A Lifetime of Amateur Astronomy

Nice Amateur Observatory Design

2012-01-17T17:50:00.005-05:00

Amateurs are building some really amazing observatories these days to house their gear in. I recently ran across this one on a favorite website and am simply amazed at how far they have come. This particular one features a seperate heated control room where imaging can be performed with relative comfort while the telescope sits exposed to the elements.

Inside the dome sits a myriad of equipment and wiring to control the mount and camera gear remotely. This is a fantastic setup.

Dealing with Dew Issues

2011-11-20T19:18:00.007-05:00

One of the problems that amateur astronomers in humid climates needs to combat is the problem of dewing. Dew will form on a corrector plate, eyepiece, lens or secondary anytime they are exposed to the atmosphere and cool faster that the surrounding air. This is especially compounded if the relative humidity is high. The dew point is classified as the temperature at which the relative humidity is equal to 100%

Fortunately there are solutions. Today’s amateur can choose from a variety of electronic controllers and resistive-heating dew straps to wrap around their optics and drive the temperature above that of the surrounding air and keep their optical elements clear.

I recently took the plunge and purchased the Dewbuster controller. The Dewbuster is a premium controller in that it uses a temperature probe to sense the ambient air temperature as well as the dew strip temperature and allows the observer to make a precise setting so as not to create secondary seeing issues caused by applying too much heat. This controller is noted also for its lower power consumption, which may be an issue to consider during long imaging sessions.

To supplement the Dewbuster, I have also purchased the Dew Not dew strips from Agena Astro. These affordable strips are Kendrick compatible and are known for their lower than average power requirements.

This combination will allow me considerable more time under the stars in Spring and Summer when dew is a real issue in my climate. There have been many nights where I have cut short because of moisture issues, and this will help alleviate it completely.

iPhone Astronomy

2011-10-30T15:29:00.006-04:00

One of the most interesting products that I have seen lately is this nifty bracket designed for coupling your iPhone to the telescope to use the camera feature and take snapshots. While this device is a bit pricey, it is quite revolutionary because it allows people to take their existing devices and shoot some nice moon and planet shots. The SteadyPix Telescope Afocal Adapter for iPhone is available from Orion. It is a bit pricey but it is also quite useful for daytime photography.

Another interesting iPhone product is the app known as Starseeker. This app allows you to control your telescope either via cable or through wi-fi. This app is also available from Orion. This app may be better suited for use on the iPad because ot it’s larger viewing screen.

It is quite amazing how this device can integrate into astronomy applications, particularly if you are already using one out at the telescope.

Planetary Imaging of Jupiter at Opposition

2011-10-04T21:15:00.002-04:00

Jupiter reaches opposition this month. Opposition is the time when we are closest to the planet. Essentially this means the Earth is between the planet and the sun. It rises as the sun sets, and when it is high in the sky the views of it are at their absolute best.

Jupiter is a fantastic planet for visual observation. On an evening of good steady seeing, you can pour on the magnification and make out many details. For imagers using high frame webcams, they can produce results that rival what professional astronomers of only a few years back could accomplish. One observer, Anthony Wesley even managed to be the first to image and "discover" a large impact scar on the planet during an evening of routine amateur imaging.

The image above was shot last evening by John Kramer using a Meade LPI on a Meade LS8 ACF telescope using a 2X barlow lens and stacked in Registax. It displays the great red spot and the shadow of one of the moons. This is very affordable equipment, although the telescope is a high end self aligning SCT using an approximately 4000 mm focal length. This is a stack of approximately 250 images.

My Evolving Battery Box

2011-09-26T11:56:00.002-04:00

My battery box (I call it my powertank) continues to evolve to meet my needs and is now outfitted with two seperate and fused 12 volt sources of electricity and a 400 watt modified sine wave inverter. This will provide me with all the juice I need to run my 12 volt laptop charger, the telescope, dew heaters and lights if needed. The red light comes in handy in the dark when working with my imaging gear, it gives me a bit of low level illumination to assist with slewing and cables and remains off most of the time. The charger shown in the background is a 3 stage unit that Walmart sells and is ideal for maintaining the 105 amp hour deep cycle battery in the box.

An added benefit of this unit is that in the event of an electrical outage, it will power the small fan on my woodstove to allow me to heat my home in an emergency, or power a radio for emergency information, so it really serves multiple purposes.

PHD, the Orion Mini Guider a Meade DSI

2011-09-18T17:07:00.004-04:00

Recently I ran across an article outlining the function of the brain settings in PHD guiding 1.13.0b and I decided to use this as a basis to tweak my setup. The Orion guider is unique because of its short focal length, so some of the parameters will require some adjustment from the stock setup in order to function well. Here is how I set mine up.

RA Aggressiveness - This function determines what percentage of the correction will be applied to the RA axis. The recommendation is to set this setting somewhere between 80 and 100%. I have set mine to 90.

RA Hysteresis - This function applied the correction ahead of time, in anticipation of the correction required based on the history of the correction. The default recommendation is 10 and this is what I have set mine to as well.

Min Motion (pixels) - this is the minimum amount in pixels that the star is allowed to move without correction. The default is 0.15 and it is not recommended to move lower than this, however because I am using a much shorter focal length guide scope, I have lowered this value to 0.10 because a smaller drift on a shorter focal length is equal to a longer drift on a longer focal length. This just tightens up the reaction time.

Calibration step (ms) - this parameter determines the length of the pulse sent to the hand controller to signal changes in movement. This number is also dependent on focal length, shorter is a larger number. I have set mine to 2100 and likely can increase this by 200 more to tighten down on the number of steps needed to do a calibration routine.

Dec Guide Mode - I set mine to Auto

Dec Algorithm - I have set mine to resist switching. This keeps the lash loaded on one side of the mount since all of the drift in declination due to poor polar alignment will always be in one direction. This is a given.

Dec Slope Weight - set mine to 5.00

Max Dec Duration (ms) - this number will vary depending on the quality of your polar alignment. It is not recommended to go over 500 or you have a serious alignment issue. I have set mine at 150

Star Mass Tolerance - setting this to 1.00 turns it off and this is the recommended setting. I have set mine to 0.50

Exposure time - I am finding that limiting mine to 1 second gives me adequate stars to guide with. It is never recommended to exceed 3 seconds on this or all of the corrections will be applied in one axis only. The recommended setting is about 2 seconds because that lies somewhere between the actual error and the correction signals needed to compensate without actually chasing the conditions in the sky so to speak.

I hope this information helps others who are using this particular setup. Your mount may vary as I am applying these corrections to the LXD75 mount via ASCOM and other mounts may react slightly different, particularly in the length of the guide pulse sent to the RS-232 port so be forewarned that you may have to do some tweaking on these settings.

Getting Here!!!

2011-09-13T17:24:00.003-04:00

This picture represents my first ever prime focus digital astrophotograph of a deep sky object. It is a stack of exposures shot with my Canon 1000d at ISO 1600 with about 15 - 2 minute exposures and stacked with Deep Sky Stacker, processed for levels and curves in PhotoShop CS5.

But getting here has been an experience. When I was looking for a scope, I looked at many. I knew I wanted to do astrophotography, so I eventually settled on the SN6 on the LXD75 mount. I wanted a light scope on this mount so that I could add some things to it because I know that things never stay stagnant. You can trace back in this blog and see the path I have taken to get here.

The first thing I added to it was an accessory bracket which I had custom made. This rail was used to piggyback a camera and later was to allow me to mount my guidescope on this OTA. I went on to purchase a dew shield, and built a home made power tank for it. I then purchased a DSLR, an LPI, an ST-80, a second counterweight, a motorfocus, and later a DSI for guiding. I added a red dot finder to assist in aligning it.

After being frustrated with the weight of the assembly, I purchased the Orion mini finder-guider and removed the ST-80. This helped a lot. In the process of learning this I damaged a RA motor assembly and had to replace that as well. I purchased BackYardEOS for camera control, and later, a laptop and 12 volt charger for it. And only recently after learning the hard lessons of proper balance, proper polar alignment, and even finding my focus points for my guide camera and imaging camera on daylight targets have I reached the point where I can begin to do some imaging.
I still have to learn processing techniques so I can enhance my data. But I am slowly getting there with it. On my last run, I had PHD guiding this system perfectly and everything seemed to be right on track.

The hard lessons on this are the simple ones. There is no easy road. If you are patient and meticulous, and can follow procedures and are tedious about how you do things, you stand a chance of getting results. There are a lot of things that can go wrong, but I can't stress enough that this is not an easy process and there is no quick way to learn it. You need to read lots of advice and listen to others, and you need to get out an practice with your own gear and find the limits of what it can do.
All in all I am pleased with this image of M27. Down the road I hope to get far better images, but just getting this far has put me in the ballpark to do this with at least some success. And that in itself is a milestone accomplishment to me.

The Equipment War

2011-08-24T20:34:00.000-04:00

It is really easy to get involved in buying a lot of equipment in this hobby. I know first hand having spent a lot of money over the years on things in the learning process.

But honestly, there is nothing greater than using minimal equipment to pursue this hobby in many ways. The simpler you can keep your setup, the more it will be used.

Astrophotography is a different animal. It demands a lot of equipment and patience in setting it all up for an evening of imaging. Lots of things to go wrong. Some wonder why we do it. The answer is simple, it is what we enjoy about his hobby.

I like to play with cameras and electronics. Capturing images is an art in itself. You plan your shots carefully and there is a process of events that takes place to actually get a result. Unlike visual work, it can be very tedious from acquisition to focus to capture to tear down, it is all about the process.

A pure visual observer struggles to understand why we want to do this. Those of us who do this can't understand why more visual observers are unwilling to take the next step in the hobby and begin to save their memories forever.

And the battle rages on to this day.

A Computer for Astronomy

2011-08-06T08:08:00.003-04:00

I finally reached the point of having to buy a better computer. I usually don't spend money on computers much because things change so rapidly and I can get by with older machines for quite a while. But getting into imaging and working with images placed some demands on my needs.

I purchased the Dell Inspiron N5030 from Walmart. This is a very basic laptop with a 320 gig hard drive and 3 gigs of RAM and comes equipped with Windows 7 Home Edition (64 bit).

I have loaded this laptop pretty much for astro usage. I have Deep Sky Stacker which is used for stacking images, as well as Canon Utilities (for the camera driver for my DSLR), BackyardEOS for image acquisition from the DSLR, and PHD Guiding to perform my autoguiding functions.

Additionally I have added some other things. I have installed Stellarium which is a very nice planetarium program, Adobe Photoshop CS5 for processing images, Autostar Envisiage for use with my DSI, and AutoStar Suite for mount control and positioning. Since this laptop came without a serial port, I also added a Keyspan USB to RS-232 to it as well.

I approach computers as nothing but a tool. It should serve some useful function, and in this case it has a purpose. And I really felt the need to move to Windows 7 as most new things will come equipped to use it, and it is a modern operating system with some shelf life to it. After all, we have extracted almost 10 years out of Windows XP at this stage and soon it will be going away. It was simply time to move on and modernize and look at it as an investment into the usefulness of my gear.

Eyeball Astronomy

2011-07-24T20:09:00.003-04:00

There is nothing more relaxing than taking a chair out into the yard and looking up at the stars. The night time air is usually cooler and the sounds of the night are themselves a unique experience. If you can find a dark area of the yard away from streetlights and allow your eyes to dark adapt well you will see much more.
Two things can really make this more interesting. One is a planisphere. You can use this planisphere along with a red flashlight to help identify constellations. The other is a green laser pointer, which you can use to outline constellations and provide some visual boundaries for your eyes. If you use a GLP please be aware of the restrictions and dangers around aircraft, and never shine the beam from one of these in any other participant's eyes.
It costs nothing to do astronomy like this, and it is very relaxing for your eyes to simply "hang out in the dark. "

A Boy and His Telescope

2011-07-19T18:24:00.004-04:00

It is a cold, bright sunny day in the deep of winter in 1973. The sun is deceiving because the temperature outside is just a bit above zero. There is heavy snow on the ground, almost two feet deep in places.

"Son", she hollered, "what are you doing?” "I'm going outside to build a snow fort Mom" he said. "Wear your winter boots, its cold out there." He largely ignored her because he is in his own world.

As the afternoon progressed, an area in the front yard is transformed from a knee deep area covered in snow into a cleared spot with four tall walls made of snow blocks. The sun began creeping lower in the clear blue afternoon sky, and the cold air was deceiving, you could see your breath in it.

"Get in here and get cleaned up, it's almost time to eat", she said. "Yes Mom" he replied.

After dinner, he went to his room, and dug out his telescopes. He had a 40mm refractor with a fixed eyepiece on a shaky tripod, and a 50mm refractor on an equally shaky tripod but this one allowed the Japanese sized eyepieces to be removed and changed out. Somewhere along the way, he had collected his Dad's binoculars, a nice 7 x 50mm pair of Nikon's. All of this was carried carefully out to the snow fort, along with a planisphere.

And on this dark moonless night, somewhere in the Cypress Hills in the small town of Elkwater, Alberta, Orion began to appear in the sky. There it was, the great Orion Nebula. Sirius, the dog star shone brightly in the cold winter night’s air. Where is M41? Hey look, there is the Pleiades, get the binoculars. Snow makes great chairs because you can mold it and lay in it comfortably as long as you are dressed warm. There is Taurus; hey there are the Hyades, oh WOW!!!

At 9 PM it was time to come in. But a whole lot had been gained that evening. And in the evenings to follow, the knowledge began to grow because with each new constellation learned it became easier to learn the ones beside them. New objects were added to the lists of things to see. New books were read.

Without even realizing it, I had spent that entire day building my first ever observatory, and although it's usage would be temporary at best, it served its purpose of keeping the light moving cold night air at bay and gave shield to the one distant streetlight. It served as a place to retreat with my telescopes and enjoy my boyhood hobby. Armed with only the limited gear at hand, a planisphere, and a desire to know more about the night sky, these are the humble roots of an amateur astronomer. And what's funny is to this very day, nothing has changed.

Why We Observe

2011-07-18T20:08:00.002-04:00

Have you ever wondered what drives someone to get up in the middle of the night and pack a telescope outside to be alone and look up at the stars?

Think about this. Ever since the beginning of time, mankind has been looking at the stars. In the past, they became the centers of great tales of folklore. Mankind has always dreamed of what answers they may hold.

Today our view of the heavens is diminishing rapidly. Not so long ago, and even in America, people could step outside into their backyards and look up on a summers eve and see the band that we call the Milky Way galaxy. On the astronomical time scale, 50 years is insignificant.

Yet it is this same diminishing view that drives those of us who do this hobby, to seek that time alone, when we sync with all that is out there, and inhale photons from a time long before the arrival of man on this planet, even before this solar system began. We are driven to photograph and observe and share the experience with others, to wonder aloud of all the promises that space holds for us as a species, and just for one brief shining moment to forget all our earthly concerns and realize in some small way how insignificant we truly are. We are tour guides of this amazing place we call the cosmos. We use our tools to learn and share. It is our nature. We differ very little from the warrior hunters of the past who looked up and saw virtually the same things we are looking at tonight, for in the cosmos, mans place is almost non-existent.

The Basics of Astrophotography

2011-07-16T12:38:00.010-04:00

If you are reading this article, there is a very good possibility that you are interested in learning more about astrophotography. Perhaps you own a camera like the one pictured above and believe that you would like to try your hand at taking some sky shots. Good. This is how it begins. And how far you go with it is up to you and your budget.

You will need a tripod and a remote timer or cable release for an older 35mm SLR. At the very minimum, you need a means of keeping the camera stationary, and a means for tripping the shutter. The adjustable alt-az head may be nice for framing but is completely optional. With this setup, you can do about a 30 second exposure with fast film or high ISO settings and achieve some interesting results. This is the least expensive and least intrusive means of getting into astrophotography. In many ways it is also the most fun because at no point will you invest less energy and achieve greater satisfaction than when beginning at this point. The problem is, most guys get hooked at this point and they want to get up to the next level. You can do this fairly inexpensively, providing you have a telescope on a tracking mount and a means to mount your camera on the tube.

This image shows my old trusty Minolta X-370 astrophotography 35mm SLR mounted on a special rail I had made for my telescope cradle. The nice thing about piggybacking is that with short focal length lenses like the 50mm f/2, and even fairly decent polar alignment, you can achieve some very spectacular results because you can now increase your exposure times from over 30 seconds to perhaps 30 minutes or more, depending on your sky conditions. I have always enjoyed this type of astrophotgraphy because it requires minimal intervention and delivers excellent results in a consistent way. You can substitute a DSLR in place of this camera and do about the same thing, taking a number of successive shots and later stacking the images with Deep Sky Stacker to achieve a very long exposure time equivalent. Digital technology is superior to the old film in that if you get a bad frame from something like a jet or a satellite you can simply leave the frame out, not so with the old methods.

If you don't own a DSLR, a cheap way to get into imaging is with something like the Meade Lunar and Planetary Imager, the LPI. The LPI and a laptop allows you to shoot images of the moon and planets. This webcam device can deliver many hours of enjoyment and will allow you to begin to use software for capture and control of your equipment. At this stage you will want a good equitorial mount with the ability to track sky objects, and a barlow lens or two to achieve a better image scale. The degree of difficulty is higher than with piggyback work simply because focus becomes more critical as does the ability of the mount to carry the load and track properly.

By this point you are very interested in doing this astrophotgraphy thing. In the days before autoguiders and digital cameras, a setup like the one pictured could let you couple your camera to your telescope and guide the stars with a fairly high precision manually, at least good enough for film. Doing this with today's technology is even more interesting.

First you will need a T ring and T adapter. This allows you to couple your camera to the focuser on your telescope. You will need a means to control your camera. You can do this with a remote timer, or even with software like BackyardEOS, which is what I am now using. And you will need a means of guiding. Guiding is a process of making minute corrections in your tracking that are sufficient for your image scale to make images appear pinpoint without egg shaped stars. More often than not, this is being done with autoguiding, a means whereby a second camera is being used in conjunction with a software package like PHD Guiding.

This final image shows a setup similar to this mentioned, where the camera lens is now the telescope. This is called prime focus. You can see the guide camera and guide scope on the right, and the camera coupled along with a T ring and T adapter to the focuser. Beyond this you may wish to place specialized imaging cameras at prime focus to do even more precise work, but be warned, by the time you get to this stage your investment will be considerable and your knowledge will be very extensive. Many make the mistake of beginning at this stage, and although they eventually get fairly good at it, they find the curve to get there pretty steep. Plus I just think you miss out on a lot of the joy of what this is all about if you don't go through the steps first. Hopefully this article will help someone out there to be inspired to become the world's next astrophotographer.

My Little Telescope Team

2011-07-13T17:55:00.005-04:00

Here is what I am now using to do all of my astronomy. This has been two years in the making, buying a bit of gear here and there, some of it was rescued, and all of it has been used. At the heart of my equipment is my well equipped LXD75 SN6. I have purposely built this system to be an imaging system, however it has the capability to also be used visually. Most recently I have had to replace the right ascension stepper motor drive, most likely a victim of a bad power cycling experience in the dark. I am complimenting this system with an old rescued Meade Telestar, which is also a GoTo model telescope. When I began this endeavour, I started off with the Garret Optical 15x70 binoculars being used on the Orion Paragon tripod package, and while the tripod does work, it is not without its weaknesses alike. I picked up the Short Tube 80 model telescope to use as a guidescope mounted on an accessory bracket that I had custom fabricated to mount on the SN6 cradle. Below the ST-80 sits the power supply center for the evening.

This closeup shot of the SN6 reveals a few new additions that I have added to my unit. I found the ST-80 to be very heavy on the scope as a guidescope, and some of this may have had to do with placement, so I have purchased the Orion mini-guider and mounted it into the stock Meade finderscope's location. I have also modified an Orion electronic focuser to be used on my unit to provide for more simplistic camera focusing which can be a very difficult task at the best of times. The accessory bracket is also visible and will be a great spot to do piggyback astrophotography. The Meade DSI unit installed in the mini guider will make an excellent wide field camera as well to experiment with when it is not serving in its role as an autoguider.
Overall I really love all of what I have assembled. It cost me a fair price but not compared to many systems that I have seen out there on the web. It is all compact and lightweight and portable. I have the ability to do everything from lunar eclipses to deep space imaging. Not pictured in these photos is my accessory case with eyepieces, various brackets, a lunar planetary imaging camera, and my Canon Rebel XS DSLR. I have purchased a software package called BackyardEOS to use with the DSLR and in the little that I have used it I am very impressed with its features.

My Evening With John Dobson

2011-06-28T16:06:00.003-04:00

I am one of the fortunate amateur astronomers in this world who had the chance to meet and spend some observing time with the man whose name is synonymous with the Dobsonian telescope.

I was 22 years old at the time, and it was the summer of 1985. Please forgive me if I have my dates wrong since it was 25 years ago, but it was either on Saturday August 3rd or Sunday August 4th of that year. I grew up in the small town of Elkwater in the Cypress Hills Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada. During that summer, Alberta Culture and Recreation had hired John to do a number of shows at various provincial parks in the province, and ours was one of them. I had a good interest in astronomy by this time and had spent a fair bit of time under the stars myself. This was at a period of time before John had become the legend that he is today. The only Dobsonian telescopes around in those days were the ones that people had made themselves, there was very little commercial production, or at least, nothing like there is today. The magazines Astronomy and Sky and Telescope were just starting to warm up to the idea of the "Dobsonian mount" as a viable model for a large aperture instrument with some easy to use characteristics and features.

During the late afternoon, John took his van down on the field and unloaded his sky canon. This was his smaller model telescope, it housed an 18 inch mirror, and it was huge. It was clearly the largest telescope that I had ever seen in my lifetime up to that point.

As darkness began to descend on the park, John took the stage at the amphiteatre, and gave a brief talk and showed some slides. One of the first things I noticed about him was that he had an eccentric turn to him, he just struck me as someone unlike anyone I had ever met in my life. Of course his background, being born in Beijing, spending years in the monastary, and holding a degree in Chemistry is a pretty unusual combination to begin with.

The evening weather was less than perfect. But just as he finished we got a break from the clouds, and a core group of people walked on down to the scope in the field, where as kids, we used to play baseball. There were maybe 10 people. John pointed his instrument at M57, and one by one people ascended the tall ladder to glance at the Ring Nebula. I was treated to a view unlike anything I had ever seen before. There was no disputing what we were looking at. And clouds came and went and gradually people drifted away and returned to their campsites, but I stayed. I spoke with him a bit about the construction of this rather crude looking instrument that resembled a gun canon from a war ship more than a telescope. We had a chance to view a couple of more objects, M27 and M71 and they were equally breathtaking. At the end of the evening I helped him to remove the scope from its mount and load it in the van, shook his hand and thanked him very much for the chance to look through this large scope.

I had no idea at the time of the legend of a man I was meeting, but I knew that I wanted to keep doing astronomy. Within two weeks I had bought my first real camera for doing astrophotography, and started to build the base for a domed observatory to house my 6 inch scope, which I never completed. Within two months I was on my way to pick up my Cave 10 inch scope, and the following summer I built my roll off roof observatory. I really think that hour or two I spent with John Dobson convinced me that this was a valid and fantastic hobby. And if I was into this hobby before then, that time we spent together put me in with both feet and my face to the fire.

Upgraded Powertank

2011-06-25T18:21:00.003-04:00

I went ahead and added a 400 watt inverter to my power box in order to accomodate my laptops. I am going to run a pair of laptops, one older one with an RS-232 serial port for guiding and a newer one that has considerably better battery life for running my camera with BackyardEOS.

I added a 105 amp hour marine deep cycle to the case at the same time. Walmart now sells only the hybrid deep cycle but this unit delivers almost 25 additional amp hours over their old deep cycle battery and I have a 3 stage battery charger to keep it properly conditioned. I think this should be enough to power all of my needs for an evening.

And if not, I have other options. I can use the battery pack for the telescope in an emergency, or get a second battery box and gang it alongside this unit in parallel and double my capacity.

Rescuing an Orphan

2011-06-24T20:05:00.004-04:00

I had this Meade Telestar telescope given to me several months ago, it was headed for the trash can. It had one broken leg and was missing several components including eyepieces, the eyepiece to the finder scope, bolts for the accessory tray and the Autostar controller.

I brought the OTA in the house the same day I got it and set it in my telescope den. The mount stayed in my car up until last week when I finally decided to get it out of there and see if I could repair it to get this OTA up off the floor. Honestly I had written the mount off and was intending to build a Dobsonian mount for this scope.

I had never paid attention to the aperture of this scope, I guess I just assumed it was a 4.25" reflector, but the specs came out that it is a 5.1" f/7.9 OTA, and the included 25mm eyepiece leaves it right around 40x, which is one of my sweet spots for observing. I also found in my "extras" collection that I had 3 additonal 0.965 OD eyepieces that I could use with this scope that I got from an old discarded refractor that has since gone to telescope heaven. Since this is almost an f/8 they should work fine with it.

Upon examing the mount, I found that I could use some machine screws to repair the tripod leg. A good tightening of all the existing bolts and screws added some rigidity to the mount. In my "extras" collection I had a base for an MRRD finder from one I had ordered from Agena two years ago that was not being used. I removed the stock finder and rings and filled in the screw holes and mounted the new base and took the finder off my binoculars and installed and aligned it. I left the accessory tray off of it for now as it is awkward and not really well thought out.

All of the repairs have given me a decent little visual scope on an alt-azimuth mount that I can use manually for the time being. It will make a nice addition to my evenings when I am imaging with my Schmidt Newtonian and it has more aperture than my binoculars or my ST-80. It also makes a nice little grab and go because I can carry the entire assembly out the door without taking it apart. I am going to look for an Autostar controller for it and see if the motors are still functional, but even if they are not, I am perfectly content to use it in manual mode. I enjoyed refurbishing this scope and soon I will know how it performs.

A Beginner Astrophotography Bundle

2011-06-19T13:50:00.010-04:00

Let's say you are interested in learning the ins and outs of doing some very basic attempts at sky shots, but you don't want to spend a whole lot of money right up. Perhaps you are primarily a visual observer who owns a Dobsonian telescope but has a passing interest in learning astrophotography without starting at the top of the price curve. At $159, the Orion Adventures in Astrophotography Bundle is an excellent concept and a simple product that will allow you to take your DSLR (or 35mm camera) and crank out some excellent wide field results.

I have built a setup similar to this using my LXD 75, a dovetail and the exact same camera mounting bracket shown in this picture for doing much the same thing. Using this is very simple, you simply align the polar axis of this mount to polaris, install your camera (with remote) to the mount and point it, turn on the tracking, wait about one minute and begin shooting. A setup like this can be imaging with your camera on an undisturbed mount for hours at a time while you casually browse the universe with your primary telescope. This device would be excellent for recording things like meteor showers, making a large view of the milky way, comet photography, or anything else that lends itself to some interesting wide field shots.

Personally I love doing wide field astrophotography and have been doing it for years. It is highly forgiving on polar alignment, generally does not require guiding (merely tracking) and can produce some really stunning results that do not require a tremendous amount of effort or setup time. If you have purchased this bundle, I would enjoy hearing from you.

Planetary Observations

2011-06-18T20:08:00.005-04:00

One of the simplest things for a beginner to enjoy are the views offered through a telescope of the planets. Jupiter and Saturn are two of the most amazing sights many first timers will ever experience in a telescope, and a quick trip with Google will help you in locating their positions in the night sky. Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are all fairly easy to spot as they tend to be brighter than the stars around them at various points of their apparitions. Viewing the outer planets is best done when the planet is at opposition (planet rises as the sun sets) as it crosses near the meridian, an imaginary line that transits from due north to due south, directly overhead, which happens generally between midnight and 1 AM.

Planetary viewing requires patience, good seeing, and on those nights of exceptional seeing when you can pour on the magnification, you will be rewarded with amazing details in your observations. Aperture is king here. Telescopes can generally handle up to a maximum of 60 times magnification per inch of aperture in theory, but often the atmosphere will forbid much above 150x on most nights. Still when you hit those special nights of exceptional clarity and pour it on, you will be amazed.

A selection of filters can help in your viewing of details as filters allow transmission of only specific wavelengths and will block others to enhance the contrast of many details like ring divisions, belts, spots and caps. Most any astro retailer will sell a basic set of planetary filters to help get you started, but this chart located at the bottom of the page gives some very good information on specialized filters for specific needs.

As with anything visual, experience will help you a lot here. Getting out and looking at the planets with a variety of instruments helps you to learn to train your eye to see things that most would simply pass over, and it gives you a reference for what to expect during your oberving sessions. Good luck and get out and enjoy, soon Jupiter will be up in the evening and this is an excellent place to begin and learn.

I'm not collecting dust

2011-06-14T18:23:00.002-04:00

It's been so long since I have made an entry on here I thought I might jot down a few words about what's been going on. I have taken a bit of time off to re-focus on things and have put my hobby on hold a bit, but lately I have been finding myself drawn back again. Something about the warm weather and the fact that I have made some progress on other things around me and my telescope pad has been sitting there looking at me wondering when it will get some use.

So the next clear and moonless night I am planning on digging my gear out for a night of great astronomy and some astrophotography. I have not even tried out my new autoguider yet so there is plenty to do and now that the weather is warm, it is time to get back to the hobby that I love and admire so much. My telescope is home and this is where it will stay. This weekend I will complete organizing my astronomy den, check over my gear, hang some astrophotos, and spend some time with some books. The healing is complete. Clear skies to all of you.

A Pause in Time

2010-11-16T11:08:00.002-05:00

If my entry seems off topic, I apologize. A lot has happened in life in the past 3 weeks, I've been making some big changes so I can enjoy the things I love the most. I am a part time amateur astronomer who also enjoys playing guitar, watching live music, cooking, and just getting out. I left an abusive relationship with a beautiful woman and it all seems to stack one on top of the next - the proverbial snowball rolling down the hill. I have impacted my finances a bit, but those are just temporary things. I may not have everything I want but I have got everything I need.

If you're like me, times like these are made for getting out and going for a walk under the stars. Being out with my old friends in the quiet of the night, we begin to appreciate and treasure our own existence, and we reconnect with life itself. We begin to seek our deeper role in the cosmos, and our hobby becomes less a hobby and more of an experience to us. I can use the stars to navigate, I know that sky like the back of my hand. I feel insignificant, and suddenly all of my problems just no longer matter anymore.

I just wanted to share that. Thanks for reading.

In Memory of My Uncle - Walter Frey

2010-10-26T13:42:00.003-04:00

It is with great sadness that I got a phone call today informing me that my Uncle Walter Frey had passed away, at the age of 73 from a brain annurism. For people who read this website I have made mention of him in previous entrys.

Walter was a special man and I feel very sad for his wife Myrna and kids and grandkids today at having to cope with the loss of his incredible presence in their family. We will all miss him. Nobody could ever take his place.

He was so typical of many of the people in this hobby in the 1970's, very intelligent with an innate ability to grasp things almost instantly. He excelled in all elements of his life, and even in his rerirement remained very fervent about enjoying a good life. He could enjoy a good drink or a good book alike. I remember when we visited together and he came out to see my observatory. He had a profound influence on my life, we would exchange letters, and he was my mentor into this hobby and other elements of my life. In reflecting on it today, I am amazed at his influence on so many of us. Because of our geographical seperation we didn't see each other often enough but what we lacked was made up for by the quality of the time that we did get to know each other. I will never spend a lonely evening under the stars again without thinking about him.

Choosing a First Telescope – Part 3

2010-10-21T11:09:00.003-04:00

I’ve been showing you all some of my favorite instruments that I think would make fine scopes for a first time purchase and provide some longevity of use. All of the scopes I’ve shown are complete, meaning that they include the mount as well, and fall in the under $1000 price range. There are several optical tube assemblies (OTA’s) that one can purchase in this range, but a telescope without a mount is not really a telescope that can be used as is. I consider the mount to be equally important if not more important than the scope itself. Because of this limitation on selection, some very fine refractors will not make the price point, but are still very nice instruments. With that in mind here are a couple of more contenders.

4. Orion XT8i
An 8 inch telescope is a very nice sized instrument and is surprisingly affordable in the right configuration and mount design. This Newtonian reflector comes on a Dobsonian base and includes the Orion intelliscope computerized object locator system allowing you to quickly pinpoint objects from its database. It is fairly easy to setup and use. As an f/6 configuration it is a bit more tricky to collimate than its baby brother XT6, but is still capable of delivering good pinpoint star images. It is a very affordable $529 and can carry you forward in the hobby for many years.

5. Celestron C6-NGT
When you want a telescope that gives you some aperture, and an equatorial style mount with GoTo capability, the Celestron C6-NGT is worthy of a close examination. I really like this little f/5 Newtonian reflector because it gives one the ability to move into the area of beginner astrophotography on down the road. The Celestron handset and stepper motors guide you around the sky with ease, and because the OTA is small and lightweight it’s not really a burden on the mount. A GoTo equatorial mount always performs better when it is underweight, and this fits that bill nicely. And because it is a Celestron there are always upgrade options open to grow with this scope. You may experience a bit of coma with this scope, but there are ways to counter this if it’s really important to you. A bit pricey but well worth the $799 price tag in my opinion.

6. Meade ETX-125 AT
This selection wouldn’t be complete without including at least one Maksutov telescope configuration to choose from. This 5 inch f/15 GoTo telescope is capable of delivering incredible views of the planets in a good portable scope. Because it is a Cassegrain design, eyepiece location is good on it allowing one to view reasonably comfortably. At f/15 it is a bit slow for DSO viewing but will work. It is priced right in line at $699

Choosing a First Telescope – Part 2

2010-10-20T16:15:00.002-04:00

In my last article, I established some guidelines for the instruments that I am selecting as my favorite picks for a good first telescope. I am picking these instruments as good first time instruments because I feel that they are worthy of owning both in the beginning and long term. I want to pick equipment that I think will give the greatest rewards both today and on down the line. There is no particular order of ranking of these telescopes, these are just instruments that I feel comfortable recommending to others. Once people begin to grow in this hobby, their interests and needs change, and they may find other instruments suit their purposes better. This is normal and a natural part of growing in the hobby.

2. The Orion XT6
For many years the standard amateur telescope that many used was the old 6” f/8 Newtonian reflector. This old fashioned choice never goes out of style but what has evolved over the years is the mount that carries it. Years ago the German Equatorial Mount was the standard and it has been replaced with a modified alt-azimuth mount made famous by John Dobson in the late 70’s and early 80’s. This mount is very stable and surprisingly smooth and easy to use. This telescope is not large and unwieldy, it’s actually quite transportable and fairly rugged, and dare I say, simple. It’s f/8 focal ratio allows for easy collimation and it is very forgiving with eyepiece choices. The 48 inch focal length allows for plenty of magnification for viewing the moon and planets, and it will fit inside many small cars to transport to darker sites. It will deliver years of viewing experiences. This is a good budget happy entry into serious observing. It’s a real steal of a deal at only $279

3. The Celestron NexStar 6SE
Here is a nice compact telescope with plenty of aperture to keep a person happy for years in a design known as a Schmidt-Cassegrain, or SCT. It is an f/10 instrument that sits on a computer controlled GoTo alt-azimuth mount. The Celestron brand has been around for years and as such has a lot of support and accessories to enhance the ownership experience. Aligning the telescope is as simple as centering a couple of brighter stars and it can direct you through its large database of objects via the hand controller. Because the eyepiece is in the back, viewing heights and angles are suited for seating or standing without a lot of neck craning, so it is a very comfortable telescope to use and enjoy. It is a bit pricier than other models, but it holds it value well, and should you decide you want a larger telescope down the road, it makes a very nice portable scope to own. It is presently selling for $799

Choosing a First Telescope – Part 1

2010-10-19T16:48:00.002-04:00

Recently I did some Google searching on this topic to see what kinds of articles a newcomer would read if they went out in search of some useful information to help guide them in the right direction. What I found instead was the usual advertisements for cheaper instruments, intermixed with some advice to newcomers on how to proceed into the hobby of amateur astronomy. What I found lacking were some real nice objective persuasive arguments for or against particular instruments, so I have decided to stick my neck out and offer up some perspectives on some equipment that I think would serve a newcomer well, both in the beginning and long term of this hobby. I feel qualified to do this after a number of years in this hobby and a whole lot of outreach and training with others in the field.
I want to offer the kind of advice that I think would always serve an amateur well, something that is not too heavy on the wallet, something that would hold it’s value well and re-sell quickly should they decide the hobby is not for them, and something that I think they will find easy to use, and most of all, enhances their experience, rather than frustrates them. To define some guidelines, I am going to limit the initial purchase to not more than $1000. By no means does one have to spend this much, but this defines some direction, as there is a whole lot of gear in this range, and not all of it really delivers for the money spent.

1. The Orion (Synta) ST-80
I was first introduced to this scope some time in the mid 1980’s when a friend of mine brought it along on an observing expedition. A variety of companies make variation of this scope and they are priced similarly, the general reference to it refers to it as the ST-80, made by Orion. This telescope is a true gem of an instrument. Although it is an achromatic refractor as opposed to a more expensive apochromatic unit, the views through it are still very nice. It is an 80mm f/5 refractor, and as such it gives very nice low power wide field views of the sky. The finder on it is a bit weak, but because it is so short of a focal length, it’s really not needed as the scope is it’s own finder. This unit will find it’s way into your equipment collection for years to come as it is small, lightweight and multi-purpose. It comes as an OTA only or you can get it on an equatorial mount for a bit more. It can be tripod mounted and used as a terrestrial spotting scope, or it can be piggybacked and makes a fantastic guidescope when you decide to venture into astrophotography. It holds its value well and many amateurs have one of these in their collection. While it is by no means a planet killing telescope, one look at the milky way, or M31 through one of these will show you why it is such a nice little instrument to own. You will never go wrong buying one of these, and even if you sell it, down the road you will find your way back to it. This scope on the EQ mount retails for $299.

Developing Your Observing Skills

2010-10-14T16:37:00.001-04:00

One of the things that all astronomers learn to develop is their ability to observe objects properly at the telescope. This takes time to develop. In the beginning, it’s a matter of knowing how to view into the eyepiece, how to properly focus an object, how to observe square on to the object, how to block external lights and maintain well adapted eyes. In time, you develop the ability to discern details in objects because the atmosphere may be slightly turbulent as well. You will learn about the importance of good eye relief as well.
If you wear glasses, leave them on if you are nearsighted. If you are farsighted, you can remove them, the key is to be able to get close enough to the eyepiece to have as full of a field of view as possible without actually banging the eyepiece.
Another developed skill is the ability to align your expectations with your instrument. I think that it pays to look through large telescopes, and a wide variety of instruments, at least in the beginning to align your expectations with your wallet. You have to balance the cost and convenience of your equipment with that you are viewing, and you will find with time that you will know exactly what to expect from whatever you have.
A familiarity with the sky is important. Feeling comfortable under the stars comes with time, and while initially you may look up and not know one star from the next, with the use of charts, planispheres, software, etc, you will begin to mentally picture the asterisms you are viewing, and begin to see exactly where you want to point your telescope to find your target. In a later article I will discuss the art of sky sweeping, and how to use it to your advantage if you are a non-GoTo user. Clear skies.

Thank You

2010-10-03T10:22:00.002-04:00

I want to take a moment to thank all the readers of this blog for your excellent feedback, and to tell you what a humbling experience it is for me to be able to do the things I love: astronomy and writing, and to share them with you all.
This past week I discovered a website that rates blogs, and I am deeply humbled to see that blogged.com has rated my site a 7.8 very good rating. I am not much of a writer, and even after 40 years I would consider myself not much more than a beginner in this wonderful hobby. Everything I write and all the passion I share about astronomy comes straight from the heart, this truly is my lifetime hobby, and it will be until the day I die, in one form or another. I have always felt more connected to the heavens than the planet I live upon, always felt small in this immense universe, always felt a greater significance to that out there than all of this down here. And while, as a child I used to recite numbers to describe a lot of it, today it holds even more significance because I can appreciate how large those numbers are, how time works, and even our greater role in what it all means in the long run.
But most especially, Thank You all for giving me this space to share with you the thing I love above all else.

James

Autoguiding an LXD75 Mount

2010-09-27T17:14:00.003-04:00

When I first purchased my LXD75 mount I was told that you cannot autoguide this mount. Fortunately, through the use of the software program PHD and the ASCOM platform, it is possible to use this mount with ease. Getting it there however will require some effort.

I am going to use the Meade DSI in this example. It is an excellent little camera as it is sensitive enough to be useful and it is low cost. While it is no longer available new, it can be found often used. I am going to couple this to an ORION ST-80, which is an 80mm f/5 refractor that is also low cost and widely available used. You will need a computer, but you don't need a whole lot to do this as the computer will only be used for guiding. A Pentium III with 384 megs of RAM running Windows XP will suffice. Before you proceed, I suggest you update this operating system with all the latest updates and install the DOT NET framework, Version 3.5 as well, since Envisage needs it to operate. Proceed as follows.

1. Download the latest version of Autostar Suite (Version 5.5)
2. Download ASCOM version 5 and do the 5.5 update
3. Download the Meade drivers for the Autostar 497 hand controller
4. Download PHD Guiding software and install it

When you install the DSI for the first time, pick a USB port that you will use it on, and then install the driver by selecting the path C:/Program Files/Meade/Autostar Suite/Envisage/2K-XP

Plug the Serial to RS-232 adapter into your serial port (Com1), and use the RS-232 cable included with the DSI to connect to the 497 hand controller's port. Start PHD and select your camera (DSI), your mount via ASCOM and your set to calibrate.

That's all there is to it. Fairly simple.

An Unglorius Ending

2010-09-17T16:23:00.002-04:00

How many times have you walked past a man who appeared practically homeless and aged and never thought twice about it? Yet behind every face is a story, and such was the case with one of the most famous amateur astronomers of the past century, a man whose works still are revered by many as the finest volumes on deep sky objects. I am speaking about Robert Burnham Jr, a man who discovered 6 comets, wrote the three volume set called "Burnham's Celestial Handbook" and spent 20 years of his life working on the same telescope that Clyde Tombaugh used to discover Pluto at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. And yet in his final days, he wound up selling paintings of cats in Balboa Park in San Diego just to stay alive. I wish this wasn't a true life story, but Tony Ortega does an excellent job documenting his life story in the article called Sky Writer.

I greatly admire the man for what he did and what he stood for, both professionally and in his life. Yet it is a tragic ending to what may well be one of the greatest men in his field as well, to see him withering away in poverty with such famous works and so much social injustice. Robert Burnham held a perspective much higher than our own earthbound existence, and his work will live on famously. Like so many, I was one of those who assumed he was the man who worked at Astronomy magazine all those years, and I remember the Astronomy Book Club discounting his works.

Only recently was he recognized for his efforts, and for that we should all be grateful.

The View From "Over There"

2010-09-06T12:17:00.004-04:00

This photo is a picture of a nearby galaxy that we have named M33, located in the "constellation" that we call Triangulum. It is part of our nearby group, located roughly 3 million light years distant. It is an average sized galaxy in our universe, slightly smaller than our own milky way and a nearby neighbor M31.

What strikes me so much about M33 is the large amount of Ha visible in it's photographs. I can't help but imagine being in orbit around a star over there on a good "moonless evening" staring out into what they know as "space" with a "telescope" viewing and photographing some of the many DSO's visible. Devoid from their sky would be a few that we enjoy, such as NGC7000 (North America Nebula), M42(the Orion Nebula), M45 (Pleiades) and M13 (great globular cluster in Hercules). The view from over there would however contain many interesting objects, ones that we have named things like NGC 588, 592, 595, and NGC 603, as well as ICs 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 139-40, 142, and 143. All of these objects would assume patterns and names of their own, some of which might be huge and luminescent depending on their proximity to our new location. All of the asterisms in the sky that we call constellations would be non-existent, replaced by a new set of asterisms and identifiable stars. The Earth and likely our own Sun would be invisible, just a mere "blur" in the image they are capturing of our own galaxy on that dark moonless night.

Kind of gives one a whole new meaning to what we enjoy doing doesn't it?

A Cool New Tool for Astrophotography

2010-08-27T16:22:00.002-04:00

The AstroTrac TT320X-AG has got to be one of the coolest new tools for the astrophotographer, and is something I would really love to add to my collection. The basis of this unit is that it is easy to polar align and has exceptional tracking abilities that allow you to track the stars, moon and sun with it's variable rates. The latest release even allows for the addition of an autoguider but judging from the images that I have seen taken with it, it's really not required. It can hold an incredible load (large camera lenses) without flexure and still maintain excellent tracking. The images above demonstrate how the Astrotrac fixes to a tripod and how the camera mounts on it. The key is good polar alignment and for this it is essential to purchase the optional polar alignment scope

A Versatile Equipment Collection

2010-08-13T15:19:00.005-04:00

I am very proud of the gear that I have, as simple as it all is. I've been stabbing away at this hobby for a good many years now and I have a pretty good feel for what works and what won't. I've seen a lot of people come and go and a lot of gear trade hands based on usage. My setup is very basic. I have an Orion Paragon HDF2 tripod and an LXD 75 mount at the core. I have 5 optical configurations to ride on these base units, the Meade SN6, an Orion ST-80, the Garret Optical 15x70's on the FarSight binocular mount, a Canon XS DSLR, and a Meade LPI. How many different ways can this be configured?

1. Mount the ST-80 on the tripod shoe, use as an Alt-Az grab and go
2. Mount the ST-80 on the Vixen dovetail/EQ2 plate, place on LXD75 for a nice equitorial refractor
3. Mount the camera on the tripod shoe, use for widefield stationary ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY
4. Mount the camera on the Vixen dovetail/EQ2 plate, place on LXD75 for unguided with tracking - ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY
5. Mount the ST-80 and camera on Vixen dovetail plate, install LPI into ST-80 for autoguiding with setup number 4
6. Mount SN6 on LXD75, piggyback DSLR on accessory bracket - guided or unguided ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY
7. Mount SN6 on LXD75, install ST-80 tube rings to accessory bracket, use ST-80 with LPI to autoguide the Canon XS/SN6 at prime focus - ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY
8. Mount the binoculars on the tripod shoe, use as an Alt-Az grab and go
9. Mount binoculars on Vixen Dovetail/EQ2 plate, place on LXD75 for an equitorial GoTo binocular
10 SN6-LXD75 for visual, ST-80/Paragon HDF2 for visual, handhold binoculars

All of these combinations allow for at least two full setups with equipment not utilized in the primary setup. I realize this is not the "ultimate" setup, but I can't help but appreciate what a diverse, flexible and mobile combination it gives me, for doing everything from viewing and photographing lunar eclipses, constellations, planets, DSO's, aurora, sunsets, etc. It's always smart to keep these things in mind when acquiring equipment because if there is one thing I have learned it is to be diverse, you never know what you might be getting into or wanting to get into. Be armed, you will need it.

It's Here

2010-08-09T17:26:00.006-04:00

Back on November 13, 2009 I wrote of an accessory that I felt needed to be added to our collection of machined items. I was referring to an accessory that would allow one to mount a red dot finder onto a camera hot shoe to facilitate precision pointing because it is nearly impossible to see through the viewfinder on a DSLR and the Live View feature will only pick up the brightest stars, and then only if they are in the field of view.

This item will be shipping in mid-August for those who would like one.

God's View

2010-07-20T23:58:00.003-04:00

From the title of this you would think I am entering into the realm of religion.

I come from a time in science when we believed in it to describe and build our world. We knew that things measurable were important. We tapped these things to build ideas. I was around when IC chips came about, and they published diagrams and voltages in books. You knew how the insides worked. You built things with them. Some had fancy names, like Schmidt triggers. Duck.

Astronomy today is a new world filled with electronic toys and disconnected amateurs, plastic gears, mass produced glass, and the same sky. I love the fact that the sky remains the same in a world gone mad with TM's, IM's DMK's, QHY's, DSLR's, LXD's, UWO's and CGEMS.

Corporations can keep the acronyms, I will keep the sky, the heavens, god's handiwork, the celestial sphere, telescope making, digging in the references, red flashlights, optics companies, home lathes, smaller companies making larger parts, etc.

Now toss this in. Every newbie to this hobby reminds me of me 25 years ago. We see the same sky. Really what has changed?

Changes

2010-07-18T00:40:00.003-04:00

I've been very busy the past while taking care of other business and as a result have not had much time to post. I've spent no time with my telescope in months, but I am hoping to change that soon.

I now have a buyer for my Cave. I think someone is picking up a very fine instrument. I'm honestly glad I won't have the heartbreak of physically seeing it leave because I doubt I could part with it. But this is life. I'm losing an old friend. When I look on Cloudy Nights and see all the classic Cave restorations it just breaks my heart but at the same time it really shows me the love people have of these observatory quality instruments.

Half of the solar star road machine is departing as well in a few days. I've sold the slide in camper to pay some bills and I had to get some better transportation to replace my aging 85 Dodge with a 440 in it, so I chose a new car, a Kia Forte Koup. My scope will fit in it just fine so I can really get out and take in some star parties at 36 mpg. It has all the 12 volt plugs I need, and a moonroof to pass out cords to the scope, a place to hook up my laptop, things like that. I can sleep in it if I have to. Pack a tent, etc.

Change is entropic and natural in this universe. We may not witness it all, but it is constant, dynamic, entropic, measurable and imaginable.

LXD75 Camera Mount - Part 1

2010-04-24T16:37:00.004-04:00

I ordered a couple of pieces of equipment as a preliminary step to using my LXD75 mount with my camera alone. I purchased an Astro Tech 7 inch Vixen style dovetail from Astronomics and the Orion EQ1 1/4-20 adapter for the EQ1. The two pieces couple together very well, and will allow me to place either my camera or my ST-80 on the LXD75 mount for a nifty and simple grab and go usage. I plan on supplementing this piece with a tandem bar, and mounting the EQ1 adapter on one side and the tube rings for the ST-80 on the other side so I can use them both at the same time. The mount will handle this configuration just fine, and will allow me to use the ST-80 with an autoguider and the camera with a longer focal length prime lens or something like a 66ED refractor/field flattener combo for some easy to do astrophotography.

What amazes me is how deep you have to dig to find parts to assemble to make something this simple, and how much they actually wind up costing in the end. There is certainly room for improvement in this marketplace.

Plagued By Glitches

2010-04-12T11:27:00.003-04:00

On Saturday April 10th, I took my star machine on the road to a dark sky site, namely Barren Fork Campground. I had intentions of shooting images to make a short video and doing some visual astronomy.

My camper is a 130 watt solar panel equipped portable observatory designed to allow for overnight outings with plenty of amenities including adequite electricity and the convenience of a place to warm up during sessions. It's dual deep cycles batteries and power inverter allows me to run a number of accessories in remote locations.

At the start of the season, I had a dead battery, which apparently was caused by a shorted cell. After replacing it, I discovered that the radio/CD player has been breached with moisture and damaged as well. My water pump had somehow packed it in over the winter too. After replacing these parts, me and my girlfriend Lisa hit the road with mount, optics and cameras.

After setting up, in a matter of minutes I discovered that the SD card in my camera also had issues so no images were taken, but we did manage to get some viewing in before the evening was a complete waste. Better luck next time.

Change in Quantum Leaps

2010-04-07T16:41:00.003-04:00

As a young amateur back in the mid 70's, I could never imagine a time when telescopes would be available to us on an individual level that has not been seen since the times of the Herschel's. To even imagine using a telescope of 4 foot diameter could not be contemplated. In those days, a 12 inch mirror was considered a monster, and the mounts to hold them were not considered portable in any way.

Orion Telescopes has changed all of that recently with the introduction of their monster line of Dobsonian mounted telescopes, with aperture's up to 50 inches available. I can only imagine the views through a mirror that is roughly 4 feet in diameter, which on a scale of comparison will deliver 16 times more light gathering power than the largest amateur instruments of those days. That is serious equipment.

As if one release isn't enough, Orion has also released a new line of telescopes that will really change the complexion of the telescope world, their GoTo line of Dobsonian mounted telescopes. The electronics revolution has changed the hobby greatly over the years, and this technology in particular will lead a great many away from possibly purchasing that SCT and jumping up to a larger Newtonian configuration for the same money. I remember when the SCT was the king of telescopes but I think with Orion's 1-2 punch those days may be coming to a close.

It's a great time to be an amateur, we are living in the best of times without doubt.

Climbing the Hill (Part 1)

2009-12-18T16:29:00.002-05:00

I often read about newcomers to this hobby learning the ropes of what it's all about, so I thought I would write an entry about my journey through the waters of how we do this.

Let's dispel some myths first. Deep sky objects are faint, no matter what size scope you use, and the sky is a large place to find a small object. The joy of finding a new object is akin to discovering a needle in a haystack, or a gem in a mountain of rock. But unlike those experiences, this one comes with some tools to help make the job easier. I came to this hobby in the 70's, and back then things were a little different when it came to learning the sky. But those experiences are still the same today, the technology will only help you to a certain extent, and beyond that, it is this root level knowledge that gets a griphold and kicks in when everything else can't bail you out.

Begin with a basic planisphere. Some will say to use Stellarium, but then you are lugging a laptop outside, and ruining your dark adapted eyes with it. A simple planisphere will get you in the ball park of what's up and where as far as constellations are concerned. Put away the telescope for now, just use a planisphere, grab a chair, and a red covered flashlight, and begin to learn the constellations. Start with a really prominent one, like Orion in the Winter, easy to find, and then work your way out from there in larger and larger circles. Once you've grown the circle a bit, familiarize yourself with those constellations that lie on the ecliptic, the series of constellations that the sun and planets follows. Use software if you like to use the moon's position in the sky to determine the rough location of some of the constellations. You can watch the moon move across the sky on a monthly basis, and it is a highly visible indicator that can be very helpful.

If you are really bent on using a telescope, stick to easy targets like the moon or brighter planets that you can identify. Enjoy the craters, practice changing eyepieces, centering targets, print a moon map and enjoy the thrill of first hand discovery. It never quite goes away, even years later, so don't think mastery at this stage. And don't forget to use the locations of those planets to learn the constellations and vice versa. If you are going to use your telescope's finder, aim at a distant daytime object and set the crosshairs dead on between the finder and main scope at a medium to high magnification. The finder will be hard enough to use at night without it being accurately pointed. Learning how to point a telescope properly is an exercise in growth itself, how to deal with the mount, it's motions, damping after movement, etc, all are important. Aim it at stars, learn the names of a few bright ones as you learn the constellations, begin to memorize their names. Night after night and time after time this begins to grow as the stars in the east gradually wander to the south and finally the west and the seasons pass onward. In 12 months you will have come full circle with the plane of the ecliptic and learned many new constellations. And don't think you will learn it all in one year, but that first year will bring a lot of growth.

This hobby takes time, patience, practice, a little gear, more patience, some mistakes, some success, a bit of reading, and some interaction. Good luck in your great new endeavour.

Wintertime and Future Plans

2009-12-12T08:17:00.000-05:00

The recent cold snap has forced me indoors to retreat and plan for better evenings ahead. This is a hobby and as such I am not required to participate in it when conditions are not favorable to my enjoyment of it. Some will endure cold weather and some have made reasonable steps to do so with observatories and heated clothing, but I am not there yet.

So taking stock, as this year of my return to the hobby comes to a close, I am proud of my accomplishments so far. I have acquired some decent gear including a pair of Garret Optical 15x70 LW binoculars on the very stable Far Sight binocular mount and Orion Paragon tripod back in early May. My drive for a telescope lead me to purchasing the LXD75 SN6 in late June. I added a few accessories to it in July, including a dew cap, a custom made accessory bracket for mounting cameras and a guidescope and a Meade LPI to image planetary and lunar shots. I spent some time paying for all of this, and went on to purchase an additional counterweight, and the Canon XS dslr camera in October. Recently in November I picked up an Orion ST80 and brackets to mount on the SN6 for use as a guidescope and a grab and go scope. I now have pretty much everything I need to at least attempt to do some visual astronomy and both wide and narrow field imaging, as well as begin to work outreach programs with kids.

In the coming months I would like to sell the Cave 10 inch f/5 and provide someone with a nice scope to use. I am very pleased with the SN6 and even though it lacks a bit of aperture, it's portability and views more than make up for it all. I'm at a stage in my hobby where I really know what I want and also know what I don't need. My simple plans include adding a few additional eyepieces, a Meade DSI for use as an autoguider, and a basic diagonal for the ST80, all low cost and affordable items. I plan to focus my efforts in astronomy on astrophotography and finally reach beyond a beginner stage with my imaging and to a point where I can begin my ultimate quest, and that is to image the entire Messier catalog. It is a simple plan, but in the process of doing so I will get to know them all in great depth.

My love for astronomy in general may wax and wane a little, but it never quite goes away, and the longer I sit on it, the more the desire grows to do it again.

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who reads this blog, from all over the world. I know that I have inspired some of you, and if nothing else shown you a little of what can be done when you set your minds to dream beyond this pale blue dot.

Progress So Far

2009-11-28T10:26:00.003-05:00

I am pleased to report that digital astrophotography is not the bear that many people have lead me to believe. Like conventional film astrophotography, there will be disappointments, but the basics are pretty similar. Don't let the disappointments get you down, they are necessary for learning.

The following is a pretty basic guideline for how I image with my Canon XS DSLR.

1. Use a high ISO setting, at least in the beginning, like 800 or 1600. Aim your camera at the target. Make sure the camera is set in RAW + JPEG mode. I use a timer to control mine but you can use a laptop. I prefer the timer.
2. Use a good lens (the kit lens in my case), make sure your focus is good. Focusing is perhaps the hardest part of the whole operation.
3. Expose for a few minutes (I use 3 now) on a stable vibration free platform. You can shoot several exposures of the same length (and should). The more the better.
4. Your stable platform should be a good quality and well aligned mount, in my case, the LXD75 with the SN6 on it, camera riding on a bracket on the back. Your image is as good as your ability to keep it stable and tracking properly for the exposure duration. I view my object directly in my scope to check tracking.
4. Shoot a number of exposures on targets of the same length, use 2 or 3 minutes as a good starter. Cover the lens or whatever the camera is hooked to and shoot an equal number of dark frames of equal time which are used for subtracting the thermal noise from the images using software. Do this when you are done imaging what you want.
5. Load all the frames of your target object (lights and darks)in Deep Sky Stacker, stack them. DSS is a simple software package to use. Use the default settings, dig into the manual and online information for more help.
5. Take the final image and adjust it to your liking. I've recently began using PhotoShop and it makes it very simple to achieve pleasing results. PhotoShop is a world of its own, but it's basics have really helped me a lot.

This simple process will yield satisfying results, or at least it has for me.

About 4 weeks into this process, I am getting decent enough results to use as a basis for the hard part, which is working to achieve exceptional results. This is where it gets into precise polar alignment, much longer exposures, many more frames, learning how to use autoguiding, and learning a whole lot about post-processing. Start simple so you are not compounding your mistakes and wasting a lot of time making them.

I am amazed that I have gotten this far, and if I can do it, you can as well.

Constellation Imaging

2009-11-22T18:20:00.003-05:00

I had to give this a shot to see how it would look, so I centered the scope on Orion and shot a sequence of 10 shots of Orion at 3 minutes, 55mm at f/5.6 and ISO 1600, and then selected the best 5 images to stack with Deep Sky Stacker for a total of 15 minutes of integration time. I've been advancing with my processing technique's having finally learned how to adjust some of the levels and obtain decent contrast and color, and this is evident in the results with Betelgeuse (upper left) and Rigel (lower right) showing some proper colors. In the larger image there is some red nebulosity visible in M42, the center star in the sword of Orion, although, as expected, the whole nebula is a little "blown out." This one has been a good learning experience and demonstrates some progress in what I am learning.

A Dazzling Trio

2009-11-20T22:52:00.004-05:00

The 3 belt stars in the constellation of Orion are perhaps one of the most recognized asterisms in the Winter sky. Many people are drawn to these 3 beauties almost immediately. Let's take a closer look at these 3 stars.

From left to right, the stars are named Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka, and they are some of the brightest and hottest stars in the sky.

Alnitak is a triple star system, about 800 light years distant, and is sometimes referred to as Zeta Orionis, and the primary star is a class O type blue supergiant. In fact it is the brightest star of it's class visible in our night sky. It is 28 times more massive than our sun, and over 20 times larger. It's companion, Alnitak B is a B type star and orbits the primary once every 1500 years. Alnitak Ab, the third star is also an O type star and was only recently discovered. Nearby this star system is the flame nebula and the horesehead nebula.

Alnilam lies at a distance of 1000 light years and is referred to as Epsilon Orionis. It is a B type blue-white supergiant, and in spite of its farther distance than the other two, is actually the most powerful visible bright star in the sky. This star stands to turn into a red supergiant in about a million years and stands an excellent chance of becoming a supernova.

Mintaka is the right most star in the belt, and is also known as Delta Orionis. It is a multiple star system with a class B giant as the primary and a smaller but hotter class O as a secondary. The stars move very rapidly, orbiting each other about once every 5.7 days. One can only imagine the chaos in this region, some 900 light years distant.

So while we look at this configuration calmly and as a place of great beauty, it is one of the most cataclysmic regions in the heavens, both a stellar nursery and a graveyard, somewhere out on a spiral arm in our own Milky Way galaxy.

The Fair, The Bad, and The Ugly

2009-11-16T20:47:00.004-05:00

I was pleased with the results of M45, 20 frames at 3 minutes each, ISO 800 at 55mm, f/5.6, the sky background came out reasonably clean, there is decent nebulosity, and the framing was about right. I had an enlargement made of this one and it looks good.

My M42 was imaged with 20 frames at 3 minutes each, ISO 800 at 55mm, f/5.6 as well, but I am displeased with the background on this one. I've tried processing it a couple of times, but I think the problems lies in my dark frames.

M31 is a nice target, but this photo does no justice to it. Shot 20 frames at 3 minutes each, ISO 800 at 55mm, f/5.6 and using the same dark frames as used with M42 above, this was very well placed in the sky, the night was perfectly clear with excellent seeing so I can't blame it on anything like that.

With practice, all of this will improve.

A Much Needed Accessory

2009-11-13T22:18:00.001-05:00

These little multi-target red dot finders are one of the most useful items I have found. So far I have purchased two of them, one for my binocular mount, and one for my telescope. Using them to sight a guide star is very useful in the dark when a crosshair is invisible.

So tonight I came up with a great idea. Someone should build an adapter to allow mounting one of these on the accessory shoe of a camera. This would greatly assist in sighting the camera when fastening it piggyback style on a telescope, simply because using the optical camera sight is near impossible and it is an inconvenience to align it.

Other applications that could be developed for this base would include a replacement dovetail that would fit the base for both Meade and Celestron telescopes. I consider these little items to be among the most valuable convenience items one can have while working in the dark.

Nights Like Tonight

2009-11-08T00:43:00.008-05:00

I've waited all week for this evening, knowing that my clear sky clock was blue through and through. The moon and weather just right, I took the scope out at 4PM. I installed a battery in my homemade powertank, put my mount on the marks, powered it up, did a reset, calibration and train drives, mounted the DSLR piggyback, focused it on Jupiter using the live view, and set out with a pad of paper to do some imaging and viewing. I prepped a pot of chili in the crockpot (good warm up food), brewed a pot of coffee, took the heating pad and a deck chair outside, and at dark I ran my alignment routines and got busy grabbing images.

The first image (above) is M31, shot with 10 lights at 2 minutes, 10 darks, and using a 55mm focal length at f/5.6 ISO 800 - I cropped and resized this image to obtain the best looking scale I could, and did some minimal processing using the Digital Photo Professional software included with the Canon XS.

The second image is the Double Cluster in Perseus shot with all the same information as above, cropped slightly and resized for posting purposes.

Finally I shot a sequence of photos of the Pleiades, again 20 minutes total exposure at f/5.6, 55mm, and I am completely shocked to see that it captured some of the region's blue nebulosity. This is one object that I will return to later and obtain much more frames just to see what I can do with it on a stock camera lens. Simply amazing to me.

It was really neat to sit back and watch it all work, scope performing flawlessly, a mix of viewing and imaging, all the electronics in action, everything doing well as planned, the perfect harmony of technology and beauty in action. I am so pleased with the way this all works and it's not an accident, it is exactly what I wanted and demonstrates the results of my grand plan. I refuse to become equipment laden and top heavy. I know what I like, I know what I don't want, and often simplicity and functionality trump everything, especially on a cold evening of astronomy. It has all come together, and I love it.

A Visit to Barren Fork Campground

2009-11-06T21:20:00.004-05:00

I've waited all week to spend a little time at my favorite campground and check out the darkness of this place for camera work, and tonight I was not disappointed with the sky at all. Considering that the moon is less than ideal for astronomy tonight, this site really is wonderful because you can see the dust lanes in the milky way galaxy, M31 easily with the naked eye, even the North America nebula. In fact, it's hard to pick out the constellations, but fortunately I was raised on skys like this so for me, it's like going home, and it reminds me in a very humbling way why I really love the stars, and why I crave the absence of light pollution. Barren Fork campground is a primitive campground nestled in the heart of the Daniel Boone National Forest, and it's only about 10 minutes from home.
The image above is the teapot of Sagittarius, setting at the end of twilight. It is a single 30 second exposure shot at 55mm f/5.6, one dark frame subtracted in Deep Sky Stacker. I'd really like to get shots like this on my LXD75 equatorial mount to remove the trailing and so that I can add some density to my imaging, and if all goes well, tommorow evening will be my first attempts at doing just that when I piggyback my camera and go for it.

Taming the Kitty Cat

2009-11-03T19:50:00.004-05:00

After much anticipation I decided to try my hand at using my new Canon XS for some fixed tripod shots to learn how to use some of the camera and remote control features. I've had it for a few days and I've read the manual a bit, and last night I figured out how to set the exposure, ISO, turn on the live view and run the timer, so earlier this evening, under a full moon sky I shot ten 30 second shots of Jupiter with the lens set at f/4.0, 18mm focal length, ISO 800 to capture the image above, which was a simple JPEG. I have done no processing, just cropped it a bit to remove the house from the image. I shot these in RAW + JPEG, and I also shot 10 darks in the same format so I can play around with it a bit with some stacking software and see what results.

The second image is the constellation of Cassiopeia shot using the same settings with no cropping performed, however the moon was well up by now and lighting up the sky pretty well. It did give me a chance to see what to expect as far as focusing and using the live view feature and magnification to obtain focus. In the original images at full size you can see a bit of trailing on the stars, and on the image of Jupiter with some magnification you can even see one of the moons. I believe this will work very well piggybacking on the SN6 when I finally get the chance to test this under a good dark sky. That opportunity may come as early as this weekend.

The Equipment Myth

2009-11-01T18:33:00.001-05:00

There was a time a few years back when I had a very nice roll off roof observatory with a 10 inch equatorial mounted Cave telescope all set up for dual axis control and off axis guiding, with an 80mm f/4 piggybacked refractor. My observatory was equipped with a heater, variable red lighting, and doubled as a darkroom for processing film and printing images. I had a modern 35mm SLR equipped with all the goodies at this time. I spent many hours under the night sky in my observatory doing both visual and photographic astronomy, using a star atlas and a list of objects that I wanted to target. This was so long ago that using a computer was not even really an option, except to print lists of objects with their co-ordinates on a dot matrix printer. I shot plenty of film with that setup using Ektachrome 800, Fuji 400, Konica 1600, gas hypered Tech Pan 2415, and Kodak spectroscopic film. I thought I had the ultimate setup. You can see it in the photo at the top of my blog.

But years before this there was a time when my primitive gear included an old 35mm camera that my uncle had given me. The lens on this camera could not be removed, and the shutter on it was broken. You could cap the lens, load film in the camera, click to advance frames, etc, but the shutter would not close. I was 14 years old at the time, but I didn't let that stop me from enjoying it. I fixed it to a home made mounting, waited for a dark sky, and carefully removed the lens cap, each exposure carefully targeted. My darkroom consisted of an old kitchen that was completely dark but had running water, where I carefully developed the film in a tray in the dark using chemicals that I had mixed before. My telescope for visual usage at that time consisted of a 6 inch f/8 on a home made mount with no clock drive, a pier with a vacuum cleaner pipe stuffed with a wooden dowel, and a base from an old canister vacuum. I also had a 50mm alt-azimuth mounted "Sears special" refractor. And a star atlas, a notepad, and a red flashlight.

So here I am tonite, taking stock of where I am at, and I can't help but reflect on what an amazing thing this is. I just purchased my first DSLR, the Canon XS, for doing digital astrophotography, along with a T adapter for doing prime focus. I have my Meade 6 inch Schmidt Newtonian mounted on the LXD75 AutoStar equipped GoTo equatorial mount. I have a custom made accessory bracket on my tube cradle where I can mount my camera for tracked piggybacking, or another refractor. Sitting on the Orion Paragon HDF2 tripod next to this gear is my 15x70 astro binoculars. A quick release shoe removes them from the tripod and my camera snaps in place, and I am looking at this thinking how cool this is to have this little setup with so much flexibility. In my eyes, I have never had a setup that I like so much. But it strikes me that I am using a setup very similar to what I was using at 14 years of age, except that the technology of it all has improved everything immensely. I no longer have to mess with chemicals. I see the results of my images in minutes instead of hours. I tell the telescope where to point. The exposure time and information is controlled electronically. I can piggyback with the scope and view with the binoculars. Or I can do wide field tripod mounted imaging and view with the scope. It's light enough to go with me so I am not fixed in one spot. And my laptop is connected via wireless to the Internet and loaded with plenty of software to help me under the night sky.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this where I started?

There Is No Mastery

2009-10-24T08:34:00.001-04:00

I always admire the amateurs that spend incredible amounts of time imaging a single planet, or can spend extensive effort studying a few variable stars, or even the comet hunters who slave night upon night scanning the sky for nebulous objects that don't belong there.

For me, I have always been a divergent amateur. I prefer to investigate all aspects of the cosmos, from planetary viewing and imaging, to deep sky hunting, lunar observation, widefield and prime focus astrophotography. The tradeoff in all of this is you may not achieve mastery.

But approaching things this way has given me so much more in the hobby. I get a chance to really become familiar with various areas of the sky. Following a comet in its path around the sky night after night introduces one to learning the constellations and stars in ways that one would normally not conduct. Traversing the planets in their retrograde motions gives one a sense of the revolution of the Earth itself in space. Chasing deep sky objects has given me a feel for seeing conditions in ways that go absolutely beyond measuring it with a number. And imaging deep sky objects has given me a feel for all that cannot be seen visually when I am scanning out there.

I think most amateurs are like me, interested in a more general perspective on the hobby in general. They are wanting to maximize the use of the scopes they have without investing a tremendous amount of money on gear designed for single purpose usage. It doesn't make them any less knowledgeable about the night sky. Many large telescopes at institutions around the world are targeting objects with instrumentation specifically to study a narrow portion of an objects existence. None of us have the financial resources to compete with that.

Taking the Traditional Approach

2009-10-16T18:16:00.003-04:00

One of the benefits of technology is that we can remove many trivial tasks involved in practicing our hobby. We might use an online service or planetarium package to point us directly to what is visible right now. Using an electronic telescope with GPS alignment, we place the scope outside, click a switch and it aligns itself automatically. No thought is given to directions, motions in the heavens, visibility conditions, etc. If we are doing astrophotography, we don't have to track exposure times, and autoguiders which remove the chore of manually correcting for errors which we used to track on our own. Those little things we did by hand taught us about a lot of things going on with our equipment. We didn't second guess the behaviour, we learned first hand.

For old timers like myself, many of these technological things are a great bonus because they have enhanced the things we do under the night sky. We have grown with them and they have merely become an extension of what we do. They didn't replace the old ways, they added to them.

But for newcomers to the hobby, they are the norm. They have been born into an era where they cannot imagine doing things without them. Even the owners of computerized Dobsonian's are becoming disadvantaged by all this technology. If you can read a bubble level and you know two stars, you no longer have to identify faint fuzzy objects using a computerized object locator. Image intensifier viewers can even provide one with artificial eyes to enhance viewing. What's next? Video displays of the finder scope? Remote access? Telescopes that can automatically locate alignment stars? No, these things are already here.

I offer a challenge. Put away all of your electronics and computers. Grab a star atlas. If you don't own one, print one online. Use a book and plan your evening based around the constellations that are visible. Figure that out by calculating the siderial time. Research the locations of the objects you are viewing. Develop star hopping techniques to a few objects. Record your observations with pencil and paper. Put away the sky quality meter and use the circumpolar stars to judge the sky conditions. If you don't know what a word means, look it up. Try shooting the sky with your old 35 mm camera and some film. Find your latitude using a map. Use it to calculate how low your southern sky is visible on an atlas. Do this by learning about the celestial sphere and Right Ascension and Declination. Develop your observing techniques based around your observations instead of someone else's.

If you do these things and practice them on a regular basis, you will develop techniques that will allow you to enjoy the night sky using any telescope of any aperture, including something like the old amateur standard, the equatorial mounted 6 inch f/8 Newtonian reflector telescope.

Those Little Things

2009-10-11T08:23:00.003-04:00

For those of you who have been following my blog, which is my personal adventure with the hobby, you remember my experience with shipping my Cave 10 inch telescope. Well after that dream died, I remembered all my other smaller things in Canada and had a bunch of books and notes shipped to me in 2 shipments. I am really thrilled to get my logbooks, astronomy lessons from the classes I taught and more.

The entry pictured intrigued me because I remembered the evening only after reading the notes, some 24 years later. But what amazes me is the deep down love I had for the whole experience of doing deep sky astronomy even back then. Here I am, a 23 year old guy, still with sharp eyes making observations with a high quality instrument under the darkest of sky conditions available in the world. My earliest recorded observations go back years before this too, so taking notes and writing logs is not a new experience. What we don't see in this photo is pages 3 and 4 where we go on to do some planetary viewing, viewing Uranus, the polar cap on Mars, and Saturn, and the end of the evening in morning twilight. Without these notes, all of this would have been forgotten.

My favorite journal is nothing but a coil bound notebook. Record things like time, temperature, sky conditions, observing location, equipment, and then begin to document what you are seeing. Make detailed notes of what you are observing. Don't worry about accuracy in terms of a comparison with what you should be seeing, but rather record what you are actually seeing. They may not seem important to you at the time, but the devil is in the details. Be as descriptive as possible. You can use adjectives, you are not being graded on this. Record your emotions, failures, frustrations, successes, telescope struggles, etc.

I have the Cave listed to sell. But in reading this, I realize only now how fantastic this telescope really is, how we varied magnifications, its resolving power, its abilities as a planetary scope, and the thrill of Halley, something that my eyes will never live to see again. Equipment can always be replaced, but the experiences at the eyepiece can never be regained, unless you choose to preserve them. And I have not spoken to my friend Dave in over 23 years, so I am going off on a quest via the net to locate him, and to test his interest in astronomy once again.

Taking notes is not a huge investment, and is actually a great way to improve the experience of doing astronomy. Don't worry about the technical side of it, organizing it, etc. Let what you record be a reflection of where you are at, and it will carry you forward in the years ahead. Only now, some years later, am I actually going through my notes making a list of all the things I have seen. One of these days we have to get organized around here.

Adjusting my LXD75 Mount

2009-10-07T21:17:00.003-04:00

Meade's little medium duty LXD75 GoTo mount is a nice little mount, but it's not without it's idiosyncrasies. Tonight, after reading about it on the net, I decided to tackle the little bit of lash in the Right Ascension axis. I removed the motor assembly by removing the 3 hex headed screws. I finally located the 3rd screw which is found right above the latitude adjuster coming into the assembly from the backside. Once inside, it exposes an aluminum gear and an adjustment with a collet and locking nut to check side to side play on the worm, as well as 3 adjusting screws to position the worm closer to the worm gear, I did a slight adjustment on these 3 screws, 2 outside first and then the middle one, checking for the tightness of the gear by rotating the worm assembly and checking for play. If you over tighten the worm you will have issues with motor's jamming so one must be careful with this. It only takes a very small adjustment to make it right.

I then set the scope up outside and proceeded to polar align it and I am still a bit off. Also I should have done a few other things which I didn't do but will. I need to do a reset, calibrate motors and train drives since I have changed all of the lash adjustments, but that will wait for another night with more time. The moon was coming up a bit after 9 PM and I thought I would get in some DSO's before then, so I checked out M31 and M13 and found the accuracy to be acceptable, all things considered. A more accurate polar alignment and a drive calibration will fix things more than adequately. I also tested the high precision feature in the mount and found it to be perfectly acceptable, and only a little annoying to have to constantly center an alignment star. I adjusted and used my red dot finder for the first time this evening and it worked out alright.

Honestly I can't imagine what this mount would be like with a larger OTA and some accessories on it, I think it performs best when it's not overloaded at all.

Moonbow Astronomy Program

2009-10-06T21:24:00.001-04:00

Once a month I help out with a public star party at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park in SE Kentucky. This event is always well attended and offers a chance for many folks to have their first experience with astronomy. I have been working at this event for some 7 months now. Cumberland Falls is the "Niagra of the South" and is the only natural waterfall left in the world that still offers a "moonbow", visible during a full moon weekend. Our public events are held on the Saturday evening of the new moon every month, and if you are in the area, please come and visit us.

Some time back, the park obtained an LX90 ACF just like the one pictured. It is a beautiful telescope and is loaded with all kinds of electronics including a GPS. For several months we have been frustrated with getting it to work properly, but this past Sunday, after consulting with some others, we did a firmware flash to replace a bug-ridden version that it came pre-installed with. Hopefully this will fix some alignment and tracking issues and fully allow us to realize the potential of this great scope.

This past month, we did a 3 hour cooldown on this scope and the views we obtained of Jupiter through fleeting clouds was nothing short of amazing. It would give me great pleasure to finally be able to attain some of the many DSO's that are loaded in this hand controller and be able to provide some real treats to the people who attend our events.

The great irony of this is that this is the telescope that got me back interested in doing astronomy once again, when it wouldn't work properly and I kind of assumed making it work for us. This is just another fine example of what experience can do for you, and how the old ways can bail you out when the new technologies don't quite live up to everything they are supposed to. It still pays to learn things the way we did it as kids.

What's Wrong With Today's Amateur

2009-10-04T18:42:00.001-04:00

It’s been a while since I posted anything this controversial but I really feel that some things must be said. After many years in this hobby, there are just some things that are happening that really are issues that need to be addressed. These issues have all contributed to a loss of overall skill in amateurs today and are fundamentally changing the hobby from one of amateur scientist into one of space tourism.

1.Top Heavy – many amateurs are of the assumption that telescope gear must be high-end large aperture gear to extract enjoyment from the hobby. From the eyepiece elitists, to the imaging fanatics, many are of the impression that in order to extract quality results one must invest astronomical sums of money. Complete nonsense. Many of these things still come down to one thing – skill. And skill comes with practice, and if all you have ever used is high-end gear you are really at a complete disadvantage. My friends who are vested in this hobby make their own eyepieces, lenses and mirrors and extract just as much pleasure from their telescopes as the ones who will spend ten times the amount of money, possibly even more because they know how they actually work.

2.Dob Mentality – for all the good things that the Dobsonian mount has brought to amateur astronomy, namely portability, simplicity and the ability to mount a large OTA without a large mount, a counterproductive trend has taken place. The idea that ones needs large aperture and the mount is secondary has created limits that were unseen on what amateurs can actually do. Many of them have no concept of Right Ascension or Declination, basically it has turned the hobby into a form of hunting in the sky instead of an art to the movement of the heavens themselves, and an intricate understanding of our own location in the galaxy, because once you know how the heaven’s move, you begin to understand the distribution of the galaxy itself. You are no longer hunting for an object as a space tourist, but rather you are on a deeper quest for the why instead of the what.

3.Technology Dependent – I love my GoTo scope very much. For me, GoTo is a set of setting circles hooked to a handheld catalog driven by a couple of motors to assist in moving my scope. Some folks love PushTo – basically the same thing minus the motors. But these tools have removed newcomers from many important things, the most important of which is looking at the sky, studying an Atlas, digging into books to make lists, and understanding the constellations themselves and their place in the sky. Give many of these amateurs a pair of binoculars and they will struggle with where to begin. Without their PDA’s, laptops, Stellarium, etc, they would not know which constellation to begin with, the lowest point of their observing limits, etc. If you have to dig in a book to find it, you organize it, memorize it, master it, build on it, etc. Technology has made us lazy. If you need proof, look at an 8th grade math class and take away the calculators.

4.Critical thinking – if everyone is thinking the same, it defines a limit not only on growth but on the potential for new ideas as well. By expanding your base level of knowledge about things as simple as types of mounts, optical layouts, craftsmanship, etc, you are more apt to innovate, to master what you have, and to extract more from it. Thinking outside of the box is what has made this hobby greater, and many of those great ideas are right in front of us.

5.Discipline – astronomy is not one of those hobbies that can be mastered overnight. There is continual growth in this hobby in every single direction one looks. If you are a visual observer, there are techniques to practice and develop, books to read, logbooks to keep, and a methodological approach to learning the sky one constellation at a time. If you have the discipline and patience to take this approach, the things you are learning build and develop. As iron sharpeneth iron, discipline sharpens the countenance of one’s astronomical knowledge.

This is just the way I see it. I should write an app for that.

Everyday Astronomy

2009-10-02T21:43:00.004-04:00

To some people, the only time that they enjoy astronomy is when they are actually using their telescope, so I thought I would offer up some tips on things to do on any evening and still enjoy their hobby.

1. Visit the library - A trip to the library can be a revealing experience in this hobby. There are several sections that one can enjoy and still gain insights into the hobby, from the pure science collection of books on astronomy, to the areas of space exploration, UFO's, videos, on through the science encyclopedias, to the periodicals section, most every library has a diverse selection of materials to keep one's mind occupied in an ongoing way. No matter how much you learn, there is always more out there. You may also inquire about inter library loans if your library doesn't have a certain book you are looking for. My favorite libraries to visit are the ones of higher learning found in Colleges and Universities.

2. Cull the Internet - More material than you can imagine on the internet at any given time to read. Make sure you use your favorites menu, organize your collections of websites by category, eg...astrophotography, blogs, telescopes, astronomy forums, etc. I use the internet for everything from exchanging with others to collection printable materials for hard reference.

3. Build an Observing Handbook - You can use the internet and some plastic sleeving and find all kinds of usable and freely redistributable materials that you can print out to create the ultimate reference collection for use at the eyepiece or the kitchen table alike.

4. Decorate a Room - Have a favorite hobby center where you keep your telescope, a spare bedroom, a man cave? Find printable astro images that you can capture on a flash drive, visit a photo lab, have them enlarged and printed, frame them and decorate a wall. You don't have to photograph your own images to enjoy them, and many amateurs will allow you to print copies of their images for your own personal use. They make a great conversation piece for guests, and help put your hobby into perspective for others as well as yourself.

5. Join a Club - Make a point of being involved. Volunteer to clean the grounds, maintain the observatory, organize their materials, do handyman work, go out for coffee with other members. The more energy one puts into the organization brings others to join in, and soon it becomes a pleasure rather than a chore. And you also get that sense of accomplishment.

These are just a few ideas, but this is enough to get anyone started on finding ways to enjoy a lifetime of amateur astronomy. Down the road I will add others to this collection because, honestly, I never run out of things to do with this hobby or ideas to do more. I just run out of time to do them all.

Basic Piggyback Astrophotography

2009-09-29T18:40:00.002-04:00

Here is a photo of my SN6 on the LXD75 mount along with it's custom built accessory bracket shown with my Minolta X-370 35mm SLR mounted on it in piggyback mode. This is my entry level deep sky imaging system.

How often do we read that astrophotography is hard, expensive, and really cannot be mastered without a lot of time and effort. If this was the truth, many people, myself included would have never ventured into attempting it in the first place. Yes astrophotography takes some time to learn, and yes, at the upper end prime focus and afocal methods of imaging, it can become a bit more complex as guiding and mount stability become issues that limit the quality of the images one can produce.

But piggybacking a camera on an equatorial mount is actually a very enjoyable method of learning deep sky imaging, and is neither difficult nor time consuming and can produce some excellent results. Any mount that can track images in a scope fairly accurately will suffice for a setup like the one pictured, which uses a 50mm lens at f/2. Accurate polar alignment is important to avoid field rotation, and with lenses of focal length greater than 200mm, guiding may become an issue as well. But using modern technology, it is possible to simply use the main scope as a guidescope using something like the Meade LPI or DSI (I, II, or III) using PHD guiding if that becomes necessary.

Beginning with a setup like this will deliver you very satisfactory results. I have been using this type of setup for years using high speed film and have produced excellent images of the Milky Way and its structure, and I plan on using the exact same setup with my DSLR to produce similar and better results.

I encourage others who are interested to begin this way and give deep sky imaging a try.

Population II Amateur Astronomer

2009-09-23T23:36:00.002-04:00

How would you feel if you went to bed one night and woke up the next day in a strange and alien world? All your preconceived notions about gravity, physics, the daily operation of life had suddenly changed?

Recently I got into a debate about focal ratio and I thought I knew what I was talking about. I'm an old school amateur raised on old school ways with lots of formulas and a strict adherence to laws governing systems and how they operate. All of this was predictable.

Well apparently the rules have changed when it comes to light collection technology and focal ratio no longer determines how a CCD collects light. The only thing that matters is aperture and because of the nature of sky glow and the efficiency of detection technology, slower scopes may actually be more efficient because they collect more total photons due to integration time. I find it absolutely mind-boggling that something so rooted and perfect is suddenly tipped upside down and forever destroyed, to be relegated to obsolesence, supplanted by superior advancements in technology.

I know that this may have little impact on your world, and if you are new to this the old ideas may not even be relevant because you have never experienced them. But I somehow can't leave this without taking one last jab at these hot young imaging experts - the real world real dollar value of a 400 lb Astrola mounted 10 inch f/7 Cave just went up fourfold. It's time to dust off the relics because what is old is still what is new.

My Road Ahead

2009-09-16T21:11:00.003-04:00

I am really wanting to get into doing deep sky photography again. The more I read about imaging, the more confusing it all seems, and in some ways, this is a quantum leap from the grand old days of focus, guide and print. I am wanting to invest in a Canon DSLR and begin simply by doing some widefield imaging piggybacking a camera on the SN6. The basics of it all seem pretty straightforward, but as I read more and more of the technical side of aquiring images, flats, darks, lights, etc, this all looks like a lot of learning with software, and software is something that I really need to spend more time learning.
I'm not one to be intimidated by technical things, but I have to make a beginning somwhere, and this seems like a logical step. And besides, I need a decent digital camera anyways, so this gives me a chance to cover my bases and get back into the things I enjoy.
I really feel that if I can learn this, anyone can.

Your Basic Powertank

2009-09-07T20:23:00.002-04:00

Here is the new powertank that I built today. Most commercial units cost about the same but after reading all the stories about the short battery life on them, I decided I would rather make my own. Equipment to make one includes 1 Group 24 Battery Box (Walmart), 1 3 LED Clearance Light (Walmart), 1 inline blade fuse holder (Walmart), 1 toggle switch (Advance Auto), 1 weatherpoof 12 volt receptacle (Parts City), and 2 color coded battery terminals (Advance Auto). I've not put a battery in mine yet but will be choosing the Walmart 75 amp hour deep cycle to install in mine. The light is wired into the toggle switch so it can be turned on and off as needed. The purpose of the light is to provide some visibility to the scope and equipment when people are around or near the telescope, and to assist in setup and teardown. This little unit will give me all the power I need for running the scope, and a dew heater, and I have designed it to allow for additional 12 volt outlets to be added. This unit will be wired into my camper's solar system and kept charged fully at all times. No more trips to the store once a month to buy $10 worth of battery's. And with power to spare, it improves the ability of the slewing motors to perform smoothly in the Winter months.

Aligning a GoTo Equatorial Mount

2009-08-29T17:58:00.006-04:00

The above diagram indicates the general layout of the mechanics of the night sky. If you projected a line through the Earth from the south pole to the north pole, and on into space, that line would appear to point directly at Polaris, or as we commonly call it, the north star.

All of the stars in the northern hemisphere rotate around Polaris during the course of the evening due to the Earth's rotation. To counteract this, one needs only line the Right Ascension axis of the equatorial mount at this magical center point, and all movements can be counteracted by turning the telescope on one axis. The Right Ascension axis is the one that is connected to the tripod. The one that is connected to the telescope and the counterweight shaft is the Declination axis. Every object in the sky has a co-ordinate given in hours, minutes and seconds of Right Ascension, and degrees, minutes, and seconds of Declination. Objects above the celestial equator have positive degrees of Declination and objects below have minus degrees of Declination. You go from 0 to 90, and 0 to -90 degrees going north of the celestial equator and then south of the celestial equator respectively. There are 24 hours of Right Ascension in a full circle.

You can do a simple alignment of your astronomical telescope's mount by placing the mount with the counterweight down, tube up. Now rotate the telescope until the tube is exactly in line with the Right Ascension, or polar, shaft of the mount. You can turn the base of the telescope in azimuth until it is in line with Polaris, and then finally, adjust the latitude setting on the equatorial head until the telescope is directly aimed at Polaris. This is the most simple method of polar aligning a telescope, and is sometimes called the home position on GoTo equatorial mounts.
Once you have roughly aligned the scope, you can use the hand controller to pick two stars, center them in the field of view, and hit enter to tell the electronics that you are pointed at them. Aligning a GoTo mount is really this easy, and once you've done it once, you can remember how to do it time and time over.

Another far more precise method uses the declination drift method, where you choose stars near the celestial equator both at the meridian, and at the eastern horizon. I first discovered this method in a 1977 Sky and Telescope article by Robert Provin on doing precision astrophotography. It has never let me down. You need a reticle eyepiece to do this, and you only move the telescope in Right Ascension to do this. The longer you can keep the star from drifting, the more precisely aligned your telescope will be. This method works great in an observatory, even when you can't see Polaris.

First, choose your star near where the celestial equator (i.e. at or about 0º in declination) and the meridian meet. The star should be approximately 1/2 hour of right ascension from the meridian and within about five degrees in declination of the celestial equator. Center the star in the field of your telescope and monitor the drift in declination.
•If the star drifts south, the polar axis is too far east.
•If the star drifts north, the polar axis is too far west.
Using the telescope's azimuth adjustment knobs, make the appropriate adjustments to the polar axis to eliminate any drift. Once you have eliminated all the drift, move to the star near the eastern horizon. The star should be 15 to 20 degrees above the horizon and within five degrees of the celestial equator.
•If the star drifts south, the polar axis is too low.
•If the star drifts north, the polar axis is too high.
The closer those stars are to the celestial equator, the more accurately your mount can be aligned. For long term use in an observatory, I will let it drift for 90 minutes, but you can speed this process up a lot by using a barlow lens because it really amplifies the drift. Remember to only make corrections in Right Ascension while doing this.

Some people like Dobsonian mounts. I have only ever used equatorial mounts, first without tracking, then with tracking, and finally with GoTo, which I absolutely love. Doing this simple procedure can let you see thousands of objects without frustration, and let you focus on enjoying your scope, rather than tracking it around the sky. I don't find an equatorial mount confusing in the least, either to operate or find objects with. Merely using one can teach you how objects appear to move in the night sky, much like the drawing above depicts. So before you go out and buy that big yard cannon that everyone recommends to newcomers, you might consider the convenience of having and using an equatorial mount. If you are going to do any kind of astrophotography, it is the only way to go. My blog's record is proof of that. If an 8 year old can use one without tracking, you can learn too. It really can deliver you a lifetime of amateur astronomy.

Touring the Galaxy with GoTo

2009-08-24T23:08:00.002-04:00

Tonite I decided the sky conditions were superb for a last summer blast of some of the finest objects in the Milky Way galaxy. I headed out a little after 8 PM and set up the scope to give it a little time to adjust, which it has little problems with. The night was cool and bug free, and clearer than I have seen it since I got my telescope. After I got it aligned, I worked on a small list of objects that were unfinished from my last dark sky evening. I viewed M22, M25, M28 and M70, all globular star clusters. The area around the heart of the galaxy, the halo, is rich with these old objects, and each one is slightly different. I used only one eyepiece tonight, the 18mm Ortho delivering approximately 42x.

I went on to view a variety of objects including M92gc, M13gc, M7oc, M8 (Lagoon), M15gc, M27 (Dumbell), M20 (Trifid), M17 (Swan), M11 (Wild Duck), M31 (Andromeda galaxy), M16, and M32. I also pointed the scope at Neptune and could pick out it's color, and took a look at Jupiter, which was unusually crisp this evening.

All in all it was a good Monday evening, and I am inside and heading to bed at a reasonable hour.

Image is M20 - the Trifid Nebula - courtesy of Gemini Observatory/AURA

A Trek in Sagittarius

2009-08-18T18:09:00.002-04:00

My binoculars have sat alone in a corner for a couple of months now ever since I got the scope. But last Friday night, and again Saturday I went out with them not wanting to pack the scope out in sub-seeing conditions and have been rewarded with some spectacular views in Sagittarius, including at least M25, M24, M7, the wild duck cluster and the butterfly cluster. It is very relaxing to take the tripod mounted 15x70's out and pan the lower portions of the milky way without having to crane my neck, seated in a chair with a comfortable height. I have the red dot finder spot on, so I turn it on dim and pan, and after finding something I can correlate it with my planetarium software and confirm what I am looking at with the reticle on the starfield. I am going to coin this as non-targeted astronomy, as opposed to doing deliberate targeted astronomy.

I was honestly wondering if I would use my binoculars much after getting the scope. But nights like these have reminded me that if I treat it as a specialty instrument and use it the way it was intended, it can be an excellent addition to doing GoTo/Telescope viewing and imaging. 15x70's are spectacular for browsing the milky way but I wouldn't want to hold them in my hand.

An earlier post alluded to using binoculars to view the Milky Way's finest objects and I have not been disappointed. This is really the first time I have experienced Sagittarius at latitude 36 degrees, the last time having optical assistance I was at latitude of 50 degrees, and the 14 degree difference is stunning.

Use everything you have....just enjoy astronomy.

A Beginning with Jupiter

2009-08-14T22:12:00.005-04:00

I've been experimenting with the Meade LPI and thought I would make a second attempt at Jupiter with some adjustments. I believe that my focus is a little off, and I lack the focal length to really increase image scale. Jupiter was a bit low in the sky when I shot these and I did not stack them myself, but rather let Envisiage do the stacking setting the quality up a bit higher. The seeing was not really great visually either.

You can see 3 of Jupiters moons, and these photos were taken on the evening of August 13 at approximately 11:00 PM EDT. It's going to be a lot harder to image Jupiter than I've seen in some photos. Especially at a focal length of 762 mm and f/5. I may experiment and mask the scope down a bit to see what I can do to sharpen the image. I hope to have better photos down the road.

What Happens at Astronomy Club Meetings

2009-08-08T08:13:00.002-04:00

Last night a club that I belong to held an astronomy club meeting. For the second time in 2 months I decided to skip the meeting.
For many years I have been in an astronomy club of one form or another. They are a great place to get out and meet people with similar interests and share ideas. What usually does not happen however is a lot of common observation time. Often times there are fundraisers, public open houses, tour groups, not to mention the countless hours of volunteer work maintaining a facility.
So I've decided to forgo the groups for now. My interest is in observing. I don't need the headaches of dealing with all the extras required to keep everyone happy. Our club is small, and meets in the basement of a members house. Our time is occupied watching TiVo'd reruns from the Discovery channel. I can do that at home, and save the gas. I think with a group like this, the best thing we can do is have a montly agreement to meet in a field somewhere if it is clear and bring our telescopes. There is no facility to maintain.
I'm open to new ideas for how to improve an astronomy club, and make meetings more meaningful. I'm at the point where I don't even want to go anymore, but my interest in astronomy is stronger than ever.

Ex Luna Lux LPI

2009-08-03T18:04:00.001-04:00

"From the Moon, Light via LPI"

This image is my first ever digital image, taken with the Meade LPI. It shows Mare Imbrium and Plato, Archimedes and Aristotle (craters). I shot this 2 days from full and was trying to capture the terminator, always a challenge when the moon is this bright.

Imaging with Envisiage is completely different from using 35 mm film, which was how I used to do this. Before we would bracket our exposures and wait days, and be at the mercy of the labs chemistry and density selections, that is, if the camera remained stable when the shutter opened. No more "hat tricks." Now with the PC, we have complete control over how the end result appears. I processed this a little using JASC Photo and cropped it a bit at the same time. I have tons to learn and lots of time to do it all.

It's not much, but I did it myself. It's good to be back in the imaging field again.

Law of Universal Expansion

2009-08-02T13:13:00.001-04:00

One of the most interesting things about this forum is watching people grow, from asking that first question, to getting a new scope that they have chosen based on advice, to asking more questions, to the frustrations and the joys alike, it's just awesome to watch people grow. I've been around this hobby for a lot of years, and at one point I actually was bored with it, I had flatlined so to speak. But I think that CN has rekindled my interest a lot and the friendships I have made with people here are so invaluable. Where else can I go and talk with so many like minded people about things as mundane as mesquitos to scope selection, the joys and frustrations of the weather, a good nights viewing, etc.

I think when you really begin to appreciate the people here and the good advice that they have you begin to learn and develop that brain/eye/affective connection, new things open with the hobby and there is no room for boredom. When I am not working I live, breathe and enjoy astronomy in so many ways beyond just getting out under the night sky. I can see all of you with your scopes doing likewise, the variation between each instrument, and almost half-predict your frustrations with some things at times. To me, that is the ultimate appreciation of the hobby.

I don't recommend one scope over another for any reason than the individual using it. I think picking a telescope is a very personal decision. I think we all learn from our joys and frustrations alike and use that to learn from. I think I could do astronomy with ANY telescope, but doing astronomy with the telescope that minimizes all of those frustrations should be an important goal. How ambitious are you? How willing are you to endure the frustrations to achieve said goal? And when you do go through it, and get to the other side, are you willing to experience that feeling of this all being worthwhile? For me, it certainly is.

One of the reasons I write this blog is to share those personal experiences with you all, so that you can see what this is all about. You can see that there is no prize at the end, it just keeps growing and growing. It is the law of universal expansion in action.

Passing the Hobby to Others

2009-07-24T21:55:00.003-04:00

I wanted to take a moment to reflect on how infectious this hobby can be, and how we often fail to realize how we all impact others in this hobby.

Just this evening, I received an email from a gentleman who was a childhood mentor of mine, and who came along at just the right place and time to have an impact in my passion for astrophotography. I was 14 years old at the time, and highly influential and eager to learn, and he was someone I have always looked up to for his experitise in the area. To hear from him really made my day, and likewise as he stated.

Yet if I look back at all the people I have influenced, I can see a long line as well. At age 13, when I received my first "real" telescope, I would set it up down on the road in front of my house. I grew up with a fellow by the name of Brad, and him and I would use this to look at the moon and planets. I know he got a real kick out of this and he later went on to become a chemistry professor at the local college, and also joined the club where he is still a member to this day.

And then I look at other friends, just guys I used to hang around with like Roger, Joe and Mark, a small circle of guys. All three of them would go on to join the club and become esteemed amateurs in their own right. Joe spent many years as the President of the organization and maintained an active interest in doing astronomy, and has completed the Messier catalog using nothing more than a telrad and a sky atlas. Roger worked in media and information technology and has created a huge electronic library of astronomy resources. Mark has likely read every single book on astronomy that can be purchased and is extremely knowledgeable in most anything one wants to know.

The bottom line here is that this is not about me. This is about how we affect those around us with our infectious love of this hobby, and how we, through our own enthusiasm pass this along to the next one in line. This is an interactive hobby, and a very human experience to share the wonders of space with new blood. None of us are so far up that we cannot remember the beginning, and the thrill of learning something new, no matter how small, or how trivial because we are building a foundation on which to build and grow into this hobby. We never stop growing because we began with something we knew we could never be larger than. It is my hope that we always remember that.

What Walter Saw

2009-07-18T17:58:00.004-04:00

With the passing of Walter Cronkite on July 17,2009, part of the history of the 20th century also passes on. Walter was born in 1916. And he was one of the biggest fans of space travel in the country at a time when it was far from many people's minds. He once commented that space travel may very well be the one thing future generations would look back and remember about the history of the 20th century.

Stop and think of all that this man saw. He was born before much of the modern theory of astronomy was known. In fact our limits of knowledge did not really go beyond the milky way galaxy. There were 8 planets. The largest telescope in the world was only 100 inches in diameter. Nuclear energy existed only on paper. The first great war was over and the second had not begun. There were no satellites. The sky he saw was completely free of all light pollution. His generation could look up at the sky and see places that nobody had ever been, and only imagine that one day, perhaps, going there was possible.

Yet he saw so much. From the development of the first rockets as a front line reporter, through to the dawn of the space age, the cold war rockets, to the Sputnik's, the failures, John Glenn and Neil Armstrong. He saw the headlines when Pluto was discovered, when the cosmos grew to include galaxies, onto the Voyager probes, the discovery that ringed planets abounded, and moons held secrets that few could only imagine. He was a huge fan of space and science, and his only claim was as a witness of the history before his eyes. He remained awestruck with mankinds achievements and held an optimism for our future in space.

It must have been an awesome life to live. For if we are to go this far, this fast ever again, then the world our children will see will be vastly different from the one they live on today - they simply won't be living here. Walter never believed for a second that this was not possible, nor should we.

Tuning In to Tune Out

2009-07-14T10:20:00.002-04:00

Tonite I went outside for a bit with the scope. I had taken it out and gotten it all ready for alignment and cooldown and was just sitting there watching as the first stars began to appear in a blue sky. When I was younger, this was all taken for granted, you know, the sun sets, the stars come out, bright ones first then as the sky blackens you see more and more until you reach mag 6.

But the last few times, or should I say, since I came back to the hobby, as I sit out there watching all of this happen, a lot of weird thoughts come through my mind. Thoughts like, you know, this is amazing how we can see these suns of other worlds in a complete blue sky. Those must be some huge suns. And that our day star is merely brighter than the other stars, and how its presence blots out the ability to discern the other suns. Then my mind wanders to those planetary civilizations who are part of multiple star systems, who may not have a night, and may not be able to even perceive that there is a universe out there, whose systems of time are completely different from our own. For it is the rotation of the earth that determines the sky we see, the lack of a sun in the sky that allows us to see it. Suddenly each of these pinpoints of light that are becoming visible suddenly become that much more important, and what I do on Tuesday that much less. I feel a connection with the cosmos that is not only familiar, it's literally the neighborhood, to know where to find Vega, Spica, Arcturus, etc, and to know a little about each of those places.

As the sky darkens and the telescope slews to its targets, and some special visiting points of interest are revealed I am amazed at how much is out there. I am intrigued at the thought that visually, this may be a treat, but in reality, this is some huge thing, so distant, that it's not merely a point of interest, it is something even larger than our own solar system. Lately I have taken a liking to star clusters, remnants of birth, of age, and wonders of beauty with stars of incredible anonimity. The significance of this all is very humbling. In it all, it's hard to even comprehend that I am a living part of the universe, actually comprehending it discretely and seperately.

Sights numberous, M57, M27, M5, the Lagoon, Trifid and more. The wonders of the summer milky way never cease to amaze.

An Evening of Real Astronomy

2009-06-28T10:48:00.002-04:00

A couple of us travelled tonite and went to a public star party armed with my glp and his homemade 6 inch Cave scope on a dobsonian mount.

We arrived in daylight as some of the folks who had volunteered their scopes for the event showed up. There was a large LX200 (12 inch) monster on a Meade fork, a nice C11 on a Losmandy G11, a homemade 10 inch dob having a telrad on it and the absolute filthiest mirror I had ever seen, a 13.1 inch homemade Dob with chunks missing from the mirror's coating, some 10 x50 binocs on a homemade parallelogram, a classic 8" Meade SCT on the old standard fork/wedge, and I think a Meade LX90. I gathered around like a kid in a candy shop eyeballing every detail I could gather about every scope there, asking questions, talking to the owners, just trying to feel it out.

Got to all but touch an actual moon rock (it was encased in plastic) and made some friends. As darkness descended the main organizer began a nice powerpoint show on 400 years of the telescope, and then everyone kinda began to make their way around to all the telescopes. I was KICKIN' myself for not bringing mine, but next time I will know better.

Anyways I spent a bit of time with the scope we brought and I lined it up on Saturn while the show was going on, and the moon. This Cave thing had a crappy Orion right angle finder on it that was all but completely useless and out of focus, but I did my best with it and was showing off M13 to some visitors and pointing out some constellations and stars with the GLP. I finally got around to seeing what everyone else was viewing, and although I got some nice views of the moon, it seemed such a waste to take such high dollar stuff out to show the moon only. When I finally got to the guy with the telraded dob, he was showing Alberio so I had a look and later M57. You can tell this guy uses his unpainted sonotube creation. It was a practical setup.

I had a good time, but I learned that the guy with the fancy scope is not always the one having the most fun. I learned that experience trumps money, and the guy who built his own scope masters his own scope. I also found out that you never take high dollar eyepieces for public viewings, it amazed me how people abused some of them when they were not supervised, I guarantee none of them had their Naglers out tonite. You can spot the people who use their equipment and know the sky for sure. For me it was just another night doing it the old way - no telrad again, and a lousy finder to boot.

I had a blast. I didn't miss my new scope, but the connections I made tonite were very worthwhile and I will be back when we do it again in August with scope and binocs, etc. The more I think about it, the less I want to be involved in one club and just be mobile joining several and taking in nights much like tonite. Life is too short to sit in club meetings and squable over fundraising to pay the insurance on a facility that nobody uses - just get out and do astronomy.

LXD75 SN6 First Light

2009-06-24T08:09:00.002-04:00

Mount: Meade LXD75 with Autostar
OTA: Meade 6 inch f/5 Schmidt Newtonian

The telescope arrived early in the day and I had plenty of time to set it up since I am on vacation for a bit. Carefully unpacking the mount first, setting it up was intuitive. I had read the manual that I downloaded a few times and that made it easier. One thing that would be nice is if the telescope came with a DVD demonstrating assembly, alignment, correct optical placement of the tube, various accessories, etc. It's time to think modern, if a carb can come packaged with one surely to goodness something as worthy as a telescope should. It might create less phone calls to Meade down the line for troubleshooting issues as well. I took it outside and aligned the finder on a distant object just to have it ready for nightfall.

About 10 mins before sunset I set it out on the pad that I had built just for it to let it thermally adjust. As the sky darkened enough to see polaris, I went through the motions of using the built in polar alignment tool, and I really like the fine adjustments to the equitorial head in altitude and azimuth, it makes it very simple. I also marked the pad where my legs sat so setting up again should be a breeze.

At 10 PM, well before astronomical twilight I began. I did the easy alignment with the Autostar, and carefully adjusted the objects by leaving them defocused to allow for better centering. Regulus was behind a tree, but a simple scroll let me find a star that was visible, and the mount was ready. I told the scope to move to M13. Here was the big test to see how accurate it could be. Right in the center - call it beginners luck. I'd been down this road before on the LX90 and after two targets you were on your own. Seeing as how I was viewing in a blue sky still, I thought I'd try a few more just to check alignment. M92 - dead on. Let's try M4, it's half a sky away, dead on - I can see the bar, then off to M57, holy smoke rings, there it is. It's not even 10:30, and the sky still has some blue left. So I did what any amateur would do, I came inside, baked a pizza and made a list of things to check out. I thought I had made a pretty good list with 12 objects on it, including M39, M29, NGC 7000, M51, M3, M5 M14, M10, M12, M71, M8 and M81/82. If I could see all of those, that would be a miracle. But time after time, and without impediment, this mount slewed to each one of those selections and put them dead in the eyepiece. Having completed that list, I did the Tonite's Best Tour and checked out Albireo, Altair, the Butterfly Cluster, the Lagoon Nebula, M15, M27, the Trifid Nebula, the Swan Nebula, M11 and M5 before coming inside at 1 AM. My papers were soaked in dew and I felt damp, even though the scope was still dry. I am very impressed with the LXD75 mount to say the least. It's accuracy and alignment, even without training the drive was rewarding and I will never look backwards again. The electronics in it and the Autostar make astronomy a joy because you can focus on the things you want to see and less on getting there. You can also learn from the ? command while you are at the eyepiece, and that is very nice. The ONLY thing I would love to see Meade add to the Autostar is a LOG button that would save the object you were viewing and the time so it could be downloaded to a computer for later cataloging.

Optically the SN6 is a nice scope. For only 6 inches, it can still show you a lot. The views are crisp edge to edge and the fields are wide. I used it at 29X with the enclosed 26mm Plossl, and also with my older University Optics 18mm orthoscopic delivering about 42x. It resolves clusters well, and does the job on all the rest. On my old scope it would take me a summer of clear nights to see all that I saw in 2 hours tonite. And the consistent performance of the combination of the LXD75 and the SN6 is a winner. For a beginner, this is a substantial investment, and the technology may be a little intimidating, but two hours of training with a seasoned amateur at a club would be more than enough to get you on a lifetime of enjoyment. It's too bad we couldn't buy things like this when we were kids because I would have saved every penny I made to own a telescope like this.

Things I like
- the size of the tube
- the weight of the tube/cradle
- the weight of the mount
- the electronics
- the soundness of the mount and OTA - love the LXD75, love the SN6, together or apart.
- the battery pack - D cells are the way to go if you need a small portable source. I also ordered the cigarette lighter adapter for it.

Things I wish they would improve/add
- add a DVD
- put that LOG button onto the Autostar
- small red led in the base to see the eyepiece tray
- velcro strap to hold the Autostar on the leg, trivial but helpful

Tonite the fun begins

2009-06-23T15:03:00.003-04:00

It's here!!! The FedEx driver came by this morning at about 10:45 AM with his little van and I greeted him in the driveway. He greeted me with 3 boxes. When I told him it was a telescope, he told me that he had one as well, also a computerized Meade. We talked astronomy for a bit, I talked to him about shipping the OTA of the Cave and it's doable. I packed it all in the door and began to unpack the mount, carefully. It all looked pretty straightforward, but I had read the manual about 4 times before it even got here, and it all went together in under an hour. I had to take it outside to see how it would work on the pad that I had made yesterday for it. I built a completely leveled pad to minimize errors in tracking and finding objects. I hadn't even plugged it in yet, took a picture and shared it with my friends on Cloudy Nights.

After I plugged it in, at first nothing lit up. I tested the battery pack and was not getting any voltage, so I removed all of the batteries one at time, tested them, replaced them, and tested the voltage, this time I was lucky. I know I put those batteries in right, so that was unusual, but now it's fine. I plugged in the Autostar and the battery and fired it up. Beautiful.

Rob in the forum mentioned about being "seasoned" and remebering when setting circles and atlases were king. You know, that's not such a bad thing either, but when you have the ability to just slew without physically touching the scope, and letting the motors guide all telescope control, even that would have been nice back in the Cave days of astronomy. We used to dream of having full control of telescopes, with ideas to build digital setting circles (homemade encoders) hooked to a Commodore 64 using power window motors to slew to the co-ordinates, buying CCD chips to image with remotely, and the like. In our wildest dreams we could not imagine things like autoguiding, that was so much further down the road, and here it is, on an amateur level instrument, and affordable to the world.

As a bonus, they actually program the celestial co-ordinates of a few million objects into a palm sized controller today, you push a few buttons and you're there for the ride. Yet this scope has the complete feel of a classic from the way you can lock the shafts to the counterweight. At heart, it's still a telescope.

The LXD75 is a nice mount. I am going to wait a few months before I sell my Cave and ship the OTA down here since it is manageable. I have a strange feeling this mount will handle it, and if it does I will have the combination of the outstanding optics of a hand made telescope combined with the electronics of a modern mount. And if it doesn't, well I will have a Cave on a Dobsonian mount, and that's not a bad thing either.

Weather permitting, tonite I will evaluate the OTA. I am hoping the Schmidt Newt performs exactly as I expect it, and if it does, then I have made an excellent purchase. I feel I know it's limits well enough, but the real prize will be the camera work I want to do with it after I get my share of viewing in again.

Tonite the fun begins!!!

Stargate 101A

2009-06-19T14:12:00.004-04:00

I am writing this in restrospect of all that I have traversed to plan, craft and dream. It is not economical to transport the Cave to Kentucky from Alberta, so now things change. I had thought about just going and getting it, but even that, economically does not make sense. I really hate to part with my Uncle Walter's telescope, but it's the next right thing to do.

Before the internet, we used this thing called mail. And back in the early 70's, there was just me, Grampa, and Uncle Walter who had telescopes in our family. Grampa's was a nice little Tasco spotting scope with a cool zoom lens and a little tripod. It was him who bought me my first telescope for my 6th birthday in 1970, a little tabletop tripod mounted 30mm refractor that had the telescoping tubes like you see the pirates using. And then there was Uncle Walter, who always had to do better. He had a 6 inch f/8 on a homemade mount.

My interest grew in astronomy and I gradually got bigger telescopes, a 40mm refractor, then a 60mm refractor. I'd spend hours out in the yard winter and summer with them and binoculars and Walter and I would write to each other every month or so about what we were observing. And then in the summer of 1976, Walter came to visit, and we had to wait until 11 O Clock for him to show up. It was worth the wait, he outright gave me the 6 inch f/8 telescope because he had bought a new one. At last, my first real telescope. Now I could see everything. Things that were small were larger, and the moon's surface was awesome, as were all of the planets, nebulas, star clusters. That following spring, I was finally able to make out Virgo and learned a ton of new constellations. We would write each other often, he would suggest things for me to do with it, how to do this and that.

And in the summer of 1985, he came back to visit. I was busy with college the few years before that and didn't have much time to do astronomy, but the scope went everywhere with me. I asked him if he still used his telescope. He said no, so I asked him if he wanted to sell it. He notified me that he would, and he wanted $1200 for it, that it was a Cave, and that I would have to make a 6 hour drive to get it. We worked out a payment plan, and two weeks later I picked it up.

I'll never forget getting this scope. Everything about it was precise. The mount was awesome, and a clock drive to boot. The first time I looked through it was unreal. The best star images I had ever seen. The best planetary images I had ever seen. The contrast was fantastic. We removed the homemade 10 inch f/6 from the club's dome and installed the Cave 10 inch f/5 for Halley's comet. I spent every single night out at the observatory, and showed 20,000 people that comet through this scope. When the people went home, we looked at everything you can imagine. The following summer, I built it a home of its own. And I used it whenever I could. Until I moved to Kentucky in 1999, it was 20 minutes drive to the dark country and 2 minutes to observing.

So just as the 6 inch went to a new owner, the Cave must also find a loving home. Unless circumstances change, it is time to move on. I selected a 6 inch f/5 Schmidt Newtonian to take it's seat. This scope has the features I was thinking would be nice to have, such as GoTo and the ability to do astrophotography again. It's the modern version of the old 6 inch telescope. It is small and transportable, and that is desireable since the skies are no longer dark in one place. It has a good mount with tracking. It's even got some neat electronic features. It can never take the place of the Cave. The Cave opened me to deep space, this is just the express ticket for getting back there, a new Stargate if you will. I don't expect to discover anything with it, but I do intend to push it to it's limits and try to take it places I could not get with the Cave. I'm sure we will learn to love each other in the days ahead because all of my telescopes are like children to me.

Beginner Advice

2009-06-12T13:01:00.003-04:00

How often do we read on forums and in magazines the recommendations of others about various things. Whether it is what we view, what we use to view with, or what is best for us.
I recently got into a discussion with a new amateur about choosing their first instrument. You know, so often the books today recommend that people begin with binoculars. Then the books go into a long spiel about which binoculars are better suited for astronomy. This recommendation is not carved in stone, but because people read it over and over it has become ingrained in their heads that this is the answer.
The recommendation came about because most people allready have binoculars in their home. If they don't, the recommendation does not say to go out and purchase binoculars although some will want to do them.
So this advice is for the newcomer. Binoculars are very small aperture instruments with fixed magnification generally. Their performance is only slightly better than a similar sized scope. There is no special magic in binoculars today that improves much over yesterday, although some would have you believe that. There is no pair of binoculars that will exceed the performance of all but the poorest 6 inch reflector telescope on a good mount.
So I am going to go on my 35 years or so in this hobby. I feel qualified to offer a new recommendation to beginners, or as qualified as anyone else who has made qualified remarks. Skip the binoculars for now, and invest the money in a telescope. Begin with something 6 inches or more in aperture. Skip the apochromatic refractors and binoculars for now as these are more specialized instruments. For the most bang for your buck, the good old fashioned Newtonian reflector of 6 inches or more in diameter will open the entire cosmos to you. Down the road, you may wish to upgrade. Telescopes like this are easy to sell later on. They are portable enough to go anywhere, large enough to see abour everything, and serious enough to do real astronomy. They are also one more thing, an excellent value.

Gearing Up For Summer

2009-06-06T19:39:00.003-04:00

Today marks an anniversary of sorts for many reasons. I am pleased with my progress so far in returning to astronomy, and I am quite satisfied with my new equipment. I find my curiousity is rising in things I could never imagine years ago, particularly in the area of stellar evolution, galactic formation, and planetary science. I am fascinated by the way that the bigger picture is unfolding before me on how this all fits together. Down the road, I plan on writing an article on my ideas on all of this, but in the meantime, tonite I am just going to enjoy the full moon and the occultation of Antares. Clear Skies and if not, Cloudy Nights

Binocular Heaven

2009-05-27T19:46:00.003-04:00

I never thought I would see the day when I could enjoy smaller aperture instruments again, but I am really loving my new binoculars.

I ordered my 15x70 Garretts earlier this month and Zach assured me that these are suitable astronomical instruments. First off, I'd like to thank him and will highly recommend Garrett Optical for any purchases. I would definitely purchase from them again and I really loved being able to speak to them in person even though it was a small order.

Every object that I have targeted this month, and that has not been many because the weather has been less than co-operative has been seen. Some of the objects that I have had little or no trouble with are M65, M66, M13,M92, and M3. Two galaxies and three globular clusters is not a bad start. I am really looking forward to enjoying open clusters like M45 and M44 but that will have to wait a bit for now. Summer brings a whole new enjoyment in star fields in the Sagittarius region, nebula, more globular clusters, and even for the challenge, a planetary like M57. Yep I fully intend to knock this one out soon.

This evening I purchased the FarSight binocular mount and a Multiple Reticle Red Dot finder to mount on top to allow me to more accurately point at these fine objects. Tapered binoculars do not allow one to sight, and trying to sight down the focusing wheel in the dark is hard for an old guy like me, so I will take all the help I can get, especially from a 1x finder, and a decent bino-bracket that allows me to remove them without having to re-tighten the center shafts every time I set them up.

I think the real joy of binoculars is that they demonstrate how little you can use and still see so much, and they are a perfect compliment to any telescope for introducing the general public as to the expectations of binoculars, small, and large aperture telescopes. They can see with their own eyes, nobody has to say a word.

If you don't have binoculars, try them out for yourself at a star party. When you consider how small your investment will be, and how much you can actually see, you might consider ordering some to take along when you are out camping this summer under the blackest skies you have ever seen, wishing for something to use just to do more.

Observatory Planning 101

2009-05-25T21:59:00.003-04:00

At the top of this blog, you will see a photo of my observatory that I built in the spring and summer of 1986 to house my Cave Astrola 10 inch newtonian telescope. It worked well, but it's almost 2300 miles from where I now reside. With plans to bring the telescope to Kentucky comes the need to make plans for how to best utilize it and learn from the previous construction how to do things better.

I've not made any blueprints or sketches yet, but it will likely be very similar to this one in design. Initially, it will begin life as a deck with a pier sitting on concrete, since the location that I can best use for an observatory sits on a sloped area of the yard. I have marked out a space using rebar that is about 8 by 12 feet. The new observatory, when completed, will have a small porch on it about 4 feet wide and 8 feet long.

I dream of an observatory wired fully for electronics conveniently located at the pier, with safe and accomodating red lighting, security, and the ability to do remote imaging from indoors one day. I envision an observatory that is architecturally attractive, maintenance free, and easy to use. It must blend in with the overall scheme of the landscape and existing pool and relaxation decks.

But the one thing that I do not intend to do is rush the construction. This will be a carefully planned endeavour that will begin with transporting the telescope, and will be done in segments as it can be afforded.

The one thing I am most looking forward to is that it will be at home, not located at a place 12 miles away at minimum, and with that, it is certain to be used most every clear night and really add to my enjoyment of this hobby again.

I'll post more as things come together.

Returning from Arcturus

2009-05-25T01:42:00.002-04:00

Coming back to astronomy from a 10 year hiatus has been an eye opening experience, but one which I am re-adjusting to very well. For all the changes that have come about, not much has changed except the marketing techniques and the quality of the equipment.

There is still some decent equipment out there. And then there are some things that used to be well built that have moved their manufacturing away and have suffered in quality. When it comes down to keeping a scope reasonable in price, you either build it cheaper with labor or with parts, or both. Most of what is made today uses both.

But what astonishes me is the marketing. Today's telescopes are sold like sports cars with labels like XS5 or something like that. Gone are the days when a simple name stood for the product. Like in 1975, if you had a Questar, it was a 3.5 inch or a 7 inch Maksutov-Cassegrain, dark blue with a star map on the rotating tube, on a lightweight mount that performed like a Champion. The name Questar was synonymous with what to expect optically from this finely-tuned machine. The design fell out of the original creators blueprints.

Mirrors on reflectors used to come in standard sizes, 3", 4.25", 6", 8", 10" or 12.5". Today's rough conversions to metric has left one with a host of different sizes to contend with. And all telescope makers told you the diameter and the focal ratio. Today you will often see the diameter and the focal length in mm, and you have to figure it all out, but I guess it is easier for newcomers than learning "the language" as we used to call it. This has become "the language."

Today's amateur has changed. They are a brand oriented consumer with multiple instruments and interests. Very few will build a telescope, or a mount, or know how to modify one. Yesterday's amateur visited army surplus stores for parts, collected optics from places like Edmund scientific and built eyepieces, finders, barlows, and more. Most amatuers in 1970 wanted to own a lathe, whereas today's amateur wants to purchase an EQ-6, an autoguider, and a CCD camera, in the 70's they wanted a 12 inch Byers drive, an off axis guider, and a 35mm SLR. Most serious photographers used to own darkroom gear, and today they own a laptop and PhotoShop. Owning a few high quality eyepieces has been replaced by collections of various eyepieces made by different companies, and you have to dig deep to find the underlying optical layout of many of them.

But it's when I get out under the night sky, with some optical assistance that it all changes to the way I remember it. My new 15x70 Garrett's have allowed me to see my old friends again and make new ones. The time I spent alone under the night sky with my Cave Astrola 10" f/5 before taught me the hard way, and it's still the only way in the end. I've used a Meade LX-90 with GPS and AutoStar GoTo recently, but more often than not, the old way has bailed me out when all else failed.

It is that connection with the heavens that comes with experience, when you get beyond the gear, and get down to the toolbox inside of you that you really appreciate why you still love this hobby. You begin to see the mechanics of the heavens, not the objects, and your curiousity rises, and you begin to question God, history, and even Christianity. You begin to see a deeper appreciation for life, for your home planet, and for the people on it and it's future. That's what keeps drawing me back to this amazing hobby.