Verna and Bob's Weblog

Nerdliness

Annular Animation

Using photographs that Verna took during the eclipse, I threw together a little animation of the main part of the event. To start the animation, click the image below; it will run until maximum annularity. Click again to continue to almost the end of annularity. Click once more to to rewind. Pardon the slight jitter; it was difficult to align each frame perfectly with my animation application.

I cannot tell you how amazingly spectacular it was to see in person. Verna and I are already starting to plan for the total eclipse that will occur on August 21, 2017. We are looking at being near Casper, WY, but that could change between now and five years from now.

Click here to see the equipment and camera settings she used.

May 26, 2012 by Nerdliness Photography Something Shiny

Another (BIG) Sunspot

spot-1476-1.jpg

I’m still rehearsing for the eclipse next week. Yesterday, very large sunspot 1476 was strutting its stuff across the solar plasma (still is today, I believe). I stepped out to the courtyard and captured this solar disk image using the techniques for previous solar imaging. If you look closely, you can see sunspot group 1477 above and to the left – look for a pair of slightly dark spots at about latitude 45. Click on the image for full resolution.

May 12, 2012 by Nerdliness Photography

Solar Photography Practice

spot1472.jpgThe 2012 annular solar eclipse is just two weeks away. We are still scheduled to witness this magnificent event from Page, Arizona, almost exactly on the centerline of the annular eclipse path. The eclipse will occur about an hour before sunset, so the sun will be low in the western sky at the peak of annularity.

I took a minute yesterday afternoon to check the SOHO website for active sunspots and found that large spot 1472 was showing midway between the center and the limb of the sun. I went outside with the SX-40 and the solar adapter to take some practice shots. For the image at the right, I used the filter (of course) 1/1600′ shutter speed and F8.0 aperture with a film speed of 3200. Sunspot 1472 shows up at about 7 o’clock on the solar disk in the image.

I wanted to make sure that my earlier experiments would work when we are in Page on May 20th. I think that using the filter, a very fast film speed, a fast shutter speed and a normal aperture will enable me to capture the lunar/solar images just fine. Now, if the weather will cooperate, we have it made. 😉 Click on the solar image to enlarge.

May 6, 2012 by Nerdliness Photography Retirement

Camera Casualty

camera.jpgOur recent vacation to visit friends on the Colorado River was great. We both had a lot of fun and enjoyed our friends and their friends company. There was one small glitch when I waded from the riverbank out to a pontoon boat; I totally forgot that my little SX110IS camera was in the cargo compartment of my shorts. The camera was off, of course, but water leaked into the battery compartment, the LCD display and other electro-mechanical stuff.

I didn’t discover the problem until much later in the day. I noticed that the display looked sort of funny with discoloration around the edge. When I tried to turn on the camera it was pretty much DOA. I removed the memory card from the camera and found that all the photos taken before the dunking were still in memory.

Fortunately, I recently purchased another camera, a Canon SX-40; that camera was with us and it won’t fit any pockets I have so I guess it’s safe from the type of screw-up I made with the SX-110.

May 1, 2012 by Nerdliness Photography Vacation

New Laptop for Verna

new-laptop.jpg

After a couple of years of frustration with her little HP MINI notebook computer, we got a new computer; it is the HP Pavilion G6 notebook. She was handicapped by the lack of video acceleration, caching and memory limitations. That should now all go away.

Her installation is shown in the (clickable) image above. The new laptop, an external 20 inch monitor, external keyboard and mouse. The display is extended to the monitor on the left with the laptop being the master display.

Some of the features:

  • Intel A110 Processor 2.3GHz (3MB Cache)
  • 4GB SDRAM RAM
  • 640GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
  • 15.6-Inch Screen
  • Intel HD Graphics 3000
  • Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
  • 5.5 hours Battery Life

Her system is now superior to mine. 😀

April 17, 2012 by Arizona Nerdliness Retirement

Preparing to Photograph the Eclipse

filter.jpgI ordered some solar filters for all of our cameras so we can try to get images of the annular solar eclipse in May. The filters aren’t very substantial since they are made with cardboard tubing and have polymer filters, but they are cost-effective (~$10 each) and they work.

Image: Solar filter over Canon SX-40 with inset of solar photo I took – click to enlarge

The filters come with an adhesive felt liner that you install to allow a snug fit when you slip the filter over the objective lens of the camera. Once installed, the filter doesn’t interfere with the auto-focus mechanisms nor with any other camera function.

After some experimentation, I found that trying to use the cameras in auto modes (other than auto-focus) does not give good results; camera motion would blur most images. I tried using a tripod, but getting the image centered in the camera was taking too long. The eclipse would be over before getting all the proper adjustments.

I finally settled on using the camera in manual mode where you can independently set the film speed, aperture and shutter speed. I settled on ISO 3200 film speed, F5.6 for the aperture and 1/1250 second shutter speed. Holding the camera in my hands, the image was good enough to resolve sunspot 1445 currently transiting the solar surface. I uploaded a large image of the sun to the image viewer. Click on the link to view.

April 1, 2012 by Nerdliness Photography Retirement

Avalon 1998

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