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Frank Bayerl wrote:

Thanks, Roland, for your good wishes. If the skies cooperate I may yet
get in as many observing sessions before I turn 80 as you have already.
Anybody got any plans to observe the occultation tomorrow?

Let me also add my good wishes on your retirement - and also welcome to
the retirees club.

Just in case you were worried about time on your hands, let me add that
interesting and useful tasks gravitate to retired people like flies to
honey. Before long you will be so busy you will wonder how you found time
to go to work. But it's a great life - enjoy!

All the best - Al Seaman

Just for practice, I've been sketching various DSO's from images, and
I have found spiral galaxies to be, by far, the most challenging. I
have made five attempts thus far, with very humble results. So Mike,
I now appreciate the work that probably went into your sketch of M51.
The medium with white "chalky/waxy" pencil, is quite different than
pencil and/or charcoal. I wish I had a white lead that is harder and
more smoothly "spreadable" on black paper.

So... just to day, "nice drawing" again, Mike!

Sketchily
Rol

Thanks, Roland, for your good wishes. If the skies cooperate I may yet get in as many observing sessions before I turn 80 as you have already. Anybody got any plans to observe the occultation tomorrow?

Clear skies!

Hi Frank!! My mind doth overflow with jeolous envy!!
Yes, I am hoping to get out tomorrow night, I just don't know where. Maybe we can get something going?
Richard

Hi Jean! I got a Baader solar filter last Dec. from Focus. Since I'm not at all handy,I got the pre-made 8" one and paid, I think, $129. Hope to see you Sat. at Chapters as I plan to go during the day (with solar filter).

As you can tell from the time I.m sending this, I earned my full salary today! Actually, I'm not sure if going through old files and tossing things in the recycle bin counts as earning your pay, but it did keep me busy. It's a strange feeling but I am not having any doubts about this decision.

Thanks for thinking of me on this momentous day and conferring the title of GA. I hope that doesn't mean I now have to be a role model for all you oafs.

See you soon I hope and happy Astronomy Day!

Not astronomy....not monty python, but what the heck!!!

One of my co-workers opened the door yesterday morning to let his
large dog in. To his horror, he saw that his dog had the limp form
of his neighbor's little dog in his jaws. The dog was quite dead,
and he had visions of the law-suits, his dog being put down....a
hostile neighbour, etc. Noticing that his neighbour had left for
work, he cleaned the poor little terrior up and then "snuck" over to
his place and gingerly attached the dog to the chain where he
normally spent the day, and then went to work. When he arrived home
last night, the neighbour was outside with his wife and obviously
very upset. Nervously, my co-worker asked what the problem was. His
neighbour informed him that some "sick bastard had dug up his poor
dog that had been hit the day before by a car and killed, and put him
on the chain.

The title says it all. Congratulations on your retirement. Now, as
Janice says, you'll be able to observe until all hours of the morning
and live the life of a Gentleman Astonomer...

Lucky Bloke! ;-)

Rol

--- In OAFs@y..., "Wagner,Rick [CIS-ADS]" <rick.wagner@e...> wrote:

Many years ago I did some drawing at the eyepiece but with the usual
pencil on white paper. If I can find some of them at home this >
weekend I will post one or two.

That'd be good as I enjoy astro-sketches quite a bit.

Rol

I just picked up a solar filter from Focus Scientific yesterday. It is a
Kendrick Baader film filter for my 8" SCT. It cost $128. When their
shipment came in last Wednesday, they had three of the 8" filters, so they
may still have one in stock.

They told me about a month ago that they also carry the Baader film material
itself, and that it'd be something like $25 for sufficient material to make
a filter for an 8" SCT. Of course, you'd have to come up with some kind of
supporting ring and mounting system. Considering that, I went for the
finished product, and am glad I did so.

I tried out the new filter last evening. It was a nice snug fit on my
Celestron G-8 (same OTA as a C-8). The filter ring has nylon setscrews on
it, although they're hardly necessary for my scope. For safety, I taped the
filter ring to the scope with masking tape too, just for peace of mind.
When I observed the sun naked-eyed at the store through the filter, the
solar image appeared to have a very slight pink tint to it. On the scope,
though, I didn't detect any hint of colour.

Good luck filter-finding. If you'd like to check out my filter in action,
I'd be glad to show it off sometime.

Bruce McGlashan

I believe Focus carries it, though I'm not sure in what sizes.
Rick

--- In OAFs@y..., "Wagner,Rick [CIS-ADS]" <rick.wagner@e...> wrote:

General consensus seems to be that the Baader film is the best thing
available. It has the advantage that, if you're at all handy, you

can buy

just the film and make a holder, thereby getting a really good

filter at a

really cheap price.

Rick,

Any idea where (hoepfully in Ottawa) I could find this Baader film???

Jean

PS, I am working the DSC problem at home, rather than during
observing time...it's too precious to waste!

Richard Harding wrote:

I will be in Toronto all next week, and will pick up a Pulsar unit for
myself. If anyone else wants one, I could oblige...let me know. Hey, if
there were a few, I could probably negotiate a deal!! :o)

Seems like there is getting to be a fair amount of interest in these things.

Although I did not have time for real observing last night, took a few minutes
for a star test of the Telrad through the trees in my backyard.

The modification does work very nicely, and with the pulser on it is very
easy to position a faint star to any point in the bullseye - even right on
one of the red circles. With the pulser off, it is a normal Telrad, and the
faint stars get lost any time they are close to a red circle.

To anyone who gets one, the installation is easy, but be aware that with
it installed you switch from using 2 AA batteries to using one 9 volt
battery. This is implicit in the installation instructions, but it
is easy to miss if you think it is a trivial and obvious modification.
Having been in electronics too long, I did not read carefully and simply
assumed that the same battery would be used. The result was that normal
Telrad operation was not restored when the switch was flipped.

After a lot of poking around and meter checking to find out what was
wrong I finally admitted defeat. Then read the instructions more
carefully - bingo! The light went on! Wired in the correct battery and
everything worked as it should. It's actually easier to install it
right - just don't cut off the supplied 9 volt battery connector and
solder the leads to the old battery pack as I did.

The moral of the story - no matter how trivial or obvious a job
appears to be, be careful not to make wrong assumptions.

Good luck with getting and installing the pulser units.

Cheers - Al

General consensus seems to be that the Baader film is the best thing
available. It has the advantage that, if you're at all handy, you can buy
just the film and make a holder, thereby getting a really good filter at a
really cheap price.

Watch those DSCs - I've seen a couple of guys who would go out to the
observing site, set up the scope, fight with the DSCs for several hours and
then it's time to pack up. Do the fighting at home in comfort, in the
warmth, in the light, in a clean environment. When you are sure they are
working and you can set them up faultlessly every time then take them
observing - don't waste your valuable clear sky time playing with hardware.

Rick

Greetings all!

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas on solar filters....pricing,
sourcing that sort of stuff....

Thanks in advance,

Jean " now fighting with the DSC's on my scope" Dorais

Hi Frank!

If you are reading this at work: You've peeked at the postings too
early! Your employer is paying you good money to do your job for the
rest of the day. GET BACK TO WORK!!!

If you are reading this at home at the end of the day: You are now
officially retired - CONGRATULATIONS!!!! New occupation: Gentleman
Astronomer!

I'm sure all OAFs join me in extending our very best wishes to you on
your retirement (tinged with a bit of envy -- no more early morning
meetings at the office!)

Clear skies to you Frank!
Janice

Many years ago I did some drawing at the eyepiece but with the usual pencil
on white paper. I scanned a few in back some months ago and, using the
"negative" button in the scanning software, got quite a nice white on black
result. If I can find some of them at home this weekend I will post one or
two.

Rick

Sess.#294 8:45-11:10pm lm=5.1 s=7 clear

Jupiter - Wanted to test a simple theory realted to my scope. When I
saw Mars rising, from Equuleus a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a
strong red and blue fringing at opposite edges of the planet. MikeW
said it was probably caused by the atmosphere. Usually, I see no such
fringe on Jupiter, but tonite, with Jupiter getting down to 25 deg.
and lower, I did see the same coloured fringes. As well the seeing at
this altitude was awful. Gone were the crisp sketchable views of the
last few months.

Drift Method Polar Alignment (practice) - Did it in one hour, which is
less than half the time! It helps if you keep notes and use a
stopwatch. Once aligned using this method, you can place a star at a
crosshair in the eyepiece, and it pretty well stays exactly there for
quite a long time. Luxury! I might need this level of accuracy for
satisfying astrophotos this summer.

M3 - 30 second find from backyard. A bit dim but still very
attractive. In some ways more so than in a darker skies due to what I
call the "pixie dust" effect. About 30 or 40 stars are pinpoints on
the outer edges of the cluster, then about 100 others keeps coming in
and out of focus - result - a beautiful scintillation.

"The face in Virgo" - I only could find the two eyes, from this light
polluted back yard - in other words m84 & 86.

Some collimation done with notes for future reference.

Roland

--- In OAFs@y..., "Mike Wirths" <mwirths@s...> wrote:

Just got in from trying out the black drawing paper I got at

Wallacks art supply store a few days ago. Roland you may want to get
some of this paper, its thick enough to take some dew but it has a
slight texture to it, which may make for less than ideal scanning, it
also costs 50 cents a sheet (I think its 8x10 or so).

YES!

Nice sketch of M51, Mike. I know how difficult it is to sketch a
galaxy properly, and have never been quite satisfied with my own
efforts. You've done well on this one. I've always thought that the
galazy views in your fine scopes were most worthy of sketches. Good
to see you sketching!...

Coincidentally, Janice has just yesterday purchased that kind of black
paper, a few different types of white "pencils & chalks" as well as an
all-important "smudger". Before reading this posting this morning, I
was practising with images. Turns out that, on black paper, I find a
decent job can be done on spindle galaxies, globular clusters, and
even things like veils. The most difficult, I still find are spiral
galaxies, in the that ghostly glow between arms is difficult to
convey. Also, I've found that to add the nearby or overlaid stars
really increases the realism somehow.

WAY TO GO...
To Asthetic Photons! ;-)

Rol

Impressive job Mike,

I think you captured the variations in brightness of the spiral
arms quite well. But I'm suprised you didnt more more white into
the ngc5194's core. I see it as being much brighter than the
arms. I like the embedded stars. Now I'm going to have to look
at M51 because I think I preceive the start brightnesses differently
than you.

This oght to be a great technique for observing faint compact
galaxy groups. (Aftewards one could compare the drawing to DSS
images.)

Great drawing. Damm. There is so much talent in this group.

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