Posts Made By: Steve Mathis

Hey, all. I took this in 2001 with my Canon Powershot camera. I think it is an Elder Borer.

Be nice to your Elders.

Steve

Hey, everyone! Here is a question: If I were to cancel my current long-distance service on my home phone (I use ATT as my long-distance provider) could I still make a 1-800 call? I get charged $6 or $7 per month whether I make any long distance calls just for the privilege of being able to make such a call if I wish. If I do make a long distance call, it cost $0.14 to $0.16 a minute. I can get a prepaid calling card at the dollar store for $0.05 per minute, but have to punch in a few more numbers. Anyone know?

Steve

Hey everyone. Here is yet another "photo" from my recent trip to dark skies (there are others in the Nikon forum). This is a mosaic of 7 photos taken with the 18 - 70 mm lens that came with my D70. The lens was set at 27mm FL for these shots. The seven images were then put together with PS. The image stretches almost from horizon to horizon. Thanks for looking.

Steve

Daddy Long Legs, anyone?

Steve

She's a beauty.

Steve

Same trip as all the other spider photos.

Steve

Hey everyone...

After seeing a great daylight image of Venus here a couple of weeks ago, I decided to try to find Venus during daylight using the setting circles on my non-GoTo mount. I figured if I pointed the scope to the Sun and set the circles to the Sun's current R.A. and Declination, I could then set the circles to Venus's coordinates, and there it would be. I got the positions for the two bodies from

http://www.tecepe.com.br/nav/almanac.html-ssi

So I went out and tried it, and failed utterly! I tried again the next day, to no avail. On the almanac website, you enter the time, and your latitude and longitude. The date defaults to the current day. You choose a heavenly body, hit the button and the coordinates are displayed. I couldn't figure out why I failed to see Venus. On the third attempt, I realized that the "/07" displayed in the date was in fact 1907! And guess what? Venus was in a different place in August of 1907 than in 2007! When I entered the date myself as a 4 digit "2007" I got the correct coordinates, and went out and immediately found Venus. 8)
I got a photo, and posted it in the Nikon forum.

I wonder how many ships whose navigators used this site are currently lost at sea?

So, can someone give me a better free online almanac?

Always learning!

Steve

I posted this on the Meteor forum last week, but in case you didn't see it, check out this website:

http://aurigids.seti.org

East coast folks are probably out of luck. Could be interesting, could be nothing!

Steve

Hey, everyone...

I shot this Sunday morning just before dawn with my D70 and an 8mm eyepiece on my C11. No camera lens, just eyepiece projection. The image is a single exposure, no stacking. The Clear Sky Clock for OKC predicted 5/5 seeing for the pre-dawn hours Sunday. The seeing was exceptional, allowing for a relatively long exposure at a low ISO. The D70 lacks the ability to lock the reflex mirror up before an exposure. To avoid the vibration from the camera mirror flipping up, I set the exposure at 10 sec, then held a card in front of the scope for several seconds after opening the shutter, moved it quickly to the side and back, and waited for the shutter to close...the "hat trick". So the exposure is in the 1/4 to 1/2 sec range at ISO 200. I desaturated to B&W and adjusted levels with Photoshop.

thanks for looking, comments welcome!

Steve

Hey, everyone...
I was out early this morning to try imaging Mars. There was a brighter than average spot near the limb...a dust storm? Or just brighter terrain? The result of the photography is attached, and you can see the spot. I also got a photo of Venus, at the same magnification. It is posted on my own reply. Thanks for looking, comments are welcome!

Steve