tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13843994545529733322024-02-07T04:44:52.023+00:00Astronomy BoxBite size Astronomy and related tidbitswbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-6392920902135691592015-03-25T11:05:00.000+00:002015-03-25T11:08:43.983+00:00The 2015 Solar Eclipse - SSPUnlike the most of the country, the clouds parted just in time for the solar eclipse this month and I managed to produce a pretty decent time-lapse of it before we got completely clouded out.<br />
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Below is the final video, as well as a blog article I wrote for the Skellig Star Party website.<br />
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<a class="embedly-card" data-card-lang="en" data-card-theme="dark" href="http://skelligstarparty.com/2015-solar-eclipse/">The 2015 Solar Eclipse</a>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com1University College Cork, Corcaigh, Ireland51.89217 -8.492860000000064251.8725705 -8.5332005000000635 51.9117695 -8.452519500000065tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-75482941988534105872015-02-10T11:21:00.001+00:002015-02-10T11:22:53.853+00:00Crawford Observatory UCC, Cork<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTK_lAB91CGcW0_xkL0KbImahVkfQU5-TbD1XfnOth5Mjsw4ozKeXlp7Mu6y1h3EpkNEeZbyZ9p0jB2VrMBIkuVB0TBZoBR_QEsZRBwJEApEDkO14RI2rAoYA-i7pcezXXozV6yS0CHrY/s1600/_SHB2363+copy.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTK_lAB91CGcW0_xkL0KbImahVkfQU5-TbD1XfnOth5Mjsw4ozKeXlp7Mu6y1h3EpkNEeZbyZ9p0jB2VrMBIkuVB0TBZoBR_QEsZRBwJEApEDkO14RI2rAoYA-i7pcezXXozV6yS0CHrY/s1600/_SHB2363+copy.jpeg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>
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Had an interesting night recently shooting timelapses from inside the Crawford Observatory recently. Being right in the middle of the city it was somewhat of a challenge to get the right exposure. It turned out pretty well however, with a little bit of post processing magic we were able to bring out the night sky nicely, without affecting the foreground image. I should also add that the moon was out, so not a bad result considering the conditions.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD8XzSX0PmrqPXec2As9t_VzuZkkj-0vXGlqH1X2tlvUr-_eagq2RkiwsgEwGiMoqGDs7T8Mull212Ojzl8d3xrSbdvQdCiQK4jTQAmTppAbS_P5aqRfUP5FNfXCtpebv2wkHxCer57XQ/s1600/Crawford_Second-Night-80-per-centGIFShort.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD8XzSX0PmrqPXec2As9t_VzuZkkj-0vXGlqH1X2tlvUr-_eagq2RkiwsgEwGiMoqGDs7T8Mull212Ojzl8d3xrSbdvQdCiQK4jTQAmTppAbS_P5aqRfUP5FNfXCtpebv2wkHxCer57XQ/s1600/Crawford_Second-Night-80-per-centGIFShort.gif" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Not too shabby at all.</div>
<br />wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com1University College Cork, Corcaigh, Ireland51.89217 -8.492860000000064251.8725705 -8.5332005000000635 51.9117695 -8.452519500000065tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-11786650668736468362015-01-10T16:58:00.001+00:002015-01-10T17:01:53.512+00:00Quitting my job and setting up a Star Party<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hi everyone, I found myself neglecting this blog lately. Lately being the understatement of the year. Between setting up a media business and an annual star party I have been very busy.</div>
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So, when I started this blog I was working in a stock media production company. I was very comfortable, financially, and it was the perfect time for me to take up the hobby of astronomy. Of course it wasn't the principal cause of my sudden fascination with the night sky. I was able to buy a decent telescope and away I went.</div>
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Since then I've quit my job due to the lack of satisfaction I was getting from the work. Yes, let's leave it with that. After leaving that comfortable job I joined some friends in setting up a media company of our own called <a href="http://www.dogdaymedia.com/" target="_blank">Dog Day Media</a>. I won't go on about it but suffice to say it's going really well and I haven't turned back since.</div>
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Now onto the star party bit. Last year I spoke at the annual Irish astronomy event <a href="http://www.tullamoreastronomy.com/pages/cosmos-2014.php" target="_blank">Cosmos</a> about my then recent trip to the observatory on Tenerife. I had a wonderful time giving my talk and listening to all the other talks. I also made good friends with the organisers, one of whom I kept in constant contact. Some time went by and he got me together with another amateur astronomer to start planning an official star party right in the middle of the northern hemispheres only gold tier <a href="http://kerrydarksky.com/" target="_blank">dark sky reserve, in Kerry</a>, Ireland. We had our first gathering there in August 2014 and our busily preparing for our next event in August 2015. All are welcome and it's all about getting your telescopes out under the amazing night sky. So, here it is, the <a href="http://skelligstarparty.com/" target="_blank">Skellig Star Party</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiatw-L16oepHIPNJGzR9ETkyYV0jXqCkDfmQ4tb8xm2GUNF8YReNUWAz3t8TVXEhF7xyDuLq6yTS5ied5xojptrJ9WpdcKRPwyfi3B2FERrtwIpRG2lROQkKm1zSZQw6Mr8DhPePM21iU/s1600/ssp.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiatw-L16oepHIPNJGzR9ETkyYV0jXqCkDfmQ4tb8xm2GUNF8YReNUWAz3t8TVXEhF7xyDuLq6yTS5ied5xojptrJ9WpdcKRPwyfi3B2FERrtwIpRG2lROQkKm1zSZQw6Mr8DhPePM21iU/s1600/ssp.PNG" height="348" width="640" /></a></div>
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wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Cork, Ireland51.8968917 -8.486315699999977451.818503199999995 -8.6476771999999773 51.9752802 -8.3249541999999774tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-72479230594801522122013-10-30T16:04:00.003+00:002013-10-30T16:04:51.023+00:00Astronomy and AnimationI'm in the process of combining my two passions, animation and astronomy. One of these I chose as my career. Can you guess which one? Clue, it's not the one that's confined to hobby status.<br />
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Now, however, I'm trying to introduce astronomy into my animation work and one solution I've come up with is setting up an astronomy animation website dedicated to illustrative animation about astronomy. It will be freely available for anyone to use.<br />
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Below are some tested examples of the kind of thing I'm interested in doing.<br />
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P.s. I've also set up a film and animation studio with three friends after quitting my job at a stock media company which I had worked at for the last two and a half years. Check us out <a href="http://www.dogdaymedia.com/" target="_blank">here!</a></div>
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P.p.s. We sent a jar of relish into the stratosphere!</div>
wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Cork, Irlandia51.8968917 -8.486315699999977451.818503199999995 -8.6476771999999773 51.9752802 -8.3249541999999774tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-85591648502387106992013-10-10T22:06:00.000+01:002013-10-10T22:13:55.608+01:00ISS Passing The Moon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhksE_wrSrrGSo_VOw4BtMXtehr6cJKrAs4_iJjOao9n8hS8lY6HsDU0qzPYwhY5T-WaoJrYsjFT_9FXtMDeYhYKdu-7-xAdJLEv7Zb1teesiWpOsMpDRZDLqIDBqLmxvg9NRwfa1Z05yk/s1600/issMoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhksE_wrSrrGSo_VOw4BtMXtehr6cJKrAs4_iJjOao9n8hS8lY6HsDU0qzPYwhY5T-WaoJrYsjFT_9FXtMDeYhYKdu-7-xAdJLEv7Zb1teesiWpOsMpDRZDLqIDBqLmxvg9NRwfa1Z05yk/s640/issMoon.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Well, it's not much but here is my capture of the International Space Station passing close to the moon in the sky. It seems we might be a little too far south where we live to get a view of the ISS passing in front of the face of the moon. Shot these frames hand held, with my Nikon DSLR attached to my small Apochromatic refractor.<br />
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P.s. You might want to full screen it to see it properly.</div>
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wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Passage West, Co. Cork, Irlandia51.8720626 -8.336212799999998426.3500281 -49.6448068 77.3940971 32.9723812tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-83924777010938328422013-09-10T13:37:00.000+01:002013-09-10T15:11:24.947+01:00Telescope Mount DesignI'm having all kinds of fancy notions lately. The most recent of which is designing and building my own mount. Inspired by Astro Physics mounts/piers, Paramount ME, and Gemini MoFoD MkII.<br />
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This is my equatorial fork mount design. Mainly the idea is heavy duty observatory mount here. I give you the EQF<br />
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wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Passage West, Co. Cork, Irlandia51.8720626 -8.336212799999998426.3500281 -49.6448068 77.3940971 32.9723812tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-10509027521957625232013-08-11T21:03:00.000+01:002013-08-11T21:30:28.947+01:00My Remote Telescope IdeaJust a small post today, but an exciting one! I've got a cunning plan to allow me to sit in a nice comfy sofa while my telescope sits in the cold, acquiring images this winter. I'll save all the details for when I've got it all up and running, but below is a diagram with the gist of the idea.<br />
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<br />wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-79382765457218837892013-08-08T14:06:00.000+01:002013-08-08T14:19:39.864+01:00Top Ten Science Fiction Films: List B<div>
<b style="font-size: x-large;">1. Looper</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Looper (2012, Endgame Entertainment, DMG Entertainment)</td></tr>
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Looper is one of the best Scifis to come out in the last couple of years. It's set in the near future where the mob send targets back in time to appear before a hit man. While watching I had a similar feeling to when I saw District 9 for the first time. It was slick and original.</div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">2. Minority Report</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Minority Report (2002, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, DreamWorks SKG)</td></tr>
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This film is great in it's own right. It has a great story and some fabulous production design. One of the reasons I love certain Scifi films is the way they depict the future in terms of design, and Minority Report is one of my favourites. The film follows a huge development in law enforcement, where murderers are apprehended and incarcerated before they actually commit their crimes.</div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">3. Akira</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Akira (1988, TMS Entertainment)</td></tr>
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Akira, for me, represents the height of Japanese animated films. Ingrained with Japanese culture and history, Akira is set in a post war new Tokyo, where a military experiment grants a young gang member supernatural powers, endangering the city. It's a must see for Scifi and Anime fans alike. Although if you're in any way an Anime fan, you won't need me to tell you that.</div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">4. Back to the Future</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Back to the Future (1985, Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment)</td></tr>
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A classic movie that shouldn't need any introduction. That goes for the two sequels as well. unforgettable characters, funny and great for anyone to watch, Back to the Future is one of those films that you remember from your childhood and has endless re-watchability.</div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">5. Brazil</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Brazil (1985, Embassy International Pictures)</td></tr>
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Monty Pythons Terry Gilliam directs this weird and wonderful film. Set in a dystopian future, an administrative error causes a government desk worker to be quickly hunted by the state he worked for. Full of memorable characters and the quirkiness you can expect from a Python, this film is one of those ones that you might have missed, but should definitely watch.<br />
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">6. Twelve Monkeys</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Twelve Monkeys (1995, Universal Pictures, Atlas Entertainment)</td></tr>
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In my opinion one of Bruce Willis and Brad Pitts best performances. Twelve Monkeys is yet another Scifi gem by director Terry Gilliam. Less satirical than Brazil, it follows a more serious plot where Bruce Willis' character is sent back in time to gather important information about a terrible disease which plagues the present day. </div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">7. Alien</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Alien (1979, Brandywine Productions, Twentieth Century-Fox)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Prometheus (2012, Twentieth Century Fox, Dune Entertainment)</td></tr>
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Alien will be right up there on any Scifi movie list. Ridley Scotts vision, paired with the creature design of H. R. Geiger made for a horrifying experience. I would class this film as more of a Scifi horror, and it is horror at it's finest. What still makes me afraid to watch this movie is that pace of it and the fact that you don't see the creature! One of the things that too many horror films get wrongs these days. You will be afraid for the characters all the way through the film which is what great horror should do. </div>
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<span style="color: red;">----RANT WARNING----</span></div>
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Since the original there have been several sequels set in the world of Alien, some of them great, and some of them not so great. That's why I want to acknowledge Alien as a series. Especially the newest sequel, Prometheus, which has gotten a lot of negative attention since it's release. I'm not going to into it, because I still want people to see it and make their own minds up. I will say this, it's called Science Fiction, FICTION! One of the main complaints was that a lot of the science was unrealistic in Prometheus, but name one Scifi where it is all realistic. There needs to be some willingness to suspend disbelief for you to enjoy any film, and although there are some logical plot holes in Prometheus, they didn't bother me. What I like the most about it is it's production design, creatures, horror element and the addition of lore to the Alien universe. I'm not sure whether it's peer pressure or what, but people seem to like movies less and less these days, and seem to be prone to fits of rage about them. Prometheus being a prime example. I for one, am looking forward to the next installment. </div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">8. The Thing</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screenshotsListB/screenshot-lrg-3t_zpsdaee4722.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screenshotsListB/screenshot-lrg-3t_zpsdaee4722.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">The Thing (1982, Universal Pictures</td></tr>
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The Thing follows the crew of an Antarctic research outpost, who come across the remains of an alien spacecraft. The mood quickly changes to terror as an unknown alien life form hides among them in disguise. The film also takes creature design and special effects to the extreme in horror and gore terms. The best thing about it is that is all puppetry! I love puppets. They make it so much more real than CGI.</div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">9. War Of the Worlds</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screenshotsListB/screenshot-lrg-10_zpsded8fae4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screenshotsListB/screenshot-lrg-10_zpsded8fae4.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">War Of The Worlds (2005, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks SKG)</td></tr>
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War of the Worlds is a classic story and has been popular ever since the original 1898 release of H. G. Wells' Scifi novel. A story that has been rehashed in many different mediums, the 2005 film actually does a very good job. It follows a small family trying to survive the horrors of an alien invasion and features some very nice redesigns of the recognizable tripod war machines. A very good watch, and very good Scifi.</div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">10. Solaris</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Solaris (2002, Twentieth Century Fox)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Solaris (1972, Creative Unit of Writers & Cinema Workers)</td></tr>
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To be perfectly honest, Solaris is one of those films that I had to give a second chance, having fallen asleep on the first watch. I've since warmed to the film, which is a really good psychological drama set in a Scifi universe. Clooney is as good as ever (Come on, it's George Clooney) as he plays a psychologist sent to a remote space station orbiting a very unusual planet. He is charged with analyzing the crew of that station, but quickly succumbs to whatever had befallen them. Definitely give this one a chance, and if you can, get a hold of the original which is almost better.</div>
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wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Passage West, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8720626 -8.336212799999998431.5881211 -49.6448068 72.1560041 32.9723812tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-30488256353499591742013-06-24T09:13:00.002+01:002013-08-08T14:19:22.205+01:00My Favourite Science Fiction Films: List A<div style="text-align: justify;">
I've been thinking a lot about SciFi films recently. Mainly because of the sheer volume of them coming out in theatres nowadays, but also because of a personal project I'd begun working on earlier this year. It occurred to me to make a list of great SciFi films that I love, in order to introduce them to people who might not have seen them yet. Hopefully it will also encourage you guys to let me know of any that I've missed out on. The films will be divided into three separate lists; A, B, C, and D, but in no way are they in order of preference (Maybe just a little). I love them all. So here it goes, my favourite Science Fiction Films!<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">1. Contact</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/contact_zpsbc5f8b2e.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/contact_zpsbc5f8b2e.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Contact (1997, Warner Bros.) </td></tr>
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Contact is one of my all time favourite Scifi movies, and books. It tackles one of the greatest 'what if' questions there is, and does so while adhering as much as possible to scientific accuracy and realism. Also, Jodie Foster is awesome!</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>2. October Sky</b></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/october-sky_zpsca760932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/october-sky_zpsca760932.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">October Sky (1999, Universal Pictures)</td></tr>
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Set in the Sputnik era, is another book adaptation in my list of favourites. Based on the novel Rocket Boys (October Sky being an anagram of the title) it follows a young mans passion for rocketry, and is one of the most charming and hopeful films I've seen. Not strictly Scifi, but enough science to make the cut.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>3. Contagion</b></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/contagion_zps8d2151a2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/contagion_zps8d2151a2.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Contagion (2011, Warner Bros.)</td></tr>
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Although not being the most successful film ever, Contagion falls into a certain hyper-realism in a similar spirit as Contact. The story follows various characters during the outbreak of a deadly virus. There is no mercy shown to some characters and as soon as we've been introduced to them, they fall ill and quickly perish. It's a very good incite into how our world reacts to a crisis. Warning: You will hate Jude Law after seeing this (but only for a while)</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">4. Sunshine</span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/sunshine_zps216a3243.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/sunshine_zps216a3243.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunshine (2007, DNA Films)</td></tr>
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If this was a top 5 Scifi film run-down, this would be in it. Danny Boyles Sunshine is by far one of the best Scifi films ever made. In a race to replenish a cooling sun, Killian Murphy plays a physicist in a team of scientists charged with the task. It's oozing with beautiful visuals, a fabulous score, believable cast and a sense of the human spirit at it's best. For me, it somehow captures that inspirational feeling that drives us to space exploration in the first place.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">5. 2001: A Space Odyssey</span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/2001_zpsf881b70d.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/2001_zpsf881b70d.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, MGM)</td></tr>
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An absolute classic, Stanley Kubriks 2001: A Space Odyssey is a must see. It chronicles the descent of man, from our humble beginnings to our space faring future. It's amazing. I won't give anything away because I'm still not all that sure that I understand it completely.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>6. District 9</b></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/district9_zpsa5386963.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/district9_zpsa5386963.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">District 9 (2009, Tristar Pictures)</td></tr>
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This film came out of nowhere. It's one of the most action pact Scifis out there. Set in Johannesburg, it follows the arrival of an alien ship and the resulting social issues which follow the integration of an alien species. This one's a must see.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">7. Blade Runner</span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/bladerunner_zpsa84118cd.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/bladerunner_zpsa84118cd.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blade Runner (1982, Warner Bros.)</td></tr>
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Blade Runner is another classic, and should be part of anyones favourite Scifi movie list. It depicts a dystopian future (apparently six years from now) where human replicas and androids are among us. It is a great film which makes me think about the morality of creating artificial intelligence.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>8. Apollo 13</b></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/apollo_13_10_zpscfbd4389.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/apollo_13_10_zpscfbd4389.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apollo 13 (1995, Universal Pictures)</td></tr>
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Another great film, with a great cast. Apollo 13 follows Jim Lovell and his teams would-be expedition to the moon which went terribly wrong. Staying very true to the actual events, you might argue that this isn't Scifi but it's got a whole bunch of science. On a side note, this is a go-to film when playing the six degress of Kevin Bacon.</div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">9. Moon</b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/moon_zps01919e1a.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/moon_zps01919e1a.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moon (2009, Liberty Films UK)</td></tr>
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From new coming director at the time, Duncan Jones, Moon is a about a lone astronaut stationed on the moon to extract important resources. This film quickly gets weird in a great way, and the production design is fantastic. You gotta see it!</div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">10. Close Encounters of the Third Kind</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/closeencounters_zps54d3dc06.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/screeeshotsListA/closeencounters_zps54d3dc06.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977, Columbia Pictures Corporation)</td></tr>
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Close Encounters is one of those films that just sticks in my memory from when I was boy. This classic has so many iconic scenes, many of which have been parodied by other productions, in TV and film. It also gives a great impression of the planets reaction to possible alien contact.</div>
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wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Passage West, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8720626 -8.336212799999998431.5870951 -49.6448068 72.1570301 32.9723812tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-86340534960864213252013-05-19T18:00:00.000+01:002013-05-21T10:24:27.669+01:00A Week In Tenerife - The Mt Tiede Observatory Part 5Finally, it's my great pleasure to show you all the fruits of our labor on the Tenerife trip. I hope this journey will help and inform anyone considering studying physics or astronomy, or a trip to Tenerife for that matter.<br />
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Enjoy!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The team outside the telescope dome. That's me on the left!</td></tr>
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<br />wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain28.2915637 -16.62913040000000827.3967242 -17.920023900000007 29.1864032 -15.338236900000009tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-35192473903354040132013-05-12T18:00:00.000+01:002013-05-21T09:48:37.025+01:00A Week In Tenerife - The Mt Teide Observatory Part 4Now that I've covered the astronomical aspects of the trip to Tenerife, I'd like to share some of the more touristy things I did on the island.<br />
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The one, unavoidable activity on Tenerife was site seeing. Even during filming it was impossible not to get distracted by the scenery. The same can be said about the sunshine, actually and I took advantage of that whenever I had a bit of down time during the day.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Typical example of down time</td></tr>
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I put together a short video of some of the sites on Tenerife, which you can check out below. Now, I apologise for the repetitive camera moves, but it's a little hard to concentrate of filming when you're looking at some of these breathtaking views.<br />
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Yes, the second last shot is my hand in a vent of steam coming from the volcano.<br />
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Another fantastic way to enjoy the sites is to hike one of the many marked trails in Tenerifes National park, Parque Nacional del Teide. A lot of these trails begin near the base of the conical Mt. Teide.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perhaps one of the best places in the world to put a hotel. The <a href="http://www.paradores-spain.com/spain/pcanadasteide.html" target="_blank">Parador Hotel</a> is smack bang in the middle of the national park and also has telescopes available for rent! Best hotel ever!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beginning of a hiking trail, sporting a fabulous weather warn rock formation.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/20120914_155524_zpsd703e3a6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/20120914_155524_zpsd703e3a6.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another rock formation. This one was giant, and splits the track.</td></tr>
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The only thing missing from my holiday was my own telescope to use. It wasn't feasible to bring one along this time since most of our check in and carry on luggage was comprised of filming equipment. Next time however, I'm going to plan a full on amateur astronomers holiday to Tenerife, complete with telescope and equatorial mount. Not a tripod however, because get this; in the Mt. Teide Observatory they provide permanent telescope piers with power supplies for public use. All you need to do is pop the equatorial head on and away you go. See below.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/20120918_165732_zps7eee6419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/20120918_165732_zps7eee6419.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clothes took a back seat in terms of luggage space.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/20120912_210534_zpsf238b4a4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/20120912_210534_zpsf238b4a4.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two of the telescope piers available for use at the Mt. Teide Observatory.</td></tr>
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wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain28.2915637 -16.62913040000000827.3967242 -17.920023900000007 29.1864032 -15.338236900000009tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-662880653218702062013-04-30T09:47:00.002+01:002013-04-30T09:47:58.287+01:00Patchwork moon with the RC8 & QHY5 cam<div dir="ltr">
I have been dying to try out my new QHY5 guide camera with a bit of planetary and lunar image stacking. I've heard they give great results and I also wanted to put my 8" ritchey chretien to the test. Being a specialised scope for deep sky imaging I wasn't sure how well it would perform. I'm happy to report that it performs quite well. Below the result of two 2sec videos, stacked and stitched (stacked in registax, stitched in Photoshop)</div>
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As you can see, some dust on the telescope mirror did show up. Nothing a few flat frames won't fix, though. Next time I'm going for the whole moon!</div>
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<a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/moonStitch_zps85a7b37c.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/moonStitch_zps85a7b37c.png" height="390" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>OTA:</b> 8" Ritchey Chrétien</div>
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<b>Camera:</b> QHY5</div>
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<b>Mount:</b> HEQ5</div>
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<b>Exposures:</b> 2x2sec .avi video<br />
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<b>Processing:</b> Registax<br />
<b>Post-processing:</b> Photoshop<br />
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wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Passage West, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8720626 -8.336212799999998431.6005331 -49.6448068 72.1435921 32.9723812tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-21740676732711878692013-04-28T15:30:00.000+01:002013-04-28T15:30:27.098+01:00Ring Nebula M57/NGC 6720<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
What I love the most about this image is that we know that the faint star in the middle of this planetary nebula is actually the white dwarf which remains after the red giant star expelled it's mass. </div>
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<a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/RingNebulaM57_zps569bc56e.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/RingNebulaM57_zps569bc56e.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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OTA: RC8 w/ TS OAG</div>
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Guiding: QHY5</div>
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Mount: HEQ5 Pro w/ EQMOD</div>
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Camera: Atik 16IC</div>
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ISO: N/A</div>
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Lights: 2x10min</div>
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Darks: N/A</div>
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Flats: N/A</div>
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Bias: N/A</div>
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Processing: Nebulosity</div>
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Post-processing: Photoshop</div>
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wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Passage West, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8720626 -8.336212799999998426.3500281 -49.6448068 77.3940971 32.9723812tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-88490833758693779492013-04-11T20:16:00.001+01:002013-04-11T20:16:25.732+01:00ExodusI don't post other peoples work very much on Astronomy Box, but I cannot stop watching this short film commissioned by Trapcode to showcase their new After Effects plugin, Mir. Anyway I'm posting this and I dare you not to enjoy it.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/57084980" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe></div>
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And the plugin has a space station for a namesake. How cool is that? Answer: Very.</div>
wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Passage West, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8720626 -8.336212799999998426.3500281 -49.6448068 77.3940971 32.9723812tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-69035018153176220862013-04-07T18:00:00.000+01:002013-04-07T18:00:02.129+01:00A Week In Tenerife - The Mt Tiede Observatory Part 3<br />
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Although I was there to assist in the film making I also had the chance to do a bit of science of my own. There had been an announcement of a nova event, of which <a href="http://www.arm.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Armagh Observatory</a> had requested some follow up observations by the Tenerife team. I got the fun job of finding and matching our observations to some archival images in order to determine the magnitude and time frame of the nova event.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/20120915_183333_zpsac4e6e30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/20120915_183333_zpsac4e6e30.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">These are the two images of the region of sky where the nova event took place. </td></tr>
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In the above photo, the observation made by the IAC80 is on the left, the archival image is on the right. Here's fun; see if you can spot the nova event for yourself. Below is the same image with the star on the which the nova event occurred circled in green.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/20120915_183320_zps96be7944.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/20120915_183320_zps96be7944.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The very bright star in the center of the IAC80 observation on the left shows how much energy is released in a nova event. Especially when compared to the normal brightness of the star circled on green.</td></tr>
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Playing with the images was a treat but what I was looking forward to the most was doing some astrophotography of my own. On the flight over to Tenerife, our luggage pretty much consisted of only filming equipment, making it impossible for me to bring a small scope of my own. I did however have my digital camera and a pair of binoculars. The binoculars gave me some amazing views of every part of the sky on the top of Mt. Teide but my camera gave me some photographs which I've never been able to get before.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/DSC_0341_zps4c99ff97.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/DSC_0341_zps4c99ff97.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The Milky Way rising above the telescope dome of the IAC80</td></tr>
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Below is a time lapse of the Milky Way which I have always wanted to do. As you can see the telescope was very busy all night long.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/61757710" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe></center>
wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain28.2915637 -16.62913040000000827.3967242 -17.920023900000007 29.1864032 -15.338236900000009tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-74480495689125523042013-04-04T18:13:00.000+01:002013-04-04T18:13:41.008+01:00NGC4762 & NGC4754Now that spring is upon us, some fabulous galaxies are beginning to make their way into our skies at night. I've been really eager to use my newly bought Atik 16IC CCD camera and we haven't been having the best of weather lately. Last night though the sky was cloud free.<br />
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<a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Images/Arcturus_zps0999dec2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Images/Arcturus_zps0999dec2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I setup my gear and opened Stellarium. As my site is restricted to pretty much the whole easterly sky I turned my attention to the bright star Arcturus, which has a lot of galaxies and globular clusters near it. Using the stars Arcturus and Muphrid as a guide I found my way slowly into the swarm of galaxies, where I immediately settled on NGC4762 & NGC4754. In fact, this is the fastest I've ever found an object I hadn't observed before, and that's without any GOTO.<br />
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<a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/NGC4762-NGC4754_zpsaa5522c9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/NGC4762-NGC4754_zpsaa5522c9.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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OTA: WO 72mm Megrez w/ Moonlite Focuser & SkyWatcher FF & LPR Filter</div>
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Guiding: <strike>TS 9mm OAG w/ Orion starshoot</strike></div>
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Mount: HEQ5 Pro w/ EQMOD</div>
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Camera: Atik 16IC Mono</div>
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ISO: N/A</div>
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Subs: 10x30s<br />
Darks: N/A</div>
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Flats: N/A</div>
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Bias: N/A</div>
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Processing: Nebulosity</div>
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Post-processing: Photoshop<br />
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I realise now that I don't have near enough data so next time I'll be fetching more.</div>
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wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Passage West, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8720626 -8.336212799999998431.5870971 -49.6448068 72.157028099999991 32.9723812tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-11878243298762460922013-03-31T18:00:00.000+01:002013-03-31T18:00:01.171+01:00A Week In Tenerife - The Mt Tiede Observatory Part 2<div style="text-align: justify;">
As I mentioned in part one, the trip to Tenerife was based around telescope time that was booked on the IAC80 and was mainly for the benefit of the physics students of University College Cork. They would gain fantastic experience making observations using a professional telescope. The main science target that the team would be focusing on was a black hole binary system called SWIFT J1910.2-0546. As well as making these scientific observations, the students were also allowed time to make some personal observations, in the aim to have some pretty picture to go home with.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/astronomerMarkKennedy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/astronomerMarkKennedy.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Mark Kennedy, one of the students and a current UCC Physics Lab Demonstrator at the controls of the IAC80</td></tr>
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Getting to know the controls and mechanics of using a large professional telescope was a big part of the trip. The above image shows the main control station where the dome can be opened and rotated, input of right ascension and declination coordinates can be made, among many other parameters. The third monitor from the left is actually actually dedicated to the auto guiding mechanism of the telescope, much like that of an amateur astrophotography setup.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/astronomersIAC80.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/astronomersIAC80.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">The students are gathered around the monitor reserved for controlling the CCD and image manipulation as Dr. Paul Callanan demonstrates the capturing of flat frames before night fall.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/IAC80building.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/IAC80building.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The place where we spent most of our night time hours.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/IAC80diagram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/IAC80diagram.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A diagram of the IAC80</td></tr>
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On the whole, the science objectives were all accomplished. The team gathered multiple observations of the target object, the <span style="text-align: justify;">black hole binary system SWIFT J1910.2-0546. Now that we're back in Ireland, the data will be reduced and used in the 2013 final year projects by the Phd students among them. I will try and gather some information on the results if I can. Just to remind you, the mission was to map the periodicity of the black hole binary system.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/BlackHole-1_zps2a8b0246.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Photography/BlackHole-1_zps2a8b0246.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raw data of <span style="font-size: small; text-align: justify;">black hole binary system SWIFT J1910.2-0546</span></td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">In part three I'll go through some fun astronomy that I was able to do while on Mt. Teide and while I wasn't helping out with the film making during the long evenings. Stay tuned.</span></div>
wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain28.2915637 -16.629130427.8441482 -17.2608444 28.738979200000003 -15.9974164tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-2452568681698134252013-02-15T08:37:00.002+00:002013-02-15T15:17:16.247+00:00Meteor comes down over Russia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZyTjPGSXW1qws22vw8NyHXI5MXd8C4bRO2aJUiBPprtOLKEUn7_ZKvkp2hdup5PnfibwI2NOej-V94JCz86yEFQw3wd98lYYiwHiHCX_QtMmh4JqYAMLAiu-RrdtWfHfEJoebv3E48e8/s1600/RussianMeteor001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZyTjPGSXW1qws22vw8NyHXI5MXd8C4bRO2aJUiBPprtOLKEUn7_ZKvkp2hdup5PnfibwI2NOej-V94JCz86yEFQw3wd98lYYiwHiHCX_QtMmh4JqYAMLAiu-RrdtWfHfEJoebv3E48e8/s1600/RussianMeteor001.jpg" height="354" width="640" /></a></div>
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Some amazing footage of a meteor entering the atmosphere over Russia has been flying around the internet. As the Silver Surfer is the herald to Galactus, I can't help but feel like this relatively small meteor is the herald to the football field sized meteor 2012 DA14, which is projected to pass the Earth later today (Friday 15th). However, it seems to be completely unrelated. Talk about a cosmic coincidence! Thank goodness for all the smartphones and surveillance cameras out there.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_yjDZX9waz6vU6ha5OThNLun26YPvYBSW1yuxZ2sGxNSYjd7D7RYCbht5xU1HQMkz4iZ0ZD6RtMRw2VSTUhToKe6unPvrk-Lb2_nhUu7OPMq41D8QCCA6aDUqBe_D9G6pIs5VnXPzIBs/s1600/RussianMeteor002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_yjDZX9waz6vU6ha5OThNLun26YPvYBSW1yuxZ2sGxNSYjd7D7RYCbht5xU1HQMkz4iZ0ZD6RtMRw2VSTUhToKe6unPvrk-Lb2_nhUu7OPMq41D8QCCA6aDUqBe_D9G6pIs5VnXPzIBs/s1600/RussianMeteor002.jpg" height="470" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The friction of the atmosphere while the meteor passed through it caused a fire ball which lit up the streets and created shadows reminiscent of a sunny day.</td></tr>
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After the spectacular show in the skies however, a large number of injuries have now been recorded due to the sound of the meteor shattering window glass for miles around as it tore through the atmosphere. As pretty as it is, it really brings home to us the fact that we're floating through space.<br />
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<br />wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Cork, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8968917 -8.486315699999977451.8185022 -8.6476771999999773 51.9752812 -8.3249541999999774tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-68623758474413514202013-01-20T11:37:00.004+00:002013-01-20T11:38:30.293+00:00DSO 7 - Atik 16IC First LightI had some fun with my new (second hand) Atic 16IC mono CCD camera, attached to my 8" Ritchey Chretein.<br />
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The insert in the image below was taken with the above setup. The 16IC is still an incredibly sensitive camera, despite being a few years old now. I can't recall exactly but the image was taken with an exposure lower than sixty seconds, with one dark frame applied to counteract some hot pixels. </div>
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It's so much fun imaging at this rate. I'm going to plan an imaging Moore Marathon some time.</div>
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wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Passage West, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8720626 -8.336212799999998410.379229600000002 -90.9534003 90 74.2809747tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-89157953501206044822013-01-14T11:00:00.001+00:002013-01-15T07:44:20.793+00:00LSA - Lynx Space Academy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Images/WilliamBeanLynxSpace_zpsf1c7306d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/williambean100/Images/WilliamBeanLynxSpace_zpsf1c7306d.jpg" height="430" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
A special somebody sent me information about this competition and I signed up immediately. If anyone can take a moment to vote for me, I will love you forever!<br />
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P.S.<br />
I promise I'll write an article about it.<br />
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P.P.S<br />
Silly me, I forgot to provide a link!<br />
<a href="https://www.lynxapollo.com/en_IE/61024/william-bean" target="_blank">Click Here!</a>wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Cork, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8968917 -8.486315699999977451.8185022 -8.6476771999999773 51.9752812 -8.3249541999999774tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-28782684430317115362013-01-10T21:51:00.000+00:002013-01-10T21:54:13.066+00:00BBC Stargazing Live - Series 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So that's the end of another series of BBC Stargazing Live, and what a fantastic series it was! We even had some lovely clear skies to do a bit of inspired observing.<br />
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I just had to post this video. Eric Idle is a legend and I love the new scientifically correct version of the Galaxy Song from Monty Pythons The Meaning of Life. Doesn't it just put a smile on your face?<br />
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Also, i cannot wait to see Prof. Brian Cox new series, Wonders of Life. It looks absolutely amazing.<br />
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<br />wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Passage West, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8720626 -8.33621279999999844.4464820999999972 -90.9534003 90 74.2809747tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-20752738210153438122012-12-23T15:58:00.001+00:002012-12-23T15:59:23.598+00:00DSO 6 - M42 Orion NebulaBetween the seemingly unending supply of cloud cover I've managed to finally produce another attempt on the Orion Nebula M42.<br />
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OTA: WO 72mm Megrez w/ Moonlite Focuser & SkyWatcher FF & LPR Filter</div>
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Guiding: TS 9mm OAG w/ Orion starshoot</div>
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Mount: HEQ5 Pro w/ EQMOD</div>
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Camera: Nikon D3100 14.2mp</div>
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ISO: 1600</div>
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Lights: 3x60sec</div>
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Darks: 15x60sec</div>
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Flats: None</div>
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Bias: None</div>
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Processing: Nebulosity</div>
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Post-processing: Photoshop</div>
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wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Passage West, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8720626 -8.336212799999998426.3500281 -49.6448068 77.3940971 32.9723812tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-34242393694370360782012-12-09T23:24:00.002+00:002012-12-09T23:24:58.718+00:00Goodbye, Sir Patrick Moore<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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You are the Attenborough of Astronomy and an inspiration to amateur and professional astronomers everywhere. Not to mention, Games Master!<br />
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You will be dearly missed by us all.<br />
<br />wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Passage West, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8720626 -8.336212851.8622586 -8.3559538 51.8818666 -8.3164718tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-32290534267900795202012-11-26T00:00:00.000+00:002012-11-26T10:33:01.309+00:00 To Planisphere or to App-isphere? - Astronomy appsOne of the most recommended pieces of equipment to buy when starting out in astronomy is the humble <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planisphere" target="_blank">Planisphere</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Planisphere Wikipedia</td></tr>
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Although these are very quick and easy to use, not to mention cheap, a lot of us now own smartphones. Off course, smartphones aren't cheap in any context but they are never the less part of our lives now and the chances that a new amateur astronomer owns one are high. With this in mind, I decided to list off some of my favourite apps that I like to use when doing astronomy. I must mention that this list will be totally biased towards Android, although I know that amazing apps do also exist for iOS.</div>
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1. Weather apps</div>
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A good place to start is weather forecasting apps. Without clear skies there is no astronomy, at least in the optical sense, and to know what the weather is doing a few days in advance in invaluable for planning your observing or imaging sessions. To say that I have trialled a few weather apps, would be an understatement. I've gone through AccuWeather, Weatherbug, you name it, but the only one that really stood out from the crowd is a fantastic little app called <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=Lewis.sevenTimer2&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsIkxld2lzLnNldmVuVGltZXIyIl0." target="_blank">Astro Panel</a> by Shibby Developments. I have already covered the features of this app in a previous article, but it has a solid position in my list and deserves another mention<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot of Astro Panel on my phone. This was during my visit to the Mt Teide Observatory, Tenerife.</td></tr>
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2. Planetarium apps<br />
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Being an Android user there are really only two choices to consider when looking for a decent planetarium software, Google Sky Map Devs <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.stardroid&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5nb29nbGUuYW5kcm9pZC5zdGFyZHJvaWQiXQ.." target="_blank">Sky Map</a> and Harshad RJs <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lavadip.skeye&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5sYXZhZGlwLnNrZXllIl0." target="_blank">SkEye</a>. While Sky Map is a perfectly good planetarium app with lots of great features and searchable objects, not to mention being the first one I used, I'm going to show preference to SkEye. The main reason for this is that I encountered a lot of glitches in Sky Map when searching for objects in real time, and the planetarium would be misaligned from the true sky. I don't know if it was an issue with my phone or the current OS at the time, but it made me search for something better. Something better came in the form of SkEye.<br />
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As you can see from the screenshot, there is a wealth of information on-screen when trawling through the sky, much more in fact than Sky Map has to offer. The simple displaying of right ascension, declination and other coordinates shows that this app is made for the serious amateur. Another great feature is that magnitudes for celestial objects are also provided.<br />
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Don't get me wrong, Sky Map is a great app. However. if you are an Android using amateur astronomer and want an app that is useful beyond simply locating objects in the sky, SkEye is the one for you. I cannot vouch for any of the planetarium apps on iOS platforms but I have been told that they run very smoothly and are very reliable. As to features, you'll need to talk to an Apple fan.<br />
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3. Compass apps<br />
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The next couple of apps I'm going to discuss, I use mainly for mount set up. Compass apps are very useful, and come in all shapes and sizes. However, the compass I chose is actually part of a package app containing a number of different navigation and positioning apps. <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.binarytoys.ulysse&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5iaW5hcnl0b3lzLnVseXNzZSJd" target="_blank">Ulysse Gizmos</a> by binarytoys has an array of interfaces, including a very detailed compass.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot of Ulysse Gizmos on the compass interface.</td></tr>
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As well as finding your bearings, it also measures your altitude which is important for many GOTO systems that may not have GPS included, and require the manual entering of these coordinates. Another feature shown in the screenshot hints at my next chosen app for use in astronomy and the reason why I chose Ulysse Gizmos.<br />
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4. Spirit Level apps<br />
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Getting your mount level and polar aligned is in most cases essential, especially when using GOTO systems and doing high focal length astrophotography. Whereas some do, many mounts don't come with built in spirit levels. The solution I came up with was using a spirit level app on my Android phone and placing the phone onto the accessory tray of my HEQ5 Pro while levelling it. The Ulysse Gizmos spirit level works great. Since doing this my mount alignment has been very satisfactory, enabling unguided subs of 1min and being perfectly adequate for 5min+ guided exposures.<br />
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If for some reason, like me, you'd like to have a simpler dedicated spirit level app on your phone, I would recommend <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.androgames.level&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsIm5ldC5hbmRyb2dhbWVzLmxldmVsIl0." target="_blank">Bubble Level</a> by Antoine Vianey.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot of Bubble Level</td></tr>
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With this super simple interface and high resolution spirit level, aligning and levelling your mount is easy as pie.<br />
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I hope this list might make some ones observing or imaging life a little easier, and I might add to it in the future. Also, watch out for another future article on a very handy little modification I made to my smartphone that I use every single night I go out to observe or do some astrophotography.<br />
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For now, clear skies.</div>
wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com0Cork, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8968917 -8.486315751.8185052 -8.644244200000001 51.9752782 -8.3283872tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1384399454552973332.post-13979258811170463012012-11-21T23:06:00.000+00:002012-11-22T15:19:06.464+00:00Off Axis Guiders and Light Pollution FiltersMost of the time, I live in a moderately light polluted area. Like a lot of us, I use a standard light pollution filter to counteract the effects of sodium light and other artificial light when I'm doing my astro-imaging. Recently a new friend of mine explained to me that although they do a pretty good job of dealing with light pollution, they also filter out some of the light from stars and other astronomical sources, particularly in the red spectrum. After comparing some of my own astro-images with those of other astrophotographers, this became apparent, and I noticed that some of the stars in my images that should have been redder had been desaturated.<br />
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Obviously, no filter can ever replace a proper dark sky, but my friend very kindly pointed me to a certain type of specialised light pollution filter called a <a href="http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/idas/lps.htm" target="_blank">IDAS LPS</a> filter. This filter, produced by <a href="http://www.hutech.com/" target="_blank">Hutech</a>, has much better colour correction. It lets all the important light through, while filtering out that unwanted light pollution, and without introducing that characteristic blue/violet tinge associated with cheap LPR filters.</div>
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Researching the IDAS LPS I noticed that many Nikon users were having trouble finding CLS versions of this filter, which clip into your DSLR before it gets attached to your imaging train. The benefits of this is that you can have your filter behind your off axis guider instead of in front. With a filter in front of your OAG it could darken already faint but usable guide stars. Now, I did find a Nikon CLS version of this filter. Only thing was, it was quite expensive and quite a bit more than the regular 2" filter. </div>
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I took a look at my Nikon T-ring and noticed that it actually had a groove in it which would accommodate 2" filter glass. Thus, the solution presented itself.</div>
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I simply removed my LPR filter from its cell and inserted it into the T-ring. This is something I haven't seen done anywhere and thought perhaps people weren't aware of it, that being the reason for this article.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 2" LPR filter glass inserted into the Nikon T-ring</td></tr>
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The procedure was quite straight forward, needing only a small hex key and a small minus screw driver to unscrew the filter cell. </div>
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In doing this I have come up with two solutions. I can now use my standard LPR filter behind my off axis guider, and when I'm ready to purchase the IDAS LPS, I can go for the cheaper 2" version and do the same modification.</div>
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So, thanks to Pawel for putting me on this train of thought.</div>
wbeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07067391252676118650noreply@blogger.com1Passage West, Co. Cork, Ireland51.8720626 -8.336212851.8622586 -8.3559538 51.8818666 -8.3164718