Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
AlanMParticipant
The Magellanic clouds would have been known before the Portuguese explorers saw them. If there is evidence they were known earlier in history by another name I wouldn’t have any objection to them being re-named to reflect this.
AlanMParticipantI can’t take it any more! I have decided two things:
1) I will devote myself only to the study of Astronomy;
2) better enjoy that money by inviting a beautiful woman to dinner. Just tell me I’m wrong.Giovanni,
Don’t lose your enthusiasm. Maybe plan a holiday to a site with better conditions and take your beautiful date with you.
Peter,
I think I will be on dodgy ground if I make any comment about your post!
AlanMParticipantThe motorist who forgets to dim his headlights is fined
I can’t see this happening here!
I have always enjoyed looking at Jupiter and with increasing light pollution I can see this becoming my main focus in the coming years. I am often surprised to see Jupiter shining through a gap in the clouds as though it pushes the clouds away.
The Met Office cloud cover forecast does seem to be accurate in predicting clouds for me! It also enabled me to spot a gap in the clouds this morning and I had a good view of the Moon and Saturn in a brightening sky. I don’t know how accurate the forecast is. Presumably they do feed actual cloud cover back into the prediction. The monthly weather report they produce doesn’t give a cloud cover percentage but you can get an indication from the hours of sunshine/rainfall/frost.Attachments:
AlanMParticipantBill,
Uploading your image to Astronomy.Net confirms your marking.
Attachments:
AlanMParticipantGreat video. Pity about the clouds! What camera are you using for your Auroracam?
28 February 2024 at 6:14 am in reply to: Request for observations of the nearby supernova SN 2024cld #621882AlanMParticipantGreat capture Alan. I think it’s flipped E-W
E-W/N-S always get me!
Hi, nice photo. Is the SN a bit off the centre of the NGC 6004 ?
Thanks.
Yes. It is worth checking here:
https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=NGC6004&submit=SIMBAD+searchAttachments:
27 February 2024 at 2:12 pm in reply to: Request for observations of the nearby supernova SN 2024cld #621868AlanMParticipantI was lucky to get an image of NGC 6004 using the COAST facility at telescope.org last night. It looks around mag 15 if I’m looking in the correct location and not being seduced by a nearby star
Attachments:
AlanMParticipantMy journal arrived yesterday and it was fully sealed. I’m not too sure about the colour of the wrapper though. It almost went into the bill pile.
AlanMParticipantKevin,
An issue similar to yours was raised in the ASTAP forum:
https://sourceforge.net/p/astap-program/discussion/general/thread/40bba8e112/?limit=25#b581
It may be worth raising an issue on the ZWO forum to find out why lat/long aren’t saved when using ASIair (https://bbs.zwoastro.com/)
I think it is possible to manually type in the name of the star when setting up the image capture with ASIair and the FIT files will then have it in the file name.
AlanMParticipantIt doesn’t inspire confidence in the security of the website. Has the site been tested for SQL injection vulnerabilities?
AlanMParticipantThat is good news. Enjoy your many years of observing to come… light pollution allowing!
AlanMParticipantMy corneas will be yellower and the first hints of cataracts are probably appearing.
I hope you have consulted an optician Grant. Getting treatment early could save your sight.
AlanMParticipantIt was something I thought I’d seen on the internet but your concerns make me think it was related to something else. Maybe converting a jpeg to 16 bit fit. I’ll have a look to see if I can find the page but it was sometime ago when I saw it.
AlanMParticipantASTAP does allow saving as a 16 bit FITS file:
File -> Save as FITS file
On the Save file as window that appears select the down arrow on the Save as type field. One of the options is 16 bit FITS files (*.fit*).
Select this and change the name of the file as required and save.Theres some fun for anyone using Python, the Astropy library discourages the writing of 16 bit FITS files and I think it defaults to 32bit.
I have some memory of being able to convert 32 bit files to 16 bit in Python by using numpy (get the data into a numpy array and convert using np.int16(data) and then write the data to a file) but I could be mistaken.
AlanMParticipantI believe the December JBAA is only due to arrive around now.
9 November 2023 at 5:51 am in reply to: Accommodation at dark sky locations for astronomy(?) #620088AlanMParticipantYiannis,
A date the site was last visited may be useful. I’ve been to places in Greece and Austria many years ago that had dark skies but I wouldn’t vouch for them now.
Paul,
In the past I have offered to accommodate BAA members who happen to drop by my place in La Palma when I am also in residence. That offer is still open for the time being.
A generous offer. If that doesn’t boost BAA membership I don’t know what will!
AlanMParticipantI don’t do photometry Kevin but I have noticed a couple of videos that might be useful to you. The Q&A sections cover a lot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufbFaUywEBg&list=PLnZ_rvnR35rfGTaq4g3kzVOfkna1JeDyX&index=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcE7c4CggFM&list=PLnZ_rvnR35re3ZxnumCnIesanWvUyy9eB&index=24
AlanMParticipantThe AAVSO Guide to CCD/CMOS Photometry with Monochrome Cameras has some practical advice on bias frames.
AlanMParticipantThank you to all those involved in this excellent webinar.
AlanMParticipantI think it does give amateurs the encouragement that they can still make discoveries.
-
AuthorPosts