Posts Made By: Paul Hyndman

Hi All,

I'm gathering a dozen or so M57 images as I write this, the photons struggling in the light of the full moon, but I also managed to get a few solar shots this afternoon. Here's the latest full disk H-a. Info is at:

http://www.astro-nut.com/sun-ha-21oct02.html

Gotta get back outside now... Ciao!

Paul

Hello All,

I was overjoyed to receive this historical instrument earlier this year. It is a 43mm brass and mahogany Merz, Utzschneider & Fraunhofer "spy-glass", circa 1825 which was discovered by a collector of antique microscopes while in the Czech Republic (in those parts that were German from the middle-ages until 1945) and allegedly came from a very old-line family.

The instrument is in fine-excellent museum condition, though the only perceivable restoration is the replacement of one end flap on the storage tube (in a slightly different color so as to clearly denote it as such).

Upon removing the eyepiece end-cover to extract the EP, I noticed the numeral XII engraved on the top. Further examination revealed the same numerals engraved near either end of the barrel as well.

See pics at:

http://www.astro-nut.com/fraunhoferocular.jpg

These may have been added later in the instrument's history, as the engraving does not have the same smoothness as that of the company name on the drawtube.

I recall hearing that these eyepieces themselves were designed to further reduce chromatic aberration, and may even have been individually "tuned" for the scope that they were to accompany.

BTW, with my crude calipers (and tired eyes), the barrel diameter of this EP measures 27mm.

Cheers,

Paul

Hello All,

I was overjoyed to receive this historical instrument earlier this year. It is a 43mm brass and mahogany Merz, Utzschneider & Fraunhofer "spy-glass", circa 1825 which was discovered by a collector of antique microscopes while in the Czech Republic (in those parts that were German from the middle-ages until 1945) and allegedly came from a very old-line family.

The instrument is in fine-excellent museum condition, though the only perceivable restoration is the replacement of one of the end flaps on the storage tube (in a slightly different color so as to clearly denote it as such).

Upon removing the eyepiece end-cover to extract the EP, I noticed the numeral XII engraved on the top. Further examination revealed the same numerals engraved near either end of the barrel as well.

See pics at:

http://www.astro-nut.com/fraunhoferocular.jpg

These may have been added later in the instrument's history, as the engraving does not have the same smoothness as that of the company name on the drawtube.

I recall hearing that these eyepieces themselves were designed to further reduce chromatic aberration, and may even have been individually "tuned" for the scope that they were to accompany.

BTW, with my crude calipers (and tired eyes), the barrel diameter of this EP measures 27mm.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi All,

I had a chance to process a full disk H-a image from yesterday's session (only 100 or so more shots to go through! ). Another image and info for both is at:

http://www.astro-nut.com/sun-ha-08nov02.html

Cheers,

Paul

Hi All,

Being socked in with cruddy weather, I decided to throw together a new portable power supply (uhh... battery pack) with a little more ooomph than the 17AH "Jump Start" units I had been using. A fellow club member was gracious enough to let me drain... er, "share" her battery last Friday at a public session, but I really needed to address the ever increasing power crunch I faced (and no, I'm not using Kendrick dew heaters to keep my feet warm!)

Enter some monster-sized Gel-Cells I salvaged from work last week. I know it's it's a real drag to read a long-winded description, so to spare you that frustration.... an illustrated web page (Ta Da!):

http://www.astro-nut.com/gel-cell.html

Now then, does anyone here have a rain-cloud filter? )

Ciao,

Paul

The below shot shows the voltage monitor (coutresy of Radio Shack )

Hi All,

The clouds rolled in before I could try a few kinkier things with M42 last night, but the interim results are getting to be a tad more encouraging.

8" Mak-Newt, D60, Televue 2X and 4X Powermates. Five ISO200 shots at 298 seconds each and One ISO200 shot at 88 seconds. Processed with Images Plus and Adobe PhotoShop.

I want to try a few more things to see if I can coax some more dynamic range out of this puppy.

Cheers,

Paul

----- http://www.astro-nut.com -----

Winter-time observing buddies )

Paul

Wishing you all season's greetings!

I feel like a kid again, having wakened to a snowy New England Christmas morning:

May you have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!

Cheers,

Paul

PS: My apologies to the IDA! )


--- http://www.astro-nut.com/ ---

Hi All,

I realize that some here will wonder why I am posting a link to an image sequence in the equipment section (duh?), but thought that those who are interested in solar white-light and/or Hydrogen-alpha filters might have an interest in seeing it.

While admiring the December 27th work of friend and fellow solar imager Luis C. of Portugal, I was inspired to plonk together a "blink-sequence" between my own H-a image from that date and his white-light version.

I found it most captivating that while the sunspot activity has waned, the H-a levels are still intensely active... some of which can be seen occurring directly above the few prominent sunspots.

Many thanks to Luis for generously providing the image as well as his input on this collaborative effort!

To view the results (can't load a GIF file here) go to:

http://www.astro-nut.com/sun-duo-02dec27.html

Bon apetit!

Paul

Not up to the level of the masters here, but I'm pleased with the interim results on this partially completed M1 image from my little 8-incher (central 600x400 pixel cropping from a 1536x1024 [2x2binned] pixel shot).

Nine ISO400 images at 300 seconds via an 8" Mak-Newt and Canon D60. Processing via Images Plus (V1.69 Beta4).

Wishing a healthy, happy, and prosperous New year to all!!!

Paul