Ok, so this was accidental, but I’m sure it counts 🙂
I found it whilst reviewing frames for my last star trails image. I’d seen a meteor that night and wondered if it was caught on camera, but didn’t initially find it when I ran through the original frames. Only when I went back through them again looking for aircraft trails did I spot it. Sadly it wasn’t entirely in the frame, but as it was only caught by chance I’m not going to complain.
I got a couple of hours out in the observatory after dark and set up the 450D again to capture some subs to make a star trail image. This is better than the previous night, but I’d cut the exposure time down to try to reduce the sky brightness, not realising that either the camera or APT had reset the ISO setting when I was setting up the focus so there aren’t as many stars as I’d have liked. The good news is that even without a hood, the dew heater appears to have worked and kept the lens clear for the entire duration.
However, what really interested me was the diagonal trail at the left hand edge.
At first I thought it was a meteor. I definitely saw at least one, though I can’t be sure those I seem to catch out of the corner of my eye aren’t just odd reflections off the lenses of my glasses these days 🙁 Looking at the individual subs it’s certainly way brighter than the aircraft trails that pass overhead, but it definitely looks man-made. It actually starts much fainter, appearing from behind the barn roof in this first crop:
And continues the same way in this next one:
There appear to be white spots alternating either side of the main red line, which makes me think it has to be some sort of aircraft. And in the last frame it appears on, this happens:
It wasn’t until some time later that it occurred to me to have a look at the flightradar24.com site, but of course then it was too late. Or was it? Clicking around the site I discovered it has a “playback” mode that allows a review of earlier flights, even from previous days, so I played back events around the timestamp of the image.
It turns out that a flight from Faro to Cardiff passed within two miles east of me at just over 7,000 feet at exactly the right time according to the timestamp on the image. I feel sure that has to be the explanation. Perhaps the sudden increase in brightness is down to landing lights being turned on or something like that.
As the rest of the family has been seeing the observatory slowly being constructed over the last year and we had some clear sky I thought I’d have a go at something fun to show them now I’ve reached the point that it’s usable (though some way from complete), so I set the 450D up on a tripod with the kit 18-55mm lens wide open, pointing back at the house with the intention of taking some subs to combine into a star trail image.
Sadly the clouds didn’t appear to have read the forecast and the five hours of clear sky I was promised turned into an hour or so of mostly clear sky, and the cloud was worst to the south west — the direction of the house. So this is all I ended up with:
Perhaps the most interesting thing about it is that there are no lights on in the house at all. The lit windows are all illuminated by power indicator LEDs on chargers, clock displays and suchlike.
It’s not all negative though. I’ve been visual-only for quite some time whilst we’ve been having work done in the house because it made sense to pack kit up to keep it out of the dust, and during the construction of the observatory, so this is my first image of any kind in a fair while.
I did also grab some frames looking back over the observatory towards Cassiopeia, but struggled with the lens dewing up. I don’t have a hood for this lens which probably doesn’t help (and in fact the ones I’ve found online don’t look as though they’d be much help anyhow). I might try a dew heater, or attempt a 3d printed hood of my own. I should also have a go with my 14mm Samyang, though I suspect that will be even more prone to dew.
Pace has slowed a little of late, but I’ve kept things moving forward even if I haven’t been doing that much.
Because it gets quite warm inside the observatory when it’s sunny, I installed a 100mm vent in the northern gable and then finished cladding that gable. I’m not sure the single vent will be sufficient, but if it isn’t I’ll probably add one in the southern gable. If that’s still not enough then I think insulating the inside of the roof will be the next step, as most of the heat appears to be coming in through the roof.
The other step forward has been fitting the posts to support the ends of the roof rails where they extend beyond the main structure. This has meant that my bodged-up supports could be removed at last. No bad thing, as one of them kept falling out.
At the same time I also added some sections of aluminium angle to act as stops at the ends of the rails, so the roof can’t roll off the end when it is opened.
I don’t know why I type this any more 😀
I felt quite tired today so I wasn’t sure how things would go. I certainly wasn’t expecting too much. Just to get as far as yesterday would have been good. But as it turns out I managed to complete fifteen reps before failing on sixteen: one better than yesterday. I failed again on twenty-one before swimming the set out. As a result I was quite pleased with my performance. Hopefully I can continue to improve next week.
USRPT distance this year: 129,000m
Total distance this year: 131,550m
And again…
A little better again today. First fail on rep fifteen, then things got a bit messed up, I think because I misread the clock due to my goggles fogging up which meant my timings were off. I had a second failure on rep twenty-one before finishing the set.
USRPT distance this year: 127,300m
Total distance this year: 129,850m
Getting a touch bored with this now, but I need to keep on.
A little better than yesterday. First fail on rep thirteen today, and then again on twenty before swimming the set out.
USRPT distance this year: 125,600m
Total distance this year: 128,150m
Keep going…
An improvement on last week today, this time failing on reps twelve and nineteen.
USRPT distance this year: 123,900m
Total distance this year: 126,450m
The last week has mostly been one of flooring. I finished off the foam tiles around the last pier, taking a huge amount of time just to make sure I didn’t get things wrong and varnished the floor in the warm room.
A used pier adapter arrived for the HEQ5, so I set that up on the last pier, but it doesn’t come with a suitable alt-az pin (the HEQ5 mount has the pin cast as part of the tripod). I’ve not yet found a solution for this that I like, so that requires more thought. I have tried a threaded rod with flats filed on for the adjustment bolts to bear on, but it really needs a locknut and there’s just not space — any nut seems to foul the body of the mount.
I also ordered a pull strap to allow me to lift and lower the flap.
Once the warm room floor was dry I laid most of the carpet tiles. The only ones left now are those around the ducts for carrying cables to the mount where they come through the floor, and a small area I’m going to have carpeted immediately inside the external door. I’ve decided to put a box around the ducts to make the carpeting easier because it’s quite hard to cut. It will have to be removable, but that’s hardly the end of the world.
Finally, I cut the ply to line the flap and fixed it in place only to find that the flap is such a snug fit that it fouled the roof with the ply on. I had to remove it all and trim a little off the edge. With that done and the ply fixed back in place again I painted it the same colour as the walls and fitted the pull strap.
I’m not entirely happy with the pull strap, actually. As the flap folds down at about shoulder height and is not particularly light, it’s hard to control as it is lowered and difficult to get moving to lift. I’m going to look at other ideas that might help with this. In the long run, it will probably involve counterweights.
And once more, with feeling…
I struggled today. I ended up swimming next to a one-man wave machine and I couldn’t really get settled in. In the end I failed on reps six and twelve. Shortly afterwards Mr Wave Machine left and I swam the rest of the set out. Not entirely happy with the result, but I can live with keeping the number of fails to just the two.
USRPT distance this year: 122,200m
Total distance this year: 124,750m
