Astronomical story of a life time

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Did you know that the Crab Nebula is only 1000 years old?

It appears on the Bayeux Tapestry, just after the Battle of Hastings

It is 6500 light years away and was given the reference M1 by Messier in 1771

It's supposed to be an easy find with a pair of binoculars!……Don't believe it, myself

I'm not being a Smart Alec……Just looked it up!…..lol

Interesting info….eh?

Awesome picture?

Bob

Edited By Bob Abell on 24/03/2015 18:20:33

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Many thanks to my old friend….Geoff Royle

Geoff helped out during the comet period, with his Retro PC programmes and was very supportive

He is steeped in astronomy…..He once hand ground his own telescope mirror……Which took about two years!

His crowning glory was his radio telescope….and the Crab Nebula……..If anybody would like more info on his machine, please speak up and he will be only too glad to talk your socks down…..and up!

If members like this thread, please say so, as I fear the thread may get terminated, shortly

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

A rare picture of our Dave Wooley at the Liverpool 13" Refracting telescope!

Working on his hush hush NASA moon project

Thanks Dave

Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

No need to terminate the thread Bob. Here are my eclipse photos taken from Lyme Regis.

Colin

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Excellent pictures, Colin

Wasn't it eerie when the light dimmed?……..I suppose the birds and bees were confused?

I'm very pleased that the thread can continue for the time being!………I didn't realise I was so interested in Astronomy, until I started the thread

I do have anther "Funny" to write about……Hope I've still got it

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Will Geoff Royle, please post your photo of the comet Hail Bopp taken in the Canary Isles?

it will have a good home here

If you possess an IPad tablet…..There is an excellent App called Skywalk and it is truly awesome!

You can point it up to the sky and it will display what's there in real time!…..As you change position, the display automatically adjusts…..Unbelievable!

It shows every Star, every Planet, every Constellation, Every Satelite…….Even a comet when known, the Hubble Telescope….the International Space station…….Everything!……and at Christmas time, you can even see Santa and his reindeer, dashing about the Cosmos…..A nice touch

How can this be achieved is beyond me!

Hope all this exciting stuff is not distracting you chaps from your model boat activities?

A change is as good as a rest, so they say?

Bob Skywalker

[Geoff RoyleParticipant @geoffroyle15964]

Bob Abell, Here's my photo of comet Hale-Bopp as requested. I will have to wait and see how it turns out on this page before discussing further. Briefly my wife and I were near the southern flank of Mt.Teide, Tenerife. No fancy equipment was used except that the 35mm Pentax with standard lens was mounted on a tripod. The shutter was controlled with a remote cable release and left open for 30 seconds. Otherwise the film was processed by our local FujiFilm Shop and they performed a straightforward enlargement. Much later in the 80s the BBC displayed the picture as a webpage caption for many months. GR

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Very nice, Geoff…….Why a curly tail?

Where is the light coming from?…….The Sun I suppose?

How many months was the comet visible for?

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

I took a few photos of my comet, on the 24th March 1993, but they were not good enough to publish

But with modern digital enhancement, I`ve managed to bring one back to life

The picture was taken with a Pentax MX with about 19 sec exposure and being a TTL camera, the view was of the comet area. Because I thought the comet was common knowledge, I didn`t persue the exercise

The faint blur on the left would be the comet, the bright blob would be one of Jupiters moons and the two fainter blobs are probably stars

I find this picture quite exciting now

What do you think, Geoff?

Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I have an enduring memory of Comet Hale Bopp when I had my own boat. We were out in the middle of the Solent on a night sail and the comet was really clear and high in the sky. Quite magical.

In fact we were so spellbound we nearly hit one of the big navigational buoys! Just saw it slide by in the darkness a few feet away. Not something you want to hit.

Hope to be out in the Solent tomorrow viewing the big American aircraft carrier from the car ferry. We shall have coffee at the Dairyman's Daughter, one of Ashley's favourite haunts!

Colin

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

My pal Geoff has submitted his proposed Transit of Venus method, with a practice run on Sun spots and how he managed it

He now wishes he'd used the same method for last weeks eclipse

Hope I got that right, Geoff?

Bob

Edited By Bob Abell on 25/03/2015 20:19:00

[Geoff RoyleParticipant @geoffroyle15964]

Sorry Bob, The screen held with Bulldog clips shows a spotty Sun 221 days before the 2004 transit of Venus. It was a crude test of the optical train. Geoff Royle

[Geoff RoyleParticipant @geoffroyle15964]

Ahoy Shipmates,

Here for good measure is one of my projected images of the 2004 Transit of Venus. At the time of the event the Sun was predicted to be low in the sky. So, to ensure a clear horizon I chose to observe from our local B&Q car-park. No problem at 0600 with shoppers in white-vans But as usual the U.K. weather almost ruined the occasion. Regards, Geoff Royle

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

An excellent picture Geoff……One of your best?

I think we ought to explain to the Shipmates, that this is a picture of Venus passing in front of the Sun

First, second, third and fourth contacts, refer to the instances of the spherical surfaces making apparent contact, during the transit

Sticking my neck out here, I think, Venus is normally viewed as an illuminated crescent only, but as your picture shows, we can see the a complete sphere

When will this occur again, Geoff?

It once again demonstrates the ability of the Boffins to predict such an event by pure calculation!

Calculations like this are beyond belief!

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

I suppose, members are wondering, why we are posting our Astro stuff, here on a ModelBoat forum, when there are plenty of Technical forums elsewhere?

Well, in a true Astro forum our contributions would be a mere drop in the Ocean, whereas, in the Land of the Blind. The One eye Man is King!…….lol

Sorry King Geoff

Bob

[Geoff RoyleParticipant @geoffroyle15964]

re Transits of Venus : Bob asked, "When will this occur again, Geoff ?" Well I think the least of my polymathic tricks is knowing that Google and Wikipedia usually know best The answer is December 2117 and if you are still around you won't see it from the U.K. Tough luck My inspiration was in a folded & stapled A4 pamphet I had the good fortune to find at an amateur radio rally in Derby. The author Allan Chapman was a 20th C authority on the subject. It described the works of "Three North Country Astronomers", namely William Crabtree of Manchester; Jeremiah Horrocks of Toxteth and Southport; and William Gascoigne of Thorpe-on-the-Hill, Leeds. The first ever sighting of a Transit Venus (as predicted by Kepler) was observed in 1639 at Southport by Horrocks, and in Manchester by Crabtree. The event is depicted in a large mural in Manchester Town Hall. So that's life ! I had the good fortune and guidance to get tooled-up and hands-on for the 2004 Transit of Venus. Geoff Royle, G4FAS

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Geoff

You were extremely luck to discover the info in time to get yourself ready!

It is a magnificent achievement, old boy!

Next transit is 2117 Hey?…..Once again, the power of Mathematics can predict something as distant as this!

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Did you know that Capt Cook sailed to Tahiti in the 1700's with a bagful of Harrison watches, which were the most accurate chronographs of the time, in ordere to take scientific readings of the Sun……Within a few minutes of the same readings being taken at Greenwich, in order to calculate the distance of the Sun and it's diameter

Truly awesome…..in the 1700's too

Can you imagine sailing 10,000 miles at 5 mph!

Btw…..A Harrison watch was the watch that Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses, sold for £6million!

Bob

[Geoff RoyleParticipant @geoffroyle15964]

Bob has come up with yet another challenge. This time he has suggested that I describe for the benefit of The Forum my obsession with rough and ready radio-astronomy. Sorry Bob, but that's too big an 'ask' ! So I have pasted here the well chosen words I recently added to my personal web-site : – – – – –

" 1996 – 2000 [after retiring from my job as a draughtsman] I constructed a 'garden' size radio telescope for the detection of discrete radio-noise, such as Cygnus A; M1 the Crab; M87 Virgo A; and Cassiopeia A. The project became a wonderland of imagination; determination; history; astronomy; general science and handicraft, and for me alone perhaps, an ideal retirement project.

I captured this chart recording during six dark hours as Cygnus A slipped steadily westward. "Dark hours" are essential during these experiments because the relative radio-noise of the Sun is monstrous.

I know that the MB forum is no place for too much of this. If required I can be contacted here at http://www.g4fas.net

Regards, Geoff Royle, Cheadle ,Cheshire

p.s. Now then : I wonder if my old Marblehead has survived 45 years in the loft ?

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Nice and brief, for once, Geoff…….( He can go on for hours, you know)

Only joking my mate You have done a fine job, a fine technical achievement, for a home build……….But it`s completely over my head, to be honest, Geoff………But you ask him about a Brushless motor and you`ll get the dead codfish look!

Only a picture of your Marblehead can bring us down to earth now Geoff and this should be a sight for sore eyes?

Geoff used to work at the Woodford Aerospace for many years before retirement and thanks to his kind assistance, he got me in the Woodford Model Aircraft Club, where I flew my 1/4 scale Piper Cub with 20cc Four stroke engine

What a nice flyer that was!

Who wants to see my planes?……Not too many mind!

Bob

[Tony HadleyParticipant @tonyhadley]

I would very much like to see your aircraft models Bob. You certainly have many interests, we have seen your astronomy, paintings, gardening and model boats.

The most impressive model aircraft I ever saw was a large Spitfire with a 50cc motor, when flying it had the characteristics of a full sized one.

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hello Tony

Having a problem, locating the Piper Cub photo……It was posted on this Forum, a few years ago, but it's not in the galleries for some strange reason…..Will find it shortly

Geoff Royle

How did you zero in on the target….Cygnus?……..With your aerial?

Also the Crab, because, I only saw the Crab once in ten years!

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Just found this photo, showing the observatory, looking quite new, with the new pond and crazy paving path just having being laid out

Complete with the Lady of the house and Joyce, my beloved!

Gosh!…..These old pictures bring back the memories!

Needless to say, the Herons ate all the Goldfish!

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

The Observatory build

The old lady next door peeped over the fence and asked what I was building

Quick as a flash, I replied….."I`m bulding a Pig Pen!"……..She didn`t bat an eye!………I wonder what her first thoughts were?

The build was most exciting and interesting……….It`s a big model!

Bob

[Geoff RoyleParticipant @geoffroyle15964]

Bob said, "How did you zero in on the target….Cygnus (A) ?……..With your aerial?"

Well Bob, at the risk of sounding facetious, I referred to the available data, namely JBAA Handbook 1972/p.63/Radio Sources; and on the right, Norton's Star Atlas as snapped for this photo :-

The value 1420 in the 4th column is the Flux, commonly known as signal strength.

Bob, This bite-size approach of questions and answers suits me, but at this rate neither of us will live to see the end of the saga.

GR

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