AlanM

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Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 28 total)
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  • in reply to: Last night’s Aurorae #621985
    AlanM
    Participant

    Great video. Pity about the clouds! What camera are you using for your Auroracam?

    in reply to: Request for observations of the nearby supernova SN 2024cld #621882
    AlanM
    Participant

    Great 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+search

    Attachments:
    in reply to: Request for observations of the nearby supernova SN 2024cld #621868
    AlanM
    Participant

    I 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:
    in reply to: February JBAA #621720
    AlanM
    Participant

    My 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.

    in reply to: Missing airmass #621587
    AlanM
    Participant

    Kevin,

    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.

    in reply to: Forum oddities #621523
    AlanM
    Participant

    It doesn’t inspire confidence in the security of the website. Has the site been tested for SQL injection vulnerabilities?

    in reply to: map of light pollution trends #621515
    AlanM
    Participant

    That is good news. Enjoy your many years of observing to come… light pollution allowing!

    in reply to: map of light pollution trends #621510
    AlanM
    Participant

    My 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.

    in reply to: FITS and FIT files suffix #621449
    AlanM
    Participant

    It 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.

    in reply to: FITS and FIT files suffix #621412
    AlanM
    Participant

    ASTAP 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.

    in reply to: Another missing JBAA #620724
    AlanM
    Participant

    I believe the December JBAA is only due to arrive around now.

    in reply to: Accommodation at dark sky locations for astronomy(?) #620088
    AlanM
    Participant

    Yiannis,

    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!

    in reply to: Software for photometry (image calibration) #620072
    AlanM
    Participant

    I 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

    in reply to: Bias Frames for CMOS #619873
    AlanM
    Participant

    The AAVSO Guide to CCD/CMOS Photometry with Monochrome Cameras has some practical advice on bias frames.

    in reply to: Deep Sky Section Webinar 2023 recordings #619304
    AlanM
    Participant

    Thank you to all those involved in this excellent webinar.

    in reply to: A good year for Japanese astronomers #618757
    AlanM
    Participant

    I think it does give amateurs the encouragement that they can still make discoveries.

    in reply to: Eclipses and Transits #617810
    AlanM
    Participant

    I have already ticked a total eclipse off my list (Austria 1999) but I could be tempted by the 2026 & 2027 total eclipses if I have the opportunity. The north coast of Spain looks the best for 2026 with Majorca (just above the horizon?) as a back up. Egypt is still on my list so that would be my destination choice for 2027. I’d hope to get better images than I did in ’99.
    Nick’s addition of a spacecraft did have me wondering if there is a place in space he could go to see a total eclipse involving the Sun & Earth and how it would look.

    in reply to: Comet image stacking #615729
    AlanM
    Participant

    Hi Nick, thank you. Wishful thinking on my part! I had tried various options but the ‘Could not allocate output buffer’ error stopped me stumbling across the correct ones. I’m pleased to say applying the correct options resolves the issue.

    in reply to: Comet image stacking #615705
    AlanM
    Participant

    Hi Nick,

    Memory would make sense. I am limited for memory on the laptop I’m using. The command line that I’m using is:

    fcombine -C -v fitout1 IN/* (where IN is a folder with my fit files.)

    Regards

    Alan

    in reply to: Comet image stacking #615691
    AlanM
    Participant

    Nick,

    I had a go at using the program yesterday. I didn’t have anything setup on my laptop so I installed a WSL development environment.
    Running without any options (fcombine outfile infiles) generated an image stacked on the stars with the comet trailed. I then tried the -C option. This resulted in ‘Could not allocate output buffer’ error message. It gave an empty output file. I suspect it is something I haven’t got in my environment or not giving to the program. I ran with the -v option but this didn’t give any more relevant information:

    Mid time: 2023-01-27 05:44:08, Span: 1962s, Exposure: 32x60s
    Could not allocate output buffer

    You mentioned ‘an attached script’ in your last post but I couldn’t see any attachment.

Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 28 total)