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Up close and personal - Damian Peach


dawson

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I’d asked Damian Peach some time ago if he would run a workshop on planetary imaging for myself and  a couple of friends, and he said he had done this before and found it fun. We’d made plans to do this a few weeks ago but he had to cancel as he had last minute family commitments, but he managed to come up today and we had a really enjoyable afternoon crammed around my dining room table with laptops and cups of tea. Felix and Leigh came along and EdCopley (an old work friend and recent addition to EMS).



We spent lots of time chatting about astronomy in general, and listening to Damien’s wealth of planetary and lunar imaging experience; and about how good the seeing is abroad! He is an utterly lovely guy, and so down to earth.



He spent a fair amount of time going over WinJUPOS, which he has been using for many years. This software (which is free) can be used to derotate images/videos of fast rotating planets and help to sharpen detail; it can also be used for stacking RGB frames and other things. It is something none of us have used but now we are all planning to give it a go, as it has the Peachy stamp of approval.



Damian also talked about atmospheric dispersion lenses... yet more expense :sad smiley face



I asked Damian if he would come back later in the year and do a session for a larger group of people, and he was enthuastic about this. So, I’ve asked him for an idea of what months later in the year are good for him. Are EMSers interested in this? His time isn’t free so there is a financial cost, and I’d need to find a venue, but if you are interested in theory let me know via this thread.



JD


Edited by dawson
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A really fantastic afternoon and Damian was such a great bloke and so knowledgable. I would definitely go again and would be first in line if we decide to do this with a larger group of EMSers :)

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I'd be interested, looks like though only a lucky few get the "private" showing.....

I wonder what they had to do to get a ticket.............

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Guest Kheldar

I'd be interested, looks like though only a lucky few get the "private" showing.....

I wonder what they had to do to get a ticket.............

 

:rofl:

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They had to have a ride on my hydraulic pier :)

Even peachy had a go!!!!

He's not joking! Lol :D

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Errr, ok thanks, I will wait and have a go on Sheila's instead.

 

sorry only i am allowed to play on that ;)

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Mine has a lifting capacity of 100kg, i think sheilas can do 150kg; not that i'm making any suggestions you are over 100kg daz. But you are welcome to come over for a spin. I might start charging to raise money for my observatory build :)

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What i found so funny, then and still now, is that he was so "cool" about it all, as though he is often told to sit on a pier holding a bottle of diet coke whilst being hydraulically lifted into the rafters!

Peach-on-a-pier.

Poor bloke.

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I was thinking exactly that when I was taking the pics! I did think afterwards as we walked out the garage that it was all rather surreal that it had just happened!lol!

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Mine has a lifting capacity of 100kg, i think sheilas can do 150kg; not that i'm making any suggestions you are over 100kg daz. But you are welcome to come over for a spin. I might start charging to raise money for my observatory build :)

 

mine is also 100kgs, although tested to 500kgs is  reported, capacity says 100kgs, sorry Daz

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Sounds like a great afternoon. :thumbsup: So now you guys have picked up a few tips we will be expecting some great images.


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mine is also 100kgs, although tested to 500kgs is  reported, capacity says 100kgs, sorry Daz

 

You cheeky bu*&er, I`m only 87KG!!!!!!

 

How heavy do you think I am?

 

:lol::D:P

Edited by Daz Type-R
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You cheeky bu*&er, I`m only 87KG!!!!!!

 

How heavy do you think I am?

 

:lol::D:P

 

 

erm.... do you really want me to answer that :rofl:

 

That means you are only 20 kgs heavier than me :o

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Sounds like a great afternoon. :thumbsup: So now you guys have picked up a few tips we will be expecting some great images.

Yeah I was worried someone would make that comment :) I think the learning curve has just started again from scratch, so don't get your expectations up.

Jd

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Guest ecopley

Among a huge range of advice he gave us one thing that stood out was to try to image from Barbados if at all possible.

Well, I say Barbados. Really anywhere with perfectly still, clear air and very little light pollution.

On the up side he pointed out that transporting your scope isn't as expensive as one might think and that, in a pinch, counter-weights can be improvised.

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I would be up for a further meeting if it can be arranged to the wider membership


 


if not some of those tips would be nice


 


something other than going to Barbados would be more than welcome


 


 


Steve


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Guest ecopley

If Barbados isn't doable (which it isn't for me either) then checking the weather very carefully is the next best alternative.

Barbados is ideal because there is nothing but ocean for literally thousands of miles in the direction of the prevailing winds. Damian suggested that winds coming in over the sea tend to be less turbulent than those approaching over land masses. I don't have my PC to hand (so i can't dig out the link) but he showed us the weather underground web site and how to look up winds at various altitudes together with the humidity and pressure. I'm not going to be able to explain it properly right now but the gist was to be ready for good seeing when it is around. He does this by studying the weather (really understanding it rather than relying on simple predictions) and leaving his kit set up. Interestingly he has no observatory. He protects his gear with tarps and takes whatever the seeing throws at him.

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Collect the best possible date: proper cool down for telescope, collimated everytime, only image when best seeing, collect a terabyte of data and be prepared to bin 95% of it. Electric focuser, mono camera with filters.

Process hard. Winjupos seems to be the key to his great inages. Be prepared to take days/weeks to sift through the data.

He makes it all sound so easy.

We spent a lot of time just chatting about random stuff (un related to planetary imaging or even astronomy); i'm not sure where the afternoon went.

Jd

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest Lordphilip

Mr. James Dawson


 


Did you get the  " name brand " of RGB Filters Damian Peach now uses for his planetary imaging?


Did he tell you if he images in "Ser." File or only AVI File for planetary imaging now?


 


Kind Regards


Philip Smith

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Lordphilip,

We didn't talk much about RGB filters as the audience all had OSC cameras, bar one dirty DSO imager, so i can't help on that front. He said he was using Firecapture, but didn't specify what file output, though did call them "AVIs" when talking about stacking.

Sorry I can't help. Why don't you ask him?

Regards

jd

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