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Astronomy Geeks R US

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  • Hello All - This is a topic being started by Briana Q and deals with Astronomy. Julia noted she was interested and may bring along some of her astro photos. I have some pictures as well to bring along - none very good, mind you - I am an extreme rookie in this. I have used a 4" schmidt-cassegrain telescope connected to an eyepiece that sends the image to my laptop. 
    As to the topic of Astronomy : I think and feel it can be about the backyard astronomer, if interested - things we love to look for, do, some of our highlights, hopes, and efforts. It can also be about the subject of astronomy - which deals with many areas of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and has an integral part in history as well with many notable icons such as Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and Einstein. So the range of topics can be what strikes one's fancy in the celestial realm - perhaps even sharing or commenting on the latest news in the mainstream. 
    As to my intrests, they date back to childhood where I developed a very early interest in the subject matter and have read a large number of books on the subject since that time to the present. My favoirtes are : Cosmos by Carl Sagan - and I grew up watching that series, Stephen Hawking's books, and Brian Cox's books as well.
    I have several telescopes - two solar ones, and the aforementioned 4" and its bigger family member the 8" model as well. 
    Last year I had the pleasure of watching live the Venus transit through the 4" scope with a solar filter as one of my highlights in my observing times.
    As to educational pursuits in my interests - I have a physics degree heavily geared toward astronomy. I created a public school physics course and an astronomy course. I have also taught astronomy at a local community college even running a planetarium ( too fun, I can certainly say ). I am writing a book on astronomy at present, but two other books on slide rules and math & science activities are ahead of it on the list right now. I have published two articles on astronomy topics : In the Oughtred Society Journal I have an article on Kepler's 3rd law and the use of the slide rule, and the other article is the integral part astronomy played in the development of logarithms through Kepler. Each of these is headed to a book written by a friend celebrating the 400th anniversary of logarithms in 2014. 
    When I have time I will bring some ideas, questions, and photos along as well
    Thanks for stopping by, join in, and enjoy
    hugs, Briana Q : )
      September 17, 2013 6:55 PM BST
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  • Here are some topic areas to spark conversations / interest :
    1) the recent discovery of the Higgs boson - what do you think this means?
    2) String Theory - will they every find tangible evidence for it beyond the mathematical? What of these other dimensions - merely reflections of the conventional ones, parallel universes, or what?
    3) Voyager 1 breaks the heliopause barrier and escapes into interstellar space - what next ?
    4) In the case of the US and/or world and astronomy projects - another lunar landing, Mars landing, asteroid landing or no? would you go, if you could? ( I once wrote to NASA while in school noting my wish to be an astronaut )
    5) Questions about ideas concerning Dark Energy and Dark Matter - what are your thoughts on these?
    ( I have even sent some ideas to Michio Kaku and Brian Cox on the matter of Dark Matter )
    Many more to follow ... : )
      September 17, 2013 7:53 PM BST
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  • Hello here is another attempt at uploading pics of the Sun and Moon that I did some years ago ( 03, 04 ) but they are treasures to me, none-the-less.             This post was edited by Briana Purcell at September 17, 2013 8:41 PM BST
      September 17, 2013 8:37 PM BST
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  • I tried to put each of the photos on at one time, but so far no success, so I will list them individually :   This post was edited by Briana Purcell at September 17, 2013 8:43 PM BST
      September 17, 2013 8:42 PM BST
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  • Here is the first Sun pic : This post was edited by Briana Purcell at September 17, 2013 8:44 PM BST
      September 17, 2013 8:44 PM BST
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  • Here is the 2nd sun pic - love the sun spots : )   This post was edited by Briana Purcell at September 17, 2013 8:45 PM BST
      September 17, 2013 8:45 PM BST
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  • Briana you are a real geekSmile I will find my discs and put some of my images here for you to see , it is finding them that may take a day or 2 . This place is like a PC shop and I rarely mark my discs with what is on them , maybe easier to get my previous PC out lol.

    Julia x

      September 17, 2013 8:55 PM BST
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  • Thank you, Julia - I know all too well the idea of finding things - a day or two is very short for me - when I mark discs I use abbreviations that I am sure I will recall ( right ) - worse than that is the fact that my writing is rather scribble in nature - so invariably I have to put it into a PC and hope I still have the software to open it - lol.
      September 17, 2013 9:17 PM BST
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  •  

    I was fortunate enough to see a total eclipse of the sun in North Queensland, Australia last year. This is an image I captured. Seems to display off centred, but it is reasonably well framed if you right click and go view image.

    This post was edited by Former Member at August 25, 2014 11:17 PM BST
      September 18, 2013 3:05 PM BST
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  • Way too cool, Bernadette!  - Wish I could have been to that one. Must have been spectacular.
    I have seen a couple of annular eclipses of the Sun and a total one - One I recall takes me back to high school days - I even skipped school that day to stay home to witness it - it was going through the area. One of the neatest things I found was light passing through the leaves of the trees, since they acted like narrow slits, created a projected image of the ongoing eclipse on the ground ! ( I also had some protective goggles as well ). 
    Lunar eclipses are cool too and I have seen a few of those as well. I may have some images of one - I will have to go hunting through images to see. 
    Thanks for sharing, hugs, Briana : )
      September 18, 2013 3:35 PM BST
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  • I thought I might add some fun pics I found along the way on the internet as well - all astronomy related, of course : This first one is the Sun in 3D - need to get out your 3D glasses girls : ) This post was edited by Briana Purcell at September 18, 2013 4:19 PM BST
      September 18, 2013 4:18 PM BST
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  • Here is the 2nd one, 3D moon, of course : ) This post was edited by Briana Purcell at September 18, 2013 4:21 PM BST
      September 18, 2013 4:20 PM BST
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  •  

     Here is a pic I took on holiday last year on holiday - shows the southern Milky Way over Uluru (Ayers Rock) in central Australia. Its a 30 second exposure on a standard tripod with an ultra wide lens (14mm). The detatched fuzzy bit just above the horizon on the right hand side is the Small Magellanic Cloud.

    This post was edited by Former Member at August 25, 2014 11:17 PM BST
      September 19, 2013 10:19 AM BST
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  • Absolutely beautiful Bernadette!  You are one lucky girl and I envy you on that. I have yet to be far enough south to see either the large or small Magellanic Clouds and look forward to such a trip one day. My best observabce if the Milky Way was during a couple of trips out to the western US - a lot less light there and the skies on average are quite clear. Thanks for sharing. hugs, Briana : )
      September 19, 2013 11:51 AM BST
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  • Hello - Here is my first attempt at a personal video made with the same 4" scope connected via a link eyepiece to my computer. Once it is up, Please overlook the low res, the shaky efforts, and the out of focus Moon - but it was a fun night none-the-less - So in its place I offer another early Moon pic : ) This post was edited by Briana Purcell at September 19, 2013 4:11 PM BST
      September 19, 2013 3:39 PM BST
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  • Still no luck on the video upload, but here are some images : the first is the Sun and note not only the limb, the sunspot, but also plage in this one. : ) This post was edited by Briana Purcell at September 20, 2013 2:45 PM BST
      September 20, 2013 2:43 PM BST
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  • The next two picture posts are a lunar eclipse showing the Earth's shadow on the surface of the Moon as the Moon moved into it. This is from Nov 8, 03 : ) This post was edited by Briana Purcell at September 20, 2013 2:46 PM BST
      September 20, 2013 2:46 PM BST
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  • Here is the second of the lunar eclipse photos : ) This post was edited by Briana Purcell at September 20, 2013 2:48 PM BST
      September 20, 2013 2:47 PM BST
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  • I should have gone in the reverse order on those pictures, one can see the advancing of the shadow between them : )
      September 20, 2013 2:48 PM BST
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  • Image of Saturn through my 8-inch Meade SCT from last year. Missed out this year due to various reasons. The camera is a monochrome "webcam" which records video at VGA resolution. Finally got the filters I need for doing colour, but still need more adaptors to connect it all together.

      September 21, 2013 5:56 PM BST
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  • Absolutely Stunning, gf! I too have an 8" Meade - but I have not tried to use it for photos as of yet - just for looking through so far - but here's to the future : )
      September 21, 2013 6:14 PM BST
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  • Centre of the Milky Way - from a place with dark skies, no telescope - just a camera and wide angle lens.

    This post was edited by Former Member at August 25, 2014 11:17 PM BST
      September 22, 2013 2:47 PM BST
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  • I love these photos - they are such reminders of what is there but not visible to the naked eye. This is becoming ever more apparent in time with new and better photos as well as images at different wavelengths of the universe, plus the discovery of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. More than the eye can see and stranger than our imaginations. Thanks for sharing Bernadette : ) This post was edited by Briana Purcell at September 22, 2013 4:14 PM BST
      September 22, 2013 3:43 PM BST
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  • Hello All on this forum - Happy Autumnal Equinox - Sept 22, 2013 ( for those north of the equator ) and Happy Vernal Equinox ( for those of us south of the equator ). The included photo is from Astronomy Picture of the Day ( a highly recommended place to visit daily and a great resource ) from this day illustrating the Analemma - we are now at the place in the middle of the '8' today : ) This post was edited by Briana Purcell at September 22, 2013 4:12 PM BST
      September 22, 2013 4:11 PM BST
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  • Had a go with my camera and tracker on Friday from a place with dark skies. Orion with a 200mm lens.

      October 7, 2013 2:30 AM BST
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