Stub Mandrel

18 hours ago, Telescope40 said:

a SW 9 x 50 finderscope

I have more finders than scopes.

Hmm, I must need a new scope...

Quick and dirty drizzle of the Whale Galaxy from last night's 130P-DS image. Surprised how effective the drizzle was, but a bit noisy:

1 hour ago, JamesF said:

He also said that by sheer chance he happens to have the rack and drive gearing from a stair lift at home on his pile of scrap to go to the tip. 

Don't watch Gremlins - it might give you ideas about the FIL and stairlifts...

Excellent - sent me scurrying for last year's data. unfortunately I seem to have cropped M87 out of the finished images!

2 hours ago, AnonymousAnimosity said:

These two were taken with a 50mm 1.8 lens on an unmodded Pentax K-S1 camera and an old Manfrotto tripod. 

I shot about 1300x4" lights for Andromeda and 1100x4" for Orion. About 30-40 darks and flats each. Stacked them in DSS and processed with Startools. 

Any criticism is welcome! 

Wow you got the witch head nebula too!

1 hour ago, Paul M said:

"Nominal" seems to underplays success in the same way that "anomaly" underplays disaster; as in the Crew Dragon suffering an "anomaly" during test firing on the ground on Friday:

Space X won't confirm the severity of the incident but all reports are of catastrophic failure

The next flight was going to be manned I think.

The report on the BBC website says ' Images of smoke coming from the space capsule have been circulating on social media.'

I think that was a tad more severe?

Good job it was a test not a mission.

6 hours ago, McNewt said:

Ahoy thar fellow astronomers!  Nah all thin's 'ave t' be fancy 'n expensive.  These ones prolly 'ave some o' th' best performance t' price ratio thar be.
 

 

Let me guess - you're a pirate with a flat treasure chest?

48 minutes ago, JamesF said:

A short while later we had bits of ash falling around the house, which can't be good news

Hopefully just a grass fire.

1 hour ago, JamesF said:

I think that may have been a delay from Wednesday.

James

Yeah... I figured that out when I saw the posts above

Rats, google sent me a link saying it was delayed 24 hrs yesterday evening, so I assumed it was tonight.

1 hour ago, JamesF said:

I think if it got that hot here the entire fabric of society would start to crumble

James

Doesn't the Daily Mail forecast a 50C heatwave every summer, to alternate with the 'worst winter ever' forecast?

13 minutes ago, Stu said:

Hmmm, it seems not everyone agrees.....

https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/what-is-a-gherkin-is-it-different-from-a-pickled-cucumber-1620893

But that's a Mexican sour gherkin, not a gherkin. They are only tiny, not like European gherkins.

2 hours ago, johninderby said:

Those are indeed pickled gherkins not cucumber.  

<pedant> A gherkin is a pickled cucumber </pedant>

6 hours ago, Ags said:

It is engraved with "Time 100/Focal (mm)" - does that mean max exposure 1 second at 100mm focal length?

More likely minutes?

That would give 6 seconds at 1000mm, 60 seconds at 100mm.

Can we have a Box Brownie challenge ?

Or maybe a 'film camera' one?

20 minutes ago, nicoscy said:

pickled cucumbers in vinegar

We call them 'gherkins' in these here parts ?

If all else fails...

On 30/03/2019 at 20:48, Nyctimene said:

"21st Century Atlas of the Moon" by Charles A. Wood and Maurice J. S. Collins; West Virginia University Press 26506. Spiral bound, opens flat. Contains a wealth of information and excellent photographies, including e.g. the limb regions and all the Lunar 100 objects. Very recommendable!

Stephan

 

+1 very easy to use and a good read.

39 minutes ago, FaDG said:

Mmmh, not sure I get the point : 31.8 is the size in mm of the 1.25" accessories. 

So I suspect you're referring to the same Product. 

Or am I missing anything? 

 

I think 31mm filters are  unmounted glass so slightly larger than what fits in a 1.25" ring

8 hours ago, mckinnell said:

PS, I still seem not to be getting instant notification of replies,  possible IT problem ???????. 

Notifications appear via the icon at top right or as irritating pop-ups, but you need to enable them.

You can also have an email daily or weekly.

Manage yours at:

https://stargazerslounge.com/notifications/options/

1 hour ago, pipnina said:

What method do you guys use to take flats with the 130-PDS that minimises adding more tray light than you started with? last time I tried I got a gradient from one side of the image to the other...

I use a cheap LED flat panel with a sheet of A4 taped over it and along enough lead so I can take 3 photos at each of eight positions. By rotating it any gradient is 'neutralised' and I find this works very well.

19 hours ago, Fozzie said:

A nice bit of teak.. any guesses what it's for?

If it's a mirror blank you will need to be really good at french polishing.

6 hours ago, alacant said:

Hi again everyone

Just my quarterly progress check enquiry. Has anyone managed to witch from something else to Linux yet?

I had an eyeopener last week when helping a computer literate friend make the switch. It reminded me of how difficult it is to change one's set ways of working. It collapsed completely just after I opened a terminal and began typing. Had I not done that, they would probably be on board now.

So, c'mon. Tell us your migration stories. Good and bad.

Cheers and the best of sudo apt upgrade to all.

I'm waiting to see what happens with B***t first.

5 hours ago, Fraunhoffer said:

Some nice 3d printed bits:

Bresser / Explore Scientific > SW finder bracket adapter
telephoto lens > eyepiece/camera adapter
Frames for my DIY minions  'sky-goggles'/'owl-eyes'
 

What process is that - not fused filament!

Etch primer for aluminium, although anodising is best - but of course if you anodise you don't need paint...