Grillin & Gazin Turned into Grillin & Grazin ;-)

Back from our astronomy club's (http://www.tristateastronomers.org) monthly get-together.  The good news is there were plenty of folks there and plenty of food & drink, but the bad news (for amateur astronomers anyways) was not a single break in the clouds - socked in.  So our official Grillin & Gazin event turned into a Grillin and Grazin (ie, from eating and observing to eating and eating ;-)  Still, good fellowship and food, not to mention our host, Rod, brought out three boxes of astronomy books that were available for the taking.  Being an avid bookworm, I managed to find a few.  Thanks Rod!

Also, it seems Google got things resolved with their slideshow gadget - the two at the right side of the page seem to be working again.  Thanks Google...   Cheers...

Hmmmm - What's Wrong Here Google?

Hmmm - Not sure what is going on but my two Picasa photo albums are no longer loading at right.  Doing a web search reveals that others are having odd little problems like this with Blogger / Blogspot which is owned by Google.  Seems the techies are snoozing a bit, eh?  Hope it gets fixed soon... In the mean time, you can just go to my public photo albums - http://picasaweb.google.com/TheAstroMonk.  Ciao!

The Observatory Video Cam is Finally on the Net...

Hi all:  Well finally!  I spent a couple hours in the 'pod' yesterday and rewired all the various video bits and boxes (distribution amp, selector, enhancer, processor box, and date-time stamper) and got it piped over to the computer.  I can now see and record all the live video from the telescope on the computer.

Since last night had a few breaks in the clouds, I decided to try my hand at broadcasting my observations (video) over the internet.  I was able to get a few different deep sky objects on the screen, including the "Blue Snowball" - a planetary nebula.   Its pretty cool because I can be out in the pod doing my observing thing and Marye can be watching the same thing I'm seeing on our flat screen TV.  The thing that makes it all possible is a website called Night Skies Network "http://www.nightskiesnetwork.com/".  I'm signed up there as, what else, "AstroMonk" ;-)

If you want to check it out (mostly in the evenings, but occasionally someone will be broadcasting daytime solar images too), just go to  the site, and click on one of the many names listed that are highlighted.  If I'm broadcasting, then "AstroMonk" will be highlighted.  If not, look for one of the others and click on the name.  You'll be taken to their broadcast page where you can see whatever their scope is pointed at.  As well, there is a window where you can chat with the broadcaster.  Some broadcasters are set up with a microphone and will answer back verbally - others have to type.  If you want to ask questions or comment, make sure you first type a name in the text box and click send.  You can use any name - just a way to identify who is saying what when there are a number of folks watching and chatting on the same channel.  After this you can chat away.  It's really a good way to learn a lot about observational astronomy in a short time.

I still have a few things to do to bring everything up to full potential.  The mount needs to have it's polar alignment refined just a tad to keep objects from slowly drifting out of view -- a process called 'drift alignment'.  Manually, it takes a couple hours to do (at least if you haven't done it before ;-)  There are some software aids that can speedup the process that I'll likely try.  Anyway, hopefully you'll be able to see some broadcasts of the heavens from ole AstroMonk in the weeks and months ahead.  Until then, Peace and blessings...

New Photos Added

Added a few new photos to the "Mini AstroPhotos" slideshow - check them out.  I've got just about everything working and playing together nice in the observatory -- just a few final tweaks to do and then I can focus on observing and astrophotography (not so much on tinkering!)

...May looking at the heavens always leave you breathless and in awe o God!

Peace & blessings, Donn

Introductory Ramblings from the AstroMonk

Greetings! OK - I got this blog set up, made my first intro post and all seems to be working. Now what :-) I could define what this blog is going to be all about -- but frankly, I'm not sure yet. It could go many directions (because I can go many directions ;-) Hey, variety is the spice of life, right? (And I never met a spice - or food - I don't like :-)

Well for tonight, let me just say why I decided to do this and why the astro thing. I guess this is just a first step in getting some writings out there in the digital landscape. I've been working with computers since building my first one from a kit back in 1975 (a SouthWest Technical Products 6800 system with a whopping 4K (no that's not a typo - 4K as in 4096 8-bit kilobytes) of RAM memory! I could actually run a Tiny Basic interpreter in that 4K and still have room to write some short but useful programs. (Where has all the efficient code gone? Nowadays even the very simplest programs are multiple gluttonous megabytes of sloppy code! Oh well, lets not go down that bunny trail right now...)

But those were some interesting times. I must say, my wife Marye is one patient loving wife! Ever since those days, I've always had to have one whole room (or a basement) for my hobbies -- you know -- my "man cave" ;-) We lived in Dayton Ohio back then while I was assigned to Gentile Air Force Station. BTW it's pronounced 'Gen TIL lee' - not Gentile as in non Jewish (although mostly Gentiles worked there ;-) Dayton was home to the NCR / National Cash Register world headquarters (and main surplus property sales division.) That place was like a toy store for me. I soon had a Pertec 9 track tape drive (about the size of a modest refrigerator), a Potter LP600 line printer (as big as a washer or dryer - but way heavier) and a Facit 4070 high speed paper tape punch and reader. The Potter line printer was great! It had about a 16" wide rapidly spinning drum with a raised helical edge on it. The paper and an inked ribbon passed between the drum and a series of voice-coil activated blades that were perpendicular to the helix. The logic would time when the blade would pulse out and quickly hit the raised helix, forming a dot on the paper. The printer could print one whole line of text in about a second. The cool thing was the sound it made - a 'brrrraapppppp' like a machine gun - and the fact that the lights in the house would momentarily dim with each line printed! (I'm not so sure Marye found that as amusing as I did ;-)

Since computers were brand new to enthusiasts, you couldn't just go buy an interface card for your printer or tape drive -- I had to design and build them! It was indeed a learning experience, but eventually I had everything working. Eventually added an ASR33 teletype and built my own 'glass teletype" or simple 80 x 24 character CRT display terminal. I know, I know -- 99% of you have no idea what these things were. But hey - I was a geek before anyone knew what a geek was!

Now see, off on a bunny trail! All that to say, that since I spend so much time with computers, I might as well post some thoughts out there on the server banks that make up the internet. Writing about astronomy is a natural for me. It incorporates some of my favorite things - optics, space, computers, physics, and God. To me, astronomy is one of the physical sciences where the glory of God is visible everywhere -- although sadly, many astronomers and physicists don't realize it. Far too many scientists feel that science is the closest thing to the grand answer to everything and that only those things which they have absolutely no understanding of, are left to the nebulous realm of God and the philosophers. God is so visible in all of it! That's why I'm really so psyched on astronomy right now. In a very big way, observational astronomy is like a visual worship experience; awe inspiring and amazing in every way.

Well, ciao for tonight -- its getting late. I may be a night owl, but even owls have to sleep.

Peace and blessings to you...

First Post

Ok folks - here it is finally - The AstroMonk's blog! I've been meaning to do it for a while, so no time like the present! I will post some notes, thoughts, and photos here from time to time as they relate to astronomy (my hobby) and the Lord (my passion.) Feel free to comment and such but please do keep everything relevant and clean. I coined the moniker "AstroMonk" for the obvious reason as related above, but also because it ties into my (soon to be built ;-) other site - http://www.digitalmonastery.org/. The Digital Monastery is both the name of my ministry (whose focus is to facilitate worship through sound, light and media) and my observatory (shown above.)