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Hawksmoor
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Spectrometer Mk3 has moved on a bit - started to put the separate parts together and in a '4 year old kid with a new toy' sort of way I could not resist poking the fibre optic cable out the window and squinting down the camera end of the beast. Low and behold when I inserted the 0.15mm. slit and 600 line/mm. grating I could see a small displaced but definite continuous spectrum. Will it actually work? - "Tension mounts and then gets off again"
Sheds is off tomorrow as we have visitors - but maybe at the weekend ?
George 'ever so slightly excited' in Lowestoft
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Just opened my Sky at Night Magazine and noticed your fine image of Saturn is 'Photo of the Month'. Well done and well deserved - a beautiful and detailed image.
best regards from George
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Spent an hour or so in the shed on the ongoing 'Spectrometer Mk3' build. I'm not convinced this 'Heath Robinson' contraption of mine is going to work but hey-ho - I've started so I'm going to finish. On a slightly more positive note, this particular DIY journey into the unknown has been relatively inexpensive and the bits I have purchased are easily recyclable for more and the equally pointless future projects with which I am determined to fill my ongoing retirement from gainfull enterprise. One of the minor benefits of being a compulsive hoarder and inveterate tinkerer is a shed full of stuff.
I really like stuff and sheds, stuff in sheds and sheds with stuff in 'em. My shed runneth over with stuff!
Thats why I've got two sheds!
George in Oulton Broad sitting on a sofa contemplating the philosophy of 'stuff in sheds' and the imminent possibility of Pizza .
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Ha ha, lovely one George, I do the same and once the observatory in the garden is complete I will turn my time to the attic and start sorting out all the bits and pieces that have been collected over the byears and look to turning it all into a "shed" of nicknacks for my future experiments and projects
Jim
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The Observatory is looking good Jim! Nice kit too!
George
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George, nice to hear from you, thanks. Am afraid I had a lot of problems getting to where it is now, mainly the weather and a bad roof design but all okay now. Been a very busy time the last few months now it's relax time, sitting back and enjoying it all. I have not been able to look in on you so was wondering how your pier was getting on. Was out tonight learning about the CGE, it's wierd, does the opposite to what one would think it should do so a bit of a learning curve
Off to bed now, just clearing up here, take care and thanks again
Jim -
Glad you've sorted your roof out. The whole set up looks impressive. My pier is working fine but have been away looking after grandchildren so it has not had much use since end of May.
As have been elsewhere - have laptop can travel - I've been using the PIRATE Open University robotic scope on Mount Teide, Teneriffe - via the Internet. Bit of a 'one shot pony' but a 17.5 inch scope on top of a volcano packs a big punch on a 3 minute exposure.
Clear skies from George in Bed in OB.
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Not really dark but had a pleasant 45 minutes in the backyard hand holding my big 11x80 bins. Quick sweep through Cygnus and Lyra. Couldn't identify M56. Summer triangle always a beautiful naked eye asterism to view and the starfields around Sadr in my bins never disappoint.
Saturn just visible between the rooftops and very yellow, couldn't pick out Titan. Neither could I find M10 or M12 in Ophiuchus as sky quite murky low to the south. By contrast, M13, M92 and M5 all easy spots.
Now in bed ready to surf the realm of the unconscious.
Night night stargazers wherever you are.
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George zzzzzzzzzzzzzz Lowestoft
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George zzzzzzzzzzzzzz Lowestoft
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From the album Other Peoples Photons
Very pleased with this image using data downloaded from the PIRATE telescope on Mount Teide-credit:telescope.org -Open University. To celebrate the inauguration of the PIRATE and COAST telescopes on the 6th July 2017 - I directed PIRATE towards Messier16 inorder to try and replicate the iconic Hubble Space Telescope image 'The Pillars of Creation'. I selected an exposure of 3 minutes using Sulphur, Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen filters. Nice and 'technicolor; - just the way I like them! -
I have Helios 11x 80 bins which I use a lot. I can hand hold these for limited periods but clearly obtain better results when tripod mounted. I am nearly 70 so my eyes cannot accommodate the 7+mm exit pupil but I believe this is not all bad. I can see no obvious degradation of star images across my full field of vision. I believe this may be because my undilated pupil acts like a field stop. For me the image obtained is bright, not as bright as the views I've had through 15x70s but significantly brighter than 10x50s -also I can see fainter stars in a wide field. Hope helpful George
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Many years ago we lived with our three young children in Scunthorpe and my mother in law lived in Chesterfield. One day we set off in the car to visit her. Twenty-five miles down the Motorway my wife said the baby is quiet. Our five year old daughter said that's because he's in the hall in his pram. Thankfully, It turns out I' m a lot more organised when it comes to astro Bits and Bobs. George allegedly looking after Grandchildren in Southend.
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From the album Other Peoples Photons
Due to bad weather, DIY, temporary absence from home and grandchildren husbandry etc. my telescopes have had to remain in their boxes and my laptop has had to come to my astro- rescue. As M8 never gets high enough for me to image from our backyard, I decided to point the Autonomous Robotic Telescope in its direction. One single 2 minute image using BVR filters and the PIRATE telescope. So pleased with the data I decided to enlarge the detail at the centre of the nebula and produce a photo collage. The enlargement shows the 'Hourglass' Nebula. I only recently found out this is what its called. I do like a 'gaudy-maudy' colour palette - so chuffed with this one. Credit: Autonomous Robotic Telescope - PIRATE Telescope on Mount Teide - Canary Isles - telescope. org - Open university -
From the album Other Peoples Photons
Photons from telescope.org - Open University - Pirate Telescope on Mount Teide. I stretched it a little and used 'iterative sharpening' on stars. The bar feature is very visible in this image. Nice to think this cluster is home to some of the oldest white dwarf stars in the Milky Way and also some exotic pulsars, one in a binary pair with a white dwarf. -
127mm Meade Apo refractor on NEQ6 Pro -x3 Televue Barlow - QHY5-II colour planetary camera. Stack 20% of 9000 frames. Nice steady night sky over Lowestoft on 25th May 2017. Enjoyed a late night and early morning until the birdies awoke at about 3.15am! George
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From the album Other Peoples Photons
New image again from the Autonomous Robotic Telescope on Mount Teide. As The Open University have been having problems with the COAST Telescope and mount, access has been given to the PIRATE Telescope - a 17" PlaneWave CDK17 telescope. One 120 second exposure using a FLI PL16803 CCD detector. Remotely via my laptop, I pointed all this fantastic kit at the Western Veil and obtained this image using nebula filters. I remember the first time I saw this classic object through Olly's big dob and a widefield eyepiece at Les Granges - blew my socks off! -
From the album Other Peoples Photons
Started getting images again from the Autonomous Robotic Telescope on Mount Teide. As The Open University have been having problems with the COAST Telescope and mount, access has been given to the PIRATE Telescope - a 17" PlaneWave CDK17 telescope. Ohh - aperture fever . Decided to point it at Messier 4 as this 'globular' doesn't rise above my neighbours roof even in June. M4 is a real pretty thing too! -
Just looked at the full res version of this image. Wow! The detail right on the limb is quite extraordinary. Thank you for posting the image and link. 'Exceptional' is the word for this image. best regards George
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Beautiful night but sadly not really dark. Did go out for a couple of hours with my big bins and my 66mm. ED. Altair Doublet Refractor mounted on a photographic tripod. Had some very nice widefield views of Saturn through the Altair scope with a Teleview 2.5x Barlow and Panoptic lens combo. Nice to get a quick look at Antares between roofs but the sting too low for me to see. Same eyepiece - Barlow arrangement provided quite a splendid view of M16 'The Eagle Nebula'. Have to say the little Altair scope is excellent value for money and with a field flattener performs very well photographically as a DSLR camera telescopic lens at a fraction of the cost of a comparable Canon lens.
All in all a nice way to wile away an hour or two on a warm summer's night. Pound for pound I still rate eyeballing Saturn in real time as one of the best astro-treats on offer.
Night night all you stargazers wherever you are.
George about to nod off in a balmy Oulton Broad.