Phosphor

*Boops @Cash In, @Gone Airbourne, @TwilySparky, @Dreambiscuit, @Nightmare Nye-t, @Raririsu, @Mellow Mane, @Haunt-A-Brony, @Sparklefan1234, @Randimaxis, @Dabmanz, @Prospekt and @Deae Rising Shine~

Baked some pork chops for dinner! 

1. Applejack
2. Twilight Sparkle (narrowly trails AJ)
3. Fluttershy
4. Sweetie Bell
5. Apple Bloom
6. Derpy
7. Rarity
8. Rainbow Dash

It was kind of tough after the top 5 favorites. I just love the ponies in general! 

Mayonnaise. I despise the taste of it. Nearly everyone I know loves it.

I probably wouldn't agree with some of their policies, but I'd like to visit Canada someday. I'm not a city person, so I would like to visit the rural areas and enjoy the cooler temps and scenery 

I traveled to the Canadian border last summer while on vacation. Couldn't go thru of course, since I don't have a passport. I need to get one.

Hey everypony! I have some bad news .The shutter died on my modified DSLR camera. This means,no astrophotography or UV/IR photography for a little while. 

I plan to box up the camera and ship it out to a repair facility sometime next week. This won't affect planetary imaging since those are different cameras.

On to today's subject: 

I'm not a fan of spiders, but Argiope spiders are pretty cool looking! I figured it would be neat to see what the spider looked like in different light. It was mostly cloudy today, so my usual UV source (the Sun) was blocked. Infrared and visible light get thru just fine. I used a 365nm UV-A flashlight to illuminate the spider for the UV photograph. She didn't seem to mind at all.  Enjoy!

1st image: Near Infrared

2nd image: Visible

3rd Image: UV-A (365nm)

Ya reckon Granny Smith can hold her alcohol better than Applejack?

13 hours ago, DJ_Vinyl.Scratch_3 said:

I used to have a telescope but I lost it ! (don't ask me how you lose a telescope I do not know ) I don't remember what kind it was either..

Get a GPS tracker for your new one.

12 hours ago, Celtore said:

I've thought about a cart, but even that would be a pain for transportation. I keep it inside and move it onto my deck for star gazing. The trouble is that to get it there, you have a small lip on the ground you have to step over. Wheels wouldn't do too well. Plus with manual transportation, it forces me to keep active so I can support my hobby.

As for the cassegrain, I was thinking about photographing some relatively bright star clusters like M37 and M39. Nothing further than that though, so a 6" would probably be what I'm after.

Ah yeah, that lip would make it difficult for a cart. I lift weights pretty regularly to maintain those muscles. 

The optical tube assembly weights 75lbs and I have to lift it off the cart and set it down on its mount gently. I've done some astrophotography with my schmidt-cassegrain (C8), but I find the focal length to be pretty long. Have to keep exposures at 30s or shorter to avoid star trailing. What kind of tracking mount do you have? Do you plan to autoguide it for long exposures?

9 hours ago, Blizzard Wind said:

I've always wanted a good telescope. I've always been facinated with Astronomy, and I love to do both naked eye and benocular based stargazing. 

Same here. I've loved astronomy since I was a little kid. What kind of objects in the sky do you like to observe?

Surprisingly, I don't have any decent binoculars for stargazing but I do have a pair of night vision binoculars. The view is green tinted, but oh my god! The number of stars visible is amazing!  

34 minutes ago, Celtore said:

I have my Orion XT12g dobsonian with a 12 inch diameter and motorized goto. It's an absolute pain to set up as the base and telescope are 50 pounds each, but I love this thing once it's in place and calibrated.

I also have my first telescope, a 60mm reflector I bought at walmart, but it rarely gets much use. I've been thinking of getting a cassegrain for doing photography, but that'll probably be a little further down the road. They can be a little on the pricy side...

Nice! I initially wanted the goto version of the 16in model, until I ran across the Skywatcher 16. I think Orion and Skywatcher are made by the same parent company: Synta. The non-goto Skywatcher 16 went on sale over the summer for under $2k, so I pounced on it. I do planetary imaging, so I wanted tracking. Spent another several grand on a custom made tracking platform and I was all set.

You're not kidding about the weight. I keep the optical tube on a cart. I assemble the base on my patio and roll the rest outside. What kind of photography did you have in mind with a cassegrain telescope? 

14 minutes ago, Jeric said:

This thread wins my approval. My shed houses several models and types, but my favorite is my Orion dobsonian. My best experiences have been using that and a reflector scope and going back and forth. Light buckets still steal my heart, and unwieldy as they are. 

Sweet! I need a small observatory or something for my big dob, so it will always be ready to use. I use to have an Orion XT8. It had a great mirror but I sold it to fund the Skywatcher 16. The views thru big reflectors are just... awesome!

Do you have to use a step ladder to reach the eyepiece?

When I was in college, I liked my coffee so sweet, you could max out a viscometer with it. Nowadays, I just like 2 tsp of creamer and 3 tsp of sugar. I'll drink tea hot or cold and sweet or unsweet. I'm not picky with tea.

For those that don't know, a viscometer is an instrument that measures the viscosity of liquids. 

Initially because I wanted to get thru college and establish a career. Now that I've done that and have my own house, I plan to start dating again.

Really loud rap music when I was spending the night at my aunt's place. The windows rattled at like 2am. I didn't sleep well that night.

Thankfully, it's quiet where I live. Just the sound of crickets, owls, and the occasional coyote.

On here: Some crazy pony that won't shut up about telescopes 

Everywhere else: The guy that can fix anything. * hides from folks with broken equipment 

What I always do!  Steal candy from my little cousins. 

I'm not a fan of brown either. I also do not like white light as it hurts my eyes. 

Wearing yellow glasses about an hour before bedtime helps a lot. They block blue light from screens. I've also changed most of my white LED lights to the amber type. Again, to limit blue light at night. Another thing that helps me sleep is a box fan.

I like the sound of a box fan running. It can help me sleep. I also find rain and the general sound outside (it's pretty quiet where I live) to be soothing.

I'm on one of the astronomy forums and a couple gun forums. I'm not very active on there, however. 

MLP forums is pretty much the only one I'm active on these days.

I live in the deep south, where one can nearly drown in the humidity during the summer. My house has a central air conditioner.

I wouldn't mind a liquid nitrogen upgrade. 

Some blueberry muffins. Yum!

*sees half of them missing

I would say most of the CGI variety (exceptions of course). I just don't care for the animation style. 

I brought my telescope inside because some clouds moved in while looking at the Moon. 

17 hours ago, Partialgeek514 said:

I've always thought it'd be cool to have a telescope, but I'm not sure if I'll ever feel like spending the money that it would require to buy one. For now, I'll just look at pictures of the night sky from other people. 

Sure, pictures look nice, but seeing a galaxy or planet in the eyepiece is an awesome experience you would be missing out. There are decent telescopes out there that can be bought for a low price. 

18 hours ago, cuteycindyhoney said:

I never did, but growing up, my BBBFF owned one. I have no idea what kind, except that it was a reflector with a mirror. I think he still has it. I'll have to ask.

 

I just googled reflector telescopes. It looked like this, only his was red. I don't remember if it said anything on it though.

 

If he does. "borrow" it. lol

I love reflectors. No inherent chromatic aberration and much cheaper than an apochromatic refractor.  

18 hours ago, WWolf said:

I've considered getting one. Not one "for birdwatching" like I used to own, but a more serious one. Thing is I don't know if I'd use it very often to warrant me having one  .

Might see if you can borrow a decent telescope from someone to see if it's something you would be interested in. Who knows, you might get hooked. 

I love cold weather. Outdoor activities become fun again since I won't drown in the humidity.

Also, the night time sky is much more transparent in the winter, and I don't have to worry about my optics fogging up.