First Image with the Notatakahashi

I have been working on a prototype Maksutov Newtonian reflector telescope (Mak-Newt) that I bought recently in disassembled form, in an attempt to bring it back to life. Now called the "Notatakahashi Mak-Newt Astrograph", it is a 152mm aperture, 600mm, f4 wonder. I have been working to figure the optimum configuration for the front menicus lens, the position of the spherical primary, and the ideal point of prime focus outside the tube. I believe I am getting close, as I was able to shoot an image of the moon through the hole where the focuser will be installed. This image was shot hand held, without the help of the focuser. The colors and contrast look pretty good, so I am pleased with this configuration.

This image of the full moon was taken with the Notatakahashi Astrograph.
Focal Length - 600mm
f Ratio - f4
Aperture - 152mm (6 inches)
Camera - Canon 40D
ISO - 800
Shutter Speed - 1/2000 sec.

Newly acquired Astrophotography mount

I enjoy astrophotography, and one of my main tools is my AstroTrac TT320. The TT320 is a lightweight, easy to set up, and very accurate tracking mount. I was fortunate to own one of the first three TT320 mounts in the US. I have since become a constant user of the TT320. Recently, Richard Taylor, owner of AstroTrac notified me that he would soon be releasing an updated version of his mount, called the TT320X. I immediately put in an order for one, and it arrived from the UK the other day. It has a host of new features, such as solar and lunar tracking, to go along with sidereal tracking (stars). It has been redesigned to carry a 50% increase in load capacity. There were other improvements made as well. I am looking forward to testing out this new mount, and you will see the results here on this blog in the future, as well as my astrophotography website at:
www.darkskyphotos.com

The image above shows the two mounts. The one on the left is the new AstroTrac TT320X. The mount on the right is the AstroTrac TT320. The AstroTracs are the silver long arms with the tracking system at right angles to the arms at the bottom of the arms. Simple, yet elegant.
In case anyone wants to know, the camera on the left is a Canon 40D, with a Sigma 300mm f2.8 telephoto lens. The camera on the right is a Canon 30D, with a Tamron 300mm f2.8 lens.

The image above shows the two mounts from the side, so you can see the design layout of the AstroTrac TT320 mounts. The small telescopes facing upward on each mount are the polar alignment scopes. These are used to align the mount with the north so the unit will track the cameras to counteract the rotation of the earth. Improper alignment of the mounts results in poor images with stars trailing through the photograph.

Newer Images from the Roanoke Night Sky

Earlier this month, the skies around Roanoke cleared up for a stretch of several days, and I took advantage of the offer. I shot over 20 hours of images, and have just now had the opportunity to process some of them. Here are the latest images of the objects in the light sky above Roanoke. As in other posts, details of the image is printed below the image.

The image above is the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) in the constellation Aquarius. It has low surface brightness, which makes it a tougher target, but it is a large object. If it were bright enough to see the whole object with the naked eye, it would be close to the size of the full Moon in the sky. It is one of the closest planetary nebulae, at a distance of about 450 light years. The rings are the gases of the central star, at they were blown away from the star in a series of stellar events. Now those gases fluoresce, or glow, as they are exposed to the radiation from the now exposed core of the star.

Camera - Hap Griffin Modified Canon EOS 350D
Lens - Sigma 300 MM f2.8 Lens, set at f2.8 - ISO 800 - (480MM effective focal length)
26 Minutes of exposure (13 x2 minutes)
AstroTrac TT320 Astrophotography mount for tracking


The image above is the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) in the constellation Andromeda.

Camera - Canon EOS 40D
Lens - Sigma 300 MM f2.8 Lens, set at f2.8 - ISO 1600 - (480MM effective focal length)
28 Minutes of exposure (14 x2 minutes)
AstroTrac TT320 Astrophotography mount for tracking


The image above is the Pleiades (Messier 45) in the constellation Taurus. It is a young, open cluster of stars. It is sometimes mistaken as the little dipper, due to the fact that the brighter stars form an asterism that does look like a dipper. This cluster is called Subaru in Japan. If you look at the logo for the Subaru automobile, you will see a representaion of this star cluster. It is one of the closest recognisable open clusters, at a distance of about 400 light years. The stars are exciting the gases in the area of the cluster, causing the blue-colored glow around the stars.

Camera - Canon EOS 40D
Lens - Sigma 300 MM f2.8 Lens, set at f2.8 - ISO 1600 - (480MM effective focal length)
18 Minutes of exposure (9 x2 minutes)
AstroTrac TT320 Astrophotography mount for tracking


The image above is the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8) in the constellation Sagittarius. This image is at a focal length that is pushing the capability of my tracking mount.

Camera - Hap Griffin Modified Canon EOS 350D
Lens - Sigma 300 MM f2.8 Lens, set at 600 MM f5.6 - ISO 1600 - (960MM effective focal length)
28 Minutes of exposure (14 x2 minutes)
AstroTrac TT320 Astrophotography mount for tracking


The image above was shot last June, and I just had the opportunity to process it. It was photographed using a digital SLR camera with special filtration to highlight Hydrogen alpha (Ha) emissions. This is the area of Cygnus, the Swan. It is what many people call the northern cross. If you look closely at the stars, the cross looks like it is laying down, with the top pf the cross to the left. The intense red color of this image is due to the Ha emissions, which are not very visible to the naked eye.

Camera - Hap Griffin Modified Canon EOS 350D - Filtered
Lens - Canon 18-55 MM f3.5-5.6 Zoom Lens, set at 28MM f3.5 - ISO 400 - (45MM effective focal length)
10 Minutes of exposure (10 x1 minutes)
Kenko SkyMemo Astrophotography mount for tracking

Working on Images

The past few evenings have been pretty clear, and I took advantage of it with several nights of imaging. I now have about 20 hours of astrophotos that I need to stack and process. So, be looking here in the near future for some new astro images, taken from right here, in the Roanoke area.

Also, a new astronomy group has formed in the Roanoke Valley. the Star City Astronomy Network (SCAN) is a small group of astronomy enthusiasts that are dedicated to teaching astronomy and doing astronomy outreach. Feel free to contact SCAN here, or at www.starcityastronomy.org .

Astronomy Vehicle at the Bryan Lawrence Benefit Car Show

I decided that it would be a good idea for me to expand my astronomy outreach by taking my Astronomy Mobile Outreach Vehicle (AMOV) to the car show being held to benefit Bryan Lawrence, the Roanoke Police Officer recently paralyzed in an attack.
Although, not "high-end" show quality, the AMOV looks nice, and usually attracts a crowd. It gives people something to look at besides autos and trucks. At this show, I managed to talk to hundreds of visitors, and allow them to observe the sun through several telescopes equipped with solar filters for safe viewing. I stayed very busy all day, and although the sun had no activity to look at on its surface, people still enjoyed the chance to safely look at the sun. I would have to say that it was a successful event. Below are some images that I managed to take while talking astronomy with the masses.

Here is the Astronomy Mobile Outreach Vehicle (AMOV). It was a 21 passenger bus before I saved it from the scrap yard and started using it to teach astronomy. I also use it as a base of operations when I am involved in astronomy outreach with members of the local astronomy group, Star City Astronomy Network (SCAN).

The Astronomy Mobile Outreach Vehicle (AMOV), from the back.. The large telescope toward the back of the vehicle is a 15" Dobsonian Reflector, built by StarGazer Telescopes.
The telescopes with the solar filters were mounted on the tripod near the front of the vehicle.

A little Andromeda for ya

I was out the other evening and managed to get some photons of the Andromeda Galaxy, rising in the east. This galaxy is the closest galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy. Designated as Messier 31 (M31), it is visible as a bright, fuzzy patch in the sky, and lies about 2.5 million light years away.
Of course, you need to get away from the light pollution of the Roanoke Valley to get a sky dark enough to see it with the naked eye. This is an excellent object for binoculars, as well as telescopes.

The image above is the Andromeda Galaxy, M31, in the constellation Andromeda. It is located near the "Great Square of Pegasus", and asterism of starts that forms a large square.

Camera - Canon EOS 40D
Lens - Sigma 300 MM f2.8 Lens, set at f2.8 - ISO 800
27 Minutes of exposure (9 x3 minutes)
AstroTrac TT320 Astrophotography mount for tracking

Finally another photo night

It was partly cloudy when I left for the mountains Saturday evening, but the skies cleared not long after I arrived at my imaging site. The humidity in the air made the seeing very stable, and a cool breeze made the evening very pleasant. I did not have much problem with condensation on my optics, even with the higher humidity, and I would say that the gentle breeze helped in that regard. I did manage to get about 2 hours of imaging in before the high clouds and fog stopped the astrophotography.

The image above is the constellation, Sagittarius. It is located in the south, and it's stars form a recognizable "Teapot" shape. In the bright area, just above and right of the teapot's spout is the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The bright star on the left is not a star at all. It is our planet neighbor, Jupiter, which is easily spotted in the southern skies all evening.

Camera - Canon EOS 40D

Lens - Tamron 18-50 MM f2.8 Zoom Lens, set at 50MM f2.8 - ISO 800
22 Minutes of exposure (11x2 minutes)
AstroTrac TT320 Astrophotography mount for tracking

The Image above is a widefield area in the constellation, Sagittarius, containing the nebulae, M8 (lower nebula) and M20 (upper nebula). Above and to the left of M20, the Trifid Nebula, is the open cluster, M21. Below and to the left of M8, the Lagoon Nebula, is the globular cluster, NGC 6544.

Camera - Hap Griffin Modified Canon EOS 350D
Lens - Sigma 70-200MM f2.8 Zoom Lens, set at 200MM f2.8 - ISO 800
6 Minutes of exposure (3x2 minutes)
AstroTrac TT320 Astrophotography mount for tracking

Moon is up. It's hard to do Astrophotography

Ahhhh. The skies clear up, and of course it happens when the moon is up in the evenings. Astrophotography is difficult, but not impossible, when the moon is glaring in the sky. That is why I usually avoid planning astro shoots when the moons is up. However, I am not one to miss a clear night sky, so I think I might head into the mountains tonight to do some observing. Trade the cameras for the big telescopes and work on my Astronomical League Double Star list. Maybe work on the Globular Cluster list as well. I highly recommend get out in the evening, find a dark site, kick back and enjoy the stars. Rejuvenating, it is.

More Image Processing

The weird thing about astrophotography is that as much time you spend shooting images, you spend at least an equal amount of time processing them. I decided to combine some images taken with two different cameras of the same subject. The idea is that the more digital data you capture, the better your overall image. So, I shot M8 and M20 in Sagittarius with my Canon EOS 40D and my Hap Griffin Modified Canon EOS 350D. By using a scaling procedure, I was able to align the images with two stars that were visible in all the images, even though the images were made with different cameras, with different fields of view. The result is below.

The Image above is M8 and M20 in the constellation, Sagittarius.

Cameras - Canon EOS 40D and Hap Griffin Modified Canon EOS 350D
Lens - Sigma 300MM f2.8 Lens, set at 300MM f2.8 - ISO 800
54 Minutes of exposure (27x2 minutes)
AstroTrac TT320 Astrophotography mount for tracking

Latest Images of the Night Skies

We finally had a good night for astrophotography on July 1, 2008. I went up on the Blue Ridge Parkway with my imaging gear and started shooting. I ended up with about 4 hours of exposures. Below, I have put together some examples of what I shot the other night. With each image, I will list the gear I used to make the shot, as well as the exposure totals.

The Image above is a wide field shot of the Milky Way. The bright star above the trees is not a star. That is our neighbor planet, Jupiter.
Camera - Canon EOS 40D - Tamron 11-18MM f4.5 Lens, set at 11MM f4.5 - ISO 800
12 Minutes of exposure (6x2 minutes)
AstroTrac TT320 Astrophotography mount for tracking

The Image above is an area shot in the constellation, Sagittarius. There are two bright nebulae in this image, and one fainter nebula. The larger, bright nebula on the right is Messier 8 (M8) (NGC 6523), the Lagoon Nebula. The smaller, bright nebula is Messier 20 (M20) (NGC 6514), The Trifid Nebula. Above M8, and slightly to the right, near the top of this image is a fainter star forming region designated NCG6559. These Nebulae are located along the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy.
Camera - Canon EOS 40D - Sigma 300MM f2.8 Lens, set at 300MM f2.8 - ISO 800
28 Minutes of exposure (14x2 minutes)
AstroTrac TT320 Astrophotography mount for tracking

The Image above is an area shot in the constellation, Ophiuchus. This area has very faint nebulosity, and it takes plenty of exposure to get the nebula to show in an image. The triple, "Mickey Mouse", looking star is Rho Ophiuchi. This is called the Rho Ophiuchi nebula. What is unusual about this area is the array of colors displayed in a relatively small area of the sky. This area can be found just above alpha Scorpii, Antares, the bright red star in the constellation, Scorpius.
Camera - Canon EOS 40D - Sigma 300MM f2.8 Lens, set at 300MM f2.8 - ISO 800
60 Minutes (1 Hour) of exposure (30x2 minutes)

AstroTrac TT320 Astrophotography mount for tracking