The Night Sky Log

Desert Skies Astrophotography: 25 Hours exposure time on Orion

2011-04-12T14:01:00.000-04:00

Absolutely Beautiful: Desert Skies Astrophotography: 25 Hours exposure time on Orion

My first premium eyepiece is on order

2011-04-01T23:46:00.004-04:00

After a long time pondering the purchase 0f, and wondering what the big deal was with these expensive eyepieces, and wanting to be able to use a 2-inch eyepiece in my 2-inch diagonals, I made the leap.

Of course, I'm having to be very careful with my money these days as my finances are taking a beating thanks to my separation, and the troubles my wife dropped into my lap by not mailing my 2006 taxes back-when, but each month I budget some money to either go out, buy a toy, get a massage, or some other thing I can do just for myself.

This month, a Baader Hyperion 17mm 2-inch eyepiece, with the 14- and 28-mm fine tuning rings is what I decided to spend some money on. I did some basic research to choose the Baader and the 17mm, and hopefully it won't let me down.

From all that I can see, I've probably picked one of the best of the Hyperion line, according to a considerable number of reviews. The Internet is wonderful, because you can simply type into Google, "Review [insert product name here]" and come up with more than a handful of opinions on a product. Everyone seems to really love the 17- and 13mm EPs.

I bought mine from OPT, so here's link to their site and the reviews on it: http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=8930&tb=8

But only too late did I look into Agena Astro to find that I could have saved myself $10 in shipping costs: http://agenaastro.com/eyepieces/baader-17mm-hyperion-eyepiece.html

The Hyperion 17mm has two special features which I wasn't really looking for at first, but it makes it a cool thing to own. First off, there is the fact that you can use this eyepiece as both a 1.25-inch and a 2-inch eyepiece -- it transforms by simply unscrewing the 1.25-inch collar. Secondly, if you remember the fine tuning rings I spoke of before, you can use either of the rings, or both in combination, to create three more focal lengths directly from the one eyepiece. Baader has a chart on their site to show you what eyepieces and rings combine to create the different focal lengths. According to Baader, though, their 24mm eyepiece is the only one that cannot do this transformation, so make sure you understand that before you buy the rings with that eyepiece.

In my next post, if NYC has some good weather, after my eyepiece arrives (you know what they say about the curse of new equipment) I shall try to write up an honest-to-goodness review of this EP.

Too many scopes / No time / Splitting Doubles

2011-03-25T00:49:00.003-04:00

It's been a long, long, time since I bothered to post anything here. If you once followed me and stopped, I wouldn't blame you.

My life continues to be in turmoil, and it seems every step is a new problem, and the Astronomy part of life is no different.

I'm a Travellin' Man

First a little filler background. Last year's NEAF 2010 conference gave me the itch to buy a refractor, since that's what I had wanted from the start. My 8-inch Meade SCT was just too cumbersome to take traveling. So I made the foolish jump into refractors by buying not only one but two: an AstroTech 80ED (carbon fiber body) and the Explore Scientific 102 EDT. Both are great scopes.

If you have read some of my previous entries, you know I travel a lot for my job. Last year especially saw me going up to Boston by way of Rocky Hill, CT, at the beginning of every week, and coming back at the end of every week. This I did all summer long in 2010.

I began to get tired of not being able to get under the stars, so I brought along the AstroTech 80ED (the carbon fiber body). While I had a car, it was a no brainer and I would enjoy using the scope at odd times that I had in Boston or Connecticut.

I also once tried to bring the ES102, but ended up hurting my back trying to get it in the car, because the trunk storage box is too heavy.

Unfortunately, right after summer, I got more bad news that the TaxMan was after me thanks to someone who shall remain anonymous. Right about that time, the LXD-75 mount died, and so I have not had a GOTO mount since then.

Recently, an AT90EDT was listed on Cloudy Nights classifieds, and I had to jump at that.

Too Many Scopes

See the trend? I now have 3 refractors, and the Meade SCT. Yes, I've got the fever. And now, with the 2011 tax season here, plus with all the other financial and tax problems facing me, it is obvious I have too many scopes, and not enough money.

It was decided that it's time to sell the scopes.

However, that was easier said than done. I have posted the AT80ED and the ES102EDT three different times on Cloudy Nights classifieds, and it seems no one wants them for the price I was asking (initially $500 and $1020, respectively). So the price has dropped a number of times now. I hope I can sell the scopes and recoup some money to pay the TaxMan.

Splitting Doubles

As I said, my mount is also busted, so I need some money to fix it. Meanwhile, this year, I resorted to using a 3-way photo head on a medium-duty photo tripod to see if the 80 and the 90 can be used on it. The 80, being so light since it's made of carbon fiber, is no problem. The 90, however, is not so good on it. So I've had to pull out the busted LXD-75 to use it sans GOTO, as a manual GEM. It's not too bad, considering all. I would, though, like to get a real Alt-Az mount and I've been eagerly awaiting a good one for a good price on CN.

Because I must use the mount in manual, I decided that I should go back to trying to learn and identify some things, as an exercise. This led, one night, to chasing double stars.

I really like it! It's a new thrill to a) try to find the star that is reported to be a double star, and b) to actually split it.

I've known about Mizar/Alcor, always a favorite. But the other day, using the book Turn Left At Orion, I was able to find B-Monocerotis. Quite a thrill to be able to split a double.

Tonight, I did the Mizar/Alcor set again (it's easy and I know where it is), but then moved on to splitting Pollux with a 6.9mm eyepiece, barlowed 2x.

Just now, I ran across a great site that is dedicated to splitting doubles: Star-Splitters. The link will take you to the FAQ, where you can see what it's really like to find a star is actually a double-star system, and know how to classify it. About half way down the page you'll find animated images of star samples, which helps to understand what people are talking about when they report that "seeing" was 4.

I have a new found hobby, splitting doubles. I'm so happy to be using my new AT90EDT for a good cause.

So, as I sign off, if there's anyone out there who is interested in buying my AT80ED or the ES102EDT, please give me a shout.

Angst Over Which Scope to Buy?

2010-05-28T20:49:00.003-04:00

This is a re-post from a thread on the Cloudy Nights site. Someone had asked about what kind of scope was good for astrophotography. Lots of answers there, and you should read that whole thread, but I gave some advice that I think is really good and wanted to post it here for the general astro-community that might not have seen it on CN. Here you go:

I am a photographer. My main interest in getting into Astronomy was to take pictures of the stars, nebulae, and galaxies. I went through the same hand-wringing you did about 8 months ago. I ended up with a Meade 8in SCT with Coma free optics, and LXD75 mount.

To this day, I have not taken one real picture.

This is for two reasons. 1) I found that the learning process is quite slow. Both in terms of theory, and reading, and also because you have to get to know your equipment. Astronomy is the perfect "lab-oriented" hobby. You read about something, you go and do. and 2) I became really enamoured with just trying to learn the night sky. You have to know what to image. There are quite a few objects you could find right away and try shooting, but the more I learned, the more I just wanted to look through the scope to get better at knowing the sky and its contents.

So with the SCT I'm learning. But then I got the itch to try a refractor. And with the Northeast Astronomy Forum just a month or so ago (NEAF), I ended up buying 2 refractors.

This is an expensive hobby. Go slow, and don't worry about "getting the wrong thing."

All that said, if you want to have the best luck at imaging, and you want to also do some visual study, get a small Apochromatic ("APO") 80-mm refractor scope, with as good a mount as you can afford (I myself want to upgrade to the Atlas -- BTW, these mounts are larger than you think from the pictures on the websites). Small scope, hefty mount, and a few nice accessories like a 2-inch diagonal, 2 or 3 eyepieces from wide-angle to high-magnification. You're already talking about $1500 easily.

But if you start with a small scope, you can use it anywhere, you'll like the hobby better, and you won't feel like you got the wrong stuff.

NEAF 2010 at Rockland Community College

2010-04-20T22:56:00.007-04:00

This last weekend was the North East Astronomy Forum, otherwise known as NEAF (pronounced neef). It was my first ever astronomy show and fair, and I gotta tell you, it was a complete geekfest. I've never had so much drool fall out of my gaping mouth before. The janitor was following me around with a mop.

By the way, if you don't recognize these two fellas above, they're the stars of the Discovery Channel show, Meteor Men. I don't much follow the show as meteor hunting doesn't really appeal to me, but hey, they're celebrities, so I figure they gotta rate something, right?

So, anyway, in my early days as a computer hardware geek I used to go to PC Expo here in New York at the Javitz Center. The next big event after my computer tinkering days was PhotoEast for photographers, again at Javitz. Each year, these shows get less and less exciting, and so I've been less enthused about going to anything like that anymore. But NEAF was a new venue, a new adventure, and certainly a new problem: they sell stuff at NEAF for the duration of the two days, and many vendors drop their prices considerably in order to have you spend money.

Well, I couldn't resist. I did spend some money. In my next post I'll tell you what I bought, and also report on some of the neat equipment I looked into at NEAF. Until then, enjoy this photo of one of the largest and most expensive telescopes I've ever laid my eyes on.

Long time no see, and things to report

2010-04-11T01:11:00.004-04:00

It has been a very, very, very long time since I wrote anything here. The fact is, the kids and work always takes precedence, and with my job, I've been traveling quite a bit.

Right after the last post, I got shipped off to California (sunny LA) to work on a Disney project. What was to be a 2-week stint turned into a 3-month engagement.

Then soon after I came back, I'm now traveling back and forth from New York to Boston for another project. While travel is compensated well, it unfortunately does not allow for much stargazing or time to write your thoughts down. It's one of the reasons my personal photo website lays stale for so long.

Anyway, let's get to some things I can report. First off, my hand controller arrived while I was away in California, and I was able to make use of it. Let's talk about expectations: I figured now that I have the computerized module, I would be able to see all sorts of things. Well, that didn't quite work out, as I had a lot of trouble at first trying to do the initial alignment the very first night. The scope would slew to places far from the target, and what I now know as backlash played havoc on my enjoyment of the instrument.

The next day I decided to read some more of the manual, and do the training that Meade says you should do by targeting terrestrial objects and using the hand controller. With training done, the next night I was able to do a much better job of getting the right target in my viewfinder.

The sights I saw that night amazed me. It's been a little too long to remember which objects I saw, but suffice it to say that I was able to view a variety of star clusters for the very first time in my life.

Some weeks ago, I also bought an SCT focuser from someone at Cloudy Nights. I was hoping to use the focuser in lieu of the SCT's own focuser. The additional weight is not great on the scope, but if it would prevent me from touching the mirror focuser, I'd be happy. Unfortunately, tonight I tried the focuser for the very first time, and found that I did not like it.

Fortunately, however, having gotten the Autostar to work properly last time, I was able to use the hand controller to see the "Night's Best" objects, one of which was Saturn. I had never in my life seen Saturn, and was quite excited to be able to view it through my telescope. In fact, I was so excited, I got my parents to come see it. My mom was completely amazed, and so has now, near retirement age, has seen Saturn for the very first time in her life.

Goes to show, astronomy will amaze everyone.

An Awesome Birthday Present

2009-11-10T23:20:00.004-05:00

I forgot to write about this.

The weekend that I got my telescope, when my dad and my cousin brought it to me, I got another present from my cousin and his lady friend. It is a book.

Normally, my heart sinks at the idea of getting a book for a present. In actuality I frankly love books, I'm an avid collector of miscellaneous books and series, but when I get a book for a present, I'm a little disappointed. I'm like a kid. I want a toy. Book? Blah!

But this one is a bit different. It's quite up my alley, considering how I'm now getting more into astronomy. And it comes with an additional cool factor attached.

The book is titled, The Very First Light: The True Inside Story of the Scientific Journey Back to the Dawn of the Universe. It is written by John C. Mather, and John Boslough.

The coolness factor lies in the fact that John Mather is the 2006 winner of the Nobel Prize in physics.

And he signed my copy!

How. Awesome. Is. That!

(I will try to review the book at some point later on, stay tuned).

Class in Descriptive Astronomy

2009-11-10T23:08:00.003-05:00

For the last 3 weeks I've been going to a class given by the AAA, or Amateur Astronomer's Association of NY. The fee of $75 covered the class for non-members, and threw in membership as well.

I have taken 2 astronomy classes in college, and enjoyed them to a large degree. Though I don't relish the thought of having to do any math, the basic equations back then were not really hard at all, if you could remember back to high school physics class.

But the AAA class is a descriptive class, meaning that you don't have to do any math. It's really a bit like the Discovery channel science programs. So generally it is non-technical, though obviously it is a science class.

One thing that I do feel needs improvement is the pace of the class, and certainly more detail would be appreciated by yours truly. But time is generally short, and even an hour-and-half class is pushing the limits of some people's attention, mine included.

But if you get a chance, and your local astronomy club gives lectures or a class on topics you'd like to learn more about, please take the opportunity to learn more about our solar system and the galactic neighborhood in which we live.

First Light Report on 8-inch Meade SCT ACF

2009-10-31T00:40:00.005-04:00

If you have read my previous entries, or seen my posts on CN, then you know that I ordered an LXD75 8-inch Schmidt-Cass, supposedly coma free.

Well, my telescope came on Oct 2nd.

But because my personal life is in upheaval right now, I was not available to open it up right away. Instead, it was 16 days later on October 18th, when my dad and my cousin brought it over from my house to my parents', that I was able to get my grubby little hands on it.

Because I'm living temporarily in my parents house just a couple of blocks down the road from my own house, their home has become littered with my paperwork, and all sorts of equipment, from the work laptop and monitor, to astronomy books, to my camera equipment, to the tripod holding my binoculars; and now this behemoth of a telescope.

I had read on posts at Cloudy Nights that the LXD75 mount was not sturdy enough for astrophotography. I'm not convinced that that is the case if you keep the weight down to acceptable limits but I have yet to do anything close to photography with the setup. That'll have to wait till some time later after I get the hand controller and I've had some experience with using the scope properly.

Of course, the old curse was upon me as well. The day it arrived, in fact most of the whole week of its arrival, it was cloudy and rainy. I laughed, thinking it was ok, because I simply couldn't get to it anyway. But when I finally did put it together, I was struck again. (Drats!) Oh well.

So let's get to the report.

Unboxing

When I dragged in the two boxes, it was obvious which was the mount and which was the OTA. Both the mount and the OTA were boxed for shipping, with a second box inside for the actual enclosure of the equipment, the actual package of the telescope.

The OTA was well padded with the foam inserts both above and below, and contained smaller boxes for the diagonal, 26mm Series 4000 Super Plossl, the visual back connector, 8x50 finder and finder mount with screws.

The tripod legs and mount in the other box were much larger than I expected, and with a little tinkering (trying to read the manual in my excitement made the process harder) I was able to put the whole thing together in an hour. The mount itself was not only larger than in photos, but heavier than I expected. And the legs were larger in diameter than expected too.

There were 2 manuals packed into the box. One was an older version, and the other newer version said this was the one for the 8-inch SCT ACF. So I used the newer one to follow instructions to put it all together.

And then the disappointment. No, it wasn't the clouds, though that was kind of expected. It was raining days before and after I opened the boxes.

No, the disappointment was deeper. There was no hand controller for the GOTO mount in the box the mount came in. At first I thought I'd been duped, believing that I must have missed the fine print, and there was actually not supposed to be any controller, that you'd have to buy it separately. So I scoured the manual, and the order list; I went through every piece of foam and packaging, and looked under the couch, and on the table; and finally, I decided that Meade had indeed forgotten to pack a controller for the electronic mount. Grrrr!

A couple of days later, I called Meade to ask about getting a controller, and after presenting proof of purchase, they told me I must wait a month as they get in a new batch of them. They were clean out, which explains why there was no controller in the package in the first place.

First Light ... Sorta (10-20-09)

When the telescope first had gotten to my house via UPS, my kids had told my wife that they wanted to wait until I was home to put it together with me. But as that would not happen for some time, I decided that my kids should get the thrill of discovering first light with me. A few days after I put it together, they came to visit and I dragged the whole kit and kaboodle out to the front sidewalk, and swung the scope toward Jupiter clumsily using the finder to home in on it. Next came the confusion of a first attempt at using an EQ mount. Oy! But I finally got it in the scope. I then focused as best as I could on Jupiter, and let my kids look. My 7 year old is a great fan of Jupiter having done a project on it in school, so she was thrilled to say, "I can almost see the stripes!"

It was true, you could almost see the stripes. It was blurred, and non-descript, but there was certainly a band of something running across the disk, and the moons were lined up perfectly on either side. My 4-year old then took a look, and reported, "I see a dot! Cool!" Of course, she has no idea what she saw, and neither do I. Next my dad look through, and after another look myself, I put the scope back inside, in deference to spending time with my kids rather than the scope. The kids had already lost interest and the night air was very cool, so nothing was really lost. We had a great first look through the scope.

Back at that moment of looking through the eyepiece and "almost" seeing the central dark band, I began to crave the free Series 4000 Plossl set from Meade that was to come once I mailed in the coupon, because I wanted immediately to use some of the higher power eyepieces. I have been waiting all this week, as last week a rep from Meade called to let me know it was being shipped this last Monday, but nothing has come as of yet (boo hoo).

A Better Look and More Thorough Examination

It wasn't until a few days after that first use--almost a week actually-- that I could really put the scope through its paces. Of course, I still didn't have use of the electronics, and the GOTO feature is DOA without the controller. So I began to use EQ mount manually to get used to locking and unlocking the axes and swinging the OTA into the right positions to view stars in different locations around the sky. The seeing has been average at best, to downright awful at times because of a constant thin layer of scattered clouds and high fog.

After that first light with Jupiter and my kids, I've taken my scope out about 3 times, and saw Jupiter multiple times, and additionally M31 (Andromeda) (straight overhead...ouch my neck!), the Moon, the cluster in Perseus near Mirphak, and the Pleiades. I also saw the star paired closely with Polaris.

I am starting to understand the reasoning behind not overamping the maginification, after seeing the Pleiades. I find the view much more beautiful through my binoculars than with the 26mm eyepiece, because the binocs shows them as bright diamonds in one clustered view, rather than a few brilliant stars separated by black space; so again, I'm wishing for that set of eyepieces so I can get wider views too.

The Finder

One important thing I'll mention now is that I need to get a RACI finder. This 8x50 straight through finder is an incredible strain on the neck especially when poining toward the zenith, and I have to crouch down on my knees and contort my body in very uncomfortable positions to use it. It's actually easier to use if the tripod legs are extended only slightly; full extension wreaks havoc on my back. And when you can't find your quarry in the finder immediately, the strain becomes unbearable.

Moreover, the upside down and reversed image is a deterrent. I'm used to upside down and backward--actually, it's rotated 180 degrees, because that's the sum of "upside down and backwards"--because I've grown used to the ground glass of my 4x5 Wisner, a bellows-toting, large format camera. But there is a huge difference between upside down and backwards when seeing a nice bright view through the groundglass standing in a relatively upright position, as opposed to trying to locate dim stars in a constricted view while contorting yourself like Chinese acrobat.

Speaking of finder scopes, I tried using the polar alignment scope one day and was very disappointed that I could barely make out any stars at all, and was actually not able to find Polaris through it. The view is dim, and it is near impossible. Perhaps if I'm missing some crucial "ah-ha" moment of truth, someone more experienced can guide me by leaving a comment.

Star Test & Collimation

I realized quickly after my first viewing that it was important to match the finder view closely to the scope's view, so I set about going through that exercise. The first time I set the finder scope, it jutted out too far back from the scope itself, so I had to readjust it till the finder's eyepiece sat just beyond the back of the OTA, which helps but only a little with the neck strain.

I've seen so many articles and posts about doing a star test that I thought I'd try it and see how well this unit stood up to it. The only thing I can tell you right now is that when a bright star is out of focus, it's not a PERFECT donut. When considerably out of focus, one side seems to be ever so slightly thinner and flatter than the other, and when just barely outside of focus, the flare of the star's dot "leans" ever so slightly to one side.

So that brings the question of collimation. Meade says that they collimate all units before they leave the factory, but shipping may have introduced enough vibration to have decollimated the OTA. Unfortunately I haven't gotten my confidence up enough to try collimating, but I plan to soon. I'm not sure I know what I'm doing with it just yet, but the scope's instruction manual has a fairly detailed procedure, and I've found other articles about collimation on the Net. I have a feeling that if I collimate properly (and the higher magnification eyepieces that are coming soon will certainly help to collimate better than just the 26mm alone), then I should be able to get a better feel for doing a star test.

Fit and Finish

The last thing I have to report on is the fit and finish. Overall, not bad, but I think it could be better. The metal ID plate that is attached to the OTA is already peeling off. The finder scope has some bits of paint chips or dimples. The counterweight itself just lost a bit of paint (don't know how, but I suspect I might have bumped it when bringing it into the house). Anyhow, I can't really ask for much more for the money I spent.

Still, I'm willing to accept these minor finishing shortfalls if the optics and other important criteria hold up.

Well, I think that's it for now. When I get the hand controller unit, I'll report on that, as well as the Series 4000 Super Plossl kit.

Thanks for reading, and here's wishing you clear skies!

Postings Lagging, First Light Report Coming Soon

2009-10-26T15:08:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone that's been following and reading my posts (thank you, BTW).

It's been a while since my last post about the purchase of my scope. Since then about a month has gone by, and unfortunately because of my living situation, family problems, and other things I'm struggling with, the reports have not been as frequent as I'd like.

But stick around, sometime soon I will be posting pictures of my new scope, and a first light report. Well, let's say a second or third light report. First light was kind of uneventful.

I'll also post some observations while putting the scope together and using it the first time as a piece of gear, not just the optics.

Stay tuned!

Ordered my Scope!

2009-09-28T02:47:00.004-04:00

Dang it! I almost forgot the biggest news to date!

Those who have been following my blog know that I've been using a Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars to do my star gazing.

Well, after 3 months of deliberation, self-doubt, research, nail-biting, posting on Cloudy Nights, and reversing myself a dozen times, I pulled the trigger.

I have finally ordered my scope. It's a Meade 8-inch SCT ACF ("advanced coma free") on the LXD75 mount. Here's a picture of the thing, and a link to the site where I purchased it, OPT:
https://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=1-600-603-572-3166&kw=&st=0.

Also, you can see my thinking, and the thread that helped me get to my decision on this thread at Cloudy Nights: "Did my research, but still need help choosing"

Books

2009-09-28T01:58:00.003-04:00

Hey, I almost forgot, I wanted to post about 3 books that I got really cheap. They may not be the greatest in the world, but I found them at a bookstore that I hardly visit, and they were on sale.

The bookstore was Border's Books at the "Shops at Atlas Park" Mall in Glendale, a quick ride down the street on Metropolitan Avenue, across Woodhaven Boulevard, and down Cooper Avenue. See, I had just left my bike at the bicycle repair shop for a tune up and clean up (the gears had gotten finicky). Having no transportation back, I wasn't too eager to hoof it back home, about a mile, so I stopped into the bookstore to just see what they had.

I found:

Atlas of the Constellations: Discover the Secrets of the Night Sky, by Giles Sparrow a hardcover book, with dust jacket for $2.99. 112 pages.
The Stargazer's Handbook, an Atlas of the Night Sky, a large-format, full-color softcover with beautiful pictures and good narrative in short spurts, again by Giles Sparrow, for $9.99. 272 pages.
The Illustrated Atlas of the Universe, by Mark A. Garlick, with star maps by Wil Tirion. This, too, is a large-format, full-color, softcover book, and it was also on sale for $9.99. 304 pages.

All told, I was getting 3 illustrated, really nice books for the bargain price of about $25.

But then came the clincher. I'm on line getting ready to pay for these books, and wondering how hard it will be to get these back to my house using Sneakernet ("hoofing it"), when a young lady behind me asked me if I'd like to have a 20%-off coupon, she had printed 2 on the computer and didn't need one. I said I'd love to have it, thanks, and gave it to the cashier.

At the time I thought it was 20% off the total price, but looking over the receipt now, I realize it was only 20% off of one book. Still, I'm really happy when I get a break, I need all the breaks I can get.

Pleiades, Great Orion Nebula, and 3 Star Clusters

2009-09-28T01:47:00.002-04:00

A few nights ago, I went out to quickly do a little upward viewing. It was really cold for a late summer night, but I had to take advantage of the clear sky.

This session was started at about 3am, I had been up surfing the Net and decided that I should take a peek before bed. I'm glad I did! Orion was up in the sky. Using the planisphere that I purchased from Barnes and Noble, I quickly identified some objects to view and set after them.

The first was again the Pleiades, just because it grabs my attention being faintly visible to the naked eye, even in my light polluted neighborhood of Forest Hills, NY.

Soon after I saw that, there was a spot just below Orion's belt that needed investigating (M42), being the brightest nebula in the sky. What a beautiful sight!

I then headed to the 3 star clusters M36, M37 and M38 in Auriga, right under Capella. (Using the planisphere, I determined that I could get to Capella by making a bee line from Rigel in Orion, through its sister star Bellatrix, also in Orion.) The faint fuzzies were fuzzier than ever, but I did see them.

After that night I was really starting to feel like I could definitely get the hang of this, and that I just needed to take it easy and go step by step.

M2, M15, M27, M29

2009-09-28T01:33:00.003-04:00

Sometime last week I decided to try to bag some M's. I sat at the computer going through Stellarium to see which Messier objects I could get to at that time, which must have been about 11:00pm or so, I can't remember exactly (I slacked on the blog, yes). Having taken my MacBook Pro outside, with my binoculars on the tripod, I went through a repeated manual search of Messier objects in Stellarium, one by one, starting with M1.

What I found was that M2 was available to me, near Jupiter, as well as M27, M29, and back to M15 at the end. So I started hunting for M2. this was possibly the hardest one, because what I was seeing on Sellarium was getting hard to match up in the live night sky. But after about 20 minutes of going from my computer screen, to my binoculars, and trying to match up asterisms, I was finally able to bag M2. Yes!

So I went onto M27 and M29, because I was looking at the summer triangle and happened to turn on a feature in Stellarium where the labeling for nebulas and globular clusters were turned on, and I saw that M27 and M29 were very near to Deneb. Using the asterisms starting from Deneb and its closest stars I starhopped myself to these two Messier objects in no time at all. The faint fuzzies in my binocs were able to be seen, but of course not as clearly as M31 that first night. I had to use averted vision to make sure that I was seeing the right objects and not imagining things.

After these two I realized that M15 was available to me as well, and swiftly went after that and spied it too.

By the time I was done, I had realized that it was about 12:45 and that I really needed to get to bed. So I packed it all up, with a big feeling of satisfaction and had a good night's sleep.

Pleiades and Andromeda M31

2009-09-15T20:22:00.009-04:00

Three nights ago I tried to find the great nebula in Andromeda (M 31). I used Stellarium to try to identify the stars and hop from place to place. Unfortunately, I had a grouping of star patterns that I saw in the sky and couldn't quickly identify in Stellarium because of the difference in seeing and what Stellarium was trying to show me. I dialed the light pollution up to a 9, and then I found the grouping after some magnification, but quickly lost it again.

Last night, the seeing was exceptionally good. I started with the Pleiades, and was surprised to see how many stars were in the grouping just with my binocs. It certainly is a beautiful sight. At that point I decided to try to find the nebula in Andromeda again. It took some doing, but I finally got to see it after about a half hour of trying last night and spotted it at 1:30am!

Using Cassiopeia as a starting point, I used the three brightest stars to help me point to Mirach (or Merak) (β Andromeda). From Mirach, I went due North, to a grouping of stars which made a triangle, followed that grouping to ɥ Andromeda, to ʋ Andromeda, and finally to the nebula. Here's a graphic to show the hop:

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Learning the Lingo

2009-09-12T01:12:00.002-04:00

One of the reasons I want to get into Astronomy and sky-gazing is that the power of photography has done serious damage to my will. If you know me as a photographer, and you know the kinds of things I shoot, you know I like sharpness, and color, and contrast.

Every astrophotograph I see, that's well done, has pinpoint sharpness, beautiful color, and high contrast. It's what pulls us in.

Well, in an effort to begin learning what I need to for astrophotography, I have been researching. The first bit of research, as you probably know, is my quest to a telescope. I am currently fighting my child-like instinct to get the best I can afford, even when I don't know what I can do with it. The problem is that I get near the price range of affordability, and then find out how much more I actually need. And that serves as a wake up call to reduce expectations and start off small with a visual scope, and non-EQ mount.

But then I see the photographs again, and I'm back at square one.

Well, I have to figure it out soon, otherwise I'll never get started. But as I said, while the scope search goes on, I must learn all I can. I feel like I'm at the beginning of my photography learning phase again. Everything is exciting, and I'm curious about all aspects.

So when I Google things, and find threads and go off on trails, I don't expect to stay long on a site. Well, I found an exception. A great site, a blog on Blogger. The pictures will amaze you. The equipment amazed me. His attitude amazed me. The pictures... oh I said that already. They really are cool.

Here's the site: Andy's Astrophotography

Choosing A Telescope Isn't Easy

2009-09-09T20:31:00.003-04:00

I've been hunting for a telescope. Price is certainly a consideration, but I don't want to be cheap either. I don't want to spend bad money on a trashy scope.

So the good folks at CloudyNights forum have been helping me by answering my questions.

I started out thinking I wanted a large SCT. That's a Schmidt Cassegrain design for the uninitiated. This is what one looks like:

Then there were refractors. These are the kind that we normally think of as a telescope -- that long tapered tube.

Lastly, are Dobsonians, which are basically Newtonians on a mount made popular by John Dobson. This one is from Orion:

Now there are lots of other variations, based on the same basic Newtonian or short-tube SCT design, but I'm primarily looking at these, and I think the SkyWatcher Dob may be my first scope, even though I really wanted a nice large Refractor.

The problem is that for astrophotography, a refractor -- or any scope -- must be mounted on an equatorial mount, like the one in the first picture. The mount, the tripod, and the scope are all different pieces, which can be mixed and matched, but many companies sell kits all together. Then there's the other accessories like the eyepieces, which can run anywhere from $60 to hundreds of dollars depending on quality and brand.

This is not a cheap hobby. But I'm quickly tiring of my binoculars, even though they work so well. The stars are dim where I live. And I'd like to see more than I'm seeing now.

Next, I'm such a tinkering designer, that I'm thinking of building a small geodesic dome on my flat-roof garage so I can have a nice observatory. More to come on that later.

The Summer Triangle

2009-09-04T00:42:00.002-04:00

September 3, 2009 [ Thursday ]

Long day at work. Didn't actually get to go outside and look till 11pm. Very short session, but very useful.

Altair, Deneb, and Vega form the summer triangle. Each one is part of a different constellation.

Deneb is almost directly overhead at this time, and is part of Cygnus the Swan, or Summer Cross. It looks like a Christian cross in the sky, though in some light polluted areas, you can't see the bottom of the cross.

Vega is part of the constellation Lyra. There are two less bright stars very close together right next to Vega, and I found them in Stellarium.

Altair is part of Aquila. Nothing special to report about this one yet.

Also found Capella peeking just above the roof of the neighbor's garage. Closer inspection found the stars next to them and matched them up in Stellarium.

Interesting to note that Vega is noted in Stellarium as mag 0.00, and Capella as 0.05. Those who know astronomy a bit, understand that when the magnitude scale for brightness was created, the brightest star was noted as zero magnitude. Less bright stars get larger magnitude numbers. Later as brighter stars were found, they were given negative numbers. Therefore, if you want to know what a star of magnitude zero looks like, just look at Vega.

Inwood Astronomy Project

2009-09-02T23:28:00.000-04:00

September 2, 2009 [ Wednesday ]

Picked up Manny, a friend and client, and drove to Inwood to meet Jason Kendall who is running The Inwood Astronomy Project to bring 100 nights of astronomy to the folks of New York City. I admire this guy very much to give his time and energy to making astronomy approachable for people.

We set up my binocs on the tripod I brought, and let people look at the moon and Jupiter.

We lined up to see Jupiter and its moons in Jason's SCT. We also got to see the star cluster (in Pegasus?). Heard Jason talk some about the size of Jupiter, how many moons it has (far more than what we learned in grade school or even college), and other things about the night sky. He also showed a globular cluster, which I didn't see.

We left after about an hour which passed very quickly. There were too many people waiting to look through the scope.

Second Night

2009-09-01T23:25:00.000-04:00

September 1, 2009 [ Tuesday ]
I went out with the binoculars again at about 9pm. This time Jupiter had 4 moon visible.

Looked at Stellarium to figure some things out, and finally figured out which one was Polaris. The light pollution is about a 9 so you can't see all the stars to figure out the constellations.

Spent about 2 hours.

The Adventure Begins

2009-08-31T23:59:00.001-04:00

In all reality the adventure began many years ago. I don' t know the exact time or place, but like many others, I am drawn to see the Earth, moon, sun, planets, stars, galaxies and other celestial objects and wonder at them.

The very first order of business is to re-learn the night sky.

August 31, 2009 [ Monday ]
I went to Adorama in Manhattan to pick up the Celestron 15x70 SkyMaster binoculars that were recommended in the book "The Backyard Astronomer's Guide." I brought them home, ripped open the packaging and quickly set it on my tripod and went out to the backyard.

The moon was as beautiful as I expected, and very bright; I couldn't believe how bright it was.

I saw Jupiter and 3 of its moons for the very first time with my own eyes! 2 moons on the left of it, one on the right. Showed my kids and the neighbors.

Also saw a satellite speed by, one small shooting star, and countless other stars that I didn't know you could see here in light polluted Queens.

Altogether about 3 hours worth of stargazing.