First light QHY10 - M42

QHY10-OSC

Received my QHY10 astronomy camera last week and gave it a test run this past weekend.  Took a few more days to iron out the new software, camera settings, and post processing that needs to be done, but my first image (the Orion nebula - M42) came out rather well.

Orion Nebula (M42)
20x120sec subs - QHY10 - EdgeHD11 with Hyperstar

These cameras (CCDs) are designed specifically for astrophotography. Standard DSLR cameras (like the Canon 50D I had been using for the past 2 years) filters out the deep red and infrared light to make the pictures of standard subjects look proper.  But a lot of the nebulae in deep space consist of this 'red' light (actually a specific wavelength called the Hydrogen-Alpha (Ha) wavelength.)  Capturing the full spectrum of light is important in astrophotography, hence the need for a dedicated astro-camera like the QHY10.  And, astro cameras can collect a lot more signal before they saturate the image, hence, more detail in the final image.

Another problem with DSLRs is that the camera itself generates a lot of heat while taking many 2-3 minute exposures to stack. Heat generates noise in the sensor which shows up as a dull grey-green mottled effect across the darker regions of the final image. CCD cameras have a cooling system built in that keeps the sensor cool enough that temperature noise is almost non-existent. The QHY10 keeps the sensor at -15 degrees C (that's 5 degrees Fahrenheit) even in the heat of the summer!

Once I get all the details ironed out (there is still a lot to learn with this new camera) I'll be posting more images.  I'm still waiting on some additional camera adapters that are needed to mate the QHY10 to the prime focus of my telescope - needed to image galaxies and small deep space objects.

Occultation of Venus

Occultation of the planet Venus

With the weather cooperating with a nice clear blue sky I set up mytelescope equipment to capture the moon passing in front of the planet Venus.  This event known as an occultation occurs fairly frequently with stars, but planetary occultations are much less frequent, sometimes many years between them.  The last occultation of Venus was in September 2013 when the dark side blocked out Venus.  The occultation today was at approximately 12:39 PM and this time the bright side of the moon did the work.  The reappearance, about an hour later, was not seen as trees blocked my view to the west.

The video here is a 5x speed up from normal time, imaged with an ASI120MC planetary camera attached to my 3" Orion ST-80 guidescope while I watched visually through the EdgeHD11 main telescope.

Beautiful Full Moon yesterday

I've been waiting for a clear night with a full moon for the last three months.  Yesterday was payday ...

Full Moon - Orion ST80 Short Tube Refractor - November 25, 2015
200 Stacked images from 2000 frame video
Processed in Registax and Paint Shop Pro

Dark Skies - Part Deux

Friday was a great day in Luray.  Clear blue skies, some wind but not too bad. And the temperatures were a bit chilly, but warmed up in the afternoon.  Joan and I decided to stay the complete day in hopes that the evening skies would be good for astro-photography.

So, rather than spend the whole day at the B&B we decided to take in some sightseeing and headed over to the SkyLine Drive,  in particular, Stony Man Overlook.  The views were fantastic; much like I remembered them back a number of years ago when we drove the entire length of the drive, twice!  Things changed a bit - like the $20 entrance fee now.

After the great time of outdoor adventuring, we had a really good meal at the SpeakEasy in the Mimslyn Inn.

Arriving back at the cottage, the thin crescent moon was getting ready to set, and, as expected (as well as forecasted) the winds picked up - blowing at 20-35 MPH.  But I had hopes that the winds would die down after 6:00 or 7:00 so I set up the scope and waited inside in the warm cottage.

Eight o'clock came and went - winds howling outside. Nine o'clock arrived on schedule - still howling winds.  Ten o'clock, and time for tea and cake provided by our hosts - still the wind blew, but not as bad, as there were short periods of calmness.  Question is, would it be enough to capture a few 180 sec subs? 

Well I managed to get five fairly decent 3 minute subs to process at around 11:30 PM.  The stars aren't perfectly round, but the sky was crystal clear.  So here is the redo of the Pleiades from Wednesday night, minus the halos from high clouds.

M45 (Pleiades Star Cluster - the Seven Sisters)
EdgeHD11 w/Hyperstar
5x180sec ISO800 f/2

Finally, by 12:00AM the winds ceased - yep, nearly 0-5 MPH!  That was the good news.  The bad news?  The clouds started to roll in.  My sky conditions forecasting software indicated that clouds would thicken until 2:00 AM then scatter a bit.  So it looks like its going to be a long night.

At around 1:30 AM there was a clear spot to the area where the Andromeda galaxy was located. This is the closest galaxy to our own Milky Way at about 4 million light years distant.  In a clear dark sky you can see it with the naked eye extending out larger than the size of our moon.  So I set sights for Andromeda (M31) and captured eight 3 min subs before clouds interfered again.

M31 - Andromeda Galaxy
EdgeHD11 w/Hyperstar
8x180sec ISO800 f/2

I then set up the telescope in fully auto-mode to capture some other objects while I got some much needed shut-eye.  Need to process them yet, but, I was pleased that at last a really good outing in the darker skies of Virginia.  I will need to return here again to capture some other hard to image deep sky objects (DSOs as we Astrophotographers call them).

You can see all my astrophotos on Astrobin at:  http://www.astrobin.com/users/XCalRocketMan/

Vacation, B&B and Dark Skies

Well the wife and I finally got to go on a well deserved vacation to kick back and relax.  We ended up at the Piney Hill B&B outside of Luray Va, picked because 1) we love B&B's and 2) it is in a semi-dark site area, at least two to three Bortle numbers darker than at home, and I wanted to use my telescope in a dark sky.

So on Wednesday, November 11th, we drove the new Chrysler Town and Country, packed to the gills (well almost) with telescope and telescope gear (yeah - we took some clothes and other stuff too).

We rented one of the two cottages on the B&B property so I could have ample area to set up, and not bother the rest of the guests.  Site was great - ample views to the east, north and west, and to the south if I decided to set up on the other side of the cottage.

Wednesday night was a bit cloudy with high clouds but still seemed OK for setting up the scope and giving some photography a try. Thursday's forecast wasn't good, so I didn't want to pass up any opportunity. So soon after arriving I set up the scope. Boy what a chore!  New location meant new Lat and Long settings for the mount and software. Then I needed to set up the tripod with nearly correct North-South orientation so I wouldn't have to move the whole telescope after it was mounted.  That didn't work ... so I needed to re-orient the tripod and scope together a few degrees. That's about 200 lbs+ and at my age that's a good amount to be moving especially in the awkward position I needed to be in to get the thing to move.  By the time I got everything setup, the clouds were moving in.

I decided to install the Hyperstar lens on the scope and try imaging the Pleiades star cluster.  With the high clouds the final image shows some halos and is a bit diffuse all around, but compared to home, it was awesome.  I was able to image at least 120sec with the HS with no image fogging due to light pollution (back home, 60sec is about all can get).

M45 - Pleiades
120sec ISO800 EdgeHD11 w/Hyperstar

Next up would have been the Pinwheel galaxy, M33, but the clouds finally made it impossible to continue. I got one 2min sub and then had to pack up. But even the single sub showed quite a bit of detail.  A complete set of 20-30 subs would have made for a great final image - these dark sites really are nice.

M33 Pinwheel Galaxy

Although I couldn't image anymore this evening I did see a nice bright meteor streaking slowly across the sky - probably a Taurid, since the Taurid meteor shower was to peak this night.

Next day turned out to be much better than forecast, the rain ended soon in the morning and the rest of day was mild and sunny. We stayed at the cottage until about 1:00PM and then headed out to Dayton VA, to the Patch Work Plus quilt shop.  Both Joan and I purchased some goodies - Joan got a lot of cool material and I purchased a Dr. Who quilt kit.  After eating a late lunch at a local restaurant we headed back to the B&B.  The sky was clear and the forecast was for clear skies.  The only possible kicker would be the wind as the forecast was for some breezy conditions.

I set up the scope at about 5:00PM, in the wind, hoping that it would die down during the evening.  The forecasters said that would not be the case, but hey, I set up anyway.  Well, 30-40 MPH gusts and 25 MPH sustained winds does not make for a good night for observing, let alone photography.  Had to give up the attempt rather early as the winds were not going to subside.  All was not a total loss - I did get to see something I haven't seen in over 35 years - the Milky Way! It was wonderful.

I decided to leave the tripod outside. There is always a chance that tomorrow night might be better. Forecast is for 25MPH winds with 40+ gusts so I'm not expecting much.  We'll see.

Blue Skies on Pluto!

New Horizons Finds Blue Skies and Water Ice on Pluto

The first color images of Pluto’s atmospheric hazes, returned by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft last week, reveal that the hazes are blue. Not only that, but water ice is on the planet as well.  Not what I would have expected.

For more details on this finding check out  NASA.gov

Cotton Ball in the Sky

NASA successfully launched a sounding rocket Wednesday evening from its Wallops Flight Facility. The mission is designed to test new technology, with the aim of making future space missions less expensive and less risky. But part of the mission was to release vapor clouds using a new ejection system. Such clouds are used to study wind in space and the ionosphere.

Based on NASA broadcasts this vapor cloud, released about 130 miles above the Earth,  should produce a cloud with a mix of blue-green and red colors that will be visible along the east coast. I readied the camera and tripod, pointed to where I expected the cloud to be, and waited. Turns out, the camera was pointed a little too low. The cloud appeared - I quickly reset the camera - and got the last few seconds. Not all that impressive, more like a cotton ball in the sky - but I did capture it.

Canon 70D - 100mm  F/6.3 2sec ISO 800
Post processed with PixInsight

Although I looked for any evidence of the rocket's exhaust during liftoff none was seen. I guess the Black Brant exhaust was not bright enough to be seen all the way to Westminster MD.

Lunar Eclipse

Wouldn't you know it. As soon as I told friends that the clouds would prevent us from seeing the eclipse on Sunday evening, the sky developed a bunch of holes enabling 'patient' viewers to catch glimpses during the event - especially the partial phases where the moon is still bright enough to make it through the thin clouds.

I didn't setup the telescope and imaging equipment for fear of rain showers setting in (didn't happen after all - oh well). But I got out my Canon 70D, tripod and remote shutter release and captured one fairly good frame of the total phase.

I have others of the partial phase which I'll post later.

Should have set up that telescope :)

The "Almost Full Moon"

Last month I was experimenting with imaging the moon through my 80mm guidescope.  The entire moon would not fit in the field of view, so I decided to capture it with two images and stitch the two together.  These images are actually combination (stacked) frames of a video. Each video was about 2 minutes long capturing 2400 frames of data. The best 200 frames were then stacked and the image processed with RegiStax to enhance the detail.

Unfortunately the second video was corrupt and I couldn't add it to the mix.  So here is the 'almost' full moon. Maybe next time (November) I'll try again, since the full moon this month (and the eclipse) looks like its gonna be clouded out.

August 28, 2015 - Full Moon - Prime Focus ST80
200 Frames of video Stacked in RegiStax

First batch of Hi-Res Images from New Horizons

The New Horizons probe has started it's year long task of transmitting the high resolution images from July's historic flyby of Pluto.  The surface is even more varied than previously thought ... and extremely awesome!

Check out the details at NASA.gov

Venus - in the Daytime

Monday was such a great day (clear blue skies) and I was planning on spending the evening imaging some Deep Space Objects (DSOs), that I decided to set up early and catch Venus close to the sun.  So here is my image.

Venus -  September 7, 2015 12:30 PM
EdgeHD11 Prime Focus - ZWOASI120C Camera
Stack of 1000 Frames

It's always a problem capturing images during the day since the sun is beating down on the scope heating everything and causing air currents.  This image was processed from an AVI video of over 6000 frames (taken with FireCapture and my ZWOASI120C planetary camera).  The software (Registax) filtered out the best 1000 frames and then stacked them into a single 'best' image.  I then applied wavelet technology to sharpen the image.

Venus is currently the very bright planet in the morning sky. 

Have a look at Ceres’ bright spots

The new up-close view of Occator Crater from Dawn's current vantage point reveals better-defined shapes of the brightest central spot and features on the crater floor.

For more details see Astronomy.Com

What's Up for September 2015 - Total Lunar Eclipse on Sept 27th

Spoon on Mars?

A so-called "floating spoon" on Mars spotted by NASA's Curiosity rover is cooking up a storm on the internet but it's actually a cool rock formation sculpted over time by the Martian winds, officials with the space agency say.

More details at Space.Com

Now That's One Big Camera!

The construction milestone, known as Critical Decision 3, is the last major approval decision before the acceptance of the finished 3.2-gigapixel digital camera, said Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Director Steven Kahn: “Now we can go ahead and procure components and start building it.”
The telescope’s camera — the size of a small car and weighing more than three tons — will capture full-sky images at such high resolution that it would take 1,500 high-definition television screens to display just one of them.

Complete story at AstronomyNow

Double Moon

Recently a few of my friends have approached me asking about the rare occurrence of a 'Double Moon' - that Mars will be so close to us that it will appear almost as large as the moon and that on August 27, 2015 both will appear in the sky.

Well, I figured I'd best direct everyone to this article, "Two Moons on August 27?" (and there are many more) by David Emery of Urban Legends for an explanation.  Bottom line, if you don't want to check out the article:  it's a long lasting (surprisingly) - hoax!

Perseids Meteor Shower Tonight

The Perseids meteor shower will peak this evening in what should be a great show for meteor lovers.  This year the moon is out of the picture (new moon occurs on Aug 14th) and the skies are expected to be clear over much of the country.

You should be able to see about 1 meteor a minute. Look to the NE between midnight and 4:00 AM for the best viewing.

Details on the event can be found at Perseids Meteor Shower

Earth from 1 Million Miles away

With all the attention being given to Pluto, it was nice to see this outstanding photo of our home from way up in space - far enough away to show the entire sunlit planet.

Details on the camera and satelite used to capture this image can be found at NASA.gov

Pluto Flyby is Confirmed - All Systems Go!

With a successful fly-by of the planet Pluto behind us, now we wait for the real exciting stuff - hi-res close-ups of the farthest planetary body.  New Horizons made its closest approach to Pluto Tuesday, about 7,750 miles above the surface — roughly the same distance from New York to Mumbai, India — making it the first-ever space mission to explore a world so far from Earth.
Read about here at New Horizons.

Wow - a clear night at last!

After waiting for over a month, last Saturday night (early Sunday morning) was a nice clear and calm evening.  Reasonably good transparency too for a summer evening.  So, of course, I was out with the scope.

Most of the night was spent checking out the new 'ScopeStuff' focuser I purchased for my Orion ST-80 guide scope.  The focuser that comes with the ST-80 is pretty bad.  I was hoping a good quality focuser would help in both getting a sharp focus and holding the guide camera locked tight with no or at least minimal flexure.  After almost 3 hours getting everything mounted and re-adjusted, and fighting some software crashes with SGP (still can't get that program to auto-focus my camera), I was able to test out the new system with a photo of M20, the Trifid Nebula.

So here is the result ...

M20 - The Trifid Nebula
48 min (24x120sec) at ISO 800 w/Canon 70D
EdgeHD11 w/0.61x Focal Reducer

Based on the roundness of the stars and the guide plots on the PHD monitor screen (+/- 1 arcsec) I think maybe the new focuser helped out a lot.  But, I'll need to test more.  It could have just been the calm atmosphere.  Looks like later this week we might have another one or two clear evenings.  You'll know where I'll be :)

Pluto - look out, here we come!

With just about a day to closest approach, images of the farthest planet (sorry, dwarf planet) from the sun are streaming in and boy are they great!  Nothing like what I expected, but hey, the universe always seems to surprise us.

Check out Pluto mission at APL for up to the minute information on this history making event.

Sinkholes in a Comet

Looks like earth is not the only place to develop sink holes.  Check out this article on the sinkholes on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.   SkyandTelescope

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Pluto, we're almost there.

In just shy of two weeks the New Horizons spacecraft will arrive at the dwarf planet Pluto on July 14, 2015.  A mission that spanned nearly a decade; a spacecraft traveling 3 billion miles; will climax in a single day as New Horizons will speed past Pluto at 32,500 MPH.

If all goes well we will see Pluto in detail never before possible.  This is the event of 2015!  And, you might not know, but New Horizons is controlled from right here in Maryland at the Applied Physics Lab.

Lots of details and up-to-the-minute coverage of this historic event can be found at New Horizons.

Bright Spots on Ceres ... and now a Pyramid.

As each new image of Ceres arrives at earth the more perplexing the dwarf planet grows. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has now identified several more bright spots as well as a pyramid-like peak miles high. More details can be found here.

Bad news from the SpaceX folks

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket broke up in a fiery blast on Sunday just minutes after its launch with a robotic Dragon cargo capsule headed for the International Space Station.

Details at NBC News

Faces of Pluto

As the New Horizons spacecraft gets closer to its encounter with the dwarf planet Pluto, some fantastic images are starting to stream in from its current location almost 3 billion miles from Earth.
At that distance it takes about 4hrs and 20min for the signal to get to us from the spacecraft.

New Horizons is a little over 18 million miles from Pluto, moving at 8.6 miles per second, or about 31,000 MPH!

These images, taken by New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), show four different "faces" of Pluto as it rotates about its axis with a period of 6.4 days. All the images have been rotated to align Pluto's rotational axis with the vertical direction (up-down) on the figure, as depicted schematically in the upper left.

New Horizons is just over 25 days and 12 hours to its historic rendezvous with Pluto.
 
For lots of up-to-the-minute information on the mission, check out New Horizons.

Philae wakes up

In a post back in November I wrote about the ESA spacecraft Rosetta and the small spacecraft, Philae, that was to land on a comet. And although it did, there were problems ... it didn't land where it was supposed to and ended up in a ravine with lots of shadows. Soon after, the batteries went dead due to lack of sunlight on the solar panels and contact with Philae was lost.

It was hoped that as the comet got closer to the sun it would recharge and phone home. That occurred at 22:28 CEST (Central European Summer Time) on 13 June!!

Welcome back, Philae !!!!

Details can be found on rosetta blog.

Quantum Weirdness Confirmed!

Experiment confirms quantum theory weirdness

The bizarre nature of reality as laid out by quantum theory has survived another test, with scientists performing a famous experiment and proving that reality does not exist until it is measured.

This is really weird stuff, things that I researched when I was in undergraduate studies in Physics back in the '70s.  To see the experiment today showing the 'weirdness' is incredibly exciting.

For the complete article see Science Daily.

M20 - The Trifid Nebula

Here is M20, a gaseous nebula found in the constellation Sagittarius. This is my first attempt at imaging an object that is low in the southern sky where I am fighting the worst of the light pollution.

M20 - EdgeHD-11 with Hyperstar
50x20sec+40x30sec (36 min)  ISO800
May 23, 2015

 

This image is essentially a 'test image', not the final. It was taken with my new Canon 70D attached to my 11" SCT telescope with a Hyperstar (wide field, fast optics) lens. It is composed of 90 individual photographs (50, 20sec and 40 30sec images at ISO 800). There was no post processing to reduce noise. Once the skies clear again (and who knows when that will be!) I'll add another 120-150 images, apply the appropriate noise reduction and post the updated final photo.

'Bright Spot' on Ceres Has Dimmer Companion

Dwarf planet Ceres continues to puzzle scientists as NASA's Dawn spacecraft gets closer to being captured into orbit around the object. The latest images from Dawn, taken nearly 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers) from Ceres, reveal that a bright spot that stands out in previous images lies close to yet another bright area.

Maybe an alien base?  Or a real 'death star'?  Probably not, but just what it is is anyone's guess right now. Check out NASA for more about this interesting anomaly.

New Horizons sends back video of Pluto and Charon, it's largest moon

Just 11 weeks left to go until the closest flyby of New Horizons by Pluto. Images, released on April 29, 2015, show Pluto and its largest moon Charon, which is as large as Texas, revolving about their common center of mass.

For the animated video of Pluto and Charon go to Cosmic Pursuits.

Dawn Views Ceres' North Pole

 

After spending more than a month in orbit on the dark side of dwarf planet Ceres, NASA's Dawn spacecraft has captured several views of the sunlit north pole of this intriguing world. These images were taken on April 10 from a distance of 21,000 miles (33,000 kilometers), and they represent the highest-resolution views of Ceres to date.

See NASA for details.

Big Bang theory could be debunked by Large Hadron Collider

Scientists at Cern could prove the controversial theory of ‘rainbow gravity’ which suggests that the universe stretches back into time infinitely, with no Big Bang!

Interesting read - the complete story at The Telegraph.

Dawn closing in on Ceres

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to its historic orbit insertion at the dwarf planet Ceres. Dawn will be the first mission to successfully visit a dwarf planet when it enters orbit around Ceres on Friday, March 6.

Dawn began its final approach phase toward Ceres in December. The spacecraft has taken several optical navigation images and made two rotation characterizations, allowing Ceres to be observed through its full nine-hour rotation. Since Jan. 25, Dawn has been delivering the highest-resolution images of Ceres ever captured, and they will continue to improve in quality as the spacecraft approaches.

Check out JPL News for the complete story.

M42 - Orion Nebula

Now with PixInsight processing figured out I'm re-processing some of my latest images. So here is the Orion Nebula, again.

M42 - EdgeHD1100 w/Hyperstar
100x30sec ISO800

Updated Horsehead and Flame Nebula

Discovered a problem with the way my software was stacking the images. Once corrected, the shadow artifacts were almost completely removed and the low contrast was fixed. The final image was much improved.  I will be re-doing some earlier images as well to see what improvements I can get. So here is the updated version of the Horsehead and Flame Nebulae.

Improved Horsehead

Interstellar technology throws light on spinning black holes

The team responsible for the Oscar-nominated visual effects at the center of Christopher Nolan’s epic Interstellar have turned science fiction into science fact by providing new insights into the powerful effects of black holes.

Astronomy magazine has the full article.

More Fun with Hyperstar

Still learning how to use the new Hyperstar I acquired this month, and although the use of my Canon 50D causes some problems with using the Hyperstar to its full capabilities I am still able to capture some amazing photos. Spend about 3 hours on February 13th to capture some cool images. When the clouds started to roll in at 10:00 I dismantled the equipment. In retrospect I should have waited about an hour as the skies cleared again. With clear and transparent skies at a premium in Maryland I should have waited and so I missed an opportunity to capture another 2-3 hours of images. Oh well.

First up is comet Lovejoy, which is now very high in the NW sky and getting fainter every day. The Hyperstar made it fairly easy to capture the comet and the tail.

Lovejoy - Feb 13, 2015
80x30sec ISO800 EdgeHD-1100 w/Hyperstar f/2

I also tried to capture the Horsehead nebula in Orion. Had I waited for the skies to clear I could have gotten at least another 50-100 subs to add to the image. This photo suffers from some of the image artifacts due to the 50D's large footprint, but I'll be able to add more subs to the mix and reprocess this wonderful nebula later this month.

Horsehead and Flame Nebula
60x30sec ISO800 EdgeHD-1100 w/Hyperstar f/2

All in all, I'm really pleased with the performance of the Hyperstar. Cuts my imaging time to less than 1/20th of the normal times, and provides a much wider field of view.

Say cheese! Hubble telescope captures extraterrestrial smiley face

Smiley face from deep space - (nasa.gov)

Kinda creepy in a way. This image is the result of gravitational lensing, where an object (in this case a group of massive galaxies) bend the light from objects behind them. In essence the galaxy cluster acts as a lens focusing the light into contorted and stretched images.

See the full article here.

First Light with Hyperstar-III

I've waited 2 full weeks for the weather to clear, the moon to disappear, and the wind to die down. And last night I was finally able to try out my new Hyperstar on the EdgeHD 1100. I picked M42, the Orion Nebula, for the first test and after taking 50 x 20sec subs with an LP filter here's my first result, processed in PI and PSP.

M42 - Orion Nebula
50x20sec ISO800 - EdgeHD 1100 w/Hyperstar

 

Then I targeted the Pleiades star cluster, M45. I’ve always wanted to see if I could get the subtle blue nebulosity to show and with the Hyperstar, success!

M45 - Pleiades
50x20sec ISO800 - EdgeHD 1100 w/Hyperstar

These are only the first test images of the new equipment. Once I get the calibration done and the proper flats applied (should eliminate the light smudgy areas around the image) I should be able to extract more detail and keep the backrgound dark.