DaveS

Quick question. Does anyone know the real BF of the QHY268 in use? I've seen either 17.5 or 23.5mm, and I think the latter is with the dovetail fitting that is needed for attaching it to, well, anything really. I don't have one yet, but I'm trying to work out various adaptor fittings, and the spacing could make a difference to the filter size requirements. Think the QHY600 is similar.

Hmm...yes. Also ACC "Prelude To Space" (With a nuclear ramjet, yikes!) and the novel of "2001 a Space Odyssey)

For imaging a big focuser usually provides greater rigidity, especially when hanging a heavy camera off the end. It doesn't even have to be a big sensor either, Moravian cameras for instance can be pretty heavy, even for the relatively small 16200 sensor. Also, the 3.7" focuser on my 130mm apo allows me to sink my 0.75x Riccardi reducer into the barrel, so that it doesn't have the weight of the camera hanging off the end.

I never used Stellarium / Stellariumscope preferring Cartes du Ciel, as I found it had a better interface. You don't need the ST4 cable if you are controlling the mount with EQMOD as you can use pulse guiding.

I think it would work very well in NB with a filter wheel provided you remembered to refocus between filters or had some kind of autofocus attachment. At least one of us here @Gina uses "vintage" lenses (M42, older than K-mount) very successfully in a dual rig.

I still have to get it fitted and set up, but I've had to wait until I had the roof waterproof. May have a go tomorrow.

This is what I'm using, terrifyingly and stupidly expensive, but as I lack Gina's expertise I'm pretty much stuffed. Talon ROR Automation. It interfaces with the AAG cloudwatcher and ASA Sequence software.

The reason became clear on opening the files. As I suspected they are 32 bit FITS, where I have been used to the 16 bit FITS downloaded from my cameras, hence all the data squashed into the left hand side.

There's some casual combining of Nova and Supernova where they are two totally different events. a SN isn't simply a nova that's a bit brighter than normal, and the electrons aren't simply degenerate, but are forced into combining with Protons to form Neutrons, with the release of a flood of neutrinos, which carry 90%+ of a supernova's energy. What we see as light is only a very minor part of the energy release.

The figures I've seen suggest that it would be about as bright as the full moon, so about 1 million times less bright than the sun. Painful to look at through a telescope but not blindingly so. The real fun would come in the years following, when we have an expanding SNR to study close up.

For fast response telescopes like the ones they use for following GRBs an hour is like an age. I'm not sure if neutrino detectors are directional, I suspect not, but the flood of neutrinos could only mean one thing, and there is only one likely candidate.

My understanding is that it takes the shock wave about an hour to work its way to the surface while the neutrinos escape almost at the speed of light so we see then about an hour before the supernova becomes bright.

One drawback of mono (Speaking as a confirmed mono-maniac) is the cost of filters and wheel. While I'm planning on a 2600 / 286 camera for the 130 triplet apo, perhaps even with Chroma filters, doing the same with my little 80mm "astrograph" could be problematic as even with the inexpensive Optolong LRGB-NB (Good enough for the IKI obsy) set it's still over £600, assuming you have a spare wheel handy. If you don't then add another £300+ to that.

Yep, pretty much lol.

Don't have a crow bar unfortunately. Maybe another trip up that long river place.

I have some wedges in addition to a spare length of timber the same thickness as the sole plate, so I should be able adjust the height of the door. Just waiting now for the lower half of my body to recover enough for lifting heavy masses. Hint: It's not just the back

Possibly, though I think if you waited a while you'd have a flood of data. I think the real alarm signal will be the flood of neutrinos. Given how close it is, and how much better our detectors are since the 1987 supernova in the LMC, they might actually saturate!

Hmm... M33 would be a nice fit. Do it in HaLRGB for those of us who have less than dark skies? I know it's a bit of a chestnut, but it's lees easy than one might think and *does* need a dark sky to really pull out the faint stuff. Note: My own skies *are* dark enough, but not all of us have mag 21.66 or better.

I may end up getting one of each, and that's a scary thought for my bank balance. A OSC to put on my 80mm f/4.4 wide field astrograph with a filter holder, and the mono with wheel for the 130 triplet apo for an intermediate FoV between that and the ODK12.

I think, that even if you were looking at Betelgeuse through a 'scope when it went bang you still wouldn't be blinded as it's not an instantaneous flash. I think you'd see it rapidly becoming bright and blue giving time to get your eye away from the eyepiece.

What's worse, our monthly S @ N was suspended for a couple of months, and I suspect it was so Chris et al could go gallivanting off to Oz to do their Stargazing Live which we don't get to see. That was a real slap in the face for us Bit astronomers.

Number crunching... ...I wonder. There was talk a while ago of imaging the Sgr A* black hole as a motion picture showing the variability of the accretion disk...

Another quick update. Put a spare piece of EPDM over the exposed timber lip, and got the door furniture on the door. Trouble is, the door's so heavy that I have to give my back a few days off before hanging it. I think it must be over 18 kg as it's at least as heavy as the combination ladder I bought, which is 18 kg. It's not so much the weight, but the maneuvering it into position.

And it would happen in summer.

I hope so. Hope it isn't a "Deep Impact" announcement, or even worse a "Songs of Distant Earth" announcement.