The Nightwatch

[xelasnave]

I passed out not long after my last post and woke up to find a clear night at about 8 pm but was so tired I could not even make dinner and thought it best to pass on imaging or risk death...at least it is nice and warm now at 6 degrees ...I am going to try and get more sleep and get back some energy.
Alex

[glend (Glen)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I passed out not long after my last post and woke up to find a clear night at about 8 pm but was so tired I could not even make dinner and thought it best to pass on imaging or risk death...at least it is nice and warm now at 6 degrees ...I am going to try and get more sleep and get back some energy.
Alex

A good reminder that we all have limits. Take care.

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by glend

A good reminder that we all have limits. Take care.

I can't understand it as only three years ago I could manage very well on little sleep but now three or four nights up until 1 am and I can't take it...it's probably a side effect of the meds.

I just hope it's clear tonight so I dont regret wasting last night sleeping.

Its too cold (5c) to play the guitar so I will put off practice until it warms up.

Alex

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Hi Mark,

Friday night here was as clear as clear can be. If I wasn't going somewhere on the Saturday, I'd have been up far later than I was.

As it was, I got enough data for a (in my opinion) stonkingly good image. The first bit of processing is done, and now I will sleep on it before deciding whether it needs a bit more. (Also tossing up between putting it in the beginner's section or take the leap into the big boy's room...)

Cheers,
V

Originally Posted by Drac0

Hope everyone who has these clear skies are making the most of them.

Cheers,
Mark

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Alex,

Given all the medical stuff you've just gone through, I'd be surprised if you were not tired. I know a bit about radiation treatment of cancers and it will knock anyone about - even a young and healthy person.

If it's possible for you, slow down a bit and let your body heal.

Regards,
V

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I can't understand it as only three years ago I could manage very well on little sleep but now three or four nights up until 1 am and I can't take it...it's probably a side effect of the meds.
Alex

[glend (Glen)]

I have been doing a bit of late night reading about the new breed of automated telescopes, the auto start ones which bundle all sorts of goodies into one package, complete with live stacking of images. The little Dwarf is one, but the ZWO SeeStar model seems to good to be true at just $745. Sure the aperture is tiny by big scope standards, so don't expect great resolution, but for casual quick use as a wide field it's hard to beat for value.

https://www.bintel.com.au/product/zw...caAutJEALw_wcB

The Equinox versions much larger at 110m, and much more expensive, are including light pollution reduction software technology. The example photos are fairly impressive.

Still if ZWO can upside the SeeStar, say to 80 to 100mm, I would jump on that.

[glend (Glen)]

Digging deeper on scope automation, the Unistellar EV2 brings bigger optics, and the light pollution reduction technology.

https://www.bintel.com.au/product/un...EaAkSjEALw_wcB

But let's imagine what this scope could be if AI was involved.

If an AI has access to all sky plates, it then knows it can discard random low earth orbiting sats from the live view stack. I know from my use of Sharpcap for EAA, that the live stacking can already produce wonderful image streams.
My dream for that next generation of AI scopes, is for it to connect to my big screen TV via the house wifi network and stream it's stack, with controls to save images when told.

With light pollution reduction, sat elimination, and casting to the TV or laptop, I would be a happy, and warm, old guy on a night like this.



And if it can produce great light pollution rejection in locations like Brisbane, Gold Coast, etc, using AI enhancement, imagine the growth in astronomy as a hobby.

[glend (Glen)]

My weather station is telling me that it has just achieved its lowest reading for this year, at 2C and we still have a couple of hours till sunrise.
I was talking to my son late yesterday about how age alters one's views of the cold, and tolerance. Being a Canadian originally i know something about deep cold, but being in my mid 70s has changed my mind somewhat. Past treks to the train station in the dark, snowy, -20 mornings do not seem to have prepared me for temps nearing freezing here by an Australian lake.

What is your take on age related cold tolerance alteration?

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Call me old fashioned, but that feels like cheating to me. If an AI / machine learned tool goes and does all the work for you, would there be any sense of achievement?

I feel that the hobby would devolve to picking a random target from a catalogue, pressing the 'Go" button and waiting for the image to appear on the big screen. Doesn't seem like much of a challenge to me.

I do astrophotography because it's difficult. I enjoy the challenge of teasing out an image of something that's invisible (and a huge distance away) with the equipment I have from the location I am in. I would get totally bored of it, very quickly, if all I had to do was push a button and wait for a Hubble-quality image to appear.

Regards,
V

Originally Posted by glend

And if it can produce great light pollution rejection in locations like Brisbane, Gold Coast, etc, using AI enhancement, imagine the growth in astronomy as a hobby.

[AstroViking (Steve)]

The same as you - I spent several years in Canada as a child and have vivid memories of being outside when it was -40 Celsius.

Now, if it gets below +10 Celsius I'm grumbling about how cold it is.

Cheers,
V

Originally Posted by glend

What is your take on age related cold tolerance alteration?

[doug mc]

Originally Posted by AstroViking

Call me old fashioned, but that feels like cheating to me. If an AI / machine learned tool goes and does all the work for you, would there be any sense of achievement?

I feel that the hobby would devolve to picking a random target from a catalogue, pressing the 'Go" button and waiting for the image to appear on the big screen. Doesn't seem like much of a challenge to me.

I do astrophotography because it's difficult. I enjoy the challenge of teasing out an image of something that's invisible (and a huge distance away) with the equipment I have from the location I am in. I would get totally bored of it, very quickly, if all I had to do was push a button and wait for a Hubble-quality image to appear.

Regards,
V

Yes, speeding up the process of dumbing down the population. I am no conspiracy theorists, but it's not hard to see problems with AI.

[xelasnave]

I want one of those auto scopes and a little remote controlled model truck with the scope mounted on the back..nothing fancy just functional and reliable..able to come into its parking bay under the van and connect to its charging station to re charge both it and the scope... and yes I find pushing the button more difficult each day ..but I saw this add where they are offering a switch that attaches with a sticky back when you pull off the protective stripe and it operates via your phone to switch on or off most things..now add voice control and we a getting there...so I envisage driving the little truck out from under the van, watching it via the security cameras parking it on its little pad and pressing the go button by remote and having the photos processed after they download on my phone...

I like the photos for the effort involved, the character building process one goes thru maintaining the gear, funding the hobby, capturing and processing but most of all I like the time I take to learn about the object that I have captured and gazing at the image and just trying to grasp the sheer size of what I am looking at and most of all wondering about the possible life and even if there are countless civilizations within the field of view that I have captured.

alex

[glend (Glen)]

Alex, for your next project:

https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/...t/hnoc-clf:266

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by doug mc

Yes, speeding up the process of dumbing down the population. I am no conspiracy theorists, but it's not hard to see problems with AI.

See the doughnut not the hole.

Already so many people do not think.

But for people who do think AI holds the promise of highly increased productivity...I have sometimes thought of writting a book but my time is far too precious to waste merely to pass on my ideas as unique as they may be, someone else will do it ...but looking at AI..that chat thing..it seems I can throw out a few ideas and an outline of direction and AI can do the hard yards...

Heck say for a Lawyer...so many things can benifit from AI..a brief for a Barrister ( done properly) takes just so much effort but with AI throw out the facts and references and let it put it into the desired form.

It seems that many folk just are along for the ride rarely thinking and accepting the repeated myths designed to control them and I doubt if they ever have an original idea given that you only find them slaves to fashions and customs of the day with their understanding of the world delivered by Hollywood. All our research still sees nut jobs selling cancer cure for $29-95 on the net and countless dumb dumbs buying their crap...Just look around and ask if you could make that non thinking element of the population dumber even with eternal Government funding...

Fortunately the non thinkers won't think less and the thinkers will use AI to create a better world...for them

Alex

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Originally Posted by glend

My weather station is telling me that it has just achieved its lowest reading for this year, at 2C and we still have a couple of hours till sunrise.
I was talking to my son late yesterday about how age alters one's views of the cold, and tolerance. Being a Canadian originally i know something about deep cold, but being in my mid 70s has changed my mind somewhat. Past treks to the train station in the dark, snowy, -20 mornings do not seem to have prepared me for temps nearing freezing here by an Australian lake.

What is your take on age related cold tolerance alteration?

I had a bit of a chuckle at your expense Glen, but I kinda understand the effect. I think we acclimatise to our environment over time. Having grown up in pommieland where it is far less extreme, where you break out the shorts and t-shirts at a roasting 17C… I’m kinda used to Brisbane now, and anything below 20 is chilly, and single digits is positive Antarctic

Age-related tolerance… isn’t that down to age-related grumpiness (just kidding of course)

On a serious note, I’d expect that there may be some effect related to circulation, etc, but I’m no specialist in that area.

[glend (Glen)]

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

I had a bit of a chuckle at your expense Glen, but I kinda understand the effect. I think we acclimatise to our environment over time. Having grown up in pommieland where it is far less extreme, where you break out the shorts and t-shirts at a roasting 17C… I’m kinda used to Brisbane now, and anything below 20 is chilly, and single digits is positive Antarctic

Age-related tolerance… isn’t that down to age-related grumpiness (just kidding of course)

On a serious note, I’d expect that there may be some effect related to circulation, etc, but I’m no specialist in that area.

OK Dunk, maybe I can blame my blood pressure medication.

[glend (Glen)]

So from tomorrow Summer is on the way.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

I always see sometime around September as when I can think summer is coming. More or less when I can expect to see my first glimpse of Orion for the season at a star party.

[glend (Glen)]

At this time of year we always have suggestions about keeping warm while engaged in Astro activities. But what about the follow up? Who bought what and did it live up to the advertising?
I was in my local Chemist yesterday and there by the checkout was a display box of those chemical hand warmers. Do people actually buy them still? I recall taking a few out to the Bretti dark site years ago, and found they were too hot for too short a time. And what about the electric socks that pop up on ebay, have you tried those? What are you prepared to endorse?

I am willing to endorse simple scope heater straps as hand warmers, at least in an observatory setting, where my heater strap controller is fixed to my pier. The nice thing about the heater strap is you can regulate the temperature with a dial..

[gaseous (Patrick)]

Originally Posted by glend

At this time of year we always have suggestions about keeping warm while engaged in Astro activities. But what about the follow up? Who bought what and did it live up to the advertising?
I was in my local Chemist yesterday and there by the checkout was a display box of those chemical hand warmers. Do people actually buy them still? I recall taking a few out to the Bretti dark site years ago, and found they were too hot for too short a time. And what about the electric socks that pop up on ebay, have you tried those? What are you prepared to endorse?

I am willing to endorse simple scope heater straps as hand warmers, at least in an observatory setting, where my heater strap controller is fixed to my pier. The nice thing about the heater strap is you can regulate the temperature with a dial..

I used those "hot hands" pads while trekking to Everest Base Camp a few months ago, and found they worked quite well. A little bulky if you needed your hands for fine-motor uses, but for just marching along a path they lasted for hours and certainly took the chill out of gloved hands. I wish I'd had some at Esk last Friday where it was freezing digits that necessitated an early(ish) bedtime.