Hello Rich & Rob: I just had a (what I think) is a great idea for an exhibit at Flandrau Planetarium and/or the Visitor Center at Kitt Peak. Here it is:
On June 21 when we are marking the time points, firmly mount a video camera on something very tall back against the fence at the far south end of the Solar Telescope service area and point it due north towards the Heliostat so that it shows the telescope's shadow on the ground. Take a one second exposure every five minutes at the moment we hit the hammer to insert the time mark nails and do this from sunrise to sunset. That would give you a time lapse fast speed movie of about 200 frames. This would be a great short little 3 minute long movie showing the movement of the telescopes shadow! (I think I got the math right but I'm not sure how many frames per second are in a movie). Or take a shot every minute for a longer movie. I am NOT a movie photographer and I don't know anything about video cameras. Do you think there is a video camera that can be programmed to take a time lapse movie so that a person doesn't have to personally baby sit the camera all day? Where could we get one?(Note: The best filming angle would be to place the camera as high as possible. A cherry picker, tall ladder scaffold? You might also get a good view of the shadow from a camera located on top of the Heliostat Tower looking down and south or one located on top of the Solar Vaccum Telescope. John John L. Carmichael Jr. Sundial Sculptures 925 E. Foothills Dr. Tucson Arizona 85718 USA Tel: 520-696-1709 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: <http://www.sundialsculptures.com> -
