Good ole Sun

When looking for solar photographs to post here today, I was surprised to find I shot one in January 2022 and another almost exactly a year later -- in January 2023! Winters here tend to be cloudy so the chances of my shooting any astrophotos are low. Sun is emerging from the "quiet" portion of its activity cycle and presenting observers with more features to look at. Recently, most of my Solar shots have been made using a DSLR camera equipped with a 400mm/800mm (with 2X telextender) telephoto lens and white light solar filter. There's virtually no setup involved in photographing Sun this way so if there's a sunny day and sunspots to see, it's easy to get out and do it! The orange color in the first photo below was digitally added, tinting an otherwise grayscale picture. The more intense orange photos, shot in 2023, gain their color from a glass solar filter which seems to add some contrast to the several sunspots visible. Ironically, I am taking a liking to the grayscale photo at the bottom of this page -- one of the deep orange photos I, ironically, processed to remove the color! In that picture some more subtle details can be seen in Sun's photosphere. I'm hoping I can use a telescope for solar imaging this summer as the telephoto lens images are heavily-cropped from the full-frame files and lack some of the quality I expect to see a proper long focal length telescope deliver.

A break in the cloudy/rainy/snowy weather here afforded me the opportunity to see the Sun January 19! It turned out there was quite a bit happening on our nearest star. Two large and very active regions (AR3190 is especially prominent) and smaller sunspots scattered across the solar disk made for interesting viewing -- through a purpose-built solar-safe filter.

 

Further adventures with a computerized telescope

When we have a few expected clear nights strung together, I try and get out with telescope and/or camera to enjoy the night sky -- such as it is in modern towns. And so it was that Thursday I set up the "new" Sky-Watcher mount with the intention of practicing polar and stellar alignment.

In order for a computerized equatorial telescope to aim at the celestial targets one seeks, it must be sitting level, it needs to know: where it is (latitude and longitude), what time it is -- down to the second, the location of a couple of bright stars, and have its axis of rotation perfectly aligned with Polaris -- the North Star -- actually a specific point in space near Polaris! If you get all of those right, computerized mounts are great; you simply tap into a control device what you want to view, tap another button to tell it to "go-to" the target, and bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, motors whir, the telescope moves, and in a few moments you're enjoying wonders of the universe. If you get everything right. If you don't get everything right, it's frustration and mosquitoes in the dark.

Waiting for Dark. The telescope sits atop its very demanding computerized mount, and sports a new finder telescope.

So Thursday night I managed to get the polar alignment better, probably, than I have ever before. I was using a telescope control app that seemed to occasionally get the location wrong and that's a big deal. Eventually I was able to get the telescope to approximately locate objects and got decent views of Jupiter and Saturn before calling it quits -- there was a lot of struggle involved. I put the weather cover over the scope and headed in.

Friday night was cloudy. I needed the rest anyway.

Saturday night saw hazy skies, glowing from ground-based light pollution but with cloudy nights ahead, I uncovered the telescope -- already polar-aligned -- and was particularly meticulous about date and time entry using the hand controller instead of the phone app. After a bit of trouble finding alignment stars in the soupy sky, I enjoyed seeing the message saying setup "COMPLETED."

From then on, the system worked "as advertised." So I keyed in Jupiter, and Saturn, followed by a number of other objects. Photography wasn't the primary objective -- conquering proper setup was -- but with the telescope balanced for use with a camera, what the heck! I was glad I had the camera at the ready because many of the objects I wanted to view were not visible by eye in the milky sky. Time after time the scope pointed at the objects of interest. Wonderful! It's been years since I had a go-to telescope work as well as this.

The field of view allowed the Perseus Double Cluster to be recorded in one camera frame. I was using my Canon EOS 6D Mark 2 DSLR mounted at the telescope's prime focus -- it's essentially using the telescope as an 1,800mm telephoto lens.

Perseus Double Cluster. A pair of open star clusters in one field of view.

One of my favorites, Messier 82, showed faintly in an image (also not shown here) and was invisible to the eye on account of light pollution. The pairing of M81 and M82 is one of my favorite galactic sights though a telescope; I'm going to need better skies or a different location to see them again!

My photos, though certainly not spectacular, revealed more galaxies than I'd yet seen in my lifetime. Barnard's Galaxy (not pictured here) was revealed by the camera. I shot a photo of the star Mirfak because I thought it would be pretty with diffraction spikes. When I viewed the image on my computer, several small streaks with central bulges showed up -- distant galaxies in the background

Star Mirfak sports diffraction spikes making it seem to shine brighter. The spikes are caused by support vanes within the telescope affecting the light pattern focusing in the camera.

 

 

 

 

 

Mirfak and the Galaxies? It's unlikely the circled objects are galaxies but I am at a loss as to what may have caused the artifacts; other objects bright and dim do not look like those.

A first viewing and new fascination of mine is the Saturn Nebula: a planetary nebula around 5,200 light-years distant, which resembles planet Saturn in shape only. It's a beautifully complex cloud of star-stuff that photographs in vivid color. Its image via DSLR is disappointingly small and required much cropping to see in any detail. I was delighted to capture a bit of its complexity and I'll be visiting the object repeatedly for viewing and photographic challenge.

The Saturn Nebula. Clouds of stellar material glow, the aftermath of the death of a star. The oval shape of this planetary nebula resemble an unfocused image of real planet Saturn.

I also captured my best image, to date, of globular cluster Messier 2 -- a beautiful ball of stars 55,000 light-years away. Capturing the brightest stars is easy but the cluster, one of the larger globular clusters known, is composed of around 150,000 stars. The cluster looks like a pretty fuzz ball by eye, photographs reveal some of those thousands of stars, and the best images look like diamond dust.

Messier 2 -- a large globular cluster of stars -- is found in the Aquarius constellation.

Flashes were lighting the sky to the south and east and clouds were beginning to flow in. A distant thunderstorm was drifting in my general direction. I called it a night at about 12:30 a.m., and tore down the entire setup stowing it in case of stormy weather.

It was a very good night, this further adventure in astronomy, giving me hope I've finally worked out the kinks and can more fully enjoy the experience.

A weak image but a personal best

Messier 101 -- The Pinwheel Galaxy -- in Ursa Major. The spiral and star clouds just emerging from the background. DSLR camera at prime focus of 1,800mm FL Cassegrain telescope. A first attempt that shows great promise.

All right, I know this is a weak and maybe ugly image of a beautiful gem of the night sky but to me it represents great promise. This was a target-of-opportunity imaging attempt I made after shooting comet photos. I keyed in M101 (for object no. 101 in the famous Messier Catalog) on the telescope's control pad and with loud whirring the telescope swung up and to the north. Peering through the eyepiece at stars in a light-polluted sky, I manually moved the telescope ... was that a little cloud in space, or a floater in my eye? Back again, yeah! Barely visible, but it's there! That's what a galaxy looks like through a small telescope: a little, dimly-glowing cloud. I shot a test image and sure enough, there's something there. I shot a series of images, a series of "darks" -- covering the telescope and recording the electronic noise of the camera's image sensor -- and called it quits for the night. So, after processing I got what you see above. I know I need to boost the camera's ISO (sensitivity) and maybe the exposure time for each image. The image shown here is, however, the best photo I've ever made of an object outside of the Milky Way -- the spiral arms show, star clouds and all. I know now I can do this and I hope the next attempt will actually be beautiful for others to see!

The Pinwheel Galaxy is a face-on spiral galaxy 21 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain on March 27, 1781. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinwheel_Galaxy

Farewell to a comet

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) the night of July 24, 2020 via DSLR camera at the prime focus of an 1,800mm FL Cassegrain telescope. Photo by James Guilford.

Friday night, July 24, 2020, offered possibly the last best chance for me to see and photograph Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE). The comet was nearing its closest approach to Earth but was speeding away from our Sun as it headed toward the outer Solar System -- it was closer to us but dimming!

I met up with other astro-folk and photographers at a Medina County park. This time, having made photos capturing the scenic beauty of the comet in the night sky, I traveled with telescope and computerized mount. I wanted to see what "close-up" detail I might capture in the comet's nucleus and tail.

The old Meade-branded mount fired up and, to my surprise, I quickly achieved good alignment using a compass and "eyeballing". The recently-discovered comet wasn't in the computer-controller's database so I selected a spot as near the comet as I could and manually moved the telescope for aim.

Through binoculars I was readily able to spy the comet, though it was noticeably dimmer than a week earlier. A companion and I both were sure we caught a naked-eye glimpse of the object through averted vision. It certainly did not reflect in the park's lake waters.

So I shot a number of image series, experimented with various ISO settings, and shot a few images in "portrait" orientation in case I might record long cometary tails. That's not what I got.

The camera recorded/rendered C/2020 F3 with a vivid green nucleus with a diffuse, reddish tail. Through the telescope I could see the greenish tint so I knew that was real and to be expected in the images. These close-up images are not what I expected but, I think, not bad; they serve as a farewell to a comet that brought a good deal of excitement to the amateur astronomical community in general and to me in particular.

An exceptional Observe the Moon Night

Our First-Quarter Moon on International Observe the Moon Night, as seen through the Stephens telescope at 9:04 PM EDT. Iphone SE at eyepiece.

Stephens Memorial Observatory, Hiram College -- Our October 5 Open Night was the local event of the International Observe the Moon Night — an annual occurrence meant that encourages observation, appreciation, and understanding of our Moon and its connection to planetary science and exploration. Over the course of the night at Stephens Memorial Observatory some 34 happy and inquisitive visitors attended and were treated to beautiful and unusual views of Earth’s Moon and planet Saturn.

Unusual? The earliest visitors arrived just as the telescope was set to go … with the sky still bright with twilight. The Moon appeared light and against a power-blue sky background instead of the usual darkness of space. Saturn, invisible to the eye in the bright sky, was also viewed through the telescope in surprising detail. It was gratifying to be able to locate and view Saturn before dark and surprisingly, I was able to observe cloud bands on the planetary body and the Cassini Division within the ring system. This is only the second time I've viewed planets before dark -- the first was Jupiter which was located and offered for viewing by an astronomer friend using his own telescope. Saturn was pretty easy to find this night owing to how close it was to the Moon in the sky.

Zooming in on the previous image: That dot in the center of dark-floored crater Alphonsus is its central peak. Over the course of two hours sun rose over that pinnacle making it brighter, and other features began to emerge as we watched. Alphonsus slightly overlaps the crater Ptolemaeus.

After darkness fell enthusiastic visitors took turns looking at a crater and watching a mountain peak become illuminated at sunrise on the Moon! It was a fine night appreciating a sight too often ignored: the wonder of Luna, our nearest neighbor in space. After shutting down the observatory for the night I paused in the front yard and looked up. The sky was dark and clear of clouds that had occasionally played havoc with our viewing. Floating high overhead was a trace of light, a path across the sky... the Milky Way.

Return to astronomy

Half of the Perseus Double Cluster (NGC 869). September 19, 2019. Photo by James Guilford.

I suppose one cannot return to something one hasn't left. Some storm chasing kept me busy for much of the summer. Late twilight and heat kept me indoors most nights. Still, with weather settling down, cooler evenings, and sunset coming earlier I've been looking to further explore the night sky.

We live in a small city with big light pollution. The light dome over our area has grown steadily over the past decade and from our backyard most northern stars lower than Polaris are completely obliterated by artificial light. To the south, the view is probably similar to "suburban" light pollution levels which is to say, bad but not impossible.

Lately I've been using my new telescope in imaging experiments. This week, unlike earlier recent efforts, I was able to get the telescope mount aligned well which allowed its computer to find dim objects in our bright sky. I was able to visually observe Jupiter (with Great Red Spot front and center), Saturn, the M15 star cluster, the Perseus Double Cluster, the Ring Nebula in Lyra, and the Andromeda Galaxy.

Vixen VC200L on Meade LXD75 Computerized Mount - Waiting for Dark.

Attaching my Canon EOS 7D Mark 2 to the new Cassegrain reflector, I shot images of several deep sky objects. Vibration and tracking were issues, as was achieving camera focus. Working around those challenges as best I could, I made multiple images of the Ring Nebula (M57) and one of the clusters in the Perseus Double (NGC 869).

Looking at the camera's built-in LCD panel that night, I was astonished... I could see color in the Ring Nebula! Visual observers, using smallish telescopes, usually see no color in the Ring; film and electronic sensors readily collect enough photons to register color. Still, a very happy surprise to me! So I shot a series of prime focus images of the nebula. The Perseus Double was also visually attractive so I shot that as well. About 10 seconds for each of those. Efforts at shooting M15 failed: the telescope didn't track well enough to produce round stars in the exposure time set -- possibly too long an exposure. Efforts at the Andromeda Galaxy were okay with hints of the extensive star clouds showing in my images but much more photon collection will be needed to build an image.

The Ring Nebula (M57) in Lyra. Photo by James Guilford.

Astrophotography of deep space objects can be extremely technical. The learning curve on an excellent product like PixInsight is more like a cliff than a curve. I searched and found a software that is excellent for me at my relative beginner level -- Starry Sky Stacker (SSS). The SSS has the important basics for good astrophotography, and has an easy-to-learn image processing process with little frustration. So, to get started producing and learning, I used SSS to align, stack, and integrate the images for both NGC869 and M57 with results pleasing to me.

Over the coming weeks and longer, I'll be assembling more equipment and skills and with luck, by spring, will be producing decent space pictures beyond the Sun and Moon.

Images Recorded: September 19, 2019

Vixen’s First Light

It wasn’t much on ceremony but last night’s First Light for my new Vixen VC200L was a success. I think I’m going to get a lot of use and enjoyment out of this scope.

Vixen set up on the patio in 29°F night air, about to endure its First Light checkout.

After a bit of fussing with the Meade LXD-75 mount, I was able to align the mount and punched in the commands to aim at the Great Orion Nebula. Now, that choice for First Light may seem pedestrian but Orion was beautifully positioned, the seeing was only so-so, and heck, it’s a beautiful sight!

The scope swung obediently to the correct area and after a slight manual nudge to center it, M42 came into view. The view through the eyepiece was filled with ghostly fog, filaments and voids began to appear as my eye picked out the details. Nestled in the floss were the four brilliant stars of the Trapezium. As I mentioned earlier, seeing was but fair and light pollution made it all the worse so contrast between sky and nebula wasn’t high; still, given conditions, it was an impressive start.

I tried to find other deep sky objects but with no success. Lousy seeing seemed to be getting worse. So, though high overhead, I punched in my request to GoTo The Pleiades.

After a good bit of whining and whirring (the mount has never been quiet, some say it sounds like a kitchen blender) a few brilliant stars appeared in the eyepiece. Not what I was expecting while using a 25 mm eyepiece, I realized magnification was higher than I was used to — this scope has an 1,800 mm focal length. I’m going to have to get a longer focal length eyepiece or two if I want to see larger objects like The Seven Sisters or, for that matter, the Orion Nebula.

I did notice a touch of nebulosity around some of the brilliant stars of The Pleiades and I don’t recall ever seeing that before and I’ve looked at that star cluster frequently over many years. Thank you, Vixen!

The final effort of the night was to attach a camera to the telescope and try a quick first image through the new optics; that didn’t work. I’m not worried and will figure that out later.

For now, the VC200L provides a solid platform, beautiful imagery, in an easy-to-handle package. I’m looking forward to going out on a better night and enjoying a fresh look at the cosmos.