Jupiter 2008-07-26 um 21:45:00-05:00

Deep Sky Logs
Observations

Object: Jupiter
Planet



Origin: ObservationManager 0.516 - SolarSystem Extension
Observer Michael A. Phillips Mr.
Site Home
Begin 2008-07-26 um 21:45:00-05:00
End 2008-07-26 um 22:55:00-05:00
Faintest star 4.3 mag
Seeing 2 (good)
Optics C8i
Eyepiece PowerMate (V=812.8)
Filter Astronomik LRGB color
Sitzung 2008-07-26 um 21:45:00-05:00

Visual impression

* easy! This post will quickly age as time passes, rendering the subject moot, but still my best of '08 and the wonderfully interesting GRS area! I kept a keen eye on the sky even though the forecast called for 40% chance of showers/t-storms and clouds! I found this jewel awaiting my new favorite hole in the nearby trees. Also a new record for me, I got this one from capture to web in ~2 hrs!

References

Sessions: 2008-07-26 um 21:45:00-05:00
Begin: 2008-07-26 um 21:45:00-05:00
End: 2008-07-26 um 23:00:00-05:00
Weather: S: 4/10 on Vega just over roof; Jup I'd estimate @ 8/10 or so. Very stable T: 3/5 Great night, but still some bugs due to warmer than previous night-time temps
Equipment: DMK: C8i, 2.5x Powermate, DMK21AF04, TruTek CFW with visual wide, and custom Coriander under Ubuntu 8.04
Comments: VERY poor align due to setup on front walkway with no view of Polaris for wedge align, nor time!
>> Observations <<>> Observations <<>> Observations <<>> Observations <<>> Observations <<>> Observations << Created: 07/28/2008 14:56:23

Introductions from Michael A. Phillips

I've been into the hobby since the early '90s when I was in High
School. I picked up my C8iSE for the Mars 05-06 opposition in the
fall of 2005. At the time I was only interested in visual observing
but quickly discovered that what I see at the eyepiece is not what you
see on the web for reasons of sensitivity of the eye vs a camera.
During the summer of '06 I was visiting cloudynights.com quite
frequently and learned about mono-chrome imaging with a 'webcam or
videocam'. My processing techniques are refined over time via the
knowledge of the CN folks. My processing writeups are found here:

http://maphilli14.blogspot.com/2008/02/partial-p

I've got to get a better gear writeup done. But wanted to let everyone know that I'm here!

Mike

Old, Old, OLD Pluto posting

Cleaning house and getting organized!

http://www.geocities.com/maphilli14/Astronomy/pluto/index.html

Enjoy!

Mike

Mars Before and After the Phoenix Lander

While I didn't manage image anything as stunning as NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotting the lander's decent with the chute. Nor did I manage to spot the features around the landing site as it was on the night-time side of Mars at the time of both my captures. I did manage to get 2 shots of Mars on two consecutive nights. One just before the Phoenix Lander's successful arrival and the next night just after the arrival.

Bad haze and clouds rolled in just as the 2nd night's capture began while my friend Robert Kintner and I setup for an observing session at my house.

Thanks for looking!



Mike

Saturn's Encaldus Transit in poor seeing 2008-04-25

It has been a poor winter and early spring for Astronomy, so I've been trying to take what I can get. Fighting poor (1/5) transparency and hazy clouds, I think I managed to eek out a portion of the Enceladus transit.

First is a simulation from Cartes du Ceil. (Click on for 2frame animation of what I think I've captured).


Next a still view of both times from the animation.


Thirdly, a composite of moons including Mimas (look closely near upper left of rings.



With labels of what I think i see (please post a response to let me know what you see)


My Flash Animation.
http://www.geocities.com/maphilli14/Astronomy/Saturn/Saturn-080425-Animation.html

Happy hunting!

Mike

Having fun with some bad seeing on Saturn

Trying to make the best out of some bad weather here. I played around with a lousy Saturn capture and uploaded the raw video to YouTube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3D2ITxaXlDw

And Posted my processed image on my Picasa Photo page:

http://picasaweb.google.com/maphilli14/MichaelAPhillipsAstronomyMechanicsGallery/photo#5192603427829467522

and I'm tying it all together with my blog! A bit of a front end portal to my.... well... hobby.

MIke