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i'm trying to get into telescopes so what does a focal reducer do
[QUOTE=Trixil;48302406]i'm trying to get into telescopes so what does a focal reducer do[/QUOTE]
A focal reducer does the opposite of something like a barlow lens, it zooms your field of view out.
[t]http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/thumbs/14b56454f5ff85fa4a00f1eba4a3cb53.1824x0_q100_watermark.jpg[/t]
[B][url=http://www.astrobin.com/199765/C/]Astrobin[/url][/B]
Really need to learn post-processing, I find it hard to make images look nice.
Laptop works fine with GoTo and guiding, still waiting for that absolute darkness tho.
There is (currently?) an HD-livestream from the ISS on Ustream: [url]http://www.ustream.tv/channel/iss-hdev-payload[/url]
(via n-tv [URL="http://www.n-tv.de/wissen/Spektakulaeres-Foto-von-sterbendem-Stern-article15657066.html"]which appears to have space news quite often[/URL] (German; the gist is that the "bubble" of ESO 378-1 is lit up by intense UV radiation from the core))
Are there any real photos of the asteroid belt? I tried searching Google but I can't tell if any of the results are renders or not.
So yeah some of you may have heard of Copenhagen Suborbitals (or not), but the short story is that they're going to launch a rocket this month - and not just any rocket. It's not a solid or a hybrid motor but a Ethanol/LOX rocket engine. It's only projected to get to 15km, but that's really besides the point, since this was only made to test out systems that they would need for their manned suborbital fligt rocket (Spica). Here's a video of the rocket engine powering the Nexø 1 rocket that is gonna fly this month:
[video=youtube;vKbrreKpsoo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKbrreKpsoo[/video]
Copenhagen Suborbitals is made up purely by volunteers, it's non-profit and functions only via crowdfunding (they have a support group as well). So now they've made an [url=https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fund-the-world-s-only-manned-amateur-space-program#/story]Indiegogo campaign[/url], and I really suggest you guys donate (just a small amount, really) if you have an interest in rockets and so on - they've been doing some pretty cool stuff through the years, and they're on a pretty solid course now.
You can find some more information on their website, [URL="copsub.com"]copsub.com[/URL], but the most in-depth content is sadly mostly only available in Danish on their blog: [url]http://ing.dk/blogs/rumfart-pa-den-anden-made[/url]. Google Translate might help you out though. I'd suggest reading [url=http://ing.dk/blog/designe-en-rumraket-trin-33-171659]this blogpost[/url] first to get an idea of what they're doing (they aren't just banging rocks together).
I don't think the campaign is crucial to this month's test, but a new, big and very expensive motor is on their roadmap, so obviously they need all the money they can get. Almost all their tests are livestreamed, and if you're in the area you can go watch it yourself.
Maybe this post should've been a thread but I don't know. If you have any questions about the project feel free to ask, I've been following them pretty closely for some time now.
[editline]6th August 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=AbioFlesh;48386218]Are there any real photos of the asteroid belt? I tried searching Google but I can't tell if any of the results are renders or not.[/QUOTE]
The asteroid belt is very large and doesn't have that much mass. Here's a quote from an engineer on the Dawn mission:
[QUOTE=http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/journal_11_27_09.asp]After crossing the threshold of the belt earlier this month, Dawn will travel 7.7 astronomical units (AU), or nearly 1.2 billion kilometers (almost 720 million miles), to its July 2011 rendezvous with Vesta. Yet in all that time, and across all that distance, the closest the probe will come to a catalogued asteroid is 1.0 million kilometers (greater than 600 thousand miles), or more than 2.5 times the distance between Earth and the moon. Certainly travelers on Earth would not consider something that far away to be a hazard (especially compared to what many Dawn team members regularly experience on the freeways in Los Angeles), and neither would our intrepid explorer. [/QUOTE]
Also, from Wikipedia:
[QUOTE]The total mass of the asteroid belt is estimated to be 2.8×1021 to 3.2×1021 kilograms, which is just 4% of the mass of the Moon.[/QUOTE]
So average that out over the volume of the asteroid belt, and you get very, very little mass per m^3. So chances are if you saw something that looked exciting (from an action standpoint) it was a render.
[QUOTE=LarparNar;48297775]Woo! Got accepted to the physics, astronomy and meteorology course at the University of Oslo :joy: :excited:[/QUOTE]
Awesome!, now go build a warp engine. :smile:
[t]http://files.1337upload.net/andromedaTest-653360.jpg[/t]
Quick Andromeda test before clouds rolled in, 11x240".
Gonna try doing a mosaic once it's dark enough.
I want a telescope, what's a nice yet not crazy expensive one?
[QUOTE=Exigent;48404354]I want a telescope, what's a nice yet not crazy expensive one?[/QUOTE]
Whats the price range we are talking about here?
Crew Dragon Simulated Flight Ensures Hardware, Software are Ready for Missions
[url]https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2015/08/11/crew-dragon-simulated-flight-ensures-hardware-software-are-ready-for-missions/[/url]
Good news on the SpaceX front!
[QUOTE=Hattiwatti;48395157][t]http://files.1337upload.net/andromedaTest-653360.jpg[/t]
Quick Andromeda test before clouds rolled in, 11x240".
Gonna try doing a mosaic once it's dark enough.[/QUOTE]
Damn that's impressive. I think I'm gonna bring out my toys out as well now.
Well, this looks interesting.
[QUOTE]NASA is inviting media to attend a test of the Orion spacecraft’s parachutes on Wednesday, Aug. 26 at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. An engineering model of the spacecraft will drop from an airplane 35,000 feet up to evaluate how it fares when the parachute system does not perform as expected.
During the test, Orion engineers will carry out a scenario in which one of the spacecraft’s two drogue parachutes and one of its three main parachutes fail. This high-risk assessment is the penultimate drop test of the scheduled engineering evaluations leading up to next year’s tests to qualify the parachute system for crewed flights.[/QUOTE]
Can't decide whether this looks good or bad... Mainly due to the star glow.
[t]http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/thumbs/acafd0281a827d54c700335810a45cfd.1824x0_q100_watermark.jpg[/t]
[editline]20th August 2015[/editline]
Less glow:
[t]http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/thumbs/8ef4d52be2a829e5d7232c31d6bdd498.1824x0_q100_watermark.png[/t]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/7nyKc2f.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/NXC86CQ.png[/IMG]
Took a few images of galaxies, still sub 10-minute total exposure times, these are all stacked 30 second exposures.
Im pretty sure my mount can do up to 5 minute exposures unguided though, I have not attempted any though. Also no flat frame.
Nice shots.
I managed to get a perfect polar alignment, could have my shutter open for minutes without trails. But fucking hell, it just had to be humid outside. My lens kept fogging. And my camera was in such a bad position that the lens "un-zoomed" itself.
Ruined like 1 hour worth of frames.
Anyhow tried with 4 of my least crappy frames, total exposure time around 5 minutes.
[IMG]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3843429/ShareX/2015/08/2015-08-23_01-51-50.jpg[/IMG]
[editline]22nd August 2015[/editline]
I was using Backyard Nikon by the way. There's a free 30-day trial. Just got released like two months ago, finally a decent software for Nikon users.
[URL]http://www.otelescope.com/index.php?/store/product/4-backyardnikon-10-premium-edition/[/URL]
Tried working on the Deepskystacker stack with Pixinsight. Looks pretty cool. Going to try again tonight.
[IMG]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3843429/ShareX/2015/08/2015-08-23_18-49-15.jpg[/IMG]
I got a Pixinsight trial and suddenly my pics have colors.
Like seriously my past images suck so much compared to what I can do with Pixinsight:
Left is reprocessed with Pixinsight
[url]http://i.imgur.com/9FzLfGo.jpg[/url]
[url]http://i.imgur.com/2QowYdP.png[/url]
Also 5 hours of Veil Nebula from last night and the night before that. Had a really hard time processing and getting a result I wanted to actually upload. Went through like 10 revisions before getting a good result and even the good one has 2 versions.
[t]http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/thumbs/538e79ee8bdd3cb5ce2a2aaffee598d6.1824x0_q100_watermark_watermark_opacity-10_watermark_position-4_watermark_text-Copyright%20Matti%20Hietanen.png[/t]
[b][url=http://www.astrobin.com/205189/B/]Astrobin[/url][/b]
[editline]24th August 2015[/editline]
Btw be sure to set your screen brightness to as low as possible. On my 600D it boosts temperatures by like +20°C and makes you loose detail and gain noise.
Still trying to get a good Andromeda.
This time 6 minutes. But still bunch of bad stuff in the pic, foggy lens etc... Looked up more about Pixinsight, removed some noise that also removed a lost of the cloudy areas of Andromeda.
[IMG]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3843429/ShareX/2015/08/2015-08-24_05-43-54.jpg[/IMG]
Will have to go out again tonight.
You could try making a dew shield from cardboard or something like that. I did one for my telescope and it helps a lot, secondary hardly dews.
This thread really makes me want to try out my telescope that my grandmother got me last year for Christmas, unfortunately I don't know a rats ass about using it. Can anybody give me some good tips besides "Don't look at the sun?" I'll try to get a name for the telescope as well.
[B]Edit:[/B] The telescopes called a "Venture R-7." What a magnificent name.
[t]http://i.imgur.com/QOYn4OJ.jpg[/t]
Gotta reshoot because of the coma.. It's so damn hard to balance the camera for some reason
[QUOTE=Adeptus;48711146]Is that pluto?[/QUOTE]
Yeah, one of several images recently released
I can't get over that ambient light in the shadows of the mountains, jesus christ
Over 100 astronauts are coming to my university. They're going to hold some lectures.
[url]https://www.kth.se/en/aktuellt/rymden/astronauter-forelaser-pa-kth-1.588860[/url]
Chris Hadfield is going to be on the first lecture!
Not sure if I'll be able to attend. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
ok
ok
are you fucking sitting down
[url]http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/crop_p_color2_enhanced_release.png[/url]
8k image of Pluto, 67mb sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
I mean jesus christ,
[t]http://i.imgur.com/SBS7PWj.jpg[/t]
also [url]http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/lorri_rider.png[/url]
Have some M92, maybe next time it's clear it wont be during full moon.
[t]http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/thumbs/fda381461411472f0f72ede4005c5c92.1824x0_q100_watermark_watermark_opacity-10_watermark_position-4_watermark_text-Copyright%20Matti%20Hietanen.jpg[/t]
Lunar eclipse in a few hours btw guys.
Preparing for the lunar eclipse, I've done a moon stack test thingie:
[thumb]http://puu.sh/kqxyN.jpg[/thumb]
It's my first, and it has some flaws and artifacts, but I'm pretty happy with the result.
My sleep schedule is turned on its head so tonight I'm gonna score myself a blood moon
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