reezeh

Took some of my own 4 inch achro refractor f10 2x barlow Olympus Pen-F digital Various manual exposures ISO 800 - 1600

I got this with one of my 4 inch achro refractors, 3x barlow and Olympus Pen E-P2 in jpeg mode this afternoon at about 1622 GMT Edit: First light with another 4 inch refractor: single exposure; nothing fancy as far as processing goes, just stuff like resize, brightness, artifact removal and unsharp mask.

Ask him politely again, but secretly record the conversation, especially his response. If it is, let's just say not very nice then buy about half a dozen guinea fowl and keep them in your affected garden. I promise you within the week he'll be taking those lights down. And if he complains, it's just like for like. He wants his floodlights, you have your guineas! 😃

I'm too lazy to play finger-twister and just use Paintshop Pro 5 and 7 and use the screenshot facility in that. Has the advantage of of being able to export to most picture formats 😃

Yes for those who are wanting to know the sunspot group is 2814 If I wasn't working I'd be looking at that one as much as possible. White light only for me. Not got H-alpha or anything else like that as yet. Funds won't allow it atm but might be able to start saving towards that soon or will have to wait a few years til I get my pension coming in and any necessities out of the way 😢

There's also the Solar Astronomy Handbook published by Willmann-Bell which is pretty comprehensive and well worth having.

Won't it be great if they were all low pressure sodium yellow and shielded and fitted with passive infra red sensors to only come on when people and vehicles come near! It'll be a win-win for everyone all-round That'll be like eating your cake and still having double!

If you're young enough to have a good amount of time ahead of you (no offence intended) perhaps you can plant a strategically placed shrub or tree or two. Maybe that'll deal with the problem as time goes by. Then again, the damn things seem to be triggered by the tiniest twitch of a leaf or blade of grass in the slightest breeze like the one next door to me. He's angled it away a bit but it still spends more time on than off. I'm resorting to the trees method...

The thought has occurred to me before. Just commenting.

I do believe that the sunspot / group is 2813 It's roughly where 2812 was a few days ago. I'd be having a white light look but it's rather cold and windy here and my options are either setting up the CI700 with the 152mm refractor which will take ages or trying the Nexstar 102gt and getting frustrated by the wind. Tempted but I'll pass for now as 2812 wasn't easily visible for me last weekend and there's not even any faculae to look for 😢

I was wondering if it was just lost in the seeing for me. It was about 11 UT I started to look. Itching to know what's just beyond the limb coming around our way; anything worthwhile setting up for? I know that it's early days in the current cycle and that trends have been downward. I just hope that for at least as long as I'm stuck with white light that there's something to see and no Maunder-type minimum in my lifetime at least.

It's not so much as the far side, more rather what's just beyond the edge of the limb

It's a pity that there's not a few probes in orbit of the sun. At least it'll give a heads up. On top of that, Bradford is even cloudier than the rest of the UK 😭

It was a tiny pore on the site earlier but has disappeared. I was rather hoping to catch something. It isn’t as if I have many chances or clear weather. At least I saw some faculae, so at least it's not a total waste

Decided to have a look at the sun using Altair herschel wedge on 102mm refractor today. Eyepiece used Vixen LV 8 - 24mm zoom and filters Baader solar continuum and out of curiosity OIII, red and deep blue, plus semi-APO. No matter what, I couldn't make out 2812 at all, apart from perhaps the slightest glimpse, but the faculae 2811 stood out sharply. I checked on the status of the spots and the info said they've shrunk. Did anybody have any luck seeing it today? As a note, I did like the results of the continuum and OIII. The OIII seemed to bring out 2811 quite well.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with just looking. I've done it often enough. Spending time with Nature gives a better connection than anything like 5g or wifi ever can. It's what's missing in a lot of people's lives these days.

Hi and...

Hi 👋

Probably ones like that and others that'll probably be moderated or get me a ban for even mentioning them 😂

I was just going to add this as an edit to my reply...

I think that'll be called an asterism. Somehow I don't think the IAU will be in too much of a hurry to add that as an 89th Now if you could find a Trek-inspired reference; say, The Klingon's Forehead it'll probably be official faster than you can say "beam me up Scotty" 😃

FLO need a new sticker, especially for me: "LIGHT POLLUTION GUARANTEED"

I wondered if how good a filter wheel would be for visual

There"s nothing like old books and nostalgia 😍

It's a photography term originally; faster meaning lower focal length to aperture ratio, slower being higher ratio. It basically means that lower f- number makes a brighter image than a slower or longer lens (or mirror), which results in faster shutter speeds. Another way to look at it is that faster makes a smaller image at point of focus and compresses the available light tighter. Slower optics magnify the image, or spread out the light, making it dimmer. Eyepieces are often suited or designed for faster or slower optics. For instance, the much maligned Huygens is an atrocious performer in say a fast dobsonian at f4, but well be more tolerable in a long focus f15 refractor. I hope that kind of helps.