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(I’m slowly developing cataracts, and extraneous light impairs my viewing).
Alex – The Commission for Dark Lecture Theatres
I am not developing cataracts, AFAIK, but I whole-heartedly support this viewpoint.
Might future organizers take note?
Paul
I’d go for the cover approach: compensation not eradication. Not sure whether copper causes snails actual harm or just mild discomfort and consequent deterrence.
My problem isn’t webs but gecko shit. Again, all I do is cover up and sweep away anything left behind.
Both spiders and geckos do a wonderful job at keeping insects under control and I actively encourage them to live with me.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I remember my mother always telling me: dear son, old stuff dies in the house of fools
The Northumberland refractor in Cambridge is still in regular use. I have used it myself and it is a fine instrument.
The 12″ Northumberland was built in 1834, so pre-Victorian.
The 1864 Thorrowgood is also a fine scope. That one is only 8″ aperture.
I have also looked through a 17th century refactor, an exhibit in the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford. The roof of Blackwell’s bookshop was clearly visible through a conveniently placed window.
Some stuff has to be extremely old before it dies.
It was fun to watch and some of those observing from the ground did quite well too…
https://twitter.com/fallingstarIfA/status/1574583529731670021?s=20&t=bSNlZJgGJmZCFPEEcFqEvA
3 tonnes of TNT appears to have made a pretty impressive cloud of debris.
Well, it is (or was) a loosely bound rubble pile according to the images returned so perhaps it is not too surprising that a lot of rubble was thrown out.
Interesting. It seems to tally with my experience of the last four years in La Palma. Los Llanos is below my horizon, though still visible because I am at a significantly higher altitude, but has become markedly brighter. Everywhere else is much the same. I was mildly surprised to see a hint that my sky may have become slightly darker.
A Major problem for me is the increased frequency of calimas, the local term for Saharan dust clogging the atmosphere.
I have a planetary image in the gallery taken with a 2.2mm f/1.8 refractor …
https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20191209_191900_36b00eba365581f4
Perhaps this is cheating, but it is still a refractor telescope by essentially all definitions.
As expected. Opened up the observatory at sunset and took a few snapshots of the moon. By the time that the sky was half-way dark all that could be seen was the moon and a sky full of moonlit cirrus.
Mañana perhaps.
Since writing that GC article, I have discovered that another GC has been added to the zoo: Minni 22 which is located at 17:48:51.4 -33:03:40. It is quite small, with a half-light radius of 1.1 arcmin, and in a very crowded part of the Milky Way in Scorpius. This is why it went undiscovered until 2018. As it happens, it is well placed here for tonight and as long as clouds don’t intervene I intend to have a go. By the looks of the DSS images, I don´t expect it to look like anything other than a MW star field but hope to pick up some of the stars mentioned in the discovery paper https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aadd06/pdf
Won’t be easy, but we do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard.
Back up to 7.526V (0.007) on August 30.875
Last night’s oservations were hindered by cloud and not yet analysed.
Dec is fine from here in LP but whether the sky is clear is another matter. The rainy season is beginning and there is thick cloud tonight.
Some crude photometry has now been done. For comparisons 100 stars within 2 arcminutes of 2022qmx were searched in Gaia EDR3; their positions, G magnitudes and errors therein were saved. These and 2022qmx were analyzed with APT 2.8.2
The magnitude at JD 2459817.361, aka 2022-08-25 20:40 UT, is reported as 20.02 (0.02).
Crude, because my images were unfiltered but have been shown to be a decent match to Gaia G by and large.
And here is mine. About an hour in total unfiltered. Extremely crude stacking. I am sure a much better image will become available.
Attachments:
Still there. Imaging it right now. Eyeball guess is about 19.0 mag but there is a chance that I may have confused the star with a neighboring EDR3 entry of similar magnitude. Precise measurement should clear it up tomorrow.
Pictures to follow.
Paul
Thanks. I have the GIMP and have used it in the past for minor image manipulation but never thought of using it for making animated GIFs.
I will give it a try but find its complexity and learning curve intimidating. 8-(
Paul,
I think that PIPP, designed for lucky imaging crowd, can do animated gifs. The creator says it can be enjoyed with WINE.
https://sites.google.com/site/astropipp/
David
Thank you, I will check it out.
The reason for my request is now public at https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20220819_140838_474d0d65ddd59b61
Paul
The “blue belt” is also known as the “Earth shadow”. It can be very impressive at times.
The “belt of Venus” corresponds to the red shades seen towards the opposite direction in the sky. It comes from back scattered red light.Looks like it came down near Borneo.
If so, I hope the local authorities issue the Chinese with a fine for littering.
