Well my summer love affair with a 115mm refractor came to an end last night when I decided to go back to my first love, Celestron SCT C11 and have another look at Jupiter. The APO 115 refractor has been a joy to use but in getting the detail of Jupiter while its in opposition […]
The clouds are clearing! There was news of a huge CME erruption on Nov 26th inspired me to get a picture of the sun as soon as the clouds and fog clears. At last I got my chance. Equipment: Astrotrac in Sun tracking mode 70/420mm APO ED Refractor Sun mask made from Baader Astrosolar filter […]
Quick picture of moon before the fog really rolls in. By 18:45, just 1 hr later I was covered in fog. Just made it!!! Equipment: Astrotrac in Sidereal tracking mode 70/420mm APO ED Refractor Baader Moon & Skyglow Neodymium filter DBK41AU02AS Astronomy camera by ImagingSource Weather: 1 degree C 90% Humidity 1021 hPa clear with fog […]
The diagram above shows that there is a difference of approx 4 mins between a sidereal day and a solar day. Here’s a great app that shows the difference pictorially. sidereal Solar Time
Sky clearing, seeing good. 2DegC, 86% Humidity, 1011hPa Session stopped at 23:15hr with poor seeing. Temp 0.5 Deg C, 88% Humidity, 1011 hPa with fast approaching Sirus cloud and slight fog Objectives for tonight: Start Jupiter mass determination exercise Moon pics with Astrotrac and eyepiece projection Try out Helmut’s eyepiece reducer 1) Jupiter mass determination […]
Ever since my Uni days, Theater has been very important to me. From Dopio Theater at Flinders Uni, Desert Rose in Saudi Arabia, Lane Cove dramatic group in Sydney to the ESOC theater group in Darmstadt I have enjoyed the many productions and times together with people. More recently I have dabbled in music by […]
Merlin is Skywatcher’s new GOTO mount that fits on a table top. Its about 30 cm high and solidly made. The magic comes in when a camera is attached and MERLIN can goto any object in the night sky. Best of all, it can be controlled by PC. I configured Stellarium to talk to MERLIN […]
Oh, its really nice to have Maja with me. So I took her to work and showed her around EUMETSAT. I told Maja about how we manage satellites that monitor the climate and especially the weather. Maja caused quite a stir by climbing on the models. Some of the models outside are HUGE! … and […]
I am stacked that Maja can come over and stay with us for a few days! 🙂 Maja has become quite a local celebrity and when I asked if she could help me out to prepare for an upcoming Jazz event, well, I was overwhelmed that she could stay with us for a few days, […]
Yet another speech without revealing what’s going on inside. Its a common point of feedback that I get from my speeches. They lack a certain involvement of emotion. Sure, my talks are interesting to listen to, and apparently I make good connection with my audience but to a shrewd evaluator my speeches lack a personal […]
