Phil's Astronomy Amateur Page
I've been in and out of astronomy over the years and now I'm back 'in' - it's a bit like Sunspot cycles, really! Now I'd like to share development of it with you.Monday, 21 September 2009
New beginnings
It's been a month or so since I last blogged and my personal circumstances have changed for the better, I'm pleased to say!
'How so?' you may ask.
Well a couple of weeks ago I started a new job. After nearly 9 months unemployed, I'm finally back in the land of the gainfully employed, and really happy about it too. The bizarre thing about it is that after spending 24 years in PC support, I've completely changed my career and am now in the public sector, a Design Technology Technician at a local school. And it's great! It's like having a hobby and getting paid for it! OK, it gets a bit repetitive and tedious sometimes when I'm putting together dozens and dozens of sets of course hardware and there's obviously pressure to 'get it right' but there's no stress! Trouble is I'm knackered by the time I get home so haven't really spent much time in the garden with the telescope.
That said, this weekend I decided it was about time that I used the sheet of Baader AstroSolar film that I bought from Astronomia in Dorking some weeks back. As my kids were visiting I got my son, Alex, to do the work whilst I supervised. At the end of an hour or so, we had a functional Solar filter fitted to the business-end of my 10" scope and were ready to test it. Sadly (and not unexpectedly if I'm honest) the Sun decided to hide behind clouds for most of the weekend.
Nevertheless on one of the less-overcast moments when there was but a haze of cloud, we managed to focus on our local star and get a picture with the EOS. Nothing spectacular, you understand, because there aren't (and haven't been for some time) any sunspots to look at, this being the rock-bottom of the 11 year cycle...
Anyone who's used Baader film will know that what you see is grey in colour but by putting a Deep Yellow filter on the eyepiece, the image was much prettier!
Hmmm... Nice and yellow but a bit boring. Let's hope that we get some clear skies and sunspots then the images should be a little more interesting!
If you want to see how we went about constructing the filter and applying it to my 'scope, please check out the projects section on my main site, www.simpleamateurastronomy.com/projects.htm
(Sorry, I can't get the hyperlink to work on this blogsite :o(
'How so?' you may ask.
Well a couple of weeks ago I started a new job. After nearly 9 months unemployed, I'm finally back in the land of the gainfully employed, and really happy about it too. The bizarre thing about it is that after spending 24 years in PC support, I've completely changed my career and am now in the public sector, a Design Technology Technician at a local school. And it's great! It's like having a hobby and getting paid for it! OK, it gets a bit repetitive and tedious sometimes when I'm putting together dozens and dozens of sets of course hardware and there's obviously pressure to 'get it right' but there's no stress! Trouble is I'm knackered by the time I get home so haven't really spent much time in the garden with the telescope.
That said, this weekend I decided it was about time that I used the sheet of Baader AstroSolar film that I bought from Astronomia in Dorking some weeks back. As my kids were visiting I got my son, Alex, to do the work whilst I supervised. At the end of an hour or so, we had a functional Solar filter fitted to the business-end of my 10" scope and were ready to test it. Sadly (and not unexpectedly if I'm honest) the Sun decided to hide behind clouds for most of the weekend.
Nevertheless on one of the less-overcast moments when there was but a haze of cloud, we managed to focus on our local star and get a picture with the EOS. Nothing spectacular, you understand, because there aren't (and haven't been for some time) any sunspots to look at, this being the rock-bottom of the 11 year cycle...
Anyone who's used Baader film will know that what you see is grey in colour but by putting a Deep Yellow filter on the eyepiece, the image was much prettier!
Hmmm... Nice and yellow but a bit boring. Let's hope that we get some clear skies and sunspots then the images should be a little more interesting!
If you want to see how we went about constructing the filter and applying it to my 'scope, please check out the projects section on my main site, www.simpleamateurastronomy.com/projects.htm
(Sorry, I can't get the hyperlink to work on this blogsite :o(
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