My first good (in focus!) image of the first naked eye comet in decades! Taken Wednesday July 15th from outside Yarker, Ontario
The image specs are in the filename. Nice! Naked Eye.. possibly a little bit dimmer than other sightings, but it has moved west a lot into the brighter sky, and higher as well.
Another closer up image
Greetings!
I have been looking forward to the opposition of Jupiter for *ages*. Unfortunately I do not yet have my dream setup and am cobbling together anything that will capture photons.
Last night was 1st light with an old Meade LXD55 tripod and mount, an old Meade 102mm F10 1000mm FL, a newer asi 290mc camera.
I do not have the cables to talk to the mount yet (its a serial 4 wire cable with a narrow RJ9 jack, not the “regular RJ11” standard phone style jack). It would have been nice to be able to command the mount from inside the house as the mozzies were insane last night. We were decked out in bug jackets along with long clothing and still they were biting through.
Attached is the processed (pipp, autostakkert!, registax wavelets) image of Jupiter at 02:37 UTC today (22:37 EDT) that shows not too abd detail using Christopher Go’s wavelet settings.. a little overblown but it does show the surface features well.
For comparison, also attached is the stacked but not yet processed in registax for wavelets.
These are 120 second exposure runs at 21ms/frame and these are the stacked best 25% of the frames.
A few things happened over the last few days of *NOTWORK*. Gotta love those things called “holidays”!!!
The SCGO Observatory was getting a little hot in the days of the heat wave. It is a tall roof (another story) and has vents along the top but they are mostly semisealed with rubber foamies with even small holes… so not a lot of air movement.
We added two large vents with insect screen in the SE vertical sidewall, but you really need to match this on the other side for any kind of real airflow. Of course, could not find the large rectangular vents to match, so instead installed two 4″ diameter screened vents in the NW vertical sidewall. Any little bit helps!
Next weekend we hope to add powered 12vdc computer “muffin” fans to exhaust air out and put a 5watt solar panel on the roof to run them. This setup seems to work well in the tardis observatory, knocking down the peak temps a few degrees C.
Some time ago I had asked if anyone had done an elementary physics experiment in friction.
Does adding more wheels to a rolloffroof observatory reduce the static (starting) friction and the rolling friction?
All else being equal, more wheels would be a lower PSI on each wheel and the support surface under it, but there would also be more axles then before, generating more friction.
Well, things came to a head here at SCGO and I had the opportunity to get four more wheels of the exact same type.
The existing structure is an 8 foot long mounting surface with 5 wheels, approx 14″ apart with the first and last wheels also being 14″ from the end of the support.
start-space-wheel-space…..wheel-space-end
| 14 W 14 W 14 W 14 W 14 W 14 | (1st image)
when in the closed position, all 5 wheels were in contact with the bottom surface (an upright 2×8).
Interesting discovery when the roof went into the open position… only the two end wheels were in contact, with the middle three free wheeling! That meant that when moving the roof, at some point, all of the weight was on only those two wheels! They may not be rated for that much, and the PSI is certainly much higher than thought and that is tearing up the surface of the bottom 2×8. Aha!
Either the 16′ of track (made from two 2″x8″x8′ sections) had issues, or the roof changed its shape or a combination of both.
strange. when the roof is fully closed, it is completely on a single 8′ board. the same when fully open, only on one board. So even if the 16′ were not completely level, it is still not straddling two boards.
Its like most of the roof mass/force was mostly coming down on the ends of the 8′ supports.
So I added an extra wheel at each end, approx 9″ from the previous end wheels. So before the roof support overhung the last wheel by 14″, now it is 14-9=5″.
start-space-wheel-space…..wheel-space-end
|5 W 9 W 14 W 14 W 14 W 14 W 9 W 5 | (2nd image)
So far so good. It *seems* to be behaving better but it may take the wooden structure some time to change its shape and force loads, especially in the hot weather.
This of course required moving the end stops so the roof could properly come to rest in the correct position to connect the holddowns. hmm… now that I think of it, I only replaced the closed position stops… forgot to do the open stops!
Lastly, the final touch to help reduce the force needed to move the roof, some kind of hard cladding to cap the weakened 2″x8″x8′ top surface.
I know many of you said, go get some angleiron! But is is never that simple. local supplier? limited hours of operation? transport issues (only have tiny car now, no minivan), cost of materials, will they fit the existing wheels without binding?…
In any event, I am confident that now with at least *4* wheels in contact on each side, it will be an easier roof to move. Hopefully with the extra wheels on the end, the middle wheels will come down into contact as well.
This is an image of the imaging laptop screen while I was imaging Jupiter on Sunday morning at 03:32 EDT. Yes.. before sunrise!
I am using an ASI ZWO 290MC camera (uncooled, Usb 2.0) with the program firecapture 2.6.08 64bit on a laptop that is at least middlin’
This was using a 40cm (16″) telescope using only a 12cm (5″) aperture mask. Even so we were getting 29ms exposures at the rate of 34 frames per second (fps) with a total of 4153 frames over a total of 120 seconds.
Seeing was poor, transparency was poor.
autoalign and debayer are turned on.
On the display one could hardly see any surface details.
A little while later I moved on to Saturn. Here the exposure time was 127ms with a fps of 7 and a total of 940 frames.
You can barely make out the Cassini division in this image. Post processing looks a lot better!
We are now into mid-June, only days away from the summer solstice. It is also Day 2 of a 5 day heat wave, with temps at, near or above 30C.
Having just transplanted the last of our peppers into the ground, we thought it might be a good idea to protect them a bit from the heat, at least at first. Here is our pepper VegBed6, with a Lee valley bulk insect netting (about 13’x20′) covering them.
https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/garden/pest-control/insects/71937-bulk-mosquito-netting
“This netting can serve multiple purposes.
Though primarily intended to create a bug-free environment, it can be used as a tent for partial shade; a single layer blocks 35% of incident light, while two layers block 57%. It can protect delicate plants and crops from direct sun or prevent damage by birds or animals.
Made of polyester with tape-bound edges, the netting measures 4m × 6m (approx. 13′ × 20′) and weighs about 0.84kg (1.85 lb).”
We also threw one onto a part of the tomato patch in Vegbed5.
On Launch day, Saturday 2020 May 30th, we observed a late evening pass of the International Space Station (ISS) and the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
We used Heavens Above which stated the Crew Dragon was to come first. We had heavy intermittent cloud and did not see Dragon. A couple of minutes later around 21:51 EDTthe ISS appeared and we started imaging it, 5 second exposures at first (it was still quite bright outside), then 10 second exposures with the Canon T7i DSLR at 800ISO.
Just the 2nd last shot with the ISS descending into the eastern horizon and cloud, we spotted another bright object on the same orbital track. This is the best image of the two together in one frame. The ISS is the brighter of the two objects and closest to the horizon. The Crew Dragon is the dimmer and is higher up in the frame.
After hearing from the rest of you, we believe the ISS was leading and Dragon trailing. Heavens Above was possibly wrong due to Dragon firing engines to change orbits multiple times and HA was not uptodate?
One more image, this of the Crew Dragon flaring. Probably just a reflection on the solar panel, probably not an engine firing as I think those would be too dim to see. We both saw this visually as well.
Reviewing the Allsky1pi camera captures from last night, we find two hits!
20 sec exposure with the ISS only (near center) and
25 sec exposure of the last bit of the ISS and the Crew Dragon behind it (lower left)
good showing of all of the intermittent cloud we had. at times it completely blocked out the moon.
Over the weekend we installed out first irrigation system, the Irrigation Direct Canada “Drip Irrigation Watering Kit for Row Crops”.
We installed it in vegbed4, where the fall planted garlic crop resides.
A standard system of garden water hoses takes water to the vegbed. From there is:
a cutoff valve
a mechanical timer good for up to 120 minutes
a vaccuum breaker/backflow valve
a filter
a pressure reducer
an adapter to connect to the main line tubing.
From there were tried out two methods, one line down the centre of a garlic row, each row consisting of 6 cloves/plants and running approx 20-25′. We did this on two of the rows.
single line irrigation tape
The tape looks to be pretty heavy duty with a water drip emitter every 8″.
Because of this spacing we also tried out another method on three of the rows, that being two tape lines down each row.
If we find that the single tape lines do not deliver enough water, we can easily move the two singles into a double line and install a new double.
double line of irrigation tape per row
We have enough to run another system in vegbed5, where the tomatos will be transplanted into in a couple of weeks
 Last fall we decided to do another greenhouse renovation. a few years before we insulated the north wall, so thought it would be a good time to insulate another wall, this time the south. At the same time, we have always struggled with keeping the seeds and plants in the greenhouse warm enough in the cold spring. A friend of ours at Bumblerock Farm had built a heated sandbed for their plants and we thought it was an excellent idea to try out as well. This was the old plant stand in the greenhouse, three shelves. |
 We pulled out the old shelves. Many years ago we insulated the floor and put in a newer subfloor. WHat with it being a greenhouse and all, yes there has been waterdamage to the floor, especially from some of the roof leaks we have had in the past. |
 We had extra pink insulation kicking around so used it to fill in the gaps, covered it in vapour barrier and then plywood. |
 Another segment of the wall insulated |
 Because the sandbed would be much heavier than the normal plant load, we had to build a reinforced shelf, this out of 2×6 lumber. |
 We added some insulation foil to help keep everything inside the walls of the bed. |
 And finally added sand. This was many bags of sand. We also wrap the shelving in plastic and add a ceramic heater inside to help keep the plants warm. |
After that we added two more shelves and plastic over the top and front. |
Hydrofarm Soil Heating Cable, 48-Feet $52Can
“Place in ground to speed germination and seedling growth with gentle heat
Perfect indoors or out, this cable is 48-Feet long, safely encased in a tough, waterproof PVC coating with orange color for visibility
Cover the cable with 3 to 4-Inches of soil, then plant your seeds, seedlings, or plants above this height
It is designed to last for many seasons, offering an economical and effective solution to the problem of cold weather slowing down your garden”
This is a Downey Woodpecker, one of at least a few that come by and try to destroy our sunflower seed feeders.
We were testing a very old pentax K mount 500mm f8 lens with a pentaxKtoCanon adapter and attached it to our oldCanon300D DSLR. Works pretty good. The depth of field is pretty small, almost nonexistant, but it does work well.
And this is the latest design revision for our raised beds. This is VegBed2, first built in 2005 out of mini garden ties. Over time they were thought to be strong, long lived and cost effective. Over 15 years later, they were none of the above. In addition to being too shallow, they rotted out, split and were a pain.
So, the old walls were removed and new 2×8 layers were put in. This gives us 15″ of soil depth, more than before. We also capped the top with 2x4s to help it maintain its straightness during the winter frost heave, that tends to push out the centres. This new bed is 4’x24′ and it actually more square footage than the older version.
In addition, the top cap will allow us to build a plastic cold frame hoop in the future.
The parts list is eight 2″x8″x8′ and seven 2″x4″x8′, black weed cloth lining the inside.
The latest in the me vs squirrel battle. The squirrels refuse to believe the argument that a bird feeder is for birds and not Squirrels.
This is the latest rebuild of the bird feeder, with a lower clearance and wider roof, and a brand new design of squirrel baffle. So far it is 100% in blocking the black squirrels and the red squirrels. It is approx 24″x24″ of flexible thin tin.
ISS and Crew Dragon
Crew Dragon Flare
ISS only
ISS and Crew Dragon