Astronomy and Astrophotography

Orion Nebula

2010-11-16T19:39:00.000-08:00

Here is an image I took of the OrionNebula (Messier Object: M42) Friday,November 12th. This is a raw image. I have many more to stack as time permits and will post the processed picture at a later date.

StarPilot

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

2010-10-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

My wife and I went to Pigeon Forge, TN in mid-September 2010. We stayed in a cabin in the hills about 5 miles out of town. The air was clear, the daily walks were invigorating and just as important to an amateur astronomer, the skies were moderately dark.

I battled a waxing half-Moon, but in clear, unpolluted skies, the sky glow was bearable.

Taking astro photos in Pigeon Forge gave me an opportunity to image several deep space Milky Way objects that I cannot see at home because of light pollution. Without further ado, here are some of the pictures that I took.

Lagoon Nebula (Messier Object - M8)

Eagle Nebula (Messier Object - M16)

Swan Nebula (Messier Object - M17)

Trifid Nebula (Messier Object - M20)

Andromeda Galaxy (Messier Object - M31)

The Pleiades (The Seven Sisters Star Cluster) (Messier Object - M45)

North America Nebula (NGC-7000)

Harvest Moon (September 21st, 2010 )

That's all for now. I hope to capture images of other deep space objects on a clear weekend night very soon. Check back often for updates.

Starpilot.

I Know Where Freddy Kruger Lives

2010-08-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday, August 29th, 2009. I spent the afternoon and early evening with family celebrating my youngest daughter Mary's 29th birthday.  The other highlight of my day (night in this case) involved going to Crockett Park with other astronomy enthusiasts (nut-cases according to my wife) and viewing the heavens with our telescopes.

I had all my astro gear in the SUV and was ready to go when I found out via email that Crockett was closed to astronomy that weekend and so was our alternate location, Great Meadows because of a polo match. I found out that everyone was going to a place in Loudon County, VA called: "Camp High Road" (CHR). I looked it up on Google maps and decided to give it a try.

I stayed at Mary's party too long and arrived at CHR after dark. BIG MISTAKE! I knew I was in trouble when I turned off of State Rt. 15, went through the samll town of Aldie, which was complete with a redneck sherriff manning a speed trap (I was doing the speed limit). The town looked like a someone forgot to tell them the Civil War was over, and that they lost.

Things went downhill quickly when I turned right onto the 'Snickersville Turnpike' (real name) and drove on some winding, barely paved road for 8 miles, climbing uphill the entire time.  I thought: "This would be a great place to film "Blair Witch III".
At last, I reached the road leading to the CHR and the driving ordeal was over. WRONG! It was only beginning. I ran out of asphalt after 20 feet and was dumped on a bumpy dirt road, complete with grooves and swirling dust.

Directions from the astronomy club said to turn 'Left' just before the big white CHR sign. Given the choice I rather would have gone to the camp. It looked safe. The left onto a narrow dirt road looked scary. It was then that I realized: "This is where they filmed Wrong Turn". Only question was: Where were the uni-toothed Hillbilly cannibals hiding ?".

I started sweating when I saw ten or so abandoned cars, some on blocks littering the roadside. As I peered through the mist and dust (real conditions) I saw a dimly lit building in the distance filled with stripped car parts (no lie). Now I was worried, because I had not seen another living soul since turning off the Snickerdoodle, (or whatever it's called), road. Then my mind recalled all the scary stories I heard and told as a kid. As the road narrowed to where trees were brushing against the car on both sides, I replayed all the horror movies I had ever seen like: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, People Under the Stairs, Psycho, Halloween and The Flintstones Movie (the sight Rosie O'Donnell scares the hell out of me)

Just as I was about to carve my own road out of there, I emerged from the woods to find twenty or so cars set up in a field. One guy with a red flashlight approached, and said welcome to Camp High Road. I let out a BIG SIGH OF RELIEF, then I asked: "How the hell did you ever find this place ?"  He did not answer. Personally, I don't think he has left since wandering up this way a few years back. :)

I set up my telescope in a field near the road and commenced astro imaging. I only got to take pictures for an hour before the Moon came up and washed the sky out, but the views prior to that time were great. Because seeing conditions weren't that great, I decided to take some quick, unguided photos of Milky Way Galaxy deep space objects that I cannot see from the house. The pictures are unmodified and are grainy, but gave me an idea what to take long exposure photos of during my next excursion.

M8 (Lagoon Nebula)

M16 Eagle Nebula)

M17 (Omega, Swan, Horseshoe Nebula)

M22 (Globular Cluster)

M24 (Milky Way Galaxy Center)

M27 (Dumbell Nebula)

Now that I am more confident that Freddy Kruger, the Hillbillies or Rosie O'Donnell aren't going to snuff me out, I plan to return to Camp High Road very soon to take better pictures of the objects I am showing here and some others I missed because of Moonrise.

Hoping Hurricane Earl Goes out to Sea

StarPilot

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Chasing Omega Centauri

2010-05-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 30th (6PM). I came home from work and tried to talk Char into accompanying me up to Big Meadow, a campground located along Skyline Drive while I did some astrophotography in a relatively dark-sky site. She looked at me like I was crazy and told me to have fun and write when I find work. :o)

Skyline Drive follows the Appalacian Mtns. in Virginia and is about 40 minutes from our house. Big Meadow is 30 minutes down the Skyline.

I loaded up the SUV with all my telescope and camera gear and proceeded to Big Meadow. An hour and fifteen minutes later I arrived just as twilight gave way to dark. I set-up my scope and other accessories while a herd of deer watched curiously from a distance.

The reason I was so intent on observing and photographing from the Skyline is because The Omega Centauri Star Cluster (NGC 5139) is visible in the northern hemisphere for two weeks this time of year. NGC 5139 was not due up until midnight so I photographed galaxies M51, M101 the Moon and star cluster M13 to pass the time.

I could not believe how dark it was up here compared to light polluted Northern Virginia. I thought: "What a great idea to come up here and experience nature at its finest". Just then, a coyote howled in the distance and I could hear (but not see) a couple of animals hauling tail away from the coyote.

Then I though: "What a bad idea coming up here without a weapon, other than my aluminum softball bat". Fortunately, the coyote respected my part of the meadow, and I respected his.

Anyhow, I experienced a gloruous moonrise at 11PM and spent time filming the Moon, Saturn and Mars before turning my attention to Omega Centauri.

Midnight came and I trained my telescope to the southwest, only to realize that Omega Centauri was so low on the horizon it was obscured by trees. Too, the waxing Moon cast bright light on the horizon further blotting out the brightest deep sky object in the heavens next to the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).

I decided to take a couple of photos anyhow. Here is one of those photos. Sorry about the quality, but it is the best a northern hemisphere person can do with a southern hemisphere object.

In order to give you a better appreciation for the magnificance of this impressive star cluster, here is some information on Omega Centauri from the SEDS.org website:

Located in the constellation Centaurus, Omega Centauri is the biggest of all globular clusters in our Milky Way galaxy. With its almost 5 million solar masses, it is about 10 times as massive as other big globulars, and has about the same mass as some smallest whole galaxies. It is also the most luminous Milky Way globular, and the brightest globular cluster in the sky. In the Local Group of galaxies, it is outshined only by the brightest globular cluster 'G1' in the Andromeda Galaxy M31.

Here are a couple of professional photos of Omega Centauri taken from southern hemisphere sites in Chile and Argentina.

Next year I hope to travel south and up in elevation when Omega Centauri makes its brief two week appearance in April-May 2011. Maybe, just maybe I can photograph it without interference from the full moon or the light dome from a nearby city.

Hoping for Clear, Dark Skies

StarPilot.

Constellation Orion Revisited

2010-02-11T11:46:00.000-08:00

We are having a 'real' winter this year in Northern VA, so there have been no opportunities to do any astrophotography. A double-shot snowstorm over the past week has kept me in the house, but has also given me a chance to process some astro photos I took in December 2009.

The pictures were taken with a (Hutech modified) Canon 50D DSLR, Orion 80mm ED APO telescope, Orion Atlas GoTo mount. The Atlas mount was guided by Skywatch 80mm refractor and Orion Starshoot Autoguider using PHD guiding software.

I am experimenting with image stacking software (REGISTAX 5) to enhance astro pictures I photograph. Here are two pictures I have produced using Registax.

M42 - The Orion Nebula. I shoot this nebula a lot because of its beauty and brightness. Above and left of M42 is M43, a much fainter nebula nebula with a light blue glow surrounding a grouping of stars. I hope to get better pictures of M43 before Orion slips into the western sky.

[Total exposure time: 12 minutes, (6 x 120 sec.) with the camera set at ISO-640.]

Two objects are pictured in this image:

(1) NGC-2024 (the Flame Nebula) is located just left of the brightest star (Alnitak).

(2) IC434 (the Horse Head Nebula) is the dark cloud (that some say looks like a horse head) located along the edge of the reddish gas cloud that trails downward and to the right of Alnitak.

[Total exposure time: 16 minutes (6 x 16o sec.) with camera set to ISO-640.]

Hope to post more images soon.

Clear Skies!

StarPilot

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Time Warps ... and ... Space Pictures

2009-11-14T16:27:00.000-08:00

First the Time Warp ...

This morning I was watching TV while eating breakfast. When the Today Show (which I sometimes suffer through on weekends) ended the host said something about your 9AM news begins now.

My eye caught the time on my VCR/DVD player which said: 9:27 AM. Meanwhile, the time on the TV said 9:00AM. I immediately became confused. I asked Char to check the time on the microwave oven. It too said: 9:27 AM. Confusion and illogic ruled! How could it be 9:00 when all my clocks said 9:27 ? Yikes! Did we have a time warp and I missed it ?

Then logic and reason caught up with my increasingly dumb-founded brain. While the Today Show was on, I paused 'Live TV' (we have TIVO) to make breakfast so I could see some scenes they were going to show from the upcoming movie: '2012'.

After cooking some sausage and eggs I un-paused 'Live TV' and watched the last 30 minutes of the Today Show. Apparently, I had the TV paused 27 minutes while cooking breakfast and forgot. Char and I had a good laugh over that one. Makes me wonder what kind of trouble Char and I will get ourselves into when we are Geezers.

Now the Space Pictures ...

I finally had an opportunity to do some deep space imaging last Sunday evening after weeks and months of clouds, humidity, rain and exhaustion when conditions were good but I was too tired to care.

Here are a few 'raw' images of some deep space objects I photographed that night. By raw image, I mean that I have not retouched these images with software. They are shown as I captured them. Using special astronomy software I can stack several of these images together and come up with a more defined picture, but that is time consuming and I don't have time to do that right now.

Messier Object 31 (M31) - The Andromeda Galaxy is our closest neighbor in the galactic neighborhood. Some astronomers think Andromeda and our galaxy, The Milky Way will collide in about 8 billion years. Uhhhhhhhmmmmm, I for one am not concerned about what happens 8 eons from now.

Messier Object 42 (M42) - The Orion Nebula is a very bright winter object that can be seen naked-eye in very dark skies and easily seen with binoculars. You will see many more photos of M42 as winter progresses and it gets higher in the sky. The picture looks so washed out, because M42 is low in the sky right now and is affected by light pollution.

Messier Object 45 (M45) - The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters as some call it is an open cluster that contains seven blue stars and dozens of other bright stars. It is easily seen in the ENE sky just after dark in the Fall and is straight overhead in the winter. The haze around the seven blue stars is left over dust from when the stars were born.

I also photographed M1, The Crab Nebula and M33, The Triangulum Galaxy, but these pictures were too faint to appreciate. Guess who I will be imaging next ?

That is it for now. Hope you liked the pictures.

Star Pilot, AKA Star Geezer

P.S. - I am planning a post sometime soon to dispel the hype that the movie 2012 is causing, so stay tuned. In short, the world will NOT end on 12/21/2012". Besides, if it did, what could we do about it anyhow ?

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That's One Small Step For Man ...

2009-07-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

When important events occur in life we sometimes relate "Hearing the News" to where we were when the event happened. I have always been an avid space enthusiast, so when Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon I can tell you exactly where I was.

On July 20th, 1969, this 11 year old was parked in front of our family's color TV taking in every word as news anchor Walter Cronkite described the scene.

When the announcement was made that: "The Eagle Has Landed" I was excited and thankful that the lunar module landed intact.

When Neil Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface and uttered the historical quote: "Tha's One Small Step For Man ... One Giant Leap For Mankind", my eyes filled with tears and huge lump grew in my throat.

When both astronauts planted the American flag in the ground on another world and saulted it, I could not have been more proud of my country (AND STILL AM).

Before my eyes, I was watching two heroes discover a new frontier, one that was exterrestrial.

These astronauts accomplished this impossible feat with less computing power that we have in our $10 Walmart watch, without the Internet and cellphones, without flush toilets with no way to come home if something went wrong and for no more money than the military pays.

Ever since I can remember I wanted to be an astronaut. I even applied for the Shuttle program in 1981, but was turned down because they were only accepting jet pilots at the time.

I never did realize that dream, but you never know what may happen in the future. NASA and other space agencies are planning to put permanent bases on the Moon in the next decade to prepare for the jump to Mars.

I will pass on going to Mars, because the trip may take 2-3 years to complete, and that is way too long for this Earth boy to be away from his home planet. I wonder who will be the household name that first sets foot on the 'Red Planet"

Congratulations to the Apollo 11 crew, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong for being brave enough to face possible death endure cramped quarters and survive arduous training to be the first humans to set foot on a world that is not ours.

As a backyard astronomer, I look upon the Moon, planets and the heavens from the confines of Earth, but you looked upon the Earth and the heavens from the surface of an alien world.

I salute you!

StarPilot

P.S. - Here are a couple of links to follow:

First is a NASA link that shows the Apollo landing sites 40 years later.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/apollosites.html

Second is an excellent pictoral story of Apollo 11 from the Boston Globe (not bad for a bunch of libs...)

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/07/remembering_apollo_11.html

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Weather: 1, Starpilot: 0

2009-05-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Until I get the opportunity to do some actual astrophotography, here are a couple of ramblings to entertain you. Click on each picture for a larger image.

Rambling 1: Clouds!

Has anyone else wondered how long it will be until the clouds part and allow the sun to shine during the day and stars to twinkle at night ? Until today (when the sun finally reappeared) I was wondering if we were becoming the new Seattle. The following picture gives an indication of how the weather has been for the past several months.

This is where my telescope has been hanging out for more weeks than I can remember.

There is a light at the end of the rainbow, because it is supposed to be clear the next few days. I hope I can enjoy some star gazing before the clouds roll back in.

Rambling 2: Don't Keep Secrets, Spouses Will Find Out

Ok, Starpilot put a 'want' before logic and bought an expensive new astrophotography camera, without clearing it through my lovely young bride. Oooops! That made for a few interesting evenings around the ole' backyard observatory. I ended up in ... yup you guessed it: "The Dog House" It is a nice camera though.

To make up for my blunder, Starpilot has been living in 'Honey-Do' purgatory. My lovely young bride and I are revamping the backyard by putting several flower beds, hanging bird and critter (nuisance) feeders, and lining the deck with several 'pretty' flowers. Following are pictures of the work I have been doing to pay for my lack of wise judgement. :)

The Chain Gang!

No Daisy Dukes here, just daisies!

They're everywhere, and their plotting a takeover.

If you can't beat them, join them. I selected this hanging dingle-ball looking thingie.

If I can't take pictures of stars, I will resort to all things terrestrial.

The Secret Garden.

We ran out of time before running out of weeds, oops, I mean flowers. I say the following with enthusiasm and a big smile on my face: "Oh joy, my lovely young bride and I get to plant the rest of these flowers over Memorial weekend".

Wonder if my daughter Jacki will share her secret for 'OFFING' plants before I get overrun with them.

What the Hell is this you may ask ? It is a pine cone covered in peanut butter and rolled in bird seed. It is also symbolic of my last shred of manhood being ripped away, as I got the task of hanging these treats for the squirrels (nuisances).

Before you know it, my lovely young bride will have me building bird houses ...

... and putting squirrel feeders all over the deck.

Until the skies clear ...

StarPilot

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Clusters, Galaxies and Nebula ... Oh My!

2009-05-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

Been a while since I have been able to post, but life has not slowed down enough to allow me to edit, post and share astro images I have taken recently until now.

Good thing I took these pictures when I did, because it has been cloudy for three straight weeks and we are on our second straight week of rain. ICK! Makes one consider getting into radio astronomy, which can be detected through clouds rather than visual astronomy, which cannot.

With no further ado, here are some globular clusters, galaxies and nebula that I imaged while under the stars the night of 17-18 April. (Click on each picture for a larger view)

M5 - Globular Cluster

M5 was discovered in 1702 and initially described as a nebulous star. The cluster lies 24,500 light years from Earth and is believed to contain between 100,000 and 500,000 stars. M5 is associated with our Milky Way Galaxy, but has maintained its own gravitational characteristics keeping it from being absorbed by the galaxy.

M13 - Great Hercules Cluster

M13 was discovered in 1714 by Edmund Halley (the namesake of Halley's comet) and added to Charles Messier's catalog in 1764. The cluster is 145 light years across and contains several hundred-thousand stars. M13 is 25,100 light years from Earth and was once chosen as the most likely place to harbor life outside our solar system. In 1974 a message was sent from the Aricebo antenna in Puerto Rico toward M13 in hopes to one day contact intelligent life. (However, if the message recipients in M13 try to contact Earthlings while the current administration is in Washington D.C., they will wonder if there is intelligent life here on Earth)

M57 - The Ring Nebula

M57 is a classic example of a planetary nebula which forms when a 'red giant' star depletes its fule and explodes. M57 lies 2,500 light years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. It is one of the brightest and most compact palnetary nebula in existance.

M92 - Globular Cluster

M92 is located in the constellation Hercules and is second in brightness to M13, also in Hercules. The cluster contains some 330,000 stars and is 109 light years across and is located approximately 26,700 light years from Earth.

M97 - Owl Nebula

The Owl Nebula is one of the faintest Messier objects in the sky, but easily seen in dark sky conditions. M97 is a planetary nebula in the constellation Ursa Major. The "Owl Nebula" name was given, because viewers can see what appears to be owl eyes when looking at the object through a telescope. M97 is located along the bottom of the dipper in the "Big Dipper" portion of Ursa Major.

M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy

Like many other northern hemisphere galaxies, the Pinwheel Galaxy is located in the constellation Ursa Major. It is located some 27 million light years away from Earth. M101 is believed to contain some 100 million solar masses (stars) and is 170,000 light years in diameter (nearly twice the size of the Milky Way galaxy).

M104 - Sombrero Galaxy

This spiral galaxy, which contains a bright central bulge and a large duct cloud at the galaxy edge resembles a Mexican sombrero. M104 lies in the constellation Virgo and is part of a group of nearby galaxies called the "Virgo Cluster", which the Milky Way galaxy belongs to. At the center if the Sombrero Galaxy is a super-massive Black Hole, a space object so dense that ligh itself cannot escape it.

That's all for now. I hope to get back out in a week or so and image some of the other interesting space objects. That provided the rain pushes out.

Doing an anti - Rain Dance

Star Pilot

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M3 Globular Cluster

2009-03-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

At long last, I was able to take my telescope and camera out for an evening when there was no wind, little haze and a new Moon.

The picture I am posting tonight is of Messier Object M3, one of the brightest globular clusters in the sky.

Under dark skies M3 is naked eye visible, and under city lights the cluster can be seen with binoculars, if you know where to look.

M3 rises in the eastern sky after sunset and is visible shortly thereafter. This very bright globular cluster is located in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is magnitude 6.3 (bright for a cluster) and is a mere 11 light years across.

M3 has been said to contain over 240,000 stars, 25,000 of which are variable stars (the most of any deep space object).

The object is located 33,900 light years from our Solar System, a distance farther than the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, but it outshines the glactic center, at least from our perspective.

Stay tuned for more images from my most recent night under the stars.

Clear Skies at Last!

StarPilot

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Something New

2009-03-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

At long last I had a chance to take some astro photos. I have a loooooong way to go to master my new telescope, mount and camera, but these two images, though raw and untouched are better than anything I have done previously.

M42 - The Great Orion Nebula (My hopes of imaging several Orion deep space objects have been dashed from consistently cloudy skies. Orion is moving out of sight quickly, so I may have to postpone that task until Fall).

M81 (Bodes Galaxy) & M82 9Cigar Galaxy) upper-right & lower-left respectively, are two of many deep space treasures in the constellation Ursa Major (The Big Dipper). In the weeks to come I hope to image many of these objects.

Come back soon. If the weather cooperates, i will have many more pictures to share.

Star Pilot (soon to become Sky Voyager, maybe)

The Thirty-Something Collection

2009-01-06T19:01:00.000-08:00

On December 29th I had a chance to give my new telescope mount a spin. I decided to take images of the "thirty-something" Messier objects (M31 - M39, less M30 which is not visible).

Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I had viewing and imaging them.

M31, The Andromeda Galaxy is the brightest galaxy visible from Earth and is an easy naked-eye and binocular target for star gazers. M31 has two close neighbors, M32 and M110, both of which are much smaller and will eventually be absorbed by M31. This Grand Galaxy lies 2,900 light years (ly) from Earth and is due to collide with our galaxy, The Milky Way in about 1-Billion years. M31 was referred to as the "little cloud" to famous Persian astronomer Al-Sufi who depicted the object in his Book of Fixed Stars in 905AD.

M32 (at center, M31 is lower-right) is a companion galaxy of M31 and will eventually be absorbed by its huge neighbor.

M33 the Triangulum Galaxy (also the Pinwheel) is a spiral galaxy that is a companion of its much larger neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy. M33 is 3,000 ly from Earth and is moving toward our solar system at a rate of 240 km/s. Don't worry though, at that rate it will take a billion years or so to get here.

M34 is an open star cluster in the constellation Perseus. It consists of about 100 stars and lies about 1,400 ly away from Earth. The object is naked-eye visible under dark sky conditions and can be seen any evening in the Fall, Winter and early Spring.

M35 is an impressive open star cluster that lies in the constellation Gemini. The cluster consists of several hundred stars, many of which are brighter than magnitude 13. M35 covers an area larger than the Moon, is 24 lyacross and is about 2,800 ly from Earth.

M36 is one of three bright open clusters in the constellation Auriga. M37 and M38 are the other clusters. From our perspective M36 measures 14 ly across and is 4,100 ly from Earth.

M37 is the brightest of the three Auriga open clusters. It contains over 500 stars, 150 of which are brighter than magnitude 12. M37 is 4,400 ly from Earth and spans 24 ly across.

M38 is the last of three open clusters in Auriga. Lying very close (2.5 degrees north) of M36, this is 4,200 ly from Earth and 25 ly across. It contains a very large yellow star that would dwarf our meager Sun many-fold. Some astronomers have seen a 'cross' pattern in some of the brightest stars while others have seen the math symbol 'Pi'. I will leave you to decide what pattern, if any you see in M38.

M39 is an open cluster in the constellation Cygnus. The cluster is 800 ly away and a about 7 ly in diameter. M39 contains 30 proven member stars, though some star catalogs put the number closer to 50.

My next outing (when the rain stops & clouds part) will include a journey through the constellation Orion.

There are several sky treasures to discover in that group of stars.

I just need to wait for the weather to cooperate.

Clear Skies

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M42 - The Great Orion Nebula

2009-01-04T19:09:00.001-08:00

Pictured is: The Great Orion Nebula.

This deep space object is the brightest and most recognizable Nebula visible from Earth.

Here are a few facts about The Great Orion Nebula, also known as Messier 42 (M42):

* The nebula is located in the constellation Orion, specifically the Belt of Orion.

* It is located 1,270 light years from Earth and measures 24 light years across.

* The nebula is the nearest active star-forming region to our solar system.

* Orion is one of the most easily recognized constellations in the winter night sky.

* The Great Orion nebula is visible to the naked eye.

M42 is one of my favorite astrophotography targets, because even an amateur like me can produce a robust picture.

The picture is RAW and was not manupulated in software except to enhance brightness. Equipment used to produce the image included:

Orion (Celestron) 9.25" Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope
Celestron f/6.3 Focal Reducer/Corrector
Orion Atlas GoTo Mount (tracking via SkyScan)
Nikon D80 DSLR (Unmodified)
Sensitivity: ISO-500
Exposure: 85 Seconds

Check back in a couple of days for my next post which will include a whole series of Messier objects that I photographed recently.

Clear Skies!

StarPilot

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The Star of Bethlehem

2008-12-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

I begin this blog entry with Bible scripture concerning the birth of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew.

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Chapter 2
1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying,
2. "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him."
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared;
8 and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word, that I too may come and worship him."
9 When they had heard the king they went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy;
11 and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

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The Star of Bethlehem announced the birth of Jesus Christ and then guided the wise men to find Him. The origin of Bethlehem's Star has long been the topic of discussion to scientists, astronomers, theologians and curious folks like us ever since the event occurred.

I watched a Science Channel special on the origin of the Bethlehem Star tonight and will share some of their conclusions.

First off, I must say that the show was very respectful to the birth of Jesus. Unlike the atheistic dribble that the National Geographic channel puts out in their religious programs, this show never casts doubt on the existence of Jesus or his birth. Thank you Science Channel for respecting our right to 'believe'. Anyhow, on to the origin of the Star of Bethlehem.

There are several theories regarding the origin of the Star that announced Jesus birth, so in no particular order here are the four most prominent:

Theory 1: A Comet

Some experts believe the Bethlehem Star to be a comet traveling through the solar system. Could be, but for certain it is not Halley's Comet or other 'known' ice balls. It could have been a comet that only passed through the solar system one time, and having fulfilled its purpose (announcing Jesus birth) may never be seen again.

Theory 2: An Alignment of Planets

Astronomers have calculated the placement of the planets for the past several thousand years. Some believe the Bethlehem Star to be a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn that occurred near the time Jesus was born. An alignment of the two gas-giant planets would be spectacular, may be visible for several months and could catch the eye of Magi (wise men).

Theory 3: Dancing Moons & Planets

Another scientist believed it was Jupiter playing hide and seek with the Moon and going through a retrograde (backward) orbit where it would appear to stand still for several weeks. Naaaa! I didn't buy that one either.

Besides, if the wise men went from Persia (modern day Iran) to Bethlehem every time a planet did a dance in the sky, they would earn a lot of 'frequent camel miles'. The planets routinely perform retrograde orbits and play peek-a-boo with the Moon. Nothing noteworthy for announcing the birth of the Savior of all mankind.

The Star of Bethlehem had to be much more special to catch the eye of wise men from the East.

Theory 4: An Exploding Star (Nova)

One British scientist believes the Star of Bethlehem was a Nova. Hmmm! Now that is quite possible. Only one problem: "Which one of the quadruple billions of stars could it be ?

A strong candidate is Nova 60 1927 Aql. So where in the cosmos is this star, and why suspect it over all others ?

Nova 60 1927 Aql is a binary star (two stars locked in orbit around one another) located in the constellation Aquila. The star went nova (exploded) in 1927.

One reason stars in binary systems go Nova is because they syphon 'matter' off the other star in the binary (An example of a binary star system is pictured below). In these binary systems, a red or yellow star is locked in orbit with a white dwarf. The white dwarf gets has a veracious appetite and draws matter from the red or yellow star. When the white dwarf reaches critical mass (cannot hold any more matter) it explodes to shed the extra matter. Stars can go nova several times in their lives before going super-nova where they have one giant, final explosion.

Nova explosions can occur every 10, 100, 1000 or more years. When stars go nova, the visible light from the explosion can be seen for days, weeks or months before fizzling out.

The reason Nova 60 1927 Aql is a good candidate is because it is a known nova and it is located in a part of the sky that would be located in the Eastern sky about the time Jesus was born. It would also be located directly overhead when the wise men would have arrived in Bethlehem to worship the King of Kings.

One Final Theory:

Then again, the Star of Bethlehem could have been a special sign from God that science will never explain. Besides, the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus is a matter of faith and not of science.

Following is a picture of the Northern Cross I took in Spring 2008. This region of the sky includes the constellation Aquila. Nova 60 1927 would be located just left of center of the picture.

Merry Christmas

StarPilot

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Conjunction Junction

2008-12-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

If you noticed two bright stars near the moon on the evening of December 1st, what you saw was a conjunction of the the crescent-Moon and planets Venus (the brighter object) and Jupiter.

The alignment of the two planets (from Earth's perspective) will not occur again until 2015.

In case you missed it here is a picture I took of the event from northern-Virginia.

Starpilot

Finally! A Clear Night

2008-12-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

If you live in Northern Virginia and are sick of the cloudiness, I apologize. It was all my fault. How dare I buy a new telescope and hope for clear skies to actually enjoy the darn thing.

A couple nights ago the clouds parted, so I high-tailed it outside to do some star-gazing. I squeezed in a couple hours of observing time before the clouds rolled in.

Here are some pictures from my outing.

M34 (Open Cluster )is located in the constellation Perseus. M34 is 1,400 light years from Earth and contains around 100 stars.

M39 (Open Cluster) is located in the constellation Cygnus. The object is an estimated 800 Light Years from Earth.

M42 (The Great Orion Nebula) is the brightest diffuse nebula visible from Earth. Located on the sword of the constellation Orion, M42 is a favorite target for amateur and professional astronomers alike.

-For the amateur, M42 can make even the cheapest telescope look good.

-For the professional, M42 is one of the most active star-forming regions in the night sky.

@@ Weather permitting I will photograph the entire Orion Nebula some evening and post a special blog featuring M42's many treasures.

M45 (The Pleiades) is a prominent Fall and Winter open cluster that is located in the constellation Taurus. M45 is also called the "Seven Sisters" named for the seven hot blue-stars that dominate the cluster.

M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) is a favorite target of mine. Visible from early Fall to late Winter, this galaxy is a popular target of astronomers, because it is easy to find and is visible in even cheap, department store telescopes. Within proximity of M31 are M110 (looks like a bright-fuzzy star just left of M31) and M32 (faint galaxy to the lower-right of M31). You will see me include many pictures of M31 in my postings.

Hope you enjoy the images as much as I did taking them.

StarPilot

Second Glance

2008-10-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

First Light with my new telescope was great, but not ideal because of haze and humidity in the air, along with light from a Hunters Moon. I had a chance to go out again the night of October 19th. I took additional pictures of M31/M110, M32, M33, and the Double Cluster (NGC869 & NGC884). They turned out much better without all the light pollution. Here are the pictures.

This picture of M31 (galaxy at left), M110 (appears as a star in M31's star cloud) and M32 (smaller galaxy to the right of M31) is untouched and unmodified. I should get better shots as I learn to track better, because I will be able to take longer exposures.

M33, The Pinwheel Galaxy actually showed up in the frame, which even surprized me. There is a lot of light pollution in my neighborhood, so it is almost impossible to see faint objects when viewing from my front yard. I eneded up shooting this picture in the dark, and was surprised when M33 appeared in the frame.

This 1.5 minute exposure of NGC869 (half of the Double Cluster) reveals many more stars than my original picture taken 10/11/08. (See my previous posting)

This 1.5 minute exposure of NGC884 (other half of the Double Cluster) reveals many more stars than my original picture taken 10/11/08. (See my previous posting)

All in all it was a successful evening under the stars. I will post more as time permits. I hope to catch Jupiter and Venus later in the week.

Enjoying Clear Skies!

StarPilot

P.S. - I have to pick a new name, because my wife said StarPilot sounds corny. Actually, she said it sounded 'gay'. I am taking suggestions.

Jim a.k.a. (soon to be formerly) StarPilot

First Light with the Orion (Celestron) 9.25" SCT

2008-10-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

First Light with the Orion 9.25" Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope (made by Celestron) actually occured a week ago at the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club - Star Gaze 2008.

That night, I did not take any astro pictures, but instead enjoyed looking at deep space and solar system objects with my new telescope tube.

The views were beyond my expectations, and better than anything I have owned before.

First Light was on Jupiter as twilight gave way to night. The atmospheric bands were clearly visible, but alaas the Great Red Spot was on the other side of the planet. Other objects that I viewed were M8&M20, M16, M17, M31, M32, NGC869&NGC884 (Double Cluster), M11 and of course, the Moon.

The most spectacular sight was M11 (The Wild Duck Cluster). I had a Baader Hyperion 17mm eyepiece attached at the time, and many attendees could not believe the clarity of the stars, and even saw deep into the clusters center. They felt like they were walking in space.

On Saturday, Octover 11th I finally had a chance to test the Orion 9.25" SCT's astrophotography abilities. I was dealing with a near-full Moon and haze in the sky, along with some dew on the corrector lens, so the pictures aren't the greatest. Also, I only took 30-second shots, which do not bring out faint deep-space objects.

Below, are a few shots that I took. (Click on the pictures for a larger image)

This has to be the most crisp Moon picture I have ever taken.

NGC869 is one of two star clusters visible in what is called the Double Cluster. This was a 30-second shot. An exposure of 1 - 2 minutes would reveal several more faint stars.

NGC884 is the other star cluster visible in the Double Cluster.

The last picture is of one of my favorite space objects: The Andromeda Galaxy. This galaxy is our closest neighbor and is made up of three galaxies. The bright main galaxy, M31 is at-left, M110, a small galaxy is a faint object 1inch to the left of M31. M32 is a small galaxy on the right-side of the picture. A longer exposure on a moonless night will reveal much more detail on all three galaxies. The hazy granular texture on M31 is caused by dew forming on the corrector lens.

As time permits, I will take additional pictures with my old and new telescope and add them to this Blog.

Clear Skies!

StarPilot

@

Milky Way Galaxy

2008-09-19T17:29:00.000-07:00

Northern Virginia is not the best place to view the Milky Way Galaxy, but if you get 20-30 miles west of the city lights, you will be amazed at how much of the Milky Way you can see with the naked eye.

The following three pictures were taken at Crockett Park in Fauquier County, VA on a clear, moonless night on August 31st, 2008.

Picture: Milky Way 1 (Taken looking at the Southern horizon to about 25 degrees skyward)

Picture: Milky Way 2 (Taken looking midway between the Southern horizon and straight overhead)

Picture: Milky Way 3 (Picture taken looking straight overhead)

My primary goal that night was astrophotography, but I'll admit the exposure time on some astro photos ran much longer than I intended, because I was lost in daydreams, or in this case, nightdreams looking at the Milky Way.

For the record, the Milky Way Galaxy contains between 200-400 billion stars and is home to our solar system.

Our star 'Sol' (The Sun) is classified a G2 star, meaning it has a surface temperature of 5740 Kelvin (that's hot). Sol is one of 10 Million G2 stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Our solar system is not located in the center of the Milky Way, but rather on the edge of a small spiral band called the Orion Arm. You can equate that to the galactic center of the galaxy being downtown, and our solar system being in the distant suburbs.

The following picture is an artists conception of what the scientific community believes the Milky Way Galaxy looks like. Of course we cannot know for sure, because we live inside and cannot see an external view.

Recent estimates put the Milky Way at 100,000 light years (ly) in diameter and 1,000 ly thick, which means it would take a human 100,000 years traveling at the speed of light to traverse the galaxy from end to end. NOT GONNA HAPPEN!

With current technology, we can travel at a scant 20,000 Miles per Hour. To travel at the speed of light we would have to travel at 186,000 Miles per Second. Even at that speed it would take 1,333 human lifetimes to travel the galaxy end to end. Guess we're stuck with artists pictures of the Milky Way.

The spiral band seen in my pictures is the Orion Arm. The brightest star cloud in picture "Milky Way 1" points toward the galactic center of the galaxy. The Orion Arm blocks us from seeing glactic center with optical telescopes, however scientists have a better idea what the Milky Way looks like by measuring radio waves. Google 'Milky Way' to find a lot of great on our home galaxy.

We are very blessed to be located where we are in the Milky Way, because:

- If we were closer to the galactic center of the Milky Way we likely wouldn't exist because of massive doses of radiation preventing life (as we know it) from thriving. Too, the glare from the glactic center would keep us from seeing anything else in the universe.

- Since we are on the outer edge of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way we have an unobstructed view of many parts of the universe. Had we been located farther inside the Orion Arm, space dust and millions of bright stars would have impeded our view of the universe.

Hope you enjoyed my quick drive-by tour of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Clear Skies

Star Pilot

@

Summertime ...

2008-08-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

Ok... Sing this 1950's song along with me ...

Summertime, Summertime, Summertime, Summertime
Summertime ... Summertime ... Bah Boom Boom Boom

I know it has been a while since I have blogged, but the last place you are going to catch me during the summer is in front of the computer. After work I am usually enjoying the outdoors, whether doing yard work, sitting on the deck or peering though my telescope.

I will update my blog after Labor Day weekend. Until then, I will be playing ball with my Granddaughter, chillin' in the pool with my Grandson and hangin' with my peeps ... uh Geese in this case.

Enjoy your summer.

StarPilot

P.S. - If I get a chance I will try and add some pictures and content to my Messier Catalog Blog.

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Just Because ...

2008-07-13T07:21:00.000-07:00

I haven't had the opportunity to do any viewing in quite some time because of cloud cover and good ole' Northern Virginia summer haze and humidity (smog).

Soooooo ... here is a photo I took of a half-moon on the night of June 24th (actually taken at 2AM on June 25th) at the end of a 4-hour astrophotography session.

News Flash ...Check out my newest Blog, titled the Messier Catalog Blog. It features pictures I have taken of all 110 Messier Deep Space Objects. My oldest daughter Jacki created a very cool looking graphics header for the Blog.

The link to the new Blog is: http://messiercatalog.blogspot.com

Hoping for clear, non-hazy skies.

StarPilot

@

The Light Spectrum

2008-06-30T18:58:00.001-07:00

Sometimes things just don't work out.

In my case, months of uncooperative weather has limited the number of times I have been able to use my telescope.

Soooooooo, when the stars are blocked an amateur astronomer has to make the best of it and think in terms of glass-half-full.

Tonite it was cloudy and rainy, but we did have a great rainbow provided by our star "Sol' (Picture).

Eventually, there will be Clear Skies!

StarPilot

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Blinded By The Light

2008-06-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

The Milky Way Galaxy as viewed from 'light polluted' northern Virginia.

The Milky Way Galaxy viewed from Utah.

I took the first picture in my front yard in northern Virginia. The second picture was taken by an amateur astronomer in Utah. Sadly, light pollution is washing out the wonders in the heavens that we could be seeing.

Light pollution is a big problem in any populated area. Our area used to be known as rural, but the constant spread of population from Washington, D.C. has turned Warrenton into just another suburb.

In order to see sights like the second picture, I would have to move to a very rural location. Seems to me that during an energy crisis like the one we are currently in, one way to conserve a significant amount of fuel would be to tone down the lights to a reasonable level.

Following is a link to the international dark sky organization, a group that is trying to reclaim the night sky. They are not like the fanatical environmentalists who are telling us to live in caves, but are a practical organization that is trying to urge communities to tone the lights down to reasonable levels.

http://www.darksky.org/mc/page.do

Also check out the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club 'Light Pollution' page to find out what that group is doing to reclaim the night sky.

http://www.novac.com/lp/

Hoping for Clear and Dark Skies

StarPilot

@

Greetings From Jupiter!

2008-06-17T20:06:00.000-07:00

Since getting into the backyard astronomy hobby, I have been trying to get a descent picture of Jupiter.

This time of year one has to be dedicated to the task, becuase the big 'Gas Giant' does not rise in Virginia until 12:30AM.

I had nothing better to do one night, so I stayed up for "Jupiter Rise". It was worth the wait. A new moon and low humidity were factors in allowing me to get my best glimpse of Jupiter ever in my telescope.

Viewing an object is one challenge, but getting a good picture is another.

The first two pictures show a close-up of Jupiter to include Red, Orange and White lines. Unfortunately, the Great Red Spot is not visible this time of year.

The third picture shows Jupiter and four of the planets 50+ moons.

I took the pictures using the AFocal photography method. I focused Jupiter in my telescope using a 5mm eyepiece, then took the picture of the image in the eyepiece using my Nikon D80 & 50mm lens on a separate tripod.

Next stop: "Saturn"

Starpilot

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International Space Station Passage - June 5th, 2008

2008-06-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

The International Space Station (ISS) passed over the Washington D.C. area at 2200-2202 EDT on June 5th. Shown above is the picture I took.

The ISS travelled left-to-right . The bright star 'at Left' is Polaris (North Star) and the bright star 'at Right' is Vega in the constellation Lyra.

My camera was configured as follows:

Camera: Nikon D80
Mount: Tripod
Lens: 18-55mm @18mm (F/3.5)
Sensitivity: ISO-800
Exposure: 75 Seconds

I shared the experience with my Mom in Cleveland, OH by calling her prior to the passage, and she was able to see it from that location as well. She was thrilled.

Until Next Time!

Star Pilot

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Kitchen Pass + Nature Pass = New Pictures!

2008-05-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

Observation Log for May 12th, 2008

My 'Young Bride' gave me a Kitchen Pass on an evening when the sky was clear after 1 month of cloudy nights. Consequently, I was able to view and photograph some celestial objects.

Viewing conditions weren't the greatest. There was an abundance of moisture in the air that reflected light from a half-Moon. As a result, most deep space objects were washed out with light, but who am I to complain. At least it was clear.

Here are a few of the pictures that turned out:

M57 (The Ring Nebula) is at lower left and Beta Lyra (Sheliak) is at upper right. M57 is a planetary nebula (gas remnants of a star that went super nova). Beta Lyrae (Sheliak) is a group of eclipsing binary stars that ar locked in one anothers gravitational fields.

Mizar & Alcor Binary Stars:
The Double Star in the Big Dipper portion of Ursa Major is actually multiple binary stars.
The star at upper-center is actually a binary pair named Mizar A (magnitude 2.2) and Mizar B (magnitude 4). Mizar B is not visible in this picture. The star at lower-center is Alcor (magnitude 4). The star at right-of-center is Sidus Ludoviciana (magnitude 8). I will try and split the Mizar binaries in a future viewing session.

M3 Globular Cluster in the constellation Canes Venatici.

M13 Globular Cluster in the constellation Hercules.

M5 Globular Cluster in the constellation Serpens Caput.

M12 globular Cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus.

M10 Globular Cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus.

Meteorites @@@@@@

@ The Mars Phoenix probe landed successfully on the Martian surface on Sunday, May 25th, 2008. Link: http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/

@@ COOL DOWNLOAD - Microsoft has launched an interactive planetarium website. If you don't have a telescope, use this website to explore the heavens. Very, very cool!
Link: http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/

@@@ Good News! In June, when the ISS can be next viewed in the D.C. area, one of the NBC4 meteorologists may use my ISS photo (See my previous Blog) as an example of what local viewers can see when the ISS passes overhead.

Praying for Clear Skies!

Starpilot

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International Space Station Passage - May 22nd, 2008

2008-05-22T19:11:00.001-07:00

The International Space Station (ISS) passed over our local area tonight (05/22/2008), and for once it was NOT cloudy. Above is the picture I took at 21:32 EDT as the ISS passed through the Big Dipper portion of Ursa Major. I used a tripod so there is some star trailing.

It was beautiful seeing the ISS pass from South to North along the meridian.

Here are the camera settings I used to compose the picture:

Mount: Tripod
Camera: Nikon D80
Lens: 50mm F/1.8 @ F/3.5
ISO Sensitivity: 400
Exposure: 40 Seconds
Time: 21:32 EDT

Three of four stars in the 'Cup' of the Big Dipper and two stars in the 'Handle' are visible.

Cheers!

Star Pilot

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"Night Under the Stars" (April 12th, 2008)

2008-04-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

Moon near Half-phase

Leo Triplet Galaxies M65, M66 and NGC3628

M3 Globular Star Cluster

M13 Globular Star Cluster

M37 Star Cluster

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy

M81 and M82 Galaxies

I attended my first Norther Virginia Astronomy Club (NOVAC) event on Saturday, April 12th. It was a public viewing event at Crocket Park in Fauquier County, Va . At these events, astronomy club members set up telescopes for the public to view celestial objects . It is a good way to get more people involved in astronomy.

When I arrived at 8PM the temperature was 75F with no wind. By 10:30PM the wind became gusty (15-20MPH with higher gusts) and the temperature dropped to 48F. Glad I brought my 'Hoodie', because I needed it.

I had a chance to give public viewers a tour of the night sky by guiding my telescope at: Saturn, The Great Orion Nebula (M42), Galaxies M81 & M82 (in Ursa Major), Globular Star Clusters ( M3 and M13) and Open Star Cluster M36, M37, M38 and M45 (The Pleiades).

By 11PM most public viewers departed, so I took the opportunity to do some astrophotography. Viewing and photography conditions were not the best, but this being the first cloudless night in weeks, I was not going to complain.

The posted pictures are not the best quality, because the wind was blowing my telescope around, and moisture in the upper atmosphere reflected a lot of light from an exceptionally bright Half-Moon.

Quote of the Day: Astronomy's much more fun when you're not an astronomer!

StarPilot

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Observation Log for April 2nd, 2008

2008-04-04T12:27:00.000-07:00

Finally! After a month of cloudy nights, I was able to take my telescope outside and view some celestial objects. The temperature was near 40F, there was no wind and seeing conditions were fair. The night was also moonless. My only problem was light pollution. Four of my neighbors decided to turn on their proch lights, and one in particular chimed in by running two ground-level flood lamps. Gee! Thanks Mike!

Because of the light pollution, I was unable to take any pictures due to light glare glossing over everything in my camera's viewfinder.

I am not allowed to use a shroud (a mini-tent that covers my head) to block ambient light, because I do my viewing in the front yard and my 'young bride of 31 years' said NO! Something about being viewed by the neighbors as being wierd. :(

In Lieu of pictures, I have added links to Wikipedia articles for each celestial object I viewed. Please bear in mind that the Wiki pictures are from Hubble and other multi-million dollar telescopes. My view of each object was much less detailed.

- M36, M37, and M38 (Star Clusters) in the constellation Auriga
Observation: M36 & M38 appeared as richly dense star fields with thousands of visible points of light. M37 was an impressive open cluster. This is my first sighting of these Messier objects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_36

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_37

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_38

- M42 (Orion Nebula) in the constallation Orion
Observation: The view of M42 was great through my 5mm, 13mm and 24mm eyepieces. The stars in the 'Trapezium' were razor sharp.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_42

- M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) in the constellation Ursa Major (Big Dipper)
Observation: The galaxy was faint and I did not see the cloud aligned near the tail due to light pollution and some haze near the horizon, where this object sits. This is my first sighting of M51.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_51

- M66, M67 and NGC3628 (Galaxies) in the constellation Leo (called the Leo Triplet)
Observation: I was able to see all three galaxies, though NGC3628 was more like a smudge because of local light pollution. This is my first sighting of these Messier objects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_65
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_66
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_3628

- M81 and M82 (Galaxies) in the constellation Ursa Major
Observation: I was able to make both these Messier objects out in descent detail using an 8mm eyepiece, and better detail using 13mm and 24mm eyepieces. Very impressive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M81
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_82

- Saturn near the star "Regulus" in the constellation Leo
Observation: Using the Baader 5mm eyepiece I was able to make out faint hints of the Cassini divide in the rings and some surface details. This has been my best view of Saturn to date.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn

I was offered to take my telescope to a co-workers home in a more rural area. I think I may take him up on that offer when the weather warms a little more.

Clear Skies!

StarPilot

The Smallest Telescope Detects the Largest Cosmic Explosion

2008-03-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

Good things do come in small packages.

A small telescope, with a 71mm (2.75") aperture (diameter) is responsible for detecting a star explosion and resulting Gamma Ray Burst (GRB). The GRB, registered as GRB080319B occurred 7.5 Billion light years across the known universe and was discovered by an organization called "Pi of the Sky", a group of Polish Physicists, mathematicians, and graduate students that look at specific portions of the sky for GRB events. The operation is managed in Warsaw, Poland, but the cameras are physically located at the Las Campanas, Chile observatory.

'Pi of the Sky' currently covers a 20 deg. X 20 deg. portion of sky, but has plans to extend optical capabilities to simultaneously cover 1/3 of the visible sky.

Here is the Internet link to the 'Pi of the Sky' news release with an animation of the GRB event:

http://grb.fuw.edu.pl/pi/index.html

METEORITES!!! @ @ @

@ NEW Telescope Curse !

I have been hit by the NEW TELESCOPE curse. In other words: "It has been cloudy every night I have been home to use my telescope since First Light". Hopefully, I will be able to get out soon. I am trying to capture a picture of the "Leo Triplets" (three galaxies, including M66, located in the constellation Leo) to enter in a photo contest. The contest closing date is 03/31/2008.

@@ Almost Heaven Star Party 2008

Yeehaw! Git yer campin' gear reddy and dust off the John Denver 8-tracks, cuz the Almost Heaven Star Party (AHSP) 2008 has been announced.

Every year, a conglomeration of amateur and profession astronomers gather at Spruce Knob, West Virginia for a 4 day/3 night star party. This year's event will be held from July 31st to August 3rd, 2008 (Thursday-Sunday). I plan to attend August 1st -3rd. It will be my first star party, and I hear it is not for the faint of heart. Spruce Knob has rugged amenities, (in other words tent camping with no electricity), so this event is not for everyone. At least they have hot showers, hot meal service and conveniently located out houses.

Check the AHSP website for more information:

http://www.ahsp.org/index.html

Until The Skies Clear !

StarPilot

YIKES! Death Star Taking Aim At Earth

2008-03-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

Long story short ...

A 'real' Death Star, not the fictional one from Star Wars is taking aim at Earth according to the March 1st issue of the Astrophysical Journal. Recent images from the Keck Observatory in Hawaii indicate that a pair of stars locked in a death spiral are tearing each other apart. One of the stars, called a Wolf-Rayet is in the 'Winter' season of its life and will eventually lose its mass and go supernova. The unfortunate thing for Earth is that when the star explodes, the axis, which happens to be aimed right at us, will shoot a Gamma Ray burst in our direction.

Good News! Bad News!

Good News: The star may not explode for another 100,000 years and is 8,000 light years from Earth.

Bad News: Unlike the moon-sized Death Star from Star Wars, which has to get close to a planet to vaporize it, this blazing spiral has the potential to burn worlds from thousands of light-years away.

Good News: We will have some warning before the star explodes.

Bad News: Uhhh ... Maybe a moments warning, because Gamma Rays travel at the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second.

Good News: Gamma Rays do not vaporize worlds as depicted by the fictitious Death Star.

Bad News: A Gamma Ray burst directed at Earth could damage chemicals in the Stratosphere, thereby depleting up to 50% or more of the Ozone layer. What's wrong with that ? The Ozone has 3-4% depletion at present, so a 50% depletion would drastically change our atmosphere for decades. In other words, such a 'raking' of the Ozone layer would lead to extinction of most living things within months".

Help Me Obiwan Kinobe, You're My Only Hope!

Heyyy! ... Maybe our fictitious Star Wars friends can help us build a BIG shield to protect against Gamma Ray bursts. Sorry! In this case, not even Ole' Ben Kinobe can help us. You see, Gamma Rays travel 'through' stars, planets, galaxies, big-honkin' shields, and so on. Get the picture ? Gulp!

Oh, That's Not Good ... What Can We Do ?

Nothing we can do, really. WR104 is the first star astronomers have detected that has its destructive sights set on us. There may be dozens, hundreds or thousands more undetected Wolf-Rayet type stars ready to blow their tops and shoot Gamma Rays at us.

My Humble Perspective ...

You see, we are here by design. It was NOT by chance or luck that we exist. We have a Creator who placed us here for a reason, and I for one am not worried about some star losing its cookies and depleting our Ozone or any other atmospheric layer.

The more I realize how inhospitable other parts of the 'known' universe are, the more I marvel at God's grand design in putting us on this planet, in this solar system, in this galaxy and in this part of the local galactic neighborhood.

I am just going to enjoy the life I have been blessed with and leave management of 'Space Stuff' to the Creator.

The Heavens Declare His Glory!

StarPilot

P.S. - Here are some WR104 resources for you to check out:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080310/sc_space/realdeathstarcouldstrikeearth

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23311578-2,00.html

Beginners Luck

2008-03-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

I had a chance to try out my new telescope on the evening of March 2nd. Saw a lot of cool looking celestial objects. Here are pictures I took of a few of my favorites.

M42 - Orion Nebula (Wide Field Photo with airplane entering frame at upper left)

M42 - Orion Nebula (Zoom Photo)

M44 - Beehive Star Cluster

M45 - The Pleiades Star Cluster (The seven bright stars are called the seven sisters)

M81 & M82 - Galaxies

NGC869 & NGC884 - Double Star Clusters (in Constellation Perseus)

I plan to dedicate an entire post to the Orion Nebula (my favorite constellation), so check back soon.

Clear Skies!

StarPilot

My New Baby

2008-02-29T19:29:00.000-08:00

Orion 80mm ED with SkyView Pro mount

Comupterized Hand Controller (13,564 object database)

Orion 80mm ED Optical Tube Assembly (OTA)

Well gang, here is the new telescope. I sold both my ETX-125 and my 8" StarHopper Dobsonian to buy this one. Both other scopes were stellar viewing scopes, but I wanted something that I could use for long-exposure astrophotography.

Enter the Orion 80mm ED telescope sitting atop an Orion SkyView Pro Equatorial mount. The scope is just over 3 inches in diameter, but it works better with my camera for photographing Deep Space Objects such as: galaxies, nebula and star clusters.

When the weather clears this weekend, I will attempt to snap some celestial pictures.

Until the next time!

StarPilot

First Light ... A Time Honored Tradition

2008-02-27T10:11:00.001-08:00

M42 - Orion Nebula (from picasaweb.google.com)

M44 - Beehive Star Cluster (from http://www.astropix.com/)

M45 - The Pleiades Star Cluster (from http://www.astropix.com/)

M81 & M82 Galaxies (from http://www.astropix.com/)

Saturn (from apod.nasa.gov)

IC434 HorseHead Nebula (In Orion) (from http://www.astropix.com/)

First Light is a "time honored" tradition carried out by Backyard and Amateur Astronomers. It is marked by the first night an astronomer 'gathers light' , or looks through a new telescope. You can read all the reviews you want, but you never really know how a scope is going to perform until you point at a celestial object and look through the eyepiece.

On February 25th at 7:30PM I gathered 'First Light' in my new Orion 80mm ED on a SkyView Pro Goto mount. There was a narrow period of 'somewhat' cloudless skies between frontal systems, so I took advantage of the opportunity before the 'white puffies' moved back in.

I performed my first-ever polar alignment (pointing the telescope at Polaris), then let the Goto mount do the rest. I dialed in Messier Object M44 (Beehive Star Cluster) into the computerized hand controller and pressed 'Enter'. The motors quietly whirred for 30 seconds or so, then the hand controller 'beeped' to tell me I had arrived at my celestial destination.

As I looked into the 25mm Sirius Plossl eyepiece, M44 was glistening at me with a cluster of bright and faint stars.

After observing M44 for a time, I took a tour of the sky to view other familiar space objects. Here are the highlights of what I observed:

- M42 (Orion Nebula) looked light-gray and pale-blue. I was able to resolve the four major and two faint stars of the trapezium, which looked razor-sharp. I stared at it for several minutes.

- M45 (The Pleiades) looked grand as ever, and I was surprised to see some nebulosity surrounding the 'Seven Sisters' with the telescope aided eye.

- M81 and M82 (Galaxies) looked great. Just as I thought they may appear through an eyepiece. I will have to study the galaxies individually some time.

- Saturn looked like someone painted the ringed planet onto the end of my scope. I saw faint hints of the Cassini Divide, but clearly saw lines in the planet's atmosphere and even saw the black of space between the rings and the planet.

- However, when I dialed up IC434 (Horsehead Nebula) clouds moved in and ended my session after 45 minutes. It was a memorable 'First Light' with my Orion 80mm ED.

I look forward to many more viewing and astrophotography sessions with my new scope. I didn't do any astrophotography this night, because I just wanted to enjoy the view of celestial objects from the new scope.

Question: You may wonder why I didn't do a 'First Light' report when I bought my ETX-125 ?
Answer: I didn't know about First Light, and I wasn't running a BLOG.

Personal Observation: I become concerned when I ask myself a question, and then answer it. I will really become concerned if I give myself the 'silent treatment' for taking one position, rather than the other when answering a question. :)

The pictures are stock photos from the Internet. (Most are from http://www.astropix.com/). I posted them to give readers a sample of the views I saw through my telescope eyepiece. Most pictures are representative of what I saw, exept for the starbursts in M45 and the detail in Saturn.

I plan to take high quality pictures of these heavenly objects some day, but I didn't want to complicate the experience of 'First Light' with my new scope and mount.

Thanks for Checking In!

StarPilot

Good Bye Ole' Friend

2008-02-24T18:32:00.000-08:00

Ready to explore the heavens!!!

This is a picture of my ETX-125 all packed and ready to go to its new home :(

Well, I did it! I sold my ETX-125 telescope to another person interested in Backyard Astronomy. I will miss my ETX, because celestial objects were sooooo easy to find and track with it.

But ... my interest in the hobby has changed to where I want to do more astrophotography than casual viewing.

My first goal is to photograph as many of the Messier Objects as one can see in the Northern Hemisphere. It will take time, persistence and patience, but that is half the fun.

I installed the motors and computer on the new telescope this weekend (Orion 80mm ED with SkyView Pro GOTO Mount), now I am waiting for the clouds to part so I can actually use the scope. I will let you all know how that goes.

Clear Skies!

StarPilot

P.S. - To the ETX-125's new owners: "It doesn't need a night light. My experience has been that it prefers the dark". (May you get the enjoyment out of the scope that I did, and did I ever enjoy it)

Lunar Eclipse 02-20-2008

2008-02-21T18:19:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of viewing a Lunar Eclipse on Wednesday February 20th. It was a miracle we in Northern Virginia were able to see it. Snow was falling until 7:00PM. I was shocked to see the skies clear off so quickly, but who am I to complain.

I scurried around to deploy my telescope and tripod and readied myself for my first Lunar Eclipse as a backyard astronomer.

I drove my family crazy running in and out snapping pictures of the eclipse during commercial breaks while watching American Idol.

I initially had trouble focusing the camera on the telescope, but eventually figured it out. I have a new telescope (an Orion 80mm ED OTA with a SkyView PRO Equatorial mount) and was unfamiliar with it.

Some pictures were taken using a camera on a tripod, but a majority were taken the camera attached to the telescope. I froze my bottom off, but had fun taking the pictures and enjoying a lunar eclipse that wasn't in the middle of the night.

Enjoy the pictures.

StarPilot

P.S. - After the skies clear this weekend I'll have my new telescope back out learning how to use it. Soooooooo, hopefully there will be many more descent quality pictures of celestial objects to follow.

Temporary Suspension of Operations ...

2008-02-08T10:49:00.000-08:00

Hi All!

My brother, Oliver Gemmel Jr. (Butch as my sibling and I called him) passed away Friday, February 1st, 2008 suddenly and unexpectedly. He will be sorely missed by me and my entire family.

He was 12 years older than me but we could not be closer. I will miss his strength, love for life, devotion to family, friendliness, charisma and amazing ability to attract strange women. (I have to figure out how he did that) :)

Butch liked lighthouses, covered bridges and he got me hooked on model trains. :)))))

I shared this blog with him and am glad I did. His eyesight was poor, so pictures in my blog were the only way he could see what I was seeing through my telescope.

His passing leaves a gaping void in our family. We just lost my Dad and Butch's son, Roger last year.

I'll begin blogging again soon, but not until I get over the shock of his passing.

The attached picture of my brother Butch (at left) and I was taken in Brimley, Michigan in June 2007. My family was in Michigan to lay my Dad's ashes to rest. My Dad passed away in December 2006.

Until the Next Time

Star Pilot

Look to the Heavens! A new Star is Shining the Night Sky. My Brother Butch is looking upon us from his Celestial Home.

You Know it's Cold Outside When ...

2008-01-20T19:47:00.000-08:00

You know it's cold outside when I haven't been outside to view the heavens since the beginning of January.

It has been cloudy for three weeks and now that ths sky is clear the temperature has dropped below 10F. The stars and such will be there when the weather is more agreeable.

Besides, I checked outside earlier and the Full Moon is lighting up the entire sky. Maybe I'll get back outside in a week or two. Unitl then, let the computer games begin.

StarPilot

News Flash ... Martian Attack

2008-01-02T13:37:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer 1: The cartoon has nothing to do with today's web entry. I just thought it was funny.

Disclaimer 2: When I'm on vacation I seldom if ever watch the news or read newspapers, including Yahoo Headlines, so I missed this one until now.

Anywho, on with the story … There was one headline I found today that has been circulating for a couple of weeks concerning an asteroid possibly impacting Mars.

The asteroid, 2007 WD5 is classified as a Near Earth Object (NEO).

It passed within 5 million miles of Earth on November 1st, 2007 and is half-way to Mars.

Asteroid 2007 WD5 is expected to pass within 15,500 miles of Mars on January 30th at 11:56 PM, give or take a few minutes.

The asteroid is not expected to impact the Earth, but it could be interesting to see what happens if this NEO impacts Mars.Asteroid 2007 WD5 was discovered on November 8th, 2007.

It is 160 feet in diameter and is traveling at a speed of 27,900 Mph.If the asteroid hits Mars it could cause a crater 1/2 mile wide and hit with the force of a 3- Megaton atom bomb.

The asteroid is too small to see except with Earth's largest telescopes.

Weather permitting, I'll have my telescope and camera ready in the event the asteroid hits the Red Planet, because I imagine it would cause some sort of explosive flash in Mars atmosphere.

Stay tuned for further updates.

You can read information about Asteroid 2007 WD5 using the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_WD5

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news153.html

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/12/asteroid-impact.html#more

Happy New Year!

StarPilot

Out With The Old, and In With ...

2007-12-31T13:01:00.000-08:00

Hi All!

Here are a few photos to round out the year. I've been busy the entire month and haven’t been able to write any BLOG entries.

My star gazing opportunities have been few and far between because of cloudy nights.

Photo 1 is Comet Holmes taken December 14th with a jet flying through my field of view while I was taking the shot.

Photo 2 is the Constellation Perseus portion of the Milky Way Galaxy. The star field is very dense in this portion of the sky. You can see Comet Holmes in the upper-right portion of the picture.

Photo 3 is M42 "The Great Orion Nebula". The Pinkish-Purple colors are the actual colors of the nebula. Some photographers doctor the colors, but you'll not see that with my pictures. I believe in showing what can be seen with the naked eye through a telescope or binoculars.

Photo 4 is M31 "The Andromeda Galaxy. It's our closest neighboring galaxy. The fuzzy spot just below Andromeda is M32, and just above Andromeda is M110, two dwarf galaxies.

Photo 5 is uhmmm ... Mars. It's the best I could do with a shaky camera tripod. I got a new camera tripod for Christmas, but haven't had a chance to use it yet.

That's it for this entry. I've been studying visible constellations for this time of year and am planning some star gazing sessions to locate new (to me) galaxies and other deep space objects.

See you in 2008!

Star Pilot

P.S. – Comments are always appreciated.

The Newest Member of the Family

2007-12-04T16:11:00.000-08:00

Say hello to the newest member of my family. No, not my Son-in-law or Granddaughter. I'm referring to the tall, black tube beside them.

Give a heartfelt "Hoooooowdy!" to the Celestron StarHopper 8" Dobsonian Telescope. It has an 8" reflector mirror that allows excellent viewing of dimmer deep space objects.

I bought it for $50 on CraigsList. I had no idea it was so large until I picked it up from the buyer. When I saw it, I said: “Cool!” When my wife saw it, she exclaimed: "Holy Crap!" (It’s all a matter of perspective.) :)

My wife wanted to know if I planned to spy on the angels. Hmmm!

It's not the best thing for taking pictures, but it sure is great for observing Solar System and Deep Sky objects.

This is going to be fun!

StarPilot

Latest Observations

2007-12-04T09:27:00.000-08:00

The weather is getting colder, but viewing of celestial objects is getting better with lowered humidity in the atmosphere.

Images 1 thru 5 are some of my latest astronomic observations.

Image-1: I'm glad to see Mars rising earlier in the evening. I should have some opportunities to view the ice-capped poles and if I'm lucky view some terrain features. More to follow in a future post ...

Image-1 was taken on 11-16-07 at 9:04PM.
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 50F
Method: Piggy Back on ETX-125
Camera: Nikon D80
ISO Speed: 400
Lens: 50mm
F-Number: F/1.8
Exposure: 8 Seconds

Image-2: M45 Pleiades is the most brilliant open cluster that can be seen with the naked eye. I hope to capture more pictures of this Messier Object in future photo sessions.

Image-2 was taken on 11-16-07 at 9:45PM.
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 50F
Method: Piggy Back on ETX-125
Camera: Nikon D80
ISO Speed: 400
Lens: 50mm
F-Number: F/1.8
Exposure: 8 Seconds

Images 3 & 4: [Image 3 is an untouched picture of the constellation Orion. Image 4 was a modified image of the same picture to include boxes around major stars and objects in Orion.]

The constellation Orion is one of the easiest objects to identify in the sky. Orion contains M42 (Orion Nebula) IC434 Horsehead Nebula, along with M43, M78 and NGC2024 (Flame Nebula). The Orion nebula gas field is the most active star forming region in our stellar neighborhood. If I get some good viewing/imaging sessions, I’ll dedicate an entire BLOG post to Orion.

Here’s a link to the Wikipedia entry for the constellation Orion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation)

Images 3 & 4 were taken on 11-27-07 at 9:45PM.
Weather: Clear, 29F
Method: Piggy Back on ETX-125
Camera: Nikon D80
ISO Speed: 800
Lens: 50mm
F-Number: F/2.8
Exposure: 8 Seconds

Image-5 is my latest photograph of comet 17P Holmes. The bright star below the comet is Mirfak, which is the brightest star in the constellation Perseus.

Images-5 was taken on 11-27-07 at 9:32PM.
Weather: Clear, 29F
Method: Piggy Back on ETX-125
Camera: Nikon D80
ISO Speed: 1600
Lens: 70-300mm @ 155mm
F-Number: F/4.8
Exposure: 30 Seconds

Hope you're enjoying the pictures!

Star Pilot

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night ...

2007-11-26T19:10:00.000-08:00

... so I had nothing better to do than raid my astrophotography archive to find pictures to post.

[Image 1] is a picture of Comet 17P/Holmes taken 11/23/2007. The comet is washed out because there was a Full Moon and my neighbor's flood lamp was shining directly at my telescope.

The image was produced using:

Camera: Nikon D80 (Piggyback onto ETX-125)
Lens: Quantaray 70-300mm (@300mm Focal Length)

ISO Speed: 200

F-Number: F/5.6

Exposure time: 48 Seconds

If you want to find out more about Comet 17P/Holmes, here are some excellent links:

http://cometography.com/pcomets/017p_images.html

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/10775326.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17P/Holmes

Now lets have some rainy night fun ...

[Image 2] is a wide field picture I took of the constellation Sagittarius in August 2007.
[Image 3] is a 'film negative' view of Image 2.

[Image 4] is star chart of the constellation Sagittarius I found on http://www.wikipedia.com/

Using Images 4 as a guide, see how many Messier objects you can identify in Images 2 &3, and if you can link the visible stars in the constellation. Actually, connecting the dots (stars) will help you find the Messier objects.

The dense starfield in Sagittarius is the Heart of the Milky Way Galaxy. (This constellation and its many celestial treasures are what hooked me on Astronomy and Astrophotography).

Helpful Star Gazing Hint: In the light pollutes skies of Northern Virginia, I often take wide field pictures of portions of the sky and study them on the computer to learn my constellations and other celestial objects.

Enjoy!

Star Pilot

P.S. - Please excuse the formatting problems. Blogger's editor has a mind of its own.

Comet 17P/Holmes ...New Images

2007-11-22T19:20:00.001-08:00

Finally got some clear weather after a cold front passed through. I took these images of Comet 17P/Holmes tonight (11/22/2007) with my Nikon D80 using a Quantaray 300mm zoom lens.

I tracked Mirfak (bright star just below the comet) with my ETX-125EC telescope and piggybacked my camera on top of the telescope.

Mirfak is the brightest star in the constellation Perseus. When the comet clears Mirfak and the Moon doesn't cause problems, I'll be able to get better pictures of the 'Coma' (big dust bubble) and 'Nucleus' (bright center).

17P/Holmes is now bigger than the Moon and I heard is approaching the size of the Sun.

The pictures have a some noise in them caused by a near full moon.

The pictures of 17P/Holmes aren't as good as what observatories produce, but their telescopes cost hundreds of thoudsnds of dollars. Mine cost $500 used.

Keep the Clear Skies Comin'

Star Pilot

In These Desperate Times ...

2007-11-20T19:30:00.000-08:00

... you take what you can get, and that applies to pictures of celestial objects too.

It was cloudy again tonight, so in desperation I took a few pictures of the Moon and the Constellation Perseus peeking thru the clouds.

Pictures are as Follows (Click on picture for larger image):

1. Cloudless Moon

2. Halo Moon (behind clouds)

3. Another Halo Moon

4. Constellation Perseus Peeking Out From Clouds

5. My Neighbors Flood Lamp that Shines In Our Bedroom Every Night.

Still Hoping for Clear Skies!

StarPilot

Cloudy Days & Cloudy Nights...

2007-11-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

...and Comet 17P/Holmes is nowhere in sight. Sighhhh!

The above picture has been the view from my observing sight for several days (and nights). I heard the clouds will part today (11/19/2007) so I may be able to get a few shots of comet 17P/Holmes before the clouds return during mid-week. If I'm successful, I'll post them here.

Side Note: Yesterday, (Sunday 11/18/2007) I bought a used Quantaray 70-300mm F/1:4-5.6 lens for my Nikon D80. I intend to use the lens to take close-up astrophotography images of celestial objects. If the weather cooperates tonight I'll try the lens out on M45, M81 and comet 17P/Holmes.

Cool Link: Check out my son-in-law's blog to view his astrophotography and other blog entries.

http://pdyrholm.blogspot.com/

Hoping for Clear Skies!!

StarPilot

Comet 17P/Holmes ... First Sighting!

2007-11-06T19:56:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, November 3rd, I had a chance to scan the heavens with my ETX-125EC.

Using the Electronic Controller to guide the scope manually, I took a tour of The Pleiades (M45). The open star cluster was breathtaking, as always. Since the night was dark and humidity low, I navigated my way to what I thought was the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).

But this fuzzy spot didn't look eliptical and was much brighter than my previous observations of M31. Hmmmmm!

I piggy-backed my Nikon D80 on the ETX-125 and took several long exposures of that region of sky using a 50mm f/1.8 lens.

The next work day I showed the exposures to a fellow backyard astronomer. He too was baffled why I was only seeing the core of M31 and not the entire elliptical starfield. We discussed different ways to set the camera to get additional shots.

Later that day I received an email from my oldest daughter that featured a Yahoo story on Comet 17P/Holmes, which had recently erupted. Amateur astronomers observed the comet changing from Magnitude-15 to Magnitude-2 in less than an hour. WOW!!!

One glance at the picture in the story told me I had photographed 17P/Holmes without realizing.

Following are a few pictures of comet 17P/Holmes taken from my 'light polluted' front yard in Northern Virginia.

Hope you enjoy the pictures. Later this week I'm going to attempt to track the comet and take some prime focus pictures. That should be fun.

StarPilot.

Wide Fleid View of Comet 17p/Holmes

Cropped Image of Comet 17P/Holmes

Super Cropped image of Comet 17P/Holmes

Observation Log 09/18/2007

2007-09-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

Observation Log: 09/18/2007

Location: Backyard Observatory
Weather: 50F and Clear

The Moon (Prime Focus Photo)

Polaris and Star Trails (7 Minute Exposure)

Sagittarius (Heart of the Milky Way Galaxy)

Sagittarius (Heart of the Milky Way Galaxy "Inverse Image")

How have my observation experiences gone thusfar, you may ask ?

I bought the ETX-125EC in July, got one night to view the sky and then haze & humidity moved in for 7 weeks.

A cold front came thru on 09/18/2007 and sent the humitidy packing. I was able to view several objects that night, including:

Constellations:
- Sagittarius
- Ursa Minor
- Cephus
- Cassiopeia

Solar System:
- Moon (1/3 full) [See Photo - "The Moon"]
- Jupiter (four moons visible)

Deep Space:
- Milky Way Galaxy [See Photo - "Sagittarius ..."]
- M8 (Lagoon Nebula)
- M21, M22 & M22 (Star Clusters)

Stars:
- Polaris (Had a difficult time finding Polaris because Ursa Major and Ursa Minor were hiding behind trees in my backyard. To confirm the position of Polaris, I took a wide field view of that region of space using my Nikon D80 fitted with a 50mm f/1.8 lens. [See Photo - "Polaris and Star Trail"] (Polaris is the stationary star in the photo.)

Messier Objects:

- M7, M8, M21, M22 & M23 are visible in the 'normal' and 'inverse' photos of the Heart of the Milky Way in Sagittarius. [See Photo - "Sagittarius..."]

Hint: Search "sagittarius constellation" in http://www.wikipedia.com/ to view a star chart that will help identify the Messier objects in the "Sagittarius..." photos.

Check back soon for more photos.

StarPilot

Obeservatory Equipment & Photography Methods

2007-09-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is the bright fuzzy object (left side of picture).

You may ask: "What's needed to become involved in backyard astronomy ?"

Short Answer:
A star chart, your eyes and clear, dark skies.

Long Answer:
Binoculars or a telescope are needed, especially if you want to view fine details of solar system or deep space objects.

What's the Attraction to Amateur Astronomy?
Many amateur astronomers like to keep it simple and merely observe the wonders the heavens have to offer, while others like to photograph their observations. Others still spend their time studying certain classes of objects, (i.e. - The moon, planets, nebula, star clusters, galaxies, binaries, etc...). I've even met astronomers that dedicate their time to the study of 'one' object.

What's the Cost ? A few hundred to several thousand dollars.
Some are satisfied buying a $300 90mm telescope, and occasionally viewing the moon and planets. Others spend tens of thousands of dollars on mini-Hubble observatories that can rival some professional observatories. The cost reflects what you want to do.

If you plan to observe the heavens one or more night a month, purchase a telescope from a reputable dealer (Celestron, Meade, Orion or Vixen) and buy a motorized mount that has GOTO capability. Make sure the Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) has an aperture of at least 125mm. Stay away from department store junk that measures telescope performance as 40x or 120x power. They are not quality instruments and you will quickly lose interest in astronomy.

Here's the equipment I use:
- Meade ETX-125EC Telescope with Meade #884 Field Tripod
- Autostar #497 Handbox
- Meade Electronic Controller
-Meade Series 4000 1.25" Eyepieces (6, 9, 12.5, 15, 20, 26, 32 and 40mm)
- Nikon D80 D-SLR camera
- Black & Decker "JumpStart" portable battery starter.

Astrophotography techniques:

Prime Focus: I use the telescope's OTA as the lens on my D80 camera. The connection is made using a Nikon T-mount and Meade T-Adapter.

Piggy Back: I mount my D80 onto the ETX-125EC's OTA and use a standard camera lens to photograph a desired region of the heavens. This method works well I want to track an object in space for long exposure astrophotography.

Wide Field (with Tripod): The D80 is mounted onto a camera tripod. The drawback here is that exposure times for each photo must be short (5 - 15 seconds or less), otherwise noticable star trails can be seen. Here's my basic rule of thumb:

50mm Lens - Star trails noticable after 15 seconds of exposure.
100mm Lens - Star trails noticable after 8 seconds of exposure.
200mm Lens - Star trails noticable after 5 seconds of exposure.

Check http://www.astropix.com/ for several astrophotography tips and techniques. (Hit the back button to return to my BLOG)

Happy Star Gazing!

StarPilot

Why BLOG ?

2007-09-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my Blog. I'm a 'very amateur' Backyard Astronomer that is just getting into the hobby. I plan to use this BLOG to post celestial observations from my humble backyard observatory (i.e. - my deck)

Enjoy!

StarPilot