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I agree with Jeremy. I had considered exactly the same proposed setup as yourself, but concluded i wouldn’t fit in the dome with the scope 😉 However i suggest that a motorised dome rotation would overcome the narrow slit difficultly. It works very well on my 2.7m Pulsar. I align the aperture on the OTA, and select sidereal rate on the control box. The azimuth drive system can be retro fitted.
I also find the variable bright at r 12.88 +/-0.05 (Unfiltered CCD, GaiaDR2/Astrometrica). Poor conditions of drifting high cloud in Moonlight Measurement were from start, mid and end of a frame sequence at 5s intervals for 20min.
A web-cam on the finder is a useful arrangement. Since i already have a 9×50 finder and a suitable camera, i bought one of these from FLO: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-sky-watcher-9×50-finder-to-t-adapter.html.
Agreed, Its helpfull to have some form of dark frame subtraction to remove hot-pixels if the web-cam is used with longer exposure settings. False stars can be confused with real ones !Thanks Dominic, I will contact Novatech who made the laptop which is W7 i3, 4GB and SSD. I have now overcome the initial memory problem.
When I installed the 64bit version of Anaconda3 (2020-11) and HOPS 3.0.1, and use by own FITS files from a QHY174 – which are 4506 K each – HOPS progresses all the way to a preliminary light curve. The program analysed 1300 FITS files in about 30min, with 65% memory usage and 20% processor power.
The computer falls over when trying to process 32000 K FITS files often used in a Tutorial. So although the the HOPS 3 Manual says 4GB RAM or more – the relevant word is “More”. I would say my camera was typical mid-sized 12/16 bit CMOS, and these smaller files are handled OK with the old computer, and ageing operator !
Alan
With the WAT910HX / RC you have the makings of sensitive asteroid occultation timing setup. The addition of a GPS video time inserter, a larger aperture lens and a controllable mount is all that is required in terms of hardware to make useful observations. A clear sky would be nice too, but we can hope.Tim
Thank you Philip and Alan for your observations. The movement of the path is typical of predictions for higher numbered asteroids. Sometimes this can favour an observing location.
There have been a number of MISS reports (no occultation) from observers in SE UK and Europe. Observers who happened to be in or close to the predicted shadow were clouded out this time, and no observation made. Two observes in England detected small drops in the light curve, and these were attributed to cloud passing, since the time of these obscurations were outside the expected occultation window.
Thank you to all observers, and i expect there will be more bright star events in the future.
The Asteroids and Remote Planet Section (ARPS) has a group of observers making regular recordings of fainter star predictions. ( Magnitudes in the range 10-14 ). More than 50 stellar occultations were reported (positive) last year.
I would also check in Device Manager, the status of the USB controllers. There should be no errors shown
TimIm not an expert – and sorry ive just seen your request. In the section on Universal Time, GMT starting at Noon was also referred to as GMAT, Greenwich Mean Astronomical Time – a very minor point.
I like the new facilities very much, but has the zoom in (enlarge) link been removed ? (Sorry if this have already been discussed)
I have had success with F/4 Newtonians on a good GOTO mount. At the other end of the scale a short focal length lens on a portable tracking mount should give pleasing results when images are stacked. I use 50 to 200mm prime lenses but ive had good results with 18-105mm zoom range. If you are interested in timelapse, then it would be possible to put long exposure wide angle frames into a movie that includes foreground objects.
Thanks for the clarification of G mag being a good match to unfiltered CCD photometry. I wasn’t 100% sure until now. There is a G* mag which is not the same as G ?
Aracebo was one of the first instruments to locate Fast Radio Bursts, and to image many Near Earth Asteroids. I think the 305m dish excelled at radio imaging. I hope the education center can be rescued.
Hello Alan,
EAA is a technique used a lot by astro-socs for live imaging in learning situations and demos, sometimes with colour cameras which are using longer exposures. There is quite a lot written about the subject.https://www.cloudynights.com/forum/73-electronically-assisted-astronomy-eaa/
This may give you some more ideas. The video camera we use most (WAT 910HX) can image bright deep sky objects at the longest exposure setting (5 sec) with a fast optical system. (I have also used a telephoto lens at F4). At a public meeting i showed visitors M42 through an 8″ F/4 with integrating video and some were recording my monitor with their mobile phones – a long way from science, but sows some seeds…
A google search and a NASA paper “Taking apart the light” lists 661 nm as caused by Nitrogen. I dont know if this is a lab spectrum or “interstellar”. Will they be the same – or not i ask myself ? (Just a thought)
That is a very nice image Ryking. Reading around the subject i found this presentation by Robin Glover enlightening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RH93UvP358I looked at 1945/6 images on GE. There are several areas of huts which have been cleared now. Maybe this is a clue?
TimWhen using the ATIK, what does gain 1,2 and 5 represent in terms of the whole scale ? – in other words, what is the maximum gain setting in the software ? I have Sharpcap, so i would like to investigate sensor characteristics more fully with my QHY174.
Also, does temperature effect CMOS characteristsic ? Im thinking it should.
