SOME LOVELY LITTLE FLOWERS

Even using a large-format Digital Rebel imaging chip on the Nexstar 11, one could still obtain some pretty little images of planetary nebulas through the very still air over Hamilton on Tuesday night, here is an example, even after reduction to 450 pixcels wide in jpg format for posting here, do you recognize it as the Cat’s Eye nebula NGC 6543?:

Here’s an old favourite in a 30 second image, same scope and camera:

Finally, here’s a pretty number, recognize it as NGC 6210 in Hercules?

So Far, Three Beautiful Nights in a Row

Another all-nighter. Beautiful images of many deep sky objects, and at the end, a slim crescent Moon rose over the city just two hours before the sun. Hanging low in the slow-moving clouds that hug the horizon, the ashen light was visible in a small telescope. Here is a much reduced image:

UPGRADES AT THE GARDEN OBSERVATORY, 7 JUNE 2007

While members of a small local club were at the Steam Museum looking at a hastily set up older model glow-in-the-dark plastic POD, scratching their heads and wondering how their 6 foot 5 buddy could squeeze through its little doggy-door opening, I was observing at the Garden observatory.

Harvey Garden redesigned his observatory to hold a much larger Schmidt Cassegrain telescope on a permanent pier / wedge assembly in his back yard near Binbrook. We observed a number of objects tonight with a high-end binoviewer that he really liked. Of course, Harvey’s new telescope is an older “go-to” model… meaning he is getting very accurate using its setting circles to find objects. It’s great to have a permanently aligned telescope in a backyard observatory at a dark site, eh, Harvey?

So unlike a few others, I had beautiful views of Venus, Saturn and Jupiter tonight without having to squeeze my head through a small doggy-door into a humid glow-in-the-dark plastic POD at the Steam Museum.

RE-WORKING IMAGES AFTER TIM’S CLINIC

The software Tim suggested is challenging, but it certainly does help improve images, here’s a re-worked M42 from winter, diminished to 450 pixcels in jpg format:

PERFECT WEATHER MONDAY 7TH MAY

Five days of clear skies! wow, and Monday night was excellent, too. I imaged from the pation in Hamilton. Although the air is polluted, it’s possible to capture galaxies from the patio! Here is an image of M51 taken this morning after removing the skyglow:

Night Photos (by Tim Harpur)

LUNAR OCCULTATION OF THE PLEIADES, 23 FEB 07

Such a sunny, bright afternoon with the crescent Moon almost overhead…and could you see any of the Pleiades near that Moon, against the bright blue sky? I certainly did not see any stars through the eyepiece of my telescopes (and I tried a few). Here’s an image, reduced to a 450 pixel wide b/w in JPG format:

UPDATE: A GREAT OBSERVING NIGHT FRIDAY 23 FEB

It was cold with a brisk wind from time to time, but the sky was beautifully transparent – great for observing. Some friends were stopping by to observe with me so I set up an extra scope with a binoviewer (no waiting). I did some imaging while waiting for them to arrive.

The air was unsteady at first, so the images of Saturn I obtained were not better than those of last November. There are very few nights of excellent seeing and you never know, the air could settle down like it did tonight.

I tried out a pair of TeleVue 19mm wide field eyepieces, comparing them with a pair of 19mm Panoptics in the Denkmeier – the view was exactly the same, I could even use one of each in the binoviewer! So I have two excellent eyepieces for sale!

From the comments of all my visitors tonight, it’s obvious that aperture determines the best views. No one looked through the 6″ Mak for long when the 11″ SCT showed a much brighter Saturn with so many moons. Tim said he could see Enceladus – a surprise, since it was so close to the planet.

The patio is convenient – easy to come in from the cold. I don’t think we would have lasted long at Binbrook in the wind! I stayed out until 3 a.m. imaging a variety of objects. I wasn’t happy with the M-3 images from a few nights ago so I tried again tonight after imaging some galaxies. Here is a reduced-size/quality shot of a much brighter M-3 without any vignetting:

SMUDGED, YET SPOTLESS, SUN 21 FEB 2007

Here’s the sun from a few minutes ago, in much-reduced size and JPG format to fit here. That Clear Sky Clock keeps saying it’s very clear, but aren’t those clouds in front of ol’ Sol’s disk?

IMAGING VARIABLE STARS (“PHOTOMETRY”), 21 FEB 2007

R Corona Borealis is my favourite variable star. After all, it’s easy to locate in the bright constellation of the Northern Crown, and it’s almost always about magnitude 6 – ie: at maximum brightness!

You estimate the brightness of variable stars by gauging them against nearby stars of known brightness. The AAVSO has charts for each variable, noting the most suitable comparison stars. Estimating brightness of stars is therefore part art, part science. It’s one of the more important contributions amateurs make to modern astronomy, well worth trying!

If you have a small telescope, an imaging camera and a V filter (a greenish colour) you can collect images of the variable stars and use the results to more accurately measure the changing brightness of variable stars. This is “photometry” and there is free software that will analyse the images to provide accurate readings. Telescopes and cameras are not just for taking “pretty pictures”.

Here’s an image of my favourite variable star, taken this morning with a V filter. R CrB is magnitude 5.9, or can’t you tell?

DON’T TRUST THAT CLEAR SKY CLOCK

It’s not Mr. Danko’s fault the CSC is misleading half the time… weather is hard to predict. Tuesday night the CSC predicted clear skies and good seeing from 8 pm on… alas, it didn’t work that way. I left a dinner engagement in time to be home at 8 pm… cloudy. Had to pass on observing with Steve K…. cloudy. The sky finally cleared at 2 a.m.

Transparency was excellent! I checked on a few variable stars with big binoculars… R Leonis stood out naked eye bright like a cherry in the sky. Saturn had passed the meridian and was out of reach for my 11″, but I set up a little GT80 refractor with the Rebel piggy-back to take some images of the sky. I tried a 135mm telephoto and then switched to imaging through the scope (using a barlow lens and diagonal). Clouds badgered my efforts. The seeing was poor but I managed a few images, and here is one of M-3, a globular near Arcturus:

Now, you may wonder why the centre of the image is so bright. That’s what happens when you obtain focus in a small telescope using a 1.25″ barlow lens in a 1.25″ diagonal! Lesson: use a 2″ setup on reflector so you can see the camera screen when shooting. That, and once achieving good focus, take a large number of shots for stacking purposes, to eliminate noise.