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_Augustus_

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Everything posted by _Augustus_

  1. _Augustus_
    The spherical tanks froze the VAB but didn't crash it when I tried using them.
  2. _Augustus_
    Focal length is ~39 inches as measured with the Sun and a piece of paper. EDIT 7/27/17: Incorrect measurement. Final FL is about 47.5 inches.
  3. _Augustus_
    I was honestly shocked when I first read this on Twitter. But lately with the departure of so many devs I think this is just what KSP needs.
  4. _Augustus_
    Started and completed grinding with the #220 today. Total time spent was under 2 hours.
  5. _Augustus_
    New screenshot for the OP showing Ariane 5 in game launching a to-scale BepiColombo spacecraft.
  6. _Augustus_
    Thanks!
  7. _Augustus_
    Completed rough grinding using the #120 alundum. No large pits on the mirror. Curve extends all the way to the edge. Will post more pictures soon. Tomorrow I will start fine grinding. Here's my grinding stand before I got the wise idea of covering it with trash bags and switching them between grits.
  8. _Augustus_
    You're welcome. If Kopernicus works and this mod works, OPM works.
  9. _Augustus_
    Here on Earth, Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede never reaches more than 2" in diameter, but astronomers have been able to visually detect albedo features on the surface with 8" or larger telescopes. While Mercury can get to over 4 times that size, it lacks any high-contrast markings and thus detail is very difficult to see with any telescope, especially without lucky imaging technology. Thus I suspect that Kerbal astronomers by the 1950s would've discovered Moho's basins, Dres' maria, the islands of Laythe (assuming it doesn't have 100% cloud cover like Venus/Titan), and maybe some features on Tylo.
  10. _Augustus_
    It appears that my measurements before were wrong and that the mirror is actually ~f/6. May not need more #80 after all.
  11. _Augustus_
    A friend of mine is sending me a Foucault tester. Apparently these kits were made for f/8 mirrors, so it's normal to run out of grit.
  12. _Augustus_
    I literally ran out of #80 carborundum for rough grinding. So I can't make the curve any deeper. I guess I'll have to order some more....
  13. _Augustus_
    Tool is not pre-ground, which is annoying. Still at f/7 for some reason. How long will it take for me to get down to f/5?
  14. _Augustus_
    I have Berry and Texereau.
  15. _Augustus_
    Started grinding the mirror. Currently at wet #7.
  16. _Augustus_
    Just opened up the kit. It's 50 years old. The newspapers protecting it are from 1968. All of the original Edmund items, including a 1" diagonal and 25mm eyepiece lens set, are in there - even the original cardboard collimation tool! Should get started later today.
  17. _Augustus_
    1.5 is out. Added Ariane 6 back in.
  18. _Augustus_
    I've never had luck at seeing much on Mars. The weeks around opposition last year were always cloudy, and the one day it wasn't I accidentally slept until 3 AM, by which time Mars was so low that it just appeared as a shimmery orange ball. I also had only one scope, a 4" Mak, which, excellent as it is optically, never showed more than Syrtis Major and one ice cap. Oh, and the kit arrives tomorrow.
  19. _Augustus_
    https://imgur.com/a/rmNql https://imgur.com/gallery/xdyAP I long ago finished making my first telescope mirror, a 6" f/8, which you can read about from pages 1-5. It will not be used in a telescope as it has a number of chips and a fracture that reduce its usefulness anyway. I worked on it from May to July 2017, with a gap due to technical difficulties and a trip to Alaska. The mirror was made with a 1969 Edmund Scientific kit. It was intended to be f/5 but I ran out of grit and couldn't afford more at the time. I have also finished a complete 6" f/4.5 Dobsonian. The mirror blank was given to me by a friend at Stellafane, and I managed to grind, polish, and figure it in August 2017 - see pages 6 to 7. I star tested it and looked at Saturn on October 20th to confirm a good figure. First light was on October 27th. I rebuilt it in late July 2018. As of April 2018 I've also finished a 16" f/5 Dob. I attempted to make the mirror but that didn't turn out too well, so I got a replacement from a friend. Read about it from pages 9-10. Currently working on a 20" f/4 - read about it from page 10 onwards.
  20. _Augustus_
    So I'm committed now. Just ordered an older 6" mirror kit. Should be fun. I'm going to construct the telescope while I grind the mirror. Will post progress.
  21. _Augustus_
    Not true. The Deep Space Gateway and Deep Space Transport, along with more Orions, are also being proposed. But those could be launched on commercial LVs and then sent to cislunar space with SEP/ACES. Agreed.
  22. _Augustus_
    Bought a 75-200mm lens for my Pentax P30T today at a thrift store for $20. If I get some more customers/win a raffle, I might start doing deep-sky photography before the end of the year...
  23. _Augustus_
    You can do planetary and lunar imaging with an alt-az mount. Get a camera like a ZWO ASI120MC or Celestron Neximage 5.
  24. _Augustus_
    Orbital period of h confirmed at 19 days by Kepler. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/kepler/astronomers-confirm-orbital-details-of-trappist1-least-understood-planet
  25. _Augustus_
    I really wish that rather than being forced to fulfill political directives NASA would be allowed to come up with ideas of their own and then propose them for funding....
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