Mandy D

Ah, you've forced me to extract the book from my bookcase, now . |Here is the verbatim quote from the Introducttion ... "I "Introduction: the Giant and the Cow "The origin of the universe is explained in the Younger Edda, a collection of Norse myths compiled around 1220 by the Icelandic magnate Snorri Sturkeson. In the begining, says the Edda, there was nothing at all. 'Earth was not found, nor Heaven above, a Yawning-gap there was, but grass nowhere.' To the north and south of nothing lay regions of frost and fire, Niflheim and Muspelheim. The heat from Muspelheim melted some of the frost from Niflheim, and from the liquid drops there grew a giant, Ymer. What did Ymer eat? Well, there was also a cow, Audhumla. And what did she eat? Well, there was also some salt. And so on." If you ever visit Iceland, you must do the Golden Circle tour, where the guide will tell you all about the little people. All over Iceland you will see rocks painted with doors and windows where they live. Planning permission can be refused on the grounds that fairies or elves live on the land.

I do have a few scrappy bits of horizon and was very lucky to have the |Moon in one of them, last night. It is strange looking at a Dobsonian mounted |Newt aimed that low. I had to really tighten it's azimuth brakes with the D800 trying to drag the nose down. My patio is a good metre above my garden and surrounding land, so that gives me a small advantage.

I thought it was elephants standing on the backs of turtles. Or maybe it was turtles standing on the backs of elephants. I can never remember. I think Weinberg discusses this with a quote from The Younger Edda in the opening sentences of his book, The First Three Minutes. I recall there was also some salt and a cow.

It depends on whether you want to spend any money. To do it professionally, you could get them shot-blasted and then either powder coated or zinc passivated. Neither process is expensive, but most places have a minimum order charge, usually around £40 or £50. Have a look on the web for metal finishing services, powder coating, zinc passivating, etc. You might find a small outfit locally that will do them for a small cash fee.

The Moon was at 5° 52' when I imaged it shortly after 9 p.m. tonight. The telescope tube looked almost horizontal and the Moon was swimming in the viewfinder of the D800, but I imaged, regardless, then stacked the best 21 images before processing in GIMP. I elected to go monochrome as colour seemed a complete waste of time and I dumped the whole of the blue channel, then applied a touch of sharpenng and followed that by a gaussian blur to get rid of noise. It is still a long way from a great image, but I'm happy with the end result for this altitude.

I guess it has to be allowed since you mention mail-ordering your skateboard! 🤣

@John Not your mistake, as what you posted is a direct quote, but, in what universe is 11 461 000 "nearly 10 times further" than 1 833 000? My calculator says about 5 times further or six times as far.

@Elp I've gone a bit deeper in Stellarium with this next screenshot, which shows the positions of Amalthea (JV, mag 14.1 ) and Thebe (JXIV, mag 15.7). For visual you would need 12 inches of aperture for Amalthea and a whopping 24 inches for Thebe.

@Elp This is what you would have seen at 02:00 UTC. Your image is mirrored. The blue star is a star.

That is a fairly long focal length and slow focal ratio, so objects are going to appear dim and large. I recommend that you do not start with the Barlow in, just use the 25 mm eyepiece and look at the Moon, learning how to properly focus and view things before moving on to fainter objects. Once you are happy with your view of the Moon, try the Barlow with the 25 mm eyepiece. Also, are you using the diagonal as without it you might not achieve focus (I'm not familiar with this scope). Stars should always appear small in any telescope. They don't magnify noticeably like the Moon as they are just too far away. A scope focused on the Moon is properly focused for all celestial objects, no matter their distance. Unless the scope is defective, the Skymax-102 is generally acknowledged as a good piece of kit.

It seems rather unlikely that you have seen Amalthea, as it is mag 14.1 and very close to Jupiter. You need very, very dark skies and large aperture to stand a chance at this one. Himalia orbits much further out (beyond Callisto) and shines at 14.6, so a little more within the realms of possibility in a large telescope. I think you likely saw stars. Have you checked on Stellarium or similar?

@JuergenB Thank you. I see that it is at 14:13 UTC.

@CentaurZ Sadly, for UK observers, this event appears to be only visible in North America. There appears to be a long list of upcoming occultations on his website, but I suspect they will be for North America, again. Is this correct? https://curtrenz.com/occultations.html

SWA cable clamps available from good electrical wholesalers. These come in every size from about 8 mm up to more than 100 mm bore and have a bolt hole through them for clamping / mounting. They are black nylon, so very durable and extremely strong. Just Google SWA cable clamp Also, there must be clamps for professional lighting rigs as used for film and TV that might fit.

Yes, it was a total surprise to me, too. I knew she'd bought postcards, but I had not seen them until after she saw your photos. My first time in the Peak District was on a week long school trip in 1973 and we went up Mam Tor Pass in an orange Ford Transit mini bus. What a slow grind that was! I've walked it many times since it's demise and am always staggered by the upheaval of the road surface. It has been featured on international TV programmes such as The World's Most Dangerous Roads, but I'm sure you know that. I'm now lucky enough to live on the edge of The Peak District, having moved here more than 30 years ago.

Yes, Winnats Pass is a 20% gradient. I dragged a 7.5 tonne truck up it with my Land Rover after it had broken down at the steepest point and was blcoking the road.

@davew I've just shown my partner your photos and after looking at them and loving them she showed me a postcard she bought today depicting Winnats Pass! How cool is that?

I rather suspected that might have been your route. Thank you for the image of Winnats Pass. It is spectacular. It really is not a good road to walk at any time, but it is a lovely road to drive. I usually go up Winnats and then round the back of Mam Tor to do the full circle. It is a lovely drive, even at night, or is that especially at night? I've photographed the Moon many times from near Blue John Cavern on the old Mam Tor Pass. For those who don't know it, Mam Tor Pass collapsed many times up to the 1970s and is now permanently closed to vehicles and you can see the huge thicknesses of tarmac where it has been repaired before finally subsiding. Many photos of this on Google.

I find that large motor-factors stock de-ionised water. I buy mine in 25 litre containers. You could also try forklift truck service businesses and battery suppliers for forklifts. I'm not cerrtain on this, but I thought I'd add it: dry-cleaners seem to use it, too.

I keep my accessories in a couple of Seahorse waterproof, sealed cases, like Peli, only cheaper. I forget what brand name they are sold under in the UK, but RS stock them.

Beautiful! I recognised the road immediately, having driven it hundreds of times, but I've never seen it lit like this. In fact, we were very near there this afternoon. Did you drive up Winnats Pass? I think that is one of the most spectacular short drives in the Peak District. I usually go up Winnats, then back down this road. You got a lovely vantage point, there, Congrats on a job well done.

@Dave Smith Those are spectacular images.

www.digicamcontrol.com supports the Canon R7 and allows full remote control of the camera settings, shutter release and even focusing. Never any need to touch the camera once it is mounted and pointed. You will need a USB cable to connect the camera to your PC.

It is a prism.

Ah yes, the angle of the screen will only change the shape of the projected image from circular to elliptical and at that focal length and with the small angle of the flat it will be barely noticeable. Thank you.