johnfosteruk

You did well David. I dusted off the gear for the first time in a while ready for today. Alas, I got a look while focusing then cloud came in! That's what I get for not being faithful to the Solar gods I guess

Excellent, I got a look at lunchtime, just before the rain started

I've been getting warnings when loading PS since the last OS update, I think I'll be staying put for a while

Just now, PhotoGav said:

Thanks John, I’m going to take that as a ‘yes’! I look forward to comparing notes as we progress in this branch of astronomy.

You'll probably progress further sooner than I Gav!! But yes at some point I'll have notes to compare.

12 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

I am investigating the whole area of spectroscopy on a budget... how ‘easy’ is it to establish a star’s spectral type by using a Star Analyser? Would I get any usable results or is this a step too far for the humble amateur astronomer?

I've been looking into this as well Gav, as long as you can produce a reasonable curve, you can determine type and temperature. 

I've been looking at the Star Analyser SA-100.

10 hours ago, paulastro said:

Excellent, even more impressed if the Longfellow came from memory!

It was, but it is one of my favourites. It's one of 4 that I'm able to recite from memory.

Nicely done Michael.

Cheers Gav, and no, RGB is the thing of the future

I haven't had a telescope out in anger for 4 months thanks to crazy work commitments and things going on at home, and that was only a quick session.

Yesterday I saw the forecast for the evening, decided that although it was probably wrong (because forecasts are often wrong, in case you hadn't noticed ) I was going to setup to observe the Harvest Moon. 

I know it's just another full moon just like any other cycle but it's special. It's lovely to sit outside with the bins studying ejecta rays, remembering harvest festivals when I were a lad (somebody always brought a can of Campbells soup!).

As I grabbed 200 frames to finish off the session (I stacked 20%, Pipp, AS3!, IMPPG to process) I remembered a little Longfellow -

    It is the Harvest Moon! On gilded vanes
    And roofs of villages, on woodland crests
    And their aerial neighbourhoods of nests
    Deserted, on the curtained window-panes
    Of rooms where children sleep, on country lanes
    And harvest-fields, its mystic splendor rests!
    Gone are the birds that were our summer guests,
    With the last sheaves return the labouring wains!
    All things are symbols: the external shows
    Of Nature have their image in the mind,
    As flowers and fruits and falling of the leaves;
    The song-birds leave us at the summer's close,
    Only the empty nests are left behind,
    And pipings of the quail among the sheaves.

I've not been unhappy with my recent astronomy-less state, but I think I shall be making more of an effort to make the time now, happily work has started to ease off a little, much obliged.

Mono

RGB

9 hours ago, JamesF said:

I dunno.  Can land a rocket on the Moon, 

Or not! Such a shame. 

18 minutes ago, JamesF said:

I'm trying to watch that, but it seems my daughter her friend who is staying this evening are eating all our bandwidth

James

I don't think that's the whole problem James, I've dropped IQ to 480p because of continual buffering, but still have continual buffering.

2 hours ago, niallk said:

Listened to it on my commute this morning: fascinating!!

I could listen to that guy talk about his work all day long.  Thanks for posting!

He’s amazing isn’t he. It’s wonderful to listen to a person who knows their field(s) so well. And such a good nature too. 

Luke Talley was one of the engineers at IBM working on the Saturn V flight computers (LVDC). Destin spent some time with him and the gear at the museum in Huntsville. So much of interest here.

The video is 45 minutes long but it's worth every minute. Fascinating stuff and this guy is an absolute treasure.

Nice and sharp Steve, very nice indeed.

Cracking idea Dave, crater IDs look good to me too

I'd pull out and save the single frame as well just for fun.

Nice sequence. 

Lovely images David

In some ways I’ve found it to be six of one and half a dozen of the other. 

With video on my Nikon I have lower resolution than stills, the output isn’t raw and there’s a letterbox clipping top and bottom so if the moon is at perigee I have to process two videos and stitch. 

But, the frame rate helps ensure I capture some good frames and there’s no vibration from the shutter so I can achieve some good results, Even if the resulting image is smaller. A good Barlow or an imagemate helps here but then you have to stitch. 

Obviously for stills it’s the other way round and can be challenging for the opposite reasons. 

I tend to flip between the two depending on conditions and the moon’s phase. 

Beautiful

Outstanding as always Steve. I keep forgetting to look in the Solar forum since things got quiet!

Outstanding, wish I was farther north!

Terrific images, especially Petavius.

3 minutes ago, Macavity said:

Hey... I am bigly "Funeral Insuranced"! So provided I die suddenly (painlessly)?
(One shouldn't joke)! No direct dependents... No one "out of pocket" etc. 😸

Exactly the same here so joking aside as long as the post retirement monthly income is enough for rations I don’t see an issue with enjoying the rest 😎

1 minute ago, Davey-T said:

I waited until retirement to buy loads of stuff, now worrying about my own mortality and whether I'll ever get to use it all 😂

Dave

That's what lump sum payments are for 🤣 

Another thing to add to the retirement shopping list