My Time Machine

[Pequod]

G’day folks. Haven’t posted many cooks lately because I’ve been busy with a few things. Still cooking and eating 😳. One of my major distractions has just been eliminated 🤔. Another distraction has been building my time machine. It has the ability to look into the past!

Here it is:

 

Here it is looking at 2.5 million years ago:

2.5 million year old light. This is pre-processed. I’ll post the fully processed image later. Something streaked across the sky during exposure. 

Here’s a look at 7500 years ago. Also pre-processed.

 

[jonj]

VERY nice! One of the benefits of your new location, I assume. 

[Pequod]

50 minutes ago, jonj said:

VERY nice! One of the benefits of your new location, I assume. 

Yup!

[RokDok]

Absolutely stunning

[ckreef]

Love your setup. 

[Pequod]

First pic fully processed. M45 - Pleiades. I have an Instagram for future pics: @starbasecrozet

[tony b]

Stunning! It's always been so hard for me to wrap my head around the magnificence of our universe. I toyed briefly as an undergrad of going into astrophysics, as it was so closely related to nuclear physics/engineering that I was studying. Quantum physics, just on another much bigger scale! 

[Pequod]

4 minutes ago, tony b said:

Stunning! It's always been so hard for me to wrap my head around the magnificence of our universe. I toyed briefly as an undergrad of going into astrophysics, as it was so closely related to nuclear physics/engineering that I was studying. Quantum physics, just on another much bigger scale! 

Astrophotography is a fun blend of science, engineering, and art. Hits a lot of my interests in one activity. 

[Steve M]

My father in law moved to C'ville to satisfy his stargazing needs. That looks fun.

[Pequod]

5 hours ago, Steve M said:

My father in law moved to C'ville to satisfy his stargazing needs. That looks fun.

Yeah? Is he a member of the Charlottesville Astronomical Society? If not, he should join. 

[Steve M]

23 minutes ago, Pequod said:

Yeah? Is he a member of the Charlottesville Astronomical Society? If not, he should join. 

If I had to guess, yes. His name is Ed if you happen to run across him sometime.

[Pequod]

13 hours ago, Steve M said:

If I had to guess, yes. His name is Ed if you happen to run across him sometime.

Ed P?

Engineer?

If so, yeah. He’s been helping me get started with astrophotography. 

[Steve M]

Ed S and he is an engineer.

[Pequod]

2 hours ago, Steve M said:

Ed S and he is an engineer.

Just checked the roster and don’t see an Ed S. If he’s not aware of it, he should check it out. Cheap dues. Good access to dark sites (one at a microbrewery, which makes focusing the scope optional). Good ties with UVA astronomy department.

[Steve M]

17 minutes ago, Pequod said:

Just checked the roster and don’t see an Ed S. If he’s not aware of it, he should check it out. Cheap dues. Good access to dark sites (one at a microbrewery, which makes focusing the scope optional). Good ties with UVA astronomy department.

Sorry, it is Ed P. I think it has to be him.

[Pequod]

25 minutes ago, Steve M said:

Sorry, it is Ed P. I think it has to be him.

Yeah, Ed P is great. He’s one of the club mentors. That dark pic above with the red glow on the mount - Ed was there. Parked next to me. Had him look everything over. Super helpful. Great guy. 👍

[Steve M]

2 minutes ago, Pequod said:

Yeah, Ed P is great. He’s one of the club mentors. That dark pic above with the red glow on the mount - Ed was there. Parked next to me. Had him look everything over. Super helpful. Great guy. 👍

I think he is the smartest person in my entire family 

[ckreef]

I'm sure you've heard of the Clear Sky Charts. 

I live in the middle of nowhere, GA. On a  dark sky scale of 1-10 with cities being a 1 or 2 and truly dark areas of the world being 9 or 10 my front yard would probably be considered about an 8. Not bad for viewing the universe. When my relatives come and visit they are amazed at how easy it is to see the Milky-way. 

Anyway years ago when I was into astrophotography I heard about the Canadian scientists who were generating Clear Sky Charts. I sent them an email and requested one be generated for my front yard. They approved my request and ever since I can pull up a Clear Sky Chart anytime. I pull it up frequently when me and Mrs skreef are planning to sit out in the yard and star gaze. 

For anyone reading this here is a link to what I'm talking about. It's a live link so what you see will be a snapshot of the sky over my house at the day and time you hit the link. 

http://www.cleardarksky.com/c/CCK1GAkey.html

Anyway I'm just curious, could you post the link to nearest Clear Sky Chart for where you usually setup your telescope. 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by ckreef

[Pequod]

On 11/22/2020 at 8:12 AM, ckreef said:

I'm sure you've heard of the Clear Sky Charts. 

I live in the middle of nowhere, GA. On a  dark sky scale of 1-10 with cities being a 1 or 2 and truly dark areas of the world being 9 or 10 my front yard would probably be considered about an 8. Not bad for viewing the universe. When my relatives come and visit they are amazed at how easy it is to see the Milky-way. 

Anyway years ago when I was into astrophotography I heard about the Canadian scientists who were generating Clear Sky Charts. I sent them an email and requested one be generated for my front yard. They approved my request and ever since I can pull up a Clear Sky Chart anytime. I pull it up frequently when me and Mrs skreef are planning to sit out in the yard and star gaze. 

For anyone reading this here is a link to what I'm talking about. It's a live link so what you see will be a snapshot of the sky over my house at the day and time you hit the link. 

http://www.cleardarksky.com/c/CCK1GAkey.html

Anyway I'm just curious, could you post the link to nearest Clear Sky Chart for where you usually setup your telescope. 

 

 

Don’t know how I missed this post, but here’s the chart I consult for my back yard. My skies are Bortle 4.
https://www.cleardarksky.com/c/CfMtnOvrVAkey.html?1

Our local astronomy club also does observing from a local microbrewery close to this location (Bortle 3’ish): https://www.cleardarksky.com/c/FnMtnObkey.html?1

I know you saw this one on Instagram. Post it here for the locals too.

[Tyrus]

Great pic Pequod, amazing color.  It does bear noting though that on the BBQ side of things it bears the resemblance too a used BBQ Mitt. Hope I'm not stretching the imagination to far for the next constellation.