OT Not quite astro stuff

[mike wilson]

I'm wondering why the EV/screen failed...
 
https://youtu.be/SxkA82wORtw?si=QqvpvOW8eOgOi9XX
 
 
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Re: January PUG is up

[Alan C]

To be precise, 80Km NNE of Phalaborwa  at Pioneer Dam near Mopani Camp 
in the Kruger Park.


Alan C

On 08-Jan-24 08:53 PM, Stan Halpin wrote:

Thanks again Brian!
Alan definitely went far afield for his entry! All good again this month.
Stan

Sent from my iPad


On Jan 8, 2024, at 5:25 AM, Brian Walters  wrote:

G'day all

Enjoy the gallery here:

http://pug.komkon.org/

(you may need to refresh your browser if you see the previous gallery there).

Alan's submission is an innovative interpretation of the theme 🙂

Note: The automated submission process usually works well but it's not 
infallible. So, if you made a submission and you don't see it in the gallery, 
let me know.

+

Next up: 'On reflection'

Full Submissions Guidelines are here:

http://pug.komkon.org/general/autosubmit.html

You can submit here:

http://pug.komkon.org/submit/

Cheers
Brian
++
Brian Walters
Western Sydney Australia
https://eu.zonerama.com/apathyman/


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Re: Way OT Astro stuff

[Alan C]

Very interesting, Marco & excellent images. Looks like the JWT has some 
competition!


Alan C

On 08-Jan-24 10:20 PM, Marco Alpert wrote:

Although this has absolutely nothing to do with Pentax, since Larry brought up 
astro-imaging, I can’t resist showing the initial results of something that has 
really reenergized my passion for astronomy. Although I’ve owned a couple of 
really nice telescopes since the early 90s (which were great for visual 
observation when I lived on top of a not-too-light-polluted hill and could just 
roll the scopes out to the driveway to observe), since we moved to the 
Sacramento area, the combination of light pollution (around Bortle 7 for anyone 
who knows what that means), and the increasing difficulty of lugging them out 
to set up had pretty much ended observation for me (and I was never 
particularly interested in the intricacies of astrophotography).

Then, a few months ago, I acquired a small, inexpensive, “robotic” scope for 
what is called EAA (electronically assisted astronomy) that promises the 
ability to visually observe in light-polluted areas (albeit on the screen of a 
phone or tablet) as well as offer much simplified photography. Here are a few 
of my first results:

M33 Galaxy in Triangulum:https://flic.kr/p/2pgYEEb

NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia:https://flic.kr/p/2prm5Qg

NGC 1499 California Nebula in Perseus:https://flic.kr/p/2prkrFu

This little gizmo has only a 50mm (~2 in) objective (which is tiny for deep sky 
objects) and has the ability, controlled by a phone or tablet, to automatically 
find and slew to whatever object you tell it to and begin taking a series of 10 
second exposures. Let it keep doing this as long as you want and watch the 
object appear on the phone or tablet with more and more detail as the 
successive exposures are stacked and processed. I did do some post-processing 
on these, but as I have exactly zero experience with astrophotography, it’s 
pretty primitive compared to what’s possible.
   
So, a telescope with a built-in computer-controlled alt/az mount, a digital astro-camera, auto-focuser, dew heater, multiple filters, small carbon-fiber tripod and a fairly nice case, for about $500.


We truly live in the future.
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Re: January PUG is up

[Henk Terhell]

Brian,
Nice gallery, however my submission of 'Round Museum Depot' (confirmed 
on Dec 12 by your automatic reply) is not included.

Perhaps you can locate it (in a round bin or elsewhere)(:

Henk

Op 2024-01-08 om 11:55 schreef Brian Walters:

G'day all

Enjoy the gallery here:

http://pug.komkon.org/

(you may need to refresh your browser if you see the previous gallery 
there).


Alan's submission is an innovative interpretation of the theme 🙂

Note: The automated submission process usually works well but it's not 
infallible. So, if you made a submission and you don't see it in the 
gallery, let me know.




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Re: January PUG is up

[Ralf R Radermacher]

Am 08.01.24 um 11:55 schrieb Brian Walters:

Enjoy the gallery here:

http://pug.komkon.org/


Yet another great gallery. With all the trouble while I was unsubscribed 
I had totally forgotten to post something.


Ralf

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Re: Way OT Astro stuff

[Larry Colen]

> On Jan 8, 2024, at 12:20 PM, Marco Alpert  wrote:
> 
> Although this has absolutely nothing to do with Pentax, since Larry brought 
> up astro-imaging, I can’t resist showing the initial results of something 
> that has really reenergized my passion for astronomy. Although I’ve owned a 
> couple of really nice telescopes since the early 90s (which were great for 
> visual observation when I lived on top of a not-too-light-polluted hill and 
> could just roll the scopes out to the driveway to observe), since we moved to 
> the Sacramento area, the combination of light pollution (around Bortle 7 for 
> anyone who knows what that means), and the increasing difficulty of lugging 
> them out to set up had pretty much ended observation for me (and I was never 
> particularly interested in the intricacies of astrophotography). 
> 
> Then, a few months ago, I acquired a small, inexpensive, “robotic” scope for 
> what is called EAA (electronically assisted astronomy) that promises the 
> ability to visually observe in light-polluted areas (albeit on the screen of 
> a phone or tablet) as well as offer much simplified photography. Here are a 
> few of my first results:
> 
> M33 Galaxy in Triangulum: https://flic.kr/p/2pgYEEb
> 
> NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia: https://flic.kr/p/2prm5Qg
> 
> NGC 1499 California Nebula in Perseus: https://flic.kr/p/2prkrFu

Very nice job!


> 
> This little gizmo has only a 50mm (~2 in) objective (which is tiny for deep 
> sky objects) and has the ability, controlled by a phone or tablet, to 
> automatically find and slew to whatever object you tell it to and begin 
> taking a series of 10 second exposures. Let it keep doing this as long as you 
> want and watch the object appear on the phone or tablet with more and more 
> detail as the successive exposures are stacked and processed. I did do some 
> post-processing on these, but as I have exactly zero experience with 
> astrophotography, it’s pretty primitive compared to what’s possible. 
> 
> So, a telescope with a built-in computer-controlled alt/az mount, a digital 
> astro-camera, auto-focuser, dew heater, multiple filters, small carbon-fiber 
> tripod and a fairly nice case, for about $500. 

That's less than I spent on just the motor, never mind all the associated 
gizmos. 
You're cheating!


> 
> We truly live in the future.
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> the directions.
> 

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Larry Colen
l...@red4est.com  sent from ret13est



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Re: Way OT Astro stuff

[Steve Cottrell]

Fabulous!!!

Cotty

> On 8 Jan 2024, at 20:20, Marco Alpert  wrote:
> 
> M33 Galaxy in Triangulum: https://flic.kr/p/2pgYEEb 
> 
> 
> NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia: https://flic.kr/p/2prm5Qg 
> 
> 
> NGC 1499 California Nebula in Perseus: https://flic.kr/p/2prkrFu 
> 

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Way OT Astro stuff

[Marco Alpert]

Although this has absolutely nothing to do with Pentax, since Larry brought up 
astro-imaging, I can’t resist showing the initial results of something that has 
really reenergized my passion for astronomy. Although I’ve owned a couple of 
really nice telescopes since the early 90s (which were great for visual 
observation when I lived on top of a not-too-light-polluted hill and could just 
roll the scopes out to the driveway to observe), since we moved to the 
Sacramento area, the combination of light pollution (around Bortle 7 for anyone 
who knows what that means), and the increasing difficulty of lugging them out 
to set up had pretty much ended observation for me (and I was never 
particularly interested in the intricacies of astrophotography). 

Then, a few months ago, I acquired a small, inexpensive, “robotic” scope for 
what is called EAA (electronically assisted astronomy) that promises the 
ability to visually observe in light-polluted areas (albeit on the screen of a 
phone or tablet) as well as offer much simplified photography. Here are a few 
of my first results:

M33 Galaxy in Triangulum: https://flic.kr/p/2pgYEEb

NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia: https://flic.kr/p/2prm5Qg

NGC 1499 California Nebula in Perseus: https://flic.kr/p/2prkrFu

This little gizmo has only a 50mm (~2 in) objective (which is tiny for deep sky 
objects) and has the ability, controlled by a phone or tablet, to automatically 
find and slew to whatever object you tell it to and begin taking a series of 10 
second exposures. Let it keep doing this as long as you want and watch the 
object appear on the phone or tablet with more and more detail as the 
successive exposures are stacked and processed. I did do some post-processing 
on these, but as I have exactly zero experience with astrophotography, it’s 
pretty primitive compared to what’s possible. 
  
So, a telescope with a built-in computer-controlled alt/az mount, a digital 
astro-camera, auto-focuser, dew heater, multiple filters, small carbon-fiber 
tripod and a fairly nice case, for about $500. 

We truly live in the future.
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Fun and games with astro

[Larry Colen]

Last month I bought an iOptron equatorial mount in preparation for the upcoming 
solar eclipse. Using it for astro work is a side benefit that I was definitely 
looking forward to.  Combatting the drought was a side benefit that I should 
have expected.  The sky in Riverside is impressively bad, in addition to the 
light pollution there is the near constant haze, dust etc.
With rain on Saturday night, few clouds, and a favorable moon, things looked 
promising for getting some practice with the new toy.  I guess I can say that 
my excursion was a success, in that one of my primary goals was to find the 
problems.  While I was at it, I figured it would be a good time to try out the 
type 3 astrotracer on my K-3 III.

According to the "dark sky" map I looked at, there's a place about halfway 
between Riverside and Palm Springs that looked promising.  I loaded up camera 
gear, and warm clothes and headed out.  My first challenge was to find a place 
off the freeway where I could park and set up my gear.  That took a bit of 
work, I did find something not far from an Arrowhead water plant and the train 
tracks.  

I got there and was having trouble finding "North", the compass mode on my 
phones sky map app wasn't working well, and I decided to set up the K-3 III on 
my small tripod.  The first thing that I learned is that the ball head on the 
Heipi travel tripod is not sufficient for a camera with the bigma on it.  
Fortunately I had brought my old big ball head. 

The next thing I learned was that a green laser is very helpful for aiming, it 
would be even more helpful if I had a way of mounting it to an arca swiss 
plate, or hot shoe.  

There was definitely a learning curve getting the type 3 astrotracer working.  
I was reminded last night about just how horrible Ricoh documentation is.  It 
also requires a pretty solid bright object to target.  Did I mention that the 
sky sucked? I also found myself missing the adjustable screen on the K-1.  I 
also wish that there was some way of telling whether it is still running an 
astrotracer shot, or if it has finished. 

As to the equatorial mount, I was never even able to get it aimed.  My list of 
difficulties is too long to enumerate, but I've bought a simple compass rather 
than relying on google sky map.  Also, did I mention that the sky sucked On 
future attempts it looks like I'll need to drive the hour and a half out to 
Joshua Tree.  

My sidequest of learning K-3 III astrotracer was successful to the point of 
getting some frames in which the Orion Nebula is recognizable.  Better than a 
previous attempt some years ago on a partly cloudy night half way between San 
Jose and Santa Cruz.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ellarsee/albums/72177720313901027

I've gotten to that stage of my life where my goal for an evening isn't so much 
to get great photos, but to try and learn about all of the problems before I go 
and try to get some good shots.


--
Larry Colen
l...@red4est.com  sent from ret13est



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Re: January PUG is up

[Stan Halpin]

Thanks again Brian!
Alan definitely went far afield for his entry! All good again this month.
Stan

Sent from my iPad

> On Jan 8, 2024, at 5:25 AM, Brian Walters  wrote:
> 
> G'day all
> 
> Enjoy the gallery here:
> 
> http://pug.komkon.org/
> 
> (you may need to refresh your browser if you see the previous gallery there).
> 
> Alan's submission is an innovative interpretation of the theme 🙂
> 
> Note: The automated submission process usually works well but it's not 
> infallible. So, if you made a submission and you don't see it in the gallery, 
> let me know.
> 
> +
> 
> Next up: 'On reflection'
> 
> Full Submissions Guidelines are here:
> 
> http://pug.komkon.org/general/autosubmit.html
> 
> You can submit here:
> 
> http://pug.komkon.org/submit/
> 
> Cheers
> Brian
> ++
> Brian Walters
> Western Sydney Australia
> https://eu.zonerama.com/apathyman/
> 
> 
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Re: Re: Weather

[collinb]

My main concern is cold and internal fogging.

So many surfaces, so difficult to maintain.

LF lenses are easily disassembled. Not so with this class of equipment.

Of course there are always ziplock bags.
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Re: January PUG is up

[Bob W PDML]

Alan’s reminds me of a Larson cartoon which has the caption ‘bummer of a 
birthmark, Hal’.

Good gallery all round!

> On 8 Jan 2024, at 10:25, Brian Walters  wrote:
> 
> G'day all
> 
> Enjoy the gallery here:
> 
> http://pug.komkon.org/
> 
> (you may need to refresh your browser if you see the previous gallery there).
> 
> Alan's submission is an innovative interpretation of the theme 🙂
> 
> Note: The automated submission process usually works well but it's not 
> infallible. So, if you made a submission and you don't see it in the gallery, 
> let me know.
> 
> +
> 
> Next up: 'On reflection'
> 
> Full Submissions Guidelines are here:
> 
> http://pug.komkon.org/general/autosubmit.html
> 
> You can submit here:
> 
> http://pug.komkon.org/submit/
> 
> Cheers
> Brian
> ++
> Brian Walters
> Western Sydney Australia
> https://eu.zonerama.com/apathyman/
> 
> 
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January PUG is up

[Brian Walters]

G'day all

Enjoy the gallery here:

http://pug.komkon.org/

(you may need to refresh your browser if you see the previous gallery 
there).


Alan's submission is an innovative interpretation of the theme 🙂

Note: The automated submission process usually works well but it's not 
infallible. So, if you made a submission and you don't see it in the 
gallery, let me know.


+

Next up: 'On reflection'

Full Submissions Guidelines are here:

http://pug.komkon.org/general/autosubmit.html

You can submit here:

http://pug.komkon.org/submit/

Cheers
Brian
++
Brian Walters
Western Sydney Australia
https://eu.zonerama.com/apathyman/


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