Fun is.......

[cajen2]

Guiding my daughter through her first observation via WhatsApp.....when she can only see the moon and one star! 😄

 

[cajen2]

She was asking me to tell her which star it is (and we're 85 miles apart).....

[cajen2]

Had any 'fun with astronomy' recently?

[Ags]

I discovered technetium stars this week. These are old stars with far too much radioactive heavy metals in their atmosphere for their own good. They have a dead core, surrounded by a helium-fusing shell, surrounded by a hydrogen-fusing shell, and the heavy metals are formed in the boundary between these two shells by the s-process (slow neutron capture). The presence of technetium (a shortlived radioactive isotope) in the atmospheres of these old stars proves that stars form heavy elements as the technetium must have been formed recently.

Edited March 17, 2022 by Ags

[Elp]

Trying to sort technical issues...

[yuklop]

collimation.

[Elp]

Collimating while questioning a manufacturers recommended camera backfocus whilst querying why 2 star alignment is way off on goto.

[Guest]

Fun is....the first Formula 1 race of the new season.  Oh wait....that is not astronomy related....my bad

[OK Apricot]

Fun is trying to relax and enjoy a peaceful observing session with an impacted wisdom tooth... 😢

[cajen2]

Ouch! Poor you......and I don't suppose knowing the photons from your target took umpteen thousand years to reach you (which puts your tooth into perspective) is any consolation at all! 😥

[OK Apricot]

My AZ GTi finally performing accurate goto's is a consolation however 👀

[saac]

Skateboarding on way home from work as the better weather arrives  

Jim

[jacko61]

20 hours ago, saac said:

Skateboarding on way home from work as the better weather arrives  

Jim

Back foot slipped off pushing off on Saturday at Livi skatepark. Board and front foot shot off into the distance resulting in an incredibly painful pulled hamstring and a bruise from behind my knee up to my left 'cheek'. Skateboarding stopped being fun for a few hours.  

Graeme

[cajen2]

I'm sure it's fun, but to me skateboarding shares with windsurfing the title of the silliest way to get from A to B that man has ever devised! 😛😄

[SuburbanMak]

Biked by moonlight to a new observing site & found it to be good & dark. 
 

[saac]

3 hours ago, jacko61 said:

Back foot slipped off pushing off on Saturday at Livi skatepark. Board and front foot shot off into the distance resulting in an incredibly painful pulled hamstring and a bruise from behind my knee up to my left 'cheek'. Skateboarding stopped being fun for a few hours.  

Graeme

Ouch, rest well and hope you are pushing the board soon  

Jim 

[saac]

2 hours ago, cajen2 said:

I'm sure it's fun, but to me skateboarding shares with windsurfing the title of the silliest way to get from A to B that man has ever devised! 😛😄

You have never skated then - it is utterly sublime.  It's not so much about getting from A to B rather than just being in the moment  

Jim 

[cajen2]

2 minutes ago, saac said:

You have never skated then - it is utterly sublime.  It's not so much about getting from A to B rather than just being in the moment  

Jim 

I actually, I have tried skateboarding.......not for me, though. And I think you've missed the tongue-firmly-in-cheek slant.....😛

[cajen2]

I've done windsurfing several times too.....but as a confirmed sailor, I still think it's silly! 😄

[saac]

1 minute ago, cajen2 said:

I've done windsurfing several times too.....but as a confirmed sailor, I still think it's silly! 😄

Now sailing - you will never get me on the water, too wet and way too windy, brrr I feel cold just thinking about it.  Funny, I don't mind being in or under the water just not sitting on it get sprayed.   What a wimp  

Jim 

[saac]

Here, this is the skateboarding I aspire to.  I have a local hill I use but you will be pleased to know I hit nowhere like 70 mph  

Jim 

 

 

[cajen2]

11 minutes ago, saac said:

Now sailing - you will never get me on the water, too wet and way too windy, brrr I feel cold just thinking about it.  Funny, I don't mind being in or under the water just not sitting on it get sprayed.   What a wimp  

Jim 

So you've never been out in the middle of the night in freezing weather, then? 😄😛

[cajen2]

One of the best nights in my life was on a boat.....alone at the helm of a 35 foot yawl on the east coast of Malaysia as a teenager. Everyone else was asleep, the Milky Way was glorious, the water was full of phosphorescence....it has never got better than that.

[saac]

13 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

So you've never been out in the middle of the night in freezing weather, then? 😄😛

First thing I did when I built my observatory was lay the data cable to house  -  any fool can be uncomfortable .  I told you I am a fully paid up wimp  

Jim 

[saac]

9 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

One of the best nights in my life was on a boat.....alone at the helm of a 35 foot yawl on the east coast of Malaysia as a teenager. Everyone else was asleep, the Milky Way was glorious, the water was full of phosphorescence....it has never got better than that.

Now that actually sounds amazing.

Jim