Thursday, March 31, 2011

Another iPhone photo of Saturn processed by Tim Dey in photoshop

I took this last night through the c14 with about a thousand power on the eyepiece. The image looked fuzzy and offered no more detail to the naked eye than a lower powered view.

Here is the result of that photo.

We will be able to do better with the Stellacam and a dazzle card in the future.

Handheld iPhone photo through Televue 8mm and Meade 2x Barlow. At 3911mm focal length configuration for c14 giving 977 power at the eyepiece.

Considering the amount of cold frost and moisture in the air the images were incredibly stable last night. Possibly due to a very calm sky with very slow moving thin clouds.

Eyepiece views actually seemed to show more band gradient detail, meaning cloud band variations in detail when looking through thin clouds late in the viewing session. This means I needed to use a filter to cut down the light exposure to get a better naked eye view through the eyepiece.

At times the view improved if I covered half the front of the c14 with the shutter half exposing the sky. This would almost be the similar to using an offset mask to cut down on the telescopes front aperture. Perhaps an aperture mask would have improved the c14s viewing by cutting down on the brightness at the eyepiece. Perhaps ill make a quick aperture mask for future viewing. These are often referred to as offset masks and were used by astronomers with Newtonian reflectors to get good unobstructed views of a planet with a Newtonian reflector. But that is another story.





Quick description: Saturn, iPhone handheld shot, auto exposed, at 977x at eyepiece, photoshop work by Tim Dey.

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Tonight, this morning, I went out to the observatory and looked at Saturn

I looked at it for about four hours and took a lot of photos. I didn't have the Stellacam, but kept taking stills through the eyepiece using my Canon Eos, Sony Hdcam and my iPhone. I was using extremely high power. Conditions were not perfect, but viewing was pretty good. I could throw an 8mm and get a pretty sharp image of Saturn. Actually the 10mm was about the limit for visual and the 15mm looked a lot sharper. The 25mm was amazing. I also put a 2x Barlow on many of the eyepieces. I tried taking photos through various combinations and filters as well. The 2x Barlow and 8mm lens gave some interesting almost full screen views of Saturn when coupled with digital zoom on the iPhone. The image was fuzzy at that high power to the naked eye but still looked okay in a camera shot. It was a challenge to get a goo steady shot because I was holding the camera up against the eyepiece, handheld requires ore time and more shots to be taken. The cold air at times would chill my hands and make steady photography difficult. We were way beyond theoretical viewing limits of the system when you take into account the digital zooming.

At times I just shot through the 8mm eyepiece, which was a challenge. I zoomed in as well digitally with the 8mm eyepiece on the c14 and tried getting some nice shots.

I actually took a few decent shots, but nothing like a real Stellacam and avi clip coupled with processing could give. I sent some of the iPhone photos to club members. This was late at night. Tim Dey sent back one of the iPhone photos I sent him after touching it up a bit with filters and processing in photoshop.

Here's what he sent me back. Not bad for a photo through an eyepiece with an iPhone.

He said he'd give me a much better photo if I'd take some footage with the Stellacam. I need to hook it up to a pc however and record the output using an avi recorder so it can be processed. We don't have a capture card in the computer for the Stellacam. Once we get a dazzle setup for HJRO we will be able to use the Stellacam, because it's sending video out.

I can record the video into my Macintosh, but the QuickTime recording doesn't import into a program we'd use to process the avi movie. We tried converting a QuickTime video to avi, via the Macintosh and the common software we'd use to process the movie would not read the file.

At the end of the evening, nearly 4am Saturn started looking better through the eyepiece. I looked up and realized I was looking through part of the shutter with the c14 and there was a thin layer of cirrus clouds. I would never thought Saturn could look so good through thin cloud cover. The thin clouds actually filtered the light and made it look better with more contrast and more gradient levels of cloud patterns visible. The sky was vary stable and fairly transparent.



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Monday, March 28, 2011

Opening up HJRO again tonight

I'll be returning to the observatory in Lincoln park to open it up at 9:45.

I saw and attempted to take more photos of mercury tonight.

Couldn't see Mercury until 8:30 and it was low on the horizon.

More details later, it was a nightmare in some cases with little last minute setup issues and battery power problems with my nexstar 4se.

What can I say, the little 4se battery compartment and cheap switch issues can be a nightmare.

Plus the finder wasn't working.

It was comedy night in the field now to get back to serious observing with a better setup.

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 28, 2011, at 4:07 PM, "Gregory" wrote:

I'll be observing the sun at the observatory at about 4:45pm.

May continue observing there until about 6pm.

Then plan on taking a break and traveling to taco bell parking lot at the Allen park mall on the hill near best buy and meijers at sunset about 7:15pm to view Mercury as it sets during twilight.

Perhaps after that time I will return this evening to HJRO Hector J Robinson observatory. I'll put another post if I return for evening viewing.

I'm viewing Mercury from a hilly area near outer drive and Southfield road where the elevated mall is to see the low horizon. This is a good local viewing spot. It will be cold out there so visitors should dress extremely warm for cold weather.
Children under 18 need to be accompanies with an parent or guardian.

Greg

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Observing the sun through solar telescope at the observatory today

I'll be observing the sun at the observatory at about 4:45pm.

May continue observing there until about 6pm.

Then plan on taking a break and traveling to taco bell parking lot at the Allen park mall on the hill near best buy and meijers at sunset about 7:15pm to view Mercury as it sets during twilight.

Perhaps after that time I will return this evening to HJRO Hector J Robinson observatory. I'll put another post if I return for evening viewing.

I'm viewing Mercury from a hilly area near outer drive and Southfield road where the elevated mall is to see the low horizon. This is a good local viewing spot. It will be cold out there so visitors should dress extremely warm for cold weather.
Children under 18 need to be accompanies with an parent or guardian.

Greg


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Saturday, March 26, 2011

Open at 10;45 am

There's some clouds out but I will try to do some solar observing for two hours at HJRO.

I may look at the moon and Venus as well. Adult visitors are welcome.

I will be there until 12 noon




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Saturn tonight

Through a 15mm eyepiece 2x Barlow and 3x zoom into eyepiece with c14

Just a photo no processing. I think this was at 3200 iso setting.




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I'm out T the observatory very early in the morning

If any staff happen to be up late at night and you want to bundle up and stop by before 4:20am you should come by for a really nice clear view of Saturn.

It looks really good this morning.

You should call the number I posted in the previous post before arriving to allow me time to unlock the gate.

This late night and half asleep invitation is to school staff or Faac members only at this time. Some basic through the lens photos to follow.




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Friday, March 25, 2011

Looking at Mercury just after sunset in Allen Park

Currently the planet Mercury is about 20 degrees behind the sun. If you can see the horizon you can see Mercury after the sun sets.

Yesterday this was brought up at the Faac astronomy club meeting. One of the members posted he went out after the meeting and saw Mercury.

Today, I knew it was partly cloudy and cold out but I wanted to venture out and look for the planet. I chose the taco bell parking lot near the mall in Allen park. The mall on the hill between outer drive and Oakwood avenue, near Southfield freeway. The location gave a good view of the setting sun.

As the sun set it looked like the following





After the sun set I saw Mercury above the clouds near the horizon. I could see the part of the disk illuminated by the sun. It was cold out and I rushed to the site and didn't dress up warm enough to be comfortable standing out in the cold wind for long. I was rushing which is not a good thing to do when observing.

I tried to take a photo through the eyepiece but it didn't turn out very well. I thought it registered but was blurry. I took a few wide shots but didn't steady or setup the camera very well. I kind of rushed through it due to the cold weather.

Below is a wide shot from the canon eos camera showing Mercury's position. Mercury was about 12 degrees above the horizon when I took this photo.




As you can see i zoomed in a bit with the camera a bit.

My new Blogpress iPad application software allows more than one photo for a blog entry, so I'm taking advantage of this now with a few photos.

Below is a screen shot of where Mercury was after the sun sat according to an app on the iPad called star walk.




-


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Saturday, March 19, 2011

Viewing at HJRO cancelled tonight due to clouds

Clouds moved in, you can see the moon but the view isn't that spectacular as clouds interfere with the quality of viewing.

We can't see other objects as well. It started getting cloudy as the sun set and continued to get worse as more clouds moved in.

I took some photos of the moon which i may post later.

The moon looked nice and orange colored as it rose bait the low tree line. Some jets and birds could be seen flying past the moon as it rose.


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May open up late tonight

Near midnight. Will be at a separate observing site early in the evening.

I'll post again when I know I'll be at HJRO

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Monday, March 14, 2011

Observing cancelled for tonight


313 288-8720

Call this number for questions regarding observing that would happen tonight. We are likely canceling observing, I'll check the sky again at 11pm but the sky looks bad right now.

Greg

Below is a photo of the sky conditions, no stars visible due to cloud cover.
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Observatory will be open tonight at 11pm

We will likely be open for a few hours late tonight, likely 11pm until 2am.

Dress warm if you plan to arrive and visit as it will be cold out, we have a small heater inside but we rarely turn it on while observing as the heat will cause air currents which can interfere with the view.

Some FAAC Ford Amateur Astronomy Club members will be there and we may have a couple of telescopes setup outside as well as those in the observatory.

This is open to the public but you must be over 18 or bring a parent to gain admission.




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Sunday, March 6, 2011

I just did a quick eyeball estimate of Saturns height above the horizon

I estimated it was about 40 degrees above the horizon using my hands outstretched as a way to measure the angle.

Then I looked at the computer screen to see what the software program states is the elevation.

The computer states the planet is 39 degrees and six minutes above the horizon. So my quick estimate using the outstretched hand technique was pretty accurate.

Saturn is jumping around in the 25mm eyepiece view through the c14. At 3911mm in focal length the 25mm eyepiece gives 156 power. At 156 power Saturn is jumping around die to air turbulence. Conditions are not very good at this time.

I'm going to look at something else and then return to look at Saturn.

Transparency is really good tonight the image would be very clear if it wasn't moving around so much. Maybe the winds will die down.


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A quick update

I just opened up the observatory.


I hope it's a case of the mirror needing to cool down and conditions will improve. . . But at this time Saturn looks terrible.

It looks like the sky is much worse than it was a few nights ago.

Yuck, not exactly a technical term, I hope this will improve. I'm almost ready to close up if it stays this bad. Probably not worth the cold weather and braving the cold for this poor viewing.


Perhaps its wind and ice crystals in the air or something. Seeing is poor at this time.

I will update this again in another 30 minutes.

Greg 11:49pm Sunday night


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Sorry about the late post I'm just opening the observatory now.


313 288-8720 observatory phone number.

It's bitter cold out but the skies are clear.

The viewing conditions are supposed to be excellent and I'm just arriving. I hope to get a Bice view of Saturn and some other objects. Maybe a few photographs.

It's really cold out and in starting late tonight. Visitors are welcome but you must be over 18 as this is not a school event.

Many club members are at different dark sky sites tonight.


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Thursday, March 3, 2011

Last Nights observing session.

A couple of FAAC members showed up for last nights observing session.

I wasn't sure I'd have the small gate open, so I only announced we'd be out there late at night.

It was bitter cold which would be a disappointment for casual visitors. You'd want to dress up for the coldest conditions.

Observing is difficult in the cold, because you're not exercising, so you're not gaining heat from physical activity. It's more of a standing around, chatting and sitting activity.

I dressed with about 5 layers and this included boots that are winter hunting boots rated for 50 below zero weather. I had a warm snowmobile jacket, pants for snowmobiling, as well as long johns. I had two hooded sweaters on each with a hood. I had earmuffs. I didn't always wear my gloves while inside the observatory.

I felt for the most part as if I was observing on a warm summer night with all the layers I had on. We had an IR heater on that was aimed at a chair in the observatory, away from the open shutter. It would keep Wendi a little warmer and at times we moved this and move the position of the chair depending on the rotation of the dome. The viewing conditions improved as midnight approached, but also that was the predicted peak of viewing conditions according to the clear sky chart.

The eyepieces were cold and many metal objects are cold and pull the heat out of you if you touch them.

All in all, I stayed warm most of the time. We took a break and went by White Castle. We ended up watching a movie during that break as we were waiting for Saturn to rise up higher in the sky. We wended to see a good image of Saturn and it's in better position currently at about 1AM in the morning and it gets better as it rises higher and higher in the sky up to about 4AM. After sitting and talking for quite a while we returned at about 1 AM to get a quick look at Saturn and see if we could see the "bright storm" on the surface.

I thought we could see this storm earlier, but now I wonder if I'm not just seeing a dark cloud band on the surface. Art thought the surface feature we saw was a shadow of the ring of Saturn. We actually didn't have enough power and resolution to verify if the features we saw was a cloud band, storm or shadow.

The dome is having more problems (maybe it needs some grease), rotating in the winter. We looked at only a half a dozen objects, mostly star clusters. We looked t M42 and M45, the Soul Nebula and "the ghost of Jupiter". We looked at the double cluster. Art and Wendi saw five stars in the Trapezium of M42 with the 40mm eyepiece on the C14. We'd need a higher power eyepiece to see 6 stars, but didn't look at it with more power last night.

Jupiter is positioned a lot closer to the sun now as it sets much sooner. We are not looking at Jupiter anymore, but Saturn rises earlier and earlier in the night sky each evening. So it will be the planet we'll likely be focusing on as the weather starts to break.

We chatted about all kinds of astronomy gear dreams and ideas which are usually left to late night chatter and discussion.

Late at night sometime around 2AM I arrived home, (maybe a little later). I still felt relatively warm all bundled up and decided to try to setup the Binocular telescope outside at home and take a peek at Saturn to see how it looked through the Vixen Binoculars at 36 and 48 power. I was able to stay outside and view Saturn for about an hour before I started feeling cold. This was while I was exposed to a slight breeze. The ground of course was cold and I was standing on cement at home. Had the viewing conditions been better, i could have stayed out at the observatory practically all night, because I was bundled up very warmly.

The observatory has some advantages of course. One being a wall to block much of the wind if there is a light breeze. The second being a wooden floor with carpeting which doesn't try to pull heat out of your shoes or boots.

Someday, who knows, we might have a separate control room or something at HJRO which would be a portable control room to control the telescope as it takes photos and provides a live video feed. That would allow observers to perhaps plan and warm up on cold winter nights. This winter has been a pretty bad winter for observing. When it's very cold out we often have very good conditions, and in the winter we have longer nights. But we've had a lot of poor seeing conditions this year. So many times braving the cold has not been as rewarding as it would be in a normal winter.



Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Small gate is open for those who want to brave bitter cold for viewing

We will be open from 8 to 10pm tonight and possibly later

Conditions should be okay but it will be bitterly cold tonight.

If you decide to visit to take a quick peek adults are welcome tonight.

Please beware there is ice near the inside of the small gate in the parking lot behind the stands.

Try to avoid it or use extreme caution. Also walk directly over packed snow from junior high parking lot to the observatory because there us black ice on the walkway near the observatory.

Black ice forms where the blacktop walkway around the fence meets the cement and I haven't put salt down so there us black ice there. Please use extreme caution I'd you decide to brave the cold for a peek and dress as if you are going snowmobiling or skiing.

You cannot dress to warm tonight and it's probably better to wait for warmer weather and clear nights.

Also note conditions will be clear but seeing is not perfect so it's really only worth the trip for the most diehard enthusiasts who want to brave the cold for a few minutes of viewing.

A few club members may stop by and there us a heater in the observatory but we rarely use it while viewing to avoid thermal heat currents which can degrade the view



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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Test ipad at dinner time

Just a test the observatory is closed sue to snow blocking the small gate


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