Andromeda Observatory

m27 Round II

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:39:18 +0000

Here is the final results of my second run with M27. I have had some practice and wow, there is a difference between the first time I shot this object. This time I used Bias/Dark frames. This shot was 6*360 sec, 2*600 sec with my unmodded Canon XS with a CLS clip filter. Scope used was the AT80 on the lxd75 (unmodded) guided using a DSI/finderscope in PHD. Stacking done in DSS and processed in CS4 using Carboni’s Astronomy Tools.

Revisit the moon

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:38:04 +0000

I was looking through some old pictures that I took with the meade LPI. With the imaging scope (AT80) I was not able to get the entire moon in the FOV. The ccd chip was just not big enough. No problem here though, for I was able to mosaic a couple different spots to complete a full moon picture. Here is my results, completely done in photoshop CS4 for mac. Only little problem is on the eastern edge, the data was slightly cut off. The end result is still eye pleasing though. Enjoy!

M27

admin — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:22:51 +0000

Last night’s weather was “iffy.” The humidity was high, seeing was little below average, but it was a comfortable 68 degrees. I tried using Maxim DL for the first time. I was able to get the DSLR and the guide cam to work, but guiding using this program was still confusing to me. I decided to figure out and learn the program another night. Back to running PHD. This was the second night out using the guiding program. The process was a lot easier to use the second time. I did run into some computer errors, mostly due to forgetting to shut down the power shut down mode on my laptop. I finally was able to get some longer exposures. Started with 5min exposures, and the longest for tonight was 8min. I am sure that I could have gotten more than 10min, which I am really impressed about. Here is the shot of M27 that I did. I used 4 shots at 5min each, 1 at 8min, and 1 at 2min. I did 3 sets of 5min, 1 8min, and 1 2min darks. No bias shots, because I forgot about them. I stacked the imaged in DSS and did the post processing in Photoshop CS4 using Carboni’s Astronomy Tools Actions Set.

First Night Autoguiding

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:11:16 +0000

Well my guidescope project is done! I recently installed windows xp sp2 on my new macbook pro. Only reason for doing this is the desire to run certain astronomy applications that do not run under Mac OS (I hope these companies realize the superiority of mac’s and develop mac os versions). I am running PHD with the meade DSI pro as a camera on the lxd75 mount. Setting everything up was simple. First I polar aligned, then did a 2 star alignment for the autostar computer, slewed to Vega to focus the canon xs, and the DSI.

I had no idea what to expect using the PHD program. I didn’t look at any instructions, I just hit buttons with what made logical sense. The title of the program “Push Here Dummy” is pretty self explanatory. On the provided graph, I noticed that the DEC was going way south. I changed the exposure time from 1sec to 0.5sec on the camera, thinking that would solve the problem; it did not. I pressed the little brain button and changed the Max Dec Duration from 150ms to 210ms. This fixed my problem and the DEC/RA was running pretty stable. Before packing it in I did a 6min exposure of NGC 6997, a mag 10 open cluster in the middle of the North American Nebula (NGC 7000).

I was looking at The Sky software and found that there are mag 14 stars in this image of NGC6997. I am very happy considering I took these from my home, 25 miles outside NYC.

DSI + homemade guidescope

admin — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 02:13:25 +0000

I got a DSI pro to auto-guide my LXD75 with my DSLR. I didn’t want to spend the money right now for a guidescope so I converted my old 9x50mm meade finderscope from the 5″ lxd refractor. I unscrewed the eyepiece and objective lens. Drilled some 6-32 holes into the tube and tapped them with thumbscrews. I found a pvc coupling at home depot that fit right into the finderscope tube. For the camera, I ordered the DSI low profile plate which surprisingly fit right up to the tube allowing me to focus by screwing the finders objective. I am hoping to have first light with this camera next clear night. My idea for this project was adapted from this website here: http://msfastro.net/articles/finder_guidescope/

Meade DSI low profile plate installation:

M13 & CLS

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 03:50:03 +0000

On Monday I received my new Astronomik CLS EOS clip filter to block out the awful light polluted sky where I live. The day was pretty cloudy and very humid. But it started clearing up toward the end of the day. I decided to set up the LXD75 and my AT80LE. I disassembled the mount a bit last week to tighten the worm gears. Did a computer reset and calibrated the motors. After dealing with some clouds and doing a 2 star alignment, the mount hit objects dead center. I was able to shoot a little of m13, but not much more than 60sec without an autoguider. Better polar alignment should improve this. Here is my result of 5 stacked 45sec images at iso 1600, no darks or flats. I did however enjoy spending some time with a friend and having a couple beers while waiting for the clouds to disperse.

Saturn Spectacular

admin — Mon, 17 May 2010 22:03:29 +0000

This past Saturday evening was the Saturn Spectacular observing event with the Rockland Astronomy Club at Anthony Wayne State Park, NY. Lots of high clouds in the sky made for poor seeing but it was good to see all the people that turned out. A personal highlight was two of my good friends who came up with me to view Saturn loved it. It was the first time they had ever really experienced amateur astronomy, I know at least one is hooked a bit. We observed Saturn with my 5″ refractor. I broke out my binoviewer that night to get some 3d views. I have to play with it to fine tune it, its been about a year since I last used it. One other thing that I need to do is upgrade the focuser on the meade AR5. The stock focuser simply sucks, its not smooth, plastic, and just aweful. I am thinking about a moonlite or the scopestuff.com focuser. One is $100 more than the other, so its something I have to think about.

Besides Saturn, we looked at M13, M51, M81, M82, and M57. Its amazing how 4 hours of being out there and we only looked at a half dozen objects. I originally set up the AT80 with the AR5, but the balance was off.

My only complaint for the night was parents who allow their kids to run all over the place. I know they are only kids, but there are multiple thousands of dollars worth of equipment around, not a good place for kids to be “kids.” It was a fun night, despite the seeing conditions. I am looking forward to doing more with the Rockland Astronomy Club.

Earlier in the day I purchased this battery pack from walmart. It was only $42.00 and works great. Its 12v, 7AH.

First night out

admin — Sat, 08 May 2010 22:56:39 +0000

I have been so excited about getting out and taking pictures of the heavens. The weather was near perfect the other night. Temps were around 50, sky was clear, and there was very low humidity with hardly a whisper of wind. I took out my EQ2 mount, did a fast polar alignment and hooked up my canon XS. The remote shutter I ordered worked great! Got to love those Chinese clones.

I decided to limit myself to 30sec exposures using the kit lens that came with the camera.

URSA Major

8’30″ exposure

Viewing the full image, I was able to capture the galaxy M101

NEAF 2010

admin — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:17:42 +0000

Just returned from the two day astronomy extravaganza called NEAF (North East Astronomy Forum). Alan Traino and the Rockland Astronomy Club really out did themselves yet again. Over 120 vendors selling everything from BIG scopes to nuts-n-bolts and don’t forget the great guest speakers like Dr. Pamela Gay (voice of Astronomy Cast) and the hosts of The Science Channel’s “The Meteorite Men.”

I snapped a couple hundred photos and decided to post a couple that I liked. Enjoy!

William D. McDowell Observatory

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 04:51:15 +0000

A long afternoon of opera rehearsals followed by traffic on the commute home equals a night of relaxation. The skies are fairly clear, so I decide to go to the McDowell Observatory in Lyndhurst for the public viewing night. To my surprise, there were a ton of kids with their parents lining up to the 20″ telescope to get a glimpse of the star Castor. It isn’t quite dark yet, but I could tell that the astronomer in charge is anxious to get things rolling. I took the introduction to astronomy classes which he taught, so I was a familiar face in the sea of little people. He asked me if I wouldn’t mind helping, “Of course I can,” I replied.

I ended up talking with kids and their parents about stars, nebula, the planets, etc. There was one bright young astronomer who was quite knowledgeable of things stellar. I asked him how he knew all this stuff. “From TV,” the boy responded. I chuckled when I found out how much of the discovery channel he watches. Who knew that a third grader could talk about how Pluto was no longer a planet but a dwarf planet. Or how the rings of Saturn are made up of ice and dust.

The highlight of the night was seeing all these kids “oo-ing” and “ah-ing” over the rings of Saturn and the Triangulum of Orion’s great nebula. I barely got a chance to look into the eyepiece myself, but the kids made the day worth it. I was tired, a little hungry, but very satisfied. It is so important that we educate children in things like astronomy, other sciences, the arts, etc. They are the future.

Below is a picture (taken with my blackberry) of the William D. McDowell observatories telescope. It’s a 20″ Ritchey-Chretien telescope made by optical guidance systems. Mounted on the scope is a Takahashi FS102 Fluorite Apochromatic refractor.