Planetary Playtime

June 20, 2017 by grahamrob in Imaging, Solar system, Viewing and tagged Jupiter, Saturn | Leave a comment

SKY Live

Starting out three years ago I inevitably began my astrophotography with the Solar System, the planets and other related bodies are after all closest to Earth but, as it turns out, are far from easy to image. At the time using a Skywatcher 150PLS and ZWO120MC webcam, I achieved some reasonable images of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Moon and later the Sun but with plenty of upside potential for improvement! Shortly thereafter having acquired my current set-up, I realised that my interest lay in DSO targets and, except for the lunar eclipse in 2015 and the odd white-light image of the Sun, have mostly ignored the Solar System, until now. Currently no less than 7 planets are present throughout the night at the moment, the largest of which provide good viewing and imaging opportunities – planetary sky above for 11th June 2017 at 11 p.m. taken from TheSkyLive.com

From April to July there are limited DSO opportunities for my scope and camera and the only choice is to look elsewhere; the absence of astronomical darkness also doesn’t help. This year the problem has been particularly frustrating as I’m itching to get to grips with my new ZWO 1600MM-Cool camera, which after a few hurried shots early in the year proved very exciting. And so I’ve recently been playing around, returning to old subjects and unfamiliar equipment – first imaging the comet C/2015 V2 (Johnson) and again trying my hand again at some of the planets.

Unlike the DSLR and ZWO 1600MM-Cool CMOS camera, I the ZWO 120MC video based webcam is more suitable for the planets, which poses a whole new set of issues and the use of completely different capture and process software, in my case Firecapture for imaging and Registax for processing. Both are excellent free programmes but after three years required some re-learning.

Firecapture helps a lot when experimenting to find the best gain, gamma and exposure settings for each planet but there are still other difficult tasks to overcome, in particular planetary rotation, size, seeing conditions and my personal nemesis – focus – which after numerous attempts I have still failed to master. The truth is that even with the gas giant Jupiter, the planet appears quite small with the 81mm aperture of my Williams Optics refractor and detail is difficult to make out in order to focus when also blurred by atmospheric turbulence. Notwithstanding, the belts and even the Great Red Spot are evident in the resulting images taken between 14th and 25th June, albeit a little fuzzy!

Webcam image data capture even over a couple of minutes is prodigious and requires significant processing capacity to handle. I have found the aptly named Castrator software useful in this regard to cut the final AVI image down to the actual size of the planetary object, thus removing substantial areas of superfluous black sky. Registax is equally powerful for video processing and stacking, in particular the intriguingly named Wavelets, which magically help restore detail and sharpness.

Saturn

In the case of Saturn, which at the moment is quite bright and well orientated, the problem is also size and especially seeing, in my case not helped by a 35 minute imaging window as the planet transits between two trees at the end of my garden; at least the large copper beech on the left blocked out the Moon at the same time! At this location Saturn is less than 15^o above the southerly horizon and as a result seeing conditions are at best poor and usually bad. However, I manged some blurred images that clearly show Saturn’s rings and even a little colour. I’m now looking forwards to seeing more of the final Cassini mission images before the satellite crashes into the plant in September.

These are obviously not my best images and I already feel the need try again next year, hopefully with a more appropriate telescope (Santa has already been informed). Notwithstanding, my return to the Solar System has been fun and, in between imaging I’ve also taken time to carry out observational astronomy – something I rarely do nowadays being otherwise consumed by astroimaging paraphernalia. DSO astrophotography is likely to remain my main interest in the future and I can’t wait to revisit old favourites later in the year with the new ZWO 1600MM-Cool camera. In the meantime, I have renewed respect for the planetary astrophotographer’s, I’ll be back another time.

Great Balls Of Ice

May 30, 2017 by grahamrob in Equipment, Imaging, Solar system and tagged Comet | 1 Comment

iceball

The next couple of months can be frustrating for astronomers in the Northern Hemisphere. We have just entered the period of summer during which there is no astronomical darkness and for those of us who enjoy the spectacle of a DSO there are also few around to image, especially of the larger Ha-type that my equipment is currently best suited to. However, there are compensations and with some imagination and a change of tack, it can be a useful time in which to do some housekeeping and return to objects not usually viewed.

I recently noticed that dust and the odd stray fingerprint had appeared on the object lens of my William Optics GT81! Opinion on how to clean this critical element is varied but all advice says: (i) be very careful, and (ii) do nothing unless you absolutely have to; in particular opinion is divided on whether to use alcohol-free cleaner. I therefore purchased some Baader Optical Wonder Fluid which comes recommended by many but for now confined cleaning to the use of a brush and compressed air to remove the dust and a Lenspen to gently polish the glass surface – the Wonder Fluid will have to wait until another day.

Warm temperatures that accompany summer are also a more comfortable time in which to undertake important tasks outside, such as re-setting equipment alignment, balancing, cable routing etc. I am therefore also replacing the mount power cable and EQDIRECT adapter cable, both of which look the worse for wear. Truth is the original cables were poor quality and, mindful of my disastrous camera cable problems this time last year, if possible I now intend to upgrade both these critical items. The experience of last year’s meltdown showed how prone cables are to low winter temperatures and I now see there are alternative silicon cables on the market – obviously I’m not the only one who’s suffered!

Of course we all want to be outside imaging and observing and a recent spell of very fine, clear, warm nights provided just such an opportunity – but what to do? There are some popular objects within the Solar System that are worthy of attention at this time of year, which for a change I therefore once again tried my hand at imaging, on this occasion a comet.

There have recently been no less than three notable comets in the night sky:

41P/Tuttle–Giacobini–Kresák: first discovered in 1858, the comet orbits the Sun every 5.4 years and this year was seen from Ursa Minor – Draco – Lyra between March and May.
C/2017 E4 (Lovejoy): only discovered earlier this year by the inimitable Australian comet hunter Terry Lovejoy, the comet rises in the east-northeast above the star Enif in the early morning sky.
C/2015 V2 (Johnson): probably this year’s most popular comet, was at full magnitude in Hercules during April but is still clearly evident to the east of Bootes from about 11pm – see below.

V2 CdC

I have only once before imaged a comet, that being C 2014 Q2 Comet Lovejoy (him again) in January 2015, on this occasion I set out to image the aforementioned C/2015 V2 (Johnson). The comet will soon reach perihelion on 12^th June and thereafter leave the Solar System. Travelling at a speed of 74,000 mph, imaging this small body of ice as it passes Earth is difficult and required going back to basics. It was also the first time since January that I had used the DSLR camera, which despite longstanding experience required some brushing up. At first I intended to follow the comet using the Custom Tracker facility in EQMOD but in the end this seemed unnecessary once I had the object centred in the camera and instead I resorted to a number short exposures at high ISO.

v2 orbit

V2 Track I am pleased with the results, though they are a little noisy due to some stupid mishaps on my part along the way which left less imaging time than I would have wished. Though each comet is different, experimentation suggests that with good framing and guiding, exposures of about 2 minutes and ISO 3,200 produced the best results. Given this exciting experience, which was also good fun, I will hopefully not leave my return to comets so long as last time.

10 x 60 sec @ ISO 3,200

10 x 60 sec @ ISO 6,400

3 x 120 sec @ ISO 3,200

Overspill

October 27, 2016 by grahamrob in Deep Sky Objects, General Astronomy, Imaging, Solar system and tagged Andromeda, Aquila, Delphinus, Lyra, Messier Objects, Moon, Pegasus, Veil Nebula | 1 Comment

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After months of cloud followed by 3-months of lost imaging time due to a mysterious camera / mount control problem, I was on the verge of throwing in the towel by August. But then I sorted the problem, started guiding and as if by magic, with a prolonged spell of good weather managed 7-nights of astronomy between 23^rd August and 13^th September; such was the intensity I was able to work over consecutive nights and by the end quite exhausted but happy.

Under clear skies and warm nights I could operate in just shorts and a T-shirt, a hitherto unknown experience at Fairvale Observatory. In such comfort I was also able to experiment and optimize the equipment set-up further – oh, if it could only be like this always. Of course I did not miss the opportunity to chase some night sky objects as well, imaging 11 targets all-in-all, sometimes on more than one occasion. It was a glorious time which has since taken time to organise and process.

NGC 6905

NGC 6781

M57

M57

Top left – NGC 6905 Blue Flash Nebula in Delphinus constellation 42″ x 35″ mag +11 26th August; Bottom left – NGC 6781 planetary nebula in Aquila constellation 1.8′ +mag 11.8 23rd August; Middle M57 Ring Nebula Lyra constellation 1.4′ x 1.1′ mag +8.8 13th September; Right M57 23rd August

A number of these images have already been reviewed in Forbidden Fruit and The future is not what it used to be but, such was productivity that for the record I’ve collected the overspill here. Inevitably targets reflected what was about and in sight from this location at the time but were nonetheless diverse in nature, ranging from the Witch’s Broom to planetary nebulae, the Andromeda galaxy and, making use of the otherwise frustrating monthly occurrence, the Moon. Features such as M57 and NGC 6781 are intrinsically too small for the William Optics GT81 and Canon 550D, filling significantly less than 1% of the original image but after cropping both are evident in the final picture.

M15

NGC 6960

M31

Top Left – M15 Globular cluster Pegasus constellation 29th August; Top Right – Q1 Moon 23rd August; Middle Right – NGC 6960 Witch’s Broom Western Veil Nebula; Bottom – M31 Andromeda Galaxy 26th August

These images are not particularly memorable but it was a fun time and I will remember the enjoyable experience for a long while. Of course, the cloud has now returned and since passing the autumn equinox night temperatures have plunged into single figures. On the plus side, Orion is on its way together with all the other photogenic objects that characterize the winter night sky – can’t wait!

Playing poker with the heavens

August 23, 2016 by grahamrob in Imaging, Solar system, Viewing and tagged Perseids, Perseus, Photography, Solar system | 1 Comment

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It’s that time of the year when Earth ploughs its way through the tail of comet Swift-Tuttle, resulting in a the Perseids meteor shower. The name is derived from the location of the radiant point within the constellation of Perseus and Greek mythology’s reference to the sons of Perseus. Such are the orbital paths that Earth’s encounter with the comet occurs around 11^th to 13^th of August each year and can provide an enjoyable spectacle as the meteor particles rain down through atmosphere.

perseids-e1312951836623

Travelling at some 37 miles-a-second, the sand-grain size particles literally burn up in the blink of an eye, with the energy created producing a bright path of the light path that very briefly shoots across the night sky, sometimes green or red coloured. Some 16-miles in size, from time-to-time the comet itself actually passes nearby to Earth during its orbit around the Sun, last time being in 1992 and the next in 2126.

Perseid ZHR 2016

Whilst the timing of our annual encounter can be predicted with good accuracy, a sight of each individual meteoroid particle is entirely down to chance. Over a period of two or three days the frequency (Zenithal Hourly Rate or ZHR) may vary from a few tens to a few hundred, depending on which section of the comet’s tail Earth is passing through. Of course, observation requires a clear sky – something that’s been notably absent here at Fairvale Observatory for some time now. Notwithstanding, this year there were three consecutive clear, dark, warm nights, which occurred shortly after a new Moon that provided excellent Perseid observing opportunities.

Viewing is a matter of lying back in a suitable garden chair looking up towards the radiant position, which starts in the north east then moves to the south during the night and just waiting. This year peak Perseids were on the evening of 11^th/12^th August between about 11pm and 1am, during which time we probably saw between 20 to 40 hits an hour; the previous and subsequent evenings were also quite good, though with slightly less hits. Such is the randomness of each meteoroid hit that in practice Perseid trails occurred all over the sky and were easy to miss if outside the peripheral vision. However, overall it was a very good and enjoyable show but probably not as good as that from the ISS.

At first this looks great but look again, it’s an aircraft trace – living next to Gatwick airport doesn’t help. The giveaway is in the next shot which shows the track continuing i.e. too long and too far for a meteoroid.

At the same time using the Canon DSLR and an ultra-wide lens, I also attempted to image the Perseid shower. On the first night using Vixen Polarie tracking, set towards the radiant position and on the second night pointing east, without tracking. Control was via an intervalometer, with camera settings at ISO 800, 20 or 14 second exposures, and 5-second shot intervals. Even with such a high incidence of meteoroid hits, obtaining a photograph was still very difficult; mostly the strikes occurred outside the field-of-vision or sometimes in the 5-second pause. In total I shot over 300 images but obtained just two Perseid hits and more than a few plane tracks! Even with good preparation and clear skies it really is a case of chance but I was nonetheless pleased to have my share of luck this time and look forwards to another opportunity this time next year, weather permitting.

Gotcha – the real thing: ISO 800 @ 20 seconds with tracking.

Only just! This time the Perseid is just sneaking out of view at the bottom of the frame: ISO 800 @ 14 seconds, without tracking.

Transit

May 9, 2016 by grahamrob in General Astronomy, Solar system, Viewing and tagged Mercury, Sun | Leave a comment

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Unfortunately not my image: Mercury starting its transit across the Sun today, photo by NASA.

The transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun takes place about thirteen times each century and today was one of those occasions; the next is on 11^th November 2019. With months of bad weather I’ve been unable to undertake very little astronomy for some time but albeit late, spring actually arrived last week and I took the opportunity to shake-down my equipment and experiment with settings for solar imaging in the hope of capturing Mercury’s transit. Using a Baader solar filter and both the William Optics GT 81 and Skywatcher 150PL, I have successfully imaged the Sun before. Of course, inevitably I aspire to a dedicated Lunt or Coronado solar telescope one day in order to image details of the chromosphere and prominences, which are not visible using a white-light solar filter.

Sun spot activity is limited at the moment but the Baader filter and WO GT81 do a reasonable job, although I find achieving focus of the Sun quite difficult. Using the DSLR I experimented with the field flattener and an alternative basic 1/ 1.25” nosepiece, which produced a preferable result of a slightly larger and sharper image. I also tried the ZWO ASI 120MC webcam but as I don’t use this very often struggled to get the settings right for any sort of image – I’ll experiment more with that over the summer. I also put EQMOD-ASCOM and the newly acquired gamepad control through their paces which both worked well, so I was ready for the transit – weather permitting.

Last week’s test image of the Sun, with sun spot top left: WO GT81 + 1.25″ nosepiece | 1 / 2,500 sec @ ISO 100

After days of sunshine, albeit with high cloud that has continued to prohibit astrophotography at night, I was nonetheless hopeful of seeing at least some of the transit today. Notwithstanding, Sods law arrived in the form of a belt of cloud over south east England last night! Not to be defeated I watched the sky and cloud forecasts which suggested a glimpse of the transit might still be possible.

In hopeful anticipation I set up the equipment just before contact at 12.12 pm BST and shortly afterwards obtained a good view of Mercury as it started its transit across the face of the Sun. For the next three hours I managed glimpses of the planet as it continued its journey. It is very, very small but forms a distinct, sharp black dot against the background of the Sun when compared to the more diffuse, grey nature of the sunspots. It was an exciting experience and despite the drawbacks – cloud has now completely covered the sky for the rest of the transit – it was very enjoyable; so what’s the problem?

Despite all my preparation for imaging everything that could go wrong did and I was unable to obtain even a single photograph:

On setting up the camera and starting to focus the EQMOD-ASCOM tracking stopped and Carte du Ciel froze. Despite re-starting the set-up numerous times the tracking would not work!

Finally after resorting to the Synscan handset for tracking control, for some completely inexplicable reason I could not get any sort of image on the camera, that otherwise was working OK!

As I have learned many times before, the art of astronomy is patience and persistence but I am very disappointed not to have imaged Mercury during its transit today. Ironically once the cloud put an end to further activity, I tested the EQMOD-ASCOM tracking once again and it worked fine. Perplexed does not describe my feelings – oh well, 3-years to prepare for the next transit!

How I felt after today’s imaging!!! The transit view was still very good and I’m grateful for the breaks in the cloud.

Reflections – 2015

January 1, 2016 by grahamrob in Deep Sky Objects, Equipment, Imaging, Software, Solar system, Widefield Imaging and tagged Andromeda, DSO Imaging, Galaxies, Lunar Eclipse, Orion, Photography, Solar system | 1 Comment

Launched in August 2014, 2015 is the first full year of Watch This Space (Man) and despite some personal set-backs it’s been an interesting year astronomically, with much to write about. Whilst I have made progress with my imaging, it was not what I would have wished for but nonetheless I have been pleased with the outcome. Continuing on from last year, Reflections is a recap and thoughts on all that happened to me astronomically in 2015 and looks forward to the coming year.

Although this website is just intended as my record of A personal discovery of the Universe through astronomy and astrophotography, it has been pleasing to see that over the year the site has attracted 1,310 visitors from 77 countries around the world and over 2,700 views; you are all most welcome. This was not the intention of the blog but I am humbled by the interest and would be very pleased to hear from anyone who would like to get in touch with queries, comments or just to say hello – contact details are in the About section.

JANUARY TO MARCH

The first quarter turned out to be my most active and successful period of the year for reasons that will become apparent later. Strictly speaking my image of the Rosette Nebula posted on 5^th January was taken on 29^th December 2014 but what an image to start the year with, clearly I was doing something right by now. Notwithstanding, from looking at pictures of the same object taken by other more accomplished photographers, it was evident that something was missing – red! This was an easy to problem to solve and I immediately set out on a quest to find a suitably modified camera with the IR filter removed. Soon thereafter I was lucky to find an excellent second hand modded Canon EOS 550D, which has now become my main imaging camera of choice and with all that extra red Ha-light has led to a quantum improvement of many images since. Such cameras are very popular so I felt lucky to have secured this one.

Orion’s Sword: M42 The Great Orion Nebula, Running Man Nebula & NGC 1981 Star Cluster
WO GT81 + modded Canon 550D & FF | 10 x 180 secs @ ISO 800 & darks calibration | 8th February 2015. Modification of the camera by removing the IR filter increased red Ha-light.

EQMOD / ASCOM is a popular free software project developed by amateurs that, amongst other things, provides computer and planetarium linked control of the mount; with other compatible linked programmes such as APT (Astrophotography Tool) and PHD (Push Here Dummy) control can be extended to cameras and for autoguiding. At the start of the year I successfully started using Carte du Ciel planetarium linked with EQMOD for computer controlled alignment and mount control, which as expected was very useful – particularly when it got really cold and I was able to take the equipment indoors and operate the equipment remotely. However, later in the year I have encountered connection problems which are, as yet, not fully resolved.

Whilst EQMOD is an excellent project which provides first class mount control when working, it requires additional faffing about and problems on a different level of scale, which with limited imaging conditions in the UK and having to set up outside from scratch each time is a pain. For this reason and others I have not yet moved to autoguiding, which I know will be highly beneficial to imaging but for the moment has proved to be a step too far for me. Such is the fickle nature of all this that I’m now considering other ways of achieving the same end, perhaps with professional software control and a stand-alone guider, such as the Lacerta M-GEN – of course a dedicated observatory would help a lot but seems unlikely at the moment!

I have previously found the early winter sky of Orion, Taurus, Pegasus and Monoceros very productive with beautiful imaging objects such as M42 and the Horsehead Nebula. However, this year looking more closely at the late-winter / early spring skies turned out to be just as exciting, with a veritable playground of galaxies to choose from during February and March. Notwithstanding, the highlight during the winter was successfully imaging Comet Lovejoy, a first for me that required changes to normal DSO and planetary imaging techniques as this ephemeral object was speeding across the night sky at over 70,000 mph – post processing also turned out to be quite different.

C/2014 Q2 Comet Lovejoy
WO GT81 + Canon 550D (modded) & FF | 40 x 20secs @ ISO1,600 + darks | 16th January 2014

No	Date	Object*	Name
1	16/01/15	C/2014 Q2	Comet Lovejoy
2	16/01/15	C/2014 Q2	Comet Lovejoy
3	16/01/15	NGC 2244	Rosette Nebula
4	22/01/15	M42 etc	Orion Nebula
5	22/01/15	M45	Pleiades
6	22/01/15		Comet Lovejoy
7	22/01/15		Comet Lovejoy
8	22/01/15		Banard’s Loop
9	22/01/15		Banard’s Loop
10	22/01/15		Orion Constellation
11	24/01/15	NGC 1909	Witch Head Nebula
12	24/01/15	NGC 2392	Eskimo Nebula
13	24/01/15	M44	Beehive Cluster
14	24/01/15	IC-443	Jellyfish Nebula
15	08/02/15	M42	Gt Orion Nebula etc
16	08/02/15	Barnard 33	Horsehead Nebula etc
17	21/02/15	M65	Leo Triplet (Galaxies)
18	21/02/15	M105	M96 Group (Galaxies)
19	24/02/15		Venus & Mars
20	25/03/15	NGC 2903	Spiral galaxy – Leo
21	25/03/15	NGC 3842	Galaxy cluster: Leo
22	25/03/15	M 88	Spiral galaxy: Virgo cluster
23	25/03/15	M100	Spiral galaxy: Virgo cluster
24	26/03/15	NGC 4438	Markarian’s Chain
25	26/03/15	M104	Sombrero
26	26/03/15	M53	Globular cluster

*Record of quarterly photographic images in 2015, excluding other widefield pictures

APRIL TO JUNE

Things took a turn for the worse in April when I went into hospital for a knee replacement operation. All went well but it is a major operation and recovery has been slow and often painful, thus prohibiting any real astronomy until September. It did however provide the time and opportunity to read about astronomy and pursue some MOOC astronomy courses.

After a period of convalescence, I did manage to obtain some widefield camera shots of the planets, the ISS and simple night sky images in the summer. Whilst not as satisfying as prime focus photography, it was interesting and kept me sane during this otherwise difficult time.

1st July 2015. Bingo = conjunction; though one day later Jupiter has now moved to the right of Venus.

1st July 2015. Conjunction of Jupiter to the right of Venus.

No	Date	Object	Name
27	11/04/15	NGC 4438	Markarian’s Chain
28	11/04/15	NGC 4565	Spiral galaxy-side

JUNE TO SEPTEMBER

This period was more of the same until on 19^th September, when at last I managed to set-up Fairvale Observatory for the first time since March, what a relief. As a bonus I was particularly chuffed to achieve a good image of the Andromeda Galaxy but the highlight of this period and the year was the lunar eclipse at the end of the month on 28^th September.

For once everything was perfect: a clear sky all night with a perfect view of the eclipse from start to finish. I stayed up all night and would have to say it was one of the best, if not the best event I have so far experienced since taking up astronomy; apart from being an outstanding imaging opportunity, the ambiance throughout the eclipse was spellbinding. I was therefore very pleased to obtain an excellent set of images of the entire eclipse, mainly using a prime focus camera set-up with the WO GT81 telescope but also with an alternative camera and telephoto lens on a tripod. The memory of that night will stay with me for a long while and, in part, helped to make up for the lost time since my operation in April.

Eclipse Animation 28th September 2015

No	Date	Object	Name
29	19/09/15	IC 5070	Pelican Nebula
30	19/09/15	NGC 6979	Pickering inc Veil Nebula
31	19/09/15	M15	Globular Cluster
32	19/09/15	M31	Andromeda
33	28/09/15	Lunar Eclipse	Entry @ 1 sec intervals
	28/09/15	Lunar Eclipse	Totality
	28/09/15	Lunar Eclipse	Entry @ 1 sec intervals
34	28/09/15	Lunar Eclipse	Exit – camera + tripod
35	30/09/15	IC 1318	Sadr Region (+NGC 6910)
36	30/09/15	IC 1318	Sadr Region – Pt2

OCTOBER TO DECEMBER

The final quarter of the year has been very frustrating due to the almost complete absence of suitable imaging conditions, mainly due to cloud cover but even when there was a few clear nights it was of course a full Moon – you can’t win! I was particularly unhappy as this time marks the arrival of the constellation Orion and all its wonderful imaging opportunities, for which I had new plans.

Given the short focal length of the William Optics GT81 and relatively small aperture, used with a APS-C cropped sensor DSLR camera the resulting field-of-view is a quite large and, where possible, this year I’ve therefore concentrated on objects of 2.5^o to 3.0^o apparent dimensions. Together with the modded camera this has resulted in some exciting new images of old and new objects.

However, large as the field-of-view is with this set-up, I have become increasingly aware of the simply enormous scale of some nebulous features such as Barnard’s Loop. As a result I have become more interested in widefield imaging using just a camera and tripod. Like prime focus imaging, widefield imaging will also benefit from achieving longer exposures through the use of tracking. Early in this period I was fortunate to purchase a Vixen Polarie lightweight tracking mount for this purpose, but due to the aforementioned conditions I have unfortunately been unable to use it very much. In fact it’s fair to say that other than some brief experimentation, it’s hardly been used at all so far. Notwithstanding, I can see the potential and have high hopes for future imaging opportunities when the clouds part and the Moon is absent.

The year finished with a couple of other purchases that I hope will assist with imaging in 2016:

A new laptop – running Windows 10 with a core i7 Intel chip, 2 TB hard drive, 16 GB RAM, dedicated AMD graphics card and an HD 17.3” screen, which I hope will help improve post processing. Running my preferred Windows 7 operating system, I will continue to use the smaller 13” i5 chip laptop for mount and camera control.

Ultra-Wide Angle lens – the truth is I’ve recently acquired this wonderful Sigma 10 – 22mm f3.5 lens for a trip to the Grand Canyon in April, however, I will of course also be using it with the Vixen Polarie when the skies clear.

No	Date	Object	Name
37	09/10/15	NGC 6888	Crescent Nebula
38	09/10/15	M 74	Spiral galaxy (near Pegasus)
39	09/10/15	NGC 7814	Little Sombrero
40	09/10/15	NGC 7479	Barred spiral galaxy
41	09/10/15	M 31	Andromeda galaxy
42	08/12/15	NGC 1499	California Nebula
43	08/12/15	IC 405	Flaming Star Nebula
44	08/12/15	NGC 2264	Cone Nebula
45	09/12/15	M42	Great Orion Nebula etc
46	08/12/15	Orion	Constellation

Favourite Images

Despite the lack of activity this year I have been fortunate to obtain some good images and I can only hope 2016 will be just as rewarding. Acting as judge and jury, my personal favourites in no particular order are:

NGC 2024 Flame Nebula & Horsehead Nebula
WO GT81 + modded Canon 550D & FF | 10 x 180 secs @ ISO 800 & darks calibration | 8th February 2015

Eclipse: Inward sequence from umbral contact to totality
WO GT81 + Canon 700D + FF | 1/500 to 1/3 sec @ ISO 100 | 18th September 2015

M31 Andromeda Galaxy
WO GT 81 + modded Canon 550D + FF | 9 x 120 secs @ ISO 1,600 | 19th September 2015

Goals for 2016

After the year that’s just finished I am reluctant to set out goals for 2016 but here goes:

Increase imaging exposure times: This is a euphemism for (a) improving equipment set-up and alignment, and (b) start autoguiding. As previously outlined, I have been struggling with both of these issues but one way or another I have to overcome the problems in order to obtain exposure times of at least 5-minutes and hopefully longer;

Improve processing: I was pleased to get to grips with Photoshop in 2015, albeit using a very old version, which together with other minor improvements to processing has added to the quality of the final images. However, I know that even now there is more to be teased out of the existing imaging data for which I am already considering new software;

Start widefield imaging: First I just need clear skies in order to get out and start using the Vixen Polarie tracking mount from Fairvale Observatory, with the initial objective of imaging Barnard’s Loop, which has hitherto proved elusive to my current set-up. However, one of the attractions of the Polarie-DSLR-Tripod combination is its portability, which I’d like to put to good use in 2016 by visiting dark sky areas in the UK.

There are other possible developments which at the moment seem unlikely to eventuate but you never know: a larger probably SCT telescope, a cooled CCD camera, and / or a permanent observatory (well I can dream can’t I?).

So all things considered 2015 was a good but not great year. As a fundamental and important development I had really hoped to start autoguiding and thus increase exposure times but it was not to be. Certainly the loss of astronomy time between April and September was a major set-back in many different ways. Notwithstanding, during the remaining times available when I did manage to get outside I believe I achieved some of my best images to date and discovered many new and exciting objects in the night sky, which can’t be bad. In particular, I am sure the lunar eclipse in September will remain a highlight of my astronomy experiences for many years to come.

Harvest Moon at Totality
WO + Canon 700D + FF | 1/3rd Sec @ ISO 400 | 28th September 2015

I’m now looking forwards to 12-months of uninterrupted astronomy, clear skies and plenty to report in the WTSM blog at the end of 2016!

Watch this space!

Harvest Time

September 30, 2015 by grahamrob in Imaging, Solar system and tagged Lunar Eclipse, Moon, Photography | 2 Comments

Thanks to Copernicus and Kepler et al, astronomical events are highly predictable; unfortunately the same cannot be said about the weather. Since taking up astronomy and despite favourable predictions of clear skies, I have frequently been thwarted by incoming cloud or worse. When communicating with each other astronomer’s often use the closing of “Clear Skies”, no wonder given the continuous battle we have just to see the sky at night, let alone image it!

Such was my experience in 1982. At the time I lived and worked in northern South Africa, close to the border with Botswana and the Kalahari Desert. A lunar eclipse was forecast and in this part of the world there was usually a good chance of a clear sky. Unfortunately, it was not to be this time either. We saw glimpses of the eclipse through brief gaps in the otherwise thick cloud that was blowing across the sky. I’ve missed other eclipses for the same reason, lunar and solar, and as a result have developed a somewhat resigned mindset towards such events, with the probability that the sky would most likely not be clear. And so despite encouraging forecasts, my expectation for this week’s lunar eclipse was more of the same.

The lunar eclipse of 28^th September was very unusual. At mid-eclipse the Moon was just one hour past its closest approach to Earth in 2015, creating an effect now popularly termed a ‘Supermoon’. Moreover, the rare combination of this and a full eclipse at the same time results in a distinctive red moon at totality.

I have learnt the hard way that in astronomy Rule-1 is perseverance. I therefore carried out all the necessary research on the eclipse, undertook a dry run the previous evening and set-up all the equipment in the early evening before heading for forty winks – it was after all hopefully going to be a long night. The weather had been clear and sunny earlier in the day but was forecast to cloud over shortly after midnight, just before umbral contact! The sky was clear when I went out later but ominously there were clouds in the west. Notwithstanding, the sky remained clear all night and the eclipse was nothing less than spectacular.

Total Lunar Eclipse 18th September 2015

The precision with which astronomical events are plotted is incredible and, guided by various articles and charts all was in place well before the end of the penumbral stage at 2.07am. Shortly before darkness started to show on the top, eastern edge of the Moon and then exactly at 2.07am the eclipse shadow touched and then crept inexorably across the Moon’s surface. This was the main phase of the eclipse when the Moon enters the central, dark part of the shadow called the umbra, eventually reaching totality at 3.11am.

Totality lasted 1 hour 12 minutes, during which I just watched through a pair of 10 x 50 binoculars, which probably was the best way of actually viewing the Moon throughout the eclipse. Of course, with the brightness of the full Moon obscured by the eclipse during this time, the rest of the night sky was plunged into blackness, thus bringing the stars, nebulae and galaxies back to life. As the Moon was passing through the lower part of the Earth’s umbral shadow, the southerly edge appeared relatively bright during much of totality. Totality finished promptly at 4.23am as the light started to move across the Moon’s surface once again like an unstoppable wave. The Moon finally exited the umbra at 5.27am and the show was over until October 2033, on which occasion the Supermoon eclipse will unfortunately not be visible from the UK – I did say it was rare. However, there will be another total lunar eclipse in July 2018, so it’s not all bad news.

Given my history, this was naturally my first time imaging a lunar or any other eclipse and I am very pleased with the results. Other than requiring a clear sky, as usual preparation was the key: understanding the timing and dynamics of the event and considering the imaging possibilities. The most obvious problems to overcome were the Moon’s tracking and movement of the eclipse itself, with its associated impact on changing brightness and contrast for imaging.

The previous evening had also been clear, so I tested a basic DSLR + tripod set-up using an intervalometer to trigger the shots at 5-minute intervals. With the 200mm telephoto lens 8 pictures were successfully recorded as the Moon tracked across the image frame, at 100mm this increased to 12 pictures; however, the track tended to move out of the side of the frame early as the Moon follows an inclined rather than horizontal track. Altogether it was a successful and useful experiment for the next evening.

On the night I used the William Optics GT81, with a Canon 550D camera and field flattener, which continuously tracked the Moon and eclipse, imaging at 1-minute intervals throughout the period inward and outward of the umbra and manually during totality. Using a fixed ISO 100, it was necessary to continually change the exposure time every five or so minutes in order to compensate for the aforesaid changing light conditions. In addition, I again used the intervalometer with the Canon 700D and the 55- 250 mm telephoto lens on a camera tripod.

Eclipse: Inward sequence from umbral contact to totality
WO GT81 + Canon 550D + FF | 1/500 to 1/3 sec @ ISO 100 | 28th September 2015

Eclipse: Exit sequence to full Moon Canon 550D + tripod | >=1/160 sec @ ISO 400

Eclipse: Exit sequence to full Moon
Canon 700D + tripod | >=1/160 sec @ ISO 400

Eclipse animation

The results from both methods turned out well. With superior optics and tracking, the WO telescope images were naturally better in quality and magnification. However, the alternative simple camera set-up also produced a pleasing record of the eclipse, perhaps in some way capturing the mood better?

The entire event lasted just over 3-hours, during which found it necessary to look away from the imaging process at times just to enjoy this unusual and exciting spectacle. The name Harvest Moon is given to the full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox, recognising the time of year at which the crops have been gathered and can itself be an attractive sight. The coincidence with an eclipse makes for a rare and dramatic occasion, which this time I was able to enjoy completely cloud free from beginning to end – well that’s a first.

Harvest Moon at Totality
WO + Canon 550D + FF | 1/3rd Sec @ ISO 400 | 28th September 2015

Fly me to the dark side of the Moon

September 15, 2015 by grahamrob in Earth, Solar system, Widefield Imaging and tagged Moon | 3 Comments

I am still struggling to return to astronomy – no longer hampered since July recovering from my knee operation, which though stiff and painful is slowly improving, but now by the weather, a one-eyed cat, my own incompetence and inevitably the Moon.

Taking care of my daughter’s cat in early August, ruled out astronomy as the unfortunate one-eyed cat is not allowed outdoors, thus making the movement of equipment freely in and out the house very difficult. The weather then turned bad before it was time for the full Moon at month end, itself an imaging opportunity, except once more for the presence of thick cloud cover. Shortly afterwards clear nights were forecast but twice after setting-up the equipment under a clear sky the clouds rolled in again. Finally a week ago under a moonless clear sky, I completed the equipment set-up and turned on the mount in order to start the alignment and camera set-up sequences.

I’ve owned the current equipment since last July and after months of busy use felt I was now familiar with all the basic procedures – wrong. Because of my operation it’s been five months since using the equipment and after going through the initial SynScan sequence I started the alignment routine, only to find that each time the scope slewed to exactly 90⁰ east of the target star. I diligently repeated the start-up routine a number of times but with the same result – bizarrely on switching to EQMOD linked with Carte de Ciel, the scope moved correctly to the chosen star. It seemed there was an obvious answer to the problem but I could not work it out and in the end had to give up, missing a great opportunity as the sky continued clear all night – talk about frustrating!

The next morning I went through the complete mount set-up and SynScan start-up routine again, with a clear head and some guidance from SGL members, it took me about 10-seconds to find the problem – I had input the date as day-month-year instead of month-day-year; in this case 06/09/15 was exactly three months or one quarter earlier than the correct date input of 09/06/15, the sky equivalent of 90^o. Why is it in the 21^st Century that an advanced technologically advanced country such as the USA, uses an uncommon date format and imperial units, they even mix-up themselves and as a result lost the Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999! Notwithstanding, from frequent use I already knew the correct format but after 5-months absence couldn’t see the problem right in front of me, obvious though it was.

In the absence of ‘real’ astronomy I’ve been playing with simple camera-tripod imaging, with some rewarding results; it’s got me thinking about purchasing a smaller, simpler Vixen Polarie or equivalent tracking mount head – watch this space! The same morning after sorting out the aforementioned date format problem, I took the opportunity to take a look at the sun in the east before turning round to see a beautiful waning crescent Moon in the western sky – who needs the night sky?

Fly me to the Moon

Too good to miss and after the previous evening’s disaster, I managed to get a pleasing sequence of images tracking an aircraft flying past the Moon – this being a case of making the best of what you have: daytime, the Moon and frequent overflying planes from nearby Gatwick airport and further afield. Being approximately 42,000 further away from Earth the Moon only looks about 4-times larger than the aircraft.

Flight animation

Changing the perspective completely, I was fascinated by last month’s image of the Moon passing in front of Earth, thus also presenting a fabulous view of what we call the dark side of the Moon. The transit was taken from the Deep Space Climate Observatory orbiting at 930,000 miles from Earth, or nearly four times greater than the Moon.

16th July 2015: The so-called dark side of the Moon, seen from the Deep Space Sky Observatory, as it passes across Earth. From our perspective that day it was a New Moon.

16th July 2015: The so-called dark side of the Moon, seen from the Deep Space Climate Observatory, as it passes across Earth. From our perspective that day it was a New Moon.

Pink Floyd take note – surely this image needs to replace the iconic cover from their 1973 album – it’s all about changing perspective; apart from being a spectacular photograph the image demonstrates the other side of the Moon is anything but dark!

Pink Floyd’s 1973 album cover, now surely obsolete?

By Jove

July 27, 2015 by grahamrob in Imaging, Solar system, Uncategorized, Widefield Imaging and tagged Jupiter, Planetary Imaging, Solar system | Leave a comment

As a visual and photographic spectacle, in my opinion Jupiter comes a close second to Saturn among the planets. The so-called ‘King of the Planets’, Jupiter is more than twice as massive as all the others combined. Notwithstanding its size, Jupiter has the shortest ‘day’ of any planet, rotating fully in just 9-hours and 50 minutes – as a result creating a significant equatorial bulge that measures 88,760 miles in diameter and 83,082 miles from pole-to-pole. However, as a gas giant the planet does not rotate en masse, with the outer regions moving slower than the equatorial region leading to a series of distinctive belts and zones, most notable of which is the Great Red Spot – a massive storm on the edge of the South Equatorial Belt.

Partly because of its vast size and resulting gravitational field, Jupiter is thought to have played a dominant role in shaping the present Solar System. The planet we see today is not alone, with 67 moons so far identified, the four largest discovered by Galileo 400 years ago being easily visible from Earth. In order of distance from Jupiter the moons of Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are extremely diverse in nature – ranging from the highly volcanic Io to the frozen world of Europa, whilst Ganymede and Callisto may have sub-surface oceans and are bigger than the planet Mercury.

Despite being by far the largest planet in the Solar System and the fourth brightest object after the Sun, Moon and Venus, my attempts to image Jupiter and its Jovian neighbours have so far met with only mixed success.

Most people’s first view of Jupiter is likely to be through binoculars or a basic telescope, which will show the very bright planet accompanied by a number of its Gallilean moons, depending on their orbital position i.e. when located behind the planet they will, of course, not be visible. Having viewed Jupiter a few times like this, my first attempt to image the planet and its moons was just such a view simply using the William Optics 81mm refractor, a x2 Barlow and my Canon 700D DSLR. Compared to Jupiter the moons are not as bright and to capture their presence it is necessary to boost either the ISO or exposure time, which then overexposes the bright planet resulting in loss of detail – in this case the distinctive coloured gas bands. Conversely, with a lower ISO or exposure this detail once again becomes apparent but some or all of the moons are then lost in the image. The way round is to combine two sets of images taken at different camera settings, thus obtaining the best of both worlds, literally. For the moment however this remains work in progress.

January 2014, Jupiter – overexposed but shows all four Gallilean moons | 1 sec @ ISO 400

Jupiter – lower exposure shows the gas belts but the moons, though there, are now very difficult to see. 1/3rd sec @ ISO 800

Personally I like the wider view of Jupiter and its moons but inevitably the holy grail has to be a close-up image showing details of the planet’s characteristic gas belts, which requires the use of a CCD video, in my case a ZWO ASI 120MC camera. Having mostly concentrated on DSO photography to-date using a DSLR, my use of the ZWO camera is limited and with mixed success. Using this camera and the Skywatcher 150PL reflector telescope I have previously managed images of Saturn, Mars and the Moon but this time I used the William Optics refractor instead.

CCD imaging is a very different technique to DSLR and it’s fair to say that I still have much to learn. Notwithstanding, using Registax for processing I obtained some reasonable first-time Jupiter images but will need more practice to improve the detail; the quality might also be improved using WinJUPOS software during processing, which applies a de-rotational programme to the fast moving planet thus reducing blur – however, I have yet to understand let alone master this software. Also, whilst the quality of the William Optics telescope is far superior to the Skywatcher 150PL, it is obvious that its relatively short focal length is not really adequate for good planetary imaging.

21st February 2015. Jupiter up close
WO 81GT81 | ZWO 120 MC

So far this year Jupiter had already provided a number of different opportunities for imaging. Between February and April the planet moved across the southern sky in all its glory, whilst more recently it moved into close conjunction with Venus at the end of June and there’s more to come.

On 26^th August from our vantage point on the Earth, Jupiter will appear very close to the Sun in the sky as it passes around the far side of the solar system from the Earth. At closest approach, Jupiter and the Sun will appear at a separation of only 0°52′, making Jupiter totally unobservable for several weeks while it is lost in the Sun’s glare. At around the same time, Jupiter will also be at its most distant from the Earth – receding to a distance of 6.40 AU – since the two planets will lie on opposite sides of the solar system. Over following weeks and months, Jupiter will re-emerge to the west of the Sun, gradually becoming visible for ever-longer periods in the pre-dawn sky. After around six months, it will reach opposition, when it will be visible for virtually the whole night, by which time I have hopefully mastered some new techniques for imaging this Jovian King of the Planets.

Canon Koppernigk’s Conjunction

July 3, 2015 by grahamrob in General Astronomy, Solar system, Viewing, Widefield Imaging | 5 Comments

This time of the year is something of a fallow period for astronomers: short nights combined by with the complete absence of astronomical darkness and fewer DSOs. I have personally found this year more difficult than usual as since April 25^th, following an operation to replace my left knee, I have been physically unable to set-up Fairvale Observatory and undertake astronomy of any sort. Notwithstanding, once over the initial few weeks of pain, I have tried to use the extra time afforded me usefully.

I have been reading Arthur Koestler’s excellent book The Sleepwalkers, which charts the history of man’s understanding of the universe and astronomy. Speaking of fallow periods, in the book I’m just past the very long period of inactivity and general superstition regarding the cosmos that occurred during the Middle Ages, which followed the more enlightened thinking of the Greeks, particularly Pythagoras; taking account of the Greek’s progress in understanding the Universe, our astronomical knowledge might have been 1,500 years more advanced today were it not for this prolonged medieval hiatus! Fortunately Copernicus (his better known Latin name) finally initiated what has become today’s heliocentric model of the Solar System, although his seminal work On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres was only published just a few hours before his death after a delay of 30-years, such was his reluctance to put forwards such thoughts at that time.

Next, I have just completed the 6-week AstroTech MOOC course organised by Edinburgh University, which covered the scientific logic behind astronomical discoveries and the technology that lies behind them. This was my third astronomy MOOC and provided some interesting insight into telescope and imaging technology, as well as filling time during my recovery.

Finally, as my (limited) mobility has slowly started to improve, the night sky has recently provided a fascinating show of its own that did not require the observatory’s paraphernalia and, furthermore, beautifully demonstrated the principles originally outlined by Copernicus in 1543.

During the latter part of June Venus and Jupiter moved inexorably towards very close conjunction by the end of the month. Reaching just under ¾ of a degree separation on 30^th June and 1^st July this is a rare event, which with a clear sky could be easily viewed with the naked eye. Better still, I set out to photograph the two planet’s journey during the preceding 12 days, thus illustrating Copernicus’ revolutions around the sun of these two heavenly spheres. Whilst any school child will today understand this process, it is a frightening thought that belief in such a mechanism could once have led to the death penalty!

Obscured from view at Fairvale Observatory as Venus was just 17 ½^o above the western horizon, I had to travel to a nearby location which provided a clearer westerly viewpoint of both planets at their low attitude. In order to obtain a series of comparable images and thus show the real spatial changes occurring up to conjunction, all pictures were taken from exactly the same location. With my Canon EOS 700D fixed on a photographic tripod I shot a series of images over a 50 minute period using either the 18mm or 55mm telephoto settings, playing with ISO and speed settings as darkness progressed; this was roughly the time the two planets took to disappear below the Earth’s horizon after achieving Civil Darkness.

The resulting photographs show Jupiter apparently advancing on Venus before at conjunction ‘passing’ close by on the aforementioned days. Whilst Jupiter is the third brightest object in the night sky (after the Moon & Venus) and nearly 12 times the size of Venus or 1,400 times by volume, the planet looks very small by comparison to Venus. This of course is the effect of perspective, with Jupiter currently some 565 million miles distance from Earth, whereas Venus is only 48 million miles; furthermore although at -1.8 the apparent magnitude (brightness) of Jupiter is high, at -4.4 Venus is much brighter.

18th June 2015: Jupiter left, Venus right – trees on the horizon provide a reference scale as the planets move towards each other during the month in subsequent photographs.

25th June 2015 + 7-days

30th June 2015 + 5 days. Nothing – dark thunder clouds completely obscure the western sky during conjunction!!!

1st July 2015. Bingo = conjunction; though one day later Jupiter has now moved to the right of Venus.

1st July 2015. Close-up of the conjunction using 55mm telephoto setting and ISO 400 - Venus now left & Jupiter right.

1st July 2015. Conjunction close-up using 55mm telephoto setting and ISO 400 – Venus now left & Jupiter right.

Unfortunately I am expecting it will be at least another month before I have recovered sufficiently to consider setting-up Fairvale Observatory again, by which time Astronomical Darkness will thankfully be slowly returning. In the meantime I’m looking forwards to the next section of The Sleepwalkers which covers Kepler and Galileo and hopefully exciting developments from the New Horizon Pluto fly-by and more from the Rosetta Mission and the re-awakening of its Philea lander. Given clear skies there should also still be plenty to see without the observatory: The Perseids, Saturn and of course at the centre of our Solar System as determined by Copernicus, the Sun, which will be at aphelion on 6^th July – though you wouldn’t think so judging by the high temperatures currently prevailing in the UK and Europe!