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Post by jamesling1000 on Jun 28, 2018 22:42:59 GMT -5
Hi All.....
It has been quite some time I did not post any activities in this forum.....
But since this year will be quite usual as Mars will be the biggest in 15 years when come to opposition by end July 2018...
Is just one month from now , and will be good to start to make preparation so that come nearer to opposition time, will be able to catch some good views, although the Mars storm is going to make everyone frustration for this special year.
This year , I am well equipped compared to previous opposition, as I have upgraded my DSLR camera from the canon 550D to 800D.
Everyone knows that even you have a very big telescope , the video image captured is still very small..., even you add in the 2X or 5X barlow...My previous utube with 5X barlow is still very small.. The Canon 550D in 7X video crop mode, the resolution is very low at 640X480...., so now with the Canon 800D, I can have a digital video zoom from 3X to 10X at 2mp resolution
I will be trying out this canon 800D on this coming Saturday, a special event organized by one of our reserve Army's recreational club.... But I will use the 10 inch Mewlon first , to test out on this new camera....
Also since this forum no longer allows picture attachment, as such I will use utube video to show all of you on the related activities I will be posting in this forum....
Regards
James Ling
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Post by jamesling1000 on Jul 15, 2018 2:35:04 GMT -5
Hi All....
As now only two weeks away from Mars Opposition.. As well as another total lunar eclipse happening on the same night and early morning.... I really hope weather will be good on that night as we are definitely there for this major event...
I have tested my hand phone video creator by assembling few photos of the ISTAR past side walk or outreach activities and download into utube...
And will use this method of presentation for this coming MARS OPPOSITION AND FULL LUNAR ECLIPSE EVENT...
Will update all of you again if I have any other activities before coming major event..
Regards
James Ling
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tjn58
Junior Member
Posts: 24
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Post by tjn58 on Jul 16, 2018 22:00:17 GMT -5
Thanks James, look forward to your results
Tom
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Post by jamesling1000 on Jul 19, 2018 5:23:37 GMT -5
Hi Tom...
Thanks ......
Hi All...
I am getting excited as now only one week away from this coming major event....
While waiting for coming week to come along, I download another utube with photos that I compiled form my previous side walk activities which I used two of my other telescopes....which are very portable....
Regards
James Ling
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Post by jamesling1000 on Jul 27, 2018 1:47:12 GMT -5
Hi All...
As today is Mars opposition, as well as the full lunar eclipse .......So as of now everything already being prepared ready for loading into my car , and tonight will set off to my usual sidewalk or outreach venue which is a public park...
Even today our Chinese TV channel also features our group outreach activities that have been carried out regularly in this public park....which is specially for tonight's Mars opposition and full lunar eclipse event...
I am sure the public after viewing this TV show will also start to aware of such astronomy outreach activities in Singapore and perhaps turn up at our event venue... Even one of the polytechnic astronomy group is joining us tonight, and this will make the event more successful , and this must also be accompanied by good weather tonight..
Below is the video clip from the Chinese TV channel that features our group outreach activities at the same venue that we are having this Mars opposition and full lunar eclipse event...
Hopefully tonight weather is good and can have a good turn out from the public and will provide more reports using utube video , instead of photo which cannot be download inside this forum...
Regards
James Ling
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Post by jamesling1000 on Jul 29, 2018 4:24:59 GMT -5
Hi All....
What a fantastic night and early morning that I went through for this Mars opposition and full lunar eclipse event......
I set off on Friday night around 8pm, reaching the event venue almost 9pm, and started to unload the equipment from my car, with the help from few of my astronomy friends...
After I park my car at a nearby multi storey car park, I walked back almost a km to join my friend to setup my 8" Istar... It took more than half an hour to setup this 8" Istar and placed it over my losmandy G11 mount, towering almost 7ft high.
And as the public are eager to see the view from this big telescope although earlier most of them have already seen through the other telescopes that been setup before 9pm before my setup, I point the big Istar towards the full moon to show the public. This 8" Istar is so powerful that I need to use my variable polarisers to lower down the light level before letting the public to view the full moon at 45X with a 40mm eyepiece.
Below is a short video clip I download to utube , which is at the start of the night, with one of my astronomy friend helping me to guide and explain to the public , while I took a rest after setting up this massive scope....
The above viewing of the moon from the Istar is less than an hour , as Jupiter is only visible for another one and half to two hours from the location, so I need to announce to those who are still queuing that I need to change to Jupiter for the 2nd object....
And using my Baader hyperion zoom eye piece, perhaps is due to good weather and clear sky from the western sky, I can straight away set to 8mm , at 225X , and point at Jupiter with its 4 moons for the public to view.
Again I want to say, the view of Jupiter for the night when I see it , I am so excited that I told my astronomy friend that the view is very extra ordinary..... The Istar that I seen numerous times during each outreach on Jupiter varies, from many fine cloud bands, beside the two main belts, very distinct detail of the red spot, ovals within the two main belts....but this time is not just the two main belts that we usually be seeing . instead you can see the details of the swirl at the two belts itself....
But as the public queue is there, and I am doing this outreach, I could not stop the public viewing to do my video recording, and this 2nd object lasted more than one and a half hour till around 1am.... when Jupiter is block by the distant building...
to be continue....
Regards
James Ling
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Post by jamesling1000 on Jul 29, 2018 8:44:30 GMT -5
Hi All...
I have just download another short video clip to Utube showing the public queuing to look through the 8" Istar upon my setting up...
And you can see the background is the Mcdonald's outlet in this park that we usually do our public outreach...
TO BE CONTINUED....
Regards
James Ling
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Post by jamesling1000 on Jul 29, 2018 9:30:22 GMT -5
Hi All....
After Jupiter is no longer able to view through the Istar , I moved the scope to Saturn, but the sky where Saturn is located is cloudy, and the viewing is still possible at 225X, with two moons of Saturn visible in the field of view....
And the public who stayed back for the full lunar eclipse have almost an hour to continue to view through this scope till 2am....
And by this time, I setup the DSLR and TV display to show the public some video from the Istar , on Saturn, Mars and the Moon, while waiting for the lunar eclipse to start ....
Below is the short video clip froma few photos that I combined and download onto utube....
And I also download another short video clip showing the public enjoying the video from the TV display...
Regards
James Ling
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tjn58
Junior Member
Posts: 24
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Post by tjn58 on Jul 29, 2018 22:02:28 GMT -5
James,
Thanks for sharing your evening. I am sure you are making a lot of kids really excited about astronomy.
Tom
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Post by jamesling1000 on Jul 30, 2018 5:34:43 GMT -5
Hi Tom...
Thanks...
Hi All...
Last Saturday early morning around 2.30am while everyone starts waiting for the start of the full lunar eclipse ,initially I though my 8" Istar will be resting, but what surprise me is that those who are staying back to watch the full lunar eclipse are still queuing up to view through the Istar as they want to take photo of the moon with their handphones.. And this lasted till around 5am and I need to stop the viewing session and do the dismantling of the scope.
It took me one and a half hour to dismantle and load it onto my car and by the time I reached home is ready past 7am...Not to say still need to bring into my house.. Which I spent another three trolleys trips to bring all the stuff into my house...
But for all these troubles and pains all over my body... I think is worth it for this big event. Below is the utube I download by compiling those photos from this big event.... Which are memorable for me..
I hope all of you who are reading my posts enjoyed it... And although the next major event that I will bring this istar out again is next year annular eclipse in Singapore but if time permits.. I will do it sooner....
Thank you for your time..
Regards
James Ling
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