IMAGES: The Stargate Asterism

IMAGE: The Stargate Asterism 

EQUIPMENT: Meade LXD-55 6" Refractor with Canon Digital Rebel XT at prime focus. 

EXPOSURE: A 10 second unguided shot at ISO 1600.

NOTES: The Stargate Asterism consists of six stars arranged in a triangle, within a triangle, located just north of the constellation Corvus. 

IMAGES: Asteroid 1998 QE2

IMAGE: Asteroid 1998 QE2

EQUIPMENT: Meade LXD-55 6" Refractor with Canon Digital Rebel XT at prime focus. 

NOTES: A series of unguided 30 second shots at ISO 1600.

A FEW THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE ANIMATED GIF.

- This is a series of 36 frames showing movement of the asteroid. The asteroid, though point like in nature, looks like a peanut or worm in each frame because it has traveled that far in the 30 seconds it took to image it, leaving a small trail.

- Equipment used: 6 inch Meade LXD-55 refractor, Canon Digital Rebel at prime focus.

- Each frame is a 30 second unguided exposure stored by the camera in jpg format.

- The time span where the asteroid crosses the field of view in the GIF from "point A" to "point B" spans about 20 minutes of actual observing time.

- The GIF was made from the original jpg frames. No special processing was done to improve image quality.

- The stars in the frames are not always pinpoint like they should be. This is a realization of the errors in the telescopes unguided tracking drive.

- There are tiny "dancing" red and blue specs. These are hot pixels in the camera's imaging sensor. Again, no processing was used to "clean up" the frames.

- The asteroid appears to wiggle like a worm across the field of view. This may very well be a real phenomena unique to this asteroid but I am not sure what causes it. I am trying to get observations from guided scopes to check it out. *It is known that the asteroid has a moon with an orbit of 32 hours and that the asteroid itself rotates once about every 4 hours or so. A combination of these two characteristics may change the way light reflects from both the moon and the asteroid, creating an illusion of a "wiggling worm" in trail shots like this.

- IMPORTANT: Sometimes the asteroid trail seems to take a "vertical dip". This is a product of the tracking errors in the telescopes unguided tracking drive.

*Post observation blog addition.

Astronomical Journal - EDT20130326

Astronomical Journal - EDT20130329

Location: Astronomy Club of Akron Observatory Grounds
Weather: Clear/Optimal for viewing location.
Equipment: "Big Ten" the 10" Meade Starfinder dobsonian (F=1000mm)

Notes:  Trouble maintaining night vision.

Objects Observed:

OBSERVING SESSION BEGIN: EDT201303292202

- Jupiter - 25mm eyepiece.

- M42, The Great Orion Nebula - 25mm eyepiece.

- M1, The Crab Nebula - 25mm eyepiece, OIII filter.
OIII may have enhanced it only ever so slightly.
Extremely faint but noticeable overall.

- M35, Open Star Cluster - 25mm eyepiece.
Highly visible. Imagine this cluster to be made of strings of pearls.

- M38, Open Star Cluster - 25mm eyepiece.
Highly visible. I imagine the star patterns in the shape of an X with a star dead center.

- M36, Open Star Cluster - 25mm eyepiece.
Highly visible. Bright and tighter than nearby M38. I imagine the star patterns as a "Klingon Bird of Prey".

- M37, Open Star Cluster - 25mm eyepiece.
A lot of stars packed in it for an open cluster.
Can almost imagine a five point star pattern. with a tight center.

- California Nebula - 25mm eyepiece, OIII filter.
May have seen a hint of nebula. Uncertain.

- The Leo Trio: M65, M66, NGC3628 - 25mm eyepiece.
M65, M66 readily visible, though faint.
Managed to bag NGC3628, though on the verge of not seeing it.
Fitted all three in FOV.

- Galaxies: M96, M95 - 25mm eyepiece.
M96 much more noticable than M95. Bagged both in same FOV.

- Galaxies: M105, NGC3389/3384? - 25mm eyepiece.
M105 is bright as the NGC object. *However I was unable to determine the exact catalog number of the NGC object I was viewing. It was for certain either 3389 or 3384. These three objects, the Messier and NGC objects, are together on the chart but only two of them, the Messier and one NGC object were spotted this night.

- M97, The Owl Nebula - 25mm, OIII filter.
Faint without the OIII. OIII definitely improved contrast.

- Galaxies: M81, M82 - 25mm eyepiece.
Highly visible, though faint. M82 appears elongated. M81 brighter than M82 with bright core.

- Waning Crescent Moon Rising

- Toes got cold.

END OBSERVING SESSION: EDT201303292311

*Post observation note.