Posts Made By: James Brown

Hi all:

Here is another wide field taken with a Pentax 67 55mm medium format camera lens and FLI camera. This one includes 40 minutes each of RGB taken in 5 minute subs plus about 2 hours of Ha in 15 minute subs. The Ha was blended with the R channel before a regular RGB combine in Photoshop. Both this image and the image of Sagittarius I posted earlier were taken on August 10 and 12.

The field is pretty much the entire "Northern Cross" portion of Cygnus, plus Lyra. This particular image covers a 36 by 24 degree portion of the sky. The density of the Milky Way star clouds is just amazing to me. The compressed version loses a lot, so if you have a minute, poke around the full resoultion version here:

http://home.comcast.net/~jameslbrown/pwpimages/RGB.jpg

Jim

Doug Matulis said:

[COLOR="Blue"]Imagine there's no Heaven Jesus would not imagine this
It's easy if you try
No hell below us Jesus would not imagine this
Above us only sky Jesus would not imagine this
Imagine all the people
Living for today Jesus would not imagine this, this is clearly unbiblical. Earth, Creation is only temporary and not all there is.

Imagine there's no countries An Isrealite would never imagine this
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for Jesus would not imagine this, what greater love that one lay down is life for another
And no religion too Jesus would not imagine this
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace Jesus would not imagine this, he knows our hearts all too well.

You may say that I'm a dreamer Jesus would definitely say this
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one Jesus would say, not the tower of Babel again!

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world Jesus would you are describing my kingdom, foolish man, you will never attain this on your own.

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one [/COLOR] Jesus would say John is a communist.

John Lennon

You could be right on "possessions, organized religion and nationalism", but there is a lot more to Lennon's song than these. In a perfect world perhaps his utopia could be a reality, but a perfect world never has nor never will existing until Christ returns and reigns. The reality of his song is that it is very dangerous and very antithetical to the American way of life, he was basically a new age one world government proponent.[/quote]

Yikes Doug, do you speak for Jesus now, kind of like his PR man, or do you think you are Jesus? I didn't know Jesus was into politics by the way. Do you suppose he'd be into NASCAR if he were living as a man today?

The key part of John Lennon's song is profoundly "Christian". As a matter of fact I doubt that you could find any pop lyrics or even Gospel music lyrics that so beautifully sum up the most important part of Christ's teaching as these:


[COLOR="Blue"]Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one [/COLOR]

John Lennon




Funny how rare it is to find someone who actually states the most important part of Christianity. Ironic that it would be John Lennon, who certanly was not a fan of organized religion.

[COLOR="Maroon"]"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."[/COLOR]

Mohandas Gandhi

I had simultaneous top post in Politics, Religion, Intelligent Design and Non-Religion! I wanted to go for a quintfecta. Nothing so gratifying to the 'ole ego as seeing your name in print!

Jim

Hi all:

The attached images are from my first several imaging runs with a used Pentax 100 SDUF II telescope I bought here on Astromart. The Pentax is a 100mm f4 refractor. I am using it with a camera rig consisting of an FLI Microline 11002M, PDF focuser and FLI filter wheel with Baader filters. The camera train stays all hooked together and I can attach it to my TEC, the Pentax telescope or any number of Pentax 6X7 camera lenses without any issues. The setup with the Pentax is pretty nifty because it is so small (but very robust) that I can haul the entire telescope and camera rig from the house to my Mach 1 mount all hooked up and ready to go. This makes multi-night sessions a breeze for the observatory-challenged. (My mount stays outside on a pier and in a bag all the time.)

With the Pentax SDUF II and Kodak 11002M chip the field of view is a hefty 5.17 degrees by 3.43 degrees. The blue channel is a bit bloated. I am going to try to refine the focusing of this channel, but it is probably just the way it goes with such a fast not-that-expensive refractive system.

This first image is a Ha+OII+RGB of the entire Veil Nebula complex. A full resolution version is here:

http://home.comcast.net/~jameslbrown/pwpimages/final%20Veil.jpg

Jim

Is the US electorate fed up enough with Washington's spendy ways to elect a short bald man with genuine fiscal conservative credentials?

Or do we as a nation just talk the talk while lacking the will power for any genuine belt tightening?

Or, is the US presidential election just a popularity contest where people vote for the pretty guy/gal who makes them feel good about themselves without actually putting much thought into policy matters?

I have no idea if Daniels will run in '12 but I sure hope that someone like him steps up to the plate, and I definitely hope that the citizens have the maturity to look past the comb-over and vote for sound fiscal policy.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/10/11/can_skinflint_mitch_daniels_win_the_presidency_107508.html

Jim

I've been looking at this web page, I'm sure there are others:

http://www.politico.com/2010/maps/#/Senate/2010

It is very cool to be able to access real time county by county data.

Jim

It looks like Reid is going to win NV. Our Mike and many others predicted this at the time of the primaries. It could be that Palin and those who follow her are better at winning primarys than general elections. Same deal with O'Donnell in DE and many other races.

Although this is a huge day for the GOP, it could have been bigger.

Jim

The last thing I want to do is get into another fight with Rich and Jeff about nanny-statism and children and school lunches! But this article is too funny not to pass along. You'd think with statewide bankruptcy pending, the rulers of San Francisco would find something better to do...



"San Francisco's board of supervisors has voted, by a veto-proof margin, to ban most of McDonald's Happy Meals as they are now served in the restaurants.

The measure will make San Francisco the first major city in the country to forbid restaurants from offering a free toy with meals that contain more than set levels of calories, sugar and fat.

The ordinance would also require restaurants to provide fruits and vegetables with all meals for children that come with toys...

"We're part of a movement that is moving forward an agenda of food justice," said Supervisor Eric Mar, who sponsored the measure. "From San Francisco to New York City, the epidemic of childhood obesity in this country is making our kids sick, particularly kids from low income neighborhoods, at an alarming rate. It's a survival issue and a day-to-day issue."

Just after the vote, McDonald's spokeswoman Danya Proud said, "We are extremely disappointed with today's decision. It's not what our customers want, nor is it something they asked for."


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-happy-meals-20101103,0,5438230.story


Also, my compliments to the LA Times for an article filled with truly exceptional quotes:

"Daniel Conway, spokesman for the California Restaurant Assn., bemoaned the ordinance's passage and contrasted it with San Franciscans' exuberant feelings after the Giants won the world series on Monday night.

"One day you're world champions, and the next day, no toys for you," Conway said."

Jim

Down in "Religion" Doug Matulis said:

It is amazing how the lies of satan can so twist the thinking of a man and so blind him from the truth. I see very little peace making in muslim nations, actually none. While all men are sinners, I would much rather live in a 'Christian' nation than one dominated by Islam. A quick survey of the nations of the world and I think you will see my point, not that any nation is perfect.

Doug:

What you meant to say is that you would much rather live in a secular representative democracy than a theocracy.

It has been demonstrated to you many many times that the US has a secular government that embraces religious tolerance along with other freedoms. We don't need to go into that again, even you must remember the countless other threads where we proved that the freedom we all enjoy arises from an entirely secular Constitution.

Obviously you appreciate this and like living here.

Genuine "Christian Nations" where the church wields real political authority went out of fashion about 300 years ago. Good thing too, because European Christian theocracy was as ruthless and bloodthirsty as any modern Muslim theocracy.

Clearly, the most backwards and repressive Islamic nations (for example Iran and Saudi Arabia)are also the most theocratic. The most modern and free Islamic nations are the least theocratic (e.g. Turkey and Indonesia). Do you see the pattern?

I'm curious why you always try to finesse the fountainhead of US liberty and freedom? It is surprising, because the secular guarantees of freedom are the only thing standing between the government and the extermination of your own church.

Is Satan behind your stubbornness? I really can't think of a better explanation.

Jim

We have had about a week of perfect weather in Colorado! When was the last time that coincided with a new moon?

I have 4 nights worth of images for a 4 panel M31 LRGB mosaic; I'll post the results when I finish processing and assembling... Hopefully in a few weeks.

In the meantime, I took some supplemental data of M45 - I had posted a first effort last year, but with too little data I think. With the extra images, I like the result better.

LRGB about 15 5 minute subs per channel:

TEC APO 140
Astro-Physics Mach 1
FLI ML 11002 M
FLI PDF focuser
FLI CFW 2-7 wheel
Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Maxim DL
CCD Commander
Photoshop CS2

Jim