In my last post on observing, I introduced the recent upgrades to the quadrant. Unfortunately, the initial tests weren’t good. There was a significant error in the azimuth averaging $~2º$ at $180º$ azimuth. I’ve since determined the reason behind this and implemented what I hoped was a correction. And this recent observing session tested it. Continue reading “Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – 7/13/20”
Data: Summer Solstice Observation 6/20/2020
This past weekend was the summer solstice. Since the sun achieves its highest declination on this day, which is related to the obliquity of the ecliptic, this is a fundamental parameter that I try to observe the altitude on the solstice when possible. I did this back in 2018 using the solar angle dial from Book I of the Almagest. This time, I brought out the quadrant as I did for the autumnal equinox in 2018 as well.
Continue reading “Data: Summer Solstice Observation 6/20/2020”
Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – 6/13/20 & 6/17/2020
NOTE: This post is actually being posted in December $2020$, as when I was writing my year end post, I was reminded I’d never posted this. This was largely due to having not decided what to actually do with the data for reasons you’ll see. Ultimately, I’ve decided to exclude the data completely.
In addition, since I hadn’t posted this, the discussion of the enhancements to the quadrant was actually featured in a post from July. But for readers who may read this in chronological order, I have instead moved that portion to this post.
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted about observing. Due to COVID, it’s been extra challenging to do any observations given the quarantine I’ve been doing my best to observe. I do still have a few friends that I see in a very small social circle, but between that and the weather last month, there hasn’t been a lot of opportunity. So when the weather called for a near-perfect night for observing and one of the people I trust was willing to assist, there was no way I was going to miss observing.
In addition, this night was extra special because it was going to allow me to test two new upgrades to the quadrant which I’ll start by introducing. Continue reading “Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – 6/13/20 & 6/17/2020”
Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – 4/21/20
I managed to get out and do a bit of observing last night. It’s been 4 months to do the day since my last opportunity to do so and I started off by making a rather large blunder. The location I usually observe at has several pads for observing and I have one I usually use. It’s straight down a path that points generally north which makes finding the north star fairly easy, even without looking for the big dipper to verify which star it is.
Well, last night I looked for the star over where the path met the parking lot, but because I was on a pad a bit to the west of where I normally am, I accidentally aligned on Kochab, the second brightest star in Ursa Minor, and ended up making three observations over the course of a half hour before I realized the error. Fortunately, we still got in 11 observations, and all of them were new stars! Continue reading “Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – 4/21/20”
Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – 12/21/19
Happy Winter Solstice to all. Despite wanting to get out at solar noon today to get an observation of the sun, I was asleep at that time as I have a cold that’s sucking all my energy despite not making me feel all that bad.
However, tonight was also a late moon phase so doing stellar observations was on the schedule. Quieteria helped me with these observations, but as it was very cold tonight, we called it quits fairly early. And because we’re in a rather blank patch of sky with mostly stars well past 4th magnitude, that only led to a fistfull of observations. Continue reading “Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – 12/21/19”
Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – 11/23/19
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a post on observing. This is in large part because I’ve been so busy with events as White Hawk herald for Their Majesties, that I’ve either been at an event, or so burnt out that I’ve been staying in. There was one small observing run between my last post and now, at Crown Tournament, but I only took 3 observations, so I didn’t feel it was worth an entire post1.
However, this month, I really wanted to get out for a long night of observing as I missed observing most of last year in November and December, so plugging that hole in my data was important to me. I ended up getting in about 3.5 hours of observing before it got too cold to want to be out anymore. Continue reading “Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – 11/23/19”
Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – 8/24/19
Life has been eating me pretty heavily lately so I haven’t had any time to work on the Almagest, and barely any time to observe. But last weekend, I took the quadrant to Baroness Wars over in the Midrealm. The location wasn’t all that great. The dark sky map said it was like being in the suburbs of St Louis, and the fact that they left some lights on illuminating a racetrack or something next to the county fairgrounds we were in also sucked, but I was still able to get a few observations in over the two nights I was there.
Continue reading “Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – 8/24/19”
Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – 7/27/19
Last month, I came across this dark sky finder website. Unsurprisingly, dark skies in the Eastern half of the US are fairly hard to come by. However, Mark Twain National Forest in southern Missouri puts a significantly large dent in light pollution that much of the surrounding area is quite dark. Sadly, as the name suggests, the forest doesn’t have many clear sites suitable for astronomical observing, but I was able to find a campsite that’s part of the Rocky Creek Conservation Area that what looked to be a large field based on Google Maps that sat in the dark area.
This weekend I found someone to take over my herald duties to Their Majesties and made the 2.5 hour drive to check it out. Continue reading “Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – 7/27/19”
Statistical Review of the Great Quadrant
Kingdom A&S is in just over a month and coincidentally falls on the one year anniversary of first light of the quadrant. Originally, I’d planned to do a deep dive statistical review of the quadrant, looking at sources of error, but this would be a modern mathematical review of an instrument that isn’t entirely period. Discussing it with friends, we decided it was a little too meta/degrees of separation.
Instead, I’ll do a blog post! So if you really want to get into the accuracy on the quadrant, hold on because I’m about to get mathy. Continue reading “Statistical Review of the Great Quadrant”
Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – Lilies War
This past week was Lilies War, north of Kansas City. With a bit of packing tetris, I was able to fit the full quadrant along with most of my camping gear2 to attend. Despite Lilies being traditionally extremely hot3 and stormy, the weather was quite nice this year with highs in the 70’s most days and lows in the 50’s4. This unseasonably cool weather did bring some storms, but nothing like what we’ve experienced the past few years. Yet between storms I was able to get in a few nights of observing, getting in observations of 59 stellar targets, 26 of which are new to the catalog.
As always, data below the fold. Continue reading “Data: Stellar Quadrant Observations – Lilies War”