Continue reading »]]> The weather in the New England area is quickly changing, mildest winter I can recall.  Today temperatures hit 73F.  In coming weeks, I will be adding a new website which is an extension of DaltonSkyGazer.  The addition of the second website will allow me better format control of images produced from the observatory. My main site DaltonSkyGazer.com is managed via WordPress.  The new site TheDaltonObservatory.com ,  will be hardcoded via Dreamweaver, affording  more flexibility in my design elements.

Update 15 May 2012

As of 11 May 2012, I have placed the main template files of the new website on the server.  I decided on going with a Celestron color scheme at the website.  I will be working over next few weeks in the background preparing the content for the pages at the new site extension.

I  updated the color scheme of DaltonSkyGazer.com today, along with a few minor cosmetic additions; new header image, starfield background, etc. The new color scheme blends in with the new site extension colors.

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I just learned this morning that Celestron has finally released the long awaited for focal reducers for the Edge HD optics.  The focal reducers for the 11 inch HD and 14 inch HD OTA’s have been released.  I know many people have been waiting a long time for these reducers.  These new focal reducers are bit pricey listed at price of $599 each and show as being in stock.  This is large piece of finally machined glass, I do understand the price on these.  If they work great, which I am sure they will, homerun!

This is great news that Celestron came through on releasing the Focal Reducers, I am sure the wait will be worth it.  Each ota will require a specially configured focal reducer due to the way the HD optics field flattener is internal to the ota.  Many of us Edge 800HD owners  and also the Edge HD 925 owners will be awaiting a release date for focal reducers for these fine OTA’s  Fingers crossed!

I did recently stumble upon a quote from Celestron which was found in the questions section under the 800HD ota… This thought process makes me very happy! 

A similar situation exists for the production and first availability of EdgeHD focal reducers. Celestron wants to assure that they will be the same high quality as the EdgeHD telescopes and won’t compromise this goal to rush them on to the market.

The specs say they will take the telescope down one  full F stop (cutting photon gathering time by half) and increase FOV by approximately 43%.  They are listed as .7x reducers. 

Reducer Lens .7x – EdgeHD™ 1400

Reducer Lens .7x – EdgeHD™ 1100

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A  Happy New Year 2012 to all who follow the DaltonSkyGazer astro blog!

DaltonSkyGazer Observatory

The holidays are winding down, thought I would post an update on activites and such at the DaltonSkyGazer observatory.  I have been doing some visual observing along with a little astrophotography with my DSI III C camera.  I am happy to say that the warm control room area has been a blessing and works better than expectations.  The small ceramic heater I am using can be run on the low setting(300 watts) when temps are down to 10F outside and easily keeps the control room at 65F to 70F without any issues.  Warm up time is also quick on the control room when first running the heater for the evening.  I spent some time organizing the control room this past week, I decided to remove some extra clutter which was not needed in the observatory;    a printer, small refridge, and few tool items laying around.

I have not posted many updates recently been waiting for the arrival of a new imaging camera Canon 550D which has been placed on backorder, ordered up 28 November.  I am expecting shipping update this week after the New Years holiday.  Once the new Canon arrives I will be back to writing many articles and back into astrophotography again full bore.  I have also been recovering from blowing out a few discs in my back which happened in late July during Stellafane week.  I think a major cause of the back injury was hefting the 12″ scope up onto the wedge in the observatory while standing on 6ft ladder and having to extend way out to drop the base onto the bolt of the wedge.   The healing process has been bit slow taking me away from extra hrs spent in the observatory.

I am proud to say the blog has celebrated 2 years up as of this past December!   There  have have been over 70,000 page views per year to the site .   I have added a few small changes over the past few weeks to the observatory tab above and many new updates will be coming at faster pace in 2012.

Happy New Year to all!  Hope to finally be back into the AP game here in very near future when the Canon 550D arrives!

Be sure to check out some of the other astro blogs highlighted on my left hand tab.  Mike’s Astronomy Blog, Uncle Rod’s BlogSpot, Astrophotography Tonight, Telescope Man, Griceland Observatory , and Seal Killer’s Astrophotography Site.  All great blogs and great people from within  the astronomy community!

If you are interested in astronomy, I highly recommend joining Astronomy Forums.  The AF is the largest astronomy forum in the world.  If you have any astro related questions whether it be gear, astrophotography, accessories, etc,  be sure to check out  the Astronomy Forums. Joining the Forum is free and you will meet many great people with same interests from all over the world.

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Out of Focus Bright star through Bahtinov Mask

The middle beam of light is almost centered very close to focus

Continue reading »]]> A Do it Yourself section will be coming soon to DaltonSkyGazer .  

Continue reading »]]> I finally had an opportunity to get some sky time after setting the CGEM back up on the pier and completion of the recent  interior work at the observatory. The forecast was calling for clear skies, I was determined to get the drivers installed on my Windows 7 tower computer which I recently relocated to the observatory due to some keyboard issues on my laptop. My goal for the evening was to get the tower computer communicating with the telescope and cameras along with achieving my final polar alignment and park position for the telescope.  If I had extra time, this would be spent grabbing some lights to test out my cables and guiding settings for my setup.

I went out around 3pm to download the 64 bit Evisiage drivers from the Meade website, only to find out the whole Meade website was down.  I was a bit frustrated, but decided with the great forecast and observing opportunity to set my laptop back up and make do with an external usb keyboard and a stuck control key on the laptop.  I knew I would experience some minor setbacks and was prepared to handle them.  Luckily, I was able to operate with the laptop in a slightly limited capacity.

I came back out around 9pm and proceeded to do my two star alignment along with an additional two stars as part of the Celestron  Two star alignment routine.  During this time I aligned the Meade 80 mm APO scope along with  my finder scope.  The next step was  my polar alignment routine which was quickly accomplished in under five minutes.  Surprisingly, after the  first adjustment my PA came in dead on: objects were staying centered in the FOV of my EP for 30 minutes without detection of drift.    I quickly redid my two star alignment plus  an additional two extra stars after completing the polar alignment.  The CGEM appeared more than ready to take on imaging tasks. 

The final step in my preparations was to attach my cameras to the telescopes.  I attached the cameras and placed a Bahtinov mask on each OTA.  A  goto of a nearby bright star was then initiated, the object was almost perfectly centered in the FOV of the imager.  I next opened up Nebulosity 2.4 in the frame and focus mode set for 5 second exposures, controlling the DSI IIIC attached to the main imaging scope,  quickly achieving optimal focus while using the Bahtinov masks.  

I opened up PHD guiding software and established communications with the SSAG attached to the Celestron Edge 800 OTA.  Once again, I found the star was nearly perfectly centered in the FOV of the guiding camera, focus was quickly achieved.  I was very pleased with my initial results and surprised to find I had much more time now to capture some photons.

I decided a test run of imaging was in order, why waste time at this point on an easy target.  I looked at my charts and decided to enter M33 into the control pad, the telescope quickly slewed to where it thought M33 should be in the sky, a quick glance and I knew it was pointing in the right area of the sky.  I programmed in one 60 second exposure  to see if M33 was indeed in the FOV.  I saw M33 appear before my eyes a little bit left and up from center, more than acceptable. 

I turned on PHD to see what I had available for guide stars,  I was a bit surprised to find nothing in the FOV which would work.  I slowly moved M33 down in FOV and to the right a bit using a bright star as a guide using 8 second exposures until I saw a nice guide star appear in the PHD window.  M33 was still framed well, it was time to see if PHD would calibrate for me.  I changed a few settings in the brain settings,  I was using the F/10 telescope to guide with which is bit more sensitive to guiding settings.  I hit the button to begin the calibration process, PHD quickly calibrated in under two minutes and appeared to be guiding very well. 

I decided right away not to waste time on short exposures.  I programmed Nebulosity 2.4 to take five images of 8 minutes duration each, setup the file directory path, and hit the start button.  The time spent waiting for the results of the first exposure seemed like an eternity.  After the long wait, M33 appeared in front of my eyes with nice round stars, the first exposure was a great success and the image showed a large amount of hidden data.  I waited what seem like an eternity for the second exposure to show itself, a bit surprised when I saw nothing but white amp glow across the whole screen.  I figured it may be a glitch and waited on the third and fourth exposure, both of which came out same as the previous images, nothing but ampglow.  I decided at this point of time to end the image sequence.  I had an issue with the DSI which I needed to solve.

 The Meade DSI ccd imagers are known to require the max amount of power that a usb port can supply, they are very fussy and require high quality cables along with short runs.  I plug my DSI IIIC  into a powered usb hub to allow for ample supply of power to the imager.  I inspected the cable only to find I had attached a smaller gauge usb cable, not the one I normally use.  I changed this out, and to my relief the imager was functioning again, unfortunately precious time was wasted and M33 was high in sky at blindspot in my dome. 

I decided at this point of time to jump down in the Eastern sky towards M45 Pleiades.  The CGEM goto once again put the object nicely in the FOV on my imaging camera.  I recalibrated PHD in under two minutes  then setup the sequence to capture six 90 second exposures of M45.  Each exposure had nice round stars, all very useable.  I quickly placed my darkening towel over the scope and programmed in four darks for 90 second exposures and hit the start button.  While the scope was busy taking the darks I ran into the house to grab a few beers for a refill.  When I came back out the last of the dark frames was just finishing up. 

I took time at this point to inspect the one lightframe on M33, the data looked great, but I saw what appeared to be dust motes across the image when I performed a quick stretch on image to see the hidden data.  I pulled open one of the M45 lights,  to confirm that both images had the same exact dust motes showing.  It was nearly 412 am I decided the night was successful, I had accomplished my main goal of polar alignment along with establishing a hibernate position for the telescope.  That I had opportunity to grab some lights was merely icing on the cake.  The dust motes were a huge disappointment, but not the end of the world.  I will clean the DSI filter, even more reason to start taking flat frames in the future, which deal with these type of issues along with gradient issues.  

I did quick stack and process of the M45 data, nothing spectacular from processing side, I could not stretch image much to reveal the nebulosity without the dust motes becoming very apparent in this test image.  I used Deep Sky Stacker to stack and align the lights and darks, then did quick process in Photoshop Cs3+ with small amount  of noise removal applied to the image.  I undercompensated a bit on the red and green channel data, but thought I would post this image here to share the guiding results.  The second image below is the 8 minute exposure of M33.  The amount of data hidden in M33 looks great.  The nice round stars showing in this single unprocessed frame let me know that guiding is working great. I am confident next time out I will grab some solid data to work with.  I will work on removing the dust motes from the imager before my next imaging session.  Overall, the night was a great success.

M45-Six Lights(frames) of 90 secs. each. 9 min of data total. Very quick process in Photoshop Cs3+ to highlight guiding. Same dust motes are in this image if stretched more as in the m33 single lightframe.

M33 One 8 min exposure. No processing done. Small stretch applied to this data. This image shows nice round stars(excellent tracking and guiding), lots of data in this single 8 min exposure can be brought out when combined with many more single exposures like this. Notice the dust motes which appear as black blotches in image. For non imagers reading, this is one lightframe, A final image is processed from many single frames(stacked and aligned) like this single frame. The technique of stacking and aligning the exposures reduces grain noise, enhances colors, and reveals fine details such as nebulosity in the image.

Same 8 min exposure(raw data) of M33. I stretched single exposure little bit more to reveal the data, dust motes are very evident. The DSI IIIC needs a good cleaning. More reason to start using Flats in future. I am very happy with the tracking and guiding results.

Continue reading »]]> After much thought, I chose to paint over the stain, switching to a light tan color for the control room area instead of stain.  I have put together a few pictures of the control room below as I was completing this work. 

I am still working on a final video and will post some more recent pictures very soon.  The LX-200 GPS was taken down, and the CGEM 800 HD and APO are now back up on the pier in preparations for imaging.   I am locked and loaded for some chances at imaging as weather and work time allows.  Few pics below of the control room area along with some updated pictures of the dome area.  Be sure to check out my Observatory Menu button for more updates as I rework the website a bit during the next few days.

Finishing up the Heated Control Room area of the Observatory.

Right hand return of desk in the heated control room area.

This is the interior doorway and small corridor separating the dome and control room.

Bench seat installed in the dome area for guests.

Looking out into the telescope dome area, black paint is being added to walls. Shelves being added for storage.

CGEM Setup on Pier with Edge 800 HD OTA and Meade 80mm APO

Continue reading »]]> When I first started the DaltonSkyGazer blog, one of the features I envisioned, was having an area of the blog dedicated to featuring people from within the astronomy community.  The same individuals who contribute to educating others, whether it be through public outreach programs, blogs, or from within the online astronomy forums and communities.  There are many people who are passionate about astronomy and contribute much of their time to educating others within the astronomy community.  The hard work and dedication of these individuals gives amateur astronomers a solid resource from which to learn the skills needed to operate telescopes and imaging gear, along with the fundamentals required to learning the night sky.  Periodically, I will feature such a person here at the DaltonSkyGazer blog.

My first  featured guest runs an online blog and podcast dedicated to educating amateur astronomers under the ghost name ”TelescopeMan“.  I first met Joe Lalumia online as a member of the Astronomy Forums, a very large and sociable online International astronomy forum, dedicated to educating others within the astronomy community.  Joe is now a moderator at the forum and spends much of his time answering many astronomy related questions at the forums.  Like many  members of the forum,  Joe is very passionate about astronomy and education, and always willing to help someone out, a very active voice on the forum.  

I had the great opportunity to video conference with Joe a few times discussing astro stuff and much more, I immediately felt like I was talking with a friend I had known my whole life.    Joe has a certain passion and modesty about him when he speaks, and a  great gift for capturing ones attention.  I interviewed Joe to learn a bit about his  interest in astronomy and of his devotion to educating others through public outreach programs.

I very much enjoyed this interview and appreciate Joe’s time.  I highly recommend to all within the community to take the time and listen to or watch a few of Joe’s TelescopeMan Podcasts.  I hope you enjoy the interview!  Feel free to post some comments and questions.

Joe Lalumia aka TelescopeMan, with his LX setup. Courtesy of Joe Lalumia. All Rights Reserved.

What are your interests in astronomy and what lit the fires to spark this  interest?

I got my first telescope back in 1958. A Sears Roebuck 60mm refractor with optics made in Japan. It came in a very nice velvet lined wooden box. The scope was around the house under my bed until I discovered girls,  it eventually disappeared and I regret that to this day.  I am a strickly a visual observer but dabble in astrophotography once in a great while. My passion is public outreach, bringing the night sky to the general public.

In what ways are you involved with astronomy now, clubs, outreach programs, websites?

I am retired now and spend my time doing public observing and serving in various positions with my Astronomy club, The Texas Astronomical Society where I now serve as President of the Society. 

Our Astronomy club members contributed over 8000 man-hours to public observing last year. I try to attend as many events as possible, and also hold a monthly star party here in the Rockwall, Texas , and a beginners astronomy class.  Additionally, we try to have two Astronomy Days each year at one of the planetariums here in the Dallas area.

Our Astronomy club has many members that participate in the running and organization of the Texas Star Party. Probably the two most notable are David Moody and John Wagoner. This past Texas Star Party we had probably 30 or so members attending.  It’s always a great event even if the skies are cloudy as there is a lot of socializing going on between the participants.

If you ever get a chance to go to this star party do not hesitate. You can make a lot of new friends at this event who return year after year; some for a lifetime like John Wagoner.

Recently, I have created several web sites under the “ghost writer”  TelescopeMan, who does audio and video podcasts. I took my home office and converted it into a podcast studio. One of our kind club members gave me three domain names to use for the “TelescopeMan” podcasts.  My goal is to break the 100 podcasts barrier by the end of the year. I have been fortunate to have 365 Days of Astronomy pick up my podcasts and rebroadcast them on a regular basis. I am a little up in age and wanted something I could do in my house during retirement to keep me busy.

Joe receiving award from Past President Texas Astronomical Society, Dallas. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of Joe Lalumia.

www.telescopeman.org

www.telescopeman.info

www.telescopeman.us

Joe High School Yearbook. Courtesy of Joe Lalumia. All Rights Reserved.

 Can you tell us a bit more about TelescopeMan ?

Well as I said above, I wanted something I could do from the house that would be a type of public outreach.  However there is also a family reason. My wife of 40 years has the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s.  I know as this progresses I will need to be home 100% of the time. This was also in the back of my mind when I started up “TelescopeMan”. It would give me a way to stay in touch with the Astronomy hobby right from my office at home.

Life before retirement?

I must have been CRAZY to get into the restaurant “Bidnus” as we say in Texas. I spent about 30 years traveling the USA and much of Europe and the South Pacific for McLane Company, and McLane International, a major product supplier to retail food stores and fast food restaurants. In the mid 1990s I lived in Poland and traveled around Europe selling all manor of food and beverage products for the Company.

We also assisted in the construction of a large food and beverage distribution center in Krasnodar, Russia. The Company had distribution centers in England, Spain, Portugal, and Poland. Later I switched to our South Pacific Division where my territory included Tonga, Guam, Saipan, Samoa, and American Samoa. So I have traveled to almost all the countries in Western, and Central Europe from England to Russia; and also most of the South Pacific including New Zealand while on my way to Tonga.

The Company wanted me to move to American Samoa permanently which I did not want to do. So I went crazy and opened 3 restaurants with my two younger brothers. Who knows WHY! Ha! Anyway it’s a way to make a living!

Being the gearhead that I am, can you tell us a bit about the astronomy gear you have compiled over the years?

I own an Atlas EQ-G, an Astro-Tech 6RC, and LX90 8 inch LNT, an Orion XT10i, a Stellarvue 80mm bino-ready refractor, A Bogan tripod, a Televue TelePod, and 3 pairs of binoculars a 10×50, a 15×70, and a 25×100, with a parallelogram mount for the 2 larger binoculars.  Additionally, there are 3 cases of various other eyepieces, solar filters, and assorted STUFF, some of which I cannot remember why they were needed!? Or why I bought it!

One of Joe's newer scopes. Courtesty of Joe Lalumia. All Rights Reserved.

Any advice  for people who are first jumping into the astronomy hobby?

My advice to beginners is to go slow, join a local Astronomy club, and STEAL all the information you can from the older members of the club!  As you know Jeff, I am personally a big fan of goto scopes and/or push-to Dobsonian scopes.  I think these are the best thing ever to come along in the hobby for a beginner as far as equipment is concerned.

A good goto push-to scope can immediately open up the sky to anyone who is willing to learn. Heck, professional astronomers never even look through a telescope, they only want the data. Ask Michio Kaku, or Neil Tyson to point to M13 in the sky — I will make a $100 bet they cannot.

If we want to attract kids to the hobby we must give them a hand controller. They have been using one all afternoon on the X Box that mama bought them for $399.  They will learn how to use the hand controller in about 5 minutes. You need to get their interest in the hobby first before they will want to learn about the night sky.  It’s just OLD decrepit astronomers who disapprove of them and say things like, “you need to learn the sky first!”.  This attitude sort of permeates the hobby with the old timers. Kids want instant gratification give it to them with a goto scope for goodness sake!

 What are a few good beginner telescopes for someone just entering the hobby, for say a $500 budget?

An Orion XT6i, a Celestron SE4 or SE6, a regular 6 or 8 inch DOB. That price point really leaves out any hopes for astrophography as the lowest cost rig I would recommend is a CG5 or an EQ5 motor driven with a good doublet 80-100mm refractor, which you might be able to find used for $700-$800.

Right now, I would say the lowest entry point for goto— pushto is more like $600 or so by the time you buy a few accessories.  However, I think the Heritage 130p and the Orion 4.5 inch Starblast would also make very nice beginner scopes, but the beginner will need to manually find those small dim objects in the sky as these scopes do not have goto or pushto.  Remember, it’s still acceptable to recommend a 6 inch DOB as your first scope, as you can usually sell it later and get most of your money back when you upgrade; and the 6 inch DOB with have a LOT MORE light gathering power than the 70mm refractor that I see a lot of beginners buying.

What changes have you seen over the past few years with astronomy gear which is most beneficial to amateur astronomers?　

It’s the goto scopes that are changing rapidly (getting better), especially some really neat altitude azimuth go to mounts like the iOptron Mini Tower and the more expensive T-Rex Alt-Az mount.  These are very neat goto mounts for visual observing and also for using with the new video cams like the Mallincam camera hand-made in Canada; our club was given a donation that will permit us to purchase a complete Mallincam setup for public observing. This will allow us to offer wheelchair access to deep sky observing at our outreach events.

Just about everything in the hobby is 400% better than it used to be back in the 1960s and even the 1970s. I would say the equipment started really changing in the late 1980s. Since then most all of the equipment is better quality than back then, and has many more features and quality construction than back then. Think about it— you can now control your telescope with a cell phone or a laptop. Just about everything is better including eyepieces, diagonals, finderscopes, and tripods.

Could you even imagine back then that you could buy an EQ6 mount with full go to for $1300. NO WAY! I kind of snicker when we get a complaint on the astronomyforum.net that goes something like this, ” I aligned my scope on two stars, and then when I executed a go to the object, it was in the side of the eyepiece and NOT directly in the center. Should I send this back! What is wrong?”

See how spoiled we get! Can you imagine asking this question back in 1980.

This good quality holds true across all major product brands and telescope types–except for those off brand imports that we all see on craigslist.com, and on Ebay. If the beginner will just stick with a major KNOWN brand(s) with a few reviews already posted on the internet all will be good.

Remember what we always say because it is still very true, “Aperture rules all things being equal”. Until it gets TOO BIG to carry outside!

 

Clear skies! And remember to keep looking up to see the greatest show on Earth right over your head, every night!

 

Joe Lalumia aka TelescopeMan

Continue reading »]]> I am pleased to announce that I will soon be offering some articles and interviews focused on various people from within the astronomy community in general who contribute greatly to educate others about this wonderful field of the sciences and arts.  My goal will be to offer interviews and articles from various educators, imagers, and club members who are passionate about astronomy in general.  There are many online astronomy communities which are full of such members who dedicate themselves to educating others.  Check back soon for my first featured interview!

Quote from my first featured guest interview:

Aperture rules all things being equal . Until it gets TOO BIG to carry outside!

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Looking to SouthEast Skies From Dome Shutter-Few Trees Removed

The observatory control room work has wound down to completion this week.  I am now working on cleaning up and rearranging the gear inside the observatory.  I was not satisfied with the stain I was using, since the last update the interior of control room received a fresh coat of paint, not quite the look I was after, but for now this will allow me to jump into my imaging sessions.  I will be doing a little bit of finish painting  in the dome area this week before posting some current pictures.  I will post a full article with pictures sometime over the next few days as my schedule allows. 

While working on the control room the other day I snapped off a few pictures with my HTC EVO 4G, showing some updates to the view of the skies as seen from the dome shutter location.  My neighbor located to the south of my location took down a few trees located to the SouthEast of the observatory, opening up the skies a bit more, where most of my imaging runs commence.  Above you will see a new picture of this portion of the sky as seen from the observatory shutter location standing inside the dome.  An older picture is located below, this is before trees were removed, taken standing at the pier during observatory construction.

South East Sky as seen from DaltonSkyGazer CGEM Pier(Older pic during construction, before trees were removed.)

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Trying out the fit of various accessories for the observatory control room area. Trim is up in Temp position before final cuts and placement.

I will be adding the right hand return and shelving for books and patchbay items to the right hand side of the desk tomorrow.  I am also hoping same day to get back to adding stain coats.  I should be wrapping up the control room area during this upcoming week.  My next step will be to finish some painting going on in the dome area, along with final modifications to my cabling setup for telescope control, camera(s) control, Guiding control, and various ethernet and phone cables. 

Looking at North Wall and Desk Work area. Have to cut custom siding out for this area and add trim. To right hand side of desk is another 3ft which will be a right hand desk return and about a 4ft long set of shelves above it for books and patchbay area.