my CHANGE log

Began: 1/9/13 8:15 PM
Finished: 1/10/13 5:20 AM
Seeing: IV. Unstable
Transparency: Mostly clear
Site: Norton, Johnson Rd Farm

1. M39 a Open in the Cygnus constellation (also named NGC7092) observed at 8:15 PM - Several brighter stars that forms various lines throughout the cluster. I did my first astronomical sketch of this object, but at 29 degrees, it’s pretty cold. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
2. M103 a Open in the Cassiopeia constellation (also named NGC581) observed at 8:45 PM - Hard for me to identify but after comparing to ocular view in Stellarium, it was easy to see I was looking at my intended target. The three bright stars forming a diagonal line, and then the three small stars forming a tiny triangle to the left. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
3. M81 a Galaxy in the Ursa Major constellation (also named Bode’s Galaxy, NGC3031, UGC5318,Bode’s Galaxies (Nebulae) [1]) observed at 9:57 PM - Found initially with my 30mm EP but then put on the 2x barlow for a closer look. The fuzz got larger but not any real detail. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
4. M50 a Open in the Monoceros constellation (also named Heart-shaped Cluster, NGC2323) observed at 10:16 PM - Tried a few times though the night and finally found it. I now see the heart shape, although its far from a perfect heart! - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
5. M82 a Galaxy in the Ursa Major constellation (also named Cigar Galaxy, Ursa Major A, NGC3034, UGC5322,Cigar Galaxy,Ursa Major A) observed at 10:27 PM - Very cool. With the 30mm EP I can see Bode’s Galaxy in one view. I then placed the 2x barlow and was able to flip between the two as they no longer fit in the EP at the same time. Again, 2x barlow made things bigger but not any more detail. nh - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
6. M42 a Open+D Neb in the Orion constellation (also named Great Orion Nebula, Orion A, NGC1976,Trapezium) observed at 10:03 PM - With the binoculars, you can see the nebula clearly, haze and all. Two stars were seen in the middle. You can see more stars with the Z10 of course. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm), UltraView 10x50
7. Jupiter a Planet in the Taurus constellation observed at 2:56 AM - Io has moved significantly from my previous viewing 5 hours ago. I didn’t realize the moons moved that quickly. The UHC filter seems to cut back on the glow around Jupiter but it is stil hard to see clear detail. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm and a 2X Barlow)
8. M44 a Open in the Cancer constellation (also named Praesepe, Beehive Cluster, NGC2632,Beehive Cluster,Manger (Praesepe),Praesepe (Manger)) observed at 3:16 AM - Easily distinguishable by its multiple 3 star triangles. Viewed initially w/my 30mm EP but moved out to a 40mm for a better view. - with my Z10 (M4K 40mm - Dads)
9. M47 a Open in the Puppis constellation (also named NGC2422) observed at 3:25 AM - Identified based on it’s number 5 dice pattern towards the center of the cluster. - with my Z10 (M4K 40mm - Dads)
10. M48 a Open in the Hydra constellation (also named NGC2548) observed at 3:31 AM - Identified by 5 stars forming a slightly crooked line in the middle with 2 stars at a slight angle toward the top making a funky looking Y. - with my Z10 (M4K 40mm - Dads)
11. M46 a Open in the Puppis constellation (also named NGC2437) observed at 3:43 AM - Had a hard time identifying it but using Stellarium I was able to see the pattern in surrounding stars. The cluster had quite a few stars of the same magnitude packed in there making features distinguishing hard to pick out - with my Z10 (M4K 40mm - Dads)
12. Saturn a Planet in the Libra constellation observed at 3:49 AM - Able to distinguish the rings w/30mm. Adding 2x barlow allowed me to clearly see separation between the planet and its rings. Was looking through a wispy cloud, was able to see 1 moon. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm), Z10 (Z 30mm and a 2X Barlow)
13. M3 a Globular in the Canes Venatici constellation (also named NGC5272) observed at 3:55 AM - When using the 2x barlow and 30mm, nice gray fuzz in the center of a 3 star triangle. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm and a 2X Barlow)
14. M67 a Open in the Cancer constellation (also named King Cobra, NGC2682) observed at 4:01 AM - Beautiful cluster identified by location as well as surrounding stars, including the bright one right below it. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
15. Saturn a Planet in the Libra constellation observed at 4:10 AM - Beautiful. I could pickout detail in the planet with the 9mm. Still looking through a whispy cloud though. With the 6.4 it was amazing how much separation you could see between the rings and the planet. - with my Z10 (Z 9mm and a 2X Barlow), Z10 (M4K 6.4mm - Dads)
16. M53 a Globular in the Coma Berenices constellation (also named NGC5024) observed at 4:25 AM - Much easier to identify than anticipated, the three stronger stars at the bottom left and two faint above the Globular made it easy to spot. It was an easy one do describe so I did my 2nd astronomical using it as the subject. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
17. M40 a Dbl+Asterism in the Ursa Major constellation (also named Winnecke 4,Winnecke 4 (WNC4),WNC 4 (Winnecke 4)) observed at 4:44 AM - Identified by the 4 stars making a parallelagram in the bottom left, then the 3 groups of 2 stars, one on the left, one in the middle top and one on the right. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
18. M106 a Galaxy in the Canes Venatici constellation (also named NGC4258, UGC7353) observed at 5:05 AM - Very faint gray glob only spotting through averted vision, then confirmed by three stars in the lower right, one star middle-upper left and finally one in the top of the EP. Moving the scope around you could see the gray glob move accordingly, but to look at it directly it was hard to see. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)

Began: 1/8/13 6:53 PM
Finished: 1/8/13 8:18 PM
Seeing: IV. Unstable
Transparency: Mostly clear
Site: Norton, Johnson Rd Farm

1. M31 a Galaxy in the Andromeda constellation (also named Andromeda Galaxy, NGC224, UGC454,Andromeda A,Andromeda Galaxy) observed at 6:53 PM - Also viewed with 9mm EP. Barn light was on making it hard to find via the Telrad, thus reverted to Az/Alt. Not a clear view, but easily identifiable. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
2. M110 a Galaxy in the Andromeda constellation (also named Satellite Of Andromeda Galaxy, NGC205, UGC426,Satellite of Andromeda 1) observed at 6:57 PM - Much smaller than Andromeda but an easy jump from it using just the 30mm EP FoV. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
3. M34 a Open in the Perseus constellation (also named Spiral Cluster, NGC1039) observed at 7:45 PM - Group of stars, pretty close to each other. Interesting that it was so high in the sky I could just about turn my scope anywhere along the AZ and still have it in view. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
4. M42 a Open+D Neb in the Orion constellation (also named Great Orion Nebula, Orion A, NGC1976,Trapezium) observed at 8:03 PM - with my Z10

Began: 1/7/13 7:17 PM
Finished: 1/7/13 10:36 PM
Seeing: IV. Unstable
Transparency: Clear
Site: Norton, Johnson Rd Farm

1. M45 a Open in the Taurus constellation (also named Pleiades, Seven Sisters, Subaru,Pleiades,Seven Sisters,Subaru) observed at 7:17 PM - with my C8/VX (GR 18mm)
2. M31 a Galaxy in the Andromeda constellation (also named Andromeda Galaxy, NGC224, UGC454,Andromeda A,Andromeda Galaxy) observed at 8:01 PM - with my C8/VX
3. M35 a Open in the Gemini constellation observed at 8:34 PM - Still trying to learn how to use my Telrad effectively, wound up finding this one with my setting circle and altitude gauge. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
4. M36 a Open in the Auriga constellation (also named Pinwheel Cluster, NGC1960) observed at 9:09 PM - Getting pretty cold outside, not trying telrad anymore for learning, just using setting circle/altitude gauge. Being new it is hard to identify I am looking at the right object other than the fact that there is a large grouping of stars where I placed my scope and around the group is much less stars. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
5. M37 a Open in the Auriga constellation (also named Auriga Salt-and-pepper Cluster, January Salt-and-pepper Cluster, NGC2099,Auriga Salt-and-Pepper,January Salt-and-Pepper) observed at 9:17 PM - Tightly grouped star cluster with much smaller stars. The 30mm piece had plenty of space around the group so I tossed on my only other EP (9mm) for a closer look. At 9mm M37 was larger than the FOV. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
6. M38 a Open in the Auriga constellation (also named Starfish Cluster, NGC1912) observed at 9:25 PM - Once found also put on the 9mm for a closer view. Pretty cool seeing the cluster of stars with much less stars outside of the cluster. Found using az/alt. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)
7. M1 a SNR in the Taurus constellation (also named Crab Nebula, Taurus A, NGC1952,CM Tauri,Crab Nebula,Crab Pulsar,Taurus A) observed at 10:21 PM - Whew, took a long time and many failed attempts before I finally saw this faint splotch of fuzz. I believe the seeing is responsible, as it is poor this evening. - with my Z10 (Z 30mm)

What do you think, is it cheaper to drive somewhere or run? I own a Chrysler Town and Country minivan to transport my family of six around in and I also own a pair of Asics GEL-Cumulus 14 running shoes. Although this is no scientific analysis, it is rather interesting, I think! For our comparison, we are going to break down the costs per mile and see which is cheaper, running or driving.

When selecting a race to run in, we like to pick one that has some charitable benefit but also one that is relatively local and since I have two daughters now (12 and 10) that are runners we like to choose them that have age based ranking and prizes. The Run4Fun Summer Solstice run met our criteria. The charitable benefit was Muscular Dystrophy and they had a 14 and under age group. Thus, the run is on.

Iup is a cross-platform GUI toolkit that wrap platform native widgets, thus always a native and high performance experience for the user yet a simple API for the developer. It contains all the common widgets and in addition an advanced canvas, an OpenGL canvas, web browser widget (embedding Iexplorer on Windows and WebKit on other platforms), pplot and touch screen support.

A common option (and good option) with issue trackers these days is time tracking. It allows the developer to estimate the time required and then log the actual time spent on the issue. Why? It improves the developers ability to estimate the time for a given task thus releases are better scheduled and work isn’t taken on with unrealistic timeframes.

So, that leads me to a task timer for MicroEmacs. It need not be complicated. I created a simple one that allows you to start the timer and then report how long it has been since the timer has been started. Only one timer can run at a given time, no need for more with simple time tracking. I bound the keys C-c b to begin the timer and C-c s to report the status of the timer. You can bind as you see fit. There is no reset or restart functionality. If you want to start working on a new issue, simply start the timer again. That is the reset.

When you have dates on your form you always want to present them in a usable format for your users but this means you must then parse them back into a SQL format before updating your model. I found the very cool gem Chronic that will do the parsing for us. The only thing left to do is make a method to easily use Chronic in our models. For this we will use meta programming. Oh, I use Sequel as my ORM of choice but this could be applied to any ORM and even just plain classes if you’d like.

With Sinatra before and after filters are easy. Adding conditions to these filters is also easy but what if I want to only execute a filter if the request type is POST for example? Of course, what I want to do didn’t exist so here I show you how to create your own filter conditions.

I’ve been a ham radio operator for more than 20 years now and have never run more than 100 watts of power. I decided to venture into the world of amps. I worked a bit with a Dentron 2500 but decided to go with a more modern amp, one with much cheaper tubes. I purchased an Ameritron AL-811H and run it around 600-650 watts. I’ve tried to do various tests to see what it actually does for me in the practical world (not just X-Sunit gain) but have thus far failed and figuring out its real benefit. Not because I don’t think it has benefit, just my tests are less than scientific :-)

I found some stations with mild-pile ups and tried to break through barefoot, then after 10-15 unanswered calls kicked on the amp. The first time I tried it, the very first time after I kicked the amp on I heard my callsign come back. Wow, I thought. Next time, with out the amp I gave a call and on the 3rd time (no amp) the station came back. Then another one 10-15 unanswered calls, kick on the amp and 10-15 unanswered calls later the station went QRT. So… still exploring the world of amps and amateur radio. Sometimes I’ll be on my Kenwood running 100 watts, other times on my Ten-Tec Argonaut. When there is a station I really want to talk to and barefoot doesn’t seem to be cutting it, I flip on the amp to see if it will… I suppose after some time under my belt I’ll learn when the amp will help and when I’ll still fail. No beam isn’t helping in some situations but, we all enjoy the hobby with what we have!