A thank you to Steve Richards

[tomato]

Apologies if this has already been said, but since Steve ( @steppenwolf on here) announced he was selling his UK based imaging set up in the classifieds, I haven’t come across any posts responding to this so I just wanted to say how much I will miss his very informative and always top quality image postings on SGL. I would also like to thank him for his expert advice he gave me via SGL when I started out in digital AP, and of course there are his well renowned AP  “How to” books, ‘Making every photon count’ and ‘Dark art or magic bullet’. The first book in particular was paramount (no pun intended) in helping me make the right decisions when investing in my set up back in 2014, ensuring I got some early successes which no doubt resulted in me still being heavily committed to AP some 10 years on.

I understand Steve is effectively exiting AP, so I didn’t want this milestone to pass without expressing my gratitude.

Good luck Steve, with all of your future interests.

[kirkster501]

Ah wow, news to me!  Steve is AP royalty, very sorry to hear.

Whatever Steve's reasons,  I must say AP in UK is incredibly frustrating and I have considered likewise as the conditions are getting worse every year.  I'm certainly going to downsize.

[tomato]

5 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

Ah wow, news to me!  Steve is AP royalty, very sorry to hear.

Whatever Steve's reasons,  I must say AP in UK is incredibly frustrating and I have considered likewise as the conditions are getting worse every year.  I'm certainly going to downsize.

It will be another big loss to UK AP if you decide to quit Steve. There is remote imaging of course, but I think you need to have a certain mindset to enjoy that approach, I’m not sure I have it…

[Xsubmariner]

  May I wish Steve every success in all his future endeavours, his books were my preferred reading when I started this hobby in 2016. I do hope he will find time to grace us with some words of wisdom from time to time in the future.

  AP is a challenging hobby and yes the weather has not helped recently. The good news is the latest generation of Astro cameras and software has enhanced our ability to produce quality images with a reduced quantity of raw data (compared to my initial AP experience). 

Many thanks to Steve for his contribution to the advancement of AP.  Kudos and appreciation to all individuals who continue to support this amazing hobby.

[kev]

Just wanted to say, here here.  Best of luck with whatever you end up doing.  
 

[kirkster501]

On 17/05/2024 at 23:33, tomato said:

It will be another big loss to UK AP if you decide to quit Steve. There is remote imaging of course, but I think you need to have a certain mindset to enjoy that approach, I’m not sure I have it…

Remote will never be for me and I'd rather quit than go down that road.  To me AP is about what I can do with my own gear with my own hands - that's of course another debate that I don't want to start on this thread about Steve.   I'm not going to quit, no way, but I am going through a period of consolidation.  I am also a visual astronomer as well and I am getting more interested in lunar, solar and planets in terms of AP.  We do get clear skies of course but we just have to acknowledge they are few and far between in the UK and it makes deep sky AP very challenging on these shores - or in Northern Europe for that matter.  I think if you are a champion imager like SteveR then it's so much more frustrating because you cannot get the clear nights integration time in on a project in the UK to give the object the exposure time it deserves to create an image at the level someone like Steve would think satisfactory.

[tomato]

Agreed, one way of getting the long integration times is to keep adding data from successive seasons, I find myself doing this more often lately.

[steppenwolf]

I am very touched that not only this thread has been started but that it has also been commented in, thank you.

As those of you who know me will understand, this has been a really hard decision to make as astrophotography has been such an important part of my life for many years. 

Here in the UK, we are used to poor weather, it literally goes with the territory! I can cope with that and just make sure that I make the very best use of the good opportunities that present themselves but my issues, that have grown (quite literally in one case) worse over the last three years have made my situation intolerable.

The major issue has been a significant change in the unfortunate local microclimate that I have to contend with situated at the very foot of the South Downs - this has always produced a lot of excess moisture in the atmosphere but in recent years it has been exacerbated by climate change so even on nights when my astronomy friends are experiencing crisp, clear skies I am bathed in a thin mist that saps the detail from my images so it is even more rare for me to experience a really good sky!

The second issue is the encroachment of trees in my neighbours’ gardens and their refusal to do anything about them unless I pay to have them trimmed on their terms at my cost - the last trimming lasted less than 5 years and cost me over £1500 and that was for just one elevation! My ‘best’ local horizon is currently 32 degrees elevation….. I could move but that is really too much of an upheaval and there are so many important family reasons for not doing so.

One of the things that is really important to me is to try and progress and produce better images but the sky conditions discussed above are making that impossible. The other thing I have wanted to achieve is to seek out new (to me) targets as I have found myself re-taking the same objects again and again but I am thwarted in this endeavour by my horizon limits and although one could argue that perhaps I should be visiting dark sites and imaging there, my deep sky imaging model is observatory based so that’s not going to happen!

I have had a great time and met some wonderful people both locally and on SGL in the pursuit of deep sky imaging and my passion for astronomy has not left me but I am old enough and wise enough to know when the frustrations are taking too high a toll and that’s where I am now. I will continue to be a member here on SGL and remain as a moderator and I will continue to be a participating member of the small imaging group that meets monthly for a top notch dinner and astrophotography discussions that continue into the wee small hours so I am not leaving astronomy altogether and it certainly isn’t a sinking ship so please don’t follow my example on this one 🤣 !

I hope to continue to meet you all on here in the future.

 

[kirkster501]

Aaah Steve, sad to hear and a massive loss to us all if you leave AP.   Have you considered putting your towering expertise into a mobile rig perhaps with fast DLSR lenses at F1.4 allied to a CMOS camera that can grab a ton of data in quick time??   That's what I am thinking of doing since I am likewise surrounded by trees and live in an housing estate in Bortle 5 skies.  I've already scouted out dark fields and quiet places close to where I live in Nottinghamshire that are dark but I can be back in civilisation inside fifteen minutes.  I can nip out in the car and be set up in ten minutes and grab a ton of data whilst I do visual with a dob or my binoculars.

I am getting remarried in 18 months and moving home  - into Bortle 6-7 - and I am considering abandoning the obs in favour of a more portable setup for AP - I'm trying to think outside the box for my AP future.  You could do something similar perhaps?  I hope I don't appear to be interfering and of course respectful of your decision - but there are always other options?

 

[steppenwolf]

3 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

I am getting remarried in 18 months and moving home  - into Bortle 6-7 - and I am considering abandoning the obs in favour of a more portable setup for AP - I'm trying to think outside the box for my AP future.  You could do something similar perhaps?  I hope I don't appear to be interfering and of course respectful of your decision - but there are always other options?

Congratulations on your plans to remarry - I wish you all the luck in the World.

As you rightly say, there are indeed other options to consider. I have carefully considered several options including installing a remote installation from a commercial site abroad or renting time on a shared system but this really isn’t for me as much of the pleasure I have enjoyed has been from the ‘hands on’ aspect of my installation, despite it being operated ‘remotely’ from my own garden! I have also considered a portable rig and visiting dark sites but this simply wouldn’t fit in with my current family life which is why I went down the locally ‘remote’, automated route in the first place. So, much as I appreciate the suggestions and I really do appreciate them, I know that for me, they would not work out.

I am very fortunate in that I have other interests outside astronomy that can be enjoyed at any time and one in particular (electronic music production from my home recording studio 🙄 😱) will now benefit from the extra time that I have available so I will not be vegetating and I will still be keeping my astronomy hand in, albeit on a more academic level than before. 

[carastro]

I am sorry to hear that you are forced to make this decision Steve.  I am getting to a similar situation myself but in my case I already live in Bortle 8 and can ony do narrowband or at a push HaRGB from home.  Like you I paid for next door's tree to be cut down which is right where Orion passes.  Within 18 months it has grown back bigger than before, so even Orion is pretty much out for me unless I keep grabbing small amounts of data between passing the tree and disappearing behind another bank of trees in the small hours.  

I have pretty much done all the doable NB targets from home and like you don't want to keep repeating things.  My only opportunity is to go to Astro camps, but I am finding this too is getting more and more difficult as I get older as I dn't have the energy for all the effort involved.  Luckily I had some help at the recent local camp.   But booking these events in advance doesn't guarantee clear skies.  

So I fully sympathise with your situation.  I have always valued your advice and was glad to have met you at one of the SGL star parties albeit some years ago.

Best of luck with your music hobby and glad to hear you will continue on this forum.

Best wishes  

Carole 

Edited May 22 by carastro

[tomato]

Ah yes, the neighbour’s tree growth. All was well when I moved to a new build estate 5 years ago but the neighbour where my dome is adjacent to the boundary fence planted a laurel bush, presumably to shield his view of my glorious green dome. It has now reached a height where the top branches are starting to appear in the aperture when I image East. Their bungalow roof stops me imaging below 25 degrees alt anyway and beyond that is the sky glow from Telford, so I reckon I have a couple of more years before it gets a real problem.

[kirkster501]

I'm also into Electronic music production as well Steve as well as Piano playing blues/Jazz/classical.  Using Ableton 12 but I am falling more and more back onto Logic Pro.  I use an Alturia Keylab 88 Mk II on Apple Studio Ultra with 192G of RAM.  I use this same machine for PixInsight and Photoshop for my astronomy processing.

Edited May 22 by kirkster501

[ollypenrice]

The thing to remember about our passions (I hate the word 'hobbies') is that they're not compulsory. I felt ridiculously guilty over cutting right down on my cycling but the emotional need for it had just gone. So be it.

Enjoy the music making!  Erm, I like singing. Would you like to hear me? 😬👹🤪

Olly

Edited May 22 by ollypenrice
typo

[Mandy D]

@ollypenrice your words ring so true that none of this is compulsory and we should do it when we enjoy it.

I am currently battling my fourth dose of Covid, since October, last year and it is, by far the worst, yet. I am nearly four weeks in and a week last Monday, it was looking like hospitilisation and ventilator for me. I'm fully vaccinated.

I have lost all interest in my hobbies and can barely lift the D800, now. Hence, why no photos since the bird ones a few weeks ago, which turned out to be my first day of covid, but I did not know it at the time.

Unfortunately, at the begining of this year I made a very silly decision to embark on a 366 photo challenge, which I am now seriously regretting. The most recent photos are sub-par, but I have to publish each day. If I get through this current session of covid and don't miss a photo, where does that leave me come autumn when I will surely get another dose?

Apologies for posting here. My covid addled brain had not realised what the thread was about.

Edited May 22 by Mandy D

[steppenwolf]

10 hours ago, tomato said:

Ah yes, the neighbour’s tree growth. All was well when I moved to a new build estate 5 years ago but the neighbour where my dome is adjacent to the boundary fence planted a laurel bush, presumably to shield his view of my glorious green dome. It has now reached a height where the top branches are starting to appear in the aperture when I image East. Their bungalow roof stops me imaging below 25 degrees alt anyway and beyond that is the sky glow from Telford, so I reckon I have a couple of more years before it gets a real problem.

I’m sorry to hear this, Steve - how very frustrating for you. How cool would it be if we could afford to move somewhere with no neighbours and no nearby towns? 😂

[steppenwolf]

5 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

I'm also into Electronic music production as well Steve as well as Piano playing blues/Jazz/classical.  Using Ableton 12 but I am falling more and more back onto Logic Pro.  I use an Alturia Keylab 88 Mk II on Apple Studio Ultra with 192G of RAM.  I use this same machine for PixInsight and Photoshop for my astronomy processing.

It is quite amazing just how many people with an interest in astronomy also have a passion for creating music in one form or another.

That is such a neat installation - sadly, because I am into old school analogue modular, my studio is a little bit more sprawling 😱

[steppenwolf]

5 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

The thing to remember about our passions (I hate the word 'hobbies') is that they're not compulsory. I felt ridiculously guilty over cutting right down on my cycling but the emotional need for it had just gone. So be it.

Enjoy the music making!  Erm, I like singing. Would you like to hear me? 😬👹🤪

Olly

You make a very good point, Olly and one that does come up from time to time - I have said on more than one occasion that we shouldn’t feel guilty if we don’t image on EVERY clear night!!

Of course we want to hear you sing, Olly 😂😂

[steppenwolf]

@Mandy D I really hope you break this Covid cycle once and for all - it sounds like it is wreaking havoc on your life ☹️

[bingevader]

5 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Enjoy the music making!  Erm, I like singing. Would you like to hear me? 😬👹🤪

Olly

Yes please.

[900SL]

8 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

It is quite amazing just how many people with an interest in astronomy also have a passion for creating music in one form or another.

That is such a neat installation - sadly, because I am into old school analogue modular, my studio is a little bit more sprawling 😱

Is that an original Moog? 

[steppenwolf]

4 hours ago, 900SL said:

Is that an original Moog?

Although a lot of my equipment is genuine Moog, it is all current, not from the early 55/35/10 series. The vertical stack on the right has four Moog synths, the lower keyboard on the left is a Moog synth and the white object in the foreground is a Moog Theremin. The ‘vintage’ cabinet has three rows of AJH MiniMod modules - the top row is a modular recreation of a very early MiniMoog, the second and third rows are also by AJH and contain various LFOs, envelope generators and other utility modules that move the MiniMoog section closer to an original series 55/35/10 system. The synth on the far right is a clone of the ARP 2600.

[Stuart1971]

13 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

It is quite amazing just how many people with an interest in astronomy also have a passion for creating music in one form or another.

That is such a neat installation - sadly, because I am into old school analogue modular, my studio is a little bit more sprawling 😱

Need some cable management there….😮😂

[steppenwolf]

On 23/05/2024 at 12:04, Stuart1971 said:

Need some cable management there….😮😂

Yup, certainly do, both under the benches and on the modules although in fairness, the modules *should* look like that! 🤣 🤣

[kirkster501]

Do I spy a Korg there, Steve????