ISS Again.... Undressing Cassiopeia - Feb 11th

This is truly unbelievable. In the words of a well known TV character "I Don't Believe It!!" Another clear and sparkly night. Well, I certainly wasn't going to argue that's for sure. After checking on Heavens above for the time of the ISS pass (due to pass very near the moon), I set up the camera and scope. Again with my youngest, I ducked outside at about 1845, aligned the camera up with the moon in the bottom of the frame (no need for an alignment shot in advance here) ready for the ISS to pass by the moon. I figured that whilst we waited, my boy could take a look at the moon through the scope. I dropped in the 5mm Ortho (80x) and lined up on the limb. Firstly, let me just say thanks to everyone that advised me to get the fringe killer. Oh boy does it make a real difference (a slight yellowish cast instead of all the blue/purple, but as it's all over the view and doesn't interfere in any way, it's not a problem).

My son thought looking at the moon was great, his description was superb. "It looks like someone's been biting at it". Quite apt I thought.

I'd spotted that there was another satellite Rosat due to pass a couple of minutes before the ISS, but it was much dimmer and I think too low down in the sky, we didn't see this one. Then the ISS flew past. We watched it climb the sky, looking dim and red when we first sighted it, low to the west, and climbing and brightening as it went. It past over the moon and faded out towards Orion. I managed to catch two shots of it on the camera.

ISS Leaps over the moon:



ISS fades into Orion, passing the Hyades and Pleiades:



I can't decide which of these two images I prefer. I like the first one, as it looks great, and the second one because of the unexpected backdrop.

After the ISS had passed, I swung the scope around to Orion, and then swung the bench around, that he was standing on to view the eyepiece. He was a little excited at this point, and kept jumping up and down on the bench, which as it was touching the scope tripod, kept jiggling the view, made it kinda hard to line up and focus. We saw M42 and three of the Trapezium stars, then tried to show him the Castor main double, my scope is too small for the third. Then we had a look at Mars, as it was there lurking above us. No change in my little scope, a very small orange/red disk. But that's ok. Then it was time to go in for a while.

Time passed, 2 hours to be precise. I'd decided that tonight I'd try and find the clusters around Cassiopeia. What I hadn't realised before I started was just how many there were, nor in the time it took me how close to the trees Cassi was going to get.

I started out at the highest point, and worked my way down. This was probably a mistake as will be seen shortly. I started by finding Kembles Cascade. I'd seen this before in Bins, but decided I'd have a go with the scope. The FOV is smaller about half, using the Hyperion, so I couldn't see all of the cascade, but with a small nudge, was able to find the rest. I counted the stars in the cascade and could see 15. There were others, nearly lined up with the cascade, that were brighter, but I'm not certain whether or not they are part of the cascade, so didn't count them. The cascade emptied into the pool of NGC1502, which I thought I'd try and sketch. Here's my big mistake for the night. Don't try and sketch using a biro on lined paper under red light. It just doesn't work very well, and I'm not sure I could translate my sketch into something anyone would want to see. I will give this another go at some point, and use pencil on plain paper.

Moving on downwards, well actually, going back to Cassi and hopping outwards again, but it'll get a little dull if I put down all the instructions. I found SU/RZ Cass. I didn't hand around long enough to observe any changes in these stars, it's something else I will go back to and spend some time on at a future point, but tonights objective was finding clusters. So onwards. I found NGC559 then moved onto NGC663 and M103. I got myself confused around here. In the Hyperion the FOV was just about large enough to cover both in one go, not a problem I'd anticipated, but it meant that I kept bumping into the Perseus double, and on one of these occasions, I'm pretty sure I found Stock 2. Anyway. it took me about 10 minutes to work out what was going on, odd that it took me that long, but I was engrossed in what I was looking at. I found NGC654 and NGC659, whilst in the same area, but they were really tough to spot, nothing to see here in that little scope, move along, either call me persistent or stupid, I worked at it anyway, and I'm pretty certain I got them.

Then onto NGC457, this looked quite pretty, (note to self, write a short description of what can be seen when something is found) if I remember correctly, this was a small double line of stars. Of course, I can't really remember and that might be a different cluster oops. I managed to pick up NGC436 nearby too. Then onto NGC637, although if I'm honest,I might have found NGC559.

I managed to muddle myself up here, and went in the wrong direction to find NGC225, and couldn't figure out why the small pic in TL@O was different from what I was looking. It took me 10 minutes of puzzling to realise what I'd done wrong and that actually I was looking at NGC129. Ho hum, still, mistakes are a good teaching/learning tool. Gotta remember to follow the instructions more carefully. I then worked out the correct directions and found NGC225. Then on to M52 again (I'd seen this the other night, but figured I'd hunt it up again for completeness). It was now I realised my mistake in starting at the highest point and working downwards. In trying to find NGC7789 I found it was lurking and playing hide and seek in amongst the branches of the trees at the end of the gardens. Ah phooey. Gonna have to try this one again another night.

I turned the page in TL@O and discovered that I'd reached the end. Excellent, nearly all of them. As Ursa Major was getting higher up in the sky now, and hopefully pulling out of the Gatwick glow, I thought I'd have another try and a galaxy hunt (sticking to the higher ones). I tracked up from Phecda, through Dubhe to the location of M81 and M82. Hmm, thought I, these are supposed to be here, are they in hiding ? After some careful viewing, and a little jiggling, I found them as 2 very faint smudges. This isn't good thought I, given that M81 should be visible in Bins (according to NW). I thought I'd have a go at a couple of others, M108 and M106, but no chance, these are both dimmer than M81 and M82 and both a bit lower down. I think the limit to the north from here is about Mag 8.

Ah well. Gonna have to give up on hunting for Galactic smudges for a while, but that's ok, there's still loads of other things to see. And one of the most stunning, was just pocking her head above the roof of the house. I looked up and there was the question mark of Leo. Drifting serenely below that, Saturn. Excellent, thought I and bought the scope to bear. I stayed here for a fair while, definitely saw two moons (Rhea and Titan), possibly a third, although I can't be sure on that one, but if I did it was Tethys.

Then, realised, I hadn't eaten anything since lunchtime and as it was now nearly 2300 I was a little peckish, so I finished the session off with the usual Favs. The Sisters and The Beehive.

Lessons learned:

1) Write a brief description of what is seen
2) For a sketch use a soft pencil
3) Follow the instructions properly (you'd think I'd have learnt this one by now)

A most enjoyable evenings viewing.

ISS part 2 and a short session

Didn't get a lot of observing done last night. After two long sessions with the scope, I figured I probably ought to spend some time with the OH as I don't want jealousy to set in. However, I got outside with my youngest for a look at the ISS. Got outside about 10 minutes early, setup the camera and took a couple of alignment shots, Astonishing amount of detail really considering, so here's the image of Perseus.


I'll be doing some processing on it later, but I can't do that on this PC. Anyway, I had a good look around using the old fashioned mark 1 eyeball. Identifying constellations to my youngest as we went. Cassiopeia, Perseus, Andromeda, Orion, Gemini, Taurus and others, and also pointing out the Pleiades and Hyades. As we waited, he asked if every passing plane was it, but no. Then, we saw something drifting across the sky from the South East into the North West. I believe it was a satellite, probably UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite). A couple of moments later, there was the ISS. A brilliant point of light. We watched from in the west, across Andromeda, Perseus (I missed the shot here, but to trigger happy), Auriga and on through Gemini, where I managed to capture it on the camera.



Then we could both here the voice of the beehive calling to us. I'd said that I'd like to show this to him, and he was desperate to see it. So I popped indoors, grabbed the scope and the Hyperion, set it all up so that we could see around the house (as it was hiding behind the roof). I got the scope pointed at M44, and then had to grab a chair so that he could stand on it to look in the EP. He was impressed by the beehive. Then time to go in. Only about 20 to 25 minutes last night, but still enjoyable and at least one of the children saw a few things.

A great night out ...

A second night in a row and not a cloud in sight. What's going on ? This doesn't make any sense. Well, I'm certainly not going to argue. In town today, I picked me up a copy of Night Watch, it's on sale in Bookends at 30% of cover price which I thought was a good deal. I used Night Watch (NW) and Turn Left at Orion (TL@O) together to find a number of objects tonight.

I had a quick check on Heavens Above as I wanted to take a peek at the ISS as it flew over. Popped out with the camera about 1810 to get it setup and the moon was a real treat to see, low in the sky to the south. Just a thin sliver visible at first glance, but, look again, and there's the entire disk, lit in the faint glow of Earthshine. Very nice.

Turned back to the north, tried to line up the camera where I though the ISS would show, and then, whilst I was waiting, I saw a high level moving dot that looked like a star. Aha thought I, here we go. I forget that the ISS would appear in the North and head out to the East. This one appeared in the North and headed South. So I watched it until it faded, thinking that was it, I'd seen the ISS and could chalk it up. But no. A couple of minutes later, a much brighter moving star appeared. This time heading in the correct direction. I watched for a moment, tried to line up the camera (and of course missed, ho hum) and took a picture of some stars but no bright line. I went back inside, as I had some things to do and posted in a couple of places to try and find out what the first object was. There's a couple of possibilities been raised, the Cosmos 2098 Rocket, or Iridium 26.

Time passed...

I got back outside with the scope at about 2055 and using the Hyperion, started out on the usual suspects (with the new one from last night). The Sisters, the Orion Nebula and the Beehive. Very nice. Carlos had provided me with a useful guide to Auriga after last nights report, where I couldn't find Mr Happy (the smiley face). Using this, I found the Leaping Minnow and near that NGC1893. In 1893 I think, and I might be making this up, but I thought I saw hints of wisps using averted vision which is IC410, it's so hard to tell. The, I found the smiley face. Finding the Minnow made it clear, that I had actually seen both the Minnow and the Smiley face last night. I'd of course forgotten about the effects of the mirrors and lenses in the scope, oops. It was only after comparing with the guide and rotating it to the how I was seeing it did I realise. Gotta pay more attention (sounds like a school report - Could Do Better!!). I spotted the little blob of NGC1907 in Mr Happy, is that a tear near his eye ? Is he crying with laughter ?

Then the three clusters in Auriga, M38, M36 and M37. As I was near Mars, I thought I'd check in, and Mars was in his usual state in my scope, a very small yellow blob. I think the fringe killer I have has improved his view (thanks for the recommendation) as it's a much tighter looking blob.

I then decided I'd have a hunt for M1. I figured that this was gonna be a toughy, but combining NW and TL@O put me in the right vicinity. I stared. I stared some more, I stared in an averted way. Was I imagining it, there was an odd tiny gray splodge in the middle of the FOV. I jiggled the scope a little. Odd thought I, it's not on my scope or my eye, it stayed put in the star field. That must be it. I was really pleased. Not that I could see much of it mind, just that I'd managed to locate it. Carrying on through Taurus, I passed through NGC1746, NGC1647 and NGC2244.

By this point Sirius was beginning to show his head above the horizon. For me the Horizon to the east is firmed by the roof line of all the houses along my road. I hopped from Sirius to M50. By moving back a way and raising the tripod up, I was able to to get low enough to the roof line, that I could find M41, very nice little cluster, just peeking out from behind one of my Neighbours TV aerial. Back to Sirius and tried to get M46 and M47. No luck on M46, but M47 I could see. I carried on up and picked out M48 as well.

I then popped up to Cor Caroli to take another peek and see if I could spot the colours. I'd been asked after yesterdays report. I'd have to say, that they looked very similar to me, both Blue/White. From Here I moved across to Coma Berenices to take a look at the Coma Cluster (Mel 111). Very nice, probably should have taken the Binos out with me as I had to move the scope around to see the cluster, but I'll save that for another time.

I spotted that Leo had made his presence known over the top of the house, and there shining in the night was Saturn. How could I resist. There she was haloed by those rings. And there were a couple of accompanying bodies, I could just make out. According to Sky and Telescopes Saturn Moon Calculator, probably Enceladus and Titan.

I then thought I'd have a hunt for some galaxies in and around Leo and Ursa Major. This was a total flop. I couldn't pick them out at all. I guess that at around magnitude 8 and 9, the light pollution from Gatwick, to the North, is just a little much. Never mind, I'll manage it at some point. Maybe later in the year when the sky has rotated and put Ursa Major more overhead.

At this point, whilst I was studying NW to figure out what to find next, someone turned on the kitchen light in the house, right by where I was studying the book. Luckily my head as down, and it didn't totally muck up my dark adaption. I pulled my hat down over one eye to protect my night vision and hung on for a few minutes until whatever was required from the kitchen had been purloined. Then the lights went out again. Phew!!

I figured I'd have a look around Perseus and Cassiopeia. First off I went to the Double Cluster (NGC869 and NGC884). After hunting around Cassiopeia for a while, I finally found M5, I missed the others somehow. I think some of them had slipped secretly into the trees without letting on, just so they could hide. Oh well, another night, I'll get them yet. Then I went back to Perseus to find M34.

To round off the evenings viewing, I went back to the Sisters and the Beehive for one last long glance at each. A most enjoyable evenings viewing, and I think I must have got lucky, as I picked up quite a list of new objects, most of which I didn't have a clue where they were when I started out this evening.

I can only hope that tomorrow's forecast holds true, another clear night, as I have already, in writing this, found more objects to try and find.

Tinkering with the Sisters

I had another play with my M45 stacked image again this morning. I do believe I'm beginning to get to grips with his a little. Possibly still a tad heavy handed, but it's certainly got more detail pulled out. Here it is:

New Gear and Clear Skies... What more can you ask for

Well, here was I, expecting heavy cloud tonight, given that the Hyperion arrived today. But no. Clear skies. In fact probably the best I've been out looking at the stars in. Where to start. The beginning I spose...

As usual, I started out with the firm favourites, but this time I used the 17mm Hyperion. It took me a little while to get to grips with the best viewing distance on the ep. The plossls and the ortho I have all have quite short eye relief. However, the Hyperion is almost a sit back and watch from a distance by comparison. I got the hang of it eventually though, I'm pleased to say.

So I started with The Sisters (M45), in all their usual beauty, spread out in glorious detail. After spending a while I moved onto M42. Not quite so spectacular in the 17mm Hyperion, my scope is too short, but in a longer scope, this would be brilliant. Still an amazing view. Then a quick look at the Hyades. A little too large for the FOV, but still nice to look at. Then my neighbour turned on the upstairs lights. Not nice...

So I turned around and put all that light behind me. Had a look at the Polaris engagement ring. First using the 17mm Hyperion, then changed to the 20mm Plossl for comparison. Now the Plossl is a pretty good ep, but the Hyperion is real good. The FOV compares well, not a lot in it between the Hyperion and the Plossl. The Hyperion has higher magnification, ok not a lot, but it's there. The view in the Hyperion is easier to see and from a greater distance and seems somehow flatter. Anyway, suffice to say, I'm very pleased with the Hyperion, and now want more of them even more than I did earlier. Damn this is gonna cost.

Anyway, where was I, oh yes, the Polaris engagement ring. A very nice view of this and Im sure I saw more stars than I had before. I then moved onto the Dipper and had a look at the Horse and Rider (Mizar and Alcor). A nice double, very easy to see. The the lights went off next door. I swung back around and went back to my original plan. Yes for once I had a planned list of targets. As you'll see I didn't get them all, not by a long shot. Some of them I think are just too faint for my little scope and some I had no guide for, I spotted them on Stellarium and they just aren't in Turn Left at Orion ah well.

Anyway, back to the plot. I went up to Auriga and found M36, M37 and M38 and had a look around there. Afterwards, I moved past Gemini and whilst I was swinging the scope around, very easy to do, I lift it up, move the entire thing tripod and all, and put it back down again. I noticed what look like a smal fuzzy path to the left and slightly below Gemini. Hmm, thought I, not noticed that before. Lined up the scope and there was M44 the Beehive cluster. It was a great sight briefly as the kitchen light in my house got turned on right in front of me. That nearly hurt. And I decided I'd leave my session for now, head back inside for a while (as it was still quite early) and spend a little time with the rest of the family, who had just got in.

About an hour later, and the clouds still hadn't arrived. I figured I was observing on borrowed time, so I'd better get on with it. All set up again. Start with Saturn this time, and as spectacular and well formed, if small, sight as ever. After watching for a while, I spotted a couple of moons (Rhea and Titan, according to theSky and Telescope Saturn moon calculator). Excellent. I then hunted down M47, but M46 eluded me, I think my scope just hasn't got the light gathering for some of these objects. I moved on and found Cor Caroli, I could very clearly see the double split nicely. The gap was pretty small in the Hyperion, but it was there (no need for a mind the gap here).

I went back to M44 next, as I was using this as a starting point for another object. This time I got to study it for a while without lights coming on. I think I've found me a new favourite. This cluster is a real stunner an I'll put it up there with the Sisters. (hmm, now there's a thought, the Sisters in the Beehive...probably best to not go there). From M44, I found M67 not an easy target to find. Oddly, I couldn't find VZ Cancri which is a Binocular object, but hey. Maybe I should have been using my Bins.

I then went back to the Dipper and had another hunt around for M81 and M82. I do believe I found them, either that or I had too many tears in my eyes from the cold, but as I kept wiping my eyes, I think I can chalk them up. Very faint and only just discernible as a couple of smudges. The smudges stayed put on the background when I moved the scope, rather than coming with me, I took this as a good sign.

I then moved back to Sirius, and hopped across to M93. A faint little cluster, again I think I only just about managed to get this one. Figured from here, I ought to go try and estimate the magnitude of Epsilon Aurigae, and I reckon it was about 3.3 again. Given that I only checked it a couple of night ago, I think this is probably fair. I then had another look at M37 and M38 whilst trying to find a smiley face of stars that was mentioned on one of the forums. No such luck. Back to M45 to see the Sisters again, onto Perseus for the Double, and I figured it was time for a drink and my toes were getting cold.

A very enjoyable evening, with a great new eyepiece. Just gotta rustle up some more pennies for at least one more... A new favourite object, and a fair number of Messiers added to the collection, gonna have to start me a list. The forecast is good for the next few days, so fingers crossed, and hope to get at least a couple more good sessions in. Gonna enjoy my drink.

The Hyperion cometh

The Hyperion has just arrived. Holy smoke what an eyepiece. Firstly it's huge, compared to my little Konus it's almost a scope in it's own right. Secondly, I just ran a quick test onto the fence and the image is crisp, clear, sharp and as far as I can tell free of defects. The field of view is nearly the same as my 20mm Plossl (actually, probably wider, I'll try and get a proper test done on this tonight, if the weather holds), and the magnification is greater. I think it's going to get a lot of use. The only problem is, now I regret buying it. I thought this would happen. I want lots more of them.... DAMN!!!!!

Despite how big the thing is, I've managed to squeeze it into my Maplin flight case. It's getting a bit cramped in there now. I'm not sure I could squeeze another Hyperion in without having to remove at least one of my Plossls.

Here's a picture:



I'm looking forward to testing it out under the stars, might get lucky later.

Another night goes by

Here we are again. Another night has gone by under a heavy layer of cloud. The patina of light patterns on the underside of the cloud layer was almost pretty, patches of yellow and white, interspersed in the overall glare from the floodlights at the local football pitch. Couldn't be bothered trying to photo it to be honest, I don't think it would have worked anyway.

So I spent the evening, by the puter, working on my image processing. I must say, that I do seem to be getting better at it, learning my way around Elements whilst I'm at it. I redid my Perseus shot and I've pulled more information up out of the original and it looks like you can even see the Alpha Persei (Mirphak) association now. This was done with tweaking levels and curves (possibly, it's not labeled that as far as I can tell) and sharpneing and using noiseware (superb bit of software) to remove the extra noise created in the image. Here's the results:



Onto the mount question. I've ordered a second hand set of tube rings so that I can mount the scope on top. I'll still need a dovetail, probably quite long to balance the scope on an eq mount, so this might need a hole or two drilling to fit the tube rings but we'll see. I think I'm gonna go with the Skywatcher EQ2 mount rather than the Seben. The man with the Seben hasn't responded on my extra questions, and I know that the Skywatcher mount is at least a known quantity.

The Baader Hyperion should arrive in the post this morning, almost guaranteed to drum up some clouds of course, although at the moment the sun is shining. I can but hope.

A brief session - Clouds again

Well, I got outside with the scope again last night. The evening started with the promise of being crisp and clear. Whilst I was out earlier in the evening, I managed a little by eye, seeing, Mars, Orion, Auriga, Gemini, and others, the usual suspects of a winters night sky. I got home again, sorted out a number of things that needed doing, and collected my gear together, including the planned session from a few nights ago.

On this occasion, I'd grabbed my laptop and webcam with the new nosepiece fitted as I'd intended to give it a try out. Well, first off, once outside about 2100 the sky was nice and clear all around. I aligned the scope on M45, fired up the laptop, plugged in the webcam and tried to focus. Nothing but noise on the screen. Blast it. I went through the entire range of focus travel, removed and put back the extension tube, tried the 45 prism diagonal, all to no avail. Ah well, tis not to be. Have to rethink and revisist this one at some point, when I've got a more up to date webcam with a ccd instead of a cmos sensor.

I popped in my 10mm Plossl instead and started work on the variable star epsilon aurigae that I'd agreed to try and do. After moving the scope backwards and forwards between Auriga B and C (these two are just either side of the magnitude range of epsilon) I went to epsilon, and decided that I couldn't really tell which it was nearer and hopped between the three for some time more. I then decided it was about mid way between the two. Now if B is 3.9 and C 2.6, I'd guess that 3.3 would seem fair. It's probably way out, but I guess you gotta start somewhere.

I had a look at the old favourites M42/M43 in Orion. I'm definitely getting better at seeing what's there. I could see the stars in the trapezium. Then onto the Pleiades for a look. It was now that I spotted the dark looming shapes sweeping in from the west, blotting out the stars as they came, of those pesky blighted clouds again. Oh phuey. As they were moving in from the west, I moved the scope and lined up on Saturn (in the east), thinking this would give me a while at least before the sky was covered. After a few minutes watching this wonderful sight (I'm sure I could see some shadow on the surface from the rings, or is that on the rings from the planet. Hmm hard to tell), someone indoors turned on the kitchen light almost in the mouth of my scope tube. Given how quickly the clouds were coming in, it wasn't really too much of a problem, but it certainly ruined my adapted eyes. Ah well, packed up and took it all back in again.

Later that evening, reading the forums, I decided I'd invest in a Baader Hyperion eyepiece (that's on sale on a forum) that will fill a hole in my collection, probably make a very good afocal photography eyepiece, and that I'm probably going to regret doing. Not regret from the point of view that the eyepiece is bad in anyway, oh no, more that am I going to end up replacing my entire collection. That's gonna cost ...

I now have the option on two eq mounts second hand. One a skywatcher eq2. Well known make, should take my little Konus for visual use without any problems. The other a Seben that in theory could take the weight of a 4" frac (my Konus is a 3). Ah decisions, decisions. They are both the same price. I think I'll probably go for the skywatcher, at least that way, I know there'll be plenty of people who have similar mounts and can advise on how to use it. The Seben mount, may well be made by Synta also and therefore not be an issue. I almost wish that only one was available.

Watch this space for a decision on the mount shortly. I'll also post my thoughts and impressions on the Hyperion once it's arrived.

Webcams

My webcam nose piece adapter arrived today. This was delivered from China in under a week. I'm impressed by that. It was also half the price of buying here and is a good quality piece, made of metal. I've run a quick test, and with some fiddling with various attachments, tube extenders and stuff, I was able to get focused on my usual test subject during the day. A fence. The image was pretty good displayed on the PC screen, but I'm not sure the software was the best. Just got to work out the best way of displaying/capturing this. The word is out on the forums... Stargazers Lounge and AstroChat.

Of course, to use this for proper astro imaging will require that the clunky photo tripod I'm currently using get swapped for a nice and smooth eq mount. Ho hum, back to this question again.

Nowt much to report

Cloudy and rainy all day and this continued into the night. There was no observing done at all. Still, I found a rather nice photo of a Puma that surprised us on holiday last year. It was a little out of focus, so I thought I'd give Focus Magic a try on it, and that made a big difference.


I'm going to produce an Astro Wishlist and I'll put it in the links section. I need to do some negotiation with the accountant to work out how to get these items.

All set up and nowhere to view

Well, what can I say. The weather has done it again. A fine and sparkling day, only the odd cloud ambling across the sky to spoil the view. By the time the sun had set and the sky had grown dark enough, about 6pm, I could see it was a really crisp and clear night and the sky was truly spectacular. Unfortunately, I had a number of things to get done around the house, so couldn't go out and gaze through the scope. Still, whilst putting the bins (rubbish, not optical, although some might argue about my optical ones being rubbish ;o)) I perused the sky with the old Mk 1 eyeball.

I had agreed that I would attempt to guesstimate the magnitude of Epsilon Auriga for the Variable Star section of the SPA. Whilst I was out I worked out which star to check (always best to know which one you're looking at) and had a quick gaze at the Pleiades, Orion and Cassiopeia. Still I thought I'd be ok in an hours time after dinner, more fool me. Anyway, for the first time, I figured I'd try and plan out what targets I was going to aim at and pulled Turn Left at Orion off the shelf. I produced a list of about 10 or 15 targets all ready for a night outside under the stars.

Little did I know at the time or anticipate that this was not to be. After dinner was done and cleared away, I grabbed my scope, flightcase of gear, coat, gloves, hat and scarf and got ready, turning the lights in the house off as I went. I got all the gear outside (it's not really that tricky with my little scope) looked up, to find.... Yes you guessed it. CLOUDS!!!! lots and lots of CLOUDS!!!!. I could see a grand total of 2 stars somewhere near the zenith. I've no idea what even those two were as they were blotted out within about 30 seconds.

Dejected but still very warm (I'd wrapped up before going into the garden) I carried all the gear back in. Ever the optimist I kept going back to the window and checking... A couple of hours later, I checked and there was a break in the clouds and a crisp view overhead. Aha... Grab the jumper, put on the boots, grab the Binocular's. This took all of 2 minutes... By the time I'd got back outside the gap had gone. So I packed it all away again (this took even less time). I tinkered with a couple of pictures in Elements again (still no better at this, but I figure keep playing and maybe one day I'll have an epiphany).

Anyway, I removed the noise from the sunset image I'd taken on Jan 26th. Here it is.

A brief mount update

I've made no progress at all. The accountant won't authorise any expense, it's not needed apparently, so the HEQ5 isn't gonna happen, the EQ5 that was on offer second hand has been withdrawn and I still haven't heard anything on the EQ2. There is a Vixen Porta Mount on Astro buy and sell which looks quite interesting.

Odd Moon and Friendly Viewing

I woke up really early on Saturday morning and after tossing and turning for an hour, I decided to take a look out the window. Just to see if there was heavy cloud cover or anything interesting up above to see. Sitting low, just above the horizon and only visible from the upstairs window was a large, waning sliver of moon with a noticeable orange tint. I decided I ought to try and take a few photo's of this (to me at least) unusual sight. I hadn't realised at the time, that there was a tree waving spindly branches in just the wrong place, I only spotted this after downloading the pictures later in the day and stacking them. Still I've tried to process it anyway and here's what I could manage.



We had some friends coming to visit us, and they had expressed an interest in taking a peek through the telescope. I kept a close eye on the sky and forecast throughout Saturday. As you would expect, the day started brilliant, no clouds, bright sunshine and gradually deteriorated throughout the day. To the point that, as soon as the sky had got dark enough at about 1830 I grabbed the Bins and the Scope and ducked out in the garden with my Friend.

The sky was not great most objects and dimmer stars were hiding behind what I can only describe as high level mist. The viewing was not helped by the house being lit up like a Christmas tree but What we did see was worth it. Firstly, I located the Pleiades, naked eye, so that he could get an idea of what we were looking at. Then I checked through the bins (to be honest, given what I normally see, I was a tad disappointed but this soon changed) to be sure that something was visible. I then handed them over to my friend, who soon found the sisters and started the oh wows!!!. Then I focused the Konus with the 20mm eyepiece and this made things a little clearer. Then using a combination of Bins and scope, we looked at the Hyades Betelgeuse and M42. We only got in about 30 minutes of viewing, but in that time my Friend uttered oh wow or various equivalents about half a dozen times.

I couldn't show him any of the clusters like the double in Perseus, they just couldn't be seen through the murk, and there was absolutely no chance on Saturn. By the time Saturn was up high enough, there was no sign of anything behind a thick layer of cloud. (Note to self, must perfect that cloud transparency filter one of these days). (note to self again, must get around to figuring out how to make a cloud transparency filter). Still a successful 30 minutes all told, and perhaps a new observer in the making. He already possesses the minimum requirements, a pair of eyes, and to aid them, a pair of Bins. So we shall see.

Tonight (Sunday) is a total wash. Heavy clouds. So I've settled, instead on a nice glass of wine, and trying to learn Photoshop Elements a little better. Of course the wine may be hampering this aim, but hey, such is the way of these things.

Clear Skies Tonight - Some Observing

Ah.. Clear Skies tonight. Thought I'd get out first off with the Camera and try and capture Perseus. After receiving some advice to take some flats and darks and puzzling as to what that actually meant for quite some time, I managed to work it out. This basically means taking some pictures using the camera with the lens cap on. Flats are taken at the shortest exposure but with the same ISO settings and Darks are taken at the same settings the picture was taken at. Ok, Now I know. So off I went. Got set up, took a few test shots to work out the alignment as I can't actually see any stars on the screen or in the view finder of my Z2. So all setup. I snapper off 30x30 second shots at ISO200, then 6 darks and 10 flats. Pushed them through Deep Sky Stacker which decided it didn't like my input files and complained that as they were jpg files it couldn't do something, which I ignored as I wasn't sure what it meant anyway and DSS carried out the processing. I then played with the image in Photoshop Elements to try and improve the image. I use the word play deliberately, as if you've read my previous posts, I don't really have a clue what I'm doing with it. And here is the image I produced :



I'm quite pleased with it, I got the Pleiades in there as well. Not sure I got the colours right, possibly overdid something in Elements.

Anyway, whilst I was taking these 30 pictures, which actually took nearer 90 seconds per 30 second shot... I got out my Binoculars and had a good look around.

I started with M45 - The pleaides, I love looking at the sisters such a sharp and pretty cluster to look at. Moved onto look the Hyades then at M42 in Orion, M41, M35 in Gemini, M36, M37 and M38 in Auriga, turned around and had a look at the Mizar and Alcor double that I caught in the picture of the big dipper. Then had a look at the double cluster in Perseus and the Alpha Persei association. Then whilst taking the Darks and Flats had a go at Saturn through the Binoculars. I could definitely see that this wasn't a star, but I couldn't keep them still, hand held, and my tripod still had my camera attached.

At this point, I popped back indoors, swapped the camera for the scope with a 5mm Ortho and a 32mm Plossly in pocket went back for a further look around. I started with Saturn with the 5mm Ortho. As it's there and clear how could I resist. There was at least one moon that I could make out and I make it Titan. I had a good thorough look at the Orion nebula, I could clearly make out M42 and the Trapezium, and just about pick out M43, another lovely sight. Then time for a nice widefield look with the 32mm Plossl at the Sisters again before coming in to start work on processing the Perseus image above.

A most enjoyable evening's astro fun. Just got to defrost a little more now and I feel a drink is in order.

Pulling out my hair!! (Image editing and more mount noise)

After I'd posted my Saturn pic on the Stargazers Lounge, one of the kind gents on there kindly improved the image dramatically. I asked how the hell he'd managed to do what he had done. He replied with a list of tasks in Photoshop, that to be honest looked a lot like double dutch to me. Still, thought I, nothing ventured and all that.

So when I had some time last night, I sat down at the 'puter, fired up photoshop elements and loaded the image. So far so good. Right thought I, firstly ... let's see, hmm the burn tool. Where on earth is that ? So I looked an searched for a while. Tried the help. Searched on Google. Eventually I found it (thanks to google) buried under another tool in the tool panel. Turns out this has nothing to do with a blowtorch and in fact has a little hand for an icon. Still, onwards. I selected the burn tool, and clicked on the image. This certainly got rid of the noise around the edge, and half the image.

Damn, thought I and reverted back to the original file. I tried again. I managed to burn away all the noisy bits around the edge. Aha, maybe if I reduce the intensity of the burn, I thought, I could do the same across the surface. Hmm, worth a go. It got rid of the noisy bits, and left interesting streaks all across the image. Revert!!! Tried again. removed all the bits around the edge, then left it alone. I figured I'd done enough damage with the burn tool, and time to move onto the next tool on the list. Despeckle. This was easy. I dragged the despeckle tool onto the image. It did it's stuff. I wish I knew what it had done, because I couldn't really see much difference. Oh well.

Moving on. Gaussian blur. I know that's here somewhere... Eventually I found it, hoping it would work in the same way as despeckle, I dragged the tool to the image. So far so good, then disaster, Gaussian blur popped up a new tool input box and was asking me what I wanted it to do. Oh no!!!. Thought I, I'm scuppered now. Ah well, in for a penny in for a pound, I started moving the sliders up and down to see what they would do. After operating the sliders like a monkey conducting a symphony orchestra (which is probably quite an apt analogy here) I was no closer to figuring out the best settings, other than a certain range seemed to make things a little better prior to the image disappearing in a cloud of yellow mist.

I figured I'd best start over again, as I couldn't get any better, and I was just making things worse. Needless to say this went on for over an hour until frustration got the better of me. I just closed elements and aborted all changes. My little picture would have to do as is for now, and I'd try again another day. So I had a drink instead. This I could manage easily without all the aggravation and no need for a burn tool. I'll chalk this one up to experience, and next time I won't make all the same mistakes, I'm bound to make different ones instead and I might have a drink to start with, help focus the faculties.

As for the mount. The Supatrak has been withdrawn. I have no way to mount my scope on the AZ3 using the normal suggested method of the tube rings, not that I have any anyway, and would need me to put together something to make it work. The EQ2 may or may not be sold, the current owner is waiting to hear from someone else before he can let me know. So, I've moved target completely. I'm now looking at an Astro Engineeering AC562 AZTech on a wooden tripod. It's cheaper than a new AZ3 (which I'd have to spend more money on to make my scope fit), and only a little more expensive than a second hand AZ3 after I'd bought the bits to allow my scope to fit. And I wouldn't need to buy anymore bits for it (A bonus!!)