What are you doing? - (Hobbies Thread)

[Morgan]

On 3/21/2022 at 9:01 AM, Castanza said:

 

I was just in WV the past four days at a cabin and spent a night camping at the Greenbank Observatory air strip campground. Didn't have a telescope but the view was still amazing. 

 

Cherry Springs in PA is also a solid location for people on the East Coast 

 

The area around the Greenbank Observatory is very beautiful! Must have been stunning to see the dark night sky! 

[Longnose]

On 3/19/2022 at 1:39 PM, maxthetrade said:

A couple of years ago I was into astro imaging, part science part art. I really enjoyed it but unfortunately Germany isn't a very good location for this hobby.

 

 

What kind of equipment do you need to start this / where is a good starting point for education?

[maxthetrade]

20 hours ago, Longnose said:

What kind of equipment do you need to start this / where is a good starting point for education?

 

You basically need a camera, optics and an equatorial mount to compensate the rotation of the earth and if using longer focal length and/or a lower quality mount a guide scope and guiding camera. With today's DSLR's it's possible to get some decent results, cooled slow scan CCD or CMOS cameras will give much better results though because of higher quantum efficiency, lower dark current and readout noise etc. There are very high end cameras like EMCCD's available too, they are quite expensive but allow extremly short exposure 'lucky imaging', a technique that allows to essentialy freeze the atmospheric turbulence and to use only those select frames with the highest resolution. In this case you don't even need a high quality mount. 

There is a very wide range of optics available for astro imaging, from a well corrected telephoto lens to telescopes in the 1m+ class. For bigger aperturtes and for longer focal length you need a very precise (and hence more expensive) mount. Don't skimp on the mount! A well corrected APO refractor like the 4" Takahashi FSQ is a good choice for beginners. Very easy to handle and very well built. Reflectors are much cheaper but require some knowledge about collimation, they are the only choice if you want a big aperture and longer focal length. Refractors are prohibitively expensive at larger apertures. 

A good mount is crucial if you want to obtain great results unless you're using a very short focal length or you're doing lucky imaging. For smaller apertures and short to medium focal lengths (up to ~1000mm) a cheap chinese mount like the EQ-6 will work reasonably well. If you want to do some serious work I'd recommend an Astro-Physics, Paramount, 10 micron or something similar. 

A good book to start is Ron Wodaski's book about CCD imaging: http://www.newastro.com/book_new/default_new2.html

Another good resource is https://www.cloudynights.com/index

I already mentioned Adam Block at https://www.adamblockstudios.com/ Very nice guy with a lot of experience.

Depending where you live in the US I may be able to get you in contact with some local astrophotographers if you are interested.

 

 

 

[Castanza]

22 hours ago, Morgan said:

 

The area around the Greenbank Observatory is very beautiful! Must have been stunning to see the dark night sky! 

Yeah it was pretty sweet although the moon was pretty bright that night and I had a fair amount to drink. Either way I enjoyed it lol 

[Longnose]

6 hours ago, maxthetrade said:

 

You basically need a camera, optics and an equatorial mount to compensate the rotation of the earth and if using longer focal length and/or a lower quality mount a guide scope and guiding camera. With today's DSLR's it's possible to get some decent results, cooled slow scan CCD or CMOS cameras will give much better results though because of higher quantum efficiency, lower dark current and readout noise etc. There are very high end cameras like EMCCD's available too, they are quite expensive but allow extremly short exposure 'lucky imaging', a technique that allows to essentialy freeze the atmospheric turbulence and to use only those select frames with the highest resolution. In this case you don't even need a high quality mount. 

There is a very wide range of optics available for astro imaging, from a well corrected telephoto lens to telescopes in the 1m+ class. For bigger aperturtes and for longer focal length you need a very precise (and hence more expensive) mount. Don't skimp on the mount! A well corrected APO refractor like the 4" Takahashi FSQ is a good choice for beginners. Very easy to handle and very well built. Reflectors are much cheaper but require some knowledge about collimation, they are the only choice if you want a big aperture and longer focal length. Refractors are prohibitively expensive at larger apertures. 

A good mount is crucial if you want to obtain great results unless you're using a very short focal length or you're doing lucky imaging. For smaller apertures and short to medium focal lengths (up to ~1000mm) a cheap chinese mount like the EQ-6 will work reasonably well. If you want to do some serious work I'd recommend an Astro-Physics, Paramount, 10 micron or something similar. 

A good book to start is Ron Wodaski's book about CCD imaging: http://www.newastro.com/book_new/default_new2.html

Another good resource is https://www.cloudynights.com/index

I already mentioned Adam Block at https://www.adamblockstudios.com/ Very nice guy with a lot of experience.

Depending where you live in the US I may be able to get you in contact with some local astrophotographers if you are interested.

 

 

 

Thank you for this. I'm gonna do a little more digging. 

[rossef2]

I used to play a lot of golf, 3-4 handicap 4-5 times a week, with a new child I haven't swung a golf club in 8 months. I'll be lucky to break 100 the next time I'm back.

 

Aside from that, learning Spanish and trying to improve my investing. All quite time consuming tasks for such a time restrained life haha

[throw123]

learning to fly

[Morgan]

12 hours ago, throw123 said:

learning to fly

What plane are you learning on? 

[throw123]

1 hour ago, Morgan said:

What plane are you learning on? 

Started in the C172 but now completing it in the Sonaca s201

[Morgan]

6 hours ago, throw123 said:

Started in the C172 but now completing it in the Sonaca s201

How come you switched planes? The C172 is a good starter plane from what I’ve read. I haven’t taken any lessons, but I want to. 

[throw123]

3 hours ago, Morgan said:

How come you switched planes? The C172 is a good starter plane from what I’ve read. I haven’t taken any lessons, but I want to. 

The school switched to the Sonacas which to be fair im fairly happy with

[longlake95]

Do you know the 2 things that make an airplane fly?

[longlake95]

Airspeed and money. 

 

have fun!

[DooDiligence]

11 hours ago, throw123 said:

The school switched to the Sonacas which to be fair im fairly happy with

 

Now you don't bring your own overcast with you.

I trained in Tomahawks and Warriors.

Never cared for high wings.

[Morgan]

On 3/27/2022 at 2:09 AM, throw123 said:

The school switched to the Sonacas which to be fair im fairly happy with

 

Any idea why they switched? The 172s are very common planes. Those Sonacas look pretty cool though too!  

[throw123]

1 hour ago, Morgan said:

 

Any idea why they switched? The 172s are very common planes. Those Sonacas look pretty cool though too!  

Cost of maintenance etc. I Actually prefer the Sonaca, new planes with glass cockpit, low wings and stick control vs the yoke. Im not a fan of yoke too similar when taxiing to a car...

Also flew a few time in an Extra300 and after this might do some aerobatics or a tail wheel conversion 

[DooDiligence]

4 hours ago, throw123 said:

Cost of maintenance etc. I Actually prefer the Sonaca, new planes with glass cockpit, low wings and stick control vs the yoke. Im not a fan of yoke too similar when taxiing to a car...

Also flew a few time in an Extra300 and after this might do some aerobatics or a tail wheel conversion 

 

Tail draggers are very different than trikes.

 

I flew Super Cubs and J3's a while back.

I highly recommend the Super Cub for short rough fields.

Edited March 28, 2022 by DooDiligence

[throw123]

10 hours ago, DooDiligence said:

 

Tail draggers are very different than trikes.

 

I flew Super Cubs and J3's a while back.

I highly recommend the Super Cub for short rough fields.

There is one super cub at the airfield i fly at but likely wouldnt be able to do the tail wheel conversion here as the school has only trikes

 

[Aurel]

Nice to see some pilots here. I'm just working on my PPL.

 

We fly C172, C152 and Aquila A210 at our Club.

 

 

Edited March 29, 2022 by Aurel

[throw123]

5 hours ago, Aurel said:

Nice to see some pilots here. I'm just working on my PPL.

 

We fly C172, C152 and Aquila A210 at our Club.

 

 

the Aquila A210 looks very similar to the DA40

[Aurel]

21 hours ago, throw123 said:

the Aquila A210 looks very similar to the DA40

Thats right. Maybe a little bit more low-tec/steam-gauge than glass-cockpit. 

 

Its a good plane + they make training cheaper, but still prefer the 172 to be honest. 

[tytthus]

14 year old son has spring break this week, so we are going backpacking for two night trip.  We head out with a few other scout leaders and sons, doing a Philmont shakedown.  Wife, son and I have a 12 trek this summer. 

 

I often sleep better in a tent than in my own bed.  

[Longnose]

1 hour ago, tytthus said:

14 year old son has spring break this week, so we are going backpacking for two night trip.  We head out with a few other scout leaders and sons, doing a Philmont shakedown.  Wife, son and I have a 12 trek this summer. 

 

I often sleep better in a tent than in my own bed.  

 

Good luck! I love backpacking and do a few trips each year. 

 

6 years ago I took 2 months and did 500 miles of the Appalachian trail. (bottom of GSM National Park - north about half way through VA) 

[Pelagic]

1 hour ago, tytthus said:

14 year old son has spring break this week, so we are going backpacking for two night trip.  We head out with a few other scout leaders and sons, doing a Philmont shakedown.  Wife, son and I have a 12 trek this summer. 

 

I often sleep better in a tent than in my own bed.  

I did Philmont when I was 13, I think the 10 day trek, it's an awesome experience. Make sure you have comfortable light weight rain gear to wear while hiking there.

[tytthus]

Short report of backpacking trip...basically 20 miles in two day, first day saw sleet at times.  We had two stream crossings where water was up to 2 feet deep.  Very cold, and the first time these scouts had ever needed to do stream crossings like that. Temp first night got down to 24 F, second night was low of 40ish.  There were some nice steep hills for Missouri, good training for Philmont, but we will see much larger elevation changes there.  Overall, we were well prepared for this trip.

 

On the way home I heard a story on NPR about first order and second order fun.  First order fun is instant gratification stuff, going to a movie, having a nice dinner, video games, etc.  Second order fun is stuff that maybe didn’t seem fun at the time, but looking back afterward was.  Things like running a marathon or anything that takes work but leads to a great sense of accomplishment.  (Nailing an equity analysis thesis and having your stuff go up?)

 

timing of the story was perfect.