Derek Robson

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  • in reply to: Starlink Flares? #584453
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Loughborough camera picked up the longest “flare” I’ve detected.  The video triggered twice; first for a few seconds then for a much longer period.  I don’t know if this was due to cloud, or the way the thing flared.  There just seemed to be an abrupt halt then restart. 

    I couldn’t see any hint of regular pulses along the trail, which makes me think it wasn’t a plane.  The smoothness of the silvery toned trail and spear-like nature made me think more like a flare.  I’ve not done any analysis on it yet.  If someone detected it further away from my location, then it isn’t a plane near me.

    Alex drew this post to my attention, so I’ve posted the image here.

    I’ve seen Starlink trains but always as dots following each other in a line.  I’m wondering if the dots that would have been visible by eye, have all merged to produce a composite trail.  Direction of movement, left to right. Camera points SW.

    in reply to: spectroscopic cross section through C/2020 R4 ATLAS #584227
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Hi Robin

    Just looked again at the widest angle image. At the bottom, there are a few lamps which show the dispersion is roughly horizontal (on that image anyway).

    Derek

    in reply to: spectroscopic cross section through C/2020 R4 ATLAS #584226
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    1

    in reply to: spectroscopic cross section through C/2020 R4 ATLAS #584225
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    in reply to: spectroscopic cross section through C/2020 R4 ATLAS #584224
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Hi Robin
    This image was taken on 12th July where I went out. But I will have some others around that date. I will check. But I think I only tried the diffraction grating on 12th until it misted up then reverted to without grating.
    I can’t be sure of the orientation of the lines now, and at the time, I was puzzled by the lack of obvious spectra from some of the brightest stars (unless they were out of field).  

    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Robin.  A pretty neat article.  Around the time when the comet was visible night and morning, I took a mixture of images on a Star Adventurer with a 300 mm lens.  On some of the wide angle images with the standard 18-55 mm lens, I used a diffraction grating.  I didn’t do anything with the images at the time, but meant to go back one day.  The magnification with a wide angle is quite small though. Although the tail came out very bright and sky had a glow to it, I’m not sure if there was any faint diffraction pattern. I should go back and check in negative format.  That was the night my car battery failed when I was out in the countryside and I didn’t know my location 🙁

    in reply to: The Winchcombe meteorite #583931
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Thanks Nick, appreciated.  Here’s a composite image of the meteor viewed from my Loughborough SW-facing Watec camera. The star at image centre is Betelguese. The meteor appears in Orion.  The video should contain more images which can also be used for spectral generation at selected points along the trail. I ran a LASER calibration last night for wavelength calibration of the dispersion given by the diffraction grating (~500 lines/mm).

    in reply to: Up to date comet elements #582296
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Thanks for the map. (I’m not familiar with Guide 9).

    In the images I uploaded, the comet is near the star HIP 3887 (the star shown by red cross), but my copy of Stellarium, with comet data updated at the time of posting ((choosing “Import orbital elements in MPC format“) ~04:00 UT, 19/04/2020), for time and date 04:55 UT 16/04/2020, also seems to be a bit out.  The comet on the map is still shown further away than what I imaged it at.  Map ref: Stellarium. 

    in reply to: Up to date comet elements #582295
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Images taken with a Tamron 70-300 mm f5.6 lens and Canon 1100D on fixed tripod.

    in reply to: Up to date comet elements #582290
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Hi John

    That is an interesting observation – paying good attention to the detail in your observation, when you were unaware the prediction was out by a certain amount.   I made some quick un-tracked images of the comet the morning earlier 16/4/20 between 04:28 – 05:02 UT.   I was just curious as to whether I could find it. I’d been spending time previously on comets Y4 and T2, but noticed this comet Y1 listed on Heavens Above, so I thought I’d see if I could find it.  I was fighting against the bluing sky and should have went out earlier to try.  But it didn’t take long to find it by trial and error imaging the area.  I spotted a green ball against the dark bluish sky, so I thought that has to be it.  So ran off a few shots.  I’ll stack and post later.  I will assume that it will appear in the wrong position.  

    Derek

    in reply to: Fireball yesterday morning 04:03:38 GMT #582098
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Thank you Bill, it’s a nice one

    I’m not that far on orbits yet, just UA Analyser.  I’m still hoping someone will have caught it.  I’ll post a digitised spectrum once I choose one of the decent green LASER calibration files.

    cheers

    Derek

    in reply to: News about AIP4WIN #582096
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    I have AIP4WIN and the great book. I’ve not used it on W10 (a laptop auto upgraded from prev Win versions; and a desk top with W10 Pro).  I’ll give it a go and see how it installs. 

    in reply to: BAA Out of London meeting, Durham Univ ~1990-93? #582066
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Oh well, I gave it a try. 

    in reply to: BAA Out of London meeting, Durham Univ ~1990-93? #582065
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Oh right, thanks Martin

    in reply to: Advanced Planetary Imaging Workshop #582062
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Thanks for the reminder and update Martin, booked. Nicely placed for St Pancras Int rail.

    in reply to: BAA Out of London meeting, Durham Univ ~1990-93? #582061
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Might this be you? 

    in reply to: BAA Out of London meeting, Durham Univ ~1990-93? #582053
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Glad you liked them and the meeting

    in reply to: BAA Out of London meeting, Durham Univ ~1990-93? #582052
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    That sounds about the right year. I’d be 31. I doubt you’re on the unpublished photos – they are just a few close up of a few people I knew, though there may be one where you could be in the background. I’ll check.

    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Thanks Tim. Very interesting.

    in reply to: Betelgeuse #582029
    Derek Robson
    Participant

    Hi Alex

    I’ve been occasionally looking at Orion clips on my meteor video camera. I started to see some dimming of Betelgeuse last year and since then, it was evident just comparing with Rigel.  But last night and Wed morning, I thought?? I noticed Betelgeuse looked as if it was getting brighter again.  Anyone notice something like this in the last 24 hours?  

Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 54 total)