These were take whilst on holiday in Tenerife 14th July 2010
Sunday 28 November 2010
Saturday 20 November 2010
Equinox Skycamp 2010
For another year my family and I attended the September Equinox Skycamp up in Kelling Heath, Norfolk. This year however, rather than stay elsewhere the week running up to the main skycamp weekend we decided to stay a whole ten days at Kelling. Sheer bliss! This gave us ample time to travel around the local area and see what North Norfolk coast and its surroundings had to offer. During the week we visited Norwich, Cromer, Sheringham and Wells-next-the-sea.
One of the highlights of the week was travelling on the North Norfolk Steam railway. There was a steam gala day on Sunday 4th September where only steam trains ran along the railway instead of both steam and diesel trains. We picked up the train from Kelling Halt on the way towards Sheringham. Travel time was about 20mins or so. After our stay in Sheringham we travelled to Holt then back to Kelling.
Wireless Communication
I always use skycamp as a test-bed for new equipment and technology and this year again was no exception. This time I decided to change the wireless technology and move from Bluetooth to a Wi-Fi setup.
I invested in a Belkin Network USB Hub (http://www.belkin.com/uk/networkusbhub/) . This device requires an additional wireless router for it to be effective so I dug out an old D-Link Adsl WiFi router from the loft and hooked them up. The hub has five USB connections but you can attach up to fifteen USB devices if you use additional USB hubs.
I managed to wireless the Autostar and my new focuser (see later)... but unfortunately I couldn't wireless the LPI or ToUcam webcams as the hub seems to be incompatible with the webcams.
I was slightly concerned with the amount of power all the gadgets might draw but fortunately it turned out to be much less than the maximum power the electrical hook up provided.
The system worked very well and only the power and webcam leads went between the telescope and my laptop in the tent. It was a pleasure controlling the Autostar and focuser from the laptop especially when I had the webcam hooked up for imaging Jupiter as there was no need to keep getting up to make any adjustments.
Touring the Norfolk Night Skies
With the wireless system up and running it was time to test it out. I decided to take my LXD55 AR-6 6 inch refractor on the LXD75 mount to the camp this year as I want to get the best images of Jupiter and to be honest I actually prefer it to my 8 inch SCT.
Unfortunately I didn't think the weather wasn't as great as previous years although there were long periods of clear skies over the weekend, enough for everyone at the camp to get some good observing and imaging done. I didn't really do much deep sky observing this year as I wanted to concentrate in obtaining decent images of Jupiter.
Jupiter Imaging
Like last year the aim of the weekend for me was to get digital images of Jupiter through the refractor. Observationally I didn't think the seeing was particular great in revealing much detail on the planet - personally I thought that there had been betting conditions the previous year, but nevertheless I still managed to see some of the belts during brief periods of good seeing.
Once again I thought I'd try the LPI but I really cannot seem to get on with the LPI software, it’s just not very intuitive so I used my trusty ToUcam Pro II instead.
Focusing was no longer a problem as I had invested in an Orion Accufocuser and a Shoestring Autofocus PC interface and with that wirelessly linked to my laptop it was a breeze using the focuspal software to tweak the focuser without getting up from my seat.
I took about five movies of Jupiter and processed them with the latest version of Registax v5. In order to try and get a good focus viewing the image from the laptop screen I decided to reduce the saturation to black and white levels - this helped except I forgot to raise then again so all my movies came out black and white rather than colour, doh!
The Main Weekend
Saturday 11th was the main event day. Trade stands were again in the yellow field and lectures took place in the Kelling Heath ‘The Forge’ bar. Speakers included Jack Martin and Bob Mizon who kindly gave a last minute talk as one of the lecturers unfortunately could not do it due to illness.
Loughton member Alan Marriott directed the telescope tour, demonstrating the different instruments strewn across the red and yellow fields.
Raffle tickets were available from the Loughton Society's stand located on the bandstand in the square. The draw took place in the early evening where prizes, kindly donated from vendors were won.
The day was pleasant and quite warm, and as the Sun went down I saw some amazing cloud formations during the prize raffle.
Sunday was a another bright sunny day and by traditional we visit Cromer for the afternoon and by the time we got back in the early evening it was looking likely that it going to be a clear. I spent most of my time before midnight observing Jupiter and after midnight I decided to have a walk around and view through other people's telescopes. By about 01:30 the seeing conditions were getting poor so I called it a night.
On the whole the skycamp was another great success. It is known as the largest established skycamp in Europe with hundreds of people in attendence on the main day. Looking forward to next year where we have booked again a lodge and pitch for yet another 10 nights!
One of the highlights of the week was travelling on the North Norfolk Steam railway. There was a steam gala day on Sunday 4th September where only steam trains ran along the railway instead of both steam and diesel trains. We picked up the train from Kelling Halt on the way towards Sheringham. Travel time was about 20mins or so. After our stay in Sheringham we travelled to Holt then back to Kelling.
Wireless Communication
I always use skycamp as a test-bed for new equipment and technology and this year again was no exception. This time I decided to change the wireless technology and move from Bluetooth to a Wi-Fi setup.
I invested in a Belkin Network USB Hub (http://www.belkin.com/uk/networkusbhub/) . This device requires an additional wireless router for it to be effective so I dug out an old D-Link Adsl WiFi router from the loft and hooked them up. The hub has five USB connections but you can attach up to fifteen USB devices if you use additional USB hubs.
I was slightly concerned with the amount of power all the gadgets might draw but fortunately it turned out to be much less than the maximum power the electrical hook up provided.
The system worked very well and only the power and webcam leads went between the telescope and my laptop in the tent. It was a pleasure controlling the Autostar and focuser from the laptop especially when I had the webcam hooked up for imaging Jupiter as there was no need to keep getting up to make any adjustments.
Touring the Norfolk Night Skies
With the wireless system up and running it was time to test it out. I decided to take my LXD55 AR-6 6 inch refractor on the LXD75 mount to the camp this year as I want to get the best images of Jupiter and to be honest I actually prefer it to my 8 inch SCT.
Unfortunately I didn't think the weather wasn't as great as previous years although there were long periods of clear skies over the weekend, enough for everyone at the camp to get some good observing and imaging done. I didn't really do much deep sky observing this year as I wanted to concentrate in obtaining decent images of Jupiter.
Jupiter Imaging
Like last year the aim of the weekend for me was to get digital images of Jupiter through the refractor. Observationally I didn't think the seeing was particular great in revealing much detail on the planet - personally I thought that there had been betting conditions the previous year, but nevertheless I still managed to see some of the belts during brief periods of good seeing.
Once again I thought I'd try the LPI but I really cannot seem to get on with the LPI software, it’s just not very intuitive so I used my trusty ToUcam Pro II instead.
Focusing was no longer a problem as I had invested in an Orion Accufocuser and a Shoestring Autofocus PC interface and with that wirelessly linked to my laptop it was a breeze using the focuspal software to tweak the focuser without getting up from my seat.
I took about five movies of Jupiter and processed them with the latest version of Registax v5. In order to try and get a good focus viewing the image from the laptop screen I decided to reduce the saturation to black and white levels - this helped except I forgot to raise then again so all my movies came out black and white rather than colour, doh!
 |
| SkyCamp 2010 |
The Main Weekend
Saturday 11th was the main event day. Trade stands were again in the yellow field and lectures took place in the Kelling Heath ‘The Forge’ bar. Speakers included Jack Martin and Bob Mizon who kindly gave a last minute talk as one of the lecturers unfortunately could not do it due to illness.
Loughton member Alan Marriott directed the telescope tour, demonstrating the different instruments strewn across the red and yellow fields.
Raffle tickets were available from the Loughton Society's stand located on the bandstand in the square. The draw took place in the early evening where prizes, kindly donated from vendors were won.
The day was pleasant and quite warm, and as the Sun went down I saw some amazing cloud formations during the prize raffle.
Sunday was a another bright sunny day and by traditional we visit Cromer for the afternoon and by the time we got back in the early evening it was looking likely that it going to be a clear. I spent most of my time before midnight observing Jupiter and after midnight I decided to have a walk around and view through other people's telescopes. By about 01:30 the seeing conditions were getting poor so I called it a night.
On the whole the skycamp was another great success. It is known as the largest established skycamp in Europe with hundreds of people in attendence on the main day. Looking forward to next year where we have booked again a lodge and pitch for yet another 10 nights!
Tuesday 7 September 2010
Skycamp 2010
Getting ready for skcamp!
I am blogging using my iPhone.
This year we decided to spend a week at Kelling Heath before the start of skcamp this Friday.
Currently visiting wells-next-sea.
My tent is set up but no scope yet as the weather was windy with rain last night. Hopefully it will improve to allow me to set up in the next day or so.
Can only blog when there is a decent 3g signal which unfortunately is not in kelling Heath itself.
A full summary of the weekend will be posted soon.
Sent from my iPhone
I am blogging using my iPhone.
This year we decided to spend a week at Kelling Heath before the start of skcamp this Friday.
Currently visiting wells-next-sea.
My tent is set up but no scope yet as the weather was windy with rain last night. Hopefully it will improve to allow me to set up in the next day or so.
Can only blog when there is a decent 3g signal which unfortunately is not in kelling Heath itself.
A full summary of the weekend will be posted soon.
Sent from my iPhone
Wednesday 17 February 2010
Astrofest 2010
The 2010 Astrofest was held at Kensington Town Hall on 5th and 6th February last weekend. This time I decided to attend three out of the four lecture sessions over the two days (both Friday sessions and the Saturday morning session).
This year's speakers included Monica Grady, Allan Chapman, Jill Tarter and as a special treat Brian May and Patrick Moore.
There were also lectures on cosmology from researchers at the forefront of the subject. This topic is a personal favorite of mine since I studied it as part of my degreee over ten years ago. Much has changed since then. The results from cosmological surveys infers that the Universe is much bigger than originally thought (45 billion Light Years across) and that there is circumstantial evidence that Dark Energy is expanding the Universe at an accelerating rate.
Both days were very well attended, in fact I think Friday was better attended than Friday last year. Saturday was very busy especially because Brian May and Patrick Moore were doing a Q&A session in the late morning and in the afternoon the two of them plus Chris Lintott were signing copies of Bang!. Queues were very long to see them and it took over an hour until I finally got into the signing room. It was nice to see all three again and I took the opportunity to thank Brian for publicising my book on the Bang website in 2008. I also got a picture taken with him.
This year I set out to purchase a few items including my friend's (Jack Martin) book "A Spectroscopic Atlas of Bright Stars - Pocket Field Guide" by Springer. I was also after a motor focuser for my lxd55 refractor.
The motor focuser I purchased is an Orion Accufocuser. The focuser is not dedicated for the lxd55 rack and pinion mount but with a little DIY it will suitably retro fit to the focus mount, saving over £90 if I was to purchase a dedicated motor focuser.
It was great two days and as usual the time seem to go very quick... one of the better Astrofests I have attended!
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