Luke
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Status Updates posted by Luke
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I do enjoy irregular images when they show up on Gong of h-alpha images of the sun. I particularly enjoyed this one!
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I'm visual only, visual only, not tempted to get a camera. Camera, bad, bad. Must stroke eyepieces.
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Gosh, to my surprise, there is movement from my wife Sarah. I need to get a job first. Although I could maybe raise funds from selling some board games, she thinks my £200 lappy might not be up to the job! Might need a few other bits n bobs. Yeah maybe if I am going to get back into it I should wait until I can do it in a way that feels like an upgrade on where I was at. More pixels, bigger chip, new h-a filter. <off to check job ads>
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Wohoo! I did my first night time observing in over a year, I think! Woke up early, couldn't get back to sleep. Orion Nebula, M81 & 82, three clusters in Auriga, the Double Cluster and the Orion Nebula in my 10 inch dob. Not bad as I had to fight patches of cloud and am out of practice finding stuff manually! Then to cap off a beautiful morning, I saw the lovely new sunspot on the limb after breakfast using a Herschel wedge.
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After using Photoshop since I think 1999 (I still have the disc for version 5.5!), I have switched to GIMP lately! (I can't justify buying Photoshop at the moment while out of work).
I am just starting to feel a bit more at home in GIMP. It seems very capable, but of course does some things differently. I wonder how many folks here use GIMP? Or does Photoshop rule the roost? Are other image editors also popular? Do you like GIMP? Hate it?
So far what I like best about GIMP might be the G'MIC plugins. There look to be a bunch of useful things in there, I have started using some of the sharpening tools it has. And Split Details looks fascinating, where it breaks your image up into multiple layers with different details, making it easy to focus on certain details of your image.
I also quite like GIMP's curve editor. Feels a bit more roomy to me than Photoshop's.
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I don't believe it! Weekend forecast is 100% cloud, yet again! Where are the sunny weekends?
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Have packed most of the solar gear away, rain has suspended play. I wouldn't bother with such small, fast-moving gaps but the seeing looks decent, the gaps are a beautiful blue and the big AR was smoking away. ! Hope some others are sneaking a view or shot in.
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Am rolling the dice this morning, have set up for solar imaging with Quark and Equinox 120, hoping to get some images before the clouds get here. Will be a long 20 minutes waiting for the sun to clear the tree! Good luck to any other early birds.
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Beautiful crisp morning out there, hoping to take some solar snaps for brekky. Good luck to those at the Sunnyside Cafe this morning or tuning into Pig Radio.
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Yikes that happens to me too, Shaun. On my Summer hols last year, when I couldn't be with my beloved Equinox 120 and Quark, I had images every single day! :-o 17 days of 'em. Anyway, the filaprom was looking magnificent, and there were a few nice filaments either side of it. I noticed some faint plasma jutting some way out from the disc, looks like a little burst happened earlier and I caught the latter stages. Have a nice time in Italy, I would drink a Peroni to you if I had one :D
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Still cloudy here, am hoping a few gaps will show up this avo for a bit of solar, I can't get enough of the prom -> filaprom -> filament big 'un, looks to be still there in good shape on Gong?
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Wowsers, well I have to see how it stacks and processes, but I have just taken some full disc single tile captures with the Quark and my Tele Vue 60. All the talk of the Quark and its 4.3x Barlow and I am imaging not too far from my SolarMax 60 at prime focus! I need to see what the results are like, but I am so surprised to be seeing a full disc in the capture software! :-o
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Hmmm I may have jumped the gun. my early stacking and processing does not look promising! Complicating matters is that the seeing was horrendous, I took a few white light full discs too and they are not that great either. So I may need a second shot to check if it is viable! :-o Shaun when are you gonna get imaging, you know that ASI174 is a good deal :D
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Lost: sunny weather forecast at weekends. Last seen: January 2015. Suspect: BBC Weather. Reward for safe return: dose of Vitamin C.
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No solar this weekend. Boo hoo! Right, I am going to try a four day weekend next week.
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What, Easter is looking bad too? Can't remember so many iffy weekends in a row :-o Snap on the book, David :) I guess I'll try and catch up on my processing a bit and finally get around to some jobs at home that need doing. I did manage to see the sun today after all, must be nuts to have set up out there. I got rained on for my troubles and was rewarded with some really poor captures. Serves me right for being greedy! Nice quick view though the eyepiece and on the lappy screen th...
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Lucky break with Sol this morning, just managed an hour of h-a before the clouds came in, and I even managed to get a flat! Ran outta luck before I got to white light, I am destined to not try the ASI174 on a big spot at high res :-o No amazing proms but a few nice ones, the big AR was lively but not on fire, lovely fliament by it. Seeing looked reasonable but poor contrast with thin cloud/haze. Lucky to catch some Sol though given forecast, good luck all.
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Another fairly rubbish weekend for solar here, that's three in a row. At least I got something yesterday, though I can't recall the last time I ended an imaging session with more hard drive space than I started with :D On the BIG plus, the sun is getting higher, solar brekky is closer, and Foul Feb ends soon. Roll on Magnificent March!
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I thought you were off the grape juice, Shaun? :D I have really missed observing Sol in warm conditions, it's just bliss and I can't wait. This year I will make sure the cat does not eat my breakfast, that was a bit of a low point of last year :-o Wonder how many times she'd had a nibble before. Ughh, sorry folks!
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I hate clouds.
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Our new (second) Quark for solar h-alpha arrived today from SCS Astro, that was quick! Really looking forward to first light, will be great to have two Quark setups, as the Mrs and I are both solar nutcases! Also, hoping for good viewing tonight, the dob is outside cooling down. Good luck everyone hoping to view tonight!
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Wowsers, it is really bucketing it down here! Not sure solar will be on for today, the wind is maybe too strong even for a 60mm scope!
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We've ordered a second Quark from SCS Astro. We sort of have his and her solar setups and this will complete the switch from a pair of SolarMax 60's. The Quark just has such an edge in a bigger scope, and for grab and go, the Quark and Tele Vue 60 is a neat little combo.
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I hope I haven't been too mean to the SM60, it still has some advantages over the Quark and we are probably keeping our remaining SM60, it's been a fab scope that has shown us incredible views! The best thing I like about it is how quickly you can get it up and running at short notice! I also like the relatively short focal length, very handy for full disc imaging and for non-tracked imaging!
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I'd have to agree, the day before I heard about the Quark I'd given up on a larger solar scope than my SM60 because of the cost. I really wanted 90mm aperture upwards and a PST mod was a non-starter after my two failed DSLR mod attempts - I couldn't even get the screws off the DSLRs(!), so decided to leave the potentially dangerous solar tinkering well alone! :-o
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Hoping to grab me some lunar shots with the SCT tonight. Off work tomorrow, late night is on! :)
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Sorry to hear that, Earl. How many panes were you going for? I hope I have grabbed a full disc in three tiles with my Edge 8. I have tried using the 0.7x Celestron reducer double stacked with a 0.5x reducer on the camera nosepiece. It looked okay on the lappy screen at the time, though it was late and I had to test some rum first. Was a bit nippy out, shoudda had the rum after!!
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Solar Saturday, and it's raining, ho hum! Gonna get desperate if it's a third blank weekend in a row! :-o Good luck, solar soldiers!
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Thanks, David! The clouds timed it to perfection! Sol right on the chimney pot when it cleared! Managed to find a place for the mount where I could catch the sun between houses though, so I was very lucky indeed considering! Hope everyone had a chance today. Got a quick grab of the moon too but no stamina for getting the SCT out after all the fun and games of the day :D
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The 400P is out and cooling down, had it out once this season so far, I think! Was considering selling it, but an hour on Thurs night with my trusty 10 inch dob reminded me how amazing DSO's look. I will sit down first before taking in the Orion Nebula. Good luck anyone hoping to get out tonight!!
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Good luck, Matthew, and congrats on the 400P goto! The goto really impresses me, if I take a little care to level it, it's fab. Especially now I use little plastic height adjusters to get the height right instead of cereal packets :D Cor, 11pm for Orion nebula is going to feel like an age, it's been so long since I had the 400P out that it feels like Christmas!
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Crazy! Awful, awful weather forecast for this week for solar, yet I've been lucky to catch some rays on all three days so far! The weather forecast is still rubbish, but ya never know. Good luck to anyone who's running low on Vit. D...
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Hope you get the top-up, Jarrod! Looks like it might be game over here today and not so hot for the weekend either, but I'm just glad I got three days! I almost feel like giving up on DSO's though, my 16 inch dob has not been used for 2 months and it's not looking good! The first time really that I am losing faith in DSO observing! I wonder whether just to focus on solar and keep the fracs and the SCT for lunar.
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Glad you made it out, Jarrod! I did manage to see some DSO's for an hour last night with my trusty 10 inch dob, despite fog/patchy cloud. WOW! I had forgotten just how stunning the jewels are up there. Ahem, might just keep that dob :D Just the usuals, Double Cluster, Auriga Clusters, Owl Cluster, Orion Neb (hurrah!), etc. even an iffy view of Jupiter in the heat haze of a roof before I called it a night.
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My replacement Quark has arrived. Hoping to test it properly tomorrow morning if the clouds play fair! BIG thanks to SCS Astro, who have let me hold onto the previous Quark while waiting :)
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What a solar transit that could have been! Out imaging the Sun when I hear a big noise up in the sky. I could see five jets in formation, heading vaguely towards the Sun. Hit the record button just in case... All nine jets as it turned out missed the Sun, what a shame! I guess that was the Red Arrows then!