Old age and why smartphone photography is becoming more appealing.

[Chaz2b]

A few months back my doctor informed me that after three blood tests I am now stage two diabetic.

Because I didn’t feel any different than my previous years I didn’t know what to make of this news. Apart from going online to research everything I could, the first step was to change my diet, exercise more and rethink my future health.

This year I also needed a health report for my hgv license renewal, there I was told my eyesight was marginal required to pass, so need to see the optician, this included a 3D scan!

The results of that showed age does not come alone!

I have astigmatism in both eyes, like rugby balls she said! There was a small mole in one eye, how the hell did that get in there?! and floaters, but not significant.

I asked her if there was any thing to show that I had diabetes , she said no, so that was good, but I need to up my glasses to 2.5/3. I don’t need glasses for viewing, so far, but it’s when I am viewing it’s getting to hurt a little.

I have one more year to retirement and am therefore going to audit my collection, which is now getting very large.

To avoid over tiring my eyes I now use my smartphone and a lovely little eea namely the Dwarflab2. Okay, I am looking at screens but only in red light.

This is becoming a game changer, it’s easy and the d2 does its own stacking live! You see the image compiling in real time, neat.

There are other smart imagers out there, but like all things in astronomy it’s down to costs.

I have got decent Solar images from my Tak and a Samsung 5! Im just waiting on a pair of solar filters for the d2.

I was worried that old age was going to rob me of my enjoyment of the night sky, but I see a new horizon now. The new tech imagers are lighter, easy to use and affordable, here’s looking to that!

chaz

[Norris Adams]

I definitely get it Chaz.

Ever since I rolled into EAA I've been hooked. 

I also had a couple of cataracts removed two years ago and I'm off to the opticians for an eye test again this week - I'm pretty sure my sight has deteriorated quite a bit over the last six months.

EAA allows me to take every advantage I can get, so I will continue to exploit it to the full!

Norris

[LukeSkywatcher]

I was diagnosed with type II in 2009. I was on medication for yrs. Then I was put on insulin. With absolutely minimal changes to my life style, I reversed my Diabetes.

I still get retina screening once a year. So far, all my screenings come back as normal.

Just for the sake of it, I monitor my blood glucose levels 3 times Daily. 

If they go low, I chew a few "sugar sweets" or drink Lucozade.