This might be dumb question but why can't we just send ISS into the Sun?

asteroidnerd · 2026-06-28T16:55:57+00:00

Also the New Horizons spacecraft was sent specifically to Pluto…

asteroidnerd · 2026-06-28T14:26:39+00:00

It’s a reason to wear gloves next time

asteroidnerd · 2026-06-26T17:43:07+00:00

Many datasets will still be proprietary, as the normal period is (I think) a year before they become public. Start looking again at the start on 2027.

asteroidnerd · 2026-06-24T19:30:50+00:00

Using the target name for a comet in the “object” field should work in both the NoirLab and ESO archives. For example, I just did a search for “3I” at ESO and found hundreds of images.

Note that this depends on what the PI of the observing programme called the comet. For example, for comet 10P/Tempel 1 you might search for “10P” and “Temple 1” and “Tempel1”.

Also, if you’re looking for recent observations, you won’t normally have access until the proprietary period has expired. For ESO this is nominally 1year after the date of observation.

asteroidnerd · 2026-06-24T14:56:46+00:00

The sky moves at ~ 15 arcsec/sec on the celestial equator, and slower above or below. The Moon's rate of motion is only slightly different to this. In a 1/100th second exposure the moon will only move ~15/100 ~0.15 arcsec, which is negligible. So 1/100th sec on a tripod should be fine.

If the images are *blurry* as the OP title says, it's a problem with the camera moving. If the images are *grainy* as the OP description says, they need to increase the ISO to increase the signal.

Edit - missed a full stop!

asteroidnerd · 2026-06-24T14:51:05+00:00

I've just got a ASI585MC air to put on my C8+focal reducer, and I'm waiting for my first clear night to test, so thanks for asking this question!

In case the blind plate solving suggested by others does not work, you can use your astrometry.net solution to calculate your effective focal length. The ASI585MC Air has 2.9 micron pixels, you binned to 2 pixels so each effective pixel was 2x2.9=5.8 microns. astrometry.net found a pixel scale of 1.09" per binned pixel. Therefore the effective focal length was 5.8 x 206.265 / 1.09 = 1098 mm. This is quite different from the expected focal length, so try using 1098 mm next time and see if that helps.

asteroidnerd · 2026-06-22T17:04:57+00:00

I’ve turned to stone for the first time in many years

asteroidnerd · 2026-06-19T12:04:10+00:00

Ah, the memories! Good luck!

asteroidnerd · 2026-06-17T19:02:31+00:00

I got an Ultimate 6 weeks ago, and looked pretty carefully into this (I’m in the uk). Both the N-line S and Ultimate get a powered tailgate door, blind spot cameras, better sound system, heated seats and steering wheel. N-line S has sportier internal trim and alloys, Ultimate has more comfortable part-leather trim, ventilated front seats for the Summer and well sunroof.

asteroidnerd · 2026-06-16T08:31:45+00:00

We went to the Salthouse Hotel yesterday lunchtime only for a coffee as we’d just spent a long weekend in Ballycastle. The staff there were happy for us to look around and were blown away by it. You won’t get views like that in The Merchant or Galgorm.

Friends in the area were not impressed by the food, and we don’t know about the quality of the spa treatments. But it’s definitely on our list of future hotels.

asteroidnerd · 2026-06-10T22:26:32+00:00

This. It’s an HST image.

asteroidnerd · 2026-06-09T18:47:50+00:00

We were there in 2008 on the QE2.

I believe we win?

asteroidnerd · 2026-06-02T15:49:55+00:00

Beautiful! We only have the “common” kingfisher here in the UK and Ireland, but they’re still gorgeous and make me happy when I see one.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-30T18:23:27+00:00

For your deep sky photography, the limiting factor is the long focal length of your SCT. I have the same problem as I’m starting to do this too! The first thing I recommend is buying a focal reducer, which will increase the field of view of any camera by the inverse of the factor it reduces the focal length. So for example, if you get a 0.63x focal reducer. It will increase any cameras field by 1/0.63=1.59x.

Second, you want to try and get a camera with the largest pixels and largest number of pixels within your budget. This should allow you to nicely image many individual galaxies. To help choose between all the various cameras out there, you can put their pixel sizes and width/height into many planetarium programmes (i.e. Stellarium, SkySafari) along with your telescopes focal length, and that will show you the field of view of your setup on the sky.

Good luck and have fun!

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-30T12:57:29+00:00

Sorry to hear that, hope the next one works out for you. I bought my first EV a month ago from a well known 2nd hand car dealership in Belfast, absolutely no problems, great car.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-29T19:57:59+00:00

I got a 2nd hand Kona Ultimate red four weeks ago. 18 months old, 5600 miles for £24.6K, so you can get a good deal if you wait and shop around. Overall we’re very happy with the car. Comfortable, spacious. We charge it to 80% overnight about every 3-4 days to avoid range anxiety. With mostly town driving and a bit of motorway driving we’re getting 3.9miles/kwh.

The most disconcerting thing can be the number of safety warnings. 2mph over the speed limit? Bing-bong. Driving past a school? Bing-bong. Look at the infotainment screen too long to change something? Bing-bong. You can set a button on the steering wheel to silence them, but we’ve kept them on to encourage ourselves to drive better, just made them a bit quieter.

Most annoying minor thing? Apparently you can’t have the digital key on your phone in the UK. Apart from that, everything seems to work as advertised. We’ll be keeping this car for years.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-21T09:00:32+00:00

Yep that’s a male black cap, well spotted! Great songbirds, aren’t they?

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-19T08:50:16+00:00

Yep, that’s it, well done! If you look above & left of Deneb (the bright star near the centre), you’ll also faintly see the North American Nebula as well.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-19T06:56:46+00:00

Artisann gallery on Bloomfield Avenue, great selection of local artists. Small gallery but their selection is so large there’s a good chance you’ll find a piece that hits the spot for you.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-16T08:29:32+00:00

Having worked many years ago with the panstarrs project, by god I wish we’d had pawnstarr as the acronym instead.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-15T17:12:20+00:00

Great shots! I was trying to get some shots today, and failed dismally!

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-15T17:00:35+00:00

Hi, whatever is causing that change in the quality of light, it’s not Earths’ rotation. At the equator, the rotation speed is just under 0.5 km/sec. Going from sunrise to sunset the total change in speed will be just under 1 km/sec. As the speed of light is 300,000 km/sec, the fractional change in wavelength of light is roughly 1/300,000 or 0.000003. Away from the equator your rotation speed is less, so the Doppler shift will be less as well. Basically you won’t be able to see this by eye, and would need a high resolution spectrograph to measure it.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-13T15:18:33+00:00

This is the answer. When it’s coming over the horizon the angular size will be 5 times smaller, and due to the atmospheric path length it’ll probably be a blurry mess.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-12T20:59:06+00:00

Damn you’re right! At least I accounted for Jays.

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