Rainbow against a blue sky

[Paul]

Whilst playing some bad golf this afternoon we were caught in a couple of showers, one of which was quite heavy, and one of which produced this rainbow against a blue sky background. This was taken from the 14th fairway at Cairdhu Golf Club near Ballygalley on the Co Antrim coast. I am quite pleased with how well this has come out as it is two images stitched together both taken with a 2MP Apple iPhone!

http://www.pevans.me.uk/images/rainbowpan081026web.jpg

Paul.

[brianb]

Unusual, but if it can rain from a clear sky ....

[martinastro]

Hole in one!!. I like that bow Paul. Looks striking against a blue sky and the angle is very unorthodox. Nice. 

Brian, lol, you sound like you are on the edge with the battle between cloud, rain, and clear sky for observing. Don't let it get you down 

[brianb]

you sound like you are on the edge with the battle between cloud, rain, and clear sky for observing.

Don't forget the wind that keeps blowing charts pencils etc around, and the really awful smeared seeing that goes with this unstable air.

Yeah, really p*ss*d off. Hate to see clear sky going to waste but it needs to be 15 mins to get decently dark adapted before I can do anything useful. No idea how you can possibly be getting cold, I've been carting stuff in & out constantly.

[martinastro]

I only have one piece of gear out, which is my scope (and a chair). My note pad and pens are in my jacket pocket if I need them.  This is why I'm so cold, sweeping across the sky for 1 or 2 hours at time from a seated position makes life hell in cold weather. I keep my star atlas inside my back door if I need it. I know most of the sky in my head anyway so I don't need to use it that often.

[brianb]

I only have one piece of gear out, which is my scope (and a chair).

Scope, power tank, stepstool / observing chair, 3 folders of charts, notebook, pencil, red torch, box containing eyepieces etc. Plus a heavy metal bar for anchoring loose folders & notebook to prevent the wind from stealing them, and a foam cushion for kneeling on. When it clouds over the scope stays out but the tube is capped - the cap lives indoors to as not to fill with condensation - and a scope cover is fitted - that lives indoors to stop it blowing away when not in use. The power tank stays out too, it gets wet but is only 12V, that's to save wasting time running alignment. Everything else comes in (three or four trips).

That's minimum. Full complement is as above plus substantial camera tripod, 80mm refractor OTA, 10x50 bins (these both use the camera tripod), 4x20 bins (on strap round neck) these are used for estimating brighter stars, general stargazing etc. Plus anything needed for imaging if attempted.

Notebook in pocket? Pages get creased & torn .... and pockets needed for gloves, glasses etc. when not in use.
Charts? VS observers can't do without them. Some fields I know well enough not to need the charts when the star is behaving normally but it's good practise to verify the identification of anything you're not sure of ... and, when a variable gets unexpectedly bright or faint, the field can change enough to make you doubt your identification of everything. Same if there is a "bright" asteroid in the field.

[martinastro]

That's a lot of gear Brian. At least you are fully prepared for a night under the stars!.

The note book I was talking about in my pocket is for rough notes, sketches, and times etc. I record a more polished version of these in my log book the following day. Last night though I needed my Sky Atlas 2000 to identify a comet suspect. Luckily it sits at the back door beside the microwave so I got to it in sec's. Things are getting more difficult in the pre dawn sky now with the galaxy rich regions of Coma, Uma, Leo and Virgo in the comet 'hay stack' regions.

[brianb]

The note book I was talking about in my pocket is for rough notes, sketches, and times etc. I record a more polished version of these in my log book the following day.

Yes - my "neat copy" is typed up from the rough notes, but the rough notes are kept in case of transcription errors. I've experimented with a dictaphone but prefer to use a notebook & pencil, at least they don't run out of tape or batteries & carry on working if you drop them.