04/23/2007 Back in Action

I can hardly believe it has been over 3 weeks since I've posted a blog. Tax season was my busiest ever and I'm still in recovery. I missed a lot of clear nights but I try to remind myself that I'm blessed to have plenty of business; it certainly helps pay the bills and keep the family clothed and fed, so I know I should be grateful. However it really is discouraging to see a beautiful clear night slip by, knowing that another observing opportunity has gone forever.
Enough of that, though, it's time to get back in action! I've got a bunch of observing and imaging projects that I want to get moving on. I've spent a few hours with the scopes this past week, but I've been so tired that I really needed to catch up on the rest as well, so not a lot of new data yet. I'm also beginning the Xanadu West observatory project, which means a lot of yardwork. In fact yesterday I managed to get quite a sunburn while I worked on it. It will probably be at least a few weeks and possibly even a couple of months before the new observatory is built. My plan is to have a large shed converted to a roofless observatory, which will house two scopes. The dome will be home to a third. Once that is all done, I'll be able to collect a lot of data on clear nights!
This image is from last night, I had hoped to image and collect a spectrum of the famous quasar 3C273. I got the image, but the spectrum proved to be too much of a challenge for my presently tired little brain. I could place the quasar on the slit, but couldn't get the tracking to work adequately (it's a 13 magnitude object which is really pushing the limits for the spectrograph). Light from 3C273 has been travelling approximately 2 billion years to reach us!
Click here for a larger version of the image. I'll keep working on the spectrum.
Oh yeah, only 3 weeks until Texas Star Party!!!! I'm really excited about going again, and I'm going to be a speaker there on Wednesday afternoon as well. Larry will be taking delivery of a new 18" Obsession; Dean will have his new Epsilon 180 collecting photons from faint nebulae; and I will, unquestionably, along with about 700 or so other amateur astronomers, being having a fantastic week of star partying.