New Telescope and First Light on the Pleiades

I trust everyone had a Merry Christmas and looking toward the new year.  After 2016's horrible weather conditions I'm praying for some better sky conditions this year.

Wifey got me a new 4" APO for Christmas.  For those of you who have no idea what an APO is, here are the basics:

APO = Apochromat, which means a lens that has better correction of chromatic and spherical aberration than the much more common achromat lenses.  OK, still a bit too scientific.  It boils down to a lens that produces sharp, crisp images with very little color aberrations. In telescope jargon, when someone talks about an APO they are referring to a refractor telecope that contains an APO lens combination. These are quality instruments and typically cost a lot more than the simple achromat versions.

William Optics GT102 f/6.9 APO

So my new addition is a William Optics GT102, a 102mm (4") APO scope.  I added the iOptron telescope mount to make this a complete, portable astrophotography-ready telescopic. 

iOptron iEQ30

Unlike a reflector telescope which reflects light off a large mirror (like my EdgeHD11) a refractor focuses light much like a very large telephoto lens does on a camera.  There are many pros and cons between a reflector and refractor, but typically, the refractor produces much cleaner, sharper images, with a bit more contrast than the SCT like my Edge since it doesn't have any obstruction in the light path like the SCT does due to the secondary mirror.

Now this new scope has a 4" objective lens. My EdgeHD-11 has an 11" mirror. The Edge will collect about 7.5x more light, but is also huge and bulky. It will outperform the APO on planets, the moon and small deep space objects like galaxies and small nebulae, as it's long focal length, combined with the extra light gathering, allows some high magnification factors. The APO is much smaller, light weight, and portable. It's shorter focal length and clear optical path produces nice wide angle views of the night sky.

It took a few days to get everything working correctly, and I still do not have all my software working with the new mount yet, but I was able to take a couple of images to test out the capabilities of the new scope and the mount. 

The following image show the Pleiades star cluster taken with my Canon50D attached to the GT102 with telecompressor and field flattener. This reduces the focal ratio to a fast f/5.5.  The image is a combination of ten, 1 minute exposures, stacked and processed in PixInsight.  Not bad for a quick test run. And the really big deal is that this image was taken without active guiding - just the mount running the RA axis!  The star images do show some trailing in RA, which may be due to periodic error (which I can correct for once I get the system shaken out).

Pleiades star cluster (Dec 29, 2016)
William Optics GT102; Canon50D
10x60sec ISO1600

I haven't imaged with my QHY10 astro camera yet.  I've also ordered some additional equipment to allow me to mount the GT102 on my CGEM mount, that holds the Edge. 

I've had some people asking about why you stack multiple images in astrophotography.  Well, that is a complicated discussion, so I'll save that one for a later blog.  But to demonstrate in a simple way why this technique is critically important in capturing deep space objects, I have uploaded the following additional images of the Pleiades as a demonstration.

The first image is a single frame from my camera; a 60sec exposure at ISO 1600. Since it is captured via my astro software, it is not yet debayered (the color is not present yet).

Single 60sec exposure - no debayer

 The second image is the debayered version.

Debayered version

The third image shows the result of post-processing with PixInsight to remove background sky light (light pollution effects) and to stretch the image, essentially pulling out the weak signal contained in the image. The stretch is the real magic in the post-processing.

Single 60sec exposure - post processed

This image is actually pretty good, but it has a lot of image noise caused by the camera's heat, the sensor electronic noise, etc. So the technique of stacking multiple images is used to reduce this 'noise'. Again, a discussion of how this works is left to a future blog. But, you can see that the stacking of just ten images really reduces the noise in the image, which allows me to stretch the image even more, bringing out more of the faint details. I usually stack 30-40 images minimum, but this was just a quick test of the new equipment.

The WO GT102 produces excellent images, and I am excited about what I should be able to produce with this new scope in the future.

Amateur Astronomers Discover a Binary Pulsar

Amateur astronomers discover a binary pulsar system on crowdsourced technology.
Astronomers have confirmed a rare pulsar system using Einstein@home and the power of personal computers. Einstein@Home is one of a slew of science projects for idle home computers. I haven't signed up yet, but it is an intriguing idea. 

Full article at Astronomy.com

'Pearls' on Jupiter - from the Juno spacecraft

Astro-imager Damian Peach reprocessed one of the latest images taken by Juno’s JunoCam during its 3rd close flyby of the planet on Dec. 11. The photo highlights one of the large ‘pearls’ (right) that forms a string of  storms in Jupiter’s atmosphere. A smaller isolated storm is seen at left. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

The latest image of Jupiter, from the Juno spacecraft, showing the prominent white pearl as processed by Damian Peach, an amateur astronomer specializing in imaging the planets.  Damian Peach, an electronic engineer from Selsey, West Sussex, has spent the last ten years documenting the changing face of our solar system. An article about him can be read at Daily Mail.

The photos were taken during Sunday’s close flyby. At the time of closest approach — called perijove — Juno streaked about 2,580 miles above the gas giant’s roiling, psychedelic cloud tops traveling about 129,000 mph relative to the planet. Seven of Juno’s eight science instruments collected data during the flyby. At the time the photos were taken, the spacecraft was about 15,300 miles from the planet.

Details at Universe Today.

Light Speed a constant? - maybe not!

Festa/Shutterstock.com

The speed of light in a vacuum, or c, is pretty much the most fundamental constant in physics – and according to the general theory of relativity, gravity travels at the same rate.

But a new study suggests that the speed of light might not have always been this speed. In fact, in the early Universe, light might have outpaced gravity, and this new hypothesis could solve one of the biggest problems in physics.

Complete story at Science Alert.

Say Goodbye to Cassini

A lovely view of Saturn and its rings as seen by the Cassini spacecraft on Aug. 12, 2009.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute.

Cassini Is About To Graze Saturn’s Rings In Mission Endgame

There is a Twitter-bot that randomly tweets out “NOOOOOOOO Cassini can’t be ending!” (with varying amounts of “O’s”). @CassiniNooo represents the collective sigh of sadness and consternation felt by those of us who can’t believe the the historic and extensive Cassini mission will be over in just a matter of months.

And next week is the beginning of the end for Cassini. Se the complete story at Universe Today and minute by minute updates on Saturn.JPL.NASA.gov

Are You Ready For the Supermoon?

Supermoon!  What's that? 

Stefano Sciarpetti

Well, unless you're totally unconnected to the cyber-world, you've undoubtedly heard that we are going to have a supermoon this Monday.  A supermoon occurs when the positions of the moon and earth are just right so that the moon is closest to us in it's orbit and full at the same time.

The details about the specific geometry can be found at EarthSky and the NASA site, so you can link there to read all about it.  The quick and dirty is that the moon becomes full at about 8:52 AM on November 14th, and will reach perigee – the moon’s closest point to Earth for this month – within an one and one-half hours of that time - ergo, a supermoon.  This one is the largest since 1948. The full moon won’t come this close to Earth again until November 25, 2034.

A supermoon, or perigee full moon can be as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than an apogee full moon. But you might not be able to tell the difference, especially if it's slightly cloudy, or even if you've not looked at the moon before - since there is nothing to compare to.  But, it's worth the effort to check it out, the only thing you need are your pairs of eyes.

When should you look?  Both Sunday and Monday nights would be good (note: weather forecasts for the Maryland area are calling for cloudy skies on Monday.)

As for me, well I'll take a quick look.  But since the moon is a bright 'annoying' orb for us astrophotographers I'll be happy when its all over and I can get back to deep space photography in dark skies!

Mount repaired - back to imaging!

I finally got my mount issues resolved (at least most of the way).  I know for a fact that I am overloading my mount with equipment and that is the basic reason for its failure to track adequately at the prime focus focal lengths.

However, after rebuilding the mount and re-routing the cabling I am now able to use the wide field camera.  I anticipate getting the longer focal lengths to work as well, but having the wide field Hyperstar operational is a big plus.

So here is the first image since the mount starting having problems back in August:

IC 1805 - The Heart Nebula
EdgeHD11 w/Hyperstar;  QHY10 Camera
October 24, 2016  30x120sec

The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. This is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes.

The very brightest part of this nebula (the knot at the top right) is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of this nebula to be discovered.

The nebula's intense red output and its configuration are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This open cluster of stars known as Melotte 15 contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, and many more dim stars that are only a fraction of our Sun's mass.

Wikipedia

European Mars Lander's Crash Site Seen By NASA Probe

The european Mars lander, expected to soft land on Mars earlier this week, apparently crashed into Mars at a high rate of speed. An orbiting NASA spacecraft has spotted its grave, European Space Agency (ESA) officials said.

The lander, named Schiaparelli, stopped communicating with mission control about 1 minute before its planned touchdown on Mars Wednesday morning (Oct. 19). Newly released photos of the landing site by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) seem to confirm what ExoMars team members had suspected — that Schiaparelli died a violent death.

This comparison of before-and-after images by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows two features likely created during the Oct. 19, 2016 landing attempt of the ExoMars Schiaparelli lander. The small bright feature at bottom is probably Schiaparelli’s parachute, while the dark, fuzzy blob is likely the lander’s crash site.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Complete story at: Space.com

More Lunar Photos

Here are the remaining two moon photos I imaged on Oct 10,2016.

Hope you like them!

Copernicus Crater - October 10, 2016
EdgeHD11 Prime Focus
ASI120MC 400 frames of 2000

Plato and Vallis Alpes - October 10, 2016
EdgeHD11 Prime focus
ASI120MC 400 frames of 2000

Moon Images

Since the telescope mount is still not fixed I decided to not waste the clear skies and image our satellite, 'ol Luna.

These two image were taken with my ASI120MC planetary camera at the prime focus of the EdgeHD11 scope (2800mm).  Approximately 2000 frames of video were taken and then 20% (400 frames) of the best quality were used to stack and process.  Both were taken on October 10, 2016 at about 8:30PM.

Clavius Crater

Bullialdus crater in Mare Nubium

I have two more images that I took that night that I need to process.  I plan to post them within the next few days.

Just when you thought we knew ...

Credit:  NASA, ESA/Hubble

Astronomers using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescopes and other telescopes have performed an accurate census of the number of galaxies in the Universe. The group came to the surprising conclusion that there are at least 10 times as many galaxies in the observable Universe as previously thought.

For the complete story head on over to PhysOrg

M17 - Omega Nebula

Another image from back in August.  The Omega Nebula.

M17 - Omega Nebula
EdgeHD11 w/Hyperstar Aug 27, 2016
12x300sec QHY10 Camera

The Omega Nebula, also known as the Swan Nebula, Checkmark Nebula, and the Horseshoe Nebula (catalogued as Messier 17 or M17) is an H II region in the constellation Sagittarius. It was discovered by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1745. Charles Messier catalogued it in 1764. It is located in the rich starfields of the Sagittarius area of the Milky Way.

The Omega Nebula is between 5,000 and 6,000 light-years from Earth and it spans some 15 light-years in diameter. The cloud of interstellar matter of which this nebula is a part is roughly 40 light-years in diameter and has a mass of 30,000 solar masses. The total mass of the Omega Nebula is an estimated 800 solar masses.  (Wikipedia)

M11 - The Wild Duck Cluster

Finally got some time to process the remaining images I took back in August. Been busy with work, work around the house, church activities and, of course, rebuilding my telescope mount to see if I can repair the issue that has prevented any new imaging runs.

M11 - Wild Duck Cluster
EdgeHD-11 w/Hyperstar - Aug 26, 2016
10x300sec QHY10 Camera

The Wild Duck Cluster (also known as Messier 11, or NGC 6705) is an open cluster in the constellation Scutum. It was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1681. Charles Messier included it in his catalogue in 1764.

The Wild Duck Cluster is one of the richest and most compact of the known open clusters, containing about 2900 stars. Its age has been estimated to about 250 million years. Its name derives from the brighter stars forming a triangle which could resemble a flying flock of ducks (or, from other angles, one swimming duck).

M20 - The Trifid Nebula - Wide Angle Hyperstar

Here, for your enjoyment, is the famous Trifid nebula taken with my wide angle HyperStar lens on the EdgeHD11.  This will be one of the last images I will post for awhile as my telescope mount has developed a serious problem in the RA axis that prevents steady tracking.  May be out of service for a couple of months.

M20 - The Trifid Nebula
EdgeHD11 w/HyperStar - August 26,2016
20x120sec QHY10 Camera

The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius. It was discovered by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764.^[3] Its name means 'divided into three lobes'. The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars; an emission nebula (the lower, red portion), a reflection nebula (the upper, blue portion) and a dark nebula (the apparent 'gaps' within the emission nebula that cause the trifurcated appearance; these are also designated Barnard 85). Viewed through a small telescope, the Trifid Nebula is a bright and peculiar object, and is thus a perennial favorite of amateur astronomers.  (WikiPedia)

M10 - Globular Cluster

M10 - August 27, 2016
EdgeHD 11 with Hyperstar - 10x180sec QHY10 Camera

Finally got around to processing some of deep space objects (DSOs) I imaged back in August. Here is the globular cluster M10 (with the orange star 30 Oph to the left).  Since I'm having some problems with guiding at larger focal lengths (possibly a defect in my mount motor) I had to use the wide field Hyperstar setup and so the cluster is smaller than I could have gotten at the f/7 focal length.

M10 (also designated NGC 6254) is a globular cluster of stars in the equatorial constellation of Ophiuchus. The object was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier on May 29, 1764, who cataloged it as number 10 in his catalogue and described it as a "nebula without stars". In 1774, German astronomer Johann Elert Bode likewise called it a "nebulous patch without stars; very pale". Using larger instrumentation, German-born astronomer William Herschel was able to resolve the cluster into its individual members. He described it as a "beautiful cluster of extremely compressed stars". William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse thought he could distinguish a dark lane through part of the cluster. The first to estimate the distance to the cluster was Harlow Shapley, although his derivation of 33,000 light years was much further than the modern value of 14300 LY.  (Wikipedia)

Astronomers might have just caught a glimpse of a black hole being born

Insspirito/Pixabay

For the first time ever, a team of astronomers might have witnessed the birth of a black hole, roughly 20 million light-years from Earth.

While researchers have long thought that black holes form when supergiant stars collapse, new data from the Hubble Space Telescope might finally confirm this hypothesis.

Full story at:  Science Alert

Cosmic Neutrinos Detected, Confirming The Big Bang's Last Great Prediction

New discovery and analysis finally confirms the elusive prediction of the Big Bang. Last year, a leftover glow unlike any other — of neutrinos — was finally seen.

Complete story at Forbes

Happy Anniversary StarTrek - 50th

Today marks 50 years since the premier of STTOS (Star Trek The Original Series) which aired on NBC, September 8, 1966.  I was 13 and was glued to the B&W TV we had for the whole hour!

See the story at:  NBC News

Hello, old friend ... Philae found!

Philae: Lost comet lander is found

The little robot is visible in new images downloaded from the Rosetta probe in orbit around the icy dirt-ball 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.  European Space Agency (Esa) officials say there is no doubt about the identification - "it's as clear as day", one told the BBC.

ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team

More photos and details about the find can be found at BBC.com 

The dense star regions of the Milky Way

Finally! --- The sky conditions improved this weekend and I was blessed with two clear nights of astrophotography.

Got the scope setup on Friday afternoon and it was left up through Saturday evening/early Sunday.  Using the Hyperstar wide field camera I was able to image a few interesting areas in the dense galactic arm in Sagittarius.  Most of us have probably never seen the Milky Way because of light pollution.

First up is the star cluster M11 (NGC 6705), which is right in the midst of a dense star cloud. Known as the Wild Duck Cluster it is an open cluster in the constellation Scutum. It was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1681. Charles Messier included it in his catalogue in 1764.  The dark areas scattered about in the image are regions of gas and dust that are between  us and the background stars obscuring the vision.

M11 - EdgeHD11/Hyperstar  10x300sec subs
August 26, 2016

Next is the Sagittarius Star Cloud, M24.  Approximately 600 light years wide, it was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. The stars, clusters and other objects comprising M24 are part of the Sagittarius or Sagittarius-Carina arms of the Milky Way galaxy. Messier described M24 as a "large nebulosity containing many stars" and gave its dimensions as being some 1.5° across.

M24 - Sagittarius Star Cloud
EdgHD11 w/Hyperstar  13x180sec subs
August 26, 2016

Saturn

It's been over 6 weeks since the night skies here in Maryland have been clear enough to image anything at all.  Finally, tonight I was able to get the scope out for just a little while to capture the planet Saturn before it moves too close to the sun and low in the west.

I acquired a new Barlow lens which is of much better quality than the one I had and magnifies by 2.5x vs. 2x.  The atmosphere was rather turbulent and I had only a little bit of time to capture the image before the planet goes behind my treeline. Not thinking, I decided not to attach the dew heaters and shield, and of course, I ended up with dew on the front corrector plate while imaging the planet.  But by the time I set up for a retake Saturn was already in the trees.  Yet, even with the dew I was able to get a fairly decent image.

Saturn - August 19, 2016
EdgeHD 11 w/2.5x Barlow
ASI120MC Camera - 1000 frames stacked in AutoStakkert and processed in Registax

Next week promises some nice clear nights, so I plan on doing some wide field imaging.

Bottom quarks misbehave in LHC experiment

Data suggest need to revise calculations or reexamine understanding of protons

QUARK QUIRK  New data from the Large Hadron Collider’s higher-energy proton collisions show that particles made of b quarks flew off at angles more often than expected. Scientists from the LHCb experiment, which observes the aftermath of proton collisions in its detector (visualization shown), reported the result August 4.          CERN

Theoretical physicists are scratching their heads after scientists presented surprising new studies of a particle known as the bottom quark.  At the new, higher energies recently reached at the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator, particles containing bottom quarks flew off at an angle more often than expected. Scientists reported the result August 4 at the International Conference on High Energy Physics.

For the full story see Science News.

Students Discover a Galactic Eye of Horus

Eye of Horus in pseudo color. Enlarged image to the right. The yellow object at the center is a galaxy about 7 billion light-years away and bends the light from two background galaxies.
NAOJ

Undergraduate students in Japan stumbled on a rare lensing of two distinct background galaxies.

See article at SkyAndTelescope

Farthest Known Object Orbiting the Sun

Observers calculate that Kuiper Belt object 2015 RR₂₄₅ has an elliptical path that takes 733 years to go around the Sun and carries it from near Neptune's orbit out to 129 astronomical units.
Alex Parker / OSSOS team

First spied last year, an object designated 2015 RR245 turns out to be one of the largest and most distant objects yet found orbiting the Sun.

Complete story at Astronomy

NASA’s Juno Probe Successfully Reaches Jupiter

An artist's conception of Juno performing a 35-minute-long engine firing to enter orbit around Jupiter.
NASA / JPL

NASA's Jupiter probe, Juno, has completed a critical braking maneuver and has entered orbit around the gas giant.  Juno carried out a scheduled 35-minute-long burn that slowed its velocity by 542 meters per second (1,212 mph), enough to become a captured satellite of Jupiter with an initial 53.5-day orbital period. Arriving at 58 km per second (129,742 mph) with respect to the planet, Juno also performed the fastest orbital insertion to date.

Full details can be found at Astronomy.com

Juno arrives at Jupiter today

NASA’s Juno spacecraft enters Jupiter’s orbit: how to watch and what to expect here .

NASA Link

Space.Com

Astronomy.com

 

A Middle Aged Sun?

(Photo credit YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP/Getty Images)

The Sun has likely already entered into a new unpredicted long-term phase of its evolution as a hydrogen-burning main sequence star — one characterized by magnetic sputtering indicative of a more quiescent middle-age. What this means for us astro-photographers is that there may be fewer and fewer sunspots and flares.  But I don't think we need to worry yet ...

See Forbes for the complete story.

Time Travel Not Likely - Pear Shaped Nucleus Says So! Maybe!

Physicists have confirmed the existence of a new form of atomic nuclei, and the fact that it’s not symmetrical challenges the fundamental theories of physics that explain our Universe.  For one, it means that time travel into the past is not possible.  However, the good news is that the discovery could help scientists solve one of the biggest mysteries in theoretical physics - where is all the dark matter?

Read the full story at Science Alert.

An ocean for Pluto and a thinner ice shell on Enceladus

NASA/JHU-APL/SwRI

Once, we thought Earth was the only planet with oceans. But now, we’re seemingly finding them everywhere in our solar system.

Complete story on Astronomy.com