So 6 months ago, on May 21st 2011 a guy called Harold Camping kindly predicted the end of the world, universe and Draw Mohammad Day based on his decades of scholarly studying of the Bible. Oddly enough the world did not appear to end as Camping had predicted, and so he was forced to conclude that the world had ‘sort of ended’ and ‘God’, being a sporting fellow had elected to end the world in a way that no-one would notice for 6 months, then it would REALLY end on 21st Oct 2011. Now the great thing is, Camping engaged in some massive billboard campaign about the end of the world, and while touring the US in the summer of 2011 I actually came across one of his billboards boldly proclaiming that the Judgement day actually happened MONTHS ago! Guaranteed by the Bible no less!
Harold Campings 'End of the World MAY 21st 2011' photographed outside Rock Springs WY on Sept 26th 2011.
Sadly when I went through California, ‘Family Radio’ was still going strong, seemly un-phased and un-bothered by the world hadn’t ended their ministry had claimed ‘the Bible ‘Guaranteed’.
It’s about a total 3 hr exposure with a 11in CPC1100, using a canon 60d (iso 2500). 30s exposures, throwing away bad exposures (about 60 %) to yield this using deepskystacker (using about 50 dark frames). The arrow indicates the supernova.
Supernova in M101, August 25th 2011, about a 3 hr exposure with an 11in scope and 2500 iso on a canon D60.
Clearly an improvement of the first attempt which only included about 12 minutes of ‘sky time.’
Right, now back off to the pass to do the same thing again tonight! Me= CRAZY! :-p
-All images available under creative commons license, attribution Thunderf00t 🙂
So after much driving around looking for a good observing sight I eventually found one north of Klamath Falls Oregon (good clear view north).
(‘Klamath Falls’ astronomy site, 25th August 2011)
I then brave the moquitoes, and yeah, there were a LOT of them, to get the scope set up.
The scope acquired data for several hours, this is thus far only processed from 6 minutes worth. I’ve also not got round to sorting the colors out which is why the new exposure appear blue compared to the old one.
The great thing about time lapse and high speed photography, is they give you a sense of the orders of magnitude of time, from the beat of a humming birds wings (below), to the movement of a distant planet.
However, there really is a limit to the motions you can see, and capture in the heavens on a human time-scale. The further away things are, the more they have to change for you to be able to see them. I figured that after sunset on the moon,
the rotation of Jupiter,
and the motion of Uranus and its moons, that was pretty much as far an object as you could look at!
Yup there is a supernova popping off in a nearby galaxy, M101, which by pure chance I took a picture of last month! and yes, I intend to do the time lapse of a star exploding in another galaxy!
M101, taken on 29th July 2011, with cpc1100 and canon60D (~10min exposure)
Now it should be said that this is a MONSTROUS undertaking. SNs typically brighten and fade over a period of weeks! This is all but perfect, arguably a once in lifetime experience. A potentially bright SN, in a nearby galaxy, near the new moon, when I have the time to spend on it! We are a few days before the new moon, which means I can get good observations for maybe two weeks, before the moons glare washes the galaxy out.
Got to Columbus about midday and hooked up with Ashley and a friend of hers from Secular Student Alliance (SSA). We had lunch, then I went to a coffee shop to do some work and she went back to the office. Time lapse with the GPS looked cool, but I was running late and eventually Ashley came to pick me up at the coffee shop.
We chatted for a while, then she decided it was time for me to learn to eat fire. Kinda fun, and no burns! Still think it would work with Bacardi 151 instead of kerosene, but we didn’t give it a go. Pah, prudence! That evening we went out to the Meadery. Not sure what strength meade is, but seems like it packs a hell of a punch more than wine, and we were both well hammered by the time we got back to her place. Drunk blogTV! Where is prudence when you need it! I would suggest that she only got me drunk to strategically deflower me of my YT password, apart from its clear that she, having watched the video we uploaded in the cold light of day that she was in no better state to do plot anything than I! After that we went our separate ways to pass out.
Thursday 7th July, Up bout 9ish and groggy. Before heading off to work, Ashley suggested I visit Westboro Baptist Church seeing as I drove virtually right past their front door. Hadn’t given it any thought, and wasn’t sure what the best approach would be? Sunlight the best sterilant or don’t give feed the trolls. I sorted out the car etc for an hour or so till the mind felt sharp again. Turns out WBC were protesting aboutIndianapolis at some great concert thing, but by the time I got there they had gone (even though there were scheduled to be there for another half hour or so). With the help of Ashley managed to arrange a meeting for the next day. All that meant was I had to cover another 500 or so extra miles. Got caught up in some great Tstorm enroute, bad enough to consider stopping on the side of the road. Always a difficult decision as someone coming up behind, if they see you lights is liable to drive right in the back of you. Similarly if you keep going, you can aquaplane right of the road. When the wheels don’t find purchase on the road, you can be in a world of hurt in seconds. I kept going! Stopped in a rest area just short of Kansas city.
Thunderf00t 