Paul M

I've just "liked" a set of images taken with a robotic scope elsewhere on SGL.

I see the FLO have a bit of a sale on a selection of robotic scopes right now. I'm getting a twitchy finger!

I've been playing with the idea of upgrading my NEQ6 mount as it's just at the limit for my newish 10" RC scope. But it's only been out maybe 8 or 10 ten times this year so far and the EQ6 does alright, if I'm honest.

So for the same money or less (much less for the Seestar) I could scratch the itch and get a plug and play robotic scope. Great for up at our Luxury Cumbrian Villa, with it's rural/semi rural sky. I don't get chance to set up fancy gear there, but one of these would be perfect.

Plonk it outside, open a can of cheap lager and explore the sky. Simples!

Very nice! I do wonder why I've spent so much money and time on fancy equipment to just get similar results!  

I've got a growing itch. One of the robotic scopes would fit perfectly at my dark sky get-away in Cumbria.

I see FLO have some offers on, right now! 

Well that's a disappointment. I was, for a few minutes at least, looking forward at a bright new supernova to drag me out of  the summer doldrums!

Thanks for the heads up. I'm a subscriber and always keep up to date but I didn't realise there was a fundraiser on the go. APT doesn't get much use by me between May and August so maybe missed something.

Donation now sent! 

1 hour ago, FenderGreg said:

why do I enjoy all the troubleshooting?!

I think that's how we learn, how we progress.

I get frustrated by my silly mistakes but proper trouble shooting is a big part of it for me. 

When I returned to astronomy from the usual life-gets-in-the-way hiatus, I started right here on SGL. The imaging talk left me bemused; "Plate Solving?", what are they even talking about? Etc...  And I didn't understand many of these things until I started gearing up for imaging. 

90% troubleshooting, 5% test runs and 5% poor images! But I loved it all.

I'm now at the 5% troubleshooting, 95% poor images stage 😁

While I don't use eyepeices these days, I don't really consider myself to be an imager. I don't image stuff for the purpose of imaging, if that makes sense. I just observe with a camera using modern imaging techniques!  Set-up outdoors then feet up indoors, stylee

My get-out is that I'm only interested in the object, not peeping at pixels or stressing over defects. Why? I still love looking up at the sky, but at home, light pollution and insecurity lights and external decorative lights on neighbour's houses  mean it's not much fun any more

Bad back, stiff neck (struggling to get in and out of my car with a particularly stiff neck just now) and eyes that are showing their age make eyepiece observation less  rewarding and eventually painful. Up in Cumbria at our Luxury Vila, the sky gets much darker. Naked eye Milky way etc. I do have a "grab and go" visual scope there but seldom use it. So much more enjoyable to just look up and soak it up!

They need a new, clear way of talking..

As absorbed as I was in vlaiv's tutorial (as always!), I think Olly's collaborative image just hijacked the thread!

I can't not comment

I've see  similar images but to zoom into that is a sublime experience. To see the relationships between 2 of the most famous DSO' s and whole bunch more is just great!

Very nice image. It's a well known object but not one we see here very often!

I could google this, but I'm off out to work...is that a jet bottom center or an artifact?

I guess, not an artifact on an otherwise pristine image!

Having just been reminded about next years total solar eclipse I investigated the circumstances and saw that I might see first contact just at sunset. Here is what Stellarium shows for my locatio.

Whith a clear horizon, good atmospheric conditions and refratction, it might be a photo opportunity! 😁

12 hours ago, malc-c said:

How many times can you drop a telescope !!

Eactly as many times as the script requires?  Perhaps 🙊

I do like Rorry (Muliti Story). He produces very entertaining content and I think it's aimed at the right level. He has serious projects that experienced imagers will find interesting but pitched it in accessible language without dumbing down.

Tooooo many YouTubers are getting bogged down in esoteric image processing or reveiwing the same gear as 50 other content providers. I've been watching less and less astro YouTube content for that very reason.

Cuive TLG and Astrobiscuit are keeping my attention more than most. Cuive because he's colourful and Rory because he tells a good story.

That's great image. Nice colour too.

Capturing faint comets is one of my favorite passtimes. 

No chance oop north. Still broad daylight here and its 10pm. 

1 hour ago, Mandy D said:

We may as well let the energy just hit the Earth directly from the Sun.

Indeed, but turning that into usable,  preferably electrical energy, still requires solar panels. Here on the surface such panels are subject to seasons, weather and darkness. As you say, we'd hope orbiting arrays would avoid all 3 of those.

An interesting news snippet doing the rounds here in the UK is that a coal fired power station has been put back online due to the current excessive UK heat.

Apparently the average solar panel is designed with a panel operating temperature of 21 degrees. Efficiency drops off with increased temperature. So ours in the UK are feeling the heat just now.

It's assumed that an orbiting array would be designed for continuous and efficient operation at the steady temperature it experiences. After all solar panels in space aren't new technology.

So certainly a great idea but transmitting the energy efficiently and converting it to a usable form are the terminal sticking points?

Just now, Mandy D said:

OK, so if there no losses directly to the atmosphere along the beam path, that means all the energy is being collected by the receiving station. What happens to that energy then? Do we simply transport it back to space? In which case the efficiency is worse than "a bit pants". Energy is energy. Once it is here it is effectively heating the planet and atmosphere or it is escaping back into space. Which is it?

I'm confused.

The energy is supposed to replace fossil fuels and supplement "renewables" (I struggle to use that phrase even in quotes). It would be hoped that the energy gets used wherever it's needed and although it all eventually becomes heat, it's not adding to global warming in the same way that green house gases do.

Global warming is caused by solar energy being trapped in the atmosphere (via a few absorption and reemissions). It's a direct warming of the atmosphere caused by the Sun, not a thermal residual of energy (green or otherwise) expended in our everyday, technological lives.

It's not the heat of your coal fire that is the problem it's the gases it emits that are the problem.

Allegedly 🙈🙊🙉 

Earth has always had a climate that is either cooling or warming. The cold periods seem to have been worse for life than the warm periods.

I'd be careful of assuming that he (or she, or they) that control greenhouses gases also control climate!

There is a positive feedback in atmospheric CO2, where by warmer oceans are less effective sinks of Co2, more warming, less co2 sinks in the oceans... The reverse is also true. Make sure you don't strip too much CO2 out of the atmosphere. Although that is unlikely. Even if our self flagellation sends us back to the dark ages, China et al will ensure atmospheric CO2 continues to rise  

13 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

Shadows? Global cooling? You are beaming energy (heat) down to Earth that was not destined for our planet, so that is going to increase energy and heat the planet. If these panels are producing shadows on the Earth, we are wasting our time, are we not? Or am I missing something obvious, here?

The greenhouse effect is all about atmospheric gasses trapping thermal infrared that would have otherwise radiated to space. Or at least the upset in the solar energy budget caused by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases.

I'm not expecting the energy being beamed down to earth will warm the atmosphere significantly along its path, else efficiency is a bit pants!

So, yeah, shadows, innit!

Seems to me someone is hoping to lap up some government money by using buzz words.

I can see them getting the money but not delivering anything at all.

And anyway, the shadows of all those orbiting solar panels will cause global cooling.

I've always said that the only thing worse than global warming is global cooling. Ain't nobody gonna vote for that!🤣

I used to develope my own transparency/ slide film.

I guess that if ever I got another film camera, that's the way I'd go then get a USB slide scanner to digitise them.

Hmmm... something seems odd about that!😄

From the DSS FAQ I got this screen dump:

I

I don't know whether APT (which I use also) does anything unusual to TIF files, I only save my subs as FITS images. But it does seem that DSS does have issues with TIF. 

My usual process is to save subs as FIT, stack in either ASTAP or DSS, export the stack as TIF, then ruin the final image in PhotoShop

It's a great start. There is much to like about that image. Nice sharp stars, good colour, you got your target plus the bonus prize of a S/N, the background is natural...

Bigger and brighter targets will respond to your "lucky imaging" approach much better than M101, keep at it and hone your skills. And most importantly enjoy this phase of your imaging career! It isn't a contest and it's great that allcomers can share their efforts. 

Find your own niche, this might be it but as already noted by others, a basic tracking mount is almost essential for DSO imaging going forward.

I'm still posting junk, that's my niche! 🤣

Alyn Wallace has done some stunning images with a DSLR and tracking mount: https://www.youtube.com/@AlynWallace

Peter Zelinka has put a lot of time into his tracking mount guides and how his imaging progressed in recent years: 

Yeah, I thought FLO was born of the primordial SGL in a symbiotic stylee.

12 hours ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

Why do members keep posting photography in the observing section? 
There is an area of this site specifically for that.

I can understand a picture being posted to back up an observing report. However I keep finding AP and Solar photography in here.

Perhaps I have OCD and it doesn’t bother anyone else.

Marv

I wonder, do you have any examples to back up this observation? 🤣

Sorry, I'll crawl back in my hoke now...

Just now, Stu said:

Yes, it’s a kind of Paddington Bear stare! Bored right through you and you know exactly what she wants! 🤣

The expression says, "if you love me, dad...."

Pretty much like when I get home after a 12 hour shift and the "pups" line up in front of me with that same expression, awaiting their long evening walk 

Wouldn't be without it. When our old girl died, just 2 years ago, we lasted only a few weeks before needing to "fix" things.

3 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

I thought it was a Turnip too. Mine and Lorna's least desirable veg. We both detest it.

We were that poor when I was a boy, we used to carve out turnips at Halloween and put a candle inside.

Ok, fair enough, pumpkins probably weren't invented back then.. 🤣 

Oh my! That expression

Is there any doubt that ball being thrown is the most important thing in her life... well, at that moment anyway! 

Ours went swimming on the beach tonight. Two exhausted 2 year old puppies!