly use them again. Here is a bit more detail on my experience in dealing with this company......

    At the time the ZWO camera had just had an upgrade by the manufacturer to include an ST4 port, so I wanted to check the one the company supplied would be the latest version - the website details did not mention the ST4 port, so I had to assume it was the "old" version . An email query was promptly responded to advising that he could supply both versions, that the latest version was due to arrive with him the next working day and that his website would be updated to reflect this shortly.

    I proceeded to place an order, but due to my geographical location there was a problem with finalising the order through the website. Again a quick email and fix at 365Astronomy's end allowed the order to be placed. My order was dispatched on the day I was told it would be and to my surprise and delight the it was delivered to me the day after - pretty good considering I live at the other end of the UK.

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