Retirement

[Graeme]

It's my last day at work tomorrow! Then on Tuesday I will start the first day of my retirement!

My work colleagues had a bit of a whip round and bought me a monochrome astro imaging camera and an electronic filter wheel for my leaving present. So that was nice.

So, this image of Messier 56, whilst not very good, is significant because it's the last image I captured using my colour camera:

M56.JPG

M56 is a globular cluster in Lyra. The telescope mount is still playing up and I'm limited to 2 minute exposures. The calibration frames didn't calibrate too well and the humidity was so high I had to stop after 30 frames and pack up. So I didn't finish processing this one!

Here's hoping I get to the bottom of my telescope mount problem, that the weather improves, that I can work out how to assemble and use the new equipment and that I can get my head round processing LRGB data. Otherwise I will be going fishing!

Regards

Graeme

[HansV]

Enjoy your retirement! I retired from work almost 6 years ago, and I haven't been bored a single moment!

[JoeP]

Congratulations. Enjoy your retirement. I've been mostly retired since October 2014. Enjoying it every day.

[BobH]

Congratulations, Graeme!

I've been retired since 2001 and still find more to do than I can accomplish.

Best wishes for clear skies and great photography with the new gear.

[ChrisGreaves]

It's my last day at work tomorrow! Then on Tuesday I will start the first day of my retirement!

Welcome to The Club.
Now the real busy-ness begins ....

... and bought me a monochrome astro imaging camera ... the last image I captured using my colour camera:

(Flings hands in air, vigorously ...) Oh sir, sir, please Sir, this imaging camera then, is it "monochrome" in the strictest sense, in that it can take images at any specific frequency band you specify, such as Red or Blue etc?
I think that The General Public think of monochrome as black-and-white, which strictly speaking would be duo-chrome, but is mono if we consider only white light, which is a single band stretching from Red to Violet

If the new monochrome takes only white light, why is monochrome (I imagine) better than colour?
If on the other hand, the new monochrome can take an image in a specific band (e.g. Green), then will you have to take a set of sets of images, one set in Red, one set in Green, one set in ...?

Otherwise I will be going fishing!

Why aren't you keen on large-scale composting? You can spend more time watching grass clippings decompose than you can spend watching fish not bite. Plus: You make better use of the worms.
Cheers, Chris

[Jay Freedman]

Congratulations, and welcome to the club! I took leave of the daily grind in 2012 and became a volunteer with the local library's "Friends of..." group. Never a dull moment -- partly because "there be cats here, Captain".

[RonH]

Welcome to your new lifestyle of arising late after breakfast in bed ...

Who am I kidding? As a long term retiree, I arose at 05.45 this morning, early breakfast and then time at pc to complete monthly records and save on ext hd's.
... and shortly off to do the weekly shop after which to install and programme a replacement TV decoder.
... and the green stuff covering much of our garden is in need of another cut.

Anyone got a nice office job for me

[ChrisGreaves]

Anyone got a nice office job for me

What are you like at polishing lenses?
Cheers, Chris

[RonH]

I don't know, I've never tried

[ChrisGreaves]

I don't know, I've never tried

Well done!
So you DO read signature lines!
Congratulations.
You are now absolved from reading my signature line from now until the start of the next moth.
Cheers, Chris
P.S. on reflection, unless, which I very much doubt, your life is so boring that reading signature lines is your main occupation nowadays. C

[stuck]

Like all the other retirees here I can recommend the lifestyle. Welcome to the club!

Ken

[GeoffW]

Is there anybody here who hasn't retired?

I've "sort of" retired. I work part time in home based aged care, just to be able to do something which benefits people, not companies or government. It's not volunteer work - but I'd be in huge trouble if I relied on the low pay to survive.

[ChrisGreaves]

Is there anybody here who hasn't retired?

Define "retired"

The common western world view is that at age 65 you get a gold watch, a little speech, and then spend your days staring at a 72" flat-screen.
I have seen too many of the old-style office managers retire and then die of a heart-attack within two years: stress of the wife getting fed up of him being underfoot; maybe reported as a heart-attack but in fact something else.

At least one of us fell in love with programming computers, and continues to do just that, with the only difference being that the pay is now stable and regular (Thanks, Government pensions!) with no idiot bosses, which (on both counts) makes a great difference from a lucrative two-month contract followed by a void of not knowing when the next paid work would arrive. Also plenty of exercise time (composting, weeding, composting, ...) which provides time for ideas to grow and mature.

Next year I'm going to take a break and return to developing my Turing-machine interpreter ...
Cheers, Chris
P.S. I've got $cdn50.00 says that Graeme will find himself on permanent night-shift within two weeks from now. Any takers? C

[Graeme]

Enjoy your retirement! I retired from work almost 6 years ago, and I haven't been bored a single moment!

Thanks Hans, can't see me getting board either!

Congratulations. Enjoy your retirement. I've been mostly retired since October 2014. Enjoying it every day.

Thanks Joe. I'm looking forward to it!

Congratulations, Graeme!

I've been retired since 2001 and still find more to do than I can accomplish.

Best wishes for clear skies and great photography with the new gear.

Thanks Bob, I'm certainly looking forward to posting some more images here!

It's my last day at work tomorrow! Then on Tuesday I will start the first day of my retirement!

Welcome to The Club.
Now the real busy-ness begins ....

... and bought me a monochrome astro imaging camera ... the last image I captured using my colour camera:

(Flings hands in air, vigorously ...) Oh sir, sir, please Sir, this imaging camera then, is it "monochrome" in the strictest sense, in that it can take images at any specific frequency band you specify, such as Red or Blue etc?
I think that The General Public think of monochrome as black-and-white, which strictly speaking would be duo-chrome, but is mono if we consider only white light, which is a single band stretching from Red to Violet

If the new monochrome takes only white light, why is monochrome (I imagine) better than colour?
If on the other hand, the new monochrome can take an image in a specific band (e.g. Green), then will you have to take a set of sets of images, one set in Red, one set in Green, one set in ...?

Otherwise I will be going fishing!

Why aren't you keen on large-scale composting? You can spend more time watching grass clippings decompose than you can spend watching fish not bite. Plus: You make better use of the worms.
Cheers, Chris

Thanks Chris.

All cameras are monochrome, ie they detect photons, convert them to electrons (Einstein got a Nobel for discovering this!) and count them. "Colour" cameras have tiny filters over each pixel in an RGB pattern. (Search for Bayer filter) My new monochrome camera has no Bayer filter and so all the pixels record all the photons from 400nm to 800nm. So a monochrome camera is more sensitive than a colour camera. There's a filter wheel in the image train and exposures are taken with the red filter, then the green filter, then the blue filter. Then all the images are stacked.

Also, it won't be all astrophotography, I will still be composting my grass cuttings and fallen leaves.

Congratulations, and welcome to the club! I took leave of the daily grind in 2012 and became a volunteer with the local library's "Friends of..." group. Never a dull moment -- partly because "there be cats here, Captain".

Thanks Jay. Volunteering is good! I might get involved with the Prostate Cancer charity when things calm down.

Welcome to your new lifestyle of arising late after breakfast in bed ...

Who am I kidding? As a long term retiree, I arose at 05.45 this morning, early breakfast and then time at pc to complete monthly records and save on ext hd's.
... and shortly off to do the weekly shop after which to install and programme a replacement TV decoder.
... and the green stuff covering much of our garden is in need of another cut.

Anyone got a nice office job for me

Thanks Ron. I'm with you, I always continue to wake up any time between 0400 and 0600 when I'm on holiday! Can't see things changing now, but we'll see!

You are now absolved from reading my signature line from now until the start of the next moth.

Do we know what next month's moth is going to be yet?

Like all the other retirees here I can recommend the lifestyle. Welcome to the club!

Ken

Thanks Ken. It's a club I'm looking forward to being in!

Is there anybody here who hasn't retired?

Officially I'm still employed until 1600!

P.S. I've got $cdn50.00 says that Graeme will find himself on permanent night-shift within two weeks from now. Any takers? C

Weather permitting!

[jstevens]

Graeme,

Congratulations! You will be just as busy only doing things you enjoy.

Don't forget to update your LinkedIn profile. I don't recall if I updated mine and do not have a need to look.

Like Hans, six years goes by quickly.

[Graeme]

Graeme,

Congratulations! You will be just as busy only doing things you enjoy.

Don't forget to update your LinkedIn profile. I don't recall if I updated mine and do not have a need to look.

Like Hans, six years goes by quickly.

Thanks John. There are a few things I will have more time to do now, that I didn't before, dog walking, astronomy, astroimaging, image processing, Arduino coding, Arduino project hardware construction, fishing, gardening and a few jobs round the house that have been outstanding for a while, apparently!

I did set up a Linkedin years ago, but never kept it up to date. Same as yourself, there's probably no need to worry about that now!

[ChrisGreaves]

Thanks Joe. I'm looking forward to it!

So!
Now that you've experienced it, how is it? What does it feel like?

All cameras are monochrome, ie they detect photons, convert them to electrons (Einstein got a Nobel for discovering this!) and count them. "Colour" cameras have tiny filters over each pixel in an RGB pattern. (Search for Bayer filter) My new monochrome camera has no Bayer filter and so all the pixels record all the photons from 400nm to 800nm. So a monochrome camera is more sensitive than a colour camera. There's a filter wheel in the image train and exposures are taken with the red filter, then the green filter, then the blue filter. Then all the images are stacked.

So, 400-800nm is close to what we call "visible light", correct? And the images will be close to what we would see were our (human) eyes strong enough.
There must be camera-machines that detect infra- and ultra-visible light, and their design must be to accommodate a wider range of energy levels of photons? I have a vague memory that the energy in a photon is related directly to its energy level. (I apologize; I should have paid more attention in physics classes)


In the end, instead of stacking, say, 1,000 images after a night's run on a galaxy, you'll be stacking three times as many images - one for Red, one for Blue, and one for Green; correct?

Also, it won't be all astrophotography, I will still be composting my grass cuttings and fallen leaves.

Too late. Your dirty little secret is out. The composting issue is the business of attracting and breeding worms to feed to the fish.

Do we know what next month's moth is going to be yet?

It's going to be a fruit-moth, specifically "plum leaf-curing aphid and meaty plum aphid", and being meaty you can use them for bait, and eat all your damson plums until the juice runs down your chin!

Cheers, Chris
PS Do you find the volume of replies to your posts has increased since you retired? C

[Graeme]

So, 400-800nm is close to what we call "visible light", correct? And the images will be close to what we would see were our (human) eyes strong enough.
There must be camera-machines that detect infra- and ultra-visible light, and their design must be to accommodate a wider range of energy levels of photons? I have a vague memory that the energy in a photon is related directly to its energy level. (I apologize; I should have paid more attention in physics classes)

All the people involved in the history of the discovery of different aspects of the electromagnetic spectrum makes an interesting read! 400nm-800nm (or 380nm-750nm, often quoted) (depending whose eyes are being used) is what the eye can see, my sensor sees also detects 400nm-800nm. Some astro camera sensors detect near infra red photons, presumably the red filter lets them through. I must find out what the band pass frequencies are for my filters. The light intensity is irrelevant with respect to the number of photons converted to electrons, it is the frequency of the photon that dictates the number of electrons converted. So this discovery was the birth of quantum mechanics!

Graeme

[ChrisGreaves]

... it is the frequency of the photon that dictates the number of electrons converted. So this discovery was the birth of quantum mechanics!

Thank you for this, Graeme.
With that mention of quantum mechanics we can both return to our composting!
Cheers, Chris

[PJ_in_FL]

Is there anybody here who hasn't retired?

I've "sort of" retired. I work part time in home based aged care, just to be able to do something which benefits people, not companies or government. It's not volunteer work - but I'd be in huge trouble if I relied on the low pay to survive.

Thanks for asking.

Still in the workforce full time, so listening to all the "busy-ness" of retirement has me glad I'm still a poor working slob