Showing posts with label Val. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Val. Show all posts
June 6, 2012
Calamity, Cameras and Transit
May you live in interesting times, goes the Chinese curse. And boy have I been appreciating that curse recently. First there was the break in and loss of the 20D ... I've already told that story here, so you might know of it already. So .. the 60D arrived! We'd had it for four days, then I fell 4 meters off a cliff. Carrying it. I and the camera got a dunking in freezing cold water.
The good news is that 48 hours in the hot water cupboard with some dessicant revived the camera. And it seems to be as good as new. What a relief! The weather and other environmental factors (scumbag moon) have prohibited me from starting up the star shots since the weekend, but I hope you will follow me on this journey of exploration.
Anyways ... on to today. Today being of course, the sixth of the sixth, transit of Venus time! We had clear skies this morning, for a little while, then clouds came rolling in to obscure 1st contact on the transit, with patchy clouds we got a small viewing around 11:30 this morning, we saw Venus halo'd against the star, and then it rained.
And rained.
Hopes were dashed, until around 4pm, the sky cleared right up and we got some beautiful stuff then! Just as Venus was approaching egress, we finally started seeing some awesome stuff!
This is shot with the new camera and the awesome solar observing rig we hand built for the occasion. Venus is the dark circle at the bottom and the other blotches that look like dirt on the ccd are actually sunspots :D Added bonus there!
Hopefully gfkBill will post the shots he managed to get as well, but all in all, a good day :D
And here's that solar observing rig :D
September 5, 2010
Follow me! Find Me!
Check me out on Tumblr - this is reasonably new, and is one of the places I am using to build an online portfolio of astro (and otherwise) shots.
Also, try the Facebook page - Just Look Up
Also, try the Facebook page - Just Look Up
August 31, 2010
The light of 100 Billion Stars twinkling off broken glass ...
Now my heart-rate has calmed somewhat I can tell the story
Toinght was a perfect night - still, quiet, a fair time before the moon rose and washed everything out so off to the darkest part of Snells I could think of I go.
Venus was just setting ...
and the Milky Way was out in force ...
Toinght was a perfect night - still, quiet, a fair time before the moon rose and washed everything out so off to the darkest part of Snells I could think of I go.
Venus was just setting ...
and the Milky Way was out in force ...
with an occasional meteor ...
and I dropped the camera.
Smash, tinkly noises and the sound of my heart stopping. I rushed back to the car, thinking "oh crap" and sped home to get torch and Jeremy. We found the remains of something .. and upon getting home discovered it was my UV filter ...
I lucked out
Lens and camera seem fine as rain - Canon build em tough!
August 30, 2010
Martins Bay
This is one of six shots posted - not counting the 1200mm exclusive under this post :D
That cloud is small and Magellanic!
That cloud is small and Magellanic!
The plan? The plan is victory!
Just come back from the moonrise on Martins Bay .. and yes, the plan was victory! usual focus issues, star trail issues and almost losing my glasses, not to mention the tide chasing me up the beach ... but DAMN it was worth it ....
Here's a taster, more to come!
Check out Antares!
w00t! Watch this space!
Here's a taster, more to come!
Check out Antares!
w00t! Watch this space!
August 29, 2010
Time to organise
As well as packing to move to a new house in a week - a house with a balcony and a good night sky view to the north and east - I am trying to also get my digital and photographic affairs in order.
So there's some changes afoot. First one is the renaming of the Flickr account from chickinthepark1 to Astronomr .. which is a little more apropos, links will remain the same.
Then there's the investation of a Tumblr account - http://valhallen.tumblr.com/ - where I will be posting more photography related things, starting with all the shots in the Flickr account that have passed 50 views. You got to start somewhere.
I also mooched over to Deviant Art, but after reading just what they can do with your photos and artwork, I mooched straight back out again. I'm not a huge fan of copyright, but also not a huge fan of giving stuff away without permission - if you want to use something of mine, ask for it, it's usually fine :)
So things are progressing :) Just hope gfkBill texts me with a time to go round and start cleaning The Beast!
So there's some changes afoot. First one is the renaming of the Flickr account from chickinthepark1 to Astronomr .. which is a little more apropos, links will remain the same.
Then there's the investation of a Tumblr account - http://valhallen.tumblr.com/ - where I will be posting more photography related things, starting with all the shots in the Flickr account that have passed 50 views. You got to start somewhere.
I also mooched over to Deviant Art, but after reading just what they can do with your photos and artwork, I mooched straight back out again. I'm not a huge fan of copyright, but also not a huge fan of giving stuff away without permission - if you want to use something of mine, ask for it, it's usually fine :)
So things are progressing :) Just hope gfkBill texts me with a time to go round and start cleaning The Beast!
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