I went out one evening last week and did some long exposures of the Milky Way galaxy using my Canon 70D on my iOptron Skytracker Pro. This is the result after stacking 4 images of 5 minutes exposure, each, and doing a bit of work on them in Photoshop. I’m fairly happy with the result, however I want to do a bit more to try any knock down the light pollution near the horizon.

This evening is the first practice of the season for my dragonboat team. Naturally, the weather is shaping up to be a bit exciting just before and just after our session:

TAF CYOW 281739Z 2818/2918 24007KT P6SM BKN020 TEMPO 2818/2820 BKN025
FM282000 26007KT P6SM BKN040 TEMPO 2820/2823 P6SM -SHRA PROB30
2820/2823 2SM TSRA BR BKN040CB
FM290200 26008KT P6SM -SHRA BKN050 PROB30 2902/2904 VRB20G30KT
1SM +TSRA BR BKN050CB
FM290400 35010G20KT P6SM FEW050
FM290600 36008KT P6SM SKC
BECMG 2914/2916 06008KT
RMK NXT FCST BY 282100Z=

Basically, on either side of our practice (from 8pm to 9pm), the weather may include light rain showers and with a 30% probability of thunderstorms.

Figures, eh?

This may just be the shorted TAF I’ve ever seen:

TAF CYOW 231439Z 2315/2412 22005KT P6SM FEW220
RMK NXT FCST BY 231800Z=

Basically, until 8pm this evening, light winds out of the southwest and a few clouds at 22000′.

A nice change from the other stuff we’ve had recently, eh?

Here we go again… changing the clocks forward an hour at 2AM early tomorrow morning in a misguided attempt to save energy. While we’ll shift when we see the sunlight, it won’t actually save an energy.

Instead, we’ll see an increase in accidents for the next week or so because people are discombobulated by the change in their sleep pattern. As an added “bonus”, there’s a 10% increase the likelihood that you’ll experience a heart attack during the days immediately following the time change.

We really need to pick one (preferably the summer version) and stick with it. A whole provinces of farmers (i.e. Saskatchewan) can’t be completely wrong. Read the rest of this entry →

One of my favourite pieces of music to play on handbells is Make Me An Instrument Of Thy Peace by Kevin McChensey. It’s a beautifully moving piece of music, that takes full advantage of all the handbells my choir has. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve played it over the years, playing it both with just my choir and organ, and larger massed choirs, including in 2005 at a handbell festival in Ottawa with a huge number of choirs.

He based it on the 13th century prayer of St. Francis of Assisi and dedicated it to “the victims of the shooting at Columbine High School and other acts of senseless violence”. A few years ago, while talking to him (Kevin, not St. Francis) about commissioning a piece of music, I mentioned it. He told me that it was actually his second attempt at writing a piece of music in memory of those who died at the Columbine High School massacre in April 1999. The first attempt was apparently too dark and sad and not what he was trying to achieve. I’m glad he made a second attempt, but I wish he hadn’t had to write it at all.

The piece starts and ends with 12 tolls and a final chord. Each chord represents one of the people who were killed at Columbine.

Here’s a photo of the last couple of lines. You can see the chords starting at bar 109.

We’ve been rehearsing it for the last few practices, but yesterday evening’s practice was the first I’ve been at since the horrible shootings in Florida and I couldn’t help but think about the victims and survivors at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. There aren’t enough tolls for them.

One of the many videos on YouTube of it being played on handbells…

I’m out in the cold shooting pictures of stars. This is one I pulled off the camera and edited on my iPhone using Photoshop Express.

Its a single 5 minute exposure using my iOptron Skytracker Pro.

Can’t wait to see how it turns out when I stack all the images later.

I bought an iOptron Skytracker Pro after Christmas from Ontario Telescope & Accessories, but since then the viewing conditions in Ottawa have sucked. This evening was one of a very small handful of nights this month where you could actually see the stars. I headed out into the cold and set up at the Deschênes Rapids Lookout along the Sir John A MacDonald Parkway. Not the ideal viewing location because of the light pollution, but good enough for what I wanted to do. Read the rest of this entry →