Thoughts on astro imaging

It seems to me when I start astro imaging that opportunity and desire for
visual observation suffer. And this makes no sense because, truth be told,
I enjoy casual observing most of all. Maybe it is the challenge of trying
to get a good handheld afocal image. Perhaps this endeavor becomes a type
of competition with myself.

I find that a line sometimes has to be drawn and forbid myself from
grabbing the digital camera. It can lead to so much work. . .kind of like
how I really enjoy sketching portraits with pencils (graphite, colored, or
charcoal pencils all). Yet, watercoloring or painting become tasks to me ¡X
and I am seldom satisfied with the results.

Maybe there is a median for me which I just can't strike but if I had to
choose one over the other, the camera would stay in the house.


--
Martin R. Howell

"The Astro Post"
www.theastropost.com

"The Astro Post Blog"
http://theastropost.wordpress.com/

Martin R. Howell wrote:

It seems to me when I start astro imaging that opportunity and desire for
visual observation suffer. And this makes no sense because, truth be told,
I enjoy casual observing most of all. Maybe it is the challenge of trying
to get a good handheld afocal image. Perhaps this endeavor becomes a type
of competition with myself.

I find that a line sometimes has to be drawn and forbid myself from
grabbing the digital camera. It can lead to so much work. . .kind of like
how I really enjoy sketching portraits with pencils (graphite, colored, or
charcoal pencils all). Yet, watercoloring or painting become tasks to me ¡X
and I am seldom satisfied with the results.

Maybe there is a median for me which I just can't strike but if I had to
choose one over the other, the camera would stay in the house.

I gather from this that you have eyepieces of the type that have glass
on both ends, little rubber cups, and no wires attached. As a friend f
mine says, how quaint!

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig *dawt* com

On Wed, 12 Apr 2006 09:00:15 -0800, "Martin R. Howell"
wrote:

It seems to me when I start astro imaging that opportunity and desire for
visual observation suffer. And this makes no sense because, truth be told,
I enjoy casual observing most of all. Maybe it is the challenge of trying
to get a good handheld afocal image. Perhaps this endeavor becomes a type
of competition with myself.

I find that a line sometimes has to be drawn and forbid myself from
grabbing the digital camera. It can lead to so much work. . .kind of like
how I really enjoy sketching portraits with pencils (graphite, colored, or
charcoal pencils all). Yet, watercoloring or painting become tasks to me ¡X
and I am seldom satisfied with the results.

Maybe there is a median for me which I just can't strike but if I had to
choose one over the other, the camera would stay in the house.

This is a disadvantage of using a digital camera for astroimaging. It is
a largely manual device that demands your attention. If you image with a
dedicated astrocamera, the situation may be quite different, since you
can easily go hours without much personal involvement. This time can be
profitably used for visual astronomy. I have both an 8" Dob and a 12.5"
split ring Newt sitting outside my observatory. Both get lots of use on
warm evenings when I'm imaging. In fact, I seldom use them unless I am
imaging.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Martin R. Howell wrote:
It seems to me when I start astro imaging that opportunity and desire for
visual observation suffer.

Astrophotography is a major time commitment unless you are among the
lucky ones who have an observatory with a permanent setup of scope and
cameras. And for every hour spent capturing images, you may spend five
hours processing them.

Plus is you can "see" so much more than visual astronomy offers.

What you say above is no surprise to me, Martin

Phil

Martin R. Howell wrote:
Gather this, Davoud. I am relatively poor and make decisions daily as
to how I spend the little disposable income I have. I can't afford the
frills which you and your friend apparently have. Quaint? Not really.
I am just playing the only cards I hold as best I can play them.

I can't know for sure, but I'm pretty certain Davoud was being facetious.
The same way one might say, "Oh, you use the dual-core 2020xg *without*
the auxiliary tachyon co-processor? How quaint."

--
Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.html

Brian Tung wrote:
Martin R. Howell wrote:

Gather this, Davoud. I am relatively poor and make decisions daily as
to how I spend the little disposable income I have. I can't afford the
frills which you and your friend apparently have. Quaint? Not really.
I am just playing the only cards I hold as best I can play them.


I can't know for sure, but I'm pretty certain Davoud was being facetious.
The same way one might say, "Oh, you use the dual-core 2020xg *without*
the auxiliary tachyon co-processor? How quaint."



Davoud being subtle? Possible, but seems unlikely

On Wed, 12 Apr 2006 14:43:35 -0800, "Martin R. Howell"
wrote:

Perhaps, and if so then I extend my apologies to him. But any regular
reader of this groups is well-aware that he used to live overseas and has
been all around the world. . .with Questar in hand; that he owns -- amongst
other computers -- a Mac; built a lovely observatory in his backyard; and a
visit to his website revealed a live webcam shot of a birdfeeder or
something like that on the homepage. The money appears to flow like water
and that is fine but why must I hear it flowing?

Well, if it makes you feel any better, Davoud did most of his traveling
on the U.S. payroll, and is probably getting a decent pension from the
same. So if you are, or ever have paid U.S. taxes, you're supporting his
astronomy habit! Feel better? g

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

On Wed, 12 Apr 2006 14:22:35 -0700 (PDT), Brian Tung wrote:

Martin R. Howell wrote:
Gather this, Davoud. I am relatively poor and make decisions daily as
to how I spend the little disposable income I have. I can't afford the
frills which you and your friend apparently have. Quaint? Not really.
I am just playing the only cards I hold as best I can play them.

I can't know for sure, but I'm pretty certain Davoud was being facetious.


Perhaps, and if so then I extend my apologies to him. But any regular
reader of this groups is well-aware that he used to live overseas and has
been all around the world. . .with Questar in hand; that he owns -- amongst
other computers -- a Mac; built a lovely observatory in his backyard; and a
visit to his website revealed a live webcam shot of a birdfeeder or
something like that on the homepage. The money appears to flow like water
and that is fine but why must I hear it flowing?


--
Martin R. Howell

"The Astro Post"
www.theastropost.com

"The Astro Post Blog"
http://theastropost.wordpress.com

Martin R. Howell wrote:
It seems to me when I start astro imaging that opportunity and desire for
visual observation suffer...

Davoud replied:
I gather from this that you have eyepieces of the type that have glass
on both ends, little rubber cups, and no wires attached. As a friend f
mine says, how quaint!

Martin R. Howell responded::
Gather this, Davoud. I am relatively poor and make decisions daily as
to how I spend the little disposable income I have. I can't afford the
frills which you and your friend apparently have. Quaint? Not really.
I am just playing the only cards I hold as best I can play them.

Brian Tung then wrote:
I can't know for sure, but I'm pretty certain Davoud was being facetious.
The same way one might say, "Oh, you use the dual-core 2020xg *without*
the auxiliary tachyon co-processor? How quaint."

Now Davoud says:

Mr. Tung has pretty much hit the nail on the head. I might have said
"...pretty certain Davoud was /attempting/ to be humorous."

I think that in such a case it does not matter if one /finds/ any humor
in what has been written; one need only recognize the /attempt/ at
humor, then one may rest assured that the writer meant no malice, no
disparagement.

I've been in my share of controversies in this forum, but at no time
have I derogated any participant for the equipment he or she uses, be
it department store or AstroPhysics. My opinion of amateur astronomy is
that it is a difficult and demanding hobby, and I have great respect
for everyone who contends with cold, heat, bugs, snakes, clouds, light
pollution, sleeplessness, or what-have-you to participate in the hobby.
That respect most assuredly encompasses Mr. Howell.

In this instance, the frill (eyepiece with "wires attached") that I
sometimes use is a Philips ToUCam that I purchased at a garage sale. It
"replaces" a dedicated CCD autoguider that I also bought used and that
is broken. I can't afford to replace the autoguider or have it repaired
at the moment.

Davoud

P.S. As for you, Mr. Tung, I shall assume that you were trying to be
funny, too. You're not /really/ trying to use a dual-core 2020xg
/without/ a tachyon co-processor for each core -- are you!?

--
usenet *at* davidillig *dawt* com

Davoud wrote:
...I have great respect
for everyone who contends with cold, heat, bugs, snakes, clouds, light
pollution, sleeplessness, or what-have-you to participate in the hobby.
That respect most assuredly encompasses Mr. Howell.

Mr. Howell replied:
I apologize, Davoud. If anything, I suppose I am a tad jealous of those
with more than me (it doesn't take that much).

At 54 with a net worth of less than three thousand dollars, I get a little
down on myself sometime. I should not have displaced my financial
frustration on you.

Firstly, thank you, but let me assure you that you don't owe me an
apology.

Secondly, be assured that your worth is incalculably great and has
nothing to do with dollars -- as frustrating as the lack thereof can
be. I was raised in a coal patch in Southwestern Pennsylvania. I have
great memories from my youth, of course, but I still feel anxiety when
I remember my parents talking -- arguing -- about how they were going
to pay the bills, where they could borrow $100 to buy a "new" car in
the 50's when the '37 Dodge died. I remember standing in line for
relief (the government gave out real butter, not home-made margarine,
and I thought that was great!), the unemployment when the steel workers
went on strike and and the coal miners were laid off because there was
no demand for coal. Worst of all, getting word that there had been an
accident at the mine, and waiting with the others to find out if my Dad
would be coming out. And then the further reduced income while he was
recovering from injuries. There was solace in that almost everyone I
knew was in the same boat.

I didn't mean for this to sound like a sob story -- it most certainly
is not. Because /as/ /God/ /will/ /be/ /my/ /Judge/ I would not trade
growing up in that place in that time and in those circumstances for
Bill Gates' fortune.

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig *dawt* com