Solar Astronomy

Xanadu Observatory is now capable of 24-hour astronomy, with the addition of a Lunt LS100THa Solar Telescope.  This scope allows direct observation of the nearest star.  It's a refractor with a special tuning and filtering system to allow transmission of only a very slight amount of the sun's light.  Normally, one would go blind from looking at the sun, but this scope makes it safe.
In reality, I probably will not use the solar scope inside the observatory much.  I've painted the inside of Xanadu black, which is great for nighttime observing but makes it an oven in the day.  I've got some learning to do to get the most out of this scope, and I'm planning to image through it eventually.  Even with the drastically reduced amount of light that passes through the filter, imaging the sun will be a much different process than normal astroimaging.  The quantity of light reaching the camera will still be far greater, and also the sun exhibits dynamic short-term activity, so one big difference will be taking shorter exposures.

False Colors, True Wonder

Here's an image of two bright nebulae found in the summer constellation of Cygnus, the Swan.  NGC7000 is called "The North American Nebula", and IC 5070 is called "The Pelican Nebula".  These bright nebula consist primarily of Hydrogen gas (like most of the rest of the Universe), and in this rendition I've mapped the glow from Hydrogen-alpha emission to the green color channel.  I also used filters that gathered light from OIII (doubly-ionized oxygen) and SII (singly-ionized sulfer), and mapped that data to blue and red color channels, respectively.  This color mapping strategy is known as "The Hubble Pallet" and results in a false-color image; the nebulae shown above would certainly not appear to be green to the naked eye.  In "reality", they would appear to us to be reddish, since H-a is the dominant emission and it comes at a wavelength of about 6563 angstroms, which is in the region of the spectrum that our eyes see as "red".  Note that the SII data would also be in the red, so it's impossible to create an RGB image from these filters without mapping something as a false color.

Does this diminish the beauty, the true wonder of observing these amazing interstellar objects?  Personally I don't think so.  Using the color maps allows visual interpretations of the nebulae that might not otherwise be possible.  If I were trying to use the data for some critical science application, the colors probably would be irrelevant anyway.  When using the data to create a representation of the wonders of our universe, a representation that may stir the soul in ways that words cannot, I think it's acceptable to take some artistic license and work with false colors.

This is my first image with some new 5 nano-meter bandwidth filters, and clearly I could have improved it by simply rotating the camera slightly.  Nevertheless, I hope you find a bit of enjoyment in viewing this image.  For more information and a higher-resolution version, visit http://www.xanaduobservatory.com/ngc7000.htm.

The Bigfoot Nebula

Here's an image of an interesting place in our Universe.  This object is a cloud of gas, and there is enough ionized Hydrogen to emit the reddish light that you see here.  The light is actually a very specific emission at about 6,562.8 Angstroms, and is known as "Hydrogen-Alpha" or "H-alpha".  Although the gas is glowing "hot", it would actually be quite sparse and extremely cold if you were in it.  From our vantage point, which is believed to be about 400 parsecs away, (practically next door in astronomical terms!), the cloud takes on a unique shape that reminds me of a footprint from the legendary "Bigfoot" creature of North America.  Thus, I call it "The Bigfoot Nebula", but it has a more scientific-sounding official catalog name of Sharpless 2-129.

The bluish coloring in his big toe is a reflection nebula - the probable reason is that the denser gas in that region has condensed and a newborn star is burning brightly enough to reflect some of its blue light against the surrounding gas.

Also visible at the upper right of this image is a smaller nebula, vdB 140, which has both reddish emission as well as bluish reflection components.

For a high-resolution version of this image, as well as image details, click here:  http://www.xanaduobservatory.com/Sh2-129.htm

As seems to be normal for some time now, I've been collecting lots of imaging data and getting very little of it completed in the processing stage.  The busy phase of my life seems to take over more often than I'd like.  But I'm grateful for so many things, as we all should be.  Today is Mother's Day, and I continue to grow in my respect for my own Mom, who taught me so much about how precious life is and how important it is to take time to appreciate the amazing beauty that surrounds us.  She isn't an astronomer, but I think I owe my fascination with the Universe to her.  Thanks Mom!

Backyard Observatory Night at TAAA

This evening's gathering of the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association was our periodic "Member Observatories" night.  It's a popular meeting with various members showcasing their personal observatories.  I always learn a few new tricks and it's fascinating to see what others have done to solve the various problems that face small observatory owners.  It's also amazing to see how different they are, whether in construction style, size, or price.

We're lucky here in Tucson to have so many amateur astronomers, and with the often-clear skies, building a backyard observatory can be a very worthwhile project.

I gave a short presentation on Xanadu West, my vinyl-shed roll-off-roof observatory.

AAPOD for February 17, 2010

It's always a thrill when one of my astro images gets recognition, so when I got an e-mail this evening telling my that my rendition of the Christmas Tree Cluster & Cone Nebula region was selected as the Amateur Astronomy Picture Of the Day (AAPOD), I was very happy!
AAPOD is hosted at the Astronomy.FM website, which is an outstanding source of astronomy information.  One of the unique features of this site is their "AFM Radio", which broadcasts various astronomy-themed audio programs over the internet.  It's free and there are a lot of topics covered.
I took this image back in October, 2009 using an ST-10XME camera.  I later targeted this same region with a wider-field camera.  Both versions, along with acquisition details, can be viewed on my Xanadu Observatory website by clicking here.
I suppose that published images feed my ego a bit.  It takes an awful lot of work to set up the equipment properly, plan an observing run, acquire the data, and process it to obtain a visually pleasing result, so when an image is published it provides affirmation that someone believes I've done a good job - and who doesn't appreciate an occasional pat on the back?  There's no paycheck, so it's a labor of love - that's what makes it Amateur.

I learned from my mother, who is a wildlife artist, to appreciate the beauty and glory of nature.  When I work on an astroimage, I'm hoping to capture just a bit of that, and sharing it with others makes it even more meaningful.  Similarly, I love to view astroimages taken by others.  One of my first astronomy books was "New Handbook of the Heavens", a worn-covered discard from the Hilton Central School District's library, but a true treasure trove to me.  Published in 1941, the photo on page 198 of the "Andromeda Nebula" from Mt. Wilson awakened the dreamer in me that still exists today.  (Of course we now know this object as the Andromeda Galaxy, not Nebula, and instead of the 800,000 light-year distance per the book, it's believed to be about 2.5 million light-years away).

(Note - AAPOD is not to be confused with APOD, the Astronomy Picture Of the Day site that often has landscape and professional telescope images).

Grand Opening of the Chiricahua Astronomy Complex

Last night was the first star party at the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association's new Chiricahua Astronomy Complex.
We've been eagerly waiting for this night for several years, beginning with a test visit that several of us made on a warm summer's night a few years ago.  It's been a long haul - Cochise County has placed many restrictions on the club during the acquisition and development of the property.  I won't go into details here (there are enough to fill a small book!), but the County just granted approval for us to actually allow events to occur on the site this past week.
So far we only have basic facilities - parking lot, electricity, bathroom, etc. - but we have the beginnings of a fantastic club observing site.  Long range plans include full observatories and pads to set up telescopes.
I was too tired to take all of my imaging gear out, so instead I just brought a visual instrument, my 15" Dobsonian.  My buddy Larry drove down with me in my "AZTRNMY" pickup, and we hauled his 18" Dob along as well.  The photo above shows our scopes getting ready for work, and there were many other scopes set up all around us.  There were 24  people there (I think), and the excitement level was high.
The sky was very clear, and my Sky Quality Meter gave nice dark readings of 21.68 magnitudes per square arcsecond by early evening.  The Zodiacal Light was prominent for a while after sunset - this is a faint glow along the ecliptic that results from sunlight reflecting off of dust in space, and is generally only visible from very dark sites.  Later in the evening I measured 21.81 on the meter, which is about as dark as I've ever been able to get anywhere.  There are some lights along the distant horizon but they really didn't affect the observing.
My friend and imaging mentor Dean brought his ccd equipment and started off his session with a quick one of Messier 34, an open cluster in Perseus.  Click here to see his image, which was taken in honor of The Perseus Group, the 4 members who donated the parcel of land to the club.
I spent my time visually observing and socializing with friends.  One of the great things about a star party is sharing the night sky and outdoors with wonderful people, and last night was no exception.  I viewed numerous objects through a variety of scopes and eyepieces.  Mars was a favorite target, with the polar ice cap as well as dark surface markings clearly visible.  The Orion Nebula, M42, was another object whose photons graced the surfaces of many mirrors last night.  One of the more unusual visual objects that I observed last night was the Horsehead Nebula.  Although that is a popular imaging target (in fact I have many hours of unprocessed ccd data on it), it's rare in the eyepiece.  I used my H-Beta filter on the 15" and several of us enjoyed the view.  There were a lot of other nebulae, galaxies, star clusters, etc. that we viewed, along with plenty of laughter and swapping of stories.
Seeing was very good, with a steady sky making it easy to pick out details in the objects we observed.  All in all it was a great night and I can't wait for more to come!

Seeing Red

It's a nice clear night so far in Tucson. I went out to open the roof on the observatory, and could not resist the urge to stop and enjoy the night sky for a little while.
Although most of us think of the stars as a bunch of little white points of light, they can actually be quite colorful for anyone who takes the time to observe them carefully. These winter nights provide an excellent opportunity to view some nice red objects. When I looked East this evening, I was immediately struck by the 3 bright red points of light that stand out in the crowd. The lowest, and brightest, is the Angry Red Planet Mars. A bit higher and to the South is the amazing Red Supergiant Betelgeuse, one of the members of the dramatic constellation of mighty Orion. Farther up lies deep red Aldebaran, the leader of the v-shaped Hyades cluster and an important component of the sharp horns of Taurus the Bull.
Looking deeper into space, one finds red over and over. Most nebulae glow red as they emit photons created from the ionization of Hydrogen, which makes up the vast majority of the known universe. Interstellar dust and gas creates a reddening effect on many of the objects we observe.
This image is a wide-field rendition of the Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula region. The dominant red color shows relatively dense regions of hydrogen gas, commony called HII regions. Click here for a better view of the image and more information about how the image was obtained.
Right now my telescope and camera are obtaining data for another HII region, known as IC 2177 and commonly called the Seagull Nebula. I suspect the humidity will force me to close the observatory before midnight, since we have had considerable rain in the past few weeks, but for now my scope and I are enjoying our amazing universe.

Imported Blogs Below From Astronomyblogs.com

I've just completed moving most of my old blogs over to this site.
I previously used Astronomyblogs.com, but that site's owner has told me that he may discontinue it. I am grateful to astronomyblogs.com for getting me started in blogging and hosting my ramblings for the past few years.
The import process was not automated - it took a lot of "cut-and-paste". Many of the images came over as very low resolution bitmaps instead of their original jpeg format, and none of the embedded links crossed over.
But at least I have an archive of the old blog here now.
There has been an awful lot of astronomy stuff going on in my life since my last astronomyblogs post back in June of 2009. I won't bother trying to catch it all up, but there is new equipment, the roll-off roof observatory is fully operational, I attended the 2009 Advanced Imaging Conference, and I'm still heavily involved in the local astronomy club.
I plan to continue this blog to track my pursuit of amateur astronomy.

06/21/2009 C-Row Star-B-Que

For the past two nights, I've been enjoying the Huachuca Astronomy Club's C-Row Star-B-Q. This event was held at the Repogazer (RGO) Observatory.
The theme of C-Row is Celestron; the main observing field was filled with various Celestron telescopes and accessories. Celestron will be 50 years old next year, and there was plenty of vintage gear on the field. My contribution to the C-Row was my little white tube C-5+.
Celestron's corporate headquarters sent out various executives and sales personnel, and they set up a nice booth with demos, including the new CGE+ and some prototypes of new telescopes with flat optics.
Friday night was basically clouded out, so I left early and headed home for a good night of sleep. Last night, however, was very clear and a beautiful Milky Way set the stage for a great night of observing. In addition to some visual work through varoius friends' scopes, I played a little bit with the AstroTrac and digital camera.
There was a big raffle giveaway last night - in fact, every one of the 150 attendees won a prize! My big winning was a year's subscription to Astronomy Magazine. This was definitely a great event, and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

05/21/2009 SAS Symposium

I'm here in California for the Society for Astronomical Sciences Symposium on Telescope Science. Today was a day full of seminars on amateur astronomy from a science perspective. Most of the talks related to photometry and spectroscopy. This year they combined the SAS meeting with the AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers) meeting, so it's quite large, with several hundred attendees.
This picture shows my friend Olivier Thizy giving his spectroscopy talk. Olivier runs Shelyak Instruments and we had a great time playing with the LHIRES III Spectrograph up here a couple of years ago. This time he brought along his new high-end Echelle spectrograph, which I am drooling over!
There are several Tucson folks here, including my friend Steve and Darryl, Mark, and others. Also a bunch of the "usual" star party folks and vendors, like James, Don, Kevin, etc. Overall I'm having a great time.
On Friday we'll head a few miles down the road to the RTMC Astronomy Expo. Hopefully I'll see a bunch of good friends there as well.

04/21/2009 Ready for More

The sun's going down and a new night of fun is starting here at TSP. I didn't get nearly enough sleep today but that's o.k., I'm ready for more!
Here's an image of IC 4603, the nebulous region around the interesting star Rho Ophiuchius (how do you pronounce that, anyway?) I took this in the early morning hours the past couple of nights. The numerous dark tendrils weaving their way around this area are really fascinating.
Click here to see a larger version of this image.
Meanwhile it's time for me to attend to the scopes...

04/21/2009 The Milky Way Rising Over TSP

It's 6 a.m. and I'm just wrapping up an excellent observing night at the Texas Star Party.
I took the picture above with my Canon DSLR about 3 hours ago, it is a single 10-minute shot with the camera aimed towards the center of our Milky Way galaxy, tracking on an AstroTrac and tripod.
We had a lot of success, including some good CCD imaging and completion of some of the TSP Observing Lists.
Time for some rest now!

04/20/2009 The Stars at Night, Are Big and Bright, Deep in the Heart of Texas!

Here I am for another exciting week at the Texas Star Party, one of my favorite astronomy escapes. After arriving yesterday and setting up all the gear, I was pretty exhausted, but still managed to stay up most of the night.
This picture shows the two telescopes that I brought along - my Epsilon 180 for imaging, and my Obsession 15" for visual. The sky last night was very dark and seeing was excellent, so I had a great time with both scopes.
This afternoon I spent some time in the amateur radio shack, and made about 100 QSO's for the W5TSP special event station.
Tonight's going to be clear again and I'm looking forward to some more fun. There are a bunch of Arizona folks here from both TAAA and HAC, including Larry (who I drove out with), Dean, Bob, and Glenn. Plus I know a bunch of others from previous star parties, etc., so it's a great social time as well.

04/04/2009 Asteroid Workshop Day Two

Had a great day yesterday learning about asteroids and NEO's. We had some of the CSS astronomers give talks, and also spent a good part of the day working with Astrometrica software. Astrometrica can be used to identify possible asteroids and NEO's in image frames.
We also learned how to check data with the Minor Planet Center, and how to submit observation reports. Hopefully I will obtain some data sometime soon, and with my first submission I'll be eligible to request an MPC Observatory Code for Xanadu Observatory.
The weather last night wasn't good so we never did open the dome. I drove down the mountain around midnight, which meant missing the final few hours of the workshop this morning. Other obligations today made it necessary, but I think I got some very valuable information out of the workshop. Plus, it's always very enjoyable to spend time in an astronomy environment with professional observatories all around!

04/03/2009 Asteroids and Near Earth Objects Workshop

Last night was the first night of the Mount Lemmon Sky Center's Asteroids and Near Earth Objects (NEO's) Workshop.
I decided to take a short break from an extremely busy tax season to try to learn a few new things. I have not done a lot of asteroid work in the past so thought it might be fun.
We started the workshop with an hour-long tour of the University of Arizona's Mirror Lab, which builds many of the world's largest telescope mirrors. They were currently in the process of grinding mirrors for the GMT (Giant Magellan Telescope), and the LSST (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope).
After driving up the mountain, we spent some time observing and imaging the Sun through a new Lunt Solar Systems 100mm Hydrogen-alpha scope. There were several small prominences and a very faint sunspot.
Later we took some data on various fields using this telescope, a 24" Ritchey-Crieten made by RC Optical Systems. We'll be processing this data today and learning how to identify asteroids in the field, as well as determine if there are any new ones. That's not likely, since the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) already covers much of the sky and presently makes about 70% of the discoveries of NEO's. While we were obtaining data, we took a walk to the dome next door, which houses the 60" telescope used by CSS. One of their astronomers was busy taking data, and he showed us their system which is really fascinating. They routinely observe as many as 8,000 asteroids per night, and it is not unusual for them to discover new NEO's, main-belt asteroids, and even comets.
The weather started to deteriorate before midnight, with high winds and humidity, so we didn't observe all night (probably a good thing since I needed some sleep badly).
Today we will learn how to identify objects in the fields, and determine whether there are any new ones to report. The speakers today will be Adam Block and a few astronomers from the CSS. We're in a very nice "Learning Center".
The picture above was taken last night as we prepared to start our imaging run. As you can see even early in the evening it was quite cold - there is even snow up here!
I also was interviewed earlier this week by a writer for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, which is the U of A's daily newspaper. They published the article, which can be viewed here, but I was disappointed because they misquoted me and emphasized the threat of an asteroid hit, which really wasn't the main focus of my comments during the interview. My main reason for being here is quite simply to satisfy my thirst for knowledge - it's interesting stuff. I'm really not planning to discover "The Big One".

03/07/2009 TAAA AstroImaging Night

Last night was the (approximately) annual TAAA AstroImaging night. Members of the astroimaging special interest group get a chance to share their techniques and photos with the rest of the club. It's always a lot of fun and we see some amazing images.
Steve gave the astronomy essentials portion of the meeting with a talk on basic astroimaging. After the break, we split up presentation duties among some of the members of the SIG.
I was one of about 8 presenters, and just showed some of my more recently processed images. Here's a pciture of me doing my gig.
The room was packed, I didn't count but I'd estimate about 250 people came. After the talks, a bunch of folks went out for some food and we talked astronomy for another hour or two. It was a late night but a lot of fun!

02/21/2009 High Speed Comet

Lately the astronomy world's been buzzing over Comet C/2007 N3, also known as Comet Lulin. It's grown rather bright, with naked-eye visibility. It also sports a rather greenish coma and has a long tail.
Comets are usually short-lived phenomena for observers - although some of them return on a periodic basis, most of them will only be visible once in an amateur astronomer's lifetime. They also can surprise us with erratic behaviour, so it's always fun to watch them.
I took this image two nights ago. It consists of 96 subframes (24 in each red, green, blue, and luminance), only 30 seconds each. Although the total exposure time was 48 minutes, with the added time for focusing, exposure downloads, guide star acquisition, etc., the total elapsed time between the first and last image was almost 2 1/2 hours. Since the comet is moving across the sky quite rapidly, I decided to make a little movie showing the motion as well. Click Here to see this image in higher resolution, and to view the comet movie.
I'm not sure I'll get another chance to image this one, as clouds have taken over the Tucson skies and my workload remains heavy. But I'm very happy to have had a chance to snap a brief picture of this celestial friend as he sped by!

02/09/2009 Staying Busy

Here we go again, a whole month has passed with no blogs. I guess I'm just too busy with stuff. Lots of work to do as usual at this time of year, plus I've been spending a lot of time with the radio hobby. And of course there are family obligations, Board meetings, this, that, and pretty soon I find it's tough to get on and blog, even though I enjoy it.
I have been doing quite a bit of imaging, but unfortunately the processing has not kept up with the data acquisition so I now have about 30 objects to process!
Here's one that I took back in December and January, it is the Jellyfish Nebula (IC443) in HaRGB format. For a larger version click here.
While processing this image, I "discovered" an asteroid passing right through the nebula. Turns out it was actually discovered in 1887 and carries the designation 270 Anahita. But it was still fun for me to find it trekking through my chosen object. Click here for a short animation of my "discovery".

01/06/2009 Star Light, Star Bright

Clear crisp winter nights can be some of the best times for astronomical observing. There is something about the chill in the air that makes the sky more appealing. In reality the cold winter nights are not always the best for seeing conditions, but naked eye views of the sky seem to bring an almost mystical perspective when the night air has that quiet chill. At my house, there are a couple of owls that like to make their "who-who"'s which makes it even more magical.
One of the objects that faithfully shines brightly in the winter sky is the Pleiades open star cluster, catalogued by Messier as M45. The Pleiades is a nice little grouping that many non-astronomers will notice (as long as their eyesight is reasonably good), and sometimes they will even mistake it for the Little Dipper since it does have a dipper-like appearance.
This image was taken back in December on several clear cold nights. Total exposure time for each color filter was 2 hours (24x5 min each) plus another 48 min of Luminance. The blue reflections in the nebulosity surrounding the cluster are easily visible in an eyepiece, but the nebulosity itself is believed to be an unrelated interstellar dust cloud that the cluster just happens to be passing through. Imagine what the sky would look like if you lived on a planet in this area!
Click Here for a larger, higher resolution version of this image.

12/31/2008 Astronomy, Good for the Soul

It's the end of another year. Looking back I'll simply say that it's a blessing to have experienced it, there really are not many years given to us and despite occasional rough times, I'm grateful to have enjoyed another year of life.
2008 has certainly been full of negative news on the global scale. Economic turmoil has dominated our lives, and everyone has been affected. Yet no matter what happens, the celestial wheels continue to spin and the sky continues to present glorious views to those who are willing to spend the time to observe them. The problems of Earth seem so trivial when one ponders the immensity of the visible Universe.
This image is one that I took back in November over many nights of clear skies. It goes by the name "Soul Nebula", and is catalogued as IC1848, Sh2-199, and W-5. It's an emission nebula and star-forming region, but the shape is what really makes it unique. It's quite large (this is a 2-frame mosaic), and lies very close to another dramatic object known as the Heart Nebula. Click here to see a larger version of this image and more details.
Oh yes, and I would be remiss if I didn't use these final hours of 2008 to post a New Year's Resolution. Mine is to enjoy more time with an eyepiece (but don't worry, my camera will remain quite busy!)

12/13/2008 Our Colorful Universe

Look through a normal eyepiece and you usually see things in black and white. Some stars are colorful, but nebula and galaxies are pretty much always going to appear to be in "Greyscale" to most people's eyes.
Except, of course, when one places a color filter in the eyepiece. For example, put a red filter in, and suddenly the view turns from black and white to black and red. Filters do more than just change the color, though, they also block out other wavelengths, which can help to increase contrast or identify certain details. The same holds true for CCD imaging filters. Color filters are common but narrowband filters can really attenuate the light, allowing only a tiny slice of the electromagnetic spectrum to shine through.
Using CCD filters allows one to "map" the resulting image to any color. So for instance, Hydrogen-alpha emissions which are normally in the Red region of our vision can be represented by green instead. This can be desirable since other narrowband emissions, such as those arising from NII or SII, may also be in the Red. This "false-color" mapping is used in nearly every scientific discipline to help scientists translate data into a visual expression that simplifies analysis.
The commonly used "Hubble Pallet" maps SII as Red, H-alpha as Green, and OIII as Blue. Another common mapping is the "CFHT Pallet" (named for the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope), which maps H-alpha as Red, OIII as Green, and SII as Blue.
For the image above I first created both Hubble and CFHT pallet images, then combined them into a single image. This resulted in some interesting colors that you don't often see in astronomical images of nebula. Yes, this is a false color image; if you could fly to the Veil East, you might see the structure but the colors would not be like this. Of course, that's just the way our brains are wired; perhaps if you lived on Gliese 582, your brain would in fact map these colors like this! Either way, I find all of the parts of the Veil Nebula to be quite fascinating for their incredibly intricate detailed structure. Click Here to See a Larger Version of this Image

12/05/2008 TAAA - OBAFGKM & LSST

Just got back from another great monthly meeting of the TAAA (Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association).
The Astronomy Essentials portion of the meeting was presented by George Barber. His talk was "What Kind of Star" and gave some excellent information about various stellar types and the physical processes that make them different. Of course that included the OBAFGKM (Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me) stellar sequence. George is an energetic speaker and I always enjoy hearing his talks.
The main lecture was presented by Victor Krabbendam, who is a key player in the LSST (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope), a huge project that will probably change astronomy in a big way. The LSST will basically image the entire sky every few nights, over and over and over again, providing the ability to explore the night sky and search for changing objects. The amount of data that this telescope will generate is simply incredible - they expect approximately 150 TeraBytes per night! Eventually it will reach into the PetaBytes range; that's a term that we certainly are not used to hearing (although at the rate technology changes it will probably be commonplace in the near future).
I've got my scope taking data right now, but it will probably only provide me with about half a gigabyte. My poor little ccd camera is probably feeling rather inadequate now!

11/30/2008 So Much to be Thankful For

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in the U.S. With all the crazy world happenings and economic crisis around the world, many folks are finding themselves in the pits of despair. It really is easy to allow all the bad news to dominate one's thinking.
Yet life goes on as always, and when I stop to think about things, I realize that the reality is that in general things are actually very good, and we really should be thankful for it all. Never in history have humans had access to the infrastructure and technology that we enjoy today. Sometimes I think our human nature is to act like spoiled brats rather than appreciative beings.
One thing I'm thankful for is the beautiful night sky with all of its hidden treasures. Another thing is the equipment that I've been able to assemble that allows me to image some of these treasures. Here is an example - this object is Emission Nebula NGC 6820, also known as Sharpless 2-86. In the center is a nice cluster catalogued as NGC 6823. There are also plenty of dark nebula to enjoy, as well as a myriad of stars that are beyond count. All told, a perfect example of something to be thankful for - the opportunity to explore this mysterious and wonderful region of our universe.
Click here to see a larger, higher-resolution version of this image.

11/23/2008 TAAA Observatory Dedication at TIMPA

Last night we dedicated a new roll-away observatory building at the TAAA's TIMPA site. Despite some clouds, a fair number of people showed up for the party. As Vice-President of TAAA, I gave introductions to the various speakers, who included David & Wendee Levy, George Barber, and Michael Turner. David & Wendee made the arrangements for a 14" Meade LX200R telescope donation to the club a few years ago, George was the driving force behind construction of the pad and building, and Michael coordinated numerous volunteers who participated in getting the telescope and pier in working order.
A video recording of the dedication was made and should be posted to the web soon, if I remember I'll come back and update this blog to include a link to it.
I didn't stay long because I had to get back to a Webelos campout with my youngest son. It did clear for a short time later and we enjoyed some stargazing around the campfire.

11/18/2008 Another Great AIC

I'm back home from a weekend at the Advanced Imaging Conference 2008. It was my 3rd time attending this gathering of astroimagers, and once again I had a great time. We heard from numerous speakers on various topics, including some big names like Timothy Ferris (author and producer of Seeing in the Dark). One speaker was from Pixar and he talked about producing 3-dimensional images - I expect we will be seeing a lot of those within the next few years (obviously they will be based on assumptions or simply rendered to emphasize details rather than scientific reality). The picture above shows me wearing the 3-d glasses that he handed out to view some sample images, and they were really cool!
The vendors were all there displaying there wares, making us all drool. There were some really cool items like the new ASA mount that has no gears, and a bunch of high-end RC scopes. There was also a lot of time for sharing ideas and networking with other imagers.
Unfortunately I did not win anything in the big raffle again this year!

11/14/2008 Blending Science and Art

Today was the first day of the 2008 Advanced Imaging Conference. I'm here in San Jose for the 3rd year, and enjoying every minute of it. The sessions today were primarily product workshops. I attended 4 of them, including:
-John Smith and Steve Walther discussing CCD Autopilot and CCD Navigator;
-Matt Thomas discussing CCD Commander;
-Doug George on MaximDL;
-Stan Moore on CCD Stack;
-The Bisque Brothers on the upcoming TheSky X Professional.
Of course I also saw a bunch of friends. There are a bunch of us from Tucson here, including Dean S., Alistair, Steve, Dean K., Scott, and Adam.
Dean and I are logging in back home and running our scopes at night. It's a lot of fun to be sitting in a CA hotel room and running the telescope at home! The moon's full but I'm getting some decent H-alpha data anyway.
Here's an image that I took over several nights back in October. It's emission nebula NGC 1491, which lies in Perseus. Narrowband filters were used, and mapped with the Hubble pallet (SII=Red, Ha=Green, OIII=Blue). I took 4 hours worth of 10-minute subframes with each filter, for total exposure time of 12 hours. Click here to see more information and a larger version of this image.
One of the speakers today referred to our hobby as a "blend of science and art". This is a good example. The narrowband filters are not "true color" (there's not really any such thing as "true color", but it's basically what we see visually), since they represent only a 60 angstrom slice of the spectrum. H-alpha and SII both generally lie in the red region, and OIII is closer to the green. So when astroimagers put together an image using narrowband filters, we often have to create a false color mapping to differentiate the fine details between the filters. I often use the "Hubble Pallet", as I did here, which is based on a color scheme often used for image processing on data taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. The data has also been "stretched" to emphasize various contrast differences. So basically, I have taken scientifically accurate data and presented it with some artistic perspective.

11/06/2008 Veil Revisited

Here's an image of the Western portion of the Veil Nebula. I took this image over several nights last week - there is a total exposure time of 24 hours that went in to this one (8 hours each in H-alpha, OIII, and SII, using 10 minute subframes). I'm trying to determine whether extended exposure times will improve the signal-to-noise ratio enough to overcome some of the limitations I experience when imaging from my back yard.
I've shot this one a few times before with the 105mm refractor; this time I used the Takahashi Epsilon 180ED astrograph. It does seem that I picked up some extra faint wisps of nebulosity in the field. In fact this field has so much H-alpha emission that there's a slightly reddish tinge throughout the field. The OIII really has some stunning features as well.
Click here to see more detail and a larger version of this image.

10/31/2008 Beware of Witches in the Night

It's Halloween here in the U.S.A. Lots of people dress up in scary costumes and this evening the kids will be going around trick-or-treating.
Sometimes nights out with the telescope can be spooky too. I've had plenty of times when I've been observing and heard noises that I couldn't identify, causing my heart to race. Fortunately I've never had anything very serious, but there have been encounters with skunks, snakes, javelina, and other wild beasts, as well as plenty of imaginative scares.
Here's an image that I took over several nights of an object that always seems to stand out at this time of year, because it's common name is the "Witch Head Nebula". It's an easy target although it requires RGB which is more difficult to obtain from my back yard due to the light pollution. The final result includes 4.5 hours each of green and blue data, plus another 4 hours of red. I actually took about 20 hours total of data but had to discard quite a lot. Not because of scary goblins and such, but because neighbors turned on their glaring porch lights or the police helicopter flew overhead. At least, that's what I think...I wonder if witch's brooms have tail lights?

10/27/2008 Ghostly Whisps in Outer Space

The upcoming Halloween holiday here in the states is an imaginative time for many of us. Whether it's caused by marketing, childhood memories, seasonal movies, the changing weather, or something else, our minds are filled with images of fleeting shapes and ghostly creatures.
The skies are filled with some amazing objects that appear to be relatively static to our observation, yet they have an appearance that can only be explained by dynamic processes. It's like looking at a picture of a runner in action; the subject is captured by the camera in a moment in time, and the resulting picture isn't moving, but anyone viewing the picture will know very well that the person is moving. When we look at many objects in space, it's unlikely that we will detect any material change in their appearance even after years, and yet just one look and it's quite obvious that the objects are in a state of flux.
This image shows a portion of Pickering's Triangular Wisp, and to my mind it fits well with the season since it has numerous faint tendril-like shapes that cause me to imagine all kinds of forces at work. It's part of the large Veil Nebula complex, which is a remnant from a supernova that exploded perhaps 5-10,000 years ago. I took this image in my backyard over about a week's time starting on October 14th. I used narrowband filters and mapped it using the Hubble pallet (SII=red, H-alpha=green, and OIII=blue). This is a cropped portion of my final image, zoomed in on the most intersting part; the wider-field full version, as well as one mapped using the CFHT pallet, can be seen by clicking this link.
We sure have had a nice long run of clear nights lately. I missed the All Arizona Star Party this past weekend due to a client emergency, but still managed to image here at home. The data is really piling up.

10/23/2008 The Imperfect Universe

We all know how crazy things seem these days. There seems to be a lot of unrest in the world and many people are just plain scared. Nothing's perfect...maybe that's nothing new. Yet in a strange way it's possible for things to appear quite perfect on a large scale even though the small scale reveals serious flaws.
A photo of planet Earth taken from space makes it look like we live on a nice spherical (and calm) world, yet down here we are well aware of the mountains and valleys and storms that make it not so perfect.
Images of the California Nebula, NGC1499, like the one above, make one think of a huge bubbly cloud of gas. Not a perfect shape, but it's a beautiful image anyway. Or is it? This is only a portion of a 4-panel mosaic project that I worked on last November, using my Zenithstar 105mm refractor and CGE mount. I spent many nights collecting narrowband data on this object, in H-alpha as well as OIII and SII. Unfortunately the fields were not flat enough to allow a perfect stitching together of the frames. Zoom out enough and it appears to be a decent image; but zoom in and you'll find various problems including duplicate and elongated stars.
Maybe right now the whole world should consider taking a step back and viewing things from a wider perspective.

10/19/2008 Faint Fuzzies

Here's an image of M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, that I took at the 2008 Okie-Tex Star Party a couple of weeks ago.
M33 is fairly large in apparent size, so even though it is a little over 6th magnitude, it's rather faint in appearance. The dark skies at Okie-Tex this year allowed me to see M33 with the naked eye as a faint fuzzy patch in the sky. At one point, I saw an airplane fly right over the patch.
M33 is probably the farthest object that I have ever visually observed without the aid of a telescope. It's distance is believed to be somewhere around 2.8 million light years away.
The shape of M33 is truly awesome, showing a clear face-on spiral pattern. I've viewed M33 through an eyepiece many times, including through Bob & Glenn's Dobsonians at Okie-Tex, and it exhibits some definite spiral structure. Images really bring out the spiral pattern, as well as numerous H-alpha regions and newly formed stars. The spiral pattern is a fascinating shape that shows up over and over again in nature. Things from terrible hurricances to beautiful seashells display intricately wound spirals. Spirals can be described mathematically and the forces that shape them can be explained with physics, which only adds to the beauty involved when one observes them.
To see a larger version of this image, click here. I took a lot of data on M33, but had to discard much of it due to some clouds that rolled through.

10/07/2008 Back to the Home Galaxy

Okie-Tex is finished, at least for another year, and I've been back home since Sunday afternoon. It was a very successful star party, with five clear nights out of the six that I was there. I got plenty of good image data, had a great time with friends both old and new, and had some good practice with the equipment.
This image is one of my targets from Okie-Tex. Of course I have observed M31 many times, and imaged it a few times, but I wanted to give it a try in the Epsilon. Also my processing skills are a little different now (although I'm not entirely certain they are any better!) I captured 2 hours in each of the color filters plus another hour in luminance over a two-night period. Click here to see a larger version of this image. I've noticed that when I show a picture of M31 to people, they often comment "I wonder if there are aliens looking back at us from there". I guess the galaxy fits the 'traditional' idea of what a galaxy should look like, so it's natural to assume that there are civilizations over there watching us, just like we observe them. I don't suppose that they would call ours the "Milky Way", instead it's probably some mythical name just as we call theirs Andromeda. Regardless of what you call it, home is always a beautiful place, and after a week of camping I was certainly happy to return home to my comfort zone and my family.

10/01/2008 Another Day, Another Photon

It's day four of Okie-Tex and I'm still having a blast. A bit tired perhaps, but that's because there's not much time for sleep after all the fun stuff going on.
It's been clear every night so far, but that may change soon. The nights have been very calm and chilly, perfect imaging weather. The skies have not been perfect in terms of transparency and seeing conditions, but the clearness seems to make up for it. My mount is mostly behaving well - a few glitches with pier flips but we may have solved that, since it ran successfully last night. I have a bunch of data to process now, much of it color data since the darker skies provide better results in color than back home in the big city. My Sky Quality Meter has been giving readings of approximately 21.65 each night.
The Milky Way is positioned well, visible horizon-to-horizon. The moon has been absent as it goes through its new phase, just what we want. After I got my run going last night, I spent a lot of time doing visual observing with Glenn Sanner and Bob Kepple, authors of the Night Sky Observers Guide. I see them regularly at the Huachuca Club meetings and they are a couple of great guys. We had some fantastic views of various celestial delights including some of the more obscure, faint objects as well as some more popular ones. We spent a lot of time exploring the details in various portions of the Veil Nebula for instance.
The hills nearby provide some nice hiking opportunities and I've found a spot on top of a nearby hill that actually allows me to get a cell phone signal. There is so much open land around here, just what I needed for a little attitude adjustment.
I've had a lot of help as well as plenty of good times with various friends, many of whom I have met at star parties or conferences. To name a few, Rockett, Kent, Jim, Fred, James, Doug, etc...and of course Dean and I have been partying it up. A good star party includes lots of good observing but the people are what really makes it worth attending.
Here's an image that I took the first night. The bright star near the top is Gamma Cassiopeiae, and the nebulosity is known as Sharpless 2-185. It's unlikely that an eyepiece would reveal the nebula, but the camera shows both emission (red) and reflection (blue) components in this Hydrogen dominated cloud.

09/29/2008 Okie-Tex Star Party Day Two

It's my second day at the Okie-Tex Star Party. Dean and I arrived yesterday afternoon and we got everything all set up before dinner time. I had a few minor challenges with the Astro-Physics AP1200 mount that I unexpectedly acquired a few days ago from my friend Richard, but there are 5 other AP1200 owners in the area that I set up and they were all most helpful. I made it through the learning curve very quickly and was imaging for much of the night last night. This mount certainly tracks well.
I was tired from the driving and work of setting up, but the excitement of being in a star party with several hundred other amateur astronomers is enough to keep the energy level high. Star parties really are so much fun, the people are great and lots of stories are swapped. I'm very happy to be here and away from the routine stresses of normal life.

09/27/2008 Okie-Tex or Bust!

As I type this, I'm on my way to the Okie-Tex Star Party. Dean's taking a turn at driving and I'm clicking away on the keyboard. There is a new mount in the back (well, actually an old mount, but it's new to me), and I'm excited about the chance to put it to use at Okie-Tex. The weather prediction is a bit uncertain, we shall see how the upcoming week turns out.

09/23/2008 Reflections

Astronomy is the most peaceful hobby I can think of. When I'm out under the stars I find myself in a completely different frame of mind than when I'm frantically racing through the normal pressures of every day life. It's so calming to quietly sit back and reflect on my little place in this universe, so wonderous to try to understand what my significance is compared to the amazing objects out there in space.
It's been a rough summer. My mount was in for repairs most of the season, but bad weather would have prevented much use of it anyway. Work has not let up and other discouraging situations have brought me down. So it's been a very nice relief to have found some time to get back to astronomy the past week, as the skies begin to settle down and temperatures cool. I've been imaging a lot, and in less than a week I will be happily camping out with my astro gear at the Okie-Tex Star Party. I simply cannot wait!
Meanwhile I'm discovering that I have tons of unprocessed image data...I really have not done well with completing my image projects, nor have I kept up with these blogs. Here is an image that I took about 9 months ago, an object that is already finding it's way back into the early morning skies. It's reflection nebula M78, a beautiful little cloud in the rich Orion region. This may be among the last of my images taken with the William Optics 105mm refractor, as I'm now working with the Takahashi Epsilon 180. Click Here to see a larger version of this image.

07/30/2008 Finally Some Clear Skies

It's been very cloudy for quite a while, but the past two nights have been nice and clear. I missed last night, but decided to get my act together this evening. I'm definitely in photon-deprivation mode these days, so I opened up the dome and spent several hours in there. I have been doing most of my observing for the past year or so with the wide-field scopes, but my CGE mount is still in the shop so I fired up the RCX again. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it had retained its alignment since the last time I used it, so it was just turn it on and go.
The RCX needs a lot more hand-holding when I image through it, and it is a work night, so I didn't stay out all night. My main target was M16, and here is a quick process of the first 10 subexposures. They were 300 second frames at -20C (I'm using the chiller that my wife used during her knee surgery recovery last year), and I also used the SBIG adaptive optics unit which really helps the guiding.
This is one of my favorite targets, I always love to see "The Pillars of Creation" show up on my screen when the frames download. I'm hoping for some more clear nights, if we get them I will try for additional data, including using the color and other narrowband filters.

07/13/2008 TAAA & Cloudy Skies

It's been real cloudy lately, the monsoons are arriving daily with plenty of rain, lightning, and wind. No damage around here yet but it's impossible to do any astronomical observing.
I did attend the monthly meeting of the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association on Friday night. George Barber gave a great talk on solar observing for the Astronomy Essentials, and then we heard Dr. Tim Swindle of the U of A Planetary Sciences Department tell us about his adventures hunting for meteorites in Antarctica.
I've got plenty of "administrative" astronomy tasks to take care of. The CGE is in the shop for repairs; I need to bake my CCD dessicant plug; there are a few items I want to list on AstroMart; I've got some configuration work to do; I have a ton of image data to process; and of course the big one is completion of the roll-off roof shed. But it's hard to get motivated to do these things when I know I can't do any observing. So instead I've mostly been spending my play time on ham radio stuff. But I did spend some time this afternoon teaching the Astronomy Merit Badge to my son's Boy Scout Troop.

07/07/2008 Jupiter is Near Opposition

Jupiter, the king of the solar system, is only about 2 days away from opposition. This means that it is basically 180 degrees away from the sun as viewed from Earth. When planets are at opposition, they are usually also roughly closest to the Earth and thus have a larger apparent size.
Here's a webcam image that I took on July 1st with the 14" RCX. I'm no expert at webcam imaging, and it was a work night so I was taking the images too early in the evening - Jupiter was only about 20 degrees up in the SouthEast when I shot it. I took several 2 to 3 minute .avi videos, then used Registax freeware to split it into frames and process them. I also didn't get a perfect focus. So the details are a bit rough, and I had to overprocess it to bring out the minimal details visible here. On nights of good seeing, it would not be unusual to see more detail using a high-power eyepiece than this image shows.
I may try to image it again soon, but that depends on the weather - we are in the midst of monsoon season so there is not much hope for clear skies most days.

07/04/2008 I Wish this Was My House!

Here I am in Northern Arizona again. I'm in Sedona for a family reunion on my wife's side, and today we took a jeep tour. While seeing the sights we saw this house under construction. It's supposed to be 30,000 square feet, and the dome on top looks like a large Ash dome, or something similar. Wonder what type of scope is being housed inside, must be a nice big one. The skies here must be nice and dark, and although this is perhaps not the best way to build an observatory (too close to the mountain, on top of a house), I sure wouldn't mind having it at my disposal!

06/29/2008 Grand Canyon Star Party Day 2

Today was my second day at the Grand Canyon. During the day, we hiked up Mt. Humphreys. This is the highest peak in Arizona, at the top it is at 12,650 feet. It was about 10.8 miles and went up a steep and rocky route, so it took most of the day. The view from the top was quite dramatic, although haze and some far-off rain limited the view somewhat.
In the evening, I enjoyed the final day of the Grand Canyon Star Party. There were many scopes set up, and crowds of visitors gathered around each and every one. It is really an amazing sight to see so many people, who often have zero knowledge of the night sky, showing an interest in astronomical observing. I heard tonight that in the past 18 years the GCSP has literally had hundreds of thousands of visitors! Most are people who are simply on vacation at the canyon and happened to see the scopes, or read about it in the park newsletter. Tonight was almost the perfect summer observing night, with temperatures around 72 degrees Fahrenheit, and very clear skies. The transparency was not perfect, but many objects like M13 were plainly visible to the naked eye. The Milky Way is simply spectacular here, it is so bright that many visitors mistake it for clouds in the sky.
I'm sure I will be back for more GCSP in the future, although it is undergoing a change. My friend Dean Ketelson (the "other Dean") is passing the reigns after 18 years of coordinating the star party. Fortunately he will still be spending half his time in Tucson.

06/28/2008 Grand Canyon Star Party

I've finally made a visit to the Grand Canyon Star Party. It's been something I've wanted to do for years, but other commitments have always kept me away. This is the 18th year of this large event, which is a week long star party focused primarily on public outreach. The park rangers at the Canyon are very supportive as it allows them to encourage public visitors to experience the joy of the dark night skies, and perhaps learn to value the preservation of dark skies, which fits well into the National Parks program here in the U.S.
The party started last weekend and ends tomorrow night, so I will only be here for two nights. Dean Salman and I drove up today from Tucson, and this evening Dean gave a very nice presentation to about 200 park visitors. He showed many of his outstanding CCD images during twilight, and afterward everyone went down to the parking lots where about 60-70 telescopes were set up. The whole event takes place right on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Actually, there is a North Rim version of the party that runs simultaneously, but the South Rim event is the larger one.
The skies here are quite dark, with a dramatic Milky Way providing an awesome backdrop to the star-studded sky. This is really a great place to hold a star party!

06/20/2008 Yes, I Am Still Watching the Heavens

Someone asked me whether I've taken a break from astronomy since I don't seem to be blogging lately. I definitely am still stargazing at every opportunity, but life has kept me so busy that sometimes I wonder which way is up.
The past few months have been frustrating on many nights because my CGE mount was damaged and I can't seem to get it back in shape. We've enjoyed an incredible stretch of clear skies here in Tucson, for most of this year so far, but many nights I have been unable to work the CGE. There are other scopes available, but certainly the CGE has been the workhorse.
There are some exciting things coming, and I expect to be doing some serious astronomy in the fall, after monsoons (we're officially in monsoon season now, but the rains have not started yet).
Anyway I will try to post a little more often. Meanwhile here is a recent image, taken over the course of 4 nights at the end of last month. It's the Crescent Nebula, NGC 6888, and the image includes data taken with traditional narrowband filters (Ha, OIII, and SII), as well as some near-infrared filters (above 7000 Angstroms), This was my first attempt imaging with the NIR's. To see a the individual versions (i.e. Hubble Palette, CFHT Palette, and NIR) as well as an animation of the various versions, see my website at
http://www.xanaduobservatory.com/ngc6888.htm

03/10/2008 Kitt Peak With the Scouts

Today I visited Kitt Peak National Observatory with my oldest son's Boy Scout Troop 753. I'm teaching the kids the Astronomy Merit Badge and one of the requirements is to visit an observatory.
We had a chance to get an up-close tour of the McMath Pierce Solar Telescope as well as the 2.1 meter telescope. This picture shows me and two of my sons, the oldest a Life Scout and the youngest a Bear Cub Scout, with the 4-meter Mayall Observatory in the background.
There were about 20 people in the group and everyone seemed very interested in the tour. We're lucky to have such a well-known site nearby (it's about an hour and a half drive). The weather was perfect.
I'm imaging again tonight, lots of data being collected with little time to process it...but the first light image from the new Tak is coming soon.

03/07/2008 Phoenix Headquarters - in Tucson!

I attended the monthly meeting of the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association this evening. Our speaker was Peter Smith, of the Lunar & Planetary Lab, who is the Principal Investigator for the Phoenix Mission to Mars.
Peter gave us an excellent overview of the mission, which is currently on its way to Mars after launching last August. It is expected to land in the North Polar region on May 25th of this year. The lander has a robotic arm with a shovel and will explore the surface ice next to the landing site.
While I was at the meeting, my imaging system was starting itself up for an observing run. My targets tonight will be M42, M51, and M101 (although I may intercept it and change M101 to something else later). We've had a nice week or so of clear skies and I've been imaging with the new Epsilon every night, so there is plenty of data to process. But since it's my busy season I have not had any time to process it much yet. I do know that the very fast focal length of this telescope results in more severe color gradients than I have experienced before, so I will need to develop some skills to handle that.

03/02/2008 First Light for the Epsilon

No, I have not disappeared into a black hole...it's hard to believe how rapidly time can go by. Seems like only yesterday that I last posted a blog, and here it is March already.
I must admit, however, that I have not been as active with astronomy these past few months as I wish I had been. I've had a few imaging sessions, but the data sits unprocessed on the hard drive. Our local club has been pursuing acquisition of a new dark site, and since I'm on the Board, I've been somewhat involved with that. I've been getting ready to teach the Astronomy Merit Badge to my son's Boy Scout troop. And I've spent a lot of time working on the roll-off roof observatory that will eventually allow me to do even more astronomy from my back yard. But I've missed quite a few clear observing nights, and obviously I have been bad about posting to my blog.
There have been a few equipment plans in the works. One was an intended acquisition of a Paramount equatorial mount, but that was cancelled for a variety of reasons, primary among them that Software Bisque could not seem to deliver it. So now my name is on the waiting list for an AstroPhysics mount, which will take quite a while to get.
Meanwhile I made a deal with my friend Dean and ended up with his Takahashi Epsilon 180. He's imaged just about everything possible and needed to move to a longer focal length, so we worked out a trade and now I'm the proud owner of this scope. It's a lot for the CGE mount to handle, and I'll be interested to see whether I can get decent images out of it without a larger mount. I needed to add a second 25# counterweight because it is much heavier than the refractor. Tonight I got it all set up and balanced, and as I type this I'm running "V-Curves" in FocusMax to get a good profile for automated focussing. So far it's looking pretty good.
I know I won't be able to produce the quality of images that Dean has - many of them have been published in the magazines, including several pages worth in Sky & Telescope's "Beautiful Universe" book and the inside back page of numerous issues of Astronomy Magazine, including the latest issue. But hopefully I'll have some fun with it, that's what it's all about!

12/24/2007 Mars in the Spotlight

This evening (12/23/07), there was a stunning pairing of a nearly full Moon and the fiery red planet Mars. We're just a couple of days past the Winter Solstice, and Mars will be at opposition tomorrow for a Christmas Eve present. I observed the conjunction of the Moon and Mars from what would normally be a horrible place to observe from - the shopping mall parking lot - as we were leaving a movie with some visiting family members. In fact it wasn't me who noticed it first, but my Siste-in-Law, who said, "Look, the Moon has a satellite"!
Seeing this motivated me to try to complete processing on some Mars images that I took last week using a Phillips Toucam webcam with a 2x Orion barlow, on my 14" Meade RCX. Capturing the data was the easy part; I simply took short (~2 min) .avi video frames using K3CCDTools software. However, since I don't do this type of image processing regularly, I found it very challenging to do the processing. I used Registax and Photoshop. This image is the result of my attempt, and while it's far from perfect I'm pleased to be able to discern various features on the surface of Mars. Click here to see a slightly larger version of this image.
I used the Sky & Telescope freeware program called "Mars Previewer II" to help identify the exotic-sounding names of the various markings, such as Sinus Meridiani, Sinus Sabaeus, Niliacus Lacus, and Mare Erythraeum. Far away places to be sure, but once again my telescope has allowed me to briefly be transported away for some exciting exploration of the universe (figuratively speaking of course)!

12/07/2007 Astronomers Potluck

Turns out amateur astronomers are good at having potlucks too. Tonight was the annual TAAA holiday party, held at the home of our President, Bill Lofquist. The sky was cloudy but no problem, we all had a great time socializing anyway. Pam came along for a change, and she actually won a raffle prize - which she gave to me. We won a nice Moon globe, with plenty of named features on it. The club also raffled off a C8 with Byers gears, an old but very classic telescope. I know one astronomer who says these are the best drives ever made - and he should know, he has discovered more asteroids than anybody else. I had picked up the C8 from a nearby neighbor, who was one day away from throwing the scope in the trash! Instead we had it cleaned up by Dean Koenig of Starizona, and the winner this evening was none other than my good friend Victor, who until tonight did not even own a telescope. So it all turned out very well for that old scope, as I know Victor will give it a fresh new outlook on life.

12/03/2007 Swimming in a Sea of Stars (and Dew)

Last night it finally cleared up after more than a week of bad weather. I knew it was going to be a wet one, but I set up anyway, hoping to get some imaging in before the dew hit.
Here is what I started with, Open Cluster M35 and it's old friend NGC 2158. The stars in M35 are mostly blue but NGC2158 is full of old red stars. They're a nice pair for observing (in fact they made the list in January 2008 Astronomy Magazine's article, "Observe Celestial Odd Couples". Click Here to see a larger version of this image and more details.
But unfortunately I pushed my luck a bit too far and by the time I went outside, a little after midnight, to check on the gear, it was a soggy mess. So I got the hair dryer and spent a while trying to dry things out, but it was rather hopeless. I wonder if any of my neighbors heard and wondered about the crazy guy next door drying his hair outside at 1:00 in the morning! In the end I just covered it up, set the camera to take darks for the rest of the night, and called it quits.
I'm imaging again tonight and everything seems to be fine, so I guess no damage was done by the water. I did hook up my Dew Heater, though, which is something that is almost never needed here in the arid desert.