The 1.1 release notes details the changes. This includes fixed to the Telescope Control plug-in.
I logged into GitHub and checked the All Releases page, specifically the Assets section. The 32-bit compiles were noted but not provided. In the Discussion, I spotted another user asking about that. We were promised they'd be available "tomorrow."
I look forward to testing with the super-charged Vixen Super Polaris.
Told Chris V.
Posted on the Stellarium training forum (in our Google Classroom).
He received his 2023 RASC Observer's Calendar.
I sent him one as a thanks and Xmas gift. He was pleasantly surprised.
Two weeks minus one day delivery time...
Woo hoo.
He enjoyed the amazing photography. Asked if I ever contributed. Nope. I'm not good enough.
I was ready to push my 37 images into an astrometric tool to measure the angle and the scale and was pleasantly surprised.
I found that I had already done this step. Totally forgot! [ed: Yep, did it back in Sep 2020.]
OK. So that meant I got to move on, do a cross-check in another tool. Remoted into John Max, located the drift images from the Thursday and Friday nights, and analysed them with REDUC.
The data quality of this exercise is very low. I could only find one drift image, in a JPEG format no less, for each evening. Did I not take more? I should have...
I recalled the camera moved or rotated during the campaign which meant that more thorough drift analysis would be good. I made some notes, for the future, to get more drift images each time (a dozen or so), and to take them at the end of the session as well as at the beginning. Comparing the angle at the start and finish of a session would be telling.
Still, thank goodness for the astrometry.net results for each individual image. It means I have an internal check, a self-calibration as it were.
My drift images do match up happily with the first images of each night! So that's a good albeit weak cross-check. It is obvious on night two that camera moved more than once...
Tracked down the RecToPol app. I'll use it for the scaling checks. Hopefully for all the images I'll be able to corroborate against the results from the astrometric tests.
Felt good to make a bit of progress here.
In short order I found Jeffrey Beish's site. I've seen his stuff before. Excellent materials, lots of details. The facts!
I particularly like the infographic showing the apparent size changes over the apparition period.
I read the page for the 2022-2023 apparition noting some key bits:
This apparition also offers up a rare situation where the Moon will occult Mars. That will happen on 8 December. The times are from 0454 UT until 0556 UT. Back that up 5 hours for Ontario viewing. Hopefully we'll have clear skies on the evening of Wednesday 7 December from 10:00 PM on...
I like to remind viewers that these dates, while significant, aren't do or die things. That is to say, if it's cloudy on opposition night, so what, it doesn't matter. Look the next night. It'll still be there, it'll still be big and bright.
Enjoy Mars now. Look or observe or sketch or image whenever you can. And good viewing will continue into early 2023.
This is getting me fired up... I would really like to tag the moons...
We might expect embellishments and some myth-making in the coming weeks. Check your sources... Don't get bamboozled by media trying to sell more ads.
He had observed and drawn the double star HD 215812 (aka Σ2944) in Aquarius.
He said that he thought it was on the list for the RASC Double Stars observing certificate program but it turned out not to be.
It was in his SkySafari observing list which he thought was based on the official DS list.
"Where did I go wrong?" Dave asked.
I explained it had been in an early edition. But, not, unfortunately, on the final official version.
I remarked that his sketch was quite good. He had tagged the B and C stars in the correction orientation from the primary. And his impressions of the colours sounded right.
Also shared a link to Stelle Doppie after learning that AB was a binary and it had tightened up in recent years.
He surmised he had transferred it from an old list. He lamented, "It was fun to do but I wished it counted!"
I replied. It'll count. Bonus marks!
I've imaged this "weird" star 4 times previously, watching for changes, a sudden brightening.
No obvious change... It's not blown up.
Luminance, 2 seconds,12 subs, FITS Liberator 4, MS Paint, north is up, east is left.
Previous shots:
OK. See you next year...
Western edge of the big nebula.
This request was offset -120,-50 from the star HIP 31130.
HA filter, 60 second subs,10 subs. North is up; east is left. FITS Liberator 4, Windows Paint.
Star GSC 00141-1463 is near centre.
The wispy tongue that reminds me of the Florida peninsula is visible at the top of the frame.
Mag 16 and 17 stars visible.
The last frame...
I also updated the Halifax weather portal page: Env Can links updated to https, added the timeanddate clocks, and fixed the OVATION reference.
For months, maybe a couple of years now, I've only had active projects for the World Community Grid and Rosetta@Home. Those have been slogging away at pandemic and cancer research.
SETI is still in the list... but of course no work has been done there for a while.
A couple of days ago I thought that I should add some astro.
Today I looked up from a BOINC list, noted MilkyWay@Home, and started to join.
And got bonked! Ha. Seems I already had an account... OK. Reset the password and logged in.
So now, for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, I'm helping create a highly accurate three dimensional model of the Milky Way galaxy using data gathered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
Here are the opportunities for calendar year 2023 (for my location based in Ontario).
Looks like a good year, this time.
Three good opportunities early in the year, Jan, Mar, and May. The Jan and Mar are particularly good with the Moon high up.
The Jul, Sep, and Nov dates might be good but the Moon is below the horizon at the peak time. Still the X may present well at the beginning of these events.
There are also daytime opportunities, particularly Apr, Jun, and Dec.
Aug and Oct are no good: the Moon is well below the horizon.
Cross-checked in SkyTools and Stellarium.
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Loaded into my online astronomy calendar.
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Warning: these values may be off. Chris V reported different dates and times...
OK. Given the clean slate, let's download the release candidate, I thought.
Took a bit of digging but I finally found the place in GitHub. Transferred then loaded.
Right. Now, out of curiousity, I activated the Telescope Control plug-in and restarted.
Made a simulator profile (no issues with that process either), then connected.
Displayed the "slew to" window.
Look at that!
An Abort Slew button, at last.
It even works in the simulator!
Yes!
Still, a minor issue with the mailing address format but it worked.
New book smell...
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Added the new Moon phases into my 2023 astronomy calendar.
Pulled the selenographic colongitude values.
Checked the thread I initiated on the magazine delivery timing. Spotted a new note. A member reported receipt of the Nov/Dec issue of SkyNews. As well as their Observer's Handbook.
Oh. That meant it was in the hands of Canada Post then...
Checked my mailbox.
Holy Universe, a new SkyNews issue! Woo hoo.
That's symbolic also, that my new address is in the system. And working. I was completely expecting a screw-up there. Shows you my confidence level...
The formatting is wrong in the address. Sheesh. After all the time I spent teaching national office staff the official Canada Post format...
Anyhoo, it made it.
It made it before October closed out.
Happy.
After learning about their location and budget, I suggested a couple of paths, some helpful accessories.
Never too late.
While in YouTube, I spotted the RASC Insider's Guide to the Galaxy session running live.
Popped in as Chris and Samantha demonstrated Stellarium Mobile.
They referred to my training sessions for which I was grateful.
I was seeking information, and imagery, for our new observing certificate pins. I had just learned that they had been received. Up to that point, we didn't know the status of the order. In fact, the last I heard, the manufacturer was waiting for us to confirm the proofing document.
Also, I had been asked if the pins should be sent to me! Ah, no. This meant the person was not familiar overall with the certificate handling process!
I've redacted a couple of lines... but this gives the gist...
Subject: Re: update please
Date: 2022-10-25 12:32
From: Blake N
To: (national office staffer--paid staffer...)
Oh. OK. Good to know [they arrived]. My last impression was that it was waiting on my for something, a final confirmation.
When did they arrive?
Do the new Moon pins look/feel the same as the old? Different manufacturer, right, but I'm hoping they are effectively the same.
Can you take a photograph of the old and new Moon pin for me?
Can you also photograph the new Double Stars pin?
Then I'll have a sense of how things worked out.
I don't think you need to worry further on these pins. They should go with all the others at national office. Samantha normally does the certificate processing upon my directions. I tell her, "Send a cert and pin to this person," and off it goes.
Again, please send me images so the Observing Committee can see our new hardware.
Blake
(sent via roundcube webmail)
I did this to reinforce my old-man memory and what I asked for. To make sure I'm not crazy.
Open to all. You can register for free, donations accepted.
If you're interested in light pollution abatement (LPA), plan to attend the annual meeting of the International Dark Sky Association (IDA). It will be a 24-hour global on-line event starting at 5:00 PM Eastern, Friday 11 November.
Speakers, schedule, and more can be seen at the conference website:
https://conference.darksky.org
I'm gonna sign up.
Finally heard from my national office contact.
In fact, the RASC observing certificate pins order was put through and completed. Pins were delivered to the office.
Yeh.
I don't know when exactly but I'm still curious...
And I don't know what they look like. Perhaps someone would shoot a photo.
A week or so ago, I reviewed "The Rosette Project" and submitted a couple of jobs (with "maxmoon" constraint) to the Burke-Gaffney Observatory in Halifax. Needed two more "tiles" in the mosaic.
This is my on-going effort at imaging all the Finest NGC catalogue objects. Now I imaged all of them some time ago but I reconsidered a few of the celestial sights that were big. There are tiny planetary nebulae and then huge wispy structures like the Veil Nebula covering large swaths of the sky.
For the Rosette (and its open cluster NGC 2244), I decided to capture 20 panels, 4 wide and 5 tall. I still needed two panels, on the right or western edge.
I did a review in August...
When I saw Clear Sky Alarm Clock notices for Halifax (with above average seeing predicted) I was hopeful. Found messages in the inbox in the morning! Yeh.
BGO imaged the north-west corner. All images captured with offset -120, 100 from star HIP 31130, the SBIG camera, 60 second subs, 10 subs stacked. All pre-processed with FITS Liberator 4 and MS Paint. North is up; east is left.
Luminance.
Hydrogen filter. Hints of the H-II material visible in the bottom-left of the shot.
Oxygen filter.
Another piece for the puzzle...
One more tile needed.
And then the hard work will begin...
While initial surveys of the cosmic background radiation showed as consistent and smooth, Dr. Smoot reported in 1992 that data from a satellite experiment called the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), revealed a pattern of minuscule temperature variations.
It is thought these tiny irregularities or fluctuations are what formed the first stars, planets, solar systems, and galaxies.
The author states that it is a good thing the Universe was not perfectly smooth. "Without those lumps there would be no us."
A very interesting talk by Christa Van Laerhoven on things beyond Uranus and Neptune. The solar system is big!
During the wind-down chit-chat, Dale referred to me. He noted a few people were working on their observing certificates.
I took a few questions on double stars: book recommendations; some stand-out pairs. That was fun.
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Oh. I just learned that Christa is the Vice President of the Yukon Astronomical Society / RASC: Yukon Center. That's good to know!
The Bluetti EB3A weighs 10 lbs and holds 268 Wh. Not as tall as the Celestron Power Tank 17.
And it's half the weight of the lead acid.
LiFePO4 tech.
One CLA plug, two barrel ports, two USB type A, one USB type C, and dual outlet invertor.
More new options are coming to amateur astronomers. LFP batteries promise a high current rating, good thermal stability, and a long lifecycle.
Interesting... I look forward to Chris's report on how it performs.
See the product page for more info.
Sawing? Was someone cutting or sawing something?
Happened again an hour later, waking me.
I had to look.
Oooh. Someone was scraping their car's front windshield. Frost. Scrapping the thin ice from the glass, on this brisk early autumnal morning. Before heading to their workplace.
I returned to my warm bed.
But not before noting a waning crescent Moon low in the east hung in a dark velvet sky.
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Headin' toward the new Moon phase... Hopefully we'll get some more clear weather.
Updated him on my situation. And the new digs.
Of course we discussed many astronomy matters.
The latest Stellarium versions and our individual efforts at helping RASC members with the software, new gear at the DDO, visual observing campaigns, changes at SkyNews, double stars, dealing with BGO dust motes, and new power supplies...
I was feeling like I was missing it... Hadn't seen one for a while....
Posted on the RASC national forum. A couple of other members commiserated with me. One reported receiving the September-October issue some time back but nothing since.
We were advised of changes on the printing/shipping side of things. OK. Yes. Thanks for updating us on things in the background.
Then Mr Edgar said, "Patience."
I pointed out I was being patient.
Don't like his passive-aggression. It ain't right.
And I don't recall seeing in all of that back-and-forth an updated prediction. But then I've often accused some of the higher-ups that they have a bad habit of viewing things through rose-coloured filters...
Just checked my blog. Received my Sep/Oct SkyNews (comps) on 4 August. Reported that datum point.
So if the first week one-month-out is the normal arrival time, we're two weeks late.
Not my imagination.
The subject line referred to TelescopeControl Plugin Fixes.
Oh ho. I took a look. He started off:
I just added the abortSlew() method to the dummy and an Abort button to the GUI.
All right!
Looks like the team is actually taking a good hard look at the whole telescope-mount management system. Sounds like it was first done a long ago and it's clunky. I briefly read the documentation notes. This bodes well.
I was very glad to see they took note of my feature request thoughts... And it is coming soon. Brill.
Spotted Earth's gibbous Moon to the east through the rustling yellow-leaved Maple.
Where was Jupiter?
I had to move the right-hand chair and stand near the south-east corner of the balcony. Thar she blows! Up high and over the roof of the building.
Despite protesting back muscles, I grabbed the ETX-tripod rig, with Zoom eyepiece, still installed from the last run.
Quickly tagged the gas giant.
But the seeing was terrible!
Between tube currents, local seeing turbulence off the building's flat roof, and the sky itself, it was not a good view. Difficult to focus. Swimming.
I waited a for a few moments to catch a clear patch. Once, for a fraction of a second, I thought I saw a black dot. But I could not get another good steady glimpse.
It was cool (but not cold), still windy, I was standing and a bit shaky, left leg sore.
My bed was calling... Forget this!
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Checked SkyTools Visual Pro 4. It looks like the transit of Europa's tiny shadow was happening. While Europa was still over the face of the parent planet. Along with Io moving over the disc as well. And with Ganymede still in eclipse (it wouldn't emerge until 1 AM ish). Certainly I did not see all 4 Galilean moons...
Been a little preoccupied lately...
I'm excited to see us drawing close to the 2018 and 2019 numbers. If we're lucky, 2022, will take over third spot for the last decade...
Was relieved to see a post entitled TESS Resumes Normal Operations.
Whew!
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey (TESS) began its return to normal operations on Thursday, Oct. 13, at around 6:30 p.m. EDT. Engineers successfully powered up the instrument, and the spacecraft resumed its regular fine-pointing mode. The team expects that TESS will resume science observations later today, and all science data stored on the spacecraft will be downlinked at the next opportunity.
Looks like there are lots of issues they are facing.
Looked like a good opportunity to add my iron to the fire.
Made a feature request: a big Stop or Halt Slew button in the Slew-To window...
Received some b-day cash from my sis and bro. Decided to put it toward some new, larger memory cards for the DSLR.
I had maxed out my two 16 GB cards back in May...
Checked the usual suspects for deals. Not seeing anything, I asked Google for a list of local camera stores. On Canada Camera's web site, I spotted Lexar Pro Compact Flash 64 GB memory cards on sale.
Into the e-shopping cart I went. Ordered two units, saving $70 (and they waived the shipping charge).
Hold on... Looking ahead, I pinged the store saying I wasn't going to be around to receive the items over the next few days (while at Southlake). I was worried about parcel pirates. So they paused the shipping. They said, no worries.
Early this week, I told them to go ahead. They acknowledged and a follow-up email said to expect delivery by Canada Post on Friday, before end-of-business. Woo hoo!
Well, Friday came and went without a knock on the door. Hmph.
After work duties, I checked my email. Ah. A message from CPC. A notification card had been left. Huh? Really? Where? Nothing on my door. Headed to the lobby and checked my private mailbox. There it was, the delivery card.
I guess the Queen's Post (correction, King's Post) paid union worker can't manage the four short flights of stairs to the third floor... Grrr.
The card said that I could pick up at the local SDM post office on "the next business day after 1300 hours." Monday. Blah. I'd have to hold my horses.
But then I received another email. "Package ready for pickup." Oh ho. Wasn't expecting that. Nice.
So I quickly added to the shopping list I had prepared.
Mom and I met up late Friday to get some good deals and stock the cupboards. But half-way through the grocery and supplies run, I was in great discomfort. The back pain had returned and was building. Was it the "pain flare" they warned me about? We decided the scratch the rest, deferring to Saturday. Shop 'til you drop, indeed.
I'd have to wait one more day...
It was not actually a bad thing. Mom and I started out early today with Shoppers as the first pit stop. Showed my ID and signed the digital pad and received my bubble wrap package. Yeh! Then cashed in on some Saturday-only deals at SDM.
Back home a couple of hours later, I unboxed and grabbed the camera. Popped each new CF card in the 40D and formatted it.
Good to go.
Four times the space of the previous.
Should be able to do some long-run time-lapse campaigns now...
I thanked my sis and bro again.
Oh oh.
I learned that the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite entered safe mode earlier in the week. While the observatory was in a stable configuration, science observations had been suspended. NASA reported the TESS flight computer experienced a reset. Recovery procedures and investigations are underway to resume normal operations. Hopefully they will be up and running in a few days...
Second run, actually.
This time, I did not insist that participants have the paid version of the phone/slate version. About half of the eight peeps had the free.
I think it went very well. I was a little worried that the free version users might protest but I felt they still got a lot out of the course. And saw a demo of what's possible, if they choose to spring for the one-time upgrade fee.
Wow.
I have thought a lot about that we're seeing things starting to happen that was the domain of science-fiction books--well, that's nothing new, I suppose. More to the point, things happening in my life time.
Like returning to the Moon but to live and work. Also, presumably, to mine for materials.
Companies now offer satellite services, say to deorbit old scrap. That's a good thing.
I've wondered when the first very adventurous humans will with head out into deeper space to work. Perhaps harvesting asteroids for precious materials. Space cowboys... Maybe we'll just use robots for that...
But with more and more private companies getting into the space game, I guess it should come as no surprise that some will emerge to offer services, skills, and the time to the space agencies.
Curiously, this deepens the mixture of feelings. I believe many have a love-hate perspective of SpaceX. This particular case has a odd irony, in supporting astronomy, as they continue to clutter the evening sky with their internet mesh nodes.
Interesting times...
Stellarium 1.0 is out!
On receiving a message from GitHub about the latest release, as part of the Remote Control plug-in issue I raised, I surfed into the Stellarium web site.
Lots of interesting remarks in the 1.0 release notes.
Look at that.
No longer beta... Wow.
Pinged Chris V right away.
Will advise the instructors. There will be training impacts...
Will inform the people in the Stellarium Google Classroom...
Wow.
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Downloaded the 64-bit release for some quick testing. Looks like bookmarks are back--woo hoo! That's been an issue since February...
Waiting for the 32-bit compile to try telescope control.
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Tested the Remote Control plug-in. The search feature in the Selection tab works! They corrected the bug I reported in mid-August. Yeh.
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Might have found a bug! Installed the 32-bit version so to maintain compatibility with the ASCOM mount driver for the Vixen-GoToStar system. Cannot add a new telescope-mount profile! The OK button reacts, it changes colour, but it does not close the window nor save the changes. Gar!
It also fails in the 64-bit version! Nooooo...
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Bookmarks are definitely back. Successfully tested most of the bookmarks "observing lists" files that Chris and I made in the summer of 2021. Also tested the various The Sky This Month bookmarks files with dates in them. Our old hacked JSON files are tolerated. Very happy.
However, one fly in the ointment remains. The Astro Calc component still only exports XLSX and CSV files. The older versions could output JSON that you could then loop into a bookmarks list. That means the WUT cannot be used as a generator...
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Noted some chatter on Cloudy Nights about bugs in the Telescope Control and that they were working on it. Inauspicious.
