A Good Night on the Mountain

Ahhhhh. Finally the clouds had cleared, the moon was close to new, and the sky was rather stable. It turned out to be a good night for astrophotography last night. I started shooting around 6PM and shot constantly for six hours, until the winds started to kick up enough to possibly buffet the cameras and ruin exposures. No two ways about it, it was cold, but stable nights any time of the year in this area should be taken for all they are worth.
No, I do not have the images ready. It takes one to several hours per image to stack, process, and finalize each photo. So, I hope to have them here, on this blog, soon.

Windy Night on the Mountain

The skies were to be clear Saturday Night, so I took the AMOV onto the mountain for some astrophotography. Once I arrived, the skies were, indeed, clear, but the wind was fierce, gusting to well over 30mph at times. I decided that I did not want to waste the trip, so I set up the two AstroTrac mounts, and placed my cameras on the mounts. I decided to use my older Olympus lenses instead of my larger Canon lenses to reduce the profile of the cameras to the wind. Wind buffeting against the cameras would surely introduce motion to the images, so I wanted to reduce the chance of that happening. I guess it did pretty good in some instances, but not in others. As long as I was shooting with the wind hitting the side of the camera, no induced motions was visible in the images. However, when I photographed areas here the wind was hitting the back of the camera, I noticed alot of wind induced blurring in the images. Lesson learned. Here are a couple of the images that I have processed from last night.

In the image above, you can see a wider field image of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). If you look within the disk of the main galaxy, below and right of the bright center, you can see a small satellite galaxy of M31, called M32. Above and left of the bright center, just outside of the main galaxy disk, you can see another satellite galaxy, M110. These galaxies are gravitationally interacting, and are located about 2.5 million light years away from us, and heading in our direction.

Camera - Canon EOS 40D
Lens - Olympus 200 MM f4 Lens, set at f5.6 - ISO 800 - (320MM effective focal length)
63 Minutes of exposure (21 x3 minutes)
AstroTrac TT320 Astrophotography mount for tracking

In this image above, you can see a wide field image of the tail and wing area of the constellation Cygnus. In this image, the bright star in the upper right is Deneb. Above it, and to the left is the North American Nebula (because it resembles the North American continent). Just below that, and slightly fainter is the Pelican Nebula. Directly above the North American Nebula, and at the edge of the image is the open cluster of stars, NGC7039. If you look below and left of Deneb, the next bright star you see is Sadr. You will notice the Sadr Nebula around that star, as well as the upper left of the star.
Now, if you move from Sadr toward the left of the image, you will see another bright star. Just past that star you can see an arch of nebulosity. This is the western part of the Veil Nebula. If you make an imaginary circle completeing that arch, you will see the rest of the Veil Nebula. The eastern portion of the nebula passes through the brighter star below the arch, called 52 Cygni. To the right side of the imaginary circle is an area of the Veil Nebula called the Waterfall.
If you look between the veil nebula and the bottom of the image, you can see another open cluster of stars called NGC 6940.

Camera - Hap Griffin Modified Canon EOS 350D
Lens - Olympus 50 MM f1.8 Lens, set at f2.8 - ISO 800 - (80MM effective focal length)
45 Minutes of exposure (15 x3 minutes)
Imaged using an IDAS LPS Light Pollution Filter
AstroTrac TT320X Astrophotography mount for tracking

Astronomy at Mountain Lake

I had the pleasure of teaching some astronomy at Mountain Lake last night. When I arrived at the hotel, the skies were mostly cloudy. I set up a couple of telescopes, snapped a few pictures, and then headed in to the hotel to talk with the participants in the astronomy program. The attendees came out a bit later to observe the night sky. The clouds had dispersed, and the sky was clear. However, seeing was less than normal, and the objects did not hold their clarity as they would on a more still evening. We observed Jupiter and it's moons with a 6 inch ARO custom Maksutov Cassegrain telescope on a Mountain Instruments MI-250 mount. We took in the Ring Nebula (M57) in the constellation Lyra, The Andromeda Galaxy (M31), and the Double Cluster open cluster in Perseus in a StarGazer Scopes 15 inch truss dobsonian reflector. In the 8 inch Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain telescope on a Celestron CGE mount, we observed the Hercules globular cluster (M13) in the constellation Hercules, and the beautiful double star, Albireo, in the constellation Cygnus.

This was a great group of people, and I really had a good time showing them around the night sky. If you have a group that would like an astronomy talk, please let me know.

Here is the Astronomy Mobile Outreach Vehicle (AMOV) near the area where we set up the scopes. We set up near the hotel to minimize the distance to walk, given the cold temperatures that evening.

Another shot, this time showing the nearly dry Mountain Lake bed, as well as some beautiful fall foliage. That is one dry lake. Hopefully, it will fill up again soon.

Here is the Astronomy Mobile Outreach Vehicle (AMOV) with the Mountain Lake Hotel in the background. Clearly visible in this photo is the Audiotronics logo on the side of the vehicle. Audiotronics has been a big help in supporting our effort to take science and astronomy to the youth and general public. I highly recommend their business.

Cool, Nice, Sunday Night

The Clear Sky Clock ( www.clearskyclock.com ) said that the skies would be good last night, so I headed up for a night of astrophotography, and testing some astronomy gear. I had a chance to finally try out the new AstroTrac TT320X mount. I trained my modified Canon DSLR on the Pleiades, which was rising in the east. Using a Sigma 70-200 f2.8 APO zoom lens, I shot the open cluster for 30 minutes, trying to bring out the subtle nebulosity around the starts in the cluster, without blowing out (overexposing) the stars. The image and info is below.

Camera - Hap Griffin Modified Canon EOS 350D
Lens - Sigma 70-200 MM f2.8 Lens, set at 200MM - f2.8 - ISO 800 - (320MM effective focal length)
30 Minutes of exposure (10 x3 minutes)
AstroTrac TT320X Astrophotography mount for tracking

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