O.K. so it wasn’t quite the last post for a while 🙂  I just found how to get higher resolution (PlotPoints) working in ParametricPlot3D – now I’m happy!

Last one for a while now – the Klein bottle:

I guess it is clear from these postings that I haven’t seen a clear sky in a long while 🙁  What is even more annoying is that I’ve just hooked the Sky 6 up to the C11 so I can now “Go To” using a planetarium program – utter bliss.  As I am dying to try out this new software you can be sure that it will remain cloudy over Hampshire for weeks 🙁

Two views of Enneper’s minimal surface created in Mathematica:

Bifurcation diagram:

And as I’m on a roll – here’s another surface – this time it’s Boy’s surface:

I have always been interested in mathematical shapes and surface which is the main reason for the Mobius Loop appearing below (I don’t really think it has anything to do with the structure of spacetime).  However there have been a couple of surfaces I haven’t managed to plot out – until tonight 🙂  Now that I have “retired” I am able to sit down and concentrate for 10-minutes on the stuff that actually interests me.  So here I present the only mathematical surface named after a place – the Roman surface:

I came across this print of M42 while looking through some old notes.  Print you note – not data – the data has long gone.  So why a print?  Because when this first came out of the Hyperstar I and SXV-H9C camera I was completely gobsmacked!  A thirty second sub (I knew nothing about multiple subs and stacking when I started) with the faithful old C11 in Alt-Az configuration.  I thought this was the bees-knees.  In fact I was so pleased with it I printed it out and gave it as Christmas Cards to the neighbours in 2004.

O.K. so I’ve learned a little since then – but I can still remember the feeling of elation with those very first images I got at the New Forest Observatory 🙂

So why not buy a copy of Star Vistas for the budding astronomer in your family?  Also – with Forewords by Sir Arthur C Clarke, Sir Patrick Moore, and Dr. Brian May – this first edition is likely to become something of a collectors’ item in the years to come – so why not invest now? 🙂

Got today’s EPOD with a panoramic (4-frame) view of Hurst Spit, the Isle of Wight, Hurst castle and Hurst lighthouse – plus Keyhaven salt marshes and the Solent.  There’s lots to see in this image 🙂  Thank you Jim for continuing to show interest in my work.