Another Favorite Astro Website

Hi All:

Yes, I know - it's been many moons since I've posted here.  Life has a way of taking up a lot of time.  I came across this astrophotography website today and just had to share it.  It hosts photos of the heavens and of gear - two of my favorite things.  Give it a peek and I'm sure you'll find something of interest:

       http://www.astrophotogallery.org/

Oh yes - I did finally get a clear sky and some time in the DMO pod last night.  I spent some time looking at a couple favorite objects, including M31 and then decided to re-do my mount's periodic error correction curve. To do that, I fired up a CCD-Soft software package called PEMPro II. Basically you point to a moderately bright star to the south, just west of the meridian and the software tracks and records the error in your mount's mechanics. It analyzes the error, creates a correction curve and then uploads it to your mount (a Celestron CGE in my case).  The mount then offsets its tracking with this cyclical correction data to null out the error inherent in it.  The result is more accurate tracking.  To go thru the process requires collecting about an hour's worth of tracking data from one star. So not exactly exciting if you catch my drift (no pun intended ;-)  Anyway, got that wrapped up and then explored a few objects around Cassiopia and Cephus. All in all, a productive night in the pod!  Hopefully I'll get some new photos up soon as I do have some data stashed that needs a bit of stacking and processing to make some nice astrophotos. Cheers!

Peace & blessings,
Donn / The Astro Monk...

Finally an Update on the Observatory

Hi All.  Is it only me or do whole weeks and months seem to disappear into the ethers?  Well it's not that I haven't been doing anything but just finally decided 'I've got to put an update on the blog'!

After spending some time getting my 102mm APO (refractor telescope)  mounted beside my main 11" SCT (Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope) and working things out for the past few months, I've come to realize that this is one of those cases where 'less is more'.  It was great having a nice big refractor mounted beside my SCT which always seems to have a camera mounted on it. With the side-by-side arrangement I could use the refractor for visual observing (ie - eyeballing what the camera was looking at.)  This was the idea any way.  In reality, it worked fine for visual observing, but the mounting arrangement and extra weight actually impacted the mount's tracking and pointing accuracy.  The total load was still below the stated maximum for the CGE mount, but I had broken the rough rule of thumb that for astrophotography,  always run your mount at no more than half it's rated capacity.  Oh well, it was a fun experiment, but I'm back to just the SCT now.

One of the things I have found to be an inconvenience, is having to switch from one camera to another, depending on the type of imaging I want to do.  As well, I'm building a spectroscope to add on to allow me to do some real science with my setup. So how to avoid rewiring and 're-plumbing' every time I want to go from planetary, to astrovideography to deep space astrophotography?  Enter the "Sidewinder"...

"So that's what that thing is on the back end of the scope? ... What's a Sidewinder you ask?"  You're looking at what is generically referred to as an "optical manifold".  It will allow me to mount up to three cameras or devices (such as my spectroscope when built) and switch between them by simply sliding the knob/tube at left back into the housing and rotating it to bounce the light off an internal first surface mirror to the desired device.  There's even a special port to add an off axis guider camera on the far right (not visible in the photo.)  The sidewinder is an highly precision-built accessory that is made by Paul VanSlyke of VSI Engineering (http://www.observatory.org/).  Paul makes a whole array of well thought out accessories to such precision that many professional observatories use his gear.  Not seen in the photo, but an important part of the system, is a a rotary optical joint called a "Zerotator" that allows the whole manifold assembly with the attached cameras to be rotated (for framing the object being measured or photographed.

"Gee, this all sound kinda complex!"  Well, yes, in a way -- but in the end it will simplify the overall operation of the observatory.  And if you were curious how I do control the mount, scope, cameras and other bits, here's a photo of the main "operations bay" of the POD observatory:

I've got the obligatory red (so it doesn't affect my night vision) observatory lighting cranked up pretty high so you can see the keyboard and surrounding bits.  I still keep a paper observing log (on the right wall) to note my observations and hardware changes and issues.  But the heart of the operations is a quad-core PC I built that runs 64bit Windows 7 Pro.  The USB microphone at left is what I use to broadcast my voice when I'm broadcasting my astro-video observations on Night Skies Network (http://www.nightskiesnetwork.com/).  >> OK, insert big plug here! If you haven't been on the Night Skies Network website yet - or recently - you need to do it!  Now you don't even have to sign up to receive the live broadcasts of astronomical video observations; you can click in as a guest. (You just won't be able to type in the chat window and ask questions / make comments.)  Most nights, you can find at least a couple folks broadcasting their observations.  Sometimes you can catch solar or lunar observations during the daytime.  I'm listed there as "AstroMonk".  I'll be doing more broadcasting on it in the coming months, so maybe you'll catch me some time.

This main observatory PC controls the mount and the cameras and the electronic focuser on the telescope.  I'm running a couple different main software packages: MaximDL5Pro for image acquisition; SkyTools3Pro for planning observations and targets to be photographed; and a number of other programs to control specific cameras, record video, drive the focuser, etc.  All together, it's got quite a large learning curve - but then again, I enjoy learning! (I'd be a full-time professional student for decades if I could get a wealthy patron to sponsor me ;-)  

Well its getting late now, so I'll wrap this up.  Do make sure you check out Night Skies Network; you can learn so much about astronomy just by watching the various broadcasts. (Parents -- its an incredible learning tool for kids of all ages -- watch it with them and enjoy the awesome beauty of God's creative handiwork known as the universe!  Ciao for now.

Peace & blessings, Donn... aka The Astro Monk!

First Light for the Hyperstar - Finally :-)

Well I finally spent a few hours and got my Hyperstar focal reducer mounted onto my Edge C11HD telescope.  If you're familiar with camera exposures and f-stops and such, then what this does is changes my telescope's native f/10 ratio into an f/2.  This results in two things: a much wider field of view (from 2800mm focal length - ie SUPER telephoto - to a much shorter 560mm) and a much shorter exposure for a given scene (from say 12.5 minutes down to 30 seconds - a factor of 25!)  Here's a picture of my Mallincam Xtreme astro-vieo camera mounted on the Hyperstar...

If you look at some of the other photos of my scope / observatory, you'll notice the camera was in the back. With the Hyperstar the front secondary mirror is removed and the Hyperstar is screwed onto the front corrector plate.  The whole change takes about 5 minutes (that is after you spend a couple hours rerouting cables and balancing the scopes on the mount ;-).  Its like having two very different telescopes in one; one with high magnification for planetary work and small deep-space objects and one with a wide field of view for the larger deep-space objects like the Veil and Orion Nebulae and the Andromeda Galaxy.  I'll be using it initially with the Mallincam, but hope to soon migrate over to my QHY-8 CCD.  Stay tuned for some (hopefully!) very cool images ;-)  

Peace & blessings,  Donn...

Gotta Love Big Vintage Japanese Refractors!

Merry Christmas All! 

I just had to post a photo of one of my favorite vintage refractors: a 1970's Pentax-100 (D=100mm / FL=1200). It stands nearly 8ft tall, tip to floor. 

After many months of not getting it out, I finally got to bring it up from my basement 'man cave' and set it up last night on the deck. It was a very cold and very clear night.  Seems the coldest nights are always the driest and clearest - yielding the best astronomical "seeing".  I'm pretty sure last night / early this morning was the coldest day yet for the past ten months - around 21 degrees F.  

I don't remember open star clusters looking so sparkling - like the proverbial diamonds on black velvet. Definitely the best views of Jupiter I've had for at least a year or two, and the stars of the Trapezium (in the center of the Orion Nebula) never looked so good!  The Japanese and Germans have consistently made the best optics in the world.  This telescope is no exception.  Gotta love big vintage Japanese refractors! 

It's getting late, so I'll keep this short.  I pray this Christmas will be your best ever, with many blessings of friends, family and the Lord!

Peace & blessings, Donn

Another Favorite Astro Website (and YIKES!)

Yikes indeed!  I can't believe the last time I blogged here was early June! Life sure happens -- if you're not careful, it will keep on happening without you even realizing it!  (I think that's called 'autopilot' - hmmm.)

In any case - there's another really cool astrophotography related site I came across called "Pointing to the Universe".  It contains the astrophotography of Fabian Neyer and you can navigate over to his site here:   http://www.starpointing.com/index.html.   Fabian does most of his work out of the 'Antares Observatory' located way over in the in  the north-eastern part of Switzerland.  Kinda cool that it's a cooperative facility owned by roughly 100 members of the Antares Astronomical Society'.

There's two different photo galleries - one composed of shots taken with a Canon digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera and another one of shots taken with a high end purpose-built chilled CCD astro-camera.  For the most part, the DSLR shots are done thru short focal length camera lenses -- anywhere from a typical wide angle to a typical 135mm telephoto -- so the angular field of view is quite wide (ie, less magnification.)  The CCD astro camera was used with a 4" diameter refractor of around 640mm focal length so it was good for objects requiring more magnification.

My favorite photo is found in the CCD section and it's a set of some of the most common deep space objects of all time - collectively known as the 'Nebulas in Orion'.  Although a common target for amateur astrophotographers, you've likely never seen it this way.  It's a four frame mosaic with a total of 61 hours of exposure time!  Amazing detail and depth!  I've included a small version of it below but to really appreciate it, make certain you go to the actual image page and click on the higher resolution (3290x2220 pixel) version located here:  http://www.starpointing.com/ccd/orion.html  -- WOW!

The CCD image gallery represents a lot of very hard work, years of learning how to take and process images and tens of thousands of dollars worth of gear.  On the other hand, the DSLR gallery shows quite a bit more variety of images and investment.  Although the images in Fabian's DSLR gallery represent some of the finest DSLR images around, they are also within the reach of the average amateur astronomer - albeit, not quite at the same level of perfection without comparable experience.  A DSLR camera, lens and simple tracking mount can be had for under a thousand dollars and can form a tool-set for years of photographing the heavens.  Give it a try!

So look at the site and enjoy the beauty of God's creative heavens!
 

Finally! A Clear Night & Some Free Time!

Hi All:

Well, miracles do indeed happen.  Last night I actually had a few hours of uncommitted time AND a nice clear / dry / cloudless night with just a sliver of a moon. (When observing faint deep space objects, a full moon is about the equivalent of shining a search light into the sky - makes observing of faint objects virtually impossible.) So out to the Pod I went - popped open the dome, fired up the mount, computer and video gear and voila - within a short time, I was observing.  I piggy backed my Canon T1i camera with its 100-400mm L series zoom lens and shot a few dozen moon pics.  Then I pulled up the astro video camera control software and watched the moon for a while.  The atmosphere wasn't terribly still, but not too bad either. (When observing the moon and planets and such, the varying amounts of turbulence in the upper atmosphere causes the objects to seeming dance around in the eyepiece or camera. Some nights are reasonably good, but most are pretty jumpy.)

I then logged into http://nightskiesnetwork.com/ and started broadcasting what I was observing on the internet.  Since this is the first time I got everything back up and running after having to do a complete observatory computer rebuild, I had to take some extra time to make sure all the options and parameters for everything were set up properly.  I decided to try my luck with a couple deep space objects.  I pointed the planetarium software cursor to M81, pressed control-1, and whrrrrr... the mount started moving and within 20 seconds or so was pointing right at M81.  This object was originally known as Bode's Nebula -- although it's actually a galaxy -- but back in Bode's days, scientists all thought the milky way was the entirety of the universe and all these other fuzzy things must just be nebulae.) With the camera integrating at 28 seconds, up came the image. Here's what I saw on my computer screen (direct screen capture - no processing, stacking etc.):

Not bad at all!  Remember, this is a direct screen capture of live video coming off the telescope - no stacking and processing to pull out the image.  The astro video camera - a Mallincam Hyper Color Plus model - does it all automatically by capturing all the photons received during a given sample period (28 seconds in this case.)  As an interesting side note, the photons my camera received from this object last night (and you now see on the page) left the galaxy about 12 million years ago -- or in other words, its 12 million light-years away from us!  Just for grins, I also took a peek thru my eyepiece on the other scope mounted side-by side to my my main scope.  The view thru the eyepiece was just a faint colorless smudge barely perceptible over the background sky.  I really like my Mallincam!

Not too far away (in the 'canopy' of the sky) is another cool deep space object  cataloged as M82 and also known as the Cigar Galaxy.  Also located about 12 million light years away, this is now known to be a starburst galaxy.  It is incredibly bright - about 5 times as bright as our whole Milky Way galaxy.  And perpendicular to the main body you see below, are two huge jets of xray emissions.  The creativity of God is without limit!  Below is a snapshot of what I was viewing on my computer screen:

Again, taking a peek thru the eyepiece, I only see a little fuzzy patch of light.  Although it's happening a little slowly at first, my bet is that astro-videography will one day become THE way for amateurs to observe the heavens.  

Since I still had my DSLR piggy-backed on the scope, I decided to drop the zoom to 100mm and take about 50 or so 45 second exposures of the area of sky where M81 & M82 reside.  I'll have to bring the data into my main PC in the house for some stacking and processing.  My hope is that I was able to catch the two objects together in the wider field of view of the 100mm lens and the DSLR's bigger CCD chip.  Time will tell.  To stack and process these 50 or so images into a single hi-resolution image will take at a minimum of about 4 to 5 hours.  That's why astro-videography is so much more fun and more like traditional observing -- instant gratification ;-)  So if the image comes out - that will be my next post. Stay tuned - and keep looking to the heavens - and the God of heaven!

Peace & blessings... Donn

Greetings all!  Ok - I know - I'm way overdue for a post here.  No, I didn't fall into a black hole or get lost in another dimension (well... I definitely didn't fall into a black hole!)  I've been on a bit of travel and just busy living life - at least life as our culture defines it.  My wife and I finally got to take a trip to IHOP-KC in Kansas City Missouri. Before you ask, no we didn't travel all that way for pancakes.  We visited the International House of Prayer - a place where prayer and worship has been going continuously 24-7-365 for over 12 years - a place that we share much spiritual DNA with. 


Anyway, it was a fantastic trip and it really stirred some things in my spirit.  So one of the things I did since getting back was to start doing some reading - you know - that pile of books that keeps growing while you keep saying "yea, I gotta read that one"?  One of the books I read was called "The Finisher".  Sounds like the title for some kind of weapons-a-blazing blood and guts action story.  But its not (I don't really care for that genre.)  Its really a book about walking with the One who created the universe and put all the stars that we look at in their place. (See, there is a tie in to astronomy ;-)  So below is a little review for it that I posted on Amazon -- check it out...
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I just finished reading "The Finisher" by Jan Kinne Conway. I must say, it has been some time since a book has been this impactful. My wife (the love of my life after Jesus) met Jan at a YWAM University of the Nations / Kona Writer's Workshop last year and brought home a copy of the book. At her suggestion, I picked the book up and started reading. Not being able to put it down, I finished it in one sitting. This gem of a book was just the tipping point I needed! Our Jesus adventure has been in low gear in recent years, but I know that's all about to change! It's so easy to get caught up in the grind of daily life as defined by our culture. You know the deal - big house, nice cars, etc, etc. Somehow, no matter how much of the so called American Dream that we attain, it just never feels enough - never fulfilling. But this couple took the chance and jumped into real life with both feet. Thru it, they learned and held on to what we had just started to learn - and subsequently forgot; that life is truly found not in the accumulation of things, but in the pouring out of yourself into others. 

The book is very well written and easy to digest. It's easy to see yourself in the midst of Jan and her husband's life events as though witnessing the various adventures. There is a flow and an underlying message that are smoothly woven throughout. I won't reveal any details of the second half, but suffice it to say that after hitting midpoint and reading about the woman in Albania who knew there was a Creator but didn't know His name, I lost it - the rest of the book was read thru tears. What an amazing life story they lived. The most amazing thing is that like many others who have taken that first step, they didn't have to be super-saints who were perfect in order for God to use them in the Kingdom. They just made themselves available and trusted God. 

I can tell you, the American Dream in reality is an empty falsehood at best and a nightmare at worst. Isn't it time you listened to that small voice of the Spirit within and learned what life is really all about? This book will show you how and will encourage you to step into the life that God has for each one of us who will say "here I am - send me". He will -- and you'll find riches everlasting. If you love the Lord, are over 40, and believe there's more to real living, I challenge you to invest the cost of 2 or 3 fancy coffees with Italian names into something that may truly take you from 'making a living' to 'making a difference'... I double dog dare you! 

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So there it is - now take the challenge and read it - it will do wonders for your spirit and soul!  If you can't find it locally, you can get it at Amazon:
---  http://www.amazon.com/Finisher-Jan-Kinne-Conway/dp/1935529102/  ---

Peace & blessings...