Monthly archives: January 2012

Jan 28th, a bit of clear sky

By | Published January 29, 2012

I got home from work at about 2am, so I brought out the grab’n'go scope (what a wonderful purchase that is turning out to be) and went for a wander to find somewhere dark.
I got a nice view of Saturn, with the banding on the planet, the shadow of the rings on the planet and the shadow of the planet on the rings, with the Cassini division visible most of the time.
Mars showed a very clear and obvious polar cap with a darker collar around it, as well as Syrtis Major and Utopia being visible. The phase was obvious – it wasn’t round!
I got some good views of some double stars, such as Algeiba, Izar and Porrima – all split cleanly at 125x though Izar wasn’t that easy.
M51 was quite well shown, easily seing the two galaxy disks and two nuclei, but no spiral structure.

Very nice short session that wound me down nicely from the evening’s work, and these quick grabs of suitable stargazing time have really made me thankful that I got the 80mm Onyx and the alt-az mount. Setup is minimal and the cooldown isn’t a big issue compared to the Newts.

Posted in astro | Leave a comment

I like the new bike..

By | Published January 29, 2012

Some miles up on it now, and it’s quite comfy – I’ve replaced the saddle with a Fizic Antares and it’s a lot better on my bits.. Ultegra brakes are en route, GP4000s tyres are on it, I’ve got better road-specific gloves that fit and it’s rolling really nicely now. More miles needed!

Posted in General, Road bike | Leave a comment

Results day

By | Published January 20, 2012

So, it’s been a pretty good day for me. The first semester’s results are out, and slightly better performing than expected. Two A2s, a B2, and a C2 along with one grade yet to clear due to illnes (I-grade). A good show considering I was down and out with a virus during the exams (and it’s still got me a bit wiped out and well down on power output when cycling..).

Posted in Masters | Leave a comment

Excellent – new bike picked up.

By | Published January 6, 2012

I’m now finally in possession of the bike-to-work bike:

2nd hand 2011 Trek Madone 4.5 frame in 54 size (black/red), 105 compact chainset, 105 grips/shifters, 105 front brake, tiagra rear brake, Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheels, Bontrager Node 2 bike computer, Vittoria 700*20 wheels.

First impressions? Light. Comfortable enough, but I’ll swap out the brakes and the tyres for ones that will better suit my weight. I’ll also have to get a pump that will work with the tubes…

Posted in General | Leave a comment

The new year.

By | Published January 5, 2012

So, It’s January again. Lots of people making and breaking resolutions and getting 1-month gym memberships and the like. However I’m not in that group – I’ve made no resolutions so I can’t break any resolution! I’ve got some things that I do need to get done for sure, such as progress the Thesis work and to make sure that I’m getting fitter in spite of the lack of time to do that. I’ve started to use the new camera to take some astrophotos and to take planetary videos through my scopes with various amounts of success at the moment. Just waiting for a period of good seeing to get some steady images. I’ll be trying some unguided short-sub deep sky work if I get any time on a night when I’m not working and it’s clear.

The new road bike should be ready to go now – that’ll mean a good chance to get road fit to prepare for the upcoming French episode! I’m so looking forwards to having that bike available for use..

While I’m not in college I have my midweek 3-day weekends available again – giving me a chance to properly wind down and relax before the next semester of college, and the summer of Thesis. Another 2 weekends left in the month..

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Interesting. US being a bully on behalf of media companies?

By | Published January 5, 2012

http://torrentfreak.com/us-threatened-to-blacklist-spain-for-not-implementing-site-blocking-law-120105/

So, the US doesn’t even have it own SOPA law passed, and there are already people strongarming Spain into putting something similar. Notwithstanding the fact that Spain’s copyright law is not compatible with SOPA..

Corroberation: http://boingboing.net/2010/12/03/wikileaks-cables-rev.html

US – please get your attempts to corrupt our laws off the table for good, and tend to your own corruption and bribery issues please.

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Swedish Greys - a WordPress theme from Nordic Themepark.