Did you learn anything new at SGL XI?

[reddoss]

On Sunday Night I learnt how not to murder someone who drives their car with headlights blazing near your  scope whilst  trying to image!!!!! 

Thanks to Hayden for pointing out to the driver what they were doing wrong in a polite manner. 

[carastro]

Can't believe an astronomer would be so thoughtless.  Was it a non astronomer?

[hadyn42]

43 minutes ago, carastro said:

Can't believe an astronomer would be so thoughtless.  Was it a non astronomer?

Hello Carasro

It was a visitor who was down visiting a friend of his who was on site and was on his way home, but drove the wrong way. His friend was not one of us guys (astronomers)!

Best regards,

Hadyn - IOM

[Moonshane]

I suppose it's fair enough then on that basis.

[carastro]

Always the risk then when you share a field with non astronomers.

I was at Kelling once and as is common many of us had arrived earlier in the week to maximise our stay.  During the evening a car drove into the field with lights blazing as he wound his way round the field looking for his pitch.  Every-one was furious with him as he turned out to be an Imager himself but his attitude was "the official weekend hadn't yet started".   That's no excuse if you are an astronomer and knew there would be astronomers present.

He then proceeded to pitch his tent with flood lights.

I can tell you we never saw him again, he moved the next day as he realised he had made himself unpopular. 

Carole 

 

 

 

 

[estwing]

1 hour ago, Moonshane said:

I suppose it's fair enough then on that basis.

...you can put that club down now....

[Special K]

Learned quite a few things last weekend and I'm missing camp right now!!!   Wish I could have another go at this very soon and get it right this time.

1)  Learned a few faces for members, but not enough of them.  Shame as I would have liked to meet a lot more of you but didn't feel too well on Saturday.

2)  It gets real cold in a tent!  A sleeping bag is not enough and should have a duvet draped over it in addition.   I was ok when observing up till 3am but when I went to bed, is when I got hypothermic.

3)  Jupiter's GRS looks awesome in them big Dobs!  Thanks Derek and estwing and all the rest for some really nice views Friday night.  I was amazed how dark the GRS is these days.

4)  Last but not least, I can improve an awful lot on white light control, especially getting stuff out of the car when arriving late.   If you were annoyed around 9pm'ish on Friday it was likely us down on the end of Buzzard and please accept our sincere apologies.  Next time I'll debrief guests more thoroughly and then confiscate car keys

Thanks for a very nice time!   Definitely going to one of these again!

 

[Stu]

Another one which I had forgotten.

I learned to look behind me more carefully when trying to perch back onto the shooting stick I was using as a seat! ??

The positive thing is that it was far less embarrassing falling on my backside on my own in the dark than it would have been doing it in front of a crowd ?

[A40farinagolf]

On ‎17‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 17:37, cotterless45 said:

I learnt ,

to celebrate Mark's ( a40farinagolf) birthday , by showing him the proper way to drink single malt.

that a tent can be "teal" colour , Haz won't live that down.

that seeing a "penguin" up an electric post was more exciting than being told it was a pigeon. Twitching with a 102 and a 130 triplet will never be the same.

that astronomers are good folk, cheer !

Nick.

I learnt lots of things from a great mentor (cotterless45) and came home a wiser and hopefully better astronomer.

- plan your viewing session and make notes afterwards

- buy a 240v hairdryer and my 12v was not man enough and packed in

- if you see a penguin up a telegraph pole don't tell anyone just incase it flies off before they've seen it

- the views created by a C6R compared to a 130mm triplet are not that different (being honest)

- fracs can see through light clouds really well - I was amazed what you could view despite not being able to see anything with the naked eye except for clouds

Mark

 

[mikeyj1]

On 3/15/2016 at 17:49, BobSki said:

I learned that not every club or society of people is cliquey, arrogant and self obsessed. Every single person I met or spoke to were friendly, welcoming and helpful. 

I learned (thanks to Martin b  ) how to successfully complete a 2 star alignment followed by a Polar alignment on my Advanced VX mount. 

I learned ( courtesy of Rik ) that if I align my Newtonian's focuser with the mounts counterweight bar, I will not need to continually rotate the newt in its mounting rings in order to see through the eye piece. 

I learned that Stellarium on an iPad is NOT a good idea unless the whole screen is covered by a Red filter. 

I learned lots of things from many people and I am grateful to you all. 

All the best

Bob

Hi Bob, me being a newbie...can you explain the Newtonian focuser alignment bit...

look forward to joining the next party!

Mike

[BobSki]

16 hours ago, mikeyj1 said:

Hi Bob, me being a newbie...can you explain the Newtonian focuser alignment bit...

look forward to joining the next party!

Mike

Hi Mike,

yes buddy, with pleasure.

When setting up your scope ready for use you position your tripod legs and your mount etc. Facing North. You will have a long bar that screws into the mount and points down at an angle toward the ground, onto which you place the counter-balance weights. Having got this far, you then secure your scope, via it's mounting rings, into the dovetail on the mount. If you now rotate the Newtonian in it's mounting rings so the the eye piece/focuser is parallel with the counter-weight bar (if you have just aligned your tripod and mount with North both should be pointing North and down at an angle) you will find that pretty much anywhere you point the scope, your eyepiece will be accessible. 

I hope that helps.

All the best

Bob

[Commanderfish]

On 3/15/2016 at 17:49, BobSki said:

 

I learned that Stellarium on an iPad is NOT a good idea unless the whole screen is covered by a Red filter. 

Bob

Hi Bob, there is a night vision mode on Stellarium that turns the whole display red on a black background   I think it's the eye-shaped symbol.

[BobSki]

4 minutes ago, Commanderfish said:

Hi Bob, there is a night vision mode on Stellarium that turns the whole display red on a black background   I think it's the eye-shaped symbol.

Hi Commanderfish,

yes, that works well until you want to type in a star name to search for. As soo as you do, the screen splits so you have some view of the red filtered star screen and a blinding white keyboard. 

I've solved the issue now though as I have purchased a Bluetooth keyboard for the iPad. Using this enables me to type directly into stellarium without invoking the ipads touch keyboard. 

[Stu]

On 23 March 2016 at 15:03, BobSki said:

Hi Commanderfish,

yes, that works well until you want to type in a star name to search for. As soo as you do, the screen splits so you have some view of the red filtered star screen and a blinding white keyboard. 

I've solved the issue now though as I have purchased a Bluetooth keyboard for the iPad. Using this enables me to type directly into stellarium without invoking the ipads touch keyboard. 

A piece of red acetate over the screen is the best solution, avoids any issues with going back to the home screen at full brightness.

[Paul73]

4 hours ago, BobSki said:

Hi Commanderfish,

yes, that works well until you want to type in a star name to search for. As soo as you do, the screen splits so you have some view of the red filtered star screen and a blinding white keyboard. 

I've solved the issue now though as I have purchased a Bluetooth keyboard for the iPad. Using this enables me to type directly into stellarium without invoking the ipads touch keyboard. 

I stopped using Stellarium for  that very reason. Then found that Sky Safari Pro is better in almost every respect (on a tablet). And does a better job of screen brightness and red screen. 

Haven' looked back! £15 well spent.

Back on topic - I learned not to snatch a couple of hours kip in the hope of getting clear sky. Admittedly, it was after rugby & hog roast: Got warm, comfy and missed a fun evening of socialising over a beer or three. I got in trouble with my wife when I returned home with undrunk beer. She assumed that I had been misbehaving with another women! It was only Kerry's pictures which clearly show my distinctive tent, car and lots of telescopes that convinced her otherwise. Perversely, if I had come back with no beer, I would be branded a drunkard of the first order. 

Can't wait for next year.

Paul

[Scott]

The advantage of using acetate is that it dims the screen where stellerium just turns it red. it's still damn bright . not only that, you have to turn the ipad on to get to stellerium which will blind a dark adapted astronomer at fifty paces.

[hadyn42]

6 hours ago, BobSki said:

Hi Commanderfish,

yes, that works well until you want to type in a star name to search for. As soo as you do, the screen splits so you have some view of the red filtered star screen and a blinding white keyboard. 

I've solved the issue now though as I have purchased a Bluetooth keyboard for the iPad. Using this enables me to type directly into stellarium without invoking the ipads touch keyboard. 

Hello Bob

 

How's things with you?  How are you getting on with your SCT kit?

I use Stellarium version 0.14.2 and when you select night vision mode the search box stays in night mode.

Not too sure what version you are using?

Best regards,

Hadyn - IOM

[BobSki]

14 hours ago, Stu said:

A piece is red acetate over the screen is the best solution, avoids any issues with going back to the home screen at full brightness.

Yes, I think for my next star party, that will be a "must have" ?

[BobSki]

12 hours ago, hadyn42 said:

Hello Bob

 

How's things with you?  How are you getting on with your SCT kit?

I use Stellarium version 0.14.2 and when you select night vision mode the search box stays in night mode.

Not too sure what version you are using?

Best regards,

Hadyn - IOM

Hi Hadyn,

I'm fine thanks buddy and trust you are well?

did that cash arrive in your account safely? I have used the scope on the rifle range twice now and I am extremely pleased with it, so many thanks for that and trusting me. 

On my iPad I am using Stellarium mobile v1.23

I know Adrian Conlon favours Sky Safari, as does Paul above, so I guess to keep this on topic, I also learned at SGL XI that Sky      Safari Pro is likely to be better than Stellarium for night use. ??

[Adrian Condon]

Hi Bob,

I learnt that if you had a problem Dr Ju_Ju (Julian) had an answer that worked! That Polar Alignment without back strain, wet knees and bottom, is cured by ordering the

QHYCCD PoleMaster from Bernard at Modern Astronomy, mine arrived yesterday and it is raining at present.....

Secondly, that you (BOB) have a hot wallet!

And that the Apple MacBook Pro has a little program called DarkLight that gives you the option to either have the screen red or green with varying levels of brightness and

contrast, and it works for all the programs on the machine. It does not work on the Apple Logo light on the computer lid.

And Finally, If you go to the toilet on a very wet and windy night you arrive back at the tent soaked to the skin.......

Cheers

Adrian

[michaelmorris]

As with every other star party, I was reminded that amateur astronomers are a cracking bunch of folks and that with every star party I attend, I realise that there is even more stuff I don't know about this hobby.  Everyday a school day.

[Paul73]

Couldn't agree more!

The talks were a particular highlights. From the expertly researched and prepared Galaxies from Mark, to the more free flowing double act of Steve and Shane on building Dobs.

Unfortunately,  someone scheduled a rugby match at the same time as the video astronomy talk....

Paul

 

 

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Paul73 said:

Couldn't agree more!

The talks were a particular highlights. From the expertly researched and prepared Galaxies from Mark, to the more free flowing double act of Steve and Shane on building Dobs.

Unfortunately,  someone scheduled a rugby match at the same time as the video astronomy talk....

Paul

 

 

Paul,

There was a hard core of dedicated video astronomers at the talk, they knew where their priorities lay ???

Or perhaps they were all football supporters and didn't care about the rugby? ??

[bish]

2 hours ago, Paul73 said:

Couldn't agree more!

The talks were a particular highlights. From the expertly researched and prepared Galaxies from Mark, to the more free flowing double act of Steve and Shane on building Dobs.

Paul

 

 

Very different styles but both very informative.

[Paul73]

11 hours ago, bish said:

Very different styles but both very informative.

Yes. But, both leaving me with a burning need for a bigger scope!!

Saddly the Coma Wall is a closed book for my little scopes.

Paul