turkey – MatP's view of the world

For new-year’s-eve we are having a couple of friends to celebrate with. The special occasion also requests a special treat. So… For a while I was amazed by the monstrous creation of a turducken, which I wanted to prepare for this evening. You don’t know what a turducken is?

Well, pick a turkey, duck and a chicken and stuff them within each other. Sounds cruel. Well, it is someway. As you start by completely deboning all three birds. Pay attention to leave all the flesh and skin in tac! I also forward the suggestion I read, to remove the skin from the duck – which is or becomes too greasy. Have a good amount of bread stuffing (like from the yummy Thanksgiving roast turkey) ready.
Now, starting with the duck, fill all cavities with stuffing. Close and re-shape the bird. Now place the duck inside (or on top of the opened) chicken. Fill any cavities with stuffing. Again, close and reshape. Finally, place the duck in the chicken inside (or on top of the opened) turkey. Add stuffing and close neatly. Use medium-thick twine to sew the turkey closed. Add some more twine all around for security and fix the drum-sticks as close to the meat as possible.
Now you are ready for roasting – or as I prefer it – low temperature cooking with a final touch of roasting.
My turducken, weighing in approximately 5kg, had a good 8 hours time at 110°C for a juicy and delicious result. *yummy*

It has been a bit more than 6 years since I could see the total solar eclipse in Austria (11th August 1999), when I found an advert for an eclipse trip to Turkey for March 2006. The amateur astronomers from Viennese Astro-Station-Conrad organized this tour, where more than 300 enthusiasts and eclipsophiles participated and travelled to a hotel near Side. The holiday resort at the mediterranean sea was perfectly placed in the path of totality.

Since I first saw prominences through a telescope with hydrogen (H-alpha) filter, and results from the 1999 eclipse were mediocre (I only had a tripod and manual trigger), my dream was to capture prominences during the eclipse. For good results, a tracking mount is required. I onyl had a shaky EQ2 mount, which is built for telescopes with up to 4 kg. My initial plan was to use 2 cameras. Though I could further borrow a third camera as well as another mirror lens.

But how to mount these three cameras? I could not find a base supporting 3 cameras – especially none suitable to attach to the EQ2. I came up with an aluminium frame and pipe clamps from the hardware store. The contraption is definitely unconventional. The total weight put on the EQ2 is also way above the specified limits. Luckily, there were no major issues. Only the little motor struggled from time to time to keep the gear coupling.

The setup: