Lipman Astronomy

Kind of cool

2010-06-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

I am typing this blog posting from 35,000 ft up in a flight from NYC to SFO using in-flight wifi. The cool thing is that I am watching and interacting live with an astronomer through the Night Skies Network. Currently looking at M84. The wonders of modern technology!

Viewing galaxies

2010-06-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

I took my two oldest kids to a star party at Crestview Park in San Carlos tonight. The transparency and seeing were both outstanding. After looking at the usual showpiece targets (including Saturn - which was spectacular at 266x, M13, M57 etc) I decided to put the great conditions to the test and turn to galaxies. First up was M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici. Although it initially just appeared as two smudges in the eyepiece, I was able to make out the spiral arms with averted vision - which I haven't seen before as this galaxy is usually positioned within the bright light dome of the Bay Area. We then moved on to Virgo - and took in M84, M86 and also M104 (the Sombrero Galaxy). The most striking of these was M104, the disk and central bulge were very clear, and the dark dust lane was also quite visible - looking the best at 133x magnification.

Observing at Crestview Park

2010-05-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

Got a couple of hours observing in last night at Crestview Park in San Carlos. This spot is at 600 ft elevation, and gets reasonably dark especially to the West which is a straight shot out to Half Moon Bay with little intervening light pollution. I took my two older kids, and met up with a friend, his kids and telescope.

We observed Venus, Saturn, Mars, M81/M82, M37, M100 (I think ...) and M13 which is now back in the sky again. We were able to make out a number of the "faint fuzzies" in Virgo. Under dark skies, these would be a lot of fun - but we need to get somewhere much darker than San Carlos. At some point we'll get over to Montebello Open Space Preserve, which is at 2,200 ft and quite a bit further away from light pollution. The Dark Sky Finder (http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/) shows Montebello being in the orange zone - compared with Red for San Carlos.

Night Skies Network

2010-04-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

This is the coolest thing I have seen for a while: http://www.nightskiesnetwork.com/ - astronomers broadcasting live using a Mallincam (basically a high end integrated video camera attached to a telescope). You get a live feed of whatever the astronomer is observing and you can interact through a chat window. The strangest (and oddly compelling) thing is that the astronomer can broadcast audio - so you can make comments, ask questions etc through the chat window and hear a verbal audio response. Weird but cool at the same time.

I was just watching a stream of M92 (a globular cluster in Hercules) and then M57 (the Ring Nebula) through some guy's C8. Really amazing to see the color and detail in M57. I am going to be adding a Mallincam to my wish list ...

M3 - globular cluster

2010-04-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

This is my first DSO (deep sky object) - M3, a globular cluster comprising 500,000 stars. M3 is approximately 30,000 light years from earth and is thought to be 8 billion years old. The picture consists of 10 separate shots, all 15 second exposures at ISO 1600 - stacked using Deep Sky Stacker.

First astrophoto

2010-04-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

I recently bought my first dslr camera - the Canon EOS T2i. It is easy to connect the camera to the telescope in prime focus using a T-ring adapter. The camera is controlled using Canon's EOS utility - which makes focusing much easier than trying to focus through the camera's screen (although still not foolproof).

This photo was 1/500 sec at ISO 200, f/6.3 (using a reducer/corrector attached to the telescope, which is usually f/10).

I tried to stack multiple shots using both Registax and Avistack - but encountered memory errors. It could be the PC or it could be the fact that the T2i produces huges files. I am clearly at the beginning of a very steep learning curve here!

Amazingly clear tonight

2010-03-20T21:19:00.000-07:00

Despite the Clear Sky Clock predictions, tonight had incredible seeing (i.e. very still air). Mars yielded great detail all the way up to 266x: the polar ice cap was bright and clear, and two of the major surface albedo features (which I think were Mare Acidalium and Syrtis Major) were also very distinct.

I then turned my attention to the moon, which gave tremendous views of various craters and rilles - 266x was again the best magnification, although the view through the widefield Ethos 13mm (215x) was also fantastic because of the "spacewalk" effect of 100 degrees AFOV. One crater that caught my attention in particular had a very large central peak (mountain) that looked like it is comprised of three components. I am pretty sure this is Theophilus. This crater is 64 miles across, and has a rim that is 14,000 feet deep. It is thought to have been created somewhere between 1 billion and 3 billion years ago.

The night was so clear that I could easily make out the terraces in the crater rim - apparently these are due to landslips that have taken place over many millenia. The central mountain, which rises to a height of about 2km consists of three peaks - each of which were easily visible through the telescope.

Observing at Crestview Park

2010-03-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the first clear one in many weeks, so I took the telescope up to Crestview Park - which is the observing location used by our local astronomy club. While not a dark sky location in the real sense of the term, it is about as good as it gets in our suburban location. My 9 year-old son had a lot of fun helping to set up, and observing. We stayed late enough in the evening to catch Saturn once it rose out of the horizon haze.

The cardboard box is my makeshift shield for the PC - keeping dew off the laptop, and keeping light from the screen out of our fellow observers' eyes.

Orion and Auriga

2009-12-10T15:28:00.000-08:00

It is getting cold at night here in California, but I ventured out a couple of nights ago as the forecast is for cloud and rain for the next two weeks.

I got my 1st view of Orion in the CPC 1100 since getting the telescope a year ago - and my observing skills have progressed substantially since then. M42 and M43 looked great at all magnifications – particularly through the Ethos 13, where the Trapezium and surrounding nebulosity were very clear and impressive. I tried out the Orion Ultrablock (H-beta and OIII) filter on these nebulas. Although the nebulas were definitely more defined with the filter, I didn't find the difference to be really substantial.

I then moved over to M78, but couldn't see it - even with the filter in place. I don't think this was an issue with the goto, as many other objects were placed clearly inside the FOV - so I imagine this was a function of local light pollution and perhaps the poor transparency that evening (clouds were coming in throughout the observing session). That being said, I will certainly try for M78 again as soon as we get a clear night.

I next turned my attention to some of Orion's double stars. Meissa (Lambda Orionis) was easily split as it is only a 4.4 arc second separation. There is a noticeable difference in magnitude between the two stars. Meissa is part of the Collinder 69 cluster, which contains a striking 3-star asterism.

Sigma Orionis is a 5-star system, four of which were easily resolved - but I couldn't split A and B, as they are only 0.25 arc seconds apart.

I then shifted over to open clusters in and around Orion and Auriga: NGC 1981, M35, M36, M37 and M38. M37 was my favorite - clearly the brightest of the bunch, containing around 500 stars.

My last target of the night was the Crab Nebula, M1. Again, as with M78, no luck - even with the nebula filter. M1 has very low surface brightness, so will probably require a dark site location to snag this one.

Controlling the CPC 1100 telescope from a laptop

2009-12-02T22:13:00.000-08:00

Although the CPC 1100 has a very good handset for selecting target objects for Goto, the "holy grail" for amateur observational astronomy is to direct the telescope using a planetarium application. Why? Because planetarium software gives you tremendous flexibility in planning an observing session, understanding the context of what you are observing, and just simply exploring the sky.

Tonight was my first attempt and, thanks to some helpful directions on the cloudynights forum, it look less than 1/2 hr to get everything configured.

I use Stellarium (see below) as my planetarium application, and connected my laptop to the telescope handset through a USB-to-serial converter cable. The next step would be to invest in a bluetooth receiver, which would remove the need for wires (never much fun fiddling with wires in the dark).

Unfortunately the clouds rolled in soon after I had everything working. Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun to the see the telescope location pointer slewing across the screen in step with the motion of the scope itself. I am very much looking forward to giving this a good workout on a clear night. I can already see that the laptop-driven approach will substantially enhance my observing experiences.

Exploring Orion

2009-11-29T21:55:00.000-08:00

I am planning a comprehensive exploration of Orion this coming weekend, having recently purchased a UHC filter (the Orion Ultrablock Narrowband) - which should help in viewing the emission nebulae in this constellation.

I just took a look at Orion through my old 8 x 40 binoculars, and the view was amazing - so I am eagerly anticipating what almost 50 times more light gathering capacity will deliver! Not that Orion isn't a wonderful object to view through binoculars: Betelgeuse, the stars of Orion's belt (Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka), the sword of Orion and the M42 nebula within it are all a treat through the binoculars.

The screen shot of Orion below is from Stellarium - a wonderful free planetarium application (download here) that I use for planning my observation sessions. One of my next telescope projects will be to hook a laptop up to the telescope, preferably wirelessly, and use Stellarium to drive the telescope. Stellarium has a "night mode" - which displays the screen in red and thus saves night vision. I can see this being a great tool for exploring the sky in a more interactive and expansive fashion than just relying on the handset.

Comfort!

2009-11-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

After close to a year of leaning over my telescope and having my kids perch precariously on a chair or folding step stool when observing - I finally bought an observing chair. What a difference! The height of this chair can be very easily adjusted to suit the orientation of the telescope or size of the observer. In addition to just being more comfortable, it allows the observer to spend more time at the eyepiece actually observing. Well worth the $200 - probably one of the best investments in telescope equipment that I've made to date!

m15 - age and beauty!

2009-11-15T17:53:00.000-08:00

Last night was the star party at my kids' school (see post below). We had about 50 people in attendance and 6 telescopes - so a good time was had by all.

By the time things got going M13 was too low in the sky for viewing, but I still wanted to show the kids a globular cluster. These fascinating objects are excellent star party targets - not only do they look great at the eyepiece, but their sheer age is astounding. Perhaps the oldest of all is M15 at over 13 billion years - almost as old as the universe itself. In addition to its age, M15 is remarkable for being one of the densest globular clusters - and is widely thought to have a massive black hole at its center.

Even from the field at my kids' school, with substantial light from the school building and parking lot, M15 looked great: bright with clearly resolved stars and structure.

Changing seasons

2009-11-04T17:09:00.000-08:00

I had to catch an early flight for a business trip a couple of days ago. Walking out of my front door at 4am, I glanced up in the sky to see Orion on prominent display. Living in Northern California, I have always thought of Orion as a late winter constellation and so was shocked (and very pleasantly surprised) to see it there in the sky. Unfortunately I didn't have time to get the telescope out, but it did get me thinking about how I have become more aware of the changing seasons since having a telescope for the last year: the movement of the summer triangle across the sky, the slow descent of the Big Dipper towards the horizon, the emergence of Cassiopeia from behind the large tree in my back yard, the descent of Scorpius and then Sagittarius into the evening twilight and the steady march of Jupiter across the sky are but a few examples of note. I have always been a strong believer that an understanding of astronomy, and more specifically cosmology, gives one a unique and fascinating perspective on the insignificance of our position in the universe. However I have found the motion of the constellations and planets through the night sky to be in many ways a more tangible, enjoyable and profound experience. This is truly something that should be taught in elementary school, and experienced by everyone.

Excellent amateur astronomy resource

2009-11-03T16:48:00.001-08:00

Since getting into this hobby about 1 year ago, I have found the Cloudynights forum to be an invaluable resource. This site is truly a community of fellow amateur astronomers, who are incredibly generous with their time, support and insights. Regardless of whether you are completely new to astronomy, or a seasoned veteran with 40 years' observing under your belt, you will find an answer to your question and others who are willing to share their experiences and perspective. I find myself visiting the site on a daily basis, if only to soak up knowledge and ideas - or to attempt to share what little I know with others behind me on the learning curve!

Viewing Jupiter

2009-11-02T12:28:00.001-08:00

I had a good time observing with my two older kids (9 & 7) this weekend, especially trying to see surface detail on Jupiter. This reminded me of the best view that I've ever had of Jupiter, which was a couple of months ago (8/26 to be precise). I set up around 8.30pm that night to start the cool down process, and as it started to get dark around 9pm I poked around at the usual good targets from my light polluted back yard. I had some family in from out of town, and I dragged them out one by one to look through the scope.

Around 9.30pm Jupiter poked up over the roof of my house. The seeing was bad with the house heat rising up and the view of Jupiter was nothing impressive.

Around 10.30pm I took another look, through my 13mm Ethos. I saw one of the moons (not sure which one) just about to start transit - and had the family out to take a look. About 20 mins later the seeing steadied out fantastically - and WOW! The view was astounding! So much clear surface detail and the Great Red Spot was front and center.

By now the family were clamoring the see what was going on. The moon was now well into transit, seeing all the cloud belt details, GRS, moon transit & shadow on the surface. Literally tack-sharp with seemingly perfect seeing. Even my wife (who isn't an astronomy fanatic) was blown away by the view.

Around 11pm I swapped out the Ethos for the Stratus 21mm + a 2x barlow - so roughly 270x. AMAZING! The planet was taking up what felt like almost 50% of the field of view, with so much detail that I was stuck to the eyepiece for another hour. I would probably have kept viewing all night if it weren't for the fact that I needed to be in the office by 7am the next day ...

Star party targets

2009-10-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

I am participating in a star party at my kids' school on Nov 14th. The school is in a heavily light polluted area (red zone). Nevertheless there should be plenty of good showpiece objects visible at this time of year from the Bay Area. I am looking forward to showing the following to the kids:

Jupiter - always a great one for star parties
Uranus - surprisingly easy target, even under light pollution
Albiero - probably the most beautiful double star, and a good target for discussing double stars and star evolution
Ring nebula - nice planetary nebula target
Double cluster - great open cluster target. Fits nicely into the 38mm eyepiece in my CPC 1100
Owl cluster - fun one for the kids (although the Owl is inverted ...)
M13 - one of my personal favorites. Should still be visible low in the sky

I'll post back with the "ooh/aah" feedback after the star party.

First view of Uranus

2009-10-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

Uranus was another first (for me) view in the same observing session that I mentioned below. Despite the fact that Uranus is almost 1.7 billion miles away, the planet is actually an easy target and clearly resolves as a disc.

This gas giant appears blue/green due to the methane in its atmosphere. The color was very clear, even in my light polluted skies. I got the best view at 215x using the 13mm Ethos eyepiece in my CPC 1100. Unlike Jupiter or Saturn, no surface details are visible which isn't surprising given the distance.

The view at the eyepiece was very similar to the picture here.

First view of Andromeda

2009-10-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

It is now getting late enough in the year that the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is visible in Bay Area skies at a reasonable time, and also not obscured by trees in my backyard. The constellation of Cassiopeia is prominent in the sky around 7pm and an easy sign-post to M31.

I took my first look at M31 a couple of nights ago through my lowest power eyepiece (Q70 38mm), which gives 73x in the CPC 1100. M31 is a very large object and so requires low power. Unfortunately this means that the background sky glow from light pollution is more pronounced - although not too bad on M31 as the object is so bright.

At 2.5 million light years, M31 is the the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way and contains almost 1 trillion stars. This galaxy will collide with ours in about 2.5 billion years. Andromeda has two "satellite" galaxies - M32 and M101. I was able to see both of these also.

The view at the eyepiece was very similar to the picture below - although the dark dust lanes weren't as pronounced.