This and That

There's not much going on around here lately....more rain and clouds than sun and clear skies.
We did get a clear night from the 20th thru the 21st but the moon was almost full.Did manage to capture the first ISS pass that night using my Canon PowerShot A-610 running the CHDK enhancing software.For those not familiar with CHDK and you have an old Canon,check it out,it breathes new life into those point and shoot cameras.The max setting on the A-610 is ISO 400, f/2.82, 15 seconds....not the best for night sky shooting.With CHDK,the exposure time is basically unlimited,effective ISO can go as high as 1600....actually higher but the CCD sensor can't handle it.
On top of that,there are auto shooting parameters that work very well.I set my camera up on a self manufactured mono-pole,power the camera with an external power supply,lock the remote shutter release in burst mode and let it shoot away all night.Just have to collect it in the morning and go through the shots to see what it saw while I was sleeping like this one:

More info on CHDK is found here.

Anyways,going by the weather forecast for this week,there won't be any sky shooting happening here:

On the off chance that the forecast get revised to better conditions,here are a few things to look for in the night sky:

BTW,the hummingbirds arrived a week or so ago.Got this pic in Lunenburg Co a little over a week ago:
                                       


Until next time......have a good one.
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