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.

Not much to show for it but it was fun trying!

Quite frankly, 2018 was not a good year for my astronomy interests. So very many nights were cloudy. I don't know whether the clouds are the result of climate change or what but it seems to me we've had fewer and fewer clear nights as the last several years have passed. That and, perhaps a bit of laziness, has kept me from posting much here.

At any rate, we did have a clear night in December.

Star Chart for December 18, 2018, showing the position of Comet 46P

I'd been reading articles about Comet 46P/Wirtanen and how it was making one of the 10 closest comet flybys of Earth in 70 years "...the brightest comet of 2018." It certainly wasn't a spectacular, or even very prominent comet: bright, with a long glowing tail. Others' images showed a small, pretty, green glowing ball. Still, a comet's a comet and most of us don't get to see that many in a lifetime, so I thought I'd give it a try. The trouble was the weather. We, in Northeastern Ohio, have been experiencing an unusually long stretch of cloudy and overcast days and nights and the night of Wirtanen's close approach (Dec. 16/17) was no exception. The night of December 28, however, was to be clear but (there's always a but) the Moon would be bright and not far from the comet's position in the sky. You've gotta go with what you've got so I set up my ancient but solid Orion telescope mount managing very good polar alignment.

Camera will Piggyback on Telescope on Ancient Orion Mount with Simple Motor Drive

 
Piggybacking a big DSLR camera atop a telescope, I waited til 10 PM so that Wirtanen would be high overhead where the atmosphere is thinnest. The night was cold --about 24ºF-- but quiet. As feared, that Old Devil Moon had lit up the sky making dim celestial objects invisible. And waiting til my target was near the zenith may have made sense technically, aiming the camera straight up was literally a pain in the neck. Thank goodness the camera has an articulated LCD panel so I could examine results without having to twist my neck or move the camera.

Warp Speed? Er, Camera Zoom Lens Slipped During Exposure!

Starting out, I adjusted the camera settings so as to not overexpose due to lunar and terrestrial light pollution. It turns out those first two exposures were very useful. Then I blindly aimed the setup and shot about 10 exposures at wide angle. I re-aimed and shot 10 again. (For best results, astrophotographers often shoot more than 10 times that many exposures of the deep sky.) Then I tried zooming in, hoping greater magnification might isolate my quarry. I peeked at the camera's LCD panel for a preview. Oh. It looked like we had jumped to light-speed! The zoom lens, pointing straight up, had slowly slipped from around 85mm to 24mm during the multi-second exposure. It's a really good lens, a Canon L-Series, but I normally don't point it up like that. Gotta get myself an 85mm prime (non-zoom) lens. The lens did hold at 105mm so I shot a few exposures at that focal length. (Note: This post, written in December 2018 was added here after I purchased and received a new telescope. Interestingly, the OTA cost about the same and maybe a bit less than a high-quality 85mm lens!)

Orion’s Belt (Three Stars Near Top) and Sword with Glow of the Famous Nebula (Near Center)

 
Feeling I'd done what I could to record a comet invisible to my eyes, I aimed the camera at constellation Orion's belt and sword region now just above the trees, made a few exposures, and with cold fingers packed it in.

Riding the Telescope, the Camera’s View of the Sky. Think that’s a Comet in the Upper-Left?

As it turns out, I think I did image the comet but with all of the challenges and some inexperience at shooting "faint fuzzies," the results were less than impressive: a hint of a glowing ball is all I got of dear, departing Comet 46P. The camera recorded far more stars than I could see in the far-less-than-perfect sky.

Annotated. The Lens Flare looks Better than the Comet

I did get a fairly nice shot of Orion, which helped make the effort worthwhile.

Otherwise, not much to show for it but it was fun trying!

Fun without a telescope

Jupiter with Moons (lower left), Beehive Cluster (upper right) in Cancer
Canon EOS 7D Mark II: ISO 2000, f/4, 2 seconds, 135mm

My experiments in astrophotography sans telescope continued tonight with some success and exciting promise! Since, given clear skies Saturday night, we'll be observing Jupiter and the Beehive Cluster (M44), I gave them a try. In our light-polluted skies Jupiter was easy to find tonight in constellation Cancer but the Beehive was invisible. With the camera and a 200mm zoom telephoto mounted only on a tripod (no tracking) I tried my first exposure of the night. Bingo! There was brilliant Jove at the bottom of the frame and, on the other edge of the image in the camera's LCD panel, was that pretty open star cluster! I re-composed the shot, leaving open space where I guessed the star cluster lay, and shot bracketed exposures. Then I swapped lenses installing the 400mm telephoto on the camera body.

Jupiter is overexposed but shows Galilean Moons: Callisto, Europa, Io, and on right, Ganymede
Canon EOS 7D Mark II: ISO 2000, f/5.6, 1.6 seconds, 400mm*

I centered Jupiter in the viewfinder and bracketed exposures later seeing that I should have allowed even more than I did for Jupiter's exceptional brightness. Before tearing down for the night -- this was a very brief session conducted from the balcony of our house -- I swung the camera around and tried some exposures of the Orion Nebula (M42).

Orion Nebula is blurred (no tracking) but shows color and the nebula's cloud structure emerging from the dark.
Canon EOS 7D Mark II: ISO 2000, f/5.6, 2 seconds, 400mm*

Examining the images on the computer screen a few minutes later, I was pretty happy. And even though it shows motion blur due to the longer exposure, the Orion Nebula was showing color! Next I need to obtain a dovetail bracket so that I can mount the camera with telephoto directly on my computerized telescope mount; this summer, the camera will piggyback on the telescope and I'll expect exciting results either way. Still, I enjoy the quick, elegant setup of camera on photo tripod and I'm discovering good images are to be had from that.

* Note: The Canon 7D is a cropped-sensor camera with a multiplication factor of 1.6, so a 400mm lens reaches the equivalent focal length of 640mm. 

Shooting stars

A few nights ago I did a bit of fixed-tripod astrophotography to attempt to capture the conjunction of Venus and the Pleiades. I had to work pretty hard to salvage the conjunction photo but wasn't all that pleased with the results. Since I had a decent clock-drive sitting mostly unused, I decided to mate my camera to that and see what I could get. Not a pioneering venture, to be sure, but I've actually never piggybacked a camera to a telescope before! A quick trip to the local Ace Hardware store produced the stainless steel quarter-inch screw and a pair of rubber automotive washers I'd need to mate the telephoto lens tripod mount to the telescope's dove-tail mounting bar. Shortly after dark on this clear but full Moon-lit night, I toted the Orion SkyView Pro tripod and mount out to the sidewalk. After a rough alignment with Polaris, I attached the camera rig to the mount and did 10 exposures: about five each of Orion's Sword and the Pleiades star cluster -- both in the twilight western sky. I'll definitely need to use the DSLR's advanced feature that allows its view finder mirror to flip up before beginning exposure -- several shots were ruined by vibration. Focus was a bit more of an issue than I expected. Tracking? Well, I expected it to not be perfect but it appeared good enough for exposures of up to 15 seconds. Given all that, I'll share my results here. I know they're not very good but I also know that, using this same camera gear with better mount and alignment, I'll be getting some very nice images of the stars in the not-too-distant future!

Venus joins the Pleiades

A clear evening sky gave me the opportunity tonight to see planet Venus floating right below the beautiful naked-eye star cluster, the Pleiades (M45). The combination was beautiful through my binoculars, just before 8:30 PM EDT. I decided to make a quick try at recording the scene with my camera and 400mm telephoto lens mounted on a tripod. The problem, of course, is that an exposure of any decent length will cause the stars to form curved lines as they appear to move through the sky. Even my brief five-second exposure was no different... it looked great in the camera's built-in LCD preview panel but pretty sad on the big computer screen. So I used a bit of crude Photoshop work to round out the stars. The result won't make the pages of Astronomy or Sky & Telescope magazines but it's not too bad and saved the shot. This, and a very intriguing result from the nearby Orion Nebula (M42), makes me eager to get out on another clear night and spend some time with the camera mated to a tracking mount or piggybacked on a telescope!

The Photoshop work, by the way, was a duplicate layer used with "blending mode" set to "Darken" and then used as an offset filter. The offset filter is nudged around until the best combination of masking and brightness is found. I found the process described in a forum discussion on Cloudynights.com.

Mars mystique strikes again!

I arrived at Stephens Memorial Observatory early in order to sweep up the inevitable accumulations of bird poo and nesting materials that blow down from the dome's ill-sealed shutter. The first of the evening's surprises happened when I touched the pull rope to open the shutter to a then-clear sky. I heard scratching sounds -- usually the sign of birds roosting and nesting above. In the spring time, especially, I hate the sounds of bird activity at Stephens; birds build their nests, lay their eggs, and rear their young in a space that becomes precarious when the dome's shutter is opened. In recent years we usually see one brood (eggs, chicks, or unfledged young) lost due to falling from a destroyed nest or trapped inside the dome. This time, however, I glanced above and was momentarily shocked for I saw a black, furry animal scrambling to escape and prevent a fall. Skunk!? Er, no. The frightened furry was one of Hiram's many black squirrels. I've never seen a squirrel in the dorm or in the shutter and hope they don't nest there but maybe they'll keep the birds from nesting. I'm hoping for the best, anyway.

Cleaning barely complete, the telescope uncovered and prepped for the first Open Night of the year, I decided to try my chances at seeing Venus. The planet has recently been in conjunction with Jupiter in the Western evening sky and, though below the neighboring treeline, the trees were bare and I could spy brilliant Venus between the branches! Yes! For the first time at Stephens I was able to see Venus, resolved as a half-lit disk! Then the evening's first visitors arrived... three young ladies and their grandmother, half an hour early. I offered them a look at Venus but, by then, the planet had slipped behind a tree trunk and could not be seen. Oh well, let's see if we can view the Orion Nebula, barely above the trees in the southwest and now visible in the darkening sky.

I swung the big refractor around, found the nebula, and focused. Not bad for a twilight view: the veil of the nebula was visible and several stars of the Trapezium were nestled within. I offered the girls a look at M42. Er, no. In that brief time between adjusting the telescope and fetching a ladder for the kids, clouds covered Orion. Eeek! All right then, we'll go to the other part of the sky and look for Mars, now glowing red in the east and not long after opposition.

Mars, 67 million miles away this night, quickly came into view as a crisply-defined coppery disk. Unfortunately there was only a hint of mottling within the disk, no clear indication of surface features. Grandma and the girls got decent looks at the Red Planet before, yes, those pesky clouds engulfed it! By then other visitors began to arrive. The sky became overcast with occasional "sucker holes" and thin spots. Well, this will be a short night, I thought.

I answered questions, recounted the history of the telescope, talked about the Observatory, all the while watching the sky and keeping at the telescope. When Mars would penetrate the gloom, I'd  re-aim the scope, call people over to look, they would see an even less-distinct reddish disk, and it would disappear. Apologies. And so it went for the entire evening. There was no sense in trying to chase the holes and point at some star or other that managed to be briefly seen through the overcast. Still, more visitors dropped in.

Over the course of the evening we counted 42 visitors, most or all of whom caught a glimpse of Mars. They were, to a person, patient and good-humored making it a pleasant night that ended with the last departing around 10:30.

Not long after that, as I was deciding whether to close early, the clouds parted overhead exposing a deep, dark sky! The night was filled with stars and with my unaided eyes I was able to make out the Beehive star cluster (M44) nearly overhead. It was beautiful through binoculars. No more visitors, however, so I closed the place up.

Everyone could see it was an overcast sky as they headed out to visit us. They could see a star or two, only occasionally at best, and still they came. Such is the draw held by the mystique of Mars!

We'll try again April 14.

Somewhat larger than average, like the Moon!

Much was made by the media of the so-called "super moon" which was a rare combination of a full Moon phase with Earth's one satellite reaching the perigee, or low point, of its orbit; in this case reaching a distance of 221,567 miles. One attention-seeking astrologer went to far as to suggest the coming lunar event possibly caused the terrible earthquake and tsunami that devastated areas of Japan on March 11. Of course that disaster occurred a full week before the "super moon" happened and the Moon was well within its normal distance range from its parent Earth. The good that did come from the attention was that people were interested in seeing our friendly Moon at its best and brightest. Stephens Memorial Observatory had already scheduled a season-opening Public Night for March 19 --the night of the so-called super moon-- which worked out well. The evening sky was clearer than it has been in quite some time and visitors began arriving early (well before Luna had risen above our local horizon). Though they enjoyed excellent tales and views of stars Sirius and Betelgeuse, and decent looks at the constellation Orion and the Great Orion Nebula, they really wanted that Moon! As soon as it cleared neighboring trees, we trained the old 9-inch refractor on Luna's orange face. I was astonished at the detail I was seeing in the crater ejecta and other markings on the lunar surface; I don't believe I've ever seen those details so pronounced in any previous viewing. I regret not being able to capture that view as a photograph. Other eyes, however, eagerly awaited their turn at the telescope. As the evening progressed and the Moon rose, those details faded and we were left with more typical but still very good views (for so low to the horizon) of Earth's nearest neighbor. Visitors climbed the ladder one-by-one and most were astonished by what they saw. The grand old Cooley Telescope and its 110-year-old optics continue to excite! By the time I closed the door, we had hosted 48 visitors which, while not a world record, was somewhat larger than our average night ... a bit like the Moon itself!

Ugh! Winter off to a poor start!

This area suffered moderate to heavy cloud cover for the December 10, 2010 total lunar eclipse. I'd been looking forward to it --even considered gearing up to produce a live webcast-- but we were disappointed in the end. I didn't even get out of bed to look out the window. Those who did take a peek largely saw clouds or got brief glimpses of the partial phases of the event.

I had to cancel the December Open Night at Stephens Memorial Observatory due to illness. I was suffering from a stomach "bug" and was well-advised to not stand out in the cold. Skies were mostly-cloudy that night so I hope nobody was very disappointed we did not open.

We're hoping 2011 brings good things for the Hiram observatory: we've a good chance of a construction site for a new observatory and there are plans afoot for a kick-off event in a funding drive! More on all of that later, as developments come.

The next Stephens Open Night is set for January 22 and we plan to show off the Great Orion Nebula. Skies this month have generally been cloudy and snow is currently in the forecast daily -- we'll make plans and see if Mother Nature cooperates!

Unexpected Saturn

Unexpected business led me to visit Stephens Memorial Observatory Tuesday night. Since I was there and the sky was nicely clear, I decided to open the dome and do a little observing.

Orion is low in the west these nights and the great nebula (M42) was actually only visible through the bare limbs of the neighbor's trees. The view was splendid, however, and at low magnification, the cloudy expanse took on a fan shape. The stars of the Trapezium were clearly displayed, nestled in the gauze.

Using star Sirius to set R.A., and my notebook computer's The Sky software, I was able to use the telescope's ancient dials to locate the "twin" star clusters M46 and M47 -- not visible to the unaided eye. Declination settings are not visible on the old scope at this time so I had to do some fishing. Still, it was gratifying to be able to get in the right neighborhood using the telescope's century-old devices. The clusters were more attractive through binoculars --a glowing path of cloud across the dark field-- than through the telescope though, at low magnification, M46 filled the eyepiece with diamond-dust stars.

Turning the telescope further east as the Moon was rising, I located Saturn. The ring system is still close to edge-on and opposition took place only a few days earlier (March 22). The planet was crisp and bright and, faintly visible nearby, were some of the Ring World's family of moons. It was a lovely sight. I had my camera with me so tried a few afocal (hand-held, lens-to-eyepiece) shots. At settings: ISO 800, f/8, 1/10 sec., I got a fairly good shot (seen here, cropped to imitate an eyepiece view) that depicts the ring plane's angle and even hints at the rings' shadow on the planetary body. Of course, the moons don't show at all being much too dim by comparison.

I closed up at about 10 PM with the Full Worm Moon rising and drowning out the light-songs of everything nearby. A good night of unexpected astronomy.

Hazy sky but good turnout

Saturday, March 27: During the Public Open Night we had 48 visitors come to the Observatory. Despite high, thin clouds, we were able to enjoy acceptable views of the Moon at about 30-power and 133-power magnifications. We got the season's last look at the Orion Nebula but the view was poor due to those thin clouds above our heads -- looking at clouds (the nebula) through clouds (Earth's weather) is not very good. When Saturn rose high enough to clear neighboring trees and thickening clouds near the horizon the big telescope was turned in that direction. Though not as crisp a view as a good night would afford, we were able to see the planet's ring system nearly on edge to us and, during times of somewhat better seeing, make out the shadow of those rings falling on the planetary disk. We could also see several of Saturn's moons including Titan. (Note: Saturn was at opposition on March 22.) Sky conditions continued to deteriorate so that, by closing time, about the only object visible in the sky was a bright but very hazy Moon. Still it was a good night enjoying views of our universe from Stephens Memorial Observatory. Temperatures in the upper-40s, light wind, Moon was waxing gibbous.

Not sleeping in

It's a Saturday morning, a time when I normally sleep in; I need a bit of "catching up" at the end of most weeks. Looking out of the south-facing bedroom window I could see the sky had gone from thin overcast at bedtime last night to glorious clarity this morning. I went downstairs, grabbed my binoculars, and headed out to the stoop for a quick look 'round. What a nice sky, indeed! My old friend Orion was dominating the southwestern sky so I started with the belt -- the nebula (M42) glowed with glittering stars all around. Then I explored the vicinity of a very bright star to Orion's left... is that Sirius? Yes, indeed, with the beautiful open cluster M41 to his south: the heart of the "big dog." The sky was clear enough, even through the neighboring bare trees, that I could see a triangle to the southeast of M41; I later learned that was Canis Major's rump! North of Sirius was another, less impressive, open cluster M50. Of course no clear binocular autumn sky would be complete without a visit with the Seven Sisters: The Pleiades or M45. So clear and diamond-like the stars this morning. In my slippers, I stepped out on the sidewalk a bit to see if I could find Saturn. Yup! Not a good handheld binocular target, Saturn's distinctive golden cast was a giveaway. Neighbors' lights and hunger for breakfast brought me back indoors but I'd had a bit of pre-dawn stargazing which helped me feel better about not sleeping in.

Getting ready for "Opening Night"

We were supposed to have our first Open Night of the year at Stephens Memorial Observatory last weekend. Threatening and thickening clouds, however, put a stop to that. Since it was to be our official International Saturn Observation Campaign event, it was one of the rare occasions where we announced a "rain date." That date is tomorrow. The weather forecasts have been changing as the weekend approaches and now, from forecaster to forecaster, the expectation is something between mostly clear to mostly cloudy. Tonight, however, is cloudless and beautiful even in our light-polluted suburb. I can only imagine how beautiful it is under dark skies. I had nice views of Orion, the Pleiades, M44 - "The Beehive" but no trace of little Comet Lulin. I've been studying the charts and ducking outside with binoculars to become acquainted with the night sky as it presents itself these times. It has been a long while since we've had a passably clear night and tolerable temperatures (it's 30 F degrees). With luck we'll have clear weather tomorrow (Saturday) night and get a very nice view of Saturn, the great Orion Nebula, and some star clusters. All we can do is wait and see what kind of sky conditions come our way.

"Discovering" NGC 1981

They say there's a difference between looking at a celestial object and observing it. A case in point was this morning's appreciation of Orion. The weather was very humid and warm for October --about 72 degrees at 6:20 AM-- when I stepped outdoors on our westward-facing stoop to check out the dark morning sky. Despite the humidity, the sky looked clear and Orion floated high above our roofline. I decided to take a better look so fetched my 10 X 50 binoculars. Of course Orion's sword was the real target of the morning. I could easily see the cloud of M42, The Great Orion Nebula, which is a favorite to view using telescopes. I was surprised to note I could just make out the glow of the Trapezium with the handheld binoculars. The heavy air, it seems, was also very steady. Looking around in the field of view I appreciated the surprising clarity of the stars then noticed something I'd never really seen before... a loose group of tiny points of light just at the top end of the "sword." A star cluster? Beautiful, but was it really a cluster? I swung the binoculars around to check out a very bright star to the south --Sirius-- like a mercury vapor light in the sky. Then a quick look at brilliant red Betelgeuse in Orion and I headed back into the house ... had to get ready for work! Checking the books later I learned that the sprinkling of stars I had "discovered" for myself was, indeed, a cataloged loose open cluster: NGC 1981. The two-minute session with my binoculars may have been a quick look, but seeing the cluster was observation. A pleasing way to begin the day.

Nice evening at CAA Observatory

Star party at the CAA observatory near Spencer, Ohio. Got some really nice views of objects through Jerry Kay's 10-inch reflector. At about 100X, I saw M43 (deMairan's Nebula), M42 (Orion Nebula), M41 (Little Beehive -- also seen through my binoculars), M44 (Beehive Cluster), NGC 884 & 869 (Perseus Double Cluster), and Comet Machholtz through the 10-inch, binoculars, and barely with unaided eye. Still not a spectacular comet, but hey... it's a comet.

Comet Machholtz in the cold

Went outside our place in North Royalton at about 10:30 PM to look for Comet Machholtz (C2004 Q2). Very cold (20 F) with haze on the horizon, semi-transparency overhead. Used my Nikon binoculars, handheld and was able to see the comet as a large "fuzz ball" through the eyepieces; no tail visible. It was in the constellation Perseus near the star Algol and not too hard to spot. Also enjoyed nice views of the Orion Nebula and the Pleiades.

Discovering Venus

Observed from about 7:50 to 8:20 PM from Chaunticlair Observatory under clear skies, medium transparency, temperature of 43F with a light breeze. Using the 90mm Meade I viewed Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter in this happy occasion when they are all close together in the sky. Also saw one slow, eastbound meteor, near Orion. The Orion Nebula looked beautiful as did Saturn. I could see hints of banding in the planetary disk and the rings looked sharp. Jupiter's banding was also well defined. The moon is a thin crescent, Mars a small red dot now shrunken significantly from last year's historic opposition when I could see its polar cap even with this small scope. Venus was brilliant but through the glare I could see, for the first time in my life, the disk was incomplete. I'll want to look again as the month progresses to see the disk become a crescent.

Chaunticlair Observatory

About 8:15 in from the balcony ("Chaunticlair Observatory") with clear sky, clouds on the western horizon ahead of a large rainy weather system. With the 90mm Meade and 12.5mm eyepiece looked at Jupiter. View was sometimes clear and I could just make out the two major cloud bands. The Orion Nebula, however, looked great ... the best I've seen, and a beautiful veil filling the field of view. The Trapezium region was clearly visible with its young central stars. Quick looks at Betelgeuse and Sirius. Saturn was at the zenith and not observable. It's cold, 32F, with light pollution seeming to increase; perhaps thin cloud layer moving in. Quit at about 8:30 PM. Photo: The twin-level "Chaunticlair Observatory." It may not be much of an observing facility, but it's convenient! That's the 90mm Meade waiting for nightfall.