Phil Perry

Notwithstanding Jerry,. . .I'm still completely in love with Saffer Wimmins . . . . Been online chatting to a self made millionaire Lady oop Liverpool way for some years now. She's in her sixties and has a lovely cruel S.O.H. I knew several Saffers when working in Brisbane also. It was amusing when my good Lady said she couldn't work out what they were saying ! ! ! I think Afrikaaners have a gorgeous Lilt.

Interesting tale Jerry,. . .just one minor detail though,. . .The GORGEOUS Jackie was a 'Saffer' born in Sarf Effrikeh and Not Lahndon. 🙂

I shouldn't say, [obviously at risk of being labelled a pervert of some kind ] But will anyway that this is a really attractive lady. ( Jerry is obviously in agreement, so I'm not alone ) I just wish that I'd been able to see and thank this Lady for her service Personally.

Remembering Jackie Moggridge – the youngest World War II Air Transport Auxiliary pilot who safely flew over 1,500 aircraft during the war. There is now a Jackie Moggridge Spitfire RAF Award in memory of the pioneering aviator, and it is awarded annually to the 'Best female aircrew or engineer who has demonstrated outstanding potential.' Born 1922 Pretoria South Africa. Died 2004 - FIRST Lady Airline Captain. Lest we forget. ( Source wikipedia )

Maureen Dunlop, of Buenos Aires Argentina, joined the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary) in April of 1942. Maureen served with the Ferry Pool at Hamble, Southampton, exclusively delivering Spitfires straight from the factory at RAF Southampton. During the war 168 women of the ATA were designated as the "Atta Girls" - The premier female pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary. Women from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States, the Netherlands and Poland all volunteered for this elite group. These skilled pilots would ferry aircraft such as Spitfires, Hurricanes, Lancasters and Wellingtons on solo trips for delivery to the front lines. After the war, Maureen became a flight instructor at RAF Luton and later returned to Argentina to train military pilots. In later years Maureen and her family relocated to the United Kingdom, settling in Norfolk. Maureen passed away on May 29, 2012, at the age of 91. Lest We Forget

One from last night. 7hrs of exposure under new moon of part of the Heart nebula and the Fish-head nebula. 102mm triplet telescope, CEM70G mount and ASI 2600MC-Pro camera. Bigger, less compressed image on my Astrobin page here: https://www.astrobin.com/full/xp57gh/0/

Another Pic from Rob Greaves. Another Astro image from my back garden last night. IC1396, the Elephant Trunk nebula in the constellation Cepheus. 3hrs 30mins of exposure on this one. Made it to bed by 0345 BST rather than dawn! No hedgehogs this time This is about 2400 light years away, meaning that the photons of light that landed on my camera sensor last night set out 2400 years ago, travelling at light speed ...

Allo Planey. Rob answered the same question on bookface yesterday, it answers all of your obvious questions. I'll see if I can re-find it. **Found it.** How do you take the photos? Husband has a telescope and we had a great view of the moon the other night but trying to take a photo with our mobiles was, well, rubbish I imagine whatever the solution it will be expensive? Emma Louise Hi Emma, a lot is down to the equipment. First, a tracking mount that will follow the stars, and on that, something called an autoguider that watches a single star continuously and monitors its position on a camera in terms of xy coordinates. If the star drifts any, it makes very slight corrections to the mount to keep the stars round and pinpoint. Second, the camera is a proper astro camera for long exposures, and a cooler built in to take the sensor chip down to -25°C to get rid of thermal noise. Thirdly, good quality optics. After that, lots of practice and skill as far a your scope goes, do you have any sort of digital camera there? You can get devices called eyepiece projection adaptors that hold a camera a specific distance from the eyepiece, and square/ on axis to it, to get reasonable shots. Or alternatively, a nosepiece adaptor that fits on your camera in place of the lens, and allows you to insert that into the focuser in place of an eyepiece. The biggest trick then is getting sharp focus. Rob G.

One from last night, the Cave Nebula. Had some issues with the computer locking up and having to restart everything and re-cool the camera, so lost a lot of data in the process. This is about 3hrs worth of exposures, not enough for this target really, so a bit noisy. No signs of the hedgehog. Rob Greaves.

Rob said that he was playing a Queen classic, Bohemian Rhapsody . . .I had no idea that he tinkled the bloody ivories. . . but that he got a sketchy applause for his effort.

NGC 281 PacMan Nebula, 2hrs total exposure after rejecting an hour of iffy data. 102mm refractor, L-eXtreme filter, ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro camera, on CEM70G mount. Was accompanied briefly by an inquisitive hedgehog who came across to see what I was up to.

Is there no end to the multi - faceted talents of this young bloke ?

Astro-photographer Rob Greaves: Going for the 'how many gadgets can I fit to the instrument panel' record

Some rainy day reprocesses of old data - Elephant Trunk Nebula with Ritchey Chretien 150mm telescope, and Pelican Nebula with 102mm refractor telescope. Pics by Rob Greaves. Gathering the data is one thing - getting focused shots with round stars and good mount tracking (and no satellite trails!) then the processing of the raw data into finished images is another! Like

Crescent Nebula from last night. A rich area of nebulosity in Cygnus. Just over 2.5hrs of total exposure, 102mm apochromatic triplet telescope, and narrowband filter. Full frame shot, and a crop for Crescent Nebula detail. ( Rob Greaves - Cornwall UK )

When a bunch of Elon Musk's sodding Starlink satellites spoil one of the subframes of a deep sky object you're trying to shoot... ( Pic: Rob Greaves Photography - Cornwall UK )

Just as an aside. . . .In the UK, we have SSDR. Single Seat Deregulated, ie, no Permit to fly regulation. Maintenance purely assigned to the owner pilot. ( crazy, wide open to abuse ) But machines in this category still require Registration ID to be displayed prominently. Interesting that. . .

Merci Monseiur . . . zees was ze point of moi double entendre Mon Ami. . .

Agreed Scott. Inconducive to long term survival methinks.

Oi ! Don't infect this wonderful site with that french rubbish ! 😁

It's a song isn't it ? First of May. . . .on a Saturday. . .we used to love while others used to play. . . . ( Can't recall the artiste,. . .BGs perhaps. . .I dunno. did you like the 1970s AFTN message layout ? )

MAYDAY. . . .MAYDAY. . . .MAYDAY message ends NNNN

It could well have been Sir. . . RF contributors Do post lots of interesting content; and the Youtube comments suggest it wasn't very recent.

I don't know anything about this character, other than the obvious fact that he is lucky in the extreme. Eldest Daughter saw it on her Bookface news feed and forwarded it as she always does if it's flight related. The bloke was obviously in shock, it took him a while to cut the engine ! Happy dayz. . .

Idaho is mentioned, but the bloke doesn't sound yankish as he struggles out of the wreckage muttering "I'm OK. . .I'm OK" Wire strike occurs circa 3:44. I wonder if his surname is 'Kerr"