The Straight-Up Cam

[Tormod]

I am tired and have slept too little and had a boring day at work.

 

It is pouring outside and I have to keep up my training schedule for an upcoming 10K race. I have to run a slow tempo 5K today and I was going to ditch it but Turtle, you always make my day so I am going out there just because you made me feel good with your brilliant project SUCTON. :eek:

[Turtle]

I am tired and have slept too little and had a boring day at work.

It is pouring outside and I have to keep up my training schedule for an upcoming 10K race. I have to run a slow tempo 5K today and I was going to ditch it but Turtle, you always make my day so I am going out there just because you made me feel good with your brilliant project SUCTON. :doh:

Sweet syncronicity! I was just coming back to add a Post Script to say, "how did I miss this?"

You are possibly the most amazing scientist we have on board, Turtle.

I intended a rejoinder something to the effect of "Oh yeah! Well you are the most amazing promoter of possibly-the-most-amazing-scientists. ;) Run Forrest, run!:eek:

[Turtle]

The research continues. :hihi: Besides clearly imaging Vega in the constellation Lyra, I saw many other stars in Lyra as well. In doing some research on Vega & the constellation Lyra I identified an interesting varible star I believe I have recorded on the SUCTON instrument. Not only does this start to give me a range of sensivity of the instrument for astronomical observation in SuperNightshot mode, I may actually record the variable binary varying.

Beta Lyrae changes its apparent magnitude from +3.4 to +4.6 over a period of 12.9075 days.

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

As Lyra slowly moved out of view to the West, Hercules moved in to take its place. I have printed a star map of the SUCTON field of view for further reference as I continue to spend hours watching the live feed.

Current conditions mostly clear & boring with the occasional cloud.:ud: :camera: ;)

[Turtle]

The Perseid meteor shower peaks in a couple days & I may have a fair chance to record a SUCTON meteor. The radiant is of course in the constellation Perseus, just East of Lyra.

 

If we get a 4.0 or greater earthquake, I expect to capture the motion on the SUCTON instrument, adding to its scientific usefullness.

That is all.:naughty:

[Turtle]

In doing some research on Vega & the constellation Lyra I identified an interesting varible star I believe I have recorded on the SUCTON instrument. Not only does this start to give me a range of sensivity of the instrument for astronomical observation in SuperNightshot mode, I may actually record the variable binary varying.

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

 

I have Beta Lyrae in view, as well as its nearby companion star Gamma Lyrae.

Gamma Lyrae (γ Lyr / γ Lyrae) is a star in the constellation Lyra. It also has the traditional names Sulafat or Sulaphat (arab. "turtle")

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

 

Because Gamma Lyrae is magnitude 3.3 and dimmer in my current image than Beta Lyrae, I conclude Beta Lyrae is in the brighter stage of its variability between 3.4 & 4.3.

Interesting too that Gamma Lyrae is also called Sulaphat, the Arab word for turtle. The gods have smiled on project SUCTON yet again.:naughty: :shrug:

[Mercedes Benzene]

When do you predict the next earthquake in your area to be?

[Turtle]

When do you predict the next earthquake in your area to be?

I have neither the developed sensitivity nor the instrumental data correlations to make earthquake predictions other than facetiously. Funny you asked though as a large quake just struck in Mexico.:hihi:

I have just observed a phenomenon on the live feed from the SUCTON equipment, and I have to wait for a full tape review to see if I caught it on digital tape. I call the phenomenon SCM, for Sudden Cloud Movement. I see these movements every once in a while as I watch weather on the live feed, and it is a movement of an entire cloud quickly in one direction & then back. I have two possible explanations.

* One, they are artifacts of the digital processing in the camera.

* Two, they result from a passing ELF/VLF/ULF wavefront.

 

Until or unless I manage to catch this on tape, they remain a mystery as I have found no mention in the meteorological references. :shrug: :omg: :eek2: :secret: :cup:

 

Addendum: Here's the link to the 6.0 quake in Mexico. In the time it took to go get it, we had another 6.0 quake in Indonesia. (neither registered on the SUCTON unit.):eek:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/usrgaw.php

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/usrgb2.php

[Turtle]

Breaking News!!! :eek2: Stop Amazing observation! :eek: Stop Wow! :) Stop

I just stopped the real-time SUCTON feed VHS tape as it reached its 6 hour limit, & reviewed it in fast forward before rewinding it for reuse. What I saw were quickly forming vortices in the cloud bases, looking for all the world like a satellite view of a hurricane. Two of them rotated clockwise & one rotated counterclockwise. I also saw a couple start to form & then peter out.

I have to get back to the review so I can get the recorder back online.

That is all. Please return your seats to the upright position; the smoiking lamp is on.:hihi:

[Mercedes Benzene]

What I saw were quickly forming vortices in the cloud bases, looking for all the world like a satellite view of a hurricane.

That sounds freakkin sweet.

Could you please post a video of that on youtube.com or something.

I really wanna see that!!

[SolarFreak]

wow very cool!!! I wounder how a wireless webcam would do. I might have to go pick one up and see about setting up. great idea.

 

 

edit

 

Well I picked up a wireless web cam today. I tired it out side tonight but no matter how I adjust it its too dark to see anything. Tonight is very clear and lots of stars are easy to see.

 

Oh well I will try it again in the daytime see how it goes.

I got the linksys wvc54gc and its sucks. After reading some hardware forums they mostly all agree its sucks.

Looks like I will take it back tomorrow.

 

Can anyone recommend a good one?

 

you can take a look

http://58.91.235.40:1727/

Im not sure how long I will have this stream up. maybe until morning when I can take it back to the store.

[Turtle]

That sounds freakkin sweet.

Could you please post a video of that on youtube.com or something.

I really wanna see that!!

 

I can post short videos right here in the Science Gallery, & I certainly will use all means to try and post a vortex video. I checked the Interval recording progress & I have now filled about 1/2 of an hour length tape.

 

wow very cool!!! I wounder how a wireless webcam would do. I might have to go pick one up and see about setting up. great idea.

edit

Well I picked up a wireless web cam today. I tired it out side tonight but no matter how I adjust it its too dark to see anything. Tonight is very clear and lots of stars are easy to see.

Nice idea Solar! Great follow-through too.:hihi: I note that as to seeing stars I have to use the "SuperNightshot" mode on the camera, which is an infrared option with the shutter slowed. The regular "Nightshot" mode does not show any stars at all.

If we have more enthusiastic experimenters like yourself, we can build an array.:lol:

[SolarFreak]

ZOLATON thats GREAT!!! Taking back my cam, I found a used Sony DCR-PC5 super night shot . Is this the same kinda cam you are using?

[Turtle]

ZOLATON thats GREAT!!! Taking back my cam, I found a used Sony DCR-PC5 super night shot . Is this the same kinda cam you are using?

 

To ZOLATON & beyond!!!!:lightning

My camera is a Sony DCR-TRV140. It's several years old and judging from the myriad different models Sony has, I suspect they never make more than 10 of any 1 model.:umbrella: :lightning :lightning (make sure it has a computer connection port!)

Nonetheless, SuperNightShot is a trademarked Sony feature and has the same capability regardless of the model. Sooooo keeewwwwllll to add the first SUCTON member to the array.:omg:

 

It is just after 5:00PM here & I have a lot of contrail activity in view. I don't know how much detailed analysis I will (can? ) get into of the 100's of images just one tape provides. But steady watching of these contrails is loaded with enough information to calculate the wind speeds & direction, as well as the the rate & area of expanse of the contrail. Dated & timed to the second too, by the cameras internal clock.:omg:

Back to my SUCTON.:secret: :eek:

[Turtle]

Morning has broken and...OK, Noon has broken:hyper: , but I just waked & reviewed the VHS tape from last nights SUCTON session. The variable star in Lyra, Beta-Lyrae does indeed appear to be dimming & I printed up some sky maps for annotation.

I did capture a single meteor on the VHS tape last night & I will make every effort to get it posted; however, if the meteor (and the cloud vortices) only appear on the VHS tape the best I can do is make a digital recording with the camera of the VHS playback on TV. It's going to be severly degraded if it works at all.

Another note on my camera & other Sony Handycam variations. My camera has an outport to USB, an out port to FireWire, & an out port to S video. I think these vary among models. The computer I use to reach you all is not mine & it does not have a FireWire port; as a consquence I can't transfer effects to the computer that are digitized such as date stamp. I use the Pixella software that came with the camera & it has a whole suite of digital editing tools I can't access without FireWire link either. These are all things I am stuck with , but worth considering if you mean to buy a camera specifically for SUCTON work.

That is all.B) :doh:

[Turtle]

I have brought in the camera for image processing.

Experiment Start: August 09, 2006 5:18:46 pm PDST

Experiment End : August 14, 2006 12:08:47 am PDST

 

As soon as my back allows me I will put together a collection of the contrails from a 6 hour period. I did not catch either the vortices or the meteor on the digital tape, but I have 2 more meteors on VHS.:( :evil: :( B) :D

[Turtle]

As soon as my back allows me I will put together a collection of the contrails from a 6 hour period.

The first contrail montage is ready eddy:

[Turtle]

The second contrail montage is up:

 

 

I have one more montage of 6 photos to prepare from the same day, August 12, 2006. This is a major N/S flight corridor along the US West so the traffic is typical wheras the contrails form variably with atmospheric conditions.