Posts Made By: Maurice Clark

I always thought it had something to do with how US businesses worked! :-)))

Maurice

Here is a second photo of the aurora.

60 seconds exposure, Fuji Super HQ 200 film. 50mm f/1.8 OM2.

Cheers.

Maurice

This image is of NGC 6503, a 10th magnitude galaxy in Draco.

It is a combination of 5, 120 sec images, processed with MegaFix. SBIG ST-8 binned 3x3.

Maurice

You did not mention if you are north or south of the equator. If you are north of the equator, then the celestial equator will culminate 37* south of overhead. If you are south, then 37* north.

The easiest way to find a star that is 60* away from the equator, is to look for a bright star that has a declination of +/- 60*.

Hope this helps,

Maurice

Hi Ryan.

Not a stupid question! There are several ways of making sure the object is in the field of view, depending on your equipment.

The easiest is to use a flip mirror system. This is a movable mirror in a housing that allows you to direct the light either straight through to the camera or to the side where you can view with an eyepiece. The requirements are that you can see the object (or at least identify the field) and that your telescope system will still focus. The system puts the camera 2" - 4" further back.

Another way is just to locate the object by looking through the scope, and then removing the eyepiece and putting on the camera. The problem here is that you must be careful not to move the scope, and that you need to make sure that the camera is in focus. Almost always the camera and your eye foucs at different places! (The sixth corrollary to Murphy's 14th law!) I have found that it is best to fis the focus for the camera and then make do with trying to identify the out of focus object visually.

The third method I have used when using a CCD is just to take a short exposure (eg 10 sec) and then compare the field with a chart. I use this most commonly when I am imaging something too faint to see visually.

Hope this helps.

Maurice

Hi Adam,

When the Sun is TOTALLY eclipsed, it is perfectly same to look at it with anything, naked eye, binoculars or scope. However if even a TINY piece of the photosphere is visible, you MUST use a solar filter or project the image.

Cheers,

Maurice

It is now 1.05 am CST and the aurora has been storming for the past 40 minutes. Numerous curtains and very bright, fasst moving rays reaching past the zenith. It is obviously a major display. Mostly green however there have been patches of red at times.

Beautiful display.

Maurice

I did some reworking of my image of NGC 891. I think this one looks much better.

Cheers,

Maurice

Hi Edward,

No worries. However I will apologise here for a rather long posting.

Rev 12:12 says "Therefore rejoice you heavens (plural) and you who dwell in them". (again plural) This shows that there are beings dwelling in more than one heaven. The Bible speaks about 3 different heavens.
1) The heaven were birds fly. ie the atmosphere or sky. eg Gen 1:20.
2) The stary heaven. eg Ps 19.
3) The heaven of heavens, the dwelling place of God and the angels. eg 1Ki 8:30. (This is the one that Paul calls the "third heaven" in 2 Cor 12:2.)

There are no beings dwelling in the atmosphere, therefore there must be beings dwelling in the stary heaven as well as in the Heaven where God dwells.

Is 40:22 states that the stary heaven is "spread out like a tent to live in". Indicating that there are being\s dwelling there.

Is: 40:15 states that "the nations are like a drop in a bucket". This indicates that the number of people living on the Earth are but a tiny fraction of all the living beings in the universe.

In Job chapters 1 and 2, there is pictured gatherings as "the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD". Satan is also described as joining them. That this gathering is not on the Earth is indicated by Satan stating that he had "come from the Earth". Therefore this gathering was in heaven. So who are these "sons of God"? A few modern translations (eg NIV) call them Angels. However this is an incorrect interpretation, as elsewhere in the Bible, angels are refered to as messengers (which is what the word 'angel' means). Also angels are a different form of being from humans. (Ps 8: 4 & 5) The term "sons of God" is used throughout the Bible to describe humans who follow God. eg Adam is called a son of God (Lk 3:37). Jesus was called a son of God after he took on humanity. Christians are invited to follow God and become sons of God (Jn 1:12). However, these sons of God could not have been Earth-born humans, since at the time of Job, the only human in heaven was Enoch. (Gen 5:24, Heb 11:5). Therefore these "sons of God" must have been the equivilant of humans from other worlds. In order for these "sons of God" to appear in heaven before God they must be without sin. ie they did not join Satan's rebellion like Adam did.

There is much more similar evidence, however this posting is already too long. Hopefully these passages will be enough to get you started if you are interested in finding out what the Bible really does say about extra-tresstrial life. With a good concordance and a good translation with marginal references, you should be able to find more on this topic.

Regards,

Maurice

Hi Joe,

Further to Alex's comments, a flip mirror is not essential but is a great help for centering a star. What I used to do before getting one was to use my highest magnification eyepiece to centre a star, and then VERY carefully swap to the ST-4. This usually worked to give me the star somewhere on the chip.

When you were using the system in "find and focus" mode, were you getting ANY numbers in the display, including 0? The occassional blip would most probably have been a cosmic ray, however it should have resulted in a number appearing in all 3, not just the X position.

One final question, can you describe how you did your dark frame?

Cheers,

Maurice