Sinsheim Museum

Last Sunday I visited the Sinsheim Museum. It has a nice collection of oldtimer cars, airplaines and war-equipment from the 2nd worldwar.....

Here's a German WWII Junckers transport airplane.





And Adolf Hitlers personal armoured Mercedes. Near this magnificent car was also a copy of the original bill from Mercedes to Adolf Hitler. It costed 25.000DM!!!









This museum also has an original Concorde and also the Tupolev-144. I even could go into these beautiful airplanes. What an enourmous difference between the super-high tech cockpit of the Concorde and the ultra-low tech cockpit of the Tupolev!








And here's the Mighty German WWII Tiger tank, Germany's answer to the Russian T32. It was very nice, you could control the tracks, turret and the elevation of the barrel with a joystick. With the typical Maybach engine growl in the distance! Beautiful!

I really liked this museum a lot. Well maintained and a lot of information. When you ever come nearby: visit it!

Finishing the chemical plant control system

Here I'm finishing the weigher control system that was part of the Siemsens S5 to ObjectAutomation/ISA-88 Batch control system that I commissioned last week in Heilbronn Germany.

Commissioning chemical plant in Germany

After a (too) long trip with very bad weather (many heavy rain) I arrived late in Heilbronn Germany for commissioning a chemical plant control system upgrade. Fortunately we were still able to test some parts of the production machines in the few hours that were left. Tomorrow we will really start with intensive testing of the system.

Gig at the Splinter music festival

Here we are playing at the Splinter music festival. The daughter of our singer just won a music-constest. She is singing the same song here together with our band.

Flying my Protech Azurro

Here I'm flying my Azurro with assistance of a trainer.......all went ok. Marion took this picture while I was flying.

Impression of our new Band Demo

The Sun 28th April 2009

This is my setup for photographing the sun. An 90mmF10 refractor on EQ2 mount (unguided) with solar filter. Camera used is an Eos400d with remote triggering.










Here's a 1/50sec ISO100 photograph of the Sun, apperently there's not much to be seen......







But after careful investigation I discovered a sunspot!

Snoopy in the garden

Last weekend we let our rabbit run outside in the garden. Here Snoopy is enjoying some spring sunshine!

Flying weekend

This weekend I did a lot of flying, both on Saturday and Sunday. On each day I flew 2x 10min. Here our airplane is standing in the middle of the picture. In the background our flying instructor is flying with another guy like me.

Dropping easter eggs

Here we are dropping easter chocolate eggs......from model aircraft!

Gig at "De Wildeman" Oirschot

Saturday night we played at "De Wildeman" in Oirschot. We had a lot of fun together and the audience liked it a lot.








Crazy Rens.......











Eric.........aka "double bass...."








Rens & Liev....








P & P.....

Computer system installed and online

Just back from a trip to Germany. Installed a new computersystem and put it online.....

Lieveken recording Heel veel Hebben (originally from Grof Geschut)

Patrick is trying an Epiphone Les Paul

Observation night 21th March 2009 Virgo cluster and Coma Berenices

Observation night 21th March 2009: Virgo cluster and Coma Berenices:
Instrument: 200mmF5 newton. location: backyard.

As a test I started with Saturn at 200x: nog bad.
After that M51 at 125x. Visible als 2 bright dots with a weak nebula around it.
M53, bright globular cluster. Periphery more and more stars visible with the 8mm.
Then I tried a weaker galaxy:
M64, visible as a bright center with a big and weak nebula around it in the 8mm.
M3, beautiful globular cluster. It is a joy to view this object. Many starts of about the same magnitude in the 8mm.
Ok, the seeing was acceptable enough to initiate the attack on the Virgo cluster:
M49, weak galaxy. Bright center with a weak nebula around it in the 8mm.
M58, relatively weak galaxy. Bright center with a very weak nebula in the 8mm.
M59, even weaker galaxy. The bright center is just visible. Periphery necessary for the nebula in 8mm.
M60, directly visible galaxy with brighter center. Directly visible in the 8mm.
M61, periphery jsut visible galaxy. Not really sure. Visible as a dot with a slightly more bright center in the 8mm.
M84, galaxy with bright center and weak nebula around it in the 8mm.
M86, galaxy with a nebula that is very big. Only visible periphery in the 8mm.
M88, galaxy without bright center. By looking periphery a very weak nebula is visible in the 8mm.
M89, small galaxy. Visible as a small bright dot. Periphery the nebula becomes slightly bigger in the 8mm.
M90, very wek galaxy, periphery just visible.
Then the biggest achievement:
M91, periphery -just- visible. By far the weakest object of the evening. Doubtful in the 8mm. My first mag. 10+ object ever. And

that from the backyard!
M98, periphery visible as a weak and elongated galaxy. Relatively big. Also very weak, but not as weak as M91. Used 8mm.
M104, Sombrero galaxy: very beatiful edge on. Very bright in the 8mm.
M102, very bright and elongated galaxy. No bright center. Best in 8mm.
After that a few easier ones:
M13, really beautiful and big globula cluster. Back after the winter. Very rich with many stars in the 8mm.
M92, globular cluster that extends very far. Much smaller than M13. Very nice in the 8mm.
After that some beautiful NGC's that were already on my todo list for a long time:
NGC4565, very beautiful edge-on. Bright in the 8mm. Visible as a smear. Fits 8mm fov nicely.
NGC4631, very beautiful and very big edge-on. Does not fit 8mm fov. Therefore used 21mm. Visible as a big thin smear.
NGC4216, almost edge on. Bright center. Best in 8mm.
After that the Leo galaxies:
M65, bright center with a weak nebula around it in the 8mm.
M66, weak galaxy with slightly brighter center. Periphery necessary to see the nebula in the 8mm.
And after that:
M105, M95 and M96 all together in the fov of the 21mm. M105 is relatively weak, the other 2 bright.
This was a nice observation night. I have seen 14 new Messier objects this night!!

Gig at "De Klomp" in Etten-Leur

Last sunday we had to play in a very nice small music cafe in Etten-Leur. We had a lot of fun and good reactions afterwards......It was a joy to play over there.

Here Patrick is layin' it down.











The whole ceiling of the small pub is full with wooden shoes.











This is me when viewing down on my 2 basses......You already see the floor-switchboard of our singer/guitarist. That left me about 30square cm to stand on......









Here the pub-owner is putting on some real rock-stuff!

The One recording their new album

Here we are busy again with recording the guitar parts of our new album.....
Mr. guitarman!







Mr. bassman (me!)








Cello busy with recording......








Me and Liev.....

Comet Lulin

The seeing was far from optimal. There was also a lot of moisture in the air. This was the last chance to photograph Comet Lulin.
This is a stack of 90x30sec ISO800 autoguided (total 45min) with 60 dark frames. Made with the 200mmF5 newton.

Carnival in Hooge Mierde

Here the brassband is walking up front....








The Alpen-Express........











One of the bigger walking groups........








In my opinion the most beautiful car....











The prince-car

Hailywood pre-carnival concert

Last sunday our local brassband of Hooge Mierde, Sirena, performed many Hollywood-tinted tunes......They called it "Hailywood".






Everybody is dressed up with hats: Indiana Jones theme....







The audience with in the back the board of 11 and the prince-carnival.

Walk on "De Regte Heide" near Goirle

Here's a view on a very nice birdwatching hut. We stayed there for a while to observe the birds.











There were 2 wild horses grazing in the meadow...







This is a view on the field.....







Apart from a group of ducks and a swan there were some buzzards roaring in the sky. Here's one of them.

Bino observing

Now and then the clouds opened, but sometimes it was still raining now and then. I decided to observe with my 10x50 bino.....With that I can hop in and out of the house in a flash and still do some observing.
I started around 1930hrs, temperature 2.7C seeing: bad.
M42 Orion Nebula: nicely visible just between the 2 groups of stars (they form a straight line with M42). By looking periphery the nebula became slightly bigger.
M36 & M38 (Auriga): these star clusters were visible as weak nebulae.
M45 Pleiades: nice and beautiful open star cluster. Nebulae not visible. Fits the FOV (field of view) in my bino nicely.
After that some clouds came in and after a while the whole sky was covered in it: so I hopped quickly inside the house.
2215hrs, temperature 1.8C Seeing: average
M44: Praesepe beehive cluster. Nice open star cluster, comes out of the background. Stars of almost the same magnitude. Fits easily in the FOV of the bino.
Clouds again, so I hopped inside the house.
2236hrs, temperature 1.4C Seeing: good (despite the almost full moon that just rose above the horizon)
M37 (Auriga) & M35: visible as very faint nebulae. Directly visible.
Mel 25 Hyades in Taurus: very open star cluster. It consist of more sub-groups.
After that I observed Saturn (between Leo and the moon).
So: I could still do some (unexpected) observing......

Primary mirror cleaning

A few weeks ago I saw this very annoying smudge on my primary mirror. I think it was a droplet of water that fell of the secondary mirror after a observing session.....Since it was almost entirely behind the secondary mirror it did not really influende telescope performane....but every time I collimated my telescope I saw this very irritating smudge.....



With the help of clean water with only 1 small droplet of dishwashing soap and some cotton pads I was able to remove it very slowly. Every time taking a new pad, dripping it in water, and slowly move it to the middle of the mirror, without pushing (only letting the pad clean by its own weight). After that I picked up the water with every time a clean pad....The smudge stain is almost 100%, only a very small one remains, but I consider that acceptable.

The One recording "Heel veel Hebben"

Here we are recording the guitar part in the Flash studio in Biest-Houtakker

Live podcast of our astronomy night of last saturday.

The One recording their new album

Here we are recording the drums for our new album in the Flash studio in Biest-Houtakker...

Messier night in Netersel

Last night was very cold, because of the wind. But because of that the sky was very clear. So we decided to go to the small airfield in Netersel with my 200mm newton telescope. I was the first there and after some time 2 fellow astronomers (morelinux with his 200mm LX90 SCT and g0t0 with his 250mm LX-200 beast). Here's a list of my observations:
M3, beautiful globular cluster. With perifhery looking more and more stars become visible. No arms visible. I got the best view in my 8mm Hyperion on 125x.
M44, Praesepe open star cluster in Cancer. It is a real joy to look at this object. It just fits the FOV (field of vision) in my 200mm newton with 32mm Astro-tech titan eyepiece on 31x.
M51, bright spiral galaxy with companion galaxy NGC5195. They are visible as 2 small dots in the 21mm Hyperion at 47x.
M63, galaxy, just visible periphery as a weak dot in the 8mm Hyperion at 125x.
M67, compact and beautiful open cluster. Many stars visible of almost the same magnitude. Best at 47x.
M85, galaxy visible as a bright center with a weak nebula on 125x.
M87, galaxy visible as a bight dot at 125x. No further details visible.
M94, galaxy visible as a bright dot (no nebula visible) at 125x.
M99, galaxy just visible periphery at 125x.
M100, galaxy just visible by looking periphery at 125x.
M101, serious periphery looking necessary to view this galaxy. There is a glimpse of a faint nebula visible at 47x.
M106 bright galaxy, visible like a cigar. Best visible at 125x.
At the end of the session (around 0130hrs) some clouds came from the east. After 30min the whole sky was covered with clouds. It was a clear and especially dry night. My telescope and eyepieces were not covered with condense. That is very unique for Dutch atmospheric conditions.

Walk in Oisterwijk

Here's one of the lakes in Oisterwijk. It is -almost- frozen.....we saw some daredevils skating on some other lakes.