What have you been up to lately?

[DeanD]

Baking for holidays, I was up until 01:00 finishing things.
It still smells like butter tarts and raspberry cookies this morning

That sounds delicious Gabrielle

Can I come round and have a taste - please

Yeah Gabby: do you do on-line delivery (sadly, it is bit far from here for take-away!)?

[Chich]

Spent the day falling down a rabbit hole.

Emm was not feeling well so decided I would just stay in and putter while she slept. Found an account from 1788 of Herschel's observations of 'volcanos' on the moon the year before. The text was iffy so spent a while retyping it. It brought a bunch of questions such as there being no lunar volcanic activity for at least 50my so what did he see? Some said earth shine but I'm not sure.
He mentioned a comet discovered by Pierre Méchain (C/1787 G1) a few months earlier. Maybe it broke up and hit the moon? Well no, but I did find some beautiful records at the Académie (Royale) des sciences of the original observations by Méchain and Messier which led on to reading on how the two were avid and competitive comet hunters and Méchain contributing many items to Messier's list. Then I got to wondering about Herschel naming Uranus the “Georgian planet”. He mentions using it to estimate the size of his volcanos. So off I went and although I knew the general background, dug into it and found that after being persuaded to name it that by other scientists when he discovered it in 1781, King George III was so flattered he made Herschel the Royal Astronomer. So, why did the name change? Well, the rest of the scientific community wanted to continue with names of gods so they went along with it until Herschel died and Uranus it became. AND, while reading up on this I found out that John Flamsteed actually saw Uranus in 1690 but did not realise it was a planet and labelled it 34 Tauri in his catalouge. Which led me on to Flamsteed numbers (such as 51 Pegasi, and 61 Cygni) that he came up with but which sort of fell out of favour but are still in use. Then I read on how he was the first Astronomer Royal (Which isn't the same as Royal Astronomer but I havent got to looking up exactly why yet) and was the guy who set up the Royal Greenwich Observatory which led me to digging up a description of his Mural Arc which better allowed the recording of object positions. Finally back to the original article and now I'm wondering when we figured out craters can be made by impacts and not just volcanos which we did not seem to know in 1788. Google is no help (yet)
Several other branches here and there, including wondering where one can get a purple telescope and why don't I have one and then it was time to feed the dogs.

[DeanD]

You've been a busy boy! Not sure about the purple telescope thing, although here you go:
... and of course this one: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/3500 ... -sunspots/

However, regarding impact craters I found this article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.10 ... 7020032451

... with a summary/abstract quoted below:
"The origin of lunar craters has been discussed for centuries,since they were discovered by Galilei in 1609. The majority of researchers were of the opinion that they are volcanic structures, but a variety of “exotic” explanations that included tidal forces, circular glaciers, and coral atolls was also considered. The meteorite impact hypothesis had been discussed a few times, starting with Hooke in 1665, and formulated in more detail by Proctor in 1873 and Gilbert in 1893. However, this theory only gained momentum early in the 20th century, after the identification of Meteor Crater in Arizona as an impact structure, and after specific and plausible physical models for impact craters formation were devised by Öpik in 1916, Ives in 1919, and Gifford in 1924. Nevertheless, despite growing evidence for the interpretation that most craters formed by impact, proponents of the volcanic theory impact were still vociferous as late as 1965, just four years before the first samples were brought back from the moon."

Note especially the 1965 date! I think Eugene Shoemaker was one of the main people who finally put the volcanic theories to rest.

All the best,

Dean

[Lady Fraktor]

Here you are Chich
https://www.lowes.com/pl/Purple--Spray- ... 4294539901

[DeanD]

Here you are Chich
https://www.lowes.com/pl/Purple--Spray- ... 4294539901

Looks perfect for my Tak refractor... or maybe not.

[Lady Fraktor]

A royal purple Takahashi would be interesting

[Makuser]

Well, yesterday my neighbor Jimmy and I decided to not only replace the lost fence sections from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, but the entire back yard fence. And he got a few colleagues from NASA to help. We started at 9 am at Lowe's for supplies and spent an hour and a half going from one end of the building to the other and ended up at the customer service in the center of the store, which then directed us to the back of the store to load the new fence materials. Anyway, we finally got started removing the old fence sections and installing the new fence sections. We finished by 5 pm which included a lunch break for some tacos and beer. It all turned out well, but I know that all of us are really feeling it today.

[Butterfly Maiden]

It looks like you all did a magnificent job there Marshall.

You need to have a lay down now and recover

[Butterfly Maiden]

We decided to put our Christmas decorations up today

We have added lots of sparkle to our home and garden with lovely lights twinkling everywhere.

[pakarinen]

Ordered an AT72EDII. Well, I had to - they're on sale!

I'm hoping it'll be a good replacement for my 90mm Mak for lunar observing.

[DeanD]

I've been working on some possible Christmas gifts. An old piece of jarrah (a native red-coloured hardwood) got a workover:

Before, in my bench vice:

After:

I think the wood comes up nicely.

[GCoyote]

I bought another used scope
Gskyer 80mm f5


Missing the lens of course and diagonal was broken. The finder tube and accessory tray are missing but the tripod and mount look exactly like those on a Celestron Astromaster so I'm sure I can get the parts. I have some in my box of spares.

$25

[Butterfly Maiden]

Sophia and I are currently planning our next visit to London this weekend.

We are taking the train on Sunday morning and returning on Tuesday evening.

Sophia is looking online for a suitable hotel central to where we want to visit, probably in Leicester Square or Covent Garden area. This is within walking distance for visiting museums and other sights and close to tube stations for going further afield.

The Christmas lights are on our list this time, plus checking out some of the Christmas markets.

Covent Garden and the Tower of London are two places we have never visited before, so they are a must to see.

It will give me a great opportunity to fully test the camera of my new phone, with daytime indoor and outdoor scenes, plus night scenes for the lights.

We are making a list of things we need to take with us just so we don’t forget anything.

Lots to do at the moment, and I probably won't get time to be on the Forum over those days away, but you will manage just fine without me I am sure

[Chich]

However, regarding impact craters I found this article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.10 ... 7020032451

Thanks for the link.

That is one of the reasons I like reading up on history. It is suprising that things we take for granted as common knowledge are often fairly recent discoveries.

[Chich]

First snow of the year so wee Fionn and I headed out.
We usually get a few days of snow before it melts. About every decade or so we will have snow all winter.

Heading out

River back of the house

Into the park

Following the trail by the river

Anyone know the quote that goes along with this toque?

[pakarinen]

Not me, but my youngest just got his CPA license from the state today. We're celebrating. And I'm expecting a *very* nice Christmas present from him now that everything is official and he was promoted to senior associate.

[OzEclipse]

First snow of the year so wee Fionn and I headed out.
We usually get a few days of snow before it melts. About every decade or so we will have snow all winter.



Anyone know the quote that goes along with this toque?

Quote? "I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok."
Hang on, there's a whole song not just a quote for this!

[Chich]

That is indeed a fine song and I know it by heart, but I was thinking of this

[GCoyote]

Two different relatives asked for telescope advice yesterday!
Between chat, text, and social media that took up most of yesterday.

[KingNothing13]

That is indeed a fine song and I know it by heart, but I was thinking of thisjayne.jpg

It's the Hero of Canton!