Gill Head: Kirkby Luneside's neighbour

[MrWolf]

9 minutes ago, John Besley said:

Wow, can you use that to take pictures on our planet... Or will it only work as a lunar camera?

 

I mean in theory you could read Putin's diary almost...

 

Monday: Raining, stayed in all day.

Tuesday. Invaded Ukraine and incurred the wrath of half the planet....

[Physicsman]

1 hour ago, lambiedg said:

In the first photo I notice the tripod legs seem to go through the floor.

is there a large lump of DAS or concrete down there to counteract vibrations?

 

D

 

David, whether in humour or in seriousness, your supposition is correct.

 

The floor of the observatory is wood, sat on a row of 4x2 cross joists. Great for normal use but if the legs of the tripod were sat on it then even the tiniest vibration would be picked up by the telescope.

 

The floor has been cut out in the vicinity of the base of the tripod and the legs sit onto the substantial concrete foundation about 15cm below the wooden floor. I can jump up and down in the observatory and the disturbance barely registers (not that I make a habit of doing so!!)

 

 

John, I'm sworn to secrecy by the Official Secrets Act. The stuff I can see in Moscow.....phew.....!!!!!

[Physicsman]

53 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

Monday: Raining, stayed in all day.

Tuesday. Invaded Ukraine and incurred the wrath of half the planet....

 

Rob, have you been spying on me?

 

 

[BWsTrains]

Does the roof retract? I can see the hint of some fairly solid roofing timbers (I guess we'd expect no less) and these would rather limit your scope to track even if segments of covering could be individually opened.

 

PS any chance of a deep sky view(s) to show us fans what else your 'scope can deliver?

Edited August 24, 2022 by BWsTrains

[Winslow Boy]

Knowing young Jeff the roof will be motorized and will open at the touch of a button- like that volcano did in the bond film You only live twice (I think it was?)

[Physicsman]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

Knowing young Jeff the roof will be motorized and will open at the touch of a button- like that volcano did in the bond film You only live twice (I think it was?)

 

No, I like to keep things as simple of possible - and less likely to go caput! See pics and further comments below.

 

1 hour ago, BWsTrains said:

Does the roof retract? I can see the hint of some fairly solid roofing timbers (I guess we'd expect no less) and these would rather limit your scope to track even if segments of covering could be individually opened.

 

PS any chance of a deep sky view(s) to show us fans what else your 'scope can deliver?

 

The roof slides off to one side. The roof comes in at over 200kg (pretty solid timbers on a metal frame) - no, I didn't build it - but on rollers can easily be pushed backwards and forwards with one hand.

 

The first pic is from December 2020, with the black 8" Celestron keeping the big scope company.

 

 

The second pic, from the same time, is for David - showing the holes in the floor. They're really there to make it easy for the local spiders to get inside and stay warm! 

 

 

Colin, I can't post you any deep sky views for a couple of reasons. First, I haven't done any - it requires a very different camera set-up - although I can sit a normal DSLR onto the telescope tube and "piggyback" it for longer, wide field exposures. And second, a caveat to the first, local light pollution isn't too bad but enough to restrict me to the brighter nebulae and galaxies - if I ever have a go.

 

There's a lot more to it than my brief comment, and I'd never shut up once you got me started!

 

 

 

[lambiedg]

9 hours ago, Physicsman said:

 

David, whether in humour or in seriousness, your supposition is correct.

 

The floor of the observatory is wood, sat on a row of 4x2 cross joists. Great for normal use but if the legs of the tripod were sat on it then even the tiniest vibration would be picked up by the telescope.

 

The floor has been cut out in the vicinity of the base of the tripod and the legs sit onto the substantial concrete foundation about 15cm below the wooden floor. I can jump up and down in the observatory and the disturbance barely registers (not that I make a habit of doing so!!)

 

 

John, I'm sworn to secrecy by the Official Secrets Act. The stuff I can see in Moscow.....phew.....!!!!!

I was serious about the concrete, less so about the DAS.

Vibrations would play havoc with imaging.

 

D

[Winslow Boy]

6 hours ago, Physicsman said:

 

No, I like to keep things as simple of possible - and less likely to go caput! See pics and further comments below.

 

 

The roof slides off to one side. The roof comes in at over 200kg (pretty solid timbers on a metal frame) - no, I didn't build it - but on rollers can easily be pushed backwards and forwards with one hand.

 

The first pic is from December 2020, with the black 8" Celestron keeping the big scope company.

 

 

The second pic, from the same time, is for David - showing the holes in the floor. They're really there to make it easy for the local spiders to get inside and stay warm! 

 

 

Colin, I can't post you any deep sky views for a couple of reasons. First, I haven't done any - it requires a very different camera set-up - although I can sit a normal DSLR onto the telescope tube and "piggyback" it for longer, wide field exposures. And second, a caveat to the first, local light pollution isn't too bad but enough to restrict me to the brighter nebulae and galaxies - if I ever have a go.

 

There's a lot more to it than my brief comment, and I'd never shut up once you got me started!

 

 

 

 

I don't know about simple Jeff but that looks fairly cool - no pun intended. I bet you have to get well wrapped up or can you do it remotely?

[Physicsman]

2 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

I don't know about simple Jeff but that looks fairly cool - no pun intended. I bet you have to get well wrapped up or can you do it remotely?

 

It can get quite chilly in winter, but at least the observatory blocks out most of the wind. And getting well wrapped-up - especially with a hat - makes things reasonably comfortable.

 

The key thing is that the telescope must be at the ambient temperature, otherwise the images are rubbish. High-res imaging is done by staring at a laptop screen and a link into the house could be built. But the image needs to be continually checked for focus, so better to be on the spot for adjustments.

 

Besides, it's nice being under the stars at night. Doing the job remotely via a wi-fi or other link would be boring, as far as I'm concerned.

 

 

[AdeMoore]

Enjoying the imaging interlude! No modelling done this heatwave summer by me either. Been stonking hot since July mostly. Gonna have to invest in a portable aircon unit.

Weekend before last when it hit 34deg again all were sold out at the cheaper end of the market! Must remember in December to get one when there’s no demand.

[Physicsman]

Evening Ade.

 

I'm glad you're enjoying the imaging interlude during the modelling hiatus. A while back I felt a bit guilty about doing this kind of thing. But a considerable number of thread-followers expressed a genuine interest in the space-related stuff, so it's been a regular for at least the last 5 years.

 

I haven't had a pause in modelling since the start of Gill Head, so it's a nice change on here. Besides, I have to say that a lot of the larger layout threads are often filled with pages of woffle, so I've no regrets. For an innovative hybridised thread look no further than Clive Mortimore's entertaining Sheffield Exchange thread which blends modelling and a wide-ranging music input!

 

 

[peach james]

I know that our fearless leader had a bit of a run in with him, but I’d feel a bit remiss not to link, 

as he was active in here at one point,

 

James

[Physicsman]

2 hours ago, peach james said:

I know that our fearless leader had a bit of a run in with him, but I’d feel a bit remiss not to link, 

as he was active in here at one point,

 

James

 

James, thanks for the sad news.

 

Rob was, indeed, a very prolific poster on the original KL thread. So much so that I even included a Rob "sub-index" within my main thread index.

 

His posting habits did cause problems with the powers-that-be, but the way he dealt with his severe disabilities was remarkable.

 

Jeff

[Physicsman]

My first visit to the thread for over 3 weeks.

 

No further modelling has been done in this time, though I plan to go into the Bunker for a couple of hours on Wednesday. I'm part-way through a project but I'll not show anything until it's been completed, which at the present rate will take a while.

 

I managed 5 consecutive early morning Moon imaging sessions from Sept 13 - 17 inclusive. The data generated - nearly a Terabyte - took me a week to process. To put it in context - a decent Jpeg image on here might be 5Mb. In 5 nights imaging I collected around 200,000 times as much data....

 

Thanks to those who continue to look in on here. But it's a shock for nothing to be happening after nearly 2 years continuous progress. The ongoing project WILL enhance the whole project, though, once completed (and btw, it's nothing large-scale!)

 

I'll keep you all updated when it's possible to do so.

 

Jeff

[MrWolf]

I've always found that even doing things that you enjoy continuosly can start to feel like work, after a break doing something totally different, you come back with hopefully a renewed energy.

[stevel]

Jeff

 

i thought of you the other night when I saw the Starlink satelite's  streaking across the night sky, have they affected you in your photography efforts.

 

Stephen

[Rowsley17D]

Just on my way this morning up part of the S&C from Ribblehead to Kirkby Stephen.

[Physicsman]

Hi Guys,

 

Very sorry for the intermittent "service" but I'm hardly on here at all at the moment.

 

Jonathan, hope your S&C odysseys are going well, along with your treatment.

 

Rob, it's a strange experience not to feel the urge to go into the Bunker in a daily basis. I've plenty of things to do, other than my ongoing project - vegetation along the roadsides, for instance, but right now my enthusiasm is very much elsewhere.

 

Steve, the swarms of satellites - and there are noticeably more than there used to be - don't interfere with my moon and planetary work, though they could be a pain in the ar5e if I was photographing nebulae and galaxies!

 

I'm resisting posting more moon stuff as people, quite rightly, will look on here for modelling work! :-)

 

Jeff

[Rowsley17D]

Jeff, you'll be pleased to know that the box at KS is receiving some much needed TLC. I just wish it had a proper roof profile.

 

[MrWolf]

IIRC Great Rocks junction near Tunstead quarry received a similar modernisation / act of vandalism.

[AdeMoore]

Nothing to see here move along please! 😉 😜.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Here's my latest lunar photo...

[AdeMoore]

Hi Jeff,

Long time missing? Anything to report?

I for one certainly need a Gill Head fix soon!

Cheers

Ade

[Physicsman]

Morning Ade.

 

I've nothing to report as far as work on Gill Head is concerned. I've been into the Bunker a few times over the last week but just for a "lookaround" and to clear some future ideas in my head.

 

The on-going project sits in many pieces, exactly as it was a month ago. Not quite the timing I had planned but in addition to my low level of current interest in things railway, there are other tasks filling my time... astro imaging being foremost (400Gb of data yesterday - almost a laptop's worth in one night!)

 

I'm grateful for your continued interest. Please keep checking in - my interest level will surge overnight, at some point!

 

Jeff.

[AdeMoore]

Stick some far off galaxy 😉 shots on here when you can.

Always amazing to look at. Even scrunched down.

What you must see on your screen must be incredible!