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E PA/NJ/DE Summer 2020 OBS Thread


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Just now, stemwinder said:

Wow.  And I'm berating myself thinking of buying a full frame SONY mirrorless, and scrapping all my smaller format camera stuff.  It's a lot of fun. I hope you eventually develop those pix. OTOH, after looking down on it for years, I realized by 2005 that digital was great.  

It's amazing how far digital has come although I suppose the debate will forever rage about which is better - film or digital.  My thing was basically wanting something to move in sync with the earth's rotation to fix on a certain spot to get a longer exposure (without the obvious "streak" as the star "moved"). 

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55 minutes ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

It's amazing how far digital has come although I suppose the debate will forever rage about which is better - film or digital.  My thing was basically wanting something to move in sync with the earth's rotation to fix on a certain spot to get a longer exposure (without the obvious "streak" as the star "moved"). 

My humble limit is 24MP.  In my amateur film years, Kodak used to make a great, slow film called Royal.  Even had an ISO 25 for a while.  Great colors.  Rivaling Kodachrome.  I'm sure you knew all of the good ones.  Right now, I've got enough, being 83 yrs old.  Leave the new stuff for the kids, except possibly a full frame mirrorless, so I can take (inferior?) photos with some old German lenses I have.  I like that mirrorless can take almost any old lens with an adapter.  Doesn't make sense, but it's fun.

If I still used film, I'd be tempted to go larger format.  

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3 minutes ago, stemwinder said:

My humble limit is 24MP.  In my amateur film years, Kodak used to make a great, slow film called Royal.  Even had an ISO 25 for a while.  Great colors.  Rivaling Kodachrome.  I'm sure you knew all of the good ones.  Right now, I've got enough, being 83 yrs old.  Leave the new stuff for the kids, except possibly a full frame mirrorless, so I can take (inferior?) photos with some old German lenses I have.  I like that mirrorless can take almost any old lens with an adapter.  Doesn't make sense, but it's fun.

If I still used film, I'd be tempted to go larger format.  

I grew up with a dad who almost exclusively used Kodachrome slide film (he would have been 96 this year) - at least until he discovered the Polaroid Instamatic that he brought with us when we went to London in 1970 (where you snapped the picture, pulled it out the side, let it sit for a minute or so, and then peeled the backing off after it developed, and it could be mounted on thicker stock).  I still have boxes of his slides (although me and my sisters did get some converted to negatives and then made prints from those years ago).  I even found he had some slides of my grandfather from the '50s that I haven't really even looked at yet. It's on the bucket list. I used to walk around with his camera case around my neck when I was little. :lol:

As an obs, It is STILL 89 here, and it's 8:30 pm. :o  But apparently the front is coming through and I see dewpoints dropping.

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7 hours ago, RedSky said:

Good comet viewing right now if you have a dark view two and a half fists over the horizon under the big dipper.

 

Too much of a broken cirrus deck last night and just tried about 30 minutes ago for a pre-dawn attempt and still too much cirrus around here.  About the only thing that broke through was Venus and a few assorted and sundry stars (couldn't even make out the Big Dipper through the high clouds :huh:).

Currently a "cooler" 76 at post time this morning and dews are down into the 60s.  You can feel the difference.

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Well I hit 95 today making it day 5 for the current heatwave.  The humidity was reasonable given the temps, but that is supposed to change tomorrow.  I do see some action incoming from the west but am not sure if it will hold together to give the plants in MBY a little sprinkle.  Currently 89 and mostly cloudy.

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On 7/20/2020 at 10:10 PM, RedSky said:

Good comet viewing right now if you have a dark view two and a half fists over the horizon under the big dipper.

 

I got a good look at it Monday and Tuesday night.  Had some nice binoculars and a 3 inch spotting lense that can magnify to 60x.  The binoculars were easier/clearer for viewing the comet than the telescope, but Jupiter and Saturn were awesome through the scope.  You could see 5 moons around Jupiter, even with binoculars, and the rings of Saturn on Monday night.  

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22 minutes ago, Birds~69 said:

89F / DP 73

Fully expect some T-Storms later today...

You would think. I'm a little surprised at how unenthusiastic the models are for later today. Doesn't mean they're right, especially when it comes to convection.

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5 hours ago, ChasingFlakes said:

I got a good look at it Monday and Tuesday night.  Had some nice binoculars and a 3 inch spotting lense that can magnify to 60x.  The binoculars were easier/clearer for viewing the comet than the telescope, but Jupiter and Saturn were awesome through the scope.  You could see 5 moons around Jupiter, even with binoculars, and the rings of Saturn on Monday night.  

I have some antiquated crappy binoculars but it worked. Getting a good comet to view is much harder then getting a HECS even, there have been several i think only the last 25 years and typically they are positioned low on the horizon and don't achieve a significant enough low magnitude to be seen well with the naked eye.

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And here comes Norman, OK -

Quote

Severe Thunderstorm Watch


SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WS 394
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
255 PM EDT WED JUL 22 2020

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 394 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM EDT
FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS

PAC011-017-025-029-045-069-077-079-089-091-095-101-103-115-127-
131-230200-
/O.NEW.KWNS.SV.A.0394.200722T1855Z-200723T0200Z/

PA
.    PENNSYLVANIA COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

BERKS                BUCKS               CARBON
CHESTER              DELAWARE            LACKAWANNA
LEHIGH               LUZERNE             MONROE
MONTGOMERY           NORTHAMPTON         PHILADELPHIA
PIKE                 SUSQUEHANNA         WAYNE
WYOMING
$$
Quote

Severe Thunderstorm Watch


SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WS 394
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
255 PM EDT WED JUL 22 2020

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 394 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM EDT
FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS

NJC001-003-005-007-009-011-013-015-017-019-021-023-025-027-029-
031-033-035-037-039-041-230200-
/O.NEW.KWNS.SV.A.0394.200722T1855Z-200723T0200Z/

NJ
.    NEW JERSEY COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

ATLANTIC             BERGEN              BURLINGTON
CAMDEN               CAPE MAY            CUMBERLAND
ESSEX                GLOUCESTER          HUDSON
HUNTERDON            MERCER              MIDDLESEX
MONMOUTH             MORRIS              OCEAN
PASSAIC              SALEM               SOMERSET
SUSSEX               UNION               WARREN
$$

 

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4 minutes ago, Lady Di said:

I was just checking in here to see about TS this afternoon and reading Hurricane's post coincided with my text message.  LOL

Hope all is well with everyone in the heat.  

There's some unstable air out there!  And since some of us got some rain overnight, that just added moisture to make it even more muggy and unstable.  Just heard Hurricane Schwartz on KYW about 5 minutes ago and he said we're still a few hours from that but the closest are coming into Lancaster County now so they might get here just after peak heating.

Today is day 6 of 90+ IMBY!

 

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15 minutes ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

There's some unstable air out there!  And since some of us got some rain overnight, that just added moisture to make it even more muggy and unstable.  Just heard Hurricane Schwartz on KYW about 5 minutes ago and he said we're still a few hours from that but the closest are coming into Lancaster County now so they might get here just after peak heating.

Today is day 6 of 90+ IMBY!

 

I am only using a small window AC unit this year, and once you get into day 4 or 5 it's much harder for the thing to catch up...  I am not running it while I'm at work.  Even with the house  closed up like a morgue, it was still 80 deg. in my living room at 9:30pm last night.   It did reach 68-70 by the time I woke up this morning.  

I've lost several TV boxes and washing machines during storms, so I'm just going to count on being hot for a while tonight if I can't run AC during a storm.  I do have a basement that is cooler and it's doing fairly well, haven't had to run the dehumidifier yet.  Just cracked opened the small window and I am running a fan down there 24-7

Watering tomato plants every darn day!  They are burning up.

 

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1 minute ago, Lady Di said:

I am only using a small window AC unit this year, and once you get into day 4 or 5 it's much harder for the thing to catch up...  I am not running it while I'm at work.  Even with the house is closed up like a morgue, it was still 80 deg. in my living room at 9:30pm last night.   It did reach 68-70 by the time I woke up this morning.  

I've lost several TV boxes and washing machines during storms, so I'm just going to count on being hot for a while tonight if I can't run it during a storm.  I do have a basement that is cooler and it's doing fairly well, haven't had to run the dehumidifier yet.  Just cracked opened the small window and I am running a fan down there 24-7

Watering tomato plants every darn day!  They are burning up.

 

I remember when your patio furniture went flying last year after a storm! :yikes:  So I don't blame you.  My basement stays cooler too and so far my central air is holding - at least down there and the 1st floor. The 2nd floor? Forget it (I have a portable in my bedroom for night)!  I was glad for that little bit of rain overnight because I would have had to get the hose back out again today.

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