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Lawrence Parchman

Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253)

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Posts Made By: Stanley Feather

December 21, 2002 07:18 PM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Where's exit for Black Holes in curved space?

Posted By Stanley Feather

Maybe it's similar to flow into other singularities. The ocean (earth has just 1 ocean, regardless how we name it) is an example. Water flows in. Then where does it go? If you ignore the environment you say 'nowhere'. But we know that's not true because eventually all the water would be in the ocean.

In reality it "comes out" in coastal groundwater, and by evaporation, and in ice caps, and even in complex life forms. It's only when you recognize the different forms of water that the cyclic flow becomes apparent.

Assuming Occam's razor works on a universal scale, I'd go with there being a cyclic flow of light/matter (in different forms/phases) between the black hole and it's environment. To me it's 'more acceptable' than having stuff just disappear down the drain. Of course, I'm an avid re-cycler so I may be biased.

Now if I could just figure a way to use my 120mm refractor to prove all this....

sf





December 22, 2002 12:34 AM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

Best piggyback shot without a drive

Posted By Stanley Feather

That's a great job.

What film did you use? It seems to have good red sensitivity.

sf

February 19, 2003 04:19 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Re: COAA telescope controller opinions??

Posted By Stanley Feather

I haven't used this system, but I looked at the site. It's only cheaper than the ss2k if you already have a pentium pc (with windows) to drive it.

As shown, I don't think it will support autoguiding since that requires an input port, like a hand controller port. For input they only mention a serial port to the pc.

sf

April 26, 2003 02:47 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Barlow effect on focus

Posted By Stanley Feather

Here's another data point for you. On my 120mm refractor the barlow requires over 2" more out-focus travel, compared to the ep alone. It's a standard barlow.

sf

June 4, 2003 06:13 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Ngc Max 'Encoder error'

Posted By Stanley Feather

Jay,

Here's the setup for CG5 from the JMI docs:
GQ or GP
series B encoders: ra=+4096*, dec=+4320
series C encoders: ra=+8192, dec=+8192
* using a C series encoder for a B series installation to increase total resolution

Not sure what the footnote implies, but that's what it says.


sf

July 7, 2003 04:23 AM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

Newtonian Easy Guider help needed

Posted By Stanley Feather

The camera ring on my 2" NEG is held by 3 brass thumbscrews in the main body. They contact the grooved surface in the camera ring, and it is very rigid. Maybe the screws aren't the right length in yours.

The camera-side of my ring is currently setup with a Nikon bayonet mount. But you can disassemble a T-ring for your specific camera and install the outer portion on the NEG's camera ring.


February 25, 2004 02:46 AM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

Best B&W astrofilms

Posted By Stanley Feather

Reeves' book recommends Ilford HP-5. I tried a roll about a year ago, but seriously overexposed everything so I can't really say how well it works. Then I switched to color films and haven't gotten back to it. It has pretty good specs for both red response and fine grain, though.

I had it developed at a lab, but you can develop it w/ normal BW processing (not C41). It can even be obtained in 12-shot rolls, which is nice for experimenting. I really should try it again.






March 14, 2004 05:40 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

M51 Where Are You

Posted By Stanley Feather

More power, Scotty. You were at 25x or so with the 26mm.

I saw M51 at 40x on a 120mm scope 2 nights ago under light polluted skies (about 4th mag) with thin clouds moving in. It was recognizable, but still only took about 1/8 the field width, maybe a little more.





June 19, 2004 03:33 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Dolidze/Dzimselejsvili 9

Posted By Stanley Feather

Do/Dz.

But curious minds want to know....

http://www.freelists.org/archives/az-observing/09-2002/msg00002.html

July 27, 2004 05:24 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Question Regarding Dec and R.A.

Posted By Stanley Feather

Hi David,

Not a can of worms. But it does sound worse than it really is.

RA and DEC of a star don't change in books and magazines that are recent publications. But if you looked at a star atlas from 25 or more years ago the RA and DEC of a star would be different. So stars coordinates do change, but very very slowly.

But planets and asteroids move quickly, relative to the stars, so their coordinates are only good for a certain date and time.

In the magazines, you might see Jupiter will be at some RA/DEC at 0600 UT, or "universal time" (a terrible term!). You need to convert UT to local time, then go look at that RA/DEC around that time. There are plenty of websites to help convert UT to local time. But, for example, if you were in Boulder Colorado, then 0600 UT would be midnight local time (Boulder is 6 hours behind UT during daylight savings time)

sf