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the sky at night venus transit episode

Pete Presland

By Pete Presland
in The Astro Lounge

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Scosmico

Scosmico

Posted
Posted

I really enjoyed that one as well.

i have just watched the latest sky at episode on catch up and its not to be missed.

i have to say, i can not remember enjoying one episode as much as this one for ages.

The Sky at Night team travel to the Arctic Circle and the archipelago of Svalbard to see the transit of Venus, but as ever the clouds test the team's nerves. some absolutely tremendous images from pete lawrence.

well done to all involved!

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ikorodu

ikorodu

Posted
Posted

I too enjoyed this excellent episode. I felt it was much more relevant than recent episodes in that there was a lot of focus on what an amateur could actually see and image themselves.

I'm looking forward to next months episode on amateur observatories.

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

Posted
Posted

I too enjoyed this excellent episode. I felt it was much more relevant than recent episodes in that there was a lot of focus on what an amateur could actually see and image themselves.

I'm looking forward to next months episode on amateur observatories.

That should be a good episode also.

Can i just add that i am not a big fan of Chris Lintott, but on this episode of S@N i actually found him entertaining. He was like a kid in a sweet shop.

It was also brilliant to see Pete L in action imaging etc.

Really enjoyed the show.

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

Posted
Posted

The thing i noticed most was, how well Patrick Moor

looked. He realy looked on top of his game.

Well done Sir. We all wish you good health.

Steve. :wink:

He actually did look on top of his game. I think that was down to him only having 2 segments (links) to record instead of a full show?. There was a spark about him that had been missing for a while.

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ianaiken

ianaiken

Posted
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Did you see the pictures Pete produced? I think his kit with mount covers missing and string based counter weights (I thought it was a battery) do him well. I guess its what you do with it not what you have. :D

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x6gas

x6gas

Posted
Posted

Did you see the pictures Pete produced? I think his kit with mount covers missing and string based counter weights (I thought it was a battery) do him well. I guess its what you do with it not what you have. :D

Couldn't agree more!

Let's hope the beeb see this thread and take note!

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Albenn

Albenn

Posted
Posted

It was a good episode and it highlighted to me just how frustrating astronomy can be sometimes with the Gods being hell-bent on spoiling things. There they were, in one of the prime spots on the planet, to see this event with the weather the day before the transit as good as it gets. On the day of the transit? Cloud!

Still, they all seemed pretty philosophical about it and also quite pleased that they got a small break in the cloud at the right time.

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DirkSteele

DirkSteele

Posted
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Using the battery as a counterweight was brilliant, I wish I had thought of that.

iOptron have actually started selling batteries that are counterweights for their mounts. I am surprised that did not happen sooner.

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E621Keith

E621Keith

Posted
Posted

What a great show; really enjoyed that one and thought all of the presenters did a great job.... sooooo much better than the rather disappointing Horizon special on the transit and a shame that Horizon got the prime time slot rather than S@N!

Loved Pete's rather improvised counterweight hanging off his Vixen!

That was a great S@N episode. Much more informative and overall much better than that Horizon joke. Obviously BBC put their brains into this and left Horizon to the clowns.

It was a great show but one thing struck me and that was how useless the team were with the telescopes? they barely new what they were doing at one point and the kit they were using was awful. Did you see the counteweight on the mount? It was a brick on a string! :smiley:

The sealed lead acid battery on a string was a brilliant and sensible idea for travelling. In fact taking the counter weight on such a trip would be a bit silly. A counter weight is 3 kg of dead weight. Pete Lawance clearly knew what he was doing.

I love the fact that the equatorial mounts there were operating almost as Alt-az, with RA pointed straight up due to the high latitude (Savlbard is 74deg - 81deg north). Those GEM there must be modified, most stock GEM can't be raise that high.

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x6gas

x6gas

Posted
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The sealed lead acid battery on a string was a brilliant and sensible idea for travelling. In fact taking the counter weight on such a trip would be a bit silly. A counter weight is 3 kg of dead weight. Pete Lawance clearly knew what he was doing.

I hadn't spotted what it was first time around, but you're right that's an absolutely inspired idea... (so long as the counterweight bar is reasonably horizontal, that is...!)

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CFC

CFC

Posted
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I thought it was the best program for ages. Really nice all round. I really like Pete's style, he's very very watchable and very natural. I'd like to see more of him.

I too thought that Patrick Moore was better than he has been for a while, I did consider that perhaps it was because he had less numpties than usual crowding him out in his own chamber...

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yeti monster

yeti monster

Posted
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Good to see Yeti Monster's photo from the South China Sea on the telly ........... :laugh:

:grin: A very proud moment at Castle Yeti...

Watching the 2012 episode, I remembered the 2004 ToV episode and how inspiring that and the actual transit were to me, so much so I was actually waiting 8 years to see the 2012 event and made damned sure that I was as prepared as I possibly could be to observe and image.

Seeing the team on Svalbard, hoping for the clouds to move off in time, bore some resemblance to my experience. The day before having been totally perfect, clear to the horizon, still, blue sky and flat calm sea, in contrast to the cloudy and breezy 6th June morning.

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fatwoul

fatwoul

Posted
Posted

My favourite bit was when Pete Lawrence, after the transit, was asked what he's going to do and he simply said "go to bed!" I can sympathise! Comments like that gave a nice human touch to a programme that I have, of late, found to be a little starched.

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