Macavity

Looks like I wasn't "imagining things"? (Even from Wales)! And this time, I did "have my camera handy". But hey... 😛

There were some silvery-blue wisps on the Eastern Horizon(?!?) last night at around 3.a.m. Not sure if those were they? Sadly I didn't take a photo... 🤔 Not too many opportunities to check this out over the next few days tho!

Miffed I missed Pluto's decent into the "nether regions" of Sagittarius. I think it was do-able with EEVA. I could image *Triton* (Neptune) etc. Hey, no one mentioned the Solar Minimum? DON'T mention it? lol 😛 "Will you still need me... Will you still feed me... When I'm 64"?!?!?! 😸 I suppose the moral of the story is to start young(er)...

Finally got around to testing the "unified" system under the semi-dark skies! Not a HUGE challenge to get the f=240mm Evoguide Finder to point in the same direction as my f=400mm Altair Astro ED66 "Lightwave"... It worked! 😎 Since last time, I added a Weaver/Picatinny Bar to the system... so I could ADD my Baader "Skysurfer V" so if all fails I can LOOK through something! And so to the view on the Monitor... Top Right is ALTAIR (the Star!) on the Evoguide Finder using a Watec 902 Ultimate Cam. Top Left: LOTS more stara around Altair via the ED66 + Watec 910HX Video Camera. 😸 Bottom left the "Summer Triangle" in my "All Sky" (140 Deg) using a Watec 120N+ Cam. Bottom right Observatory seen via an Infra-Red LED lamp + budget IR Video Cam etc. The REAL PURPOSE of all this to ease PLANET Finding through a Barlowed MAK150... 😋

Now a TEST of the EvoGuide as an Electro-Finder for my 8" f/4 Newt! 🤔 And YES... I found it easy to align the EvoGuide with the Main scope! I do like the Delrin Tipped three-point suspension with locking rings. Seems a lot more firm than my various DIY finder scope efforts... 😛 Back indoors (remotely!) a combined view of the VIDEO Cameras... Clkwise: 8" Newt... Evoguide... Obsy Status... "All Sky" (obs roof!): 🙃

As a "Generalist", I use a variety of SINGLE scopes - From an 8" f/4 (Video) Newt thru Mak150 to ("pairings" of) Camera lens + 'Fracs... Solar (HA + WL) scopes etc. ALL on an HEQ5! I tend to use a *common* finder scope among many of these. 🙂 The LOAD capacity of the HEQ5 is not *huge*, so I prefer not to "stack" scopes one on top of one another... Idem a *pukka* Dual Scope system is rather heavy! So I'm developing a DO-IT-ALL "Bar System" that requires less off-axis loading? 🤔 I also note there is quite a lot of redundant space below... left & right of OTAs! I try to BALANCE my systems carefully... And avoid "collisons" between things. Here is the *prototype*. The common (electro) finder is a new 50ED Evoguide. 😎 The basic idea uses Ali Bar "sandwiched" between my ADM Saddle & the Puck! I imagine the extra space used for counterbalance weights... "electronics" box for feed through focus control... signal + power cables for finder cameras etc. 😉 A LOT OF "fiddling about" in progress, but you might get the *general* idea... 😸

W/B! Just beautiful! 🙂

Weird thing... For that time, I'd totally forgotten about the *Solar* Scopes! 😋 (I'm still an "Etalon" man! lol). Still pondering Quarks versus "Quorks" (sic)... Was it a (James Joyce) "Seagull Cry"... a "Quart" of Beer... Something else? 🤔

🙂 I'm "with you" on that, Jim! Nature shows so many *parallels* re. "building of matter" from smaller (previously unseen/detected) components. Common ideas of Symmetry & Spectrosopy seem so "transferable" among molecular/atomic/nuclear/particle Physics, Chemistry etc. etc. 😎 Who could NOT be attracted by Geometry of the "Charmed" extension of the Eightfold Way? For those of US who were / are "Less Mathematical" (lol) a visually appealing representation! 😸 "Big Science" is *multi-disciplinary* re. Physics... Engineering... Chemistry... Electronics... etc. etc. P.S. @Paul M Got a few chuckles from "Gell-Mann versus Feynman" (and others) on this! lol 😋 http://discovermagazine.com/2009/apr/17-man-who-found-quarks-made-sense-of-universe P.P.S. I sometimes feel "Ever increasing Energy" Particle Physics *got lucky* re. some of this... Hopefully Astrophysics will "Get a Break" re. (the missing ingredients of) Dark Matter as well? 😜

Nothing every stays simple? But a pretty picture anyway: 😎 https://cerncourier.com/the-proton-laid-bare/ (May 2019!) And there are (doubtless) still discoveries to be made... 😉

The oft-quoted table! <G> But I do think there is significant wisdom re. Chromatic Aberration! 😎 I do think there is (review) evidence that "cheaper" Achro scopes have other aberrations as well. For my Solar (monochromatic H-Alpha) Frankenscope I chose an ED80 over other Achromats? But ED80s are *relatively* cheap. With increased aperture... an APO 'Frac: the "Sky's the Limit" 😸 Achromats are good FUN -- Particularly if you are on a limited budget! 🙃

Argh... I realise, in retrospect, that the article I quoted showed the FUNGUS developing on a "Heat Filter" for Mercury Arc light! So maybe not "UV"? 😛 (Basically, I wouldn't want "bad stuff" to happen from my suggestions! lol) Ah, Solar Astronomy... a minefield of "Mythos versus Genius"! [teasing] 😸 Ozone would "oxidise anything" organic! But back to Oven Cleaning... P.S. I am leaving a "sacrificial" ST120 in my observatory. All other scopes inveigle themselves back into my Lounge... As "Fireside ornaments"? 🤔

I did wonder too... (what it eats)! But the above sounds plausible... Random "dust" (from cleaning even!) is cited in the following: http://www.truetex.com/lens_fungus.htm Intrigue by the idea that "UV light" might kill it... Thinking of crazy ideas like giving lenses a quick burst of "black light" every so often? Maybe a (lower powered) UV Diode stuck inside the lens caps... 😛

A belated RIP for "personal hero" Murray Gell-Mann (of Quark fame!) 😎 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/24/obituaries/murray-gell-mann-died-.html Predictor of future discoveries... Charm... Top & Bottom quarks etc. Someone who made theories of Particle Physics a bit more relatable? 😋

Aye, there's the RUB? I sometimes wish my parents had done that earlier... 😐 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. 😸

Brian Cox? Oh... the multi-millionaire Twitterer re. the stuff we (wisely) are NOT allowed to discuss on SGL! [teasing] 😋 More a <Klaxon> than a <Ding> this time... Eh, readers? 😸

I often sensed that Wasps have a certain "vindictive" intelligence: https://www.nature.com/articles/481154a They might even be able to recognise people who cross them? 😛

I think, unless something "mind-blowingly impressive" comes along re. Astro Technology, my *major* purchasings are pretty much complete? 😜 I have spent "far to much"! lol. But I like to think *much* of it had some justification and was fairly(?) carefully thought out? As a Astro-Generalist (Visual... imaging... video... solar... etc.) I have been *innocently* lured to explore a WIDE variety of setups. May you find contentment in ONE?!? 🙃 Another birthday yesterday reminded me of my "limited mortality"? lol Enough "unrequited" (Non-Astro too) hobbies to last another lifetime? 🤨 OR: "Jack of all trades... Master of none"! 😸

I get the impression it's mostly "old guys"... I hoped for more "non-blokes"? lol 😉 It is *difficult* to optimise the location of Astro Socs... But I was totally impressed by the enthusiasm of our LOCAL *stalwarts*... Sadly I don't have transport now. 😐

After using "imaging techniques" for Neptune. I removed the camera... Substituted an eyepiece. For a change my scope remained on track? lol I glimpsed a (very) "blue dot" Neptune through an eyepiece anyway. 😎

Thanks, Charl. 🙂 I have finally graduated to doing time lapse via FireCapture "RUN" icon. 😎 I think I might actually find a "Flat Field" from the previous day's efforts... Did image alignment *manually* in GIMP... Tedious, but a "no-brainer"? lol Reminds me that my HEQ5 does indeed "wander about" quite a lot tho... Last time I tightened the worm drive collars... Another thing I must DO! 😛

Lovely "patterning"... right up to the EDGE in the first one! 😎

Well, I have been working on my ST120 / Sky-Tee "Push To"... 😉 It was undeniably FUN to take a break from my (ersatz) imaging! I did find myself "making a connection" between image & view... "Modestly" priced Visual Setups are much more available now? I used to be so KEEN in my youth... Start YOUNG is my advice! 😎

Great! Fascinating how these spots subdivide That look of anguish... 😛

AGREE with the above! The lack of *handles* is something of a personal gripe. 😛 I did "bounce" a MAK127 on a wooden obsy floor (latter dented) ... it survived! But I'm getting older... less strong... reflexive? Re-considering Electric Winches? 😸 Oh, and... Nice Handles... by the way! 😎