2 November 2006

Yesterday I went down to Adorama to check about repair of my digital camera. I thought it was a lost cause, but Peter had said that the guys in the astronomy department there are big fans of the CoolPix cameras for astrophotography, so I figured they might be a little more sympathetic to my plight than the guys trying to sell cameras.

I spoke to Mike Peoples who immediately recognized my problem and told me he also has a CoolPix 950 that appears to have been dropped and exhibits the same symptoms. He talked to Nikon who told him the minimum repair cost would be $250.

Since I have all the accessory lenses for the camera and am a fan of it, Mike's suggestion was to buy a used camera either from them or over the Web. They have a used CoolPix 990 in excellent condition in stock for a little less than $200.

I did some research and found that the camera is intermediate in time and features between the 950 and the 995, the last of that line to be made and what Peter just picked up.

I also searched Craig's list and found a 990 on the upper east side for $150 and a 995 on the upper west side for $200. I have inquired about the 990 because it takes AA batteries which I feel are preferable to the rechargeable battery pack the 995 is built around.

I thought that I would be as well off buying a cheap current production camera which would have many more megapixels, but Mike says they will cause me problems. It is something about the zoom and the size of the CCD, but the part that I did get was that it causes vigntetting. And by staying with the CoolPix I am not walking away from the investment I have made in accessory lenses which will not fit the current CoolPix 995 replacement even if I liked it.

We also talked about some general astronomy and telescopes.

Meade has come out with a new red dot finder that is in all of their new scopes. I have been seeing it at the Discovery Store in Grand Central Terminal and wondered how it works. It looks kind of flimsy to me. There is a flattish black box that sits on the scope tube and has a piece of clear plastic that sticks up at right angles to the long axis of the scope. I asked how it works and learned that there is a little hole on the side of the box behind where the plastic is that projects a red dot onto the plastic. They said that they already have one that is broken. Someone unscrewed the thumb screw that holds the covre in place. There was a spring inside that went flying along with other parts and now they can't get it reassembled. My assessment is that since the battery is under that cover it is not really a user serviceable part.

Mike showed me another new finder from an open truss tube Dob from Meade. It is a substantial metal device that fits into a conventional shoe. It projects any of three user selectable reticules onto a half silvered mirror: red dot, double crosshairs, or circle and crosshairs. This looks like a much better piece of equipment and I think it would fit the shoe of my CT-100. It is not available as an accessory yet.

I also spoke with Peter Lipachitz and learned how he makes his 3D images of NASA photographs. There is a lot that goes on at NASA that most of is never hear about. NASA had devised methods of collecting stereo images that did not involve special lenses or multiple cameras.

One method that was used on overflights was to take a series of photographs at a known rate from a known height. By using adjacent images shot at different times they simulated the view that would have been seen by the left and right eye and can produce stereo pairs from them.

Once they got on the moon they had the astronauts gather stereo pairs. This was done in one of two ways. They had a 35mm camera mounted on a stick that they could hold up against a rock to take a simultaneous pair. But they also made pairs with their Hasselblad cameras. The 'Blads were mounted to the chest of their EVA suites. On the first couple of missions they snapped a picture then twisted their upper body a bit and made another picture. These pictures weren't very successful because the triangle between the camera and the lens was pointed in the wrong way. The apex was staying in one place - their chest - and the view was fanning out from there. But when we use our eyes to see in stereo they form the base of the triangle and it converges onto the subject at the triangle's apex. They eventually figured out that it would work better if they moved their whole body and started bunny-hopping two steps to the side, which produced better results.

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I spent the afternoon today at the annual photo show. Mostly I looked at tripods for when I have to replace mine and for tripod bags to replace the one I have that isn't going to last much longer.

I also talked to Lexar about CF cards since Peter has asked me about them for his CoolPix camera. They recommended

• use the Image Recovery 2.0 software that comes on their professional line of cards to make sure that all images have been erased from the card
• periodically reformat the card
• for point and shoot cameras like Nikons and Canons don't use anything over 256MB

I am liking astrophotography. First Adorama tells me an old, low megapixel camera will work better than a newer high megapixel camera. Then Lexar tells me to use a low megapixel card in the camera. It seems like everyone wants to save me money this week.

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I heard back from the guy with the CoolPix 990 for sale. He says that it is in good condition and that it has a 64MB card and the 16MB card it originally came with, a card reader and the original soft case. He doesn't mention the software, cable, or DC power supply. I am going to have to go back to the web and see what it originally shipped with than go back to him and see how much of that stuff is still there. The cable is the least of my worries since I can read the cards directly in my laptop. Software is a minor concern since Peter says it is available on the web. My 950 power supply might work with it, but they changed the location of the power jack and the type of plug the camera uses so may have changed the size of the connector and possibly the voltage of the power supply.

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2000-0000 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear becoming Overcast Temperature Coool Wind Light Breeze gisting to Gentle Breeze Humidity Moderate Feels Like Chilly When I arrived it was clear with some clouds low on the southern horizon and a few passing small cumulus clouds. By 2200 EST or so it was mostly cloudy and continued to build. The sky was fairly transparent where there wasn't any cloud, but that wasn't much of the sky. Peter had said that it was supposed to have been clear through 0100 EST. Transparency Poor Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye - Charlie Takahashi 22x60 binocular - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac

Target Algol Constellation Per Category Variable Star Time 20061102.2030 EDT Comments I spent a good but of time looking into Perseus trying to get used to the brightness relationship between Algol and the surrounding stars so that I can recognize when it is bright and when it if faint. Peter said it was near its brightest tonight. The data I copied from A&T indicates a minima at 3Nov 0629 UTC which would be around 0130 EST so it would be dimming now. I should watch again tomorrow night to are if it appears dimmer to me. 3.32much fainter Star Mag. Appears Algol< β Per/th> 2.09 &nbap; Mirfac&vα Per 1.79 brighter δ Per 3.01 slightly brighter ε Per 2.90 slightly brighter Menkib ξ Per 3.98 fainter ζ Per 2.84 equal Gorogonea Tertia ρ Per fainter κ Per 3.79 ι Per 4.05 much fainter γ Per 2.91 slightly fainter τ Per 3.93 fainter Miram η Per 3.77 fainter My atmosphere was somewhat variable and I had to stop observing a couple of times to wait for the clouds to clear and some of the comparison stars were lower in the atmosphere so the relationship might be skewed from what it would be if Per were closer to zenith.

Target M45, The Pleiades Constellation Tau Category DSO: OCl Time 20061120.2100 EDT Comments I counted only 6 Pleiade tonight. Taygete, Mag 4.29 Maia, Mag 3.86 Celaeno, Mag 5.44 Electra, Mag 3.70 Merope, Mag 4.17 Alcyone, Mag 2.86

Target Moon Constellation Psc Category Lunar Time 20061102.2130 EDT Comments I didn't spend a lot of time looking. Aristarchus was the most remarkable feature. It was just inside the terminator and appeared as a chalky divot. After looking a bit the eastern edge of the inside of the crater wall appeared in shadow.