HOME BORG top TeleVue top Orion top METEOR

BACKNUMBERS

Eclipse and weather

It was very nice to see the solar eclipse. I had some good news and bad news.. The bad news was that my EOS 10D had dust on the low pass filter in front of the CMOS and scratched it when I was trying to clean it out. It happened a few days before the eclipse. Therefore, the 10D was left to be repaired.
I was in a jam, and had no other choice but to spend some money and buy an EOS 20D. The good news was that the EOS 20D has a B&W mode and works exceedingly well for H alpha, a good result I would not expect.
More good news. I bought a Canon extender EF2 X II. This is very nice to extend my telephoto lenses. Bad news, it does not works with the telescope because there is no signal from the lens. Why doesn’t the T ring have a signal canceller!!?
Even better news was that the eclipse occurred with good weather and I could take some nice pictures. Bad news, the night sky has clear but a strong wind was blowing. I put up the partition panels, but still the wind blew down my table and all my small accessories and parts.
Gee. I really need a good observatory where the night sky is not polluted by city lights??

(October 17, 2005 - October 23, 2006)

Testing the AGA-1 Guider settled with LosmandyCan't win against weather

In Japan we say the night scene is "Yakei", but here in Kobe we have an abundance of city light, or as we say in Japanese "Yokei". I have this feeling for a real dark night, a natural Yakei(夜景). But the only time the electricity was off was during the Great Kobe Earthquake, and I don't want that to happen again!
Under the bright sky of Kobe, I wonder if a larger aperture size helps the poor viewing conditions? I can not say for sure, because the bad visibility limits the benefits of a larger aperture.Throughout the end of summer in Japan, bad weather continued day by day ... no targets to see. Moreover, with the light pollution, it is hopeless to see the deep sky . Milky way? No way.
So, to kill time I started experimenting with my telescope. One of the thing I've done is make a AGA-1 work with a Losmandy mount. Picture on the left shows testing and how it works after I made it. The system worked but I could not get any good pictures because of the bad weather. A serious astronomer could possibly have some very fine suggestions, like "the guide scope is not rigid enough". However, to me, their environment is better. Before I can say that I need better weather. For the moment, I can not even find a suitable guide star, making it impossible to guide by the off-axis. Of course, I'd like to get more fine picture. To get them, I need a better observatory, maybe one with a dome to keep the telescope stable against the wind. But, when I really think about it, I know that like Kobe City is not a suitable place to have the observatory. I have to move to somewhere with a dark sky. . So, light weight, and a system easy to assemble are very important factors to me. I know this 300mm is not good to carry around. Well, I have made some changes, and now it takes time to show.
(9/24) It's arrived!! The rings and dovetail plate are in hand. Parallax Instruments's Standard Hinged Rings 12.7" completely fit with my Orion 300mm. 17.25" dovetail plate looks much better to hold on the mount without shaking. Appreciated, Mr.Joe Nastasi and Mr.Chris Arnold. I also changed the worm gear but can not see the results because the weather is still bad.

(September 18 or 24, 2004 - October 17 , 2005)

Settled telescopes in Kobe - TV85, BORG76ED on GP mount with AGA-1 and shooting by E-5000Telescopes in Bright night view of Kobe

Kobe is the famous city for the night scene. Since I started this hobby of photography, I knew that Yakei (say night in Japanese) was Yokei (mean "too much" in Japanese) in Kobe.

Now, I really feel that the night sky is like day.With the settled TV85, BORG 76ED on GP mount with AGA-1+LCD monitor and E5000 digital camera, the two LCD monitors are very bright, too. When they're put on the telescope on this short leg tripod, it is very hard to look in because it's too low.

2003/3/20 20:30

* I take no responsibility about modify your system. You try to do the same thing by your own risk.

-To complaint regading English on my page-

I've never quit to study English or, traning as listen English by CNN or BBC every day, all day long.
However, still English is not my mother language. At the almost page, I paying to the correcting English by native.
At some case, quick release is better than waiting the corrected it up. Then I publish page without correcting at some case.
Some people send me the scolding mail about wrong English. But I think something wrong about that because....

  1. Why that kind of people sends me the English mails even my English is not good enough as they find.
  2. I do not want to listen that kind of message from American even some high school graduated teenager can not read their diploma (this is well-known problem at all over the world by TV NEWS or magazines).
    Make your own people perfect first because first language. (I know it is impoosible...one person asked to me "what the INS is" at inside INS office, L.A., CA, USA. Oterwise, even not all Japanese can write story with perfect Japanese. )
  3. If you do not want to or can not get, so why not quit?
    It is not schoolbook. It is not kind of "Must Read". So why I have to make up pages with perfect English? (if it perfect, it is the best though) I'm spending my money to keep web site. I'm spending my money to correcting. Why more!?

I think, let we quit to abuse the other at the thing like just English when not point is on to the language education. Because communication with same hobby as human being is more important than make language best. We have no enough time to make ourself perfect as human being. Life is too short and not everybody has a gift to use the languages as multi-lingual.
More important thing is, make communication and understand each other as a human being. Internet helping to make understanding over the borders or distance between countries. I'd like to take this oppotunity to make our world peace at the future. To realize that, sometime we have to make concession. Try to understand is important. Before abuse the English, why not try to read Japanese if who like perfect language? I have no duty to make English page perfect. Just I'm trying to make it because hopefully little help to understading something at each other.
Coincidently English are the defacto standard at this virtual world too. However, our world does not fixed by mono language. If my web page has no English pages, how that kind of people does?
That kind of abluse mail made me sad and angry. Additionally someone sent me the SPAM that sales Native English training software. Who wants to buy that at timing like this!!?.
Sometime we can find "apologize" about wrong English at web page which made by non-Western people. However, I think it is not necesary. Trying to use English is a kind enough. Pushing foreigner to use perfect English is exactly hegemonism. Not mean "not neccesary to study foreign languages". However, not smart to push English "only".
Anyway, let we make our personality better first. Thing about language is the far reaching after of that.

(* I'm not mean I quit to keep studying English even at my age, born 1958.)

pictinas.com/tomi HOME | Astro web TOP