Cyanbane.com

Celestron Nexstar Alignment for Noobs

Cyanbane — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:35:00 -0600

After about 5 attempts on clear nights from the past 3 weeks, last night I finally got a SkyAlign setup on my new Nexstar 8SE. I don't know if I should chalk it up to my noobness at scopes, or star patterns, but I am here to offer at least my advice on getting a two star alignment set up on the the NexStar system.

1.) First off the last sentence said it all, don't do the three star alignment, go for the two star.

2.) Find your lat/long of your EXACT position. Go down to the second. I used this site: Satsig.net

3.) Go to Google Maps and see if you can find your house (or where ever you are viewing from) and look for some kind of physical demarcations that you can use for verification. Our house happens to run almost perfectly North to South so that allowed me to orient myself within Stellarium (next step) very easily. I knew spatially what stars I would be able to see and which I wouldn’t (the house, trees block etc).

3.) Download Stellarium. This is a gift of an app. Extremely well developed, and will help you visualize your time space exactly for the moment you want to start the SkyAlign process. Verify your location (lat/long you just found), time of day, etc and get a current view of your exact time.

4.) Use the moon as your jumping off point. I found that (at least last night) I jumped from the moon to Spica pretty easily. I also did this at the very end of twilight where magnitude ~1 ish starts were much more visible instead of at pitch black night when there were hundreds of stars my scope would pick up for me to mess up with.

5.) Once I had Spica lined up and aligned. I brought up this app: Best Pair II . Another great app that is free and is an extremely handy app. Go to the “Site Parameters” Tab and pop in your lat/long you just found. Make sure the time and UTC offset is right, and then hit Compute Visibility and then Compute Best Pair. Then click on the “Best Pair” tab. Since I had already found Spica I checked both the first and second star in the lists till I came across the opt pair (lowest Error) and found the stars that were the match for the best pair. Tonight that happens to be Vega, Deneb and Albireo.

6.) Then go back to Stellarium and pull up those three stars. Hit F3 to search and just enter their names. Best Pair uses pretty bright stars so Stellarium should never have trouble finding any of the. Out of those three (which were pretty much the same last night) Deneb had not crested over my house by the time of my alignment so it was out of the question. However Vega is at a higher point in the sky and is a bit brighter so I was able to go from my roof up almost vertically and find it pretty well. I locked it in, pulled back my focus till I saw the ‘donut’ and hit align.

7.) Held my breath.

8.) Got the alignment success notification. Pulled my focus back till Vega looked like a normal star:

9.) Punched in ‘Moon’ just to verify everything was working correctly with alignment. Hit the button and off the scope went and landed right on the zenith of the moon. Good times. Hit up Saturn right after.

Couple of things I learned over the past few nights also (just as notes):

a.) Polaris (current North Star) is not the brightest star in the north sky. Sirius and many other stars are brighter. Don’t just grab the brightest star in that general area and use it to align your scope. I think 70% of my alignment mistakes were from this. I thought I knew it, but I didn’t.

b.) Always jump from the moon to your first star. It is a huge frickin’ target and easy to bounce off of.

c.) My reddot finder scope that came with my 8se sucks balls. I can’t target anything with it and the red dot pretty much doesn’t exist even with a new battery. Until I have enough extra cash to afford one of these bad boys, I will just continue getting my general heading with Stellarium and landmarks around me once I eyespot the star. Once aligned though it rocks. Just punch in the star and listen for the hum of the motor to find it for you.

d.) Slewing is different once you are “aligned” the slew seems to go much much slower (which is good). I did find myself over compensating with it though because it wasn’t moving as fast as my ‘non aligned’ slew speed. Just keep it in mind.

e.) Stellarium has a really cool red mode you can use for not killing your night vision, once your night vision mojo is flowing.

f.) Wear Garlic. The last thing you want to do is hunker your eye down to your scope and see vampire teeth, then stick your head up and have the vampire right on top of you. That is what they look for, star geeks without garlic.

It certainly may just my noobness at this, but I am extremely glad I got all this figured out. One of the things I have read over and over at Cloudy nights is that the biggest frustration with SkyAlign and the Meads versions (don’t know what it is called) of some of the larger SCT scopes that autoalign is that people get so frustrated that they give up on not only the scope but also Astrogazing in general. I really didn’t think anything of this until the forth night I lugged everything out to the backyard and couldn’t get anything to line up. That is when I hit up a bunch of places online and compiled all those notes here. I hope this helps anyone who is starting to get frustrated.

I had planned on not breaking out my CCD camera until I really got a few months into the viewing and had a few Messier objects under my belt. I wanted to get comfortable with the scope first and foremost (almost anywhere you read about Astrophotography they say the same thing). Well anyways after a few beers and already having my laptop out with me next to scope I went ahead and took a few pics last night. I am still at the very very beginning stages of learning the CCD controls, Stacking, etc for the images, but I thought these were pretty decent for my first night out. Consider them my first attempts at astrophotography:

(Last pic I believe is near Sinus Aestuum -Bay of Seething on the Moon)

RC Eagle Fight

Cyanbane — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:39:00 -0600

Real Eagle chasing a Remote Controlled Plane that looks like an Eagle.

Raptor attack! from Billwhit on Vimeo.

Magic The Gathering : Duel of the Planeswalkers - An Old Addiction Revisits

Cyanbane — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:34:00 -0600

About 15 years ago, myself and a friend of mine named JR decided that we would grab a starter deck and a few booster packs of a game that we had seen people playing on in a comic book shop we visited 2 or 3 times a week. This new game, Magic the Gathering , had just been graduated from the "beta" release to the full release of the game.

I remember the game being almost a viral phenomenon at the time, comic book store's could not keep the booster packs in stock and Wizards of the Coast was pretty much printing money. They were brilliant in the fact that they used rarity as a money maker and stuck to their guns by not overproducing the cards. People's appetites for the cards were voracious and I remember tons and tons of tables in the back of Galactic Quest (comic shop I used to frequent) go from tables full of 2nd edition AD&D players to massive M:TG trade and play sessions in a matter of weeks.

It was in these first few weeks of the normal release that I started hearing the rumors about the P9 or Power 9. These where 9 cards that (at the time) were still allowed in play for tournaments, but that Magic players as a whole thought were greatly overpowering (see Power 9 wikipedia entry):

The game had originally gone through an Alpha and Beta phase, both of these phases combined together were called the Limited Beta and these cards were part of both sets. Both sets could be discerned by the lack of a set image on the actual cards.

At the height of the craze a lot of comic book stores (and some baseball card stores) started selling the single cards by, I assume, opening up packs. These could also be obtained at comic book conventions and even a few card playing conventions that were starting to pop up. The P9 were going for up to $100 a card at the time, it was insane. Today I popped over to eBay to see what the Black Lotus (the most revered of the Power 9) was going for today on eBay:

$1000+ on average. I also went back and looked up the rules as of today and it still states that you are allowed to have 1 (limit of 1) of any of these Power 9 cards in a tournament deck. The tournaments of today include a "pro tour" and all different dimensions of competition

The game is amazing because it has since taken off from the old paper game JR and I used to play and manifested itself into a digital online card game, where players pay the same amount for a virtual card booster pack as they would for a tangible booster pack they would find in a store. Wizards of the Coast has gone from having an overhead of printing cards to even eliminating that overhead with a digital delivery mechanism. Literally, cash from a few lines of code. It is amazing.

Most people that have never played a digital card game are taken aback that people would pay money for virtual cards that don't physically exist, but it is very similar to the MMO virtual currency market, and almost a bit more safer of an investment. Magic The Gathering (M:TG) Online affords you certain rights to your cards including, but not up to, the ability to resell your cards under their terms of service for cash, just as you would physical cards, except it is just under their system (and their data).

There have been three instances in my life that I have played M:TG. As I described previously, during the release of the game's initial 1st set. I ended up spending probably about $200 in cards at that time and then slowly faded away from playing, I think I ended up selling those cards at previously said comic book shop.

The second time I got into Magic again was my freshman/sophomore year of college with Andy and Richard and the guy who always wore a Green Lantern shirt that lived above them. I don't remember his name but I remember his play style (Red/Black deck), and the fact that I believe he played magic all day long, smoked up, and never went to class. If he worked as a pizza delivery boy he would have had the quadrafecta. Those are the people that are now in the pro league. I think I might have invested about $100 in cards at that time. I don't remember a comic book shop or shop that sold cards in Athens, so we were probably limited in what cards we had, which financially was probably a good thing. I think UGA had a club of M:TG players, but we really all just sat around and drank beer in Andy's apartment.

The third time was about 2 weeks ago. The nice thing about this time around though is that I only paid $10 for the game on the Xbox 360 and I don't ever had to buy any more cards. In fact I can't. The card set that all 360 player built into the game. There will be expansions I am sure, but for 1 expansion charge (probably under $10) you have the ability to win all the cards in the set if you play long enough. The game has certainly been dumbed down some since the deck customization is lacking with this change, but it does give older players like me a great time to play a game I loved, but not having to dish out any of the mulah to get decent cards. It is also quick to go find someone around the world to play.

The game play is a lot quicker, but the graphics are fantastic:

The games move very quickly and the head to head is a blast. Andy and I have played the last couple of nights and had a great time, no bugs, no glitches, just some fun head to head matches. You start off with either a green or white deck, and as you progress in the single player campaign you can open up new decks (and colors) and also new cards, dependent upon which color deck you played with.

I do think that the game will need expansions and soon. The card selection generally is slow moving because of the fact that you only gain one card per win AND you can and will sometimes gain 4 of the same cards in a row to fill out your deck (max of 4 cards of the same type). As with most 360 games, there are rankings and ladders for the top players.

The game is great and I have a really fun nostalgic time playing it. Certainly worth the 800 points ($10) to pick up.

Magic: The Gathering - Duel of the Planeswalkers (Official Site)

Xbox.com - magic: The Gathering Duel of the Planeswalkers

Destructoid - Review: Magic: The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers

MJ

Cyanbane — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:02:00 -0600

I have always been a big fan of Michael Jackson even with all the lawsuits and criminal charges of the last few years. I think it is just being a child of the 80s, but I still break out Thriller every now and then. I don't know if the last two lawsuits were real or not, but I know he was a pretty messed up individual that grew up in a fantasy world and continued to live it (unrealistically) for the last decade of his life. But regardless of that he was a hell of a musician, and entertainer. This was THE michael jackson live performance for me. I don't remember if I saw the original performance or retapes or what growing up, but I do know we didn't have a VCR till later in life (8 or 9) and I remember seeing this much much earlier on TV. I can't count the times I remember borrowing my dads walkman to listen to Thriller on tape. It was weird hearing he was 50 years old, I think he was permanently stamped in my mind at about the Thriller age. Maybe I subconsciously chose to ignore the weird ass face of him growing older. Regardless, I do think he was an icon, and will be remembered as such.

I also heard he died from eating poisoned 12 years old nuts, is this true? (had to be atleast one).

2012 - New Trailer

Cyanbane — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:11:00 -0600

I posted about a new movie coming out that I was excited about called 2012 a few months back which dealt with the Mayan's and their respective beliefs about the world's end. Looks like there is a new trailer out within the last couple of days. Personally, I was blown away by the first trailer, the second trailer's effects look even better. As much as I talk about how I like a good character driven story, I am still a sucker for these kinds of big budget FX "destroy everything" movies. I think i would have liked to have seen Tom Cruise in this more than Nicholas Cage. Cruise was underrated in War of the Worlds (as was the movie imho).

New Trailer:

Civilization by Marco Brambilla

Cyanbane — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:55:00 -0600

Civilization by Marco Brambilla from CRUSH on Vimeo.

Andy sent me this amazing elevator art movie. Pretty surreal and amazingly well done.

You cans see more about how it was inside the elevator (a hotel in NY) here: http://www.glossyinc.com/civilization.html

Title: Civilization (MEGAPLEX), 2008 By: Marco Brambilla

Client: The Standard Hotel, New York

Editor/Research Assistant: Beau Dickson

Assistant: Swapna Tamhane

Production Company: Crush, Toronto

Representation/Images Courtesy of: Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica

Marco Brambilla Directorial Representation:

Ebeling Group U.S.A.

Grocery Store Flyers - Wheelin' & Dealin'

Cyanbane — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:48:00 -0600

For starters, a large portion of the spots in a grocery store ad are actually paid placements by the product manufacturers. That “sale” on Coca-Cola? It’s likely that Coca-Cola - or a local distributor - paid your grocery store to have their product inserted into the ad. The price of that “sale” item is often unchanged from the normal price - the only reason it’s in the flyer is to put a few more bucks in the pocket of the grocery store itself.

I will be the first to admit I was naive as hell about this stuff and I worked at a Grocery Store for many of my teenage years. Great Read, I always new these were developed at the chain level and then passed down, makes sense now though why. Good read.

The Simple Dollar » The Truth About Grocery Store Flyer

Israel Behind the Massive Amount of Iran Info on Twitter?

Cyanbane — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:34:00 -0600

MC has a great read over on his blog about his feelings on another great article debunking the Iranian twitter news channels as Israeli setups. I have been following @persiankiwi on Twitter for awhile and feel like most of the information was been fairly mute and instead replaced with more of a pep rally-esque message. Still MC brings up some good points on if Twitter is worth it by adding an exponentially larger amount of noise to the signal than he desires. My opinion is that I would much rather have the noise than not, because I think if you can find the signal it will be much more the better for the mass amount of info introduced. The article he links too seems to provide some good info also:

MC's Post: The Revolution may or may not be online!

Original Post: Proof: Israeli Effort to Destabilize Iran Via Twitter #IranElection

both are good reads.

Star Wars DVD (Book) Ends

Cyanbane — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:24:00 -0600

I wants, I wants!

(Not for that much though - if only a bit cheaper)

http://shop.starwars.com/catalog/product.xml?topcatID=1300264;product_id=1313254

My Fav"ou"rite Places

Cyanbane — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:28:00 -0600

I am lucky enough to have been to York twice in my life. It is one of those remarkable and distinct character places that you always remember. I am 99.9% sure that was where this was shot. Great little movie.

My Favourite Things from kidswithcrayons on Vimeo.

Great Swing.

Cyanbane — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:32:00 -0600

In theory it doesn't seem all that complicated. I would however crush a few knuckles trying it I fear. Very cool to see.

Square Foot Gardening (with Beer) - Entry #2

Cyanbane — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:56:00 -0600

Garden seems to be coming along nicely. I try to get out to prune at this stage around 3 times a week or so. I have a list of things I have to figure out over the next week or so:

a.) Whats the easiest way to build some type of compost pile box/enclosure.
b.) Figure out how I am going to create some type of trellis for the peas.
c.) Figure out what I am doing wrong with the banana peppers
d.) Devise some type of cool and/or geeky water delivery mechanism for the box

Let's run down the list:

a.) Whats the easiest way to build some type of compost pile box/enclosure.

Growing up my dad always would stake off a decent size area with 4 x 2 poles and then surround those with chickenwire. These areas were always pretty close to the house (no one wanted to run to the other side of the garden to toss stuff onto the pile after dinner) and within easily food-chunkable range. I don't want anything near as big as what we used to have but I do want something so that I can start to let some stuff compost now to use as compost at the end of this season or the beginning of next. I had read somewhere that people sometimes build "cubes' out of old wooden dock pallets and utilize the inside of that. Although that sounds like a great idea with some decently readily available materials, it still sounds a little too big. I am thinking more of a 4' cubed space would be all I need for 2 or even 3 4x4 boxes. Still thinking on this.

b.) Figure out how I am going to create some type of trellis for the peas.

The peas are starting to get to a height in which I need to start thinking about some type of trellis for them to attach to. Some type of per square enclosure that sits on top of the grid sounds like the logical explanation, but with the fact that within the 1' x 1' square I have 16 different plants leads me to think some type of dowel rod system might be the best option. Not sure how much thin ones would cost, nor if they would stay up, but I might experiment with 1 of the 4 squares and see.

c.) Figure out what I am doing wrong with the banana peppers

No clue whats up with my banana peppers. The corn, peas and Lettuce in that box seem to be doing very well, I have no clue why the banana pepper plants have not taken off. Will do more net research, maybe it is the climate, and location here in Ga that stifles them.

d.) Devise some type of cool and/or geeky water delivery mechanism for the box

I ordered this book, hoping to shed some light on self watering pots and irrigation system that I could adapt to the Square Foot Gardening technique. Right now I have 2 small sprinklers that I have positioned in the middle of each box. I want to do something more cooler/creative with the way I water the boxes. Not anything expensive, something relatively cheap, but none the less something different than normalSFG Boxes. I have two ideas that include drip or small spray lines either attached to the trellis itself branching from a Y adapter on the box. One ideas is just too create a spray line with enough force to propel water down a specific row of the grid. 4 on 2 sides of the box. Something akin to the vegetable sprayers you might see running above the produce section of the grocery store, but 8 of them (4 to a side) on two sides of the box. the second idea is just running a small spray line across the already in place griding, which makes a ton of sense, I just wonder if it will get in the way of trellis (b from above) or if I ever needed to cover the boxes somehow from varmints. I love saying varmints.

method 1:

method 2:

The Beer for today's gardening was:

Baltika #4 Dark Lager - 5.6% - European (Russian) Dark Lager 500ml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltika_Breweries

Opinion: It tasted a lot darker than it really was. I honestly have no clue how long this bottle sat on the shelf, but it was certainly a darker dark lager in taste. The Baltika #9 Pale Ale is on my hit list of beers to try. The #4 wasn't a bad beer by any means, but I don't know if it was something that I would drink everyday if my only job was to sit on a corner next to the lotto shop in my jean jacket with a bunch of older other out of work people on the streets of Moscow and drink all day. If I were doing that then you know all the other older Russian gents would probably make me leave because I would be whistling The Scorpions all the time and making really bad lyrical-geolocational jokes on the lyrics.

Bustin' makes me feel good.

Cyanbane — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:50:00 -0600

To this day I am still scared of Neon Furniture and Ray Parker Jr.

It's hard to believe this song turned 25 recently, I still start to groove when I hear the opening.. Good stuff.

Whats also amazing about this video that I had never noted before was that Al Franken was still relevant 25 years ago. (ok, maybe to a point).

How All Rain Delay Games Should Be Decided

Cyanbane — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:27:00 -0600

Good Times.

Project Natal - Jimmy Fallon Demo

Cyanbane — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:10:00 -0600

Can't Friggin wait...I assume the red jumpsuits are for the device to 'edge' better. I am surre that is what is holding it back till 2010. Regardless, big time fun.