Bluebird via my 4" acho f/5 refractor (500mm) - handheld
2009-05-03
Various Birds of North Carolina
Origin: | ObservationManager - SolarSystem Catalog 1.0 |
| Visual impression
|
Sessions: 2008-07-17 um 21:20:00-05:00
Begin: | 2008-07-17 um 21:20:00-05:00 |
End: | 2008-07-17 um 23:40:00-05:00 |
Weather: | Forecast avg Actual: S:6-7/10 T:4/5 |
Equipment: | C8i, 2.5x Powermate, Manual focusing, DMK21AF04, TruTek CFW with visual wide, and custom Coriander under Ubuntu 8.04 |
Comments: | Started at 2120 with ISS observation through trees visually in front sidewalk. Cat cooler filter change and then 15min of cooling starting at 2140 Cat cooler for another 20 min before start of observing Setup near bird bath near front porch as there is a small opening in the trees in the SE of the sky Targets included Jupiter, Luna and Altair |
Observer: Michael A. Phillips Mr.
>> Observations <<Longitude: | 35.682° |
Latitude: | -78.743° |
Timezone: | UT-300 min |
Type: | SCT |
Vendor: | Celestron |
Aperture: | 203.0 mm |
Focal length: | 2032.0 mm |
Vendor: | TeleVue |
Focal length: | 2.5 mm |
Typ: | Color |
Vendor: | The Image Source |
Pixel: | 640x480 |
Origin: | ObservationManager - SolarSystem Catalog 1.0 |
| Visual impression
|
Sessions: 2008-11-01 um 20:29:00-05:00
Begin: | 2008-11-01 um 20:29:00-05:00 |
End: | 2008-11-01 um 22:51:00-05:00 |
Weather: | Forecast was S and T, both 4/5 Actual 5/10 and 5/5 |
Equipment: | I used: Ubuntu 8.04 Linux and custom coriander 8" Celestron C8i SCT Lymax Cat Cooler DMK 21AF04 2.5x PowerMate Astronomik LRGB filters True Tek Color Filter Wheel with visu diag |
Comments: | Bad timing on Jupiter. Waited till after an early bedtime for the kids only to find Jupiter fairly low. I was happy about the weather and decided to take one last parting shot on ol' Jove before the season's end. I found it hanging above the trees and thought I had time. That was until the dec slips again. It seems that the weight of the CFW and camera kill the dec motors at around 20-30* of alt and below. I managed to get things working by pulling the offening equipment out until I got a partial align. They then cooporated after that. Focusing was hard as I've got a longer 1394 cable now. Got that as good as I could on Jupiter itself and then started an RGB coriander sequence. About 20 sec into the Red (1st channel mind you!) It slipped behind the trees. Oh well, next time! On to a recooling session with the cat cooler and the outer ice giants! |
Observer: Michael A. Phillips Mr.
>> Observations <<Longitude: | 35.682° |
Latitude: | -78.743° |
Timezone: | UT-300 min |
Type: | SCT |
Vendor: | Celestron |
Aperture: | 203.0 mm |
Focal length: | 2032.0 mm |
Eyepiece: 15mm Celestron Plössl
Vendor: | Celestron |
Focal length: | 15.0 mm |
Apparent field of view: | 14400.0′ |
Typ: | Color |
Vendor: | The Image Source |
Pixel: | 640x480 |
Origin: | ObservationManager - SolarSystem Catalog 1.0 |
| Visual impression
|
Sessions: 2008-10-15 um 18:45:00-05:00
Begin: | 2008-10-15 um 18:45:00-05:00 |
End: | 2008-10-15 um 23:30:00-05:00 |
Weather: | Forecast called for S 4/5 and T 3/5 Actual S: 4-6 T: 2-3/5 |
Equipment: | I used: Ubuntu 8.04 Linux and custom coriander 8" Celestron C8i SCT DMK 21AF04 2.5x PowerMate Astronomik LRGB filters True Tek Color Filter Wheel with visu diag Since the 3 day stretch of good seeing in early Sept, I have used the T61 Also used WinXP and IC Capture with the TrueTek Hand Controller for > 1sec exposures |
Comments: | To get Uranus and Neptune I had to move exposures beyond 1 second. Currently the custom coriander 1.0.0 does not support exposures beyond 1 second. Even at 1sec and 3.25fps I was unable to get usable data. As quickly as I could I switched to WinXP and IC Capture for camera control. A reboot and install of drivers burned some time, but a valuable lesson in prepareness. I did try to leverage previous whitebalance exercises on Jupiter for Uranus and Neptune. I found tracking and alignment horrible, but since finding 6-7mag planets isn't easy, I decided not to re-align. More and deeper exposures would have helped the moon shots. |
Observer: Michael A. Phillips Mr.
>> Observations <<Longitude: | 35.682° |
Latitude: | -78.743° |
Timezone: | UT-300 min |
Type: | SCT |
Vendor: | Celestron |
Aperture: | 203.0 mm |
Focal length: | 2032.0 mm |
Vendor: | TeleVue |
Focal length: | 2.5 mm |
Typ: | Color |
Vendor: | The Image Source |
Pixel: | 640x480 |
Origin: | ObservationManager - SolarSystem Catalog 1.0 |
| Visual impression
|
Sessions: 2008-10-07 um 19:50:00-05:00
Begin: | 2008-10-07 um 19:50:00-05:00 |
End: | 2008-10-07 um 20:40:00-05:00 |
Weather: | Haze and thin clouds S: 8/10 T: 1/5 |
Equipment: | I used: Ubuntu 8.04 Linux and custom coriander 8" Celestron C8i SCT DMK 21AF04 2.5x PowerMate Astronomik LRGB filters True Tek Color Filter Wheel with visu diag |
Comments: | Not a night I'd normally be going out as a slow moving cold front was moving in and brought a great amount of humidity and haze. Seeing forecast was good so I eyeballed the skies near Jupiter and decided to take a stab at it, especially with an attempt at an Io transit too. (Missed that) |
Observer: Michael A. Phillips Mr.
>> Observations <<Longitude: | 35.682° |
Latitude: | -78.743° |
Timezone: | UT-300 min |
Type: | SCT |
Vendor: | Celestron |
Aperture: | 203.0 mm |
Focal length: | 2032.0 mm |
Vendor: | TeleVue |
Focal length: | 2.5 mm |
Typ: | Color |
Vendor: | The Image Source |
Pixel: | 640x480 |