Having fun at work

I really do have a great job-  I always tell folks that somehow I married a great hobby with a lot of administrative experience at the University...and now I get to worry about the budget and work with telescopes at the same time!  Two weeks ago we held two first ever events at the SkyCenter- a DSLR milky way and star trail workshop and a Messier Marathon.   Here is a single shot of the summit as the milky way was rising on March 25th-

While I had to work and did not 'participate' in either event, I did manage to squeeze off a few pictures of my own during the night- First, this is a single 20 second exposure of M 13, the Hercules globular cluster, taken through the 24" Phillips telescope using my Canon 6D.  I was impressed with the image out of the camera, so I decided to try and process it a little using Photoshop...and while I know the color of the stars is a little saturated, I still like the result.

In addition, I took a 30 second exposure of the M 57, the Ring Nebula in Lyra.  The image below is a 100% crop, and my colleague (and professional photographer) Sean Parker worked the processing a bit to bring out the galaxy (IC 1296) nearby the ring...but the ring itself is very much what the Canon delivered.

Final image from the weekend, is an exposure I took inside the dome of the 32" Schulman Telescope during a break in the Messier Marathon while guests were waiting for the summer constellations to rise a little higher.  It seems bright in the dome, but consider all the lighting is coming from red led lights that illuminate the steps leading into the dome!

Hey, 2 blog posts in two weeks!

Globular Cluster Messier 14

For amateur astronomers, spring may be galaxy observing season, yet summer provides the opportunity to observe most of the globular clusters that inhabit the outer halo of our galaxy.  Globular clusters are to me, the most beautiful objects to observe through a telescope as they are tight swarms of stars- containing well over 100,000 stars (and some many more!) all within an apparent diameter of a few arc-minutes.  Many folks describe them as diamonds spilled on black velvet and that description is apt.  At left is an image I took of the large globular cluster M 22 in Sagittarius last summer with my Canon T2i through my TEC 140.  (It is a single exposure, not multiple exposures integrated)

These clusters are tightly bound by gravity which gives them a general spherical shape and a higher density of stars toward the center.  There are upwards of 150 known globular clusters in our Milky Way galaxy. While they contain some of the oldest stars in the Universe, the origin and role of globular clusters in the evolution of galaxies remains unclear and this is an area of active research.   Astronomers who study galactic evolution have been able to detect globular clusters in most of the galaxies they have studied, and some galaxies contain extraordinary numbers. For instance, the great Andromeda Galaxy has more than 500, and the giant elliptical galaxy M 87 in Virgo contains approximately 13,000!  (See this post for my observation of the jet emanating from the center of M 87).

Last night I was out observing and spent quite a bit of time observing globular clusters in the constellation of Ophiuchus.  There are 20 reasonably bright globular clusters in this constellation, most if not all of which should be visible in my 140mm refractor under reasonably dark skies.  Among these globulars are 7 Messier objects, from M 107 which is the dimmest of the Messier globular clusters to the majestic clusters M 10 and M 12.  After observing these, as well as M 62, M 9 and M 19, I slewed the telescope to M 14 and was surprised at what I saw.

I have observed all of the Messier objects at some point years ago, yet  I am not sure that I have returned to this cluster since that time.  The cluster, discovered by Messier in 1764, lies in a remote area of the constellation and at first glance the cluster is unimpressive.  It is difficult to resolve many stars and appears more nebulous than cluster like...which is probably why it did not stick in my memory as a great visual target.  More experienced now than I was those years ago, I began to wonder why this cluster appeared so large and reasonably bright in my telescope yet resolution of the stars was so difficult.  A little reference checking and I learned that this globular contains several hundred thousand stars and has an absolute luminosity about 400,000 times that of our own sun!  This cluster is about 30,000 light years away, and as it turns out, the light from the cluster is obscured by an extensive amount of dust in our galaxy.  Below is my sketch from last night of M 14 at a magnification of 163x.

The cluster has a brighter central region with a fainter outer halo and it is difficult to resolve member stars (the sketch is generous in this regard).  The cluster has a grainy appearance and with averted vision it does seem that some faint stars come and go.  The cluster is approximately magnitude 7.6 and has an apparent diameter of 11 arc minutes.  Again, with a cluster this large and bright one would expect to resolve stars.   Often, it is not simply the aesthetics of objects in the eyepiece that make an observation interesting; it is knowing what it is that one is looking at.  In this case, one of the most impressive facts about this cluster is that it has a diameter of approximately 110 light years.  Our galaxy is approximately 100,000 light years across, so it would take only 1000 of these clusters to span the galaxy.  that may not sound impressive until one considers that our galaxy has between 200 and 300 billion stars...

Auriga Messier Clusters 36, 37, 38

Tonight I thought I would try something a little easier and I took some pictures of the three Messier open clusters in the constellation of Auriga, numbers 36, 37 and 38.  Again, I am using my Canon T2i and my TEC 140 refractor (f/7). The best part of the time I spent taking these pictures tonight was sitting back in my observatory and enjoying the crisp night air.  Carefully, so as not to touch the telescope, I also enjoyed the views through my 50mm Stellarvue finder scope while waiting for the camera to finish it's business.

Without further ado, here are the images (reduced in size for the blog)...each of them was 25 seconds at ISO 1600.

Click the images to enlarge them.

M 36

M 37

M 38 with NGC 1907 at upper right

Fathers Day Sun (and a few night shots)

Happy Fathers Day to all my friends, family and faithful readers who happen to be dads.  We are a fortunate bunch-  In my case, being a Dad is the greatest thing that could have ever happened in my life.  For some reason, I have for years made a custom of making astronomical observations on holidays and other special occasions.  Perhaps because these dates mark the passage of time in my own life, it seems fitting to spend a few brief moments considering the bigger picture.

Here is the 2012 Fathers Day observation, of the Sun.  Pretty similar to the images I have been capturing lately, although perhaps I achieved a little better focus today.  Click the image to enlarge it.

Yesterday we had our first quasi-monsoon thunderstorm of the season in Tucson, meaning that we about to head into a solid 6-8 weeks of cloudy nights.  The skies did clear last night around 11:00 PM and I went out and played around with my new camera a little more...The atmospheric stability was below average, and these targets (save M 27) are in the glow of Tucson from my observatory location.  Speaking of M 27, I posted an image of it previously but wanted to try again using my OIII filter.  The filter is designed for visual use so does not have as narrow a passband as an OIII imaging filter.  This is likely a good thing in that I am using single shots and not stacking and combining multiple images.  Compared to my previous image you can see that much of the star light has been blocked and more of the nebula is visible.

Click to enlarge

My good friend Jerry wanted me to try and take a picture of M 22, a beautiful globular cluster in the constellation of Sagittarius.  This was a harder image to capture and have appear decent due to the light pollution into which the telescope was pointing.  As a result, I had to alter the contrast a bit more than I have on previous images...still nothing to write home about, but at least Jerry can now label the variable stars that he has been observing visually!  One thing that is interesting to me, is to see the dark lanes in the upper left portion of the cluster.  Tonight, I will look to note these visually

Click to enlarge

Next up was the Swan Nebula, M 17.  Similar issues with light pollution...also, emission nebula such as this emit a significant amount of light in red portions of the spectrum, which cameras like my Canon struggle to capture.  Still, given my status as rank beginner and the lack of any proper filters or integrating of images, this image is interesting.  Note the asteroid moving through the field (this is a 30 second exposure).  I captured this asteroid on three consecutive images of the swan.

Click to enlarge

Finally, because I was in the neighborhood, I took this image of a portion of M 24, the Sagittarius Star Cloud.  Same issues as above with light pollution and me messing around with the brightness and contrast.  I also slightly sharpened these images using a tool called unsharp mask.

Click to enlarge

All of these images were taken using my Canon T2i and Backyard EOS

Astronomical imaging

A week has passed since the Transit of Venus, or I as have affectionately begun to refer to it, the TofV.  While I purchased a new Canon T2i to capture the once in a lifetime event, I have been having a lot of fun with the camera learning how to take digital  pictures of all kinds.   I still have not attempted to learn any processing techniques, but have managed to connect the camera to my TEC 140 and take some more shots, both during the day (solar) and at night.

I should mention that I am also playing with some great software called Backyard EOS which I used to capture all these pictures.  The software seems fairly intuitive considering I have never done any computer controlled imaging before.  You can download a free 30 day fully functional trial, and the lifetime license is only $30.  I will certainly be purchasing the software when my trial expires.  Here are some single shots taken last night from my backyard.  All I have done in terms of processing is to slightly sharpen the images and adjust the contrast and brightness to make the background sky appear more black than it does from my observatory.  Click the images to enlarge them.

M 11 the Wild Duck Cluster

M 27 the Dumbbell Nebula

M 56 a Globular Cluster

Of course, the real reason I purchased the camera was for Solar imaging and I did manage to snap a pretty picture of the Sun this morning at 1407 UT (7:07 MST).  You can see that active region 11504 which has been churning out solar flares over the past day (9 of them at my last check) dominates the southern hemisphere with its large and dark spots.  I am pretty happy with this shot given that once again I am shooting through smoke from a wildfire.  Unfortunately, this wildfire is burning in Reddington Pass, within about a dozen miles of my house....regardless, here is today's sun taken through my TEC 140 and Lunt Herschel Wedge.  1/4000 of a second at ISO 100.

Herschel 400 ~ Part Deux

William Herschel

Well, night number two of the official Herschel 400 observation program was more relaxed than the aggressive pace of night number one.  Last night, (Saturday night) I headed out a little bit later to continue my observations.  We are just past new moon, and with a long Thanksgiving holiday weekend it is wonderful to have these dark nights with no reason to get up early in the morning.  Unfortunately, the seeing (atmospheric stability) was basically garbage {I had some better adjectives, but this is after all a family friendly blog} in the best of moments.  Bright stars were blobs of shimmering light and even the faint stars were hard to bring into focus.  I consoled myself thinking about all those great nights we do have here in the desert and went ahead using a maximum magnification of 145x under what were truly very transparent skies.  All observations made with my Meade Instruments 12 inch LX-200 SCT telescope.  I took several breaks to drink some mint tea and just gaze naked eye at the milky way.  Last nights constellations were in the same general areas as night number one and consisted of Auriga, Taurus, Orion, and Eridanus.  While it may seem like a lot of sky, (and in truth, it is) these four constellations only represent 19 of the Herschel 400 objects.

Auriga- The Charioteer:

NGC 1664 - An open cluster that displays several relatively bright stars, spread well apart, with a nice line of faint stars leading away from the cluster.
NGC 1857 - Another open cluster with many more stars than the above cluster; more condensed and generally a more pleasing view.
NGC 1907 - A fainter cluster than the ones above, but I'd still consider it bright overall although it contains many more faint stars.
NGC 1931 - As stars go this is nothing unusual for an open cluster...however, near the center is a very bright patch of nebulosity that contains three very close stars.  Most of the time, due to seeing, only two stars were visible but at high power during the fractions of a second where things steadied, a third star popped into view.
NGC 2126 - A medium sized open cluster with about 20-30 stars.
NGC 2281 - Another typical open cluster.  Unremarkable.  About 10 bright stars with a smattering of fainter ones.

Taurus - The Bull:

NGC 1647 - A very large cluster nearly filling the field of view (eyepiece TFOV = .7 degrees) with several brighter stars.
NGC 1817 - A pretty open cluster with well over 100 stars, the richest cluster yet tonight!  Less than .25 degree in size.

Orion - The Hunter...I've spent a lot of time in this constellation and previously observed most of these objects:

NGC 1788 - A bright patch of nebulosity with two stars embedded.  It is irregular in shape.
NGC 1980 - Another bright nebula at the end of the sword of Orion.  Small, surrounding the star Iota Orionis.  Often ignored in favor of it's famous neighbor, the Great Orion Nebula.
NGC 1999 - Another "bright" nebula.  Not much to look at visually, but photographically this is the famous "keyhole" nebula, containing a true dark void (not dust) in it's center.
NGC 2022 - Yes, a planetary nebula...probably my favorite class of deep sky object due to their subtle nature.  This one is definitely blue/green with a brighter center.  No sign of the central star.

NGC 2024

NGC 2024 - The Flame nebula- have seen this in much better detail from a darker site...still obvious in the suburbs, but rather ghostly.  Dust lanes most visible when Zeta Orionis is moved out of the field of view.  Image at right copyright Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
NGC 2169 - A nice compact grouping of similarly bright stars that exactly form the numerals "3" and "7"...I recognized this cluster at once as the "37" cluster but did not recall the NGC number!
NGC 2186 - A compact group of fainter stars, maybe 30 of them...a deep sky stepchild in this constellation.
NGC 2194 - An unusually shaped cluster, almost a rectangle.  Fairly bright and rich and well condensed.

Eridanus - The River:

NGC 1084 - This is an elongated galaxy that appears a little brighter than its listed 12th magnitude.  No details seen.
NGC 1407 - A round galaxy with an obviously brighter nucleus.  These targets are low on the horizon making observations challenging.
NGC 1535 - A striking planetary nebula that is quite blue in color.  Quite round.  The central 2/3 of the nebula is markedly brighter than the outer 1/3.

59 objects down, 341 to go!

Herschel 400, the official start

Often when observing at night, I tend to follow a familiar pattern.  I will observe any planets that are in the sky, I make sketches of any available comets, I visit some of my favorite Messier objects, and then I'll pick a constellation and observe some of its deep sky objects until I am ready to head indoors.  Last night was a very dark and clear night at the Lost Pleiad Observatory, and on a lark I said to myself  "self, lets finally, officially, start the Herschell 400."  Now faithful reader, you have been brought in on one of my secrets...I talk to myself.  Why, you ask?  Well, to be honest, I usually agree with myself.

According to Wikipedia, The Herschel 400 are a "subset of William Herschel's original deep sky catalog of 2,500 deep sky objects, selected by Brenda F. Guzman (Branchett), Lydel Guzman, Paul Jones, James Morrison, Peggy Taylor and Sara Saey of the Ancient City Astronomy Club in St. Augustine, Florida, USA circa 1980."  They represent 400 of the brighter deep sky objects cataloged by William Herschel and are all observable from mid-northern latitudes.  I have probably observed well over half of these objects already, but I have done so in a haphazard fashion and being a poor note taker, likely have no record of many of them...and even where records exist in my notes, they are written in a notebook by date of observation and are not collected or organized in any fashion whatsoever.  As a resource, click here for the Herschell 400 catalog arranged by constellation published by the Astronomical League.

Distribution of Herschel 400 objects

Red = Galaxy///Green = Nebula///Yellow = Star Cluster

We just had a fairly wet storm leave the area and temperatures last night were much cooler than they had been over the past few weeks.  I had a feeling that the night could be one of the few at my observatory where dew would actually be a concern.  I pulled the dew shield for my 12 inch SCT out of storage, screwed it on.  After observing Jupiter and taking a look at comet C/2010 G2 (Hill) (ephemerides here), I began to officially observe the Herschel 400.

The darkest and best skies from the Lost Pleiad Observatory are to the North and East and I decided to start my observations in the constellation of Andromeda...that and alphabetically they are first on the list, so it just seemed the right thing to do.  All observations are made at  magnifications of 145X and 234X, with occasional looks at planetary nebula and galaxies at 305X.  While transparency was excellent last night, the seeing 9atmospheric stability) was average to below average...it never really became steady.  Regardless, in order of NGC designation:

NGC 891

Andromeda - The Princess

NGC 205 - Also known as M110 this is a large satellite of the the Great Andromeda Galaxy and at low power shares the view with M31 herself.
NGC 404 - Very close to the orange star Beta Andromeda, commonly called Mirach...sometimes called the Ghost of Mirach.  Moving the star out of the field of view reveals a brighter nucleus and a round galaxy.
NGC 752 - One of only two Herschel 400 objects in Andromeda that I do not recall observing.  An open cluster of stars, pretty, bright and not condensed.  Magnitude 5.7

NGC 7662

NGC 891 - An old favorite.  This is an elusive edge on galaxy that I have observed in almost every telescope of decent aperture I have used.  Dust lane visible with averted vision, quite ethereal.  Sketch above right made with the Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter 32 inch Schulman Telescope
NGC 7662 - The Blue Snowball nebula shows a nice blue color and increasing the magnification reveals the incomplete bright inner ring.  Sketch at left also made with the Schulman 32 inch.
NGC 7688 - The other Herschel 400 object in Andromeda not previously observed.  Another bright open cluster...what else is there to say?

Aries (A good second constellation as it is my "sign"):

NGC 772 - A small 8 x 5 arcminute galaxy which is slightly elongated.  No sign of arms, however, the nucleus is somewhat brighter than outer areas.  Also known as Arp 78.

Cassiopeia - The Queen.

NGC 129 - Open cluster, attractive with many bright stars, probably 30-40 overall.
NGC 136 - A very small, faint, condensed patch of light...averted vision reveals a smattering of elusive pinpoints of light.  Apparently an open cluster, but perhaps I am observing something in the background of the cluster?
NGC 185 - Also known as Caldwell 18, this is a small galaxy that seems slightly disturbed using averted vision.  Also, a touch elongated.
NGC 225 - Another open cluster of bright stars...probably better in binoculars.
NGC 278 - A small round galaxy with a brighter nucleus.  Just a couple arcminutes in diameter.
NGC 381 - One of the nicer open clusters so far with 50 - 70 stars, many of them faint giving the cluster a busy appearance.
NGC 436 - Yet another open cluster, containing many brighter stars with a few multiple stars among them.
NGC 457 - One of my favorite open clusters out there...looks best at low power where it looks like a winged creature.  I like to call it the Owl, but at Halloween call it the Bat...some locals call it the Kachina Dancer.  Whatever the name, it appears to have two bright eyes staring back at the observer while spreading it's wings wide.
NGC 559 - Another open cluster, bright stars, not very impressive.
NGC 637 - Duplicate of the above!  Different stars, same impression in the 12 inch scope...yawn...
NGC 654 - OK, a little better in the eye candy department with twice as many stars as the above two objects and a higher level of condensation.
NGC 659 - Back to basics...maybe 10 cluster members well spread apart.  Where are my (goto) binoculars?
NGC 663 - Now we are talking!  Many faint stars, well condensed, at 145 power this cluster should be more famous.  It has a delicate appearance with a dark lane running the length of the cluster.
NGC 1027 - Another open cluster, typical of others in this constellation.  Bumping the telescope I think I can detect a subtle nebulosity enveloping this cluster...averted imagination?  Maybe...Worth returning to at a truly dark site.
NGC 7789 - Wow!  This is a beautiful cluster with well over 100 stars.  As I continue to observe this cluster it started to appear as if it had a spiral shape to it...maybe time to get some rest.  I took a walk around the yard to get the blood flowing, took a drink of water and came back to the scope.  Sure enough, this cluster has a distinct spiral shape to it...once noticed I can not avoid seeing this obvious pattern.  Favorite Herschel 400 object in Cassiopeia!!
NGC 7790 - What else?  Another open cluster...about 30 stars gathered together...a let down after the previous cluster, but typical of these Cassiopeia clusters.

Cepheus - The King.

NGC 40

NGC 40 - This is a favorite planetary nebula that I have observed and sketched a couple times previously (example at left).  The central star is easily visible in a circular shell of nebulosity with a bright "polar caps".  Also known as Caldwell 2.
NGC 6939 - A well populated open cluster with many chains of stars emanating from its central regions.  Probably upwards of 75 stars.  In a lower power telescope one can observe this pretty cluster together with the galaxy below
NGC 6946 - A small low surface brightness galaxy that is very nearby to the cluster above.  No sign of spiral arms, and only a slight brightening toward toward the nucleus.  Also known as Caldwell 12, The Fireworks Galaxy.
NGC 7142 - Run of the mill open cluster- 20+ stars, fairly bright.
NGC 7160 - Barely an open cluster in the 12 inch scope...not many stars at all, although they are relatively bright ones.
NGC 7380 - A bright cluster embedded within some nebulosity.  From a dark site this would likely be striking.
NGC 7510 - Open cluster (too many of these tonight!) with approximately 30 stars in the cluster.  Relatively bright at magnitude 7.9

Perseus - The Hero.

NGC 651 - Planetary nebula widely known as the Little Dumbbell, M76.  Pushing the power up to 305 reveals the bipolar nature of this nebula with brighter regions at the poles.  Hints of the nebulous looping extensions noted when nudging the scope, although these would likely be invisible if I did not know they are there from previous observations.
NGC 869 and NGC 884 - The famous "Double Cluster" is the only object tonight for which I pulled out the 56mm plossl.  At very low power I can almost appreciate the beauty of these two objects, containing several hundred stars, including some colorful stars near the center of each cluster.

NGC 1023

NGC 1023 - This is a bright elongated galaxy nicely offset by a chain of stars south of the galaxy.  A bright nucleus with some faint extensions make for a sight unique so far tonight.  I took a break from simply observing and sketched this galaxy as seen at right.
NGC 1245- An open cluster, containing a fair number of stars, somewhat condensed with stars of similar brightness.
NGC 1342 - Another open cluster, not much to note, maybe 40 stars.
NGC 1444 - Small and faint cluster of stars, Herschel must have been sleepy by this point!
NGC 1513 - This is an interesting cluster in that it is shaped somewhat like a "U"...it is a bright a large cluster with 30 to 40 stars.
NGC 1528 - This is also an interesting open cluster with dark lanes passing between the lines of stars.
NGC 1545 - Final open cluster of the evening...and not an impressive one by any stretch.  Dominated by two brighter stars.

Well, that is my report on night one of the official Herschel 400 observing run of the Lost Pleiad Observatory.  I may try and get a few more objects in tonight, but am already quite happy with my Thanksgiving weekend start.  40 objects down, 360 to go!  That means that if I average one object per night I should finish in a year...we'll see!

Near and Far

I just returned home from a quick two night trip to Portal, Arizona where I had two excellent nights with my good friends Jerry Farrar and Bill Gates.  If you appreciate dark skies and stars, you owe it to yourself to make a visit to this little back country area on the southeast flank of the Chricauhua Mountains.  The weather was extremely cooperative and we had two nights of very low humidity and transparent skies.  While Friday night was excellent by most standards, Saturday night was very nearly perfect.  (For the astronomers among you, Bill commented that his impression was that we were experiencing sub-arcsecond seeing).  In terms of naked eye limiting magnitude at the zenith, I could see stars around magnitude 7.2...while Bill could see fainter.  At left is a picture of the purple light that was filling the western sky shortly after sunset.

HST image of NGC 6751

I observed many targets over two nights, near and far, more than I can recount here without putting you quickly to sleep.  For example, using my 12 inch LX 200 SCT, I observed the central star in the ring nebula at 610 power.  In addition to this easy planetary nebula, I decided to make a tour of some of the planetaries within the constellation of Aquila.  I made a few notes on about a half dozen of them with the most interesting (in other words, something more than a diffuse stellar blip, or an ethereal glow) being NGC 6751 and NGC 6804.  NGC 6751 revealed an easy central star at 381x, and increasing the magnification to 610x brought out the delicate structure, central hollow, and slightly brighter arcs on the perimeter.  NGC 6804 is a large oval shaped nebula with an easy central star and two additional stars superimposed on the nebula.

For some time I had been wanting to make a sketch of the Pleiades star cluster and nebula.  Considering the honored place that this object has in my life (it is after all, the Lost Pleiad Observatory), I was waiting for a trip to Portal where using my TEC 140 APO and a low power eyepiece I could fit the entire cluster into the field of view and see the nebula.  At left is my sketch completed at 0730 UT on October 23rd.  The bright stars of the cluster are very young in stellar terms, only about 100 million years old.  They are approximately 400 light years distant appearing in the constellation of Taurus the Bull.  While I was drawing, I enjoyed memories of camping with my late sister-in-law very near to Portal and looking up at these same stars.






Relatively near to us, almost two astronomical units away (about twice the earth-sun distance), Comet Garradd continues its slow trek through the solar system.  The comet has brightened considerably, and I would estimate it very close to magnitude 7.  Under the dark and steady skies of Portal, the tail was extensive with three main streamers visible, although not nearly as bright as my sketch at right would imply.  My drawing was completed at 0255 UT on October 22nd, at 147x with the 12 inch SCT telescope.  Comet Garradd is currently in Hercules and is an easy target even in a pair of 7 x 50 binoculars.





Finally, something far away...well, extra-galactic anyway.  Guided to the location by Jerry Farrar, I made an observation of Globular Cluster G1 (Mayall II) in the Andromeda Galaxy.  At 2.52 million light years away, this is the brightest cluster in the Andromeda galaxy, and quite possibly the remnant core of a dwarf galaxy that has merged with Andromeda.  What confirms this observation is separating the small 15th magnitude stars that closely attend the cluster.  While not much to look at, it is incredible to consider that using a small telescope we are able to see this object as clearly non-stellar, in another galaxy! Obviously, it is very massive, probably twice the size of Omega Centauri, the largest known globular cluster in the milky way.  It is theorized that there may be a black hole at the center of G1.  I made the sketch below with my 12 inch SCT at a magnification of 381x.  At right is an HST image of the cluster.  This cluster resides approximately 130,000 light years from the core of the Andromeda galaxy.  (If you are interested in hunting it down, it is at RA 00:32:46.8 ~ DEC +39:34:42)

HST image

Click to enlarge

On dark skies, family, friends, and telescopes...Life is good

The title says it all...dark skies, my lovely family, good friends and great telescopes.  Life my faithful readers, is good.  Despite my total slacking off from maintaining the blog, I have continued to have some excellent astronomical adventures, including a trip this past weekend to a site in northern Arizona that is frequently referred to as Frederickson Meadow.  The meadow was named in memory of longtime Saguaro Astronomy Club member Dave Frederickson, and it is a well deserved name.  The meadow is quite beautiful and provides expansive views of the sky.  In addition to my family, I travelled to the meadow with my friend Jerry Farrar to spend the weekend observing.  As luck would have it, there was a group of about a dozen astronomers from the Phoenix area who quickly welcomed us to their star party.

The meadow is situated roughly between Flagstaff and Payson and is approximately a 4.5 hour drive from Tucson, with only the last 5 miles on a well maintained dirt road.  As soon as one sees the Discovery Channel Telescope situated on the next ridge, one knows that the sight is likely very good for astronomy.

Most folks camp in the trees on the north side of the meadow, and the Forest Service has requested that we not drive into the meadow itself.  This makes great sense as it preserves the meadow and allows many grasses and wildflowers to flourish.  For our night time observations, I had taken along my TEC 140 refractor and Jerry brought along his 12 inch SCT as these scopes are quite complimentary when parked alongside each other.  Below, you can see Jerry observing the sun through his dedicated hydrogen alpha telescope which he also brought on the trip.

Each day brought very stiff breezes, which I would estimate between 10 and 20 mph, with occasional gusts closer to 30 mph.  As if on cue, these winds would vanish at sunset and start up at sunrise...(perhaps the late Mr. Fredrickson was taking care of us).  These breezes kept the daytime temps comfortable in the low 80's, however, the nights were much colder with Thursday night in mid-20's and Friday and Saturday nights in the mid-30's!  Certainly a reprieve from the June desert heat.

One of the nice things about the meadow, is that one can choose to spend time in cool shade of the pines reading, napping, snacking, planning your nights observing run, or whatever strikes your fancy.  If one is after a bit more activity, it is a great area for an easy walk around, a more strenuous hike, or a game of nerf football.  Nearby, about 30 minutes back up the road, there is even an RV resort where one can grab a bite to eat or take a shower ($5).  Of course, we were there to observe and I am sure that at this point you are wondering when I will get to the point, and tell you about the observations we made...but before I get to that, take a look at the "Great Comet of Frederickson meadow" alongside the crescent moon just after sunset.

Click the image to see the supernova!

Those of you who are amateur astronomers know that on Friday it was widely reported that a supernova had erupted in one of the arms of the whirlpool galaxy, M51.  French Observer Stephan Lamotte Bailey, created the image at left...Click on it and you will then see the animation which blinks the supernova in and out.  This was the talk of the group as the sun was setting Friday evening, and nearly every scope and camera in the meadow was targeting the grand galaxy.  I first attempted to spot it in my TEC 140mm APO, and with a bit of patience it was clearly there with averted vision, reminiscent of observing a challenging central star in a planetary nebula.  Jerry took a look and was also seeing the same star.  Naturally, we then went over to his 12 inch SCT and the supernova was clearly visible with direct vision, as an approximately 13th to 14th magnitude star.  What is so neat about this, is the fact that we were observing an extragalactic star....which is not something one does every day!

The main reason I brought along the refractor on this trip was that I had limited space, and this was the first chance that I had this year to spend extended time sweeping through the milky way...and the high contrast wide field TEC 140 is a world class instrument practically made for this purpose.  The scope garnered high praise from all who looked through it; which in this case was a group of very experienced amateurs who appreciated the nearly 3 dimensional views that the scope provides.  Whether it was Saturn at 300X, Omega Centauri and globular star clusters in Ophiuchus and Sagittarius, planetary nebula, or dark nebula, everyone commented on that sharpness and contrast of the TEC 140. In addition to having my fun with the bright Messier objects and generally sweeping around the milky way, I also observed some galaxies- mostly in Canes Venatici and Coma Berenices.  This may seem crazy with only 5.5 inches of aperture, but being able to see them in a wide field setting adds a context that is missing when observing them in my 12 inch SCT.  This post is getting long, so I will only share some of my favorites from these constellations below:

Hickson 68, a galaxy group composed of NGC's 5353, 5354, 5350, 5355, and 5358 (in order of magnitude from brightest to faintest...a to e in the image at left).  All five of these galaxies were visible in the refractor, despite the presence of a magnitude 6.5 star only 3 arc minutes away.  It is a very pretty grouping of galaxies with the brightest members shining at magnitude 11.5 and the faintest, tiny little NGC 5358 at magnitude 13.6.   I would highly recommend this target if you are interested in galaxy groups as each of the members is distinct.

NGC 4244 is a popular target due being large and bright, and is also known as Caldwell 26.  It is an edge on galaxy, and at high power, the TEC revealed some of the galaxies mottling as well as a distinctly bright nucleus.  The galaxy is nicely pinned down by stars off each end. 

NGC 4217 is a another elongated galaxy but is much more difficult to see, requiring averted vision.  While listed at magnitude 11.2, it has a surface brightness of around magnitude 13 and it shares the field with three 9th or 10th magnitude stars whose light interferes with seeing the galaxy.  Most interesting is that this galaxy is often overlooked as it is overwhelmed by its neighbor and possible companion M106.  At 75x, both of these galaxies were visible in the eyepiece. 4217 is the edge on galaxy in the lower right of the image.

NGC 4298 and 4302 make a beautiful, ghostly pair in the TEC.  4298 is a diffuse glow with no discernible nucleus, and 4302 is a thin edge on galaxy, also without detail.  These galaxies sit quite close to each other in the eyepiece, perhaps only 2 or 3 arcminutes apart. It is easier to hold 4298 with direct vision, even though it is only .3 magnitudes brighter at 11.3 versus 11.6

I did observe some other areas of the sky, including NGC 5128, the Centauraus A galaxy.  This has long been a favorite target of mine for the wealth of detail visible in the hamburger like galaxy.  Unfortunately, this galaxy was sitting in the Phoenix light dome (yes, there is a light dome despite being 100 miles+ away) and the amount of detail was not as great as I have seen at other locations.  If you are interested, the phoenix light dome is about 15 degrees high on the southern horizon and spans about 15 degrees in azimuth.  Even though this area is not free from the light dome, it is overall the second best site I have been to in Arizona for observing, with Portal being the first.  Overhead, 7th magnitude stars are visible and the setting is is delightful. I'll be heading back next new moon, weather permitting!

The William Optics 28mm UWAN

I tend to get a little stir crazy during the summer monsoon as far as astronomy goes- I am spoiled living in the desert southwest with many clear dry nights.  So when a few weeks go by with no opportunity for night time observing I turn to other aspects of my hobby (addiction) for entertainment.  Having already cleaned the observatory a few times (you could eat off the floor) and having already installed a nice new shelf from Target to hold some of my books and stuff, I made an impulse buy and acquired a used William Optics 28mm UWAN eyepiece.  I had heard good things about it from other TEC 140 users so when I saw one for sale on Astromart I asked myself  "Do I need this eyepiece?"  I quickly answered myself saying "Self....No.  No.  A thousand times, no.  You already have a very nice 31mm Baader eyepiece"  A few hours later I had made the deal and it would soon be shipped.

After a week of cloudy nights, the weather gods took pity on me, and the past two nights proved to be fantastically clear with very good seeing and no moonlight until after midnight.  I used the opportunity to test this new eyepiece extensively in my TEC 140 and what follows are my subjective observations and experiences using this eyepiece.

I decided to compare this eyepiece to my Baader 31mm Hyperion Ashperic which is obviously similar in terms of the power it delivers in the scope.  The picture to the left gives you an idea of the relative size of the monster in comparison to the Baader 31mm, and a can of Pepsi...keep in mind that these eyepieces both have 2 inch barrels, so you can see how physically massive the 28mm UWAN is.  Before I provide you with my subjective impressions, I'll give you some of the objective information as taken from the respective companies, as well as some of the exit pupil, power, and field of view calculations for the scopes I own.

Eyepiece                      William Optics 28mm UWAN                  Baader Planetarium 31mm Hyperion Aspheric

Manufacturer info          William Optics                                          Baader Planetarium
Price Retail/Used          $339/$250                                               $189/$150
Eye Relief                     18mm stated                                            18mm stated
Weight                         1000 grams (2lbs. 3 oz.)                           390 grams (13.8 oz.)
Apparent F.O.V.           82 degrees                                              72 degrees

Using TEC 140 (f/7)
     Exit pupil                  4mm                                                         4.5mm
     Magnification           35X                                                           31X
     True field of view     2.3 degrees                                              2.3 degrees

So now that we have the objective data out of the way, how did the eyepiece perform for me? My conclusion first...Overall, I am quite satisfied with the 28mm UWAN, and will be selling the Baader 31mm.  The Baader is a very, very good eyepiece for the money, however, the 28mm UWAN does most everything just a little better.  You can see from the data that these eyepieces are very close in both magnification delivered, exit pupil and field of view- so the differences that I am about to describe are my subjective experiences using the eyepiece.

Prior to explaining why I preferred the views in the UWAN, there are some ergonomic issues worth noting in the event you are considering one or the other of these eyepieces.  First, is the aforementioned weight.  The Baader weighs less than a pound, and is remarkably light for an eyepiece with a 72 degree apparent field of view.  The 28mm UWAN is over 2 pounds and will impact your telescopes balance.  Second, while the stated eye relief is 18mm for both eyepieces, the experience using them is quite different.  To the right is an image of the eye lenses and you can see that the UWAN eye lens is slightly smaller and you may be able to tell that it is recessed into the eyepiece top.  When using the 28mm UWAN, it does not feel like one has 18mm of eye relief.  In fact, to see the field stop, I have to place my eye almost all the way to the housing.  This is not an issue for me as the lens itself is recessed and my eyelashes do not touch.  I also find myself tilting my head slightly to get the best position to see the entire field.  The UWAN has a very smooth twist up eye-cup, however, I can not use this as if it is up at all I can not see the entire field of view.  The Baader 31mm is very comfortable to use and the eye relief measurement seems accurate.  For public outreach the Baader 31mm would be a better choice on its ergonomic characteristics alone.

On to the views, and the reasons why I prefer the 28mm UWAN.  I observed several types of objects with both eyepieces- nebula including M8, M17 and NGC 7000; planetary nebula including M57, M27, and the young, small NGC 7027 in Cygnus; Globular clusters including M22, M13, M20, M5, and NGC 7006 in Delphinus; The Veil supernova remnant NGC 6992; and the galaxy NGC 7331 in Pegasus. Observations of faint nebula were made both unfiltered and with my Baader planetarium UHC-S filter.  

I'll present my findings in descending order of the perceived difference.  In other words, I'll address sharpness first as I felt this was the greatest difference in the views...sky background will be second as I felt this was the second greatest difference.  Last will be color as I felt there was no difference in eyepieces.

First, the Baader 31mm is very sharp on axis, however, stars in the outer 25% of the field of view increasingly look like little flares as they approach the edge.  The 28mm UWAN on the other hand was sharp all they way past 90% of the field of view.  Even the outer 10% of the field was not nearly as distorted as in the Baader.  In terms of sharpness, the 28mm UWAN clearly had the edge (pun intended).

The second thing I noticed when using these eyepieces was that the 28mm UWAN revealed a darker sky background.  I was surprised by this given that the eyepieces are so close in focal length.  This was an obvious and marked difference between the eyepieces.  Had I not perhaps been unconsciously biased to look at sharpness first, the sky background may have struck me immediately.  

Third, and I hate to use such a subjective construct, was faint detail.  When observing star clusters, there were not any stars that I noticed in one eyepiece that I could not see in the other.  That being said, there were faint stars that were easier to see in the 28mm UWAN...easier than the magnification difference alone would dictate.  I do not know if it is related to sky background, coating differences, or anything for that matter.  Contrast is a touchy subject when discussing eyepieces and I am trying to avoid using that term...but faint detail was easier to see in the 28mm UWAN.  Nebula in particular were brighter and faint extensions were more readily seen in the 28mm UWAN.  This was most noticeable when observing NGC 6992, the eastern portion of the veil.  Also, the lagoon nebula (M8) revealed more structure in the UWAN.  To the left is a sketch I made of M8 using the UWAN 28mm and the Baader UHC-S filter.

Finally, I looked for differences in how the eyepieces rendered star colors.  With fainter stars within clusters I could not tell a difference between eyepieces.  I did point at the bright and colorful double Albireo and could not detect a color difference between eyepieces on this bright pair either. 

In conclusion, the William Optics 28mm UWAN is an excellent eyepiece for use in an f/7 refractor.  It is significantly more money than the Baader 31mm, but in my opinion, the views are worth the difference.  The Baader is more comfortable to use for a beginner or a member of the public at an outreach event, however, for the experienced amateur, the UWAN does manage to quickly get out of the way and let one observe.  Unless something is radically different in my f/10 SCT, look for the Baader Hyperion on the used market soon. 

Hercules Globulars

It has been awhile since I last posted any of my night time observations.  Despite the lack of blogging about the night sky, the Lost Pleiad Observatory continues to keep a scope to the sky 3-4 nights per week.  Last night was an exceptional night with skies that were very transparent, and fairly steady.  On the mount was my TEC 140 APO, which provides razor sharp images with excellent contrast.  I opened the observatory at about 7:30 PM so that the scope could acclimate, and at 8:00, I pointed the scope toward Saturn.

Always the romantic, I invited (begged) Beth to come and take a look at Saturn and a few of its moons.  She sat down and and when I explained to her that the single moon just off the rings was Tethys, she says "it looks like there are two moons there..."  I look and think to myself "no way," but always the good husband, I know to trust her.  I consult my new iPod with Sky Voyager (an incredible scope-side tool from Carina Software) and sure enough, Enceladus is right where she is describing it.  I look again, and with averted vision, sort of see it.  This is very impressive as Enceladus is about 1/10 the size of Titan, and very faint.  It is often lost in the glare of the planet and is only observable when it is at its furthest from Saturn in its orbit.  Below is a graphic representation of Saturn at the time of her observation.

After claiming her bounty, Beth headed back indoors and I spent some time planning my observations for the evening.  As the night progressed, it grew quite dark and I decided to have a look at M 13, the great Hercules Cluster.  I have observed this object many times, but it never ceases to amaze me.  To the right is a sketch I completed of this cluster some time back.  It does not do justice to the view in the eyepiece.  This cluster is approximately 23,400 light years away and has a diameter of around 140 light years!  It contains in the neighborhood of a half-million stars, which is impressive as typical globular clusters contain from tens of thousands to a couple hundreds of thousands of stars.  From a dark sky location, this cluster is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye as a fuzzy star.

I decided to observe two other globular clusters in Hercules, and first up was NGC 6229.  This little cluster is fairly bright, with a hint of mottling although resolving individual stars proved challenging.  At 196x, the cluster displayed a distinct core and a grainy outer halo.  It is joined in the eyepiece with two bright stars to the west, and together these objects form a pleasing image.  This cluster is much further than M 13, residing 102,000 light years away.  Despite the distance, the cluster shines at magnitude 9.4 and spans 4.5 arc-seconds.  To the left is my sketch of NGC 6229, and to the right is an image (reversed E-W) of this cluster from the Digital Sky Survey (DSS).

Since I was having fun in Hercules, I decided to slew the scope over to M 92 (NGC 6341), another fine globular cluster.  If this cluster were not neighbors with M 13, it would likely be observed more frequently and considered a showpiece object.  It is very large and rich, and at 25,000 light years partially resolved in my 140mm scope.  The cluster is twice the apparent size of NGC 6229, at 11.2 arc-seconds.  The actual diameter of this globular is approximately 80 light years.  As I spent some time trying to sketch this cluster, I noticed that there is a distinct chain of stars on the clusters east side.  In addition, there is somewhat of a gap in the outer portion of the cluster, on its west side.  To the right, is my sketch of this object.

Having had enough fun sketching, I turned my attention to some other globulars in the constellations Serpens, and Ophiuchus.  I observed NGC 6535, a faint and ghostly cluster nestled in amongst many faint stars; NGC 6539, another faint globular reminiscent of a dwarf galaxy; and, NGC 6517, which was faint and not resolved.  As it was approaching 11:30 PM and the milky way was well above the horizon, I took aim at some of the other famous Messier globulars such as M 10, M 12, and M 14.  Each of these is impressive and the views in the TEC were nothing short of spectacular.  I'll sign off this post with images of these objects.  The left image is M 10 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, the center image is M 12 also by Hubble, and the right image is M 14 taken from Kitt Peak National Observatory with the .9 meter scope.