PeterW

Can we change the post title… 😉 Peter

Certainly looks like a fast fade, maybe a shade brighter than hd175919 that is listed as m8.5, certainly noticeably fainter than hd176441 m7.1. Hope this one has additional brightenings… Peter

Do you have any nice push 3D printers?? Tempting. Peter

Weds with an old handheld phone… no prizes here… just pleased to see them! peter

Great to hear they turned up… thought you might value a spare as you’d already lost one 😉 ! Hope you start to feel better soon!! Peter

Nice and sunny….. 30mins AFTER the eclipse ended… microscopic sucker holes during the actual eclipse 😞 Peter

Right now I know what I’m looking for I will look more often…. Predictions are for a decent show this summer. (Sadly without an accompanying comet) Peter

So I *did* see some! Thought as much, by 11 they had spread and vanished. My photo attempt was pant in comparison… handheld phone shot… being who spy you can’t see the shake 😉 I’m going to make a note to have look put the front door before bed more often. Peter

Thought I saw some last night popping out for some milk. Was around 2230. First I saw were last year while watching the comet…. Very obvious, so now I have an idea of what I am looking for. Peter

Musk Starlink. I’ve been trying to see them since they were “darkened”. Using predictions from Heavens-above.com can be hit and miss nowadays. Sometimes a faint stream of dot moving across the sky. Once a very bright “string of pearls”. Sometimes nothing at the predicted time. Most interestingly a few times the satellites have followed the predicted path BUT only been visible for a short part of it and sometimes flared very obviously for a short time. I’ve also seen flaring ones out the corner of my eye when waiting for others. If you have better skies than me I can imaging you’ll see plenty. Catching them within a few days of a fresh launch is the most visually amazing. Peter

I only trust coarse big threads printed directly. You can tap the plastic if you have long enough sections it can work OK, but nothing like making them in metal. The current one has a 3mm pitch and 2mm high thread… should be fine! Peter

Measure up the hole and post some numbers, should be easy. I’m helping a colleague with a threaded spa plug. peter

Unless you have flexible filament (which can be a royal pain depending on the printer design) you can snug the fit by deliberately making the fit a little loose and adding a few small strips of duct tape to take up the gap. 0.6mm or so should be fine. Sometimes a quick print of a reduced part can help establish critical dimensions… i print blocks with holes when I need a good fit for small holes. Peter

No fair… maybe need some nurbs or Mr Chebyshev…. Plotting the whole light curve, looks like some subtle little lumps may have occurred, regular measurements are definitely important. Peter

@Stu you just need to use a higher order polynomial fit….. always “works” with enough terms….. Peter

Darker @Stu, you must have got quite a long way south to escape the ever present twilight?! Peter

Looks like you might have been right… fascinating! Peter

Are you using digital zoom to get that field using a point and shoot? Peter

Sure Cura has gained another thousand undocumented features since I last updated….. Peter

Yay…. Happy dance! Perfect print, no problems at all, very relieved! Peter

Right Prof @JeremyS what’s it going to do next?! Peter

Lithium batteries are light, normally you want some “heft” in your telrad…. Peter

1.5kg… I checked I had enough on a spare 2.2kg reel… been there done that! 😉 Peter

Curved filter..:. There are many good reasons for making filters flat, both manufacturing and use. Optical quality highly curved surfaces are very hard indeed. I’m the question for you is focal ratio, which depends on what you want to image, how quickly and how much you have to spend. Short refractors and camera lenses can go quite a long way. Peter

Was still running OK yesterday…. Still one day to go. Slower it down a bit as some vibrations during head travel. I’m not in to check for a few days…. So I don’t jinx it! Then I have to get it off the plate…. Lovely big flat area…. Going to be fun! 😠 Peter