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Post by billw on Jan 15, 2008 9:16:11 GMT
Hi, Anyone else been out observing lately? Last Thursday and Friday were good, if damp, nights. Friday was excellent although everything, including me, got a covering of ice. The locks on the car even froze. This is a 30 min (10x3min) exposure of Orion. There was some thin mist floating around adding to the effect of the star colours. It also caused a bit of a problem with field flattening and colour balancing especially around Rigel. The "Witches Head" nebula to the west of Rigel can also just be seen. Not too bad for a normal 50mm lens.
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Post by billw on Dec 13, 2007 14:05:45 GMT
Hi, Well it looks like the weather will not be giving us a break for this shower either! If anyone does see anything please be sure to let us know. I've put a couple of shots of the Geminids I captured earlier in the week on the same page as mentioned in my last posting. cheers, Bill.
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Post by billw on Dec 10, 2007 12:49:16 GMT
Hi, Anybody planning on going out to observe the Geminids? If the weather looks half decent I'm hoping to get the video system up and running. (I've put an edited movie from the 2006 Leonid expedition on userweb.elec.gla.ac.uk/b/bward/leonids.htm)cheers, Bill.
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Post by billw on Nov 26, 2007 9:38:39 GMT
Hi, The next good meteor shower is the Geminids. The best nights should be 13/14th and 14/15th December. The moon is out of the way fairly early on, so given some clear skies this should be a good event. Let us know if you are planning an observing session. cheers, Bill.
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Post by billw on Nov 13, 2007 9:53:52 GMT
As the coma continues to expand the brightness is now starting to fade. Took this image through a 102mm refractor, 15x30secs with 350D at iso800. cheers, Bill.
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Post by billw on Nov 9, 2007 9:57:37 GMT
Hello All, Here are a few numbers to think on... Using measurements taken from my images, between the 26 Oct and 28th Oct the coma was expanding at around 559 m/sec. Between 5 Nov and 8 Nov this had dropped a bit to a still fairly fast clip of 461m/sec. Last night the coma was 21 arc min (at mag +3.2) in diameter which means at a distance from Earth of 1.622 AU it is approx 1.25 million km across! This is getting up towards the same diameter as the sun. This is some outburst! cheers, Bill.
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Post by billw on Nov 5, 2007 9:58:36 GMT
Hi, Anybody else out there been watching the comet!? On Saturday night despite high cloud the comet looked great. It's still bright at around mag +2.8 and its now nearly 15 arcmin in diameter. A perfect object for binoculars and small telescopes. cheers, Bill.
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Post by billw on Oct 29, 2007 12:31:20 GMT
I forgot to add, in the top image the coma is around 190 arc secs across and in the bottom it's grown to over 360 arc secs (in 48 hours) For those with good eyes this might be visible as a tiny disc to the naked eye now.
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Post by billw on Oct 29, 2007 12:27:52 GMT
Comet Holmes is putting on a good show. Top image was taken at 22.34UT 26/10/07, 1 second exposure, undriven with canon 350d @800 iso through 6in f3.6 reflector Visually I estimated mag +2.5. Bottom image was taken at 22.58UT 28/10/07 settings as above. Visually I thought it was very slightly fainter than the first night maybe ~+2.6 Difficult in the moon light though
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Post by billw on Oct 22, 2007 11:39:42 GMT
The weekend was again plagued by cloud however 5 of us enjoyed a brief spell of around an hour with a limiting mag of around 5.5 on the Friday night. Few meteors were actually observed but the chat was good. The Saturday was abandoned.
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Post by billw on Oct 19, 2007 10:12:34 GMT
The weather is looking not too bad at the moment so we are going ahead with the Orionid watch tonight. The radiant doesn't rise until quite late so plan on getting to the site around 2200 local to get set up. cheers, Bill.
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Post by billw on Feb 18, 2008 14:45:56 GMT
Hello, Well since the response to my suggestion has been so underwhelming I've had to tell the owner of the property to rent it to someone else. Pity, but there we go...
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Post by billw on Jan 18, 2008 14:53:35 GMT
Hello All, The late part of March and early part of April are the best times if you want a go at seeing as many Messier objects as possible. Leo and Virgo are at their best giving plenty of opportunity for observing lots of galaxies. I suggest Friday 4th and Saturday 5th April for a get together (There is no moon to worry about). I'm trying to get some information on a venue in the east coast (Fife region) but if you're interested leave a post here so I can gauge interest. cheers, Bill.
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Post by billw on Oct 17, 2007 12:19:07 GMT
Hello All, It's still several day's away but with the pressure rising the weather might give us a break. As this weekend is primarily to observe the Orionid meteor peak remember to wrap up extra warm and bring a camping chair or recliner. (A pen and note book too if you want to do a little science as well!) cheers, Bill.
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Post by billw on Oct 15, 2007 8:17:44 GMT
Hello All, The weekend was a mixed bag. Friday night was extremely pleasant but completely cloudy! The forecast was rapidly changing on Saturday and after finally deciding to go observing we did at least get a view of the sky. When the clouds did part the milky way was exceptional and we were treated to several very bright meteors and satellites. Stayed tuned for next weekends' plans. cheers, Bill.
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