Dawson

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Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 213 total)
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  • in reply to: Local Society newsletters / journals #629957
    Dawson
    Participant

    Thanks Paul, unfortunately one needs a password to access the publication.
    James

    in reply to: Quantum Efficiency #629951
    Dawson
    Participant

    I had a hunt online to try and work out what the sensor was in the camera, but to no avail. Hopefully someone else will be able to track down the sensor then it should be easier to find the QE… maybe.

    James

    in reply to: Oval sun halo #629925
    Dawson
    Participant

    Gary, I think you’ve nailed it. With the eye of faith I can see an inner circular halo in Sue’s photo. Looking in Stellarium the Sun would have been 52.5 degrees above the horizon. I’ve made an animated gif to show roughly where I think the true solar halo is:

    in reply to: Lunt driving me mad #629849
    Dawson
    Participant

    Chris Hooker emailed about something else and mentioned this. He strongly suggest I try some flats. I’ve found this video so will try some form of cereal bag flats later in the week; I probably won’t use a cereal bag, but something along those lines.

    https://youtu.be/M7rSOXWQDZM?si=A6BESGiqf-UoXE5V

    Thanks for the replies. I am feeling hopeful again.

    James

    in reply to: 12th Edition Norton’s Star Atlas. #629845
    Dawson
    Participant

    Paul, I’m pleased I’m not the only nutter who likes collections like this 🙂 Are there any editions you are missing as I will rummage through the piles of books I have in my garage.

    James

    in reply to: Lunt driving me mad #629842
    Dawson
    Participant

    Grant, thanks. It may be that tilt here is reducing evenness of focus, but no end of playing with tilt does nothing to the unevenness of illumination. It isn’t even as though there is predictable gradient across the FoV, it seems there are areas of the FoV which have minimal gradient but these areas are not big enough to take the whole disc of the Sun and I’m not using a Barlow. I’ve just been looking and the B1200 is over £1000. Looking at Chris Hookers images in Ha with his newly acquired Acuter Pheonic 40 solarscope (https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20250509_220342_3acfea1c341b631f) he has no gradient, and I’d suggest potentially even better contrast than I can achieve. I am having to stop myself just clicking buy now Rother Valley Optic’s website (£999).

    James

    in reply to: Lunt driving me mad #629836
    Dawson
    Participant

    This is from today. The gradient in brightness is not a natural feature, it is artefact.

    in reply to: Lunt driving me mad #629834
    Dawson
    Participant

    I’ve not. Invariably this scope is set up outside so tracking is usually awful. I just feel there is somethign fundamentally wrong and I’d like to resolve it one way or another.

    Thanks.

    James

    in reply to: Local Society newsletters / journals #629797
    Dawson
    Participant

    Thanks Bill.

    in reply to: Sparsholt Winchester Weekend 2025 #629486
    Dawson
    Participant

    Yes an absolutely brilliant weekend. I was exhausted when I got home last night. I’ve come away with lots of ideas of things to do to improve my own observing techniques and new things to have a go at. Also great to speak to people who I only ever encounter online. The BAA at its finest. Thanks for all who organised and ran the show, especially Tony, Ann and Alan, but also the helpers on the BAA stand, registration desk etc. Brilliant.

    in reply to: Disadvantages of cooled camera #629451
    Dawson
    Participant

    Thanks Gary.

    in reply to: New SWAN comet in the morning sky #629446
    Dawson
    Participant

    I got up early yesterday (9.4.25) before work and managed to get the attached. Pretty disappointing, and the tail very faint compared to other observations I’d seen online. Askkar 120 with 0.8x reducer and Canon 6D, this is about 12 minutes in total of the best subs captured between 03:17 (UT) and 03:54 (UT); there were lots of bad subs. 30 seconds each, ISO 400. Desaturated and inverted to allow me to see the tail.

    Attachments:
    in reply to: Sampling when imaging #629398
    Dawson
    Participant

    Well spotted with the relative QE. I’d missed that.

    James

    in reply to: Disadvantages of cooled camera #629395
    Dawson
    Participant

    Thanks both. Helpful comments and insight.

    James

    in reply to: Sampling when imaging #629370
    Dawson
    Participant

    Martin, thanks for that link. It is interesting, depending where you look, the transmission data varies… Surely the colour IMX585 should have a near identical transmission profile whatever camera it is in? Here are three plots, one from your link, one from the ZWO website (https://www.zwoastro.com/product/asi585mc-mm-pro/) and one from the PlayerOne website (https://player-one-astronomy.com/product/uranus-c-usb3-0-color-camera-imx585/).

    James

    Attachments:
    in reply to: Sampling when imaging #629355
    Dawson
    Participant

    Martin, thank you.

    Yes, poor Chris Hooker has been helping me, dragging me along really as I’m not that bright when it comes to solar physics, magnetospheres, energy states, wavelengths etc…! But good fun for me anyway. I’ve just seen there is a 585 mono camera which appears to have a QE of just under 90% at 589nm. I may have to do some overtime. The binning is an interesting idea I’d not thought of.

    Regards

    James

    in reply to: Sampling when imaging #629338
    Dawson
    Participant

    Thanks David.

    James

    in reply to: Sampling when imaging #629303
    Dawson
    Participant

    Thanks David. Do you know when Martin gave this talk?

    Regards

    James

    in reply to: Partial solar eclipse – 2025 March 29 #629228
    Dawson
    Participant

    We are going to try and live stream from Nottingham too in white light, and Ha if the clouds permit. Live stream should go live just before 10am.

    https://youtube.com/@nottinghamastronomicalsociety?si=niCKwEgSv8w_qnWi

    James Dawson
    Nottingham Astronomical Society

    in reply to: Bright propellant dump visible over the UK tonight #629102
    Dawson
    Participant

    We got it in Nottingham too on the all sky camera and both meteor cameras:

    https://youtu.be/Pm4pqW7jNaY?si=zqSEIPv6M1a9R0kZ

Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 213 total)