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Pier number deux!
poppasmurf replied to timthelder's topic in Observatories, DIY Telescopes and Gear
looking good buddy Shane -
Ok, now my second one of these, my latest outdoor pier thingy. I dug down about 18" and water started coming in. Left over from all the rain. Highest water table I've ever seen. So add some concrete and mix it in the hole. Sure would be nice to have a level surface to work off of. Wonder if I could fit an obs on that thing? Cheers, Tim.
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How's that for click bait, lol. Been a while. Been a busy beaver, new to me home, new pier, new neighbors security light 30ft away from my 'second' pier installment. Lots of remodeling has passed, but I think I finally have things under control till spring comes back around (for us northern folk anyway.) I'll probably post several updates in their appropriate locations around the forums, but for now here is todays folly. Mercury transit. Got started about 5:45am with getting out 'the required stuff', I used the ole CG-5 mount as I did for the 2017 eclipse. Canon utilities still had my settings for full Sun, (NOT full btw,) and focus was still almost spot on. AFTER mucking around with the mount for about 30min because apparently some of the jacks had corroded since it's last use (only 2yrs ago, wtf?) Finally I got power and a late start. Long story short, clouds, clouds, clouds, and a few lucky captures. Finally, jeeze! S quick GIF of the session. I'll try and catch up with you fellers, sorry about the walk-about/haciades/absence. Tim.
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Love the fireworks. Ray
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Time lapse at Swinsty Reservoir
poppasmurf replied to Paramount's topic in DSLR and CCD Astrophotography
Quite mesmerizing mate. Love the shot up through the trees. Shane -
I spent last night at Swinsty Reservoir, about 10 miles from where I live shooting some time lapse and animated star trails. Although the weather forecast was for clear skies for the whole night the sky was very milky towards the horizon and despite no moon the sky didn't appear that dark (probably due to nearby lights). I shot 4 time lapse clips from which I also made some animated star trails. Just after 12 midnight two cars pulled up on the road that bisects the reservoir about half a mile from where I was and some people got out and proceeded to let off some very loud fireworks for a period of about half an hour (these appear in one of the clips). My friend Bob Moore in America reported recently that he was trapped in his observatory by a bear that was wandering around, luckily we don't have that problem over here, but those geese and ducks on the reservoir, what a noise! Honking and quacking most of the night. I started about 8pm and finished just before 6am this morning. I have included a link to the full resolution video which is in HD and 4K (please be patient as it takes a while for the full resolution 4K to appear after posting to YouTube) as Facebook compresses the video and spoils the quality All the clips were shot on my Sony A7Sii with Samyang 12mm f2.8 fisheye lens with exposures of 20 seconds at f2.8 and ISO 2500 and my Sony A7iii with Samyang 24mm f1.4 lens with exposures of 20 seconds at f2.8 and ISO 1600 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AgePEf2zkM&feature=youtu.be
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Cat Alzheimers? Poor thing. It is bad enough for a human that knows what is happening to them, let alone a poor cat waking up and not having a clue where it is or who it is. Shame. These types of diseases (side effects of aging) are beginning to be prevented, but certainly not cured once they take hold. Ray
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Yeah Ray, Unfortunately I think her days may be numbered, been doing some research and her propensity to get get very vocal especially at daybreak is causing concern. From what I have discovered its a sort of Cat's Alzheimers, Which is part of their ageing where they will just sit and howl for no apparent reason. My niece apparently had a similar breed for 17 years and had to have it put down. I Had a similar breed prior to Heidi, she was also somewhat crazy and used to sit on the side of the road and play "chicken" with cars passing by. One morning she wasn't quick enough and I found her laid out on the verge. her name was "PC" (Pussy cat.) she was 10 years old. So I have had a long experience with the breed. They are very affectionate with their owners, but can be very demanding. Yes, she has a special "Whiskers" blanket which she sleeps on. !! Dave Be glad when this cloud stops coming down from the North !!
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She sounds very spoilt mate. I suppose she sleeps on your bed? Ray
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She is known as a "Havana" short haired domestic. In bright sunlight her fur is a very dark brown with dark orange stripes. Is a cross Siamese and also displays those tendencies, can get very noisy when she wants something. Very wary of strangers and occasionally does "wheelies" around the house going flat out in a crazy manner. Very fussy eater will only eat canned tuna and Whiskettes biscuits. She rejects most proprietory cat foods. Dave
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its the spitting image of our cat clyde but he's only 11-12 Shane
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Not sure how that cat doesn't have more grey hair. Its doing well for a 17 year old. Ray
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My cat, Heidi - Just celebrated her 17th birthday. Camera EOS750D Getting old and collecting a few grey hairs. She likes to put on a pose for the camera Dave
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Great to see your images being used mate. We wanna see the gaming mats once they are finished. I think they will look super cool. Ray
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Gday all, i was recently contacted by a fb friend I used to play online games with, about a business he is starting. He is making tabletop gaming mats, for themed card/dice type gaming, in this case I believe the game is x wing fighter or something like that. He originally was going to use computer generated star fields but thought pictures of real objects taken by real people would look way cooler hence he got in touch with me to see if he could use some of my images. So far he has chosen 4 to be used, more may come later, so I thought I would share with you the reprocessed images I have allowed him to use,not free by the way but details are still being worked out. Anyway here are the images being used. There is a few versions of one as I was not happy with any really but his will be the final decision which to use of that particular image or I'll do another repro for him. I reprocessed them as the ones he liked for a start are around 3 years old and my skills and knowledge of processing has grown considerably since then, and it was fun seeing the now v then efforts. Shane
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No mate, I'll watch some videos on youtube and possibly download the demo. Thanks for the tip. Ray
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Great image! That is really special!
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Have you checked out APP Astro Pixel Processor? It's more point and click processing and by all accounts as good as PI. Shane
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No worries on the PI jargon, PI is jargon. I got a ton of stuff on my observatory PC that requires processing. When I bought PI I went through it with a fine tooth comb and performed some great processing with it. However I found that if I had a two month hiatus from it, I would need to rehash the learning curve, and being so time poor, images are left unprocessed. I love PI but I find it is not intuitive. I think it needs to be used regularly in order to harness all its great features. For example, some noise reduction algorithms are better for galaxies or nebula, but instead of calling them that, they give them highly mathematical names that really mean little to the average person. From a business perspective, the easier they make it, the more subscriptions they'll maintain. AP processing for me at the moment has to be point and click (for me that makes it more enjoyable). I love the image acquisition side, but I find myself looking for software that can deliver fast results. I used to spend hours processing, which I didn't mind, however at the moment I can't afford that kind of time. That is awesome about the gaming mats. You are doing well my mate. Ray
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PI mate after basic cal and reg i go channel combine, linearfit, dynamiccrop, dynamicbackgroundextractio, backgroundneutralization, colourcalibration or photometriccolourcal, MTAStarshrink, MLT, Histotransform, HDRmultiscale lineartransform, LHE, curvestransformation, LRGBcombine, Dynamiccrop maybe, ACDNR, SCNR. Sorry bout the PI jargon. Just conversing with a bloke that wants to use some of my astropics for gaming mats. Shane
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Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesuuuzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow mate! You are killing it. I love the dark nebulae sitting in front of the emission. What is your image processing software / flow? Ray
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That is actually a very clever feature. When I think back to all the issues I had with Teamveiwer, using the same program is a great idea. I currently use AnyDesk which I found was 10 times easier, 10 times more reliable and more intuitive than teamviewer. My software needs upgrading badly, I'll give this a look. Thanks for the heads up. Ray
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Wow mate, great to hear. Buying a new mount is no easy feat, the learning curve alone can make it daunting, so when it is delivering the right vibes and reciprocating, then that is exactly the right path. I'm really glad it has enriched your AP my friend. Ray
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Added Luminance 4 hrs each panel. Shane
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Another update. The developers have added a web dashboard to monitor what is going on. No need for team viewer and works on multiple platforms including smart phones, pc, tablets etc. It seems to just get better and better. Shane
