WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.200 --> 00:00:29.610 Welcome to BackFocus, bringing astronomy together. I'm your host, Eric Wright. 2 00:00:29.990 --> 00:00:30.650 And I'm Rowan. 3 00:00:30.990 --> 00:00:38.810 Just as BackFocus is essential for a sharp image, this podcast is about bringing the people behind astronomy into focus. 4 00:00:38.810 --> 00:00:56.810 Every episode, we sit down with astronomers, astrophotographers, educators, observatory staff, content creators, and community leaders to hear their stories, learn from their experience, and celebrate the hobby that brings all of us together under the night sky. 5 00:00:57.770 --> 00:01:06.370 And it is in pursuit of that goal that I have an event calendar for you, as well as some events within the state of Nebraska and a few other places. 6 00:01:06.870 --> 00:01:08.370 So come July 14th. 7 00:01:09.170 --> 00:01:15.390 We'll be having a new moon at 9:43 UTC on July 14th. 8 00:01:15.390 --> 00:01:18.450 The new moon will pass over the area. 9 00:01:18.890 --> 00:01:25.490 It'll be a great time without any bright moon to look up at the sky with a telescope and get to see some of those faraway things. 10 00:01:25.910 --> 00:01:29.590 Come August 12th, we'll have the next total solar eclipse. 11 00:01:29.770 --> 00:01:35.950 It'll pass over Russia, Greenland, and Iceland in the path of totality, as well as a few other European countries. 12 00:01:36.530 --> 00:01:38.670 And finally, we'll have our next new moon. 13 00:01:38.670 --> 00:01:38.790 On July 14th, we'll be having a new moon at 9:43 UTC on July 14th. 14 00:01:38.790 --> 00:01:41.730 So be on the lookout for that. 15 00:01:42.470 --> 00:01:49.790 Now, within the state of Nebraska, one event I have for you is a church called Calvary Memorial. 16 00:01:50.850 --> 00:01:57.510 We'll be holding a VBS for kids that is inspired by astronomy. 17 00:01:58.010 --> 00:02:04.790 They'll be learning about the Word of God through the process of learning about constellations and other celestial bodies. 18 00:02:05.270 --> 00:02:07.690 And I think that sounds cool to me. 19 00:02:07.690 --> 00:02:08.690 So without further ado... 20 00:02:08.790 --> 00:02:10.630 I'll turn this back over to Eric for you. 21 00:02:11.490 --> 00:02:15.550 Today's guest is Eric Loyd, better known as Astropotamus. 22 00:02:15.790 --> 00:02:27.550 Eric is an astrophotographer, astronomy outreach advocate, and host of the Star River podcast, where he explores the unique journeys that connect people together through space and time. 23 00:02:28.010 --> 00:02:38.010 He's also passionate about restoring used telescopes and putting them into the hands of kids at star parties and helping to inspire the next generation of astronomers. 24 00:02:38.010 --> 00:02:42.010 Eric, I want to thank you for joining me and welcome to the Back Focus podcast. 25 00:02:42.010 --> 00:02:43.010 Well, thank you, Eric. 26 00:02:43.010 --> 00:02:48.010 I appreciate the invite, and I'm looking forward to our conversation today. 27 00:02:48.010 --> 00:02:49.010 Awesome. 28 00:02:49.010 --> 00:02:53.010 Well, hey, as a nod to your podcast (StarRiver Podcast), I know that you like to do a sip of your 29 00:02:53.010 --> 00:02:58.010 favorite drink. This is not something I do on my podcast, but I wanted to give you a nod 30 00:02:58.010 --> 00:03:01.010 to yours. Today, I am sipping 31 00:03:01.010 --> 00:03:02.010 stream soda. It's just 32 00:03:02.010 --> 00:03:06.010 mug soda. So I don't know if you have anything on your side, but we'll 33 00:03:06.010 --> 00:03:07.010 clink glasses. I 34 00:03:07.010 --> 00:03:08.010 always do. I 35 00:03:08.010 --> 00:03:12.010 always have some water because my throat gets dry when I talk. So 36 00:03:12.010 --> 00:03:13.010 that's what I've got today. It's 37 00:03:13.010 --> 00:03:14.010 the middle of my workday. No 38 00:03:14.010 --> 00:03:16.010 cocktails or wine for me here right now. But 39 00:03:16.010 --> 00:03:19.010 thank you for the shout out on the ritual there. I 40 00:03:19.010 --> 00:03:20.010 appreciate that. Cheers. 41 00:03:20.010 --> 00:03:21.010 Not 42 00:03:21.010 --> 00:03:22.010 a problem. Cheers. 43 00:03:22.010 --> 00:03:23.010 Okay, 44 00:03:23.010 --> 00:03:30.960 Eric. 45 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:31.960 Nice name. 46 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:32.960 So I 47 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:42.400 just want to get to know about you, your background, and how you kind of got into astronomy. What kind 48 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:45.400 of really got you inspired to do this kind of work? So it's 49 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:51.400 a multi-chapter story. I'll try 50 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:54.400 to keep it short though. When I 51 00:03:54.400 --> 00:04:02.400 was a wee little kid, my father got me a cheap, probably Sears, you know, Tasco, whatever, department 52 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:05.400 store telescope. And I 53 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:12.400 lived in the country and I had space to set it up sort of in a clearing in our yard. And 54 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:13.400 there 55 00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:17.400 were no lights around to speak of. And there 56 00:04:17.400 --> 00:04:20.400 were, you know, beautiful skies. So I 57 00:04:20.400 --> 00:04:29.400 looked through this little cheap-ass telescope and saw, you know, I tell people that I 58 00:04:29.400 --> 00:04:36.400 didn't see the rings of Saturn, but I could tell that Saturn was more than just a round 59 00:04:36.400 --> 00:04:38.400 blob. You know, 60 00:04:38.400 --> 00:04:41.400 it really was a cheap-ass telescope. That's cool. 61 00:04:41.400 --> 00:04:42.400 They usually 62 00:04:42.400 --> 00:04:45.400 are when you first start out. Yeah, right. 63 00:04:45.400 --> 00:04:46.400 You know, 64 00:04:46.400 --> 00:04:50.400 my dad didn't know if this was something I was going to be interested in or, you know, was I 65 00:04:50.400 --> 00:04:55.400 going to destroy a, you know, a thousand dollar telescope, you know, or whatever. So, you 66 00:04:55.400 --> 00:04:56.400 know, I understand. I respect 67 00:04:56.400 --> 00:04:59.400 his decision. The funny 68 00:04:59.400 --> 00:05:05.400 thing is, I've always been interested in science and space, but the telescope itself just sort 69 00:05:05.400 --> 00:05:10.400 of, it wasn't good enough to keep my attention once I understood its limitations. And honestly, 70 00:05:10.400 --> 00:05:14.400 it became a prop. I'm trying 71 00:05:14.400 --> 00:05:20.400 to debate how much information to give you here. But so 72 00:05:20.400 --> 00:05:30.680 the, my life was complicated as a kid. I had 73 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:33.680 a father and a stepfather. I call 74 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:34.680 them both dad. It was 75 00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:37.680 the stepfather that gave me my telescope. But my 76 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:40.680 first father was a police officer. And so 77 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:43.680 I had like toy guns. You know, 78 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:45.680 you're the child of a cop. You have 79 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:47.680 toy guns. And that 80 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:52.680 telescope became like the bazooka of my toy gun collection. That's awesome. 81 00:05:52.680 --> 00:05:53.680 Because when 82 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:59.680 you removed it from the tripod and you had the little, you know, the plastic mount thing 83 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:03.680 that would go back onto the tripod, you could like bolt something to that and it became 84 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:04.680 a handle. And then 85 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:08.680 you had all these little extended pieces and stuff you get out onto it. And like, 86 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:09.680 it was just perfect. Like set 87 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:10.680 on your shoulder. Pretend it 88 00:06:10.680 --> 00:06:12.680 was like a rocket launcher or whatever. So it 89 00:06:12.680 --> 00:06:17.680 actually started in a couple of home movies when I was a teenager. And it 90 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:20.680 was literally a prop. But that's 91 00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:23.680 fantastic. But and 92 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:26.680 I'm not going to drag this on too much longer. But there 93 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:29.680 was one thing about this telescope that I thought was unique. It had 94 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:32.680 a Barlow that came with it. And the 95 00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:39.680 Barlow had a very small little plastic sleeve at the end of it. That you 96 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:46.680 could use to just slide it out like maybe a half an inch to like fine tune the magnification or 97 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:49.680 the focus or whatever. And that 98 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:52.680 plastic sleeve was clear. And so 99 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:56.680 the weird thing about this was they designed it to be able to do that as a Barlow. But then 100 00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:01.680 if you used this plastic sleeve and like put it down on a piece of paper, as long as you 101 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:06.680 had light shining through that little plastic sleeve, it became like a little miniature microscope. Oh 102 00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:07.680 cool. 103 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:08.680 So I 104 00:07:08.680 --> 00:07:13.680 got intrigued by the optics of how this worked. And it 105 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:15.680 stuck in the back of my head. And when 106 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:21.680 I went off to school, I actually studied micro electronic engineering, which is building microchips basically. 107 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:22.680 But a 108 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:28.680 lot of that is, you know, staring through microscopes at the actual chips and looking for defects on 109 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:32.680 sub micron, you know, scales and things like this. So the 110 00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:35.680 optics was never too far from my brain. And when 111 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:37.680 I became kind of a make your own Barlow. I got 112 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:43.680 interested in photography, specifically wildlife photography and birds of prey. So eagles 113 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:45.680 and hawks and things like that. So I 114 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:51.680 amassed quite a collection of big glass for my camera, my cameras. And mind 115 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:54.680 you, this is back in like the 90s. So I'm 116 00:07:54.680 --> 00:08:01.680 shooting slide film, you know, basically trying to get published, which I did get some published pictures. 117 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:02.680 But at 118 00:08:02.680 --> 00:08:05.680 one point, I was like, I'm going to do this. But at 119 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:10.680 one point I said, oh, hey, I have this vague memory of, you know, looking up at the skies as a 120 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:11.680 kid. At this 121 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:12.680 point, I lived in the city. There wasn't 122 00:08:12.680 --> 00:08:14.680 a lot of skies to look at. But Comet 123 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:17.680 Yakutaki was in town. And so 124 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:23.680 I threw my camera onto a tripod and I started taking pictures of the comet. And of 125 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:27.680 course, with slide film, you have to wait to see what the results are. Yeah. Yeah. 126 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:28.680 There's 127 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:29.680 no 128 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:30.680 integration, right? It's, you 129 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:32.680 know, if you take a 30 second picture, that's what you got, etc. Anyway, it 130 00:08:32.680 --> 00:08:33.680 was horrible. It's absolutely 131 00:08:33.680 --> 00:08:34.680 horrible. And I 132 00:08:35.680 --> 00:08:39.480 shelved the whole thing after a while. My wife 133 00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:45.680 comes along a few years ago and says, hey, you were interested in astronomy as a kid. I'm 134 00:08:45.680 --> 00:08:46.680 going 135 00:08:46.680 --> 00:08:53.680 to get you this Christmas present for SLOOH.com, S-L-O-O-H, which is still in existence. It 136 00:08:53.680 --> 00:08:54.680 was 137 00:08:54.680 --> 00:08:59.680 one of, if not the first sort of remote operated telescopes that you could subscribe to. Oh, 138 00:08:59.680 --> 00:09:00.680 super 139 00:09:00.680 --> 00:09:01.680 cool. So, you 140 00:09:01.680 --> 00:09:05.680 know, you got like, I don't know, 10 hours a month or whatever. It was 141 00:09:05.680 --> 00:09:10.680 that you could aim their telescopes at a target and it would capture images and you would 142 00:09:10.680 --> 00:09:11.680 get the data. And on 143 00:09:11.680 --> 00:09:16.680 the one hand, it was really cool because these telescopes are on like the Canary Islands and Chile 144 00:09:16.680 --> 00:09:20.680 and all these sort of, you know, remote places that we're used to these days. But this 145 00:09:20.680 --> 00:09:23.680 was sort of brand new at the time. And, you 146 00:09:23.680 --> 00:09:25.680 know, you figure out- And 10 147 00:09:25.680 --> 00:09:27.680 hours is a lot of time. Yeah. Yeah. 148 00:09:27.680 --> 00:09:28.680 And, 149 00:09:28.680 --> 00:09:29.680 you 150 00:09:29.680 --> 00:09:30.680 know, it would reset. So it 151 00:09:30.680 --> 00:09:31.680 wasn't just like, here's 10 hours. It was, 152 00:09:31.680 --> 00:09:32.680 here's 10 hours in January. Here's 10 153 00:09:32.680 --> 00:09:33.680 hours in February. Here's 10 154 00:09:33.680 --> 00:09:34.680 hours in March. And I 155 00:09:34.680 --> 00:09:39.680 wasn't quite sophisticated enough to take advantage of what, you know, what that meant in 156 00:09:39.680 --> 00:09:45.680 terms of target selection at that time, but I understood what it represented. And so 157 00:09:45.680 --> 00:09:51.680 no matter what I tried to make use of my 10 hours, even it was just like, aim at the 158 00:09:51.680 --> 00:09:54.680 moon, you know, or whatever, just do something. And that's 159 00:09:54.680 --> 00:09:55.680 when I started- Let me, 160 00:09:55.680 --> 00:09:57.680 I'm going to interject real quick. That part 161 00:09:57.680 --> 00:10:04.680 of astronomy is one of the biggest aspects of astronomy is target selection. You have 162 00:10:04.680 --> 00:10:05.680 to look at the weather. You have 163 00:10:05.680 --> 00:10:10.680 to look at the location, the light pollution, the target, where it's going to be in 164 00:10:10.680 --> 00:10:12.680 the sky, how much time you're going to get with it. Because you 165 00:10:12.680 --> 00:10:16.680 might have 10 hours to shoot, but that target might only be up for five hours. Yeah. 166 00:10:16.680 --> 00:10:17.680 And 167 00:10:17.680 --> 00:10:18.680 at 168 00:10:18.680 --> 00:10:23.680 the same time, I don't want to make it sound like, you know, I would 169 00:10:23.680 --> 00:10:26.680 just pick something basically at that time. I'd be, 170 00:10:26.680 --> 00:10:30.680 you know, they had a rudimentary version of what would sort of like, if you went to Telescopius today, 171 00:10:30.680 --> 00:10:33.680 you could, you know, kind of put some parameters in. It would 172 00:10:33.680 --> 00:10:35.680 give you a list of potential targets. They had 173 00:10:35.680 --> 00:10:37.680 something similar to that. I didn't 174 00:10:37.680 --> 00:10:38.680 really know what I was doing. So I 175 00:10:38.680 --> 00:10:42.680 just like, you know, well, that looks like it might be fun to take a picture of Kind of 176 00:10:42.680 --> 00:10:43.680 thing. But, you 177 00:10:43.680 --> 00:10:48.680 know, I am more sophisticated now. There's obviously 178 00:10:48.680 --> 00:10:54.680 a lot more sophisticated software than there was 20-ish years ago. More than 179 00:10:54.680 --> 00:10:55.680 that, actually. But at 180 00:10:55.680 --> 00:11:02.680 the same time, you don't have to be, you know, you could just literally like look at the 181 00:11:02.680 --> 00:11:05.680 sky and say, that looks interesting. I'll see 182 00:11:05.680 --> 00:11:08.680 what happens if I take pictures of it. And, you 183 00:11:08.680 --> 00:11:13.680 know, if you happen to be taking pictures and the full moon comes up, maybe next time 184 00:11:13.680 --> 00:11:17.680 you'll make a note and say like, oh, well, you know, that turned out badly because the 185 00:11:17.680 --> 00:11:18.680 moon. And maybe 186 00:11:18.680 --> 00:11:20.680 you'll choose differently next time. Or maybe 187 00:11:20.680 --> 00:11:23.680 you lucked out and the moon wasn't a factor. And so 188 00:11:23.680 --> 00:11:28.680 now you realize that, oh, the full moon might be a factor if I'm aiming towards it. But 189 00:11:28.680 --> 00:11:29.680 if 190 00:11:29.680 --> 00:11:31.680 I'm aiming away from it doesn't matter. So, you 191 00:11:31.680 --> 00:11:34.680 know, it is a learning experience. But the 192 00:11:34.680 --> 00:11:37.680 SLOOH got me back interested in it. And then 193 00:11:37.680 --> 00:11:45.680 I purchased an actual Celestron C8 telescope. I talked 194 00:11:45.680 --> 00:11:49.680 about this actually in one of my podcast episodes with somebody who went down almost the 195 00:11:49.680 --> 00:11:53.680 exact same path of what technology. A Celestron 196 00:11:53.680 --> 00:12:01.680 C8, a Canon 450, also known as an XSI, you know, a T-mount adapter. For the 197 00:12:01.680 --> 00:12:02.680 back of the camera. And then 198 00:12:02.680 --> 00:12:13.680 trying to get that C8 to take pictures on a Skywatcher EQ6R mount. Okay. That 199 00:12:13.680 --> 00:12:15.680 was 200 00:12:15.680 --> 00:12:17.680 frustrating. I will 201 00:12:17.680 --> 00:12:20.680 say this about the process. It taught 202 00:12:20.680 --> 00:12:24.680 me a lot about the engineering of mounts and how the telescope is actually made. It reminded 203 00:12:24.680 --> 00:12:29.680 me of all those optics stuff that I'd learned as an undergraduate. And to 204 00:12:29.680 --> 00:12:37.680 finally answer your question, I did start amassing some equipment to be able to do, 205 00:12:37.680 --> 00:12:42.680 you know, what we would today call sort of real backyard astrophotography. But I 206 00:12:42.680 --> 00:12:50.680 didn't live in a place that was really easy to do sort of logistically. I still, 207 00:12:50.680 --> 00:12:54.680 different country, but I still live in the country. I don't 208 00:12:54.680 --> 00:12:56.680 mean different country like politically. It's a 209 00:12:56.680 --> 00:12:58.680 different countryside than where I grew up. But I 210 00:12:58.680 --> 00:13:00.680 still live in the country now. And it's 211 00:13:00.680 --> 00:13:02.680 a beautiful sky. And I 212 00:13:02.680 --> 00:13:04.680 love to take pictures of it. But at 213 00:13:04.680 --> 00:13:10.680 the time, like lugging that EQ6R Pro mount out, setting it up on the tripod, putting a Celestron 214 00:13:10.680 --> 00:13:14.680 C8 on it, mounting a camera and the camera adapters and cables and blah. You know, 215 00:13:14.680 --> 00:13:15.680 it's 216 00:13:15.680 --> 00:13:16.680 two hours of setup. And then, uh-oh, 217 00:13:16.680 --> 00:13:19.680 looks like it might rain. You know, quick, 218 00:13:19.680 --> 00:13:26.680 undo everything as best you can and literally chuck it in the backseat of the car. 219 00:13:26.680 --> 00:13:27.680 Oh, that's the 220 00:13:27.680 --> 00:13:29.680 worst. Quite literally, I 221 00:13:29.680 --> 00:13:32.680 have the same exact mount right now. And I, it 222 00:13:32.680 --> 00:13:37.680 takes an hour and a half to lug this heavy thing out there. Now I don't 223 00:13:37.680 --> 00:13:41.680 have a C8, so I'm not dealing with that heavy weight. Usually I was 224 00:13:41.680 --> 00:13:46.680 using like a regular tiny Rokinon camera lens and that's all I would use. So the top 225 00:13:46.680 --> 00:13:52.680 wasn't that bad, but I just upgraded to a Newtonian that's a six inch F4. It's not huge, 226 00:13:52.680 --> 00:13:55.680 but it puts a little extra weight on it. Yeah. You always 227 00:13:55.680 --> 00:13:56.680 have 228 00:13:56.680 --> 00:13:59.680 to be concerned about the optics of your equipment. You know, you 229 00:13:59.680 --> 00:14:03.680 could toss it in that seat, but you're going to use that seatbelt. Well, there were 230 00:14:03.680 --> 00:14:10.680 days like maybe too many days in, uh, some inclement weather where I 231 00:14:10.680 --> 00:14:16.680 was literally riding around with my astrophotography gear thrown in the backseat because I 232 00:14:16.680 --> 00:14:18.680 didn't want it to get wet. And yet I 233 00:14:18.680 --> 00:14:20.680 didn't have a place to put it. I don't have 234 00:14:20.680 --> 00:14:21.680 a garage. I don't have 235 00:14:21.680 --> 00:14:22.680 a shed. You know, it's 236 00:14:22.680 --> 00:14:24.680 either in the house or it's in the car or it's on the lawn. Yeah. You know, 237 00:14:24.680 --> 00:14:25.680 there's, 238 00:14:25.680 --> 00:14:30.680 um, there's no place to store things really for us right now. Um, so 239 00:14:30.680 --> 00:14:31.680 it 240 00:14:31.680 --> 00:14:36.680 was very frustrating to just literally set things up, maybe get a couple hours of imaging and then, 241 00:14:36.680 --> 00:14:40.680 you know, I'd have to tear it down in the morning unless it was going to be a 242 00:14:40.680 --> 00:14:41.680 fantastic day. Um, so the 243 00:14:41.680 --> 00:14:49.680 progression there was, uh, I got a tele gizmos 365 cover and that at least let me 244 00:14:49.680 --> 00:14:52.680 leave the guts of everything. Like the scope 245 00:14:52.680 --> 00:14:54.680 and the mount were left outside. Actually for a 246 00:14:54.680 --> 00:14:59.680 couple of years, uh, 24 seven and I live in upstate New York. So that means, 247 00:14:59.680 --> 00:15:03.680 you know, we get a hundred inches of rain, we get a hundred inches of snow, we get 248 00:15:03.680 --> 00:15:05.680 a hundred degrees temperature. So, um, oh, 249 00:15:05.680 --> 00:15:08.680 and we get a hundred days a year of clouds. I know the 250 00:15:08.680 --> 00:15:10.680 feeling. I live in Cleveland. So I, 251 00:15:10.680 --> 00:15:11.680 yeah. Oh yeah. So, 252 00:15:11.680 --> 00:15:12.680 you know, it 253 00:15:12.680 --> 00:15:13.680 was better 254 00:15:13.680 --> 00:15:19.680 because I could just go out with the cover off, attach the camera and be ready to 255 00:15:19.680 --> 00:15:21.680 go. And if the rain was coming, 256 00:15:21.680 --> 00:15:23.680 I could detach the camera and throw the cover back on. 257 00:15:23.680 --> 00:15:26.680 Um, but it was still frustrating. And so I don't want 258 00:15:26.680 --> 00:15:28.680 to like, uh, make this like 259 00:15:28.680 --> 00:15:35.680 an ad, but I will say that three years ago I bought a Skyshed pod used the person 260 00:15:35.680 --> 00:15:42.680 who owned it that I bought it from was buying like the new version, which includes a, uh, automated 261 00:15:42.680 --> 00:15:50.680 rotating dome and a slot, that kind of thing. So he had his old 262 00:15:50.680 --> 00:15:51.680 manual Skyshed pod, um, that he 263 00:15:51.680 --> 00:15:52.680 was 264 00:15:52.680 --> 00:15:58.680 gonna sell. I bought it. He was literally driving to Canada to pick up 265 00:15:58.680 --> 00:15:59.680 his new one 266 00:15:59.680 --> 00:16:03.680 and I was on the way. So he dropped it off, which was like, that was awesome. My 267 00:16:03.680 --> 00:16:07.680 wife made him cookies. It was, you know, it was a 268 00:16:07.680 --> 00:16:08.680 good old time. And you 269 00:16:08.680 --> 00:16:10.680 know, it's a good time when the wife brings cookies. 270 00:16:10.680 --> 00:16:12.680 Um, so that pod, that Skyshed pod. For me was the 271 00:16:12.680 --> 00:16:13.680 moment 272 00:16:13.680 --> 00:16:20.680 where I really started to feel like, 273 00:16:20.680 --> 00:16:27.680 okay, now I am at, I am an astrophotographer as opposed to just somebody who takes pictures because my gear was 274 00:16:27.680 --> 00:16:33.680 set up 24 seven. If it was raining on the pod, not my gear. If it 275 00:16:33.680 --> 00:16:37.680 was a good night, even if it was just like, 276 00:16:37.680 --> 00:16:41.680 okay, well it might rain, you know, at midnight, but it's winter or whatever. It's, you know, as opposed 277 00:16:41.680 --> 00:16:43.680 to the middle of summer, um, you 278 00:16:43.680 --> 00:16:47.680 know, maybe I could get a couple hours before that. I can go out, open it up. And 279 00:16:47.680 --> 00:16:48.680 then it's still manual. 280 00:16:48.680 --> 00:16:49.680 I have to go open it and 281 00:16:49.680 --> 00:16:51.680 close it myself, but that's 282 00:16:51.680 --> 00:16:57.680 a lot easier to just be like, okay, it's going to rain. I'm going to go out, I'm going to 283 00:16:57.680 --> 00:16:58.680 close it and walk 284 00:16:58.680 --> 00:17:02.680 back into the house, then have to tear things down. So I don't have to tear things down. I 285 00:17:02.680 --> 00:17:03.680 don't have to 286 00:17:03.680 --> 00:17:05.680 set them up. They're set up once I 287 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:06.680 leave it. And in the, so I've 288 00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:08.680 had that for three years now. And 289 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:12.680 in the past three years, I have taken more images than 290 00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:18.680 I have in the entire rest of my life. Um, just because my equipment is available 24 seven, 291 00:17:18.680 --> 00:17:19.680 basically. Um, but 292 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:24.680 that is the progression of me becoming an astrophotographer. Okay. 293 00:17:24.680 --> 00:17:28.680 Well, yeah, that's fantastic. I personally, my experience is a little 294 00:17:28.680 --> 00:17:29.680 different 295 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:32.680 than that. Um, I 296 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:37.680 think that started because of COVID. I've always been interested 297 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:40.680 in science and space and technology. Uh, but 298 00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:45.680 the, when COVID hit. I, when COVID happened is when 299 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:50.020 I started streaming and that's when 300 00:17:50.020 --> 00:17:54.020 I started trying to do gaming and I tried to have some kind of social 301 00:17:54.020 --> 00:17:58.020 life, which didn't really exist. So I bought all this expensive equipment. I have lights, cameras, microphone, 302 00:17:58.020 --> 00:18:02.020 and then I got another job and 303 00:18:02.020 --> 00:18:09.020 COVID kind of ended and kind of waned to the side. I didn't really 304 00:18:09.020 --> 00:18:13.020 have any interest, but I still loved the stars. 305 00:18:13.020 --> 00:18:18.020 And then. The big moment happened when we had the, uh, the 306 00:18:18.020 --> 00:18:19.020 total solar 307 00:18:19.020 --> 00:18:24.020 eclipse. And I was like, oh my gosh, I've got to take a 308 00:18:24.020 --> 00:18:27.020 picture of that. I've never seen one before. And I went out and tried to 309 00:18:27.020 --> 00:18:29.020 do the best internet search 310 00:18:29.020 --> 00:18:34.020 I could find as a professional computer tech. That's something I would hope I was good at, but I 311 00:18:34.020 --> 00:18:35.020 was 312 00:18:35.020 --> 00:18:38.020 terrible at it. And some people recommended this and some people recommended that I ended 313 00:18:38.020 --> 00:18:43.020 up getting an NK 105, which is like a bird watching telescope. It's probably. 314 00:18:43.020 --> 00:18:47.020 Okay. Ish for the moon. And I used it for 315 00:18:47.020 --> 00:18:48.020 the solar 316 00:18:48.020 --> 00:18:49.020 eclipse 317 00:18:49.020 --> 00:18:52.020 and my experience wasn't 318 00:18:52.020 --> 00:18:58.020 that great. I just had a regular tripod. It was not equatorial at all. 319 00:18:58.020 --> 00:18:59.020 It was not tracking and I 320 00:18:59.020 --> 00:19:01.020 wasn't taking photos. I didn't know 321 00:19:01.020 --> 00:19:06.020 what exposures were, so it was all new to 322 00:19:06.020 --> 00:19:10.020 me. But what I learned from there was when I jumped into my 323 00:19:10.020 --> 00:19:16.020 local astronomy club and I started learning more. I started learning more about astronomy and it really is 324 00:19:16.020 --> 00:19:17.020 kind of 325 00:19:17.020 --> 00:19:23.020 a give and take. You learn information from the group and your knowledge grows. And then 326 00:19:23.020 --> 00:19:28.020 of course your equipment changes, your goals change and your 327 00:19:28.020 --> 00:19:33.020 equipment changes. And it's kind of that loop. And so that's one thing that 328 00:19:33.020 --> 00:19:34.020 we as astronomers have to be 329 00:19:34.020 --> 00:19:40.020 a little careful about is just burning that hole because that hole in your pocket gets bigger and 330 00:19:40.020 --> 00:19:44.020 bigger if you're not careful. Well, I would actually like to see those images of yours 331 00:19:44.020 --> 00:19:45.020 someday 332 00:19:45.020 --> 00:19:52.020 that you took of the eclipse because I joke about eclipses as saying like eclipses are like 333 00:19:52.020 --> 00:19:59.020 sex and chili. Even bad sex and chili is still good sex and chili. This 334 00:19:59.020 --> 00:20:02.020 is true. You only get like one or maybe two, if 335 00:20:02.020 --> 00:20:05.020 you're lucky, eclipses 336 00:20:05.020 --> 00:20:12.020 in your life unless you hunt them. But. I figure like, you know, yeah, it might not be 337 00:20:12.020 --> 00:20:13.020 what 338 00:20:13.020 --> 00:20:14.020 you 339 00:20:14.020 --> 00:20:19.020 might see in a magazine or what have you, but any picture of a solar eclipse is still an 340 00:20:19.020 --> 00:20:24.020 amazing picture. So I'd love to see those someday. That'd be cool. Yeah. I, 341 00:20:24.020 --> 00:20:26.020 what's ironic about it is I took 342 00:20:26.020 --> 00:20:27.020 the pictures, but 343 00:20:27.020 --> 00:20:28.020 the 344 00:20:28.020 --> 00:20:34.020 pictures that I have are screenshots of the pictures. I don't have the raw image. I'm kicking myself 345 00:20:34.020 --> 00:20:35.020 for that. I 346 00:20:35.020 --> 00:20:38.020 took it on in a T3i 347 00:20:38.020 --> 00:20:39.020 Canon camera. Yep. And I 348 00:20:39.020 --> 00:20:43.020 don't have the raw images anymore. So I will 349 00:20:43.020 --> 00:20:44.020 have 350 00:20:44.020 --> 00:20:46.020 to hunt the next one because I don't 351 00:20:46.020 --> 00:20:51.020 think the next one that comes to America is until like 19 or 2040 something. So it's. Yeah. Yeah. If 352 00:20:51.020 --> 00:20:55.020 you feel like, you know, burning through 353 00:20:55.020 --> 00:20:56.020 some passport 354 00:20:56.020 --> 00:20:57.020 miles, 355 00:20:57.020 --> 00:20:58.020 you 356 00:20:58.020 --> 00:21:01.020 can see a few eclipses in the next few years. But none of them 357 00:21:01.020 --> 00:21:04.020 are here. This is true. Yeah. So that's 358 00:21:04.020 --> 00:21:06.020 kind of been my experience is. 359 00:21:06.020 --> 00:21:08.020 Um, I was 360 00:21:08.020 --> 00:21:09.020 fortunate 361 00:21:09.020 --> 00:21:11.020 to have a little extra money to go 362 00:21:11.020 --> 00:21:19.020 buy this and that I didn't buy everything all upfront at once. A couple of big ticket items. 363 00:21:19.020 --> 00:21:22.020 I did kind of pull the 364 00:21:22.020 --> 00:21:24.020 trigger and say, yep, there goes 365 00:21:24.020 --> 00:21:28.020 my vacation for this year, but it took about two or three years for me to really gather 366 00:21:28.020 --> 00:21:33.020 all the equipment to get the pictures I have now, which are amazing astrophotography images, especially since I 367 00:21:33.020 --> 00:21:39.020 got a cooled astrophotography camera. So now it maintains a temperature 368 00:21:39.020 --> 00:21:42.020 at negative 10 C and I 369 00:21:42.020 --> 00:21:49.020 was able to get the pics insight for processing. The software is actually quite expensive, but there are free 370 00:21:49.020 --> 00:21:50.020 alternatives out 371 00:21:50.020 --> 00:21:54.020 there to use that are just as adept. But once I started processing 372 00:21:54.020 --> 00:21:57.020 my images, they really started coming out. 373 00:21:57.020 --> 00:22:01.020 So the unprocessed is still raw. And that's, I think that's something 374 00:22:01.020 --> 00:22:04.020 that I want to touch on 375 00:22:04.020 --> 00:22:08.020 is. Yeah. When you're looking through your telescope, that's an unprocessed image. When 376 00:22:08.020 --> 00:22:09.020 you're 377 00:22:09.020 --> 00:22:12.020 taking a picture, that's an unprocessed picture. You're only seeing 378 00:22:12.020 --> 00:22:15.020 their bare bones. But the interesting part about astronomy 379 00:22:15.020 --> 00:22:17.020 and astrophotography and specifically is that 380 00:22:17.020 --> 00:22:23.020 the data is always there. You just got to pull it out. 381 00:22:23.020 --> 00:22:25.020 I tell people, so I 382 00:22:25.020 --> 00:22:27.020 don't know how much you share your 383 00:22:27.020 --> 00:22:35.330 images with people beyond your like immediate circle. But I often get people asking me the question 384 00:22:35.330 --> 00:22:37.330 of, you know, 385 00:22:37.330 --> 00:22:39.330 I'll show them a 386 00:22:39.330 --> 00:22:45.330 picture of whatever it is. Orion nebula, classic example, right? Everybody eventually actually probably starts by taking 387 00:22:45.330 --> 00:22:46.330 pictures of the 388 00:22:46.330 --> 00:22:48.330 Orion nebula as their first 389 00:22:48.330 --> 00:22:52.330 deep space object or one of the first, but even through a decent 390 00:22:52.330 --> 00:23:00.330 pair of binoculars, it's obvious that there's something different about that, you know, that section of the sky. 391 00:23:00.330 --> 00:23:04.330 If you've got really good vision, you might even be able to 392 00:23:04.330 --> 00:23:05.330 see something just 393 00:23:05.330 --> 00:23:08.330 with your naked eye. A cell phone camera can take a pretty good image these days and 394 00:23:08.330 --> 00:23:10.330 show you 395 00:23:10.330 --> 00:23:15.330 some even more detail. But when you start taking pictures with even just a, you know, 396 00:23:15.330 --> 00:23:17.330 put your cell 397 00:23:17.330 --> 00:23:22.330 phone camera up to the eyepiece of a telescope, let alone a, you know, a 398 00:23:22.330 --> 00:23:28.330 cool dedicated astro camera or anything like that. Orion really is an amazing thing to take pictures of. 399 00:23:28.330 --> 00:23:30.330 There's just so much there. 400 00:23:30.330 --> 00:23:33.330 So I get people who ask me all the time. 401 00:23:33.330 --> 00:23:34.330