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For the first time held at Observatory Haunsberg near Salzburg Austria from May 30-June 1, 33 people from 13 countries attended.
The 3 days were full with talks in English, from amateur and professional spectroscopists. Baader Planitarium and Shelyak attended.
This is a new facility, the observatories contain 2 telescopes a 40cm RC with Echelle spectrograph and a 1m ASA EQ 1000 RC F7 equatorial telescope. We had 1 night on the 1m telescope viewing many Messier objects. The central star in M57 was an easy target for the 1m, M81 and M104 showed lots of detail, in very dark transparent skies with excellent seeing and no light pollution.
All in all, I learn’t a lot and made new friends.This symposium proved to be productive and important, for the future of international am-pro collaboration.
I would like to thank the organisers Manfred Schwarz, Herbert Puhringer, Ernst Pollman for there hard work and efforts in making this a success.
I encourage people from the UK to support the next symposium.
https://www.astrophoto.at/VEGA/
Regards to all,
Jack
Essex UK
Topic: Dilworth, not Cassegrain
When I purchased Tacande observatory a year ago, the information pack included the text:
Professional 400 mm. telescope: Exceptional optical quality, recommended for Deep Sky, planetary or lunar observations. Prototype of the Cassegrain-Relay type optical system. Manufactured by the Swiss company Larrosa Precision Optics. Please see… http://www.larrosa.ch/
and so I’ve been calling it a Cassegrain ever since.A couple of days ago Victor Larrosa mailed me to explain that it is not a Cassegrain, but a Dilworth. He also told me that all the optical surfaces (apart from the plane window enclosing the tube) were spherical and provided a design drawing of the optical arrangement.
Accordingly it will be described as a Dilworth-Relay telescope from now on. Regardless of the name, it’s an excellent piece of kit.Please apply Hanlon’s razor. I’d never heard of the Dilworth design and there seems to be very little information about it on the net.In reply to: Variable nebula update
Hi Stewart,
The Gemini telescope is part of the Sierra stars observatory network (SSON). Have a look at their web site at: http://sierrastars.com/ . If you want to use it you will have to set up an account and then buy some credits. Then you can schedule jobs to look at whatever you want.
A word of caution though, as with most things you usually only see the good images. There are often ‘issues’ with using remote telescopes so don’t expect perfect results every time. Prepare for some disappointments…the image I downloaded this morning was rubbish!!!
Have you looked at iTelescope? They have a wide range of telescope sizes suited to all sorts of observing projects (SSON only have two 0.5M instruments). Payment there is with a monthly subscription but you can change the amount you pay on your ‘Plan’ quite easily.
Hope that helps,
Mike.
In reply to: Variable nebula update
Topic: Variable nebula update
Is Gyulbudaghian’s nebula fading?
This nebula is associated with PV Cephei at RA 20h 46m Dec +67d 58m and has been monitored for many years by the BAA DSS and myself. Attached are three images from this year taken in January, March and last night (May 6th). All were taken with the University of Iowa 0.51M Gemini telescope in Arizona and they are all single 3 minute exposures through a luminance filter.
Almost exactly 10 years ago Gyulbudaghian’s nebula (MrG to its friends!) faded from view completely for a few months. Is history repeating itself? More images of MrG appear on the Orwell Astronomical Society web site at: http://www.oasi.org.uk/Obsvns/20190211_VN/20190211_VN.php
It will be well worth imaging this object over the next few months. All images would be gratefully received by Nick Hewitt of the DSS.
Mike
Attachments:
In reply to: radio emission from the supermassive black hole
When the Event Horizon Telescope project started in 2009 the UK was still part funding and involved in operation of the James Clerk Maxwell telescope which has been part of the project – then we pulled the plug on funding and walked away in 2015 [ironically the UNESCO International Year of Light which celebrated the achievements of all those who had contributed to our understanding of light – foremost amongst them Maxwell]. I think there may still be a bit of involvement somewhere via UCL, but I’m not sure. But, you are right, sadly we don’t have a place at this particular top table.
john s
In reply to: Something interesting by M88
AL Com now at 14.34 as of 28 April. I used the T14 telescope in USA ( 100 mm refractor and cooled CCD) with a 300 s exposure , V filter, defocussed. AstroImageJ produced the estimate of magnitude. There are also a large number of galaxies close to M88/AL Com.
Stewart
In reply to: Something interesting by M88
I can’t really claim any credit…it’s a great telescope! The UOI 0.5M Gemini telescope is part of the Sierra Stars Observatory Network (SSON) and was upgraded last summer. The new CCD makes images like this possible. The M88/AL Com image was a single 180 seconds exposure with a luminance filter. I’m no image processing expert; I just did a log stretch and a bit of stretching using IRIS to make the galaxy look nice(!). I took the magnitude estimate from the AAVSO web site where people like Gary report all their hard work.
Anyone can sign up to SSON and buy telescope time. They also have a 0.5M at Siding Spring to cover southern objects.
Mike.
In reply to: Something interesting by M88
My first chance to image AL Com was on 24th April using the 0.5M University of Iowa telescope in Arizona. It had already faded to mag. 14 in the 9 days since Martin’s image.
Is anyone else continuing to monitor/image this object? I’ll aim to take some more images in the coming week…
Mike.
In reply to: Lhires main mirror adjustment
Hi Jack,
I would be surprised if it was the main mirror that needed adjusting, but it is an easy adjustment to try. There is a screw at the bottom of the LHires III that you can loosen to allow a small movement of the main mirror. The user guide has instructions on how to do this including pictures of the procedure.
Was it definitely the main mirror and not the guide mirror? The user manual also has instructions on how to adjust the guide mirror.
That said, my first place to start would not be the mirrors, but the main collimator lens and guide camera focus, unless you have already tried these adjustments.
You can leave the spectrograph on the telescope to adjust the collimating lens (doublet) focus, in fact this is normal practice. You access the lens via the little doors at the side of the spectrograph. I expect you know how to do this and the easiest way is to focus it using the spectrum of the neon calibration lamp.
I’ve found that the sweet spot for my Lhires III does not have a perfectly thin spectrum height, though others may have tweaked theirs to give better results. There was a long discussion on this topic in the below forum thread.
https://britastro.org/node/15094
Cheers,
Andy
The only way I can get a thin spectrum is by defocusing the star.
Its been suggested the main mirror needs adjustment.
Can this be done without removing the Lhires setup from the telescope ?
During the day or by bright starlight ?
Regards,
Jack
Essex UK
Topic: Bailly and the terminator
This view last night really puzzled me: it was extraordinary how Bailly and terrain nearby crated a localised hump, or peak, on the terminator, creating an illusion of Bailly being at the cusp of the gibbous phase, but it wasn’t. Panning the camera live view gradually along the terminator by slewing the telescope, I was surprised to find that I could keep following the terminator way to the lunar south (right in this image), at least two fields beyond this view, till the terminator turned into the limb.
I’ve never seen this phenomenon before, and it is not represented in the Moon simulation app I used to show the terminator at this date and time, Moon Globe HD (iOS). It’s also not shown quite like this in any on-line images I’ve found of this area.
I wonder if this is a known thing: is it an unusual consequence of a particular libration and phase?
It sees to me it can only be explained by this area of the lunar crust around Bailly having a substantial large-scale uplift and deviation from the spherical.
David
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Topic: Something interesting by M88
For those who like to look at or image M88 in Com, the long period UGWZ dwarf nova system AL Com has just entered outburst (Apr 14.5 UT) at magnitude 13.0C. The outburst was detected by Masayuki Moriyama (Nagasaki, Japan) with a 20cmSCT + ST-8XME.
The dwarf nova lies just 8 arc mins to the SE of M88, and a finder chart with comparison stars can be drawn up by using the AAVSO chart plotter at https://www.aavso.org/apps/vsp/ Various orientations can be entered for different types of telescope, and any field size up to 20 degrees can be plotted.
AL Com undergoes more frequent outbursts than the classical UGWZ systems (usually very long period between outbursts), with the the last one occurring in March 2015 and the previous one just 13 months before that.
If you can make visual observations or undertake time series CCD photometry during this outburst, then the VSS would very much like to receive your data. If you don’t want to bother with all that, then just take a look or image the galaxy to see if you record it. And if you do have a look visually, remember this isn’t the star your seeing in outburst but a white dwarf accretion disc. Not bad for an ordinary eyeball eh?
Good luck
Gary
Topic: Telescope control
For those with Celestron scopes and who don’t already have advanced observatory control software:
Celestron has made available – for free – easy to use telescope control software that will work with many of their mounts. I have found that it meshes nicely via ASCOM with Maxim. And with a local copy of UCAC4, I can plate solve out in the field and achieve precise pointing.
https://www.celestron.com/pages/celestron-pwi-telescope-control-software
Topic: Campaign to observe HR Lyrae
With Lyra becoming well placed for observation until the end of the year (at least in the northern hemisphere), we are launching a campaign to observe this old nova in quiescence. Coincidentally, this year is the centenary of the discovery of Nova Lyrae on 1919 December 6 by Miss Mackie at the Harvard College Observatory.
We are looking for nightly snapshot photometry (CCD or visual). In addition, some long time series photometry runs would be helpful. Spectroscopy is also desirable, but this will be a real challenge given the magnitude. I last observed it at V = 15.6 on April 1 at mag with the AAVSOnet’s SRO telescope.
Full details about the campaign, what is already known about HR Lyr and what we are seeking to discover about the star are available on the BAA website.
The campaign will continue until the end of the year
Jeremy Shears
In reply to: Observatory computer setup
Much the same with me, but the other way round. TheSkyX is installed but, strangely perhaps, prefer The Sky 6. MaximDL 6 is used for camera control, including guiding. My experience is that it guides very well as long as there is a bright enough star within the field of the SBIG-8 / AO-7 AG combination.
For VS work I tend to take enough 30s subs to achieve an acceptable SNR and then move on to the next target. MaxIm DL’s stacking function is invaluable for this. Given that some variables can change by several magnitudes from night to night, my approach can save significant telescope time. To avoid confusion: Maxim DL is used only as a first-look eyeballing procedure, not for final analysis where a local installation of astrometry.net and SWarp is used for stacking.
In reply to: Observatory computer setup
Andy,
thanks, that’s encouraging to know. I believe that on windows 10 professional the auto updating can still be turned off, but not on the home versions.
I’d be interested in your Ascom settings for Phd2 and the ACOM The SkyX controlled telescope. I understand that with the lodestar as auto guider the camera to mount cabling is no longer required. Also if you still guide with Maxim DL what type settings you use to link to the guide camera.
Maybe you could contact me off forum.
Eric
In reply to: Observatory computer setup
Linux can certainly run a telescope control system natively but you’d have to use alternatives to the packages with which you are familiar.
WINE is getting pretty good and may be able to run MaxIm DL et al. but when I tried to run Astrometrica under WINE on a Ubuntu 18.10 system it failed because of the lack of some critical component in WINE. You may have better luck.
An alternative to WINE is to run Windows 7 (or whatever you have) in a virtual machine. Again, it may not be completely plain sailing but it may work just fine.
I can go into much more detail but perhaps that’s best done off-line.
In reply to: Scintillation and ALPY spectra
Dear Hugh, I read that you work in alt-az mode to avoid the effects of atmospheric dispersion. I’d be interested to know how you do this. I have an AZ-EQ6 Mount but haven’t tried the AZ mode. I normally guide on a different star to the target. Does field rotation interfere with your guiding? Do you have more difficulty synchronising your telescope to your planetarium software? I’ve been put off trying AZ mode because I had heard that it’s “go to“ function was not so accurate.
Hi,
I find the sky continues to darker after the end of astronomical twilight when observing in Topsfield, MA, USA. I would put this down to the turning off of lights over the region.
By contrast when in Rush, Ireland I do not see this sharp decline. There, lights are no longer turned off.
An interesting article, Some Thoughts on Twilight, from Sky & Telescope (Oct 1960 p.207) by Joseph Ashbrook talks about this subject. I believe this can be found at archive.org.
John
British Astronomical Association
Supporting amateur astronomers since 1890
