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The personal blog of me, Tim Trott. What I get up to, photography, news and so on.
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First photographs with Skywatcher StarTravel 102
Sunday 10th June 2007
Yesterday I tried my first solar image using my new telescope and my Thousand Oaks filter. Sky was very hazy and there was a lot of turbulence, I could see the edge of the Sun “wobbling” as the atmosphere distorted the Suns disc. I was surprised at how dim the image was through the eyepiece; I have previously used Baadar film and this results in a brightness comparable with the Moon.
Despite the poor seeing and visibility, I did manage to capture this image of Sunspot 960 as it makes its way towards the edge of the Sun.
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This post is filed under Solar Observations by Lonewolf at 12:38pm
Thursday 7th June 2007
I have just bought another telescope, this time a short tube refractor. I had been thinking of getting something smaller than my 200mm Newtonian (also Skywatcher) for two reasons: Firstly, following the car crash that I was a victim of last year, I have been unable to carry heavy objects in my left hand, nor have I got a great deal of dexterity in my left wrist. The large Newtonian and HEQ5 mount proved to be a little tricky to setup, align and use. Secondly I have been thinking about getting a small scope for solar use, but was undecided about whether to get a telescope, spotting scope or another camera lens. I was browsing the net when I found this little telescope, and it seemed to be ideal. I know its not going to be as good for deep space objects (my main interest), but with all the light pollution around my area I was having a lot of trouble locating them anyway.
This telescope is much lighter and I can just about lift the mount and tripod with only by bad wrist (without counter balance or OTA attached). This will allow me to continue to explore my astronomy while my wrist is healing (I am still waiting for a corrective operation). The main targets for this scope will be The Sun, The Moon, Saturn (may be too late this year), Jupiter and Mars, and I will also be attempting some globular clusters as well.
While I had my wallet out I also purchased my first set of filters: Antares 11, 12, 15, 21, 23A, 56, 80A colored set, a variable polarizer and a light pollution filter. I also purchased a Thousand Oaks glass solar filter, which should enable me to get some great solar photographs.
Sometime before winter I will be upgrading my HEQ5 with a SynScan kit, which will hopefully find the deep space objects for me! I can use this new telescope as a guide scope and with a long camera exposure I should be able to capture some good deep space objects (that’s the plan!!).
Now all I need is some clear skies!!!!!
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This post is filed under Astronomy, Car Crash, Injury and Recovery by Lonewolf at 6:48pm
Crackdown on lunar-fuelled crime
Wednesday 6th June 2007
Extra police officers are to patrol the streets of Brighton on nights when there is a full moon. It follows research by the Sussex force which concluded there was a rise in violent incidents when the moon was full - and also on paydays. Insp Andy Parr said he compared crime statistics for Brighton and Hove with lunar graphs to discover the trend.
The legend that people can become violent, or even turn into wolves, can be traced back to ancient times.
So were blaming the moon now?
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This post is filed under Astronomy, What is the World coming to? by Lonewolf at 12:06pm
Finally some clear skies when I’m not in work!
Sunday 3rd June 2007
Sunny during the day while I’m stuck in the office, get home and the skies cloud over. Bank holiday weekend was cloudy and rainy, but finally Saturday was reasonably clear (until it got dark!). I managed to get a shot of new sunspot 960 as it emerged over the Suns eastern limb. This complex of sunspots is over 140,000km long so it makes for an easy target with the camera. I will try and get a lot more as it moves around the Sun.
Last night was also a conjunction of Venus with Castor and Pollux in Gemini. All three line up with Venus in the lower left, then Pollux in the middle and Castor at the top right. Saturn also tries to make an appearance in the left of the picture. M44, although not visible in this picture due to clouds on the horizon, is located about half way between Saturn and Venus.
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This post is filed under Astrophotography, Solar Observations by Lonewolf at 11:56am
Tuesday 15th May 2007
Discovered in March 2007 by Australian Terry Lovejoy (using only a Canon 350D), this very Green comet is now moving through the constellation of Draco. On May 14th it passed very close to Eta Draconis making it relatively easy to locate.
Comet Lovejoy (C/2007 E2) has a green appearance due to the presence of Cyanogen (C2N2) compound in its core.
This is the first Comet that I have chased and photographed. Its not as spectacular as this photograph by John Chumack, but its still a good first effort I think!
Seeing and transparency were poor, light cloud cover was interrupted by the occasional thick cloud. As per usual, light pollution was the limiting factor to the exposure length which was about 10 seconds at ISO800.
Update
Looks like I was mistaken, this is not Comet Lovejoy after all. I’m still trying to locate it though…
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This post is filed under Astrophotography by Lonewolf at 9:05pm
Monday 7th May 2007
When I first heard about this new rocket I thought, Meh! just another rocket that we won’t see again. That was until I saw the movie of the test firing - WOW! Thats COOL!
It’s only a small clip, but its worth watching. You can download it from the NASA website:
.After seeing the video I read a bit more about the engine, and this is defiantly a rocket that we’ll be seeing again soon.
Conventional rocket engines burn liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, or some other solid fuel. These require lots of storage space (look at the size of the fuel tank on the space shuttle!) In any manned space flight with conventional engines you would need to carry your fuel to the destination and enough for the return trip. That is a lot of fuel.
Here is the exciting bit: This new engine uses Methane (CH4) as a fuel, a chemical that can be found in abundance on planets such as Mars, Jupiter and Titan. This means that any spacecraft leaving Earth will be able to refuel at the destination. This dramatically decreases launch mass, operational costs and the need for such massive fuel tanks.
This is only a proof of concept design very early in development cycle, but even so this little rocket engine generated 7500 pounds of thrust. For comparison, a Harrier Jump Jet produces 21,000 pounds and the Space Shuttle SRB’s about 2,800,000 pounds each.
A lot of work is still needed for this to be a viable rocket for space travel, but it does look extremely promising.
View the complete NASA press release here.
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This post is filed under NASA by Lonewolf at 4:38pm
