Tour of the Green Bank Telescope
Tour of the Green Bank Telescope
Attendees at the Green Bank Star Quest have an opportunity to tour the GBT. It is am amazing experience and I highly recommend it. Be aware that it does involve heights above 300 feet on open metal flooring. But the views are spectacular. The engineering and science embodied by the GBT and the entire facility are impressive. For more information on the scope and the facility, please see this link.
Astro-numismatics
Supergeekdom is rarified Air. I believe Astro-numismatics soars into that rarified air. Join me at the 2019 Green Bank Star Quest as we discuss this relatively new segment of numismatics.
http://greenbankstarquest.org/
Winter Experimentation-Cone Nebula and Christmas Tree cluster (NGC 2264)
This winter I made the decision to increase imaging time from my house by the most efficient utilization of astronomical filters possible. I live in a rural/suburban Bortle 4 transition zone. My zenith to the south and east are pretty decent. due north has a light dome from Huntington, WV.
I am a One Shot Color (OSC) guy. I know…but I just am. My imaging setup this winter was with the Astro-Physics 130GT and AP .8x focal reducer and the modified Canon T5i. The T5i performs very well on cold winter nights.
Oh…I will be giving a presentation on my experience with filters and OSC imaging at Green Bank Star Quest 2019 on Friday June 28. Click the link for registration and more information on GBSQ 2019.
I utilized 4 filters over the winter;
Astronomik 12nm Halpha EOS clip in
Astronomik CLS EOS clip in
Astronomik CLS CCD 2”
STC Duo Narrow Band EOS clip in
I will post my presentation to the blog after Green Bank which details observations and findings with each of these filters.
My hands-down favorite filter from my house is the STC Duo Narrow Band clip in. This filter has very nice color balance for a narrow band filter right out of the modified camera. It has beautiful contrast and does send some signal to the entire Bayer matrix.
Memorial weekend afforded me some time to work on the data I collected from November to February on the Cone Nebula and Christmas Tree cluster. Basically, I took the red channel from the STC data and the green and blue channel from a combined version of the Astronomik CLS CCD and CLS filters.
A total of over 12 hours of data was gathered for this image. I did not calibrate with flats, darks, or bias frames.
If you would like more information on the area, please Google NCG 2264 or Christmas Tree cluster or Cone nebula. It is a fascinating part of our winter Milky Way rising just a bit after the Orion constellation.
Please click on the image below for a larger light box presentation.
Have a great week!
M51 first light with multiple new gear
Clear skies to all and welcome to this update.
My telescope focal lengths are really oriented toward capturing Milky Way vistas. But, I recently saw some fantastic images posted on the Astro-Physics users group with relatively short focal length scopes that were lengthened by the new Astro-Physics Advanced Barlow. So, I thought it was worth a try to expand my imaging target capabilities into the heart of galaxy season while waiting on the summer Milky Way to rise.
Another piece of equipment also saw first light on this night, the ZWO ASI 294 MC Pro. Quite simply, I needed a cooled camera for hotter summer night to improve signal to noise. I don’t have time to process LRGB images, so I am pretty much a one shot color guy. I, also, don’t want to mess with a laptop in the field or even at home. That is one of the main reasons I went with ZWO, the company makes the ZWO AIR to communicate directly with the camera via iOS apps on phone or iPad.
One other note on equipment is that I had to use my only UV/IR blocking filter available at the time which was via my Astronomic CLS-CCD filter. I now have a Baader UV/IR luminance filter.
130GT on Mach1GTO mount with Advanced Barlow, ZWO ASI294 MC pro, and Baader variofinder with SG-4 guide camera.
I accumulated 3 total hours on M51 on April 10 with 12x15 minute sub exposures.
I am very happy with the image scale and resolution capabilities that the Astro-Physics Advanced Barlow provides with my AP130GT. This setup really opens up a new library of astronomical objects for me to image.
You can also see the image at astrobin with detailed capture information.
Jeff's Blog
Join me on photography journeys from desert landscapes to deep sky wonders.
