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Caught on our Auroracam last night at NLO
Devon Moth Group set up some moth traps last night at Norman Lockyer Observatory. 175 different species were caught including a rare Maple Prominent (normally found in east of UK). Other favourites were the Privet Hawk Moth and the Elephant Hawk Moth, both very large creatures. Climate change suggests European species are now migrating northwards. A survey carried out two years ago caught 180 species, so numbers seem to be holding up here.
DavidSo very sorry to hear this news. Terry started me on my CCD journey probably now 35 years ago with one of his earliest cameras.
To see a faint galaxy appear on a screen after a matter of seconds or millisecond images of Mars clearly showing surface detail was a revelation in amateur astronomy at that time. He really set the bar in what his cameras could record. Terry, you will be sorely missed.David
And here is Part 2 of their around the world journey, calling in at Hawaii for volcano spotting, and then across USA visiting many observatories en route, Mt Wilson, Lick, Lowell, Yerkes and meeting up with the Wright Bros in Ohio. Frank McClean does a deal with them to let the Short Bros make Wright Flyers under licence in UK. Frank ends up with 13 aircraft since he tells the Short Bros, “I’ll buy any aircraft that you can’t sell!” 1911 was also the year before Jim & Norman Lockyer laid the foundation stone of their new Hill Observatory in Devon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJvy07mGU0U
David
I expect you noticed Jim Lockyer’s photo album does not include photos of the eclipse itself!
Sadly, it was rather cloudy at the time but they did achieve a few photos of the corona through thin cloud.
However, here is a wonderful detailed report on the preparations for the eclipse itself. I doubt many
of today’s eclipse reports are as detailed as this one:David
I now use Astrosurface, which is faster since it combines the roles of Autostakkert & Registax into a single program.
The wavelets function is much more intuitively adjustable and overall offers a simpler and quicker routine.David
Our Paramount will send out warning bleeps if we try to send it below the limits set on our declination axis.
I cant remember what the error code was but just check if the limits were still set for when the mount was set for its US location.
Will it return to its park poosition? If not switch it off, loosen the RA and Dec axes, and manually slew it back to its park position (pointing north).
Switch it back on and start again.David
Just found Jonathan’s link to this great simulation of tail orientation:
https://hdr-astrophotography.com/comet-tails-simulations/
Probably need to wait until 14th October until tail swings around in a darker sky.
David
In the latest SOHO LASCO C3 images the tail does not yet seem to be blowing away in an anti-solar direction, presumably this is due to speed of comet.
I was hoping to see a tail stretching out above the western horizon tonight!David
So maybe Damian Peach’s great grandson will be the first to verify this – an image of Ireland from Mars!
Thanks Nick!David
It looks like powerful CME’s are able to block cosmic rays from striking our atmosphere: From Spaceweather.com: The Forbush Decrease – As solar activity increases, more and more CMEs billow away from the sun, pushing cosmic rays out of the inner solar system. This is one reason we expect cosmic radiation to subside in the years ahead as young Solar Cycle 25 intensifies.So there does appear to be a link with the Solar Cycle?
David
Hello Nick,
We recently setup a Muon detector at Norman Lockyer Observatory:
https://normanlockyer.com/techgroup/muons.html
But I’m not the best person to ask as to what it all means!
It shows a fairly regular detection rate at present, I guess when we get past the next solar maximum, rates will increase?
DavidHere’s another Pixinsight add-on which looks useful, although I haven’t tried it yet:
Solar Toolbox Process for Pixinsighthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yzfH5x5Smg
David
Here is a comparison image of large sunspot AR3576 right hand image processes with BlurXterminator.
Attachments:
Hi Kevin,
Yes, I would agree with you there. I’ve used BlurXterminator in a similar fashion and find that it also enhances fine detail in solar proms as well as surface detail.David
Peter, we have had many films/documentaries filmed at NLO over the years, but very few give us copies of what they produce! This was rather an unusual request, but they were very grateful for the end result. It was a full day’s worth of filming for a 12 minute film, but it was interesting to sit on the side lines to see how it was all put together. I’ve made a short behind the scenes presentation here. I think the poor old ghost drew the short straw, he only made a very fleeting appearance!
David
I’m wondering, is there a chance the demographic time bomb may actually see a growth in our membership numbers? Obviously, a new series of Moon landings wouldn’t hurt
Too true, I listened in on an inspiring interview last night with Jeremy Hansen and Victor Glover who are two of the astronauts with seats reserved for Artemis II. One of their memorable quotes was: “Space makes people look up!”
DavidHere are the specs & costs:
IMX307 Camera £35.63
Camera Housing £32.00
Raspberry Pi4 2Gb + PSU £64.80
128Gb Sd Card £17.99Cheers
DavidMany thanks for that, I’ve also found an article by David Levy here: https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1981JRASC..75..139L/0000139.000.html
I hadn’t heard of Rosa’s comet before!
DavidThanks both! I think I see where the confusion lies. Both Comet I 1862 and Comet II 1862 where discovered in the same month (July 2nd and July 22nd). I’m not sure how quickly discoveries became known to amateurs at that time but Norman reports very rapid motion of the comet, which suggests it was Schmidt C/1862 N1 which was making a close approach to Earth also known as Comet I 1862. This reference here: https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/364340/view/comet-of-1862 observed by Thomas William Webb which looks very similar to Lockyer’s drawing of around the same date was labelled as Swift-Tuttle also discovered in July of that year! Must have been a vintage year for bright comets!
