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Posted by Callum Potter at 12:08 on 2011 Feb 25
Hi Steve,try attaching it as a File – .txt or .doc – 120kb or less.I’d suggesting using a .txtIf you tried attaching it as a file before please try again, as there was a buglet which i have now fixed.Thanks,Callum
Posted by TonyAngel at 12:00 on 2011 Feb 25
Go for it 🙂 The only other option would be to ask Callum if he could put it into the Blog Spot or the News section.
Posted by TonyAngel at 11:56 on 2011 Feb 25
Ok, try this one for size :-)We are told that this country needs more scientists. A substantial number of people are introduced to science via amateur astronomy while they were at school. By going onto DST this will reduce the amount of time during the year for youngsters to visit observatories. This in turn will reduce the numbers exposed to astronomy, therefore reducing the numbers going into science. 🙂
Posted by Steve Holmes2 at 11:44 on 2011 Feb 25
I wasn’t so much concerned about the "physical" size of the file as on the number of words that size represents and therefore the amount of page-space the full text would take up. Images are quite different in that the page-space of even a huge image file can be quite small, depending on how they are encoded. MSWord tells me it’s 950 words long, 13 times as long as this post!
Posted by Andrea Tasselli at 10:55 on 2011 Feb 25
The only possible benefit, if any, would be for daytime observers. As for the nighttime observers it would be pretty tough during the summer season. A small compensation, there is a slight advantage during the winter season. As weather tends to be foulest during winter I shall think that on balance we lose out.Andrea T.
Posted by TonyAngel at 10:35 on 2011 Feb 25
A starting point would be looking at the meeting report from about 12 to 14 years ago, (give or take a year). There was a speaker who tried to convince the meeting over the benefits of changing. He was thrashed, with no member supporting him. Henry Hatfield spoke against the motion at length. As it was the main event of the meeting, it was was well reported in the Journal. I think John Mason minuted the meeting, but I am not 100% sure. There was a show of hands vote at the end of it.I will start looking through the Journals but if anyone has them downloaded then they could do a search. To help, if they search on my name they may find it quickly because it was one of the few time I was minuted :-)Apart from the pain of making late nights later! Personally I would go on the attack and say that not only should we not go onto CET, we should scrap BST. It would be better to change work and school hours. Portugal uses GMT and BST even though it borders Spain. People suggesting that the North of Britain could be in different Time Zones are off their rocker. Many Computer Systems and Tachograph systems would not be able to cope. Yes, International Companies would be able to manage, but National or any small business with "cross border" outlets accessing central system may have problems. To change these systems would be big money.
Posted by TonyAngel at 17:54 on 2011 Feb 24
Compared with the size of images it is quite small. I think that it would be worthwhile pasting it.
Posted by Norman Morton at 14:14 on 2011 Feb 24
Just a quick up-date..Had the good news today from ‘Harrison Telescopes’ that my scope has been dispatched & should be with me tommorro….. The Excitement is now at fever pitch ;-)..Am looking forward to getting to grips with the learning of setting up & getting used to the scope & what I’m looking at before I go for the Photography part of things :-)…..NormanEdit~ Scope arrived today & It’s Beautiful :-)….. Was surprised how heavy the mount is after it’s all put together, But I realise that is important & means it should be very Steady, The motors are beautifully smooth running & the whole thing seems very nicely put together…My only problem is that my Rather Large Laptop doesn’t have a ‘6 pin Serial Com port’ so I have to order an adapter from the ‘6 pin connector on the RS-232 Cable’ to a USB connection so I can connect it up to my puter & use some auto guider software OHH & a Mains adapter to run from the Inverter (rather than using the cigarette lighter socket from the car)… So I’m well Pleased & am now looking forward to some better weather so I can at least get to learn how to set it up & begin Star Gazing :-)..N.
Posted by Steve Holmes2 at 11:41 on 2011 Feb 24
I certainly could do that but it’s rather long (the text file is 5.5Kbytes) so the resultant post would be excessively large. I was hoping to find a way that any interested reader could access the text without inconveniencing the casual browser.
Posted by Andrea Tasselli at 08:29 on 2011 Feb 24
Can’t you simply cut and past in the message body?Andrea T.
Posted by Steve Holmes2 at 23:30 on 2011 Feb 23
I have now received a reply from the BBC to my complaint, but I’m afraid it’s decidedly underwhelming (no surprise there!). They freely admit to the cock-up over the moon’s orbit but seem surprised that a viewer could come to the conclusion that the programme implied that the tides are caused by the moon dragging the "water bulge" over the earth’s surface.Given the unsatisfactory nature of the response I shall be composing a further riposte, pointing out the extent of the mis-information contained within the programme and suggesting that before it is repeated (for that seems to be the intention) it should not just have the lunar orbit graphic corrected but be subject to a root-and-branch revision.I tried to attach my complaint and the response as a text file, using the "attach image" facility, but it didn’t seem to work: anybody know how to achieve this?
Posted by Norman Morton at 16:39 on 2011 Feb 22
Hi RoyYep, I understand what you mean about the car being behind me & as it happens my leads are white so hopefully I shan’t trip over them, but a good point, thanks :)..Norman
Posted by Roy Hughes at 15:30 on 2011 Feb 22
Norman,just make sure the car is behind you, pointing the scope over a hot engine is bound to be bad.If you have to make up any cables try to use white or bright yellow wire, in the dark even the orange cables just disapear into the grass – right up to the moment you trip over them! I speak from experience here – fortunatly I had friction fit plug/sockets on the scope and they just pulled out rather than topple anything. Nothing damaged but my ego.Roy
Posted by Norman Morton at 12:01 on 2011 Feb 22
Hi TonyThat was a good idea :)…I thought about the battery running flat & so my Idea was that if I had the scope on an extension lead (5m) from the car I could still run the car to keep the battery charged up & not have it interfering with the scope, Not sure if it will work set-up like that but thought it might be worth a try.The inverter will give a good constant power supply with no peaks or drop off of power & I know it will give me more than enough power to run the scope & BIG Laptop that i have….. Thats the theory anyway :)..I haven’t heard from ‘Harrisons Telescopes’ yet about the delivery of the scope, but am still hopeful it will arrive for the end of the month & then the experimenting will begin…..Weather permitting :)..Norman
Posted by TonyAngel at 09:09 on 2011 Feb 22
When I used to have to travel to get to a dark sky with my LX200 my son-in-law fixed a spare battery in the boot and this was wired into the car electronics in a way that emulated a caravan socket – that is to say that when my car ignition was off it stopped charging. I had this done because once I was nearly stranded after running down the main battery!
Posted by Norman Morton at 21:49 on 2011 Feb 21
RoyThats fine, no worries:)…. The memory thing…….I have the same problem ;)..As it has come to mind that I will be using my Laptop for some Astrophotography (I say that a little tongue in cheek!!… As my laptop has a 18.4" screen & two high end graphics cards in SLi mode)) & was envisaging problems with the battery lasting longer than an hour & a half (at best) out in the field so to speak. I didn’t want to go to the expense of getting another Lappy, I have purchased (at a very good price of only £40) a 500W Power Inverter I can run off my car battery (I already have a good outdoor (waterproof) 5m extension lead & USB lead.The idea being that I can run the Scope/Mount & also the Laptop using a 5m USB lead from the scope back to the car & power it all from the inverter Which should be ample to run both, Am hoping that the vehicle will be far enough away not too interfere with the scope?? will have to see how that all works out I know & that I may be barking mad for trying it… But …Hey!! nothing ventured, nothing gained :)…My reason for this set-up is that I live Bang smack in the middle of town, so most of my work will be done out on the edge of Bodmin Moor, I also have a couple of relatives & friends back gardens out in the country that i can use on occasions, but I don’t want to keep bothering them every time I have an opportunity or chance to go out Sky Watching E.t.c..Not sure if what I’m attempting is possible or advisable, But if it isn’t then I’ll have a re-think & come up with something else, but either way I will get to do some Astrophotography & Night Sky Watching :)…RegardsNorman
Posted by Roy Hughes at 21:28 on 2011 Feb 20
Norman,one minor correction to my previous message.I’m actually using QCfocus to do capture, should have checked the laptop before writing, my memory is rubbish! I set the thing up ages ago and have had no reason to change it yet.Roy
Posted by Norman Morton at 18:21 on 2011 Feb 20
Hi RoyMany thanks for another very informative reply.. Like you say, I don’t really want to be ‘splashing the cash’ if I have no need to :)..I’ll certainly give the ‘Registax’ a shot, as too begin with it’ll more than likely be the moon that I will be experimenting with when I’m finally up & running, purely from the point of view that it’s the easiest to see & learn to set things up on.I’ll have a deco also at ‘SharpCap’, for now I think I’ll stick with my ‘Photoshop Elements’ for final polishing & see how it goes once I have everything up & running, It’s a fairly powerful piece of software & I already know my way around it to a certain degree, If it turns out not to be geared up for Astrophotography I can always try one of the other’s as you suggest, Again this I will find out when I’m fully geared up myself :)..I already have a very decent Colour Printer E.t.c at home & plenty of various size Photo paper, Gloss & Matt finnish because like you ,It’s nice to have actual Photo’s to look at & pass around, I even have the Mount material & cutting gear for framing for the very best shots :)..It’s probably been a good thing that I am unable to get my ‘SkyWatcher Scope’ until the end of the month, as I’ve had so much else to source & acquire, read & digest, that if I had gotten everything in one hit I think it would have given me a Brain overload lol.. OHHHH & the weather has been just awful down here in ‘sunny Cornwall’ the last couple of weeks ;)…I found I have an Astronomical Society very local to me at ‘Calington’ a mere 7 miles from me & will be getting in touch with them soon..Cheers once again Tony, you’ve been A great help :-)..Norman
Posted by Roy Hughes at 14:23 on 2011 Feb 20
Norman,I’m using WcCtrl for capture. There is a new kid on the block ‘SharpCap’ that looks to be better(?) and seems to have some aid to focusing built in. I’ve not tried it but it might be worth a look?Registax (free) works wonderfully on the moon for stacking the results – it appears to have been purposely designed to suit this particular task. There are tutorials out there on using it – most of it is over my head.The important step is the Registax, it’s amazing to watch the rubbish moon video you take with the webcam being transformed into the gleaming sharp photo you really wanted all along.Final polishing can be done with almost anything. I’m using GIMP (there are some Astro plugins, that I can’t quite see the utility of) but this is only 8 bit per colour depth. ULEAD Photo Impact 8 (old now – a covermount off a PC mag some years ago) and COREL something or other that came pre-installed on the laptop that I use to drive the webcam. All of which work well for me. Photoshop elements should do fine. I’m sure others with a more ‘professional’ interest will be able to suggest other choices. At this stage my gut instinct is to avoid splashing cash until you’ve at least tried the freeware options and software you’ve already got. Once you have a little practical experience then onwards and upwards is a reasonable option.One other thing.All the years I was using a SLR at the scope I was processing my own negatives & enlargements. Commercial processing cost a fortune and was hopeless for astronomical subjects. I took some digital moon photos taken with the webcam (Registaxed/Ulead polished) to Snappy Snaps on a stick and was amazed how good the prints were when I picked them up from my local shop. It seems that if you can get it looking right on screen they can print it. It’s nice to have a real photo to pass round and the price was just pennies. Other outfits are probably just as good.Roy
Posted by Norman Morton at 18:20 on 2011 Feb 19
Hello RoyYes it certainly does seem I got a very good deal on the SPC880 NC,I paid £9.16 for the camera,£8.32 for the adapter, £10.82 for the filter & another £2.49 for them to flash the camera to SPC900. In Total with VAT it came to £39.28 + I got an extra SPC880 NC un-flashed into the bargain, so am well pleased…I downloaded some software dedicated to acquiring Astrophotography called, ‘K3CCDTools’ (got to run that in windows xp SP2 mode for it too work on Win 7 & will have to pay for this, around £35 if I use it after the 35 day trial) & ‘WcCtrl Webcam control software’ (this is free).The Flashed Webcam is working, although obviously the pics are very blurred as it’s not on the scope yet & I don’t know how to use these pieces of software yet :),Alot more reading to do yet lol, but it appears to be working fine after me adapting the lens E.t.c. Also I have loaded the ‘VMA’ you suggested onto my computer & all is well & it runs great :-), Thanks for the Advice on that one..I have installed ‘DeepSkyStacker’ that was suggested in the BAA Book ‘Introduction to DSLR Astrophotography’ It says in the book that I’ll need an Image processing programme to get the best from it, at Present I use ‘Photoshop Elements 6’ do you think this will suffice or should I perhaps try the ‘IRIS’ Image processing package that is suggested in the book? it’s a free download so nothing to loose I guess..Sorry for the Long post & Numpty questions, I know I’m trying to look at things without even having got the Scope yet & this is probably not the best way to go about things, Just trying to sort out the best software that will suit my needs if it’s possible to do that without having all the necessary Equipment… Too Eager Huh ;-)…Thanks for all your time on this RoyRegardsNorman
