Urban Astronomy II

[nevers]

The website is coming along ok - thanks to those who checked it out for me.<br /><br />This weekend has been as usual as of late: frustrating! Sure, it’s a full moon weekend but that shouldn’t stop me from using my telescopes. I had planned on taking some astrophotography shots of some of the bigger objects in the night sky: especially M3 in Canes Venatici and M13 in Hercules.<br /><br />On Thursday night I set up the LXD55-AR5 complete with its rider: the Orion ST80. I got a really nice shot of the moon and then very high winds set in. I’m talking gusts of 30mph. Fearing Fand would get blown over; I took her down and brought everything back inside. I guess it was not meant to be because after the winds came clouds (which were not predicted).<br /><br />Friday was no better. Since it was still fairly windy I decided to take the XT10 outside. Earlier in the day I found an old set of photos of Jupiter taken through Buc. It turns out I never used RegiStax to process this particular set. After running them through the program I was surprised at the quality of the final image. I thought tonight I might be able to get a better set taken through the Dobsonian. If you care to take a guess at the result, I’m sure you can predict what happened. Yes, that’s right folks – the sky conditions were just not there. The upper atmosphere was unstable and I could not get a clear image. I did take a wide angle photo of Jupiter and her moons and one of the moon itself but it was not as good as the shot taken last night through Fand.<br /><br />During the night I only glanced at M3 and M53 with poor results: they would not resolve. Early in the morning I looked at M57 but it only looked like an out-of-focus star – I could not even see the “ring”, only a blurry image. Usually I can see all the above mentioned objects (clearly) in the 9 x 50 finderscope. Saturday night was another night that didn’t really pan out as planned.<br /><br />Saturday night is now upon me: The sky looked pretty good at sun

 

[nevers]

Tonight was the best "Urban Night" I've had in quite a while. I've been learning how to use the stacking program a little better and I got what I think is a really nice photo of Saturn. Other pictures I took are of the Eskimo Nebula, M57: The Ring (which didn't turn out so hot), M38, and another open yet little known cluster also in Auriga called NGC 2281. I'll try and post them on my website later and just put links here if anybody would be interested in looking at them: they are all "Urban Targets".<br /><br />I also got a wicked picture of the half-moon that I'll put up later. For now...here's Saturn!<br /><br />Thanks for looking...

 

[nevers]

Hey Alex - <br /><br />Not bad for untracked dobsonian and hand held camera! Did you take only these images or are there more? If so, try downloading RegiStax (for free) and stack them all together.

 

[bbrock]

I have a question about exposure time. <br /><br />If all things are equal, does a 5 minute exposure equal 5 one minute exposures. Put another way, does a stack of parts, aligned and combined equal a whole. <br /><br />I'm starting to use the Meade DSI and the Meade Instructions are for people who don't need instructions. Someone needs to come out with a book "Using the DSI". <br /><br />I'm starting to image Deep Sky and I tried taking a 5 minute exposure of M1. I got the image, but it's obvious the tracking was not perfect. If I took 30 ten second exposures, aligned and combined, would that be equivalent. Also, how is a historgram used and what is it.<br /><br />Bill

 

[tfwthom]

Don't know much about the Meade DSI myself, other then what I've read bad about it.<br /><br />You might want to try the Astromart Forum on them http://www.astromart.com/forums/list.asp?forum_id=211 but that's what warned me about them. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1" color="#3366ff">www.siriuslookers.org</font> </div>

 

[nevers]

Got cruddy weather like me? It's ok...this will make it all better! ScopeStuff Humor

 

[nevers]

I'll have to come back later to check the pix. They haven't been "approved" yet. For now I'll leave ya'll with this:<br /><br />2005/04/10<br /><br />Another new moon weekend has come and past. I had big plans all of which fell through. I originally planned to go back to the Valley of Fire for two nights of dark sky observing – the weather had other plans! We did have some rains and unusually low temperatures (for April) in the mid to low 40’s, but the big factor was wind: and lots of it! They started Thursday night and as of now, Sunday morning they are still going at it. The winds are fairly constant at 25mph. We had some gusts up to 50mph. Needless to say; it would have been an observational disaster had I tried to go out.<br /><br />I met another fellow amateur astronomer online and we’ve exchanged e-mail back and forth. His name is Bryan and it turns out we’ve gone to a lot of the same places to observe. Somehow we’ve managed not to run into one another. His plans for the weekend were to drive out to Death Valley on Saturday. Friday he talked about joining me at Valley of Fire – neither event happened.<br /><br />What I did do this weekend is something I’ve been putting off since day one – I joined a local astronomy club. I decided to join LVAS: Las Vegas Astronomical Society. They seemed to be a little more active with the public and I think that’s the direction I’d like to go. Frankly, I ran out of urban targets and I hate to say it’s getting boring but it is. Astrophotography has been fun but I don’t really think I’m going to get any super nice shots from my backyard – not with a 5” telescope anyway. Plans to mount the XT10 on an Atlas mount are next on the hopefully not so distant agenda and that might turn out better as far as urban astrophotography goes. Certainly it will be much better and hopefully in the realm of fantastic from dark skies. What about a CCD camera? Well, that will have to wait a while I think. For now I’ll stick with the Canon G5. As far as mou

 

[nevers]

Improvement shown Alex, great job! Get the SteadyPix - you'll love it!

 

[bbrock]

I've started using the Meade DSI for imaging. I haven't got to use it on much deep sky objects, but I have a few planets. I need to purchase a good photo processing software. Any suggestions?<br /><br />Clear Skies<br />Bill

 

[nevers]

Right on! Did you try RegiStax?...it's free. Tell us the details of how you took the photo...I'm not too familiar with the DSI imager. Right on!

 

[bbrock]

I didn't try registax. I purchased Adobe Photoshop today. The DSI is not as simple as Meade likes to claim. Or perhaps I'm just not very experienced. At any rate. This photo and others were taken through the 10" reflector on the Atlas Eq Mount. Jupiter was way to bright, so I made a Hartman Mask ( A cover with two holes, 3.5" diameter ). This allows me to more easily focus the scope for the DSI and also cuts down the aperture to about a 5" aperture scope, with a corresponding f/10 rather then a 10" aperture with a f/4.7. This allowed me to control the exposure and the contrast. I still had to run the historgram on the DSI screen all the way open. The image is at prime focus, color with 100 x 0.088 sec exposures aligned and stacked by the DSI. I used the Astrostar Suite post processing, but I only used the UnMask features. I also have an image of Saturn and M1. The M1 image I tried to take a 5 minute exposure but the tracking wasn't precise. Star clusters need to be taken in Mono. Not color. I'm having trouble with the re-combined RGB images of stars. I have a lot to learn. I hope to do more serious imaging this weekend while on a Turkey Hunt in Western Ky. The location is remote and the weather is supposed to be clear. <br /><br />Clear Skies. <br />Bill

 

[nevers]

Bill - Thanks for the details. Huh...? <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Ok, not a good pic of the moon here. What I was trying to do was make the little star that is right next to it show up - so, I had to leave the shutter open longer then I would have if I was just trying to capture the moon. I origianlly took 18 frames but when I stacked them together either the star or the moon got blurred. It didn't matter what object I centered on. So, I only used about 7 frames.<br /><br />I thought it was kind of different to see a fairly bright star so close to the moon. Hope ya'll like it and Happy Astronomy Day/Night!

 

[nevers]

Directions for finding stuff towards the center of the Galaxy:<br /><br />Earth Date: 2005/04/14<br /><br />Time: 1930 – 0500 hrs<br />Location: TBY<br />Altitude: ~2160 ft. ASL<br />Weather: <br />- Temperature = 70 - 56°f<br />- Humidity = 20%<br />- Winds = WNW @ 3mph - Calm<br />- Clouds = 6<br />- Transparency = 5/3<br />- Seeing = 5/3<br />- Darkness = 4/6<br />Moon Phase: 32%<br /><br />Telescope: Meade 16" Starfinder Dobsonian<br /><br />I was supposed to go to Valley of Fire tonight for two nights – I didn’t go. Mostly because I don’t trust the weather forecast. This morning it was forecasted to be calm but we still had steady winds with gusts of 29mph. Wind like that puts a lot of dust in the air. Also, I’ve just been tired. My partner & I have been getting run ragged at work lately and today when I woke up I just didn’t feel like packing everything up and taking a chance that I would get a good site at VoF. Atl-Atl only has two sites that are usable for me and Arch Rock has really only one. At Atl-Atl I have to put up with the lights from the Restrooms and Arch Rock doesn’t allow for nice views to the East. At both sites I also run the risk of RVer’s with porch lights and that ever popular thing called a “campfire” and with it, the smoke. So, I stayed home.<br /><br />Tonight I’ve set up the SF16 in the backyard and told myself I’ll try and find some of the objects in Sagittarius and Scorpius that I’m missing from the Urban List. But first...<br /><br />Eskimo Nebula – Even near the moon is still looks really nice. I can see the faint bluish halo and the central star is really bright.<br />Saturn – High Power with the 3.8mm: nice! I wish I could track it.<br />Jupiter – Looks like the Giant Red Spot may be out.<br />Moon – Sometime around 10:15 I saw a satellite pass in front of the moon: that was a first for me.<br /><br />At about 11pm I decided it was time to start getting in the mood for some serious (if you can call it that) observing. I went back outside, let my eyes adjus

 

[nevers]

If any weather forecasters are reading this...I hope you know that you are just cruel people...stop teasing me! As of midnight the forecast called for clear skies until sunday night. Now, just at 1am they change it to "Increasing Clouds". Yes, that is correct. I guess somebody finally decided to walk outside and look up. Heck, I'd be doing better if I bet that the Cubs would win the Super Bowl...! Ok, it says: "Friday Night - Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 60s. South wind around 10 mph." Let's see what happens...<br />

 

[nevers]

Here's what happened - <br /><br /><font color="yellow">Forecast for: Las Vegas, NV 89106<br />Updated: 04:42 PM PDT April 22, 2005<br />Tonight -<br />Mostly cloudy early this evening with some sprinkles possible then partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 50s. South wind around 10 mph.</font><br /><br />That's a far cry from "Mostly Clear" during a time-frame of less then 18 hrs. Sorry, no Urban Astronomy for me tonight - anybody else?<br /><br />EDIT @ 10:15pm --- in < 5hrs they've decided now it's going to rain!<br /><br /><font color="yellow">Forecast for: Las Vegas, NV 89106 <br />Updated: 08:03 PM PDT April 22, 2005 <br />Tonight - Mostly cloudy with scattered showers this evening then partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 50s. South wind around 10 mph. Chance of showers 30 percent.</font><br /> <br />EDIT @ 11:15pm - <br /><br />Ah-ha: it rained - that's 70% wrong!<br /><br />EDIT @ 5:15am -<br /><br />Well, I guess if I cry long enough I get my way!?!?!?! About an hour ago the clouds mysteriously parted leaving fairly nice skies. The moon had set behing my neighbors house so I didn't have that thing glaring in my eyes.<br /><br />I really wanted to look into Sagittarius with my 100mm Refractor to see if I could see anything that I saw last weekend (or whenever it was) with my 16" 'scope. But, Sag had already moved beyond the trees and all I got was a shot of was M22. I only tried it at 24x and of course, no star were resolved. I was just happy to have seen it. I also found M25 (I'm pretty sure) but could not find any of the other smaller Messier Objects nearby.<br /><br />Having wasted the greater part of my clear skies lurking way down south in the glare from downtown, I opted to spend the last remaining minutes in Cygnus. Yep, the Cooling Tower is still there and hasn't had a melt-down yet. Nothing else really jumped out (M29 doesn't really either) but I'm still in awe of just how many stars are in that area of the sky.<br /><br />Now, I've got my 'scope trainned on Mars.

 

[nevers]

Did anybody watch Antares and the Moon last night? It was very, very cool looking. It was surprising how well Antares held it's reddish color even so close to the Moon. I wish I could have taken some pictures as Antares sailed behind and then later emerged again but I was at work and not at home with my camera and 'scopes.

 

[bbrock]

Brad<br /><br />I guess you had clear weather again! You would think you guys in Arizona would get sick of all that star light. <br /><br />Bill

 

[bbrock]

Or Nevada --- Whatever. <br /><br />Bill

 

[nevers]

Oh, most certainly is has been clear...almost pristine in fact. If you noticed, the key phrase was: "I was at work"!

 

[nevers]

...and I was at work again for this one too! But...I rushed home and took a single frame to mark the event. The sky had just started turning blue in the East. Canon Powershot G5 @ 12x, f/3, 1/20th exposure time.

 

[nevers]

Well, it's been a while - weather and personal stuff keeping me away from setting up the telescopes in the backyard. Tonight started off pretty smokey - we've had some fires in the area that were started about 2 weeks ago from lightning. I thought at first: there goes another night! Around midnight it wasn't looking too bad so I set up one of my 'scopes. My Meade LXD55-AR5 has been almost a total frustration for the most part although I have gotten some good pictures with it in the past. Last spring I had problems with the hand-box and it's been sitting in it's box ever since. I thought tonight might be a good night to see what up with it - if anything I could fix. The answer was no - it keeps freezing up for no apparent reason. (I can't wait until I can put my Orion XT10 on the Atlas mount!)<br /><br />Anyway, the sky was pretty cruddy after second glance but since the 'scope was set-up, I decided to take a photo anyway. The 'scope is a Meade but everything else is Orion except the diagonal. Oh, and I guess the camera. The picture is not really much to look at but Uranus is something you don't see everyday (I wonder why and who would want too!). Here is Uranus in all it's glory...

 

[bbrock]

Hi Brad<br /><br />Good to see you again. I check this site once in a while and if there isn't anything dealing with amature astronomy, I move on. I notice you are going to set up an XT 10 on an Atlas. Great Choice. Make sure you align the polar scope with the RA axis of the mount. Then you need to check it once in a while -- every couple of months. Depends on how much you move the mount around and bump it. Your picture hasn't been approved yet. But Uranus has always been an exciting object to look at. I did last year for at least 20 seconds. <br /><br />I'm attaching a picture of my XT10 mounted on the Atlas, notice the Dob Mounting Hubs. Also notice the forest I sometimes view through in the winter. --- ( Through ). The advantage of a 10" aperture. the branches serve as an aperture mask on the moon and bright planets. I don't like it, but sometimes I have no choice.<br /><br />Clear Skies<br />Bill

 

[bbrock]

Here is an image of M57 taken with the XT10 Mounted on the Atlas using the Meade DSI.<br /><br />Clear Skies<br />Bill

 

[nevers]

Yes...! Very nice - great job. Do that again...

 

[nevers]

Not only did I have to dig myself out of the dirt but also, this thread! Hopefully we can revive it. Urban Astronomy does not have to be all about the moon and planets. And, it doesn't have to be about things in great detail. It does have to be about you, in an urban setting telling us what you are able to see with the 'scope you have. A 5" 'scope is very adequate for pulling some good detail out of Deep Sky Objects.<br /><br />It's true: I've been slacking somewhat in my "duties". My 4 year telescopic anniversary is approaching. In those 4 years, my city (Las Vegas) has experience phenomenal growth. From where it was back then, the borders have increased at least 5 miles further in every direction except East. And with it came more light pollution.<br /><br />For now here's my report - <br /><br />2005/10/29<br /><br />Time: 1900 – 0200hrs<br />Location: Las Vegas, Nevada (TBY)<br />Altitude: ~2160 ft. ASL<br />Weather: <br />- Temperature = 75 - 53°f<br />- Humidity = 57%<br />- Winds = WNW @ 3 MPH<br />Moon Phase: 11%<br /><br />Equipment:<br />- Meade LXD55-AR5 Refractor<br />- Orion 80mm ST Refractor / Paragon HD Tripod<br /><br />Objects Observed:<br />- NGC 581 / M 103 / Cassiopeia – OC / Mag - 6.9 / Size - 6' / Cr14 / Mel 8 / OCL-326<br />- NGC 869 / Caldwell 14 / Perseus – OC / Mag - 5.3 / Size - 29' / Western half of Double Cluster / Cr24 / Mel 13 / OCL-350<br />- NGC 884 / Caldwell 14 / Perseus – OC / Mag – 4 / Size - 29' / Eastern half of Double Cluster / Cr25 / Mel 14 / OCL-353<br />- NGC 224 / M 31 / Andromeda – Gx / Mag - 3.5 / Size - 160" x 40' / Andromeda Galaxy<br />- NGC 6720 / M 57 / Lyra – PN / Mag - 9.4 / Size - 86" x 62" / Ring Nebula / PK 63+13.1 / CS = 17<br />- NGC 7092 / M39 / Cygnus – OC / Mag – 5.3 / Size 32’ / Cr438 / Mel 236 / OCL-211<br /><br />- NGC 6913 / M29 / Cygnus – OC / Mag – 8 / Size - 7' / Cr422 / OCL-168 / Cooling Tower or Smoke Stack Cluster<br />- Mars / Mag -2.25<br />- NGC 1912 / M 38 / Auriga – OC / Mag - 6.4 / Size - 18' / Starfish Cluster / Cr67 /