Posts Made By: Fred Lusk

Here's #2 of 4.

Well, the Aurigids were a bust here in Fresno, CA. I was out in my lawn chair (too lazy to grab the LaFuma from the garage) from 3:45 a.m. to 5:10 a.m. I saw seven 1st mag Aurigids and several fainter ones. The streaks were very short, no more than a couple of degrees. All but one meteor came before about 4:15 a.m. I conclude that the peak was in the earliest part of the predicted range, or possibly even earlier. In fact, the brightest meteor I saw was an eratic at about 4:30. It came from near Alpha Pisces (about 10° below the Moon) and was about mag -1. It made maybe a 3° streak.

I have discovered that meteors are afraid of my cameras. During the 2001 Leonids, I shot 25 frames and captured only six dim meteors. No matter where I pointed my camera, the bright meteors were always behind me. I then bought a rectangular frame fisheye lens, but that hasn't helped. During the last two Perseids, they they still hid from my cameras. Last night I shot 23 frames with my Olympus E-1 DSLR and 11-22 mm lens (at 11 mm) and captured only one of the dim meteors. I also used my Olympus OM-1N + 15 mm fisheye and I think I captured a few, including the bright eratic. However, I won't know until I get the film developed.

BTW, who gave the Moon permission to spoil the meteor shower?

Fred

Andy…

That looks like the same comet I saw!!!

Fred

Uncommitted threw his her hat in the ring a bit late, but has made quite a strong showing in Michigan. According to Uncommitted's website, he she promises the following:
- Lower higher taxes
- Smaller bigger government
- Change (what the h*** does that mean? I already have 65 cents change in my pocket)
- Tighter open borders
- Principled disagreements to bring people together
- Raising the maximum wage
- No more politics as unusual
- Comprehensive reform of things we don't care about, or even know existed
- Universal lack of health care
- A pot in every chicken and a telescope in every backyard
- Support for the right to keep bare arms
- A troupe surge in Hollywood
- Originalist activist judges
- Unwavering support of the 21st Amendment
- Protectionist free trade
- Strong support for the fare tax
- A kinder, gentler death penalty
- Free education for those least likely to benefit ("No Idiot Left Behind")
- To maintain US leadership in chewing gum production
- An isolationist cooperative foreign policy
- To remain true to his her principles, which are uncommitted

And so on, ad naseum.

I think I will send my change to Uncommitted.

Fred

FYI, Tom Scott fans…

My son just revamped our club's website, so the new link to photos of Tom's shop is http://cvafresno.org/index.php?page_id=7&album=1&gallery=34

Fred

Here is one of the camels.

Here's a shot I took during the rehersal Friday afternoon. The Gatorade bottle is substituting for the unity candle.

Here's the top of Half Dome from the same spot, zoomed out to 200 mm.

This next series is about waterfalls, but only two of the several I shot.
The frist three are vignettes of Yosemite Falls. Here is the top of Upper Yosemite Falls from nearest road, shot at 200 mm.

You're more than halfway through the shots I'm posting

This series deals with cliffs, more or less. Lots of airliners fly over Yosemite. Here's one viewed through a recess in the south wall of Yosemite Valley.