1511 replies to this topic

[RazorbackWatcher]

.....and I just realized how lame my life is......sheesh.....

[ccwemyss]

Hi friends, if I’m not around over the next month or two, don’t worry about me, I’m fine (actually I’m going crazy), I’m in the midst of packing everything up as I’m moving in four weeks so that’s my prime mission and about all that I can see right now, sort of a kind of tunnel vision! Then, after that, I’ll be unpacking and settling up my new place. Then I am going to The Big Easy first week of April for a vacay. But as Arnold says, “I’ll be back!”

Hope all goes well! I know you've been looking forward to this. 

 

We haven't moved in decades, but I remember we got sick of unpacking once we realized we had enough cookware and flatware out so we wouldn't starve. Then the trick was to do one more box each night. It took another couple of months to finish, but the stress level went way down, and it got to be a bit like Christmas every  evening. 

Chip W. 

[tim53]

I was told much the same thing at several points in my college career.  First was at Cal State Long Beach orientation with the geology department chair.  I had just transferred from junior college, where I'd accumulated 120 units of course credit over 5 years.  I'd done a semester at Cal State San Diego, when I thought I wanted to major in Astronomy.  Perhaps fortunately for me at the time, there were no planetary astronomy faculty.  So when I realized I enjoyed night assisting on the Boller and Chivens 16" at Mt Laguna more than I enjoyed making maps of the Milky Way from radio doppler measurements, I decided to change majors to Geology.  Well, that and my girlfriend at the time (now my wife of 47 years) lived back up north in Orange County were the motivators in moving back home.  Anyway, at my orientation at Long Beach, I was asked "what area do you want to major in?" and I said "Planetay Geology",  He looked down his nose at me (somewhat of a feat, as he was a good foot shorter than me) and said "Well, that might be an interesting hobby persuit, but here most of our students major in either Engineering or Petroleum Geology."  So I kept my mouth firmly shut for the next 2 years while I finished my BS.  And though I wrote a planetary thesis for my MS at Cal State LA, and for my PhD at USC, I've never taken a planetary science class in college.  I've been a Planetary Geologist for 42 years.

 

The second time I heard the kind of discouraging advice was at one of the Planetary Society's Saturn conventions in the early 80s.  An astronomy undergrad asked Carl Sagan "What can a struggling astronomy student look forward to after completing her degree?"  The answer:  "to being a struggling astronomer."  True, but not very inspiring.  What inspired me to continue my pursuit of planetary geology was what a former advisor at JPL said to me when I met with him for the first time at JPL in January 1981.  He said "There's always room at the top for the best."  Which might not be particularly inspiring for a student who worked throughout his bachelor's program, got married, and started a family all at the same time.  But he also said something to the effect of "you know what you want to do.  The best people for the job aren't necessarily the ones with 4.0 GPAs, they're often the ones with the greatest enthusiasm for the subject."  There were a couple others during this time who said much the same thing.  My former boss while I was working 36-72 hours/week in the oil fields west of Bakersfield, while taking classes toward my MS at Cal State LA said something like "it doesn't matter what your thesis is about, so long as you're good at the job" - in reference to my concerns that I was working as a well-logger while focusing on planetary geology for my Thesis.  

 

Finally, my PhD advisor accepted me as his 100th grad student because "you know what you want to do already.  That's 3/4 of the battle."

 

I confess that I  haven't mentored a lot of people in my career.  But a couple incidents st and out where I was given  the opportunity to "pay it forward" (before that was a thing).  One, in particular, was after I'd given the keynote address at the Oregon Star Party in 2003.  An elderly gentleman (it's funny saying that now that *I* am elderly!) with a youngster in tow approached me as I left the tent heading back to my campsite.  He introduced himself as the youngster's grandfather, and said his grandson (who was 12 at the time) wanted to know what he should do if he wants to be an astronaut when he grows up.  I said something like "Do what you enjoy doing the most.  The astronaut program needs all kinds of people with expertise in all sorts of fields of study.  And I think I told them a couple of the stories I told you, above.  ...that was almost 20 years ago.  I wonder what that 32 year old is doing now?

 

-Tim.

...but my favorite demotivator poster is still "if you honestly believe you can compensate for a lack of skill by redoubling your efforts, then there's no limit to what you can't do."  

[ccwemyss]

...but my favorite demotivator poster is still "if you honestly believe you can compensate for a lack of skill by redoubling your efforts, then there's no limit to what you can't do."  

Mine is the one with a circle of arms reaching into the center, hands overlapping, with the caption:

 

Meetings. None of us is as dumb as all of us.

 

I recently heard about a tech company that banned meetings. Productivity went up considerably. 

 

Chip W. 

[clamchip]

This article has some very good easy to understand information on Star Testing a Telescope:

https://www.bbastrod...tarTesting.html

 

Robert

[clamchip]

I found this site on Gilbert.

Look at all the microscope kits. Click on them and they enlarge and very cool.

The Gilbert telescopes are in miscellaneous, MISCELLANEOUS! well I guess Gilbert didn't make many

telescopes, nothing compared to their other kits.

Take a look at the Erector Sets too. 

https://www.acghs.or.../1?page_id=4779

 

Robert

[Bomber Bob]

Here's a TGIF Thought Experiment:  OpenAI has released ChatGPT-4, a Large Language Model (LLM) search engine assistant (answer - getter), which got me looking into Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).  OpenAI has released / made available the code for previous versions.  I can imagine some enterprising Astro Nerd re-tooling the code into a tool for us -- let's call it, StarAGI (SAGI).  It'll answer all your astro-related questions for free.  For a modest cost, you can buy a special sensor that fits in your focuser rather than an eyepiece, and will assess your old scope's performance through interactions...

 

SAGI:  Let's star test your scope.  Moving your scope 2.6* north, and 3.2* east to center the star Altair.  Thanks!  [short delay]  Your scope has a Strehl-ratio of .96, and below Human visible chromatism.  That's great!  Would you like to test another star?

YOU:  No.  I just want to observe Jupiter....

SAGI:  Perfect.  Jupiter is 131.7 hours from opposition...  Would you like to wait until the optimum day & time?

YOU:  No...

SAGI:  Perfect.  Do you need assistance locating Jupiter?

YOU:  No!

SAGI:  Perfect.  Currently centering Jupiter...

YOU:  Hey! -- You're going the wrong way!  [dewshield scrapes the lawn]  Stop that!  [scope keeps moving]  You yank out the sensor, and the scope stops.  Unbalanced, it tips over...

SAGI:  A communication problem has occurred.  Would you like me to submit an Action Report for you?  [pause]  Hello?  Hello?  Are you there?

 

Yeah.... Sign me up!!

[Garyth64]

"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

Edited by Garyth64, 07 April 2023 - 08:15 PM.

[Terra Nova]

I found this site on Gilbert.

Look at all the microscope kits. Click on them and they enlarge and very cool.

The Gilbert telescopes are in miscellaneous, MISCELLANEOUS! well I guess Gilbert didn't make many

telescopes, nothing compared to their other kits.

Take a look at the Erector Sets too. 

https://www.acghs.or.../1?page_id=4779

 

Robert

Thanks for the link Robert. Here’s my favorite website concerning all things Gilbert:

 

http://www.jitterbuzz.com/scikits.html

[tim53]

ChatGPT, complaining to goto mount about amateur astronomers:  "They're made out of meat!"

[ccwemyss]

ChatGPT will authoritatively and amorally spout misinformation on any topic so as to please whoever asks it a question. In other words, the pinnacle product, resulting from the billions of dollars invested in AI research, is an artificial politician. 
 

Chip W.

[deSitter]

...but my favorite demotivator poster is still "if you honestly believe you can compensate for a lack of skill by redoubling your efforts, then there's no limit to what you can't do."  

That sounds like something from H. L. Mencken!

 

-drl

[deSitter]

ChatGPT will authoritatively and amorally spout misinformation on any topic so as to please whoever asks it a question. In other words, the pinnacle product, resulting from the billions of dollars invested in AI research, is an artificial politician. 
 

Chip W.

I call it a search engine with sequins.

 

-drl

[deSitter]

I bought a Ramsden eyepiece, 20mm Monolux branded. It will be the only Ramsden I own when it arrives. There are Ramsden eyepieces in the old classic finders but they are fixed to the finder. I had a couple of achromatic Ramsdens with my RV-6, but I assume that was another name for a Plossl. So this will be my first ever straight Ramsden eyepiece. Wonder how it will perform in f/15 refractors? What about my f/4.5 Newtonian? I'll even throw in the Paracorr to give it a head start!

 

-drl

[Terra Nova]

ChatGPT will authoritatively and amorally spout misinformation on any topic so as to please whoever asks it a question. In other words, the pinnacle product, resulting from the billions of dollars invested in AI research, is an artificial politician. 
 

Chip W.

It’s the new HAL 9000!

[deSitter]

There is a cat in this cat video (wow!) named - Towa!

 

https://youtu.be/-0hZeu41tyk

 

-drl

[deSitter]

22 pages of prism goodness! (PDF)

 

https://wp.optics.ar...08/5-prisms.pdf

 

-drl

[CharlieB]

I bought a Ramsden eyepiece, 20mm Monolux branded. It will be the only Ramsden I own when it arrives. There are Ramsden eyepieces in the old classic finders but they are fixed to the finder. I had a couple of achromatic Ramsdens with my RV-6, but I assume that was another name for a Plossl. So this will be my first ever straight Ramsden eyepiece. Wonder how it will perform in f/15 refractors? What about my f/4.5 Newtonian? I'll even throw in the Paracorr to give it a head start!

 

-drl

I have this eyepiece and it will work fine on the f/15.  

 

Are they really making f/4.5 scopes now?  Wow! 

 

It works in the central 1/2 of an f/4.5.

 

Charlie

[clamchip]

Here's something interesting, 'Deep Black Optical Paint' for painting the interior of telescopes.

Read the page, especially the part about adding sand or poppy seeds, and also the bit about

anodized surfaces and imaging.

https://www.gerdneum...ical-paint.html

 

Robert

[jragsdale]

Here's something interesting, 'Deep Black Optical Paint' for painting the interior of telescopes.

Read the page, especially the part about adding sand or poppy seeds, and also the bit about

anodized surfaces and imaging.

https://www.gerdneum...ical-paint.html

I recently discovered that painting the inside of a bare aluminum tube with a very matte flat black was actually MORE reflective than bare raw aluminum as you can see in this photo showing the front portion being painted with flat black that has dried. I think it filled some small imperfections in the metal, giving it a smoother finish.

Attached Thumbnails

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[m0bius]

Just ta other day I noticed the same thing while painting a draw tube. My flat black spray paint was making things worse initially. But after the 3rd coat the surface started to get some texture and darkened-up quite a lot. Seemed like moving the can further away from the surface also seemed to help create a less-reflective finish. That's my two cents worth

Edited by m0bius, 29 May 2023 - 05:39 PM.

[clamchip]

I will try chalkboard paint next time, and poppy seeds? maybe.

Sawdust is another idea, or crushed walnut.

 

Robert 

[jragsdale]

I will try chalkboard paint next time, and poppy seeds? maybe.

Sawdust is another idea, or crushed walnut.

 

Robert 

I opted for baffles along with adhesive backed black felt for the front 4" that is slightly visible beyond the baffles. Seems to bring the maximum darkness to the party.

[clamchip]

Baffles are amazingly effective, I like to use at least one near the middle.

And if I can a baffle on the end of the focuser tube too.

As you mentioned it is that stretch just behind the objective that needs felt or flock paper or paint.

Edmund used a very dead paint in this area because the tube is the same

diameter as the objective on both the 3 and 4 inch refractors.

 

Robert

[steve t]

In my Newtonian, I've used the method described in Allyn Thompson's book " Making Your Own Telescope" and had very good luck lining the aluminum tube with 1/8" cork and painting it with Rustolium (sp) camouflage black paint (to me this paint seems to be a little flatter than standard flat black). The cork helps with thermal management and the texture acts as little light traps.