M44 imaged from New Mexico

I used Telescope T3 in New Mexico to image the cluster Messier 44. 

This is the data for the image

Object Name: M 44

Object Type: Open Cluster

Altitude: +73° 59' 38" 

Constellation: Cancer

Name 2: M 44

Major Axis: 90.0

Minor Axis: 0.0

RA (Topocentric): 08h 40m 51s 

Dec (Topocentric): +19° 36' 53" 

RA (2000.0): 08h 39m 57s 

Dec (2000.0): +19° 40' 21" 

Azimuth: 217° 08' 50" 

Magnitude: 3.10

Rise Time: 16:21

Transit Time: 23:16

Set Time: 06:15

Hour Angle: 00h 40m 44s 

Air Mass: 1.04

Catalog Identifier: NGC2632

Source Catalog: Core SDBs: Messier Labels

Date: 11/02/2015

Time: 00:00:43 STD

Constellation (Abbrev.): Cnc

Screen X: 508.55

Screen Y: 315.48

Sidereal Time: 09:22

Julian Date: 2457064.79216435

This is the data for the telescope/imager -  Courtesy of iTelescope.com:

Instrument Package

iTelescope T3 FoV - M42 (white frame)

CCD:  SBIG ST-8300C One Shot Color CCD

Full Well: ~25,500e- ABG

Dark Current:   ~0.02e- / pixel / sec at -15°

A/D Gain:  0.37e-/ADU

Pixel Size:  5.4um Square

Resolution:   1.02 arc-secs/pixel

Sensor:  Frontlit 

Cooling:  -20C Winter (-10C Summer)

Array:  3326 x 2504 (8.3 Megapixels) 

FOV:  42.4 x 56.3  arc-mins

Filters:  NA

Position Angle: 000º

 

Telescope Optics

OTA: Takahashi TOA-150

Optical Design: Apochromatic Refractor 

Aperture: 150mm

Focal Length: 1095mm

F/Ratio: f7.3

Guiding: Internal 

Mount: Paramount GTS 

The chart below shows its position in Cancer Courtesy of Software Bisque.

Jewel Box Cluster imaged from Siding Spring

I used telescope T32 in Siding Spring to image NGC 4755 which is known as the Jewel Box Cluster.

 This is the image data:

Object Name: NGC 4755

Object Type: Open Cluster

Altitude: +59° 41' 50" 

Constellation: Crux

Major Axis: 10.0

Minor Axis: 10.0

RA (Topocentric): 12h 54m 34.695s 

Dec (Topocentric): -60° 26' 05.516" 

RA (2000.0): 12h 53m 37.001s 

Dec (2000.0): -60° 21' 22.011" 

Azimuth: 168° 01' 56" 

Axis Position Angle:   0° 00' 

Magnitude: 4.20

Transit Time: 04:37

Hour Angle: -00h 48m 58s 

Air Mass: 1.16

Rise/Set Notes: Always above horizon.

Source Catalog: Revised NGC

Constellation: CRU

Remarks: Jewel Box, Kappa Cru cl.

Date: 11/02/2015

Time: 03:47:49 DST

Constellation (Abbrev.): Cru

Screen X: 392.91

Screen Y: 316.63

Sidereal Time: 12:06

Julian Date: 2457064.19987269

and the telescope data

CCD: FLI Proline 16803T32 FOV 

QE: 60% Peak

Full Well:  > 100X Saturation Exposure (ABG)

Dark Current:  <0.07 e-/pixel/sec. @ -35º C

Pixel Size:  9um Square

Resolution:  0.63 arcsec/pixel

Sensor: KAF-16803 

Cooling: -35º C default 

Array:   4096 x 4096 pixels

FOV:  43.2 x 43.2 arcmin    

Filters: Astrodon E-Series. Red, Green, Blue.

Luminance, Ha, SII, OIII, V, I

Position Angle: 90º

Telescope Optics

OTA: Planewave 17" CDK 

Optical Design: Corrected Dall-Kirkham Astrograph 

Aperture: 431mm

Focal Length: 2912mm

F/Ratio: f/6.8 

Guiding: Active Guiding Disabled

Mount: Planewave Ascension 200HR

CCD: FLI Proline 16803T32 FOV Dark Current:  <0.07 e-/pixel/sec. @ -35º CPixel Size:  9um SquareResolution:  0.63 arcsec/pixelSensor: KAF-16803 Cooling: -35º C default Array:   4096 x 4096 pixelsFOV:  43.2 x 43.2 arcmin    Filters: Astrodon E-Series. Red, Green, Blue.

OTA: Planewave 17" CDK 

Optical Design: Corrected Dall-Kirkham Astrograph 

OTA: Planewave 17" CDK 

Optical Design: Corrected Dall-Kirkham Astrograph 

OTA: Planewave 17" CDK Optical Design: Corrected Dall-Kirkham Astrograph 

Aperture: 431mm

Focal Length: 2912mm

F/Ratio: f/6.8 

Guiding: Active Guiding Disabled

Mount: Planewave Ascension 200HR

Aperture: 431mm

Focal Length: 2912mm

F/Ratio: f/6.8 

Guiding: Active Guiding Disabled

Mount: Planewave Ascension 200HR

Aperture: 431mmFocal Length: 2912mmF/Ratio: f/6.8 Guiding: Active Guiding DisabledMount: Planewave Ascension 200HR

NGC 2455 Open Cluster in Puppis

I used telescope T9 at Siding Spring to image this open cluster using V and B Filters. Telescope T9 is regularly used in Hubble Space Telescope  support missions. This cluster was discovered on 15th February 1836 by John Herschel, the son of William Herschel. The stars are generally around 12th Magnitude. The cluster is approximately 5' across. The field of view of telescope T9 is 13.6 x 20.4 arc-mins. The cluster lies at a distance of 2650 Parsecs. (Ref 1) The bright foreground star is HIP 38197 with a magnitude of V =7.95 and B = 7.80 so is slightly brighter in the blue. It lies at a distance of 1,716 Light Years which is 526 Parsecs so it lies at about one fifth of the distance of the cluster from us. 

 

The chart below shows the position of NGC 2455 in Puppis.(Courtesy of Ref 2)

 

What is in the sky tonight.

This is the view looking south tonight at 10 p.m. local time from the latitude of my location in Lancashire.

Chart courtesy of Software Bisque

The panoramic horizon is of my view in Spain last year  - unfortunately not what I see now in a town in Lancashire! Gemini is in the south with Castor and Pollux approaching the meridian line. Castor will be the first to get to the meridian at 22:51 followed by Pollux at 23:02. At 10 p.m. Castor is at an altitude of 67 degrees and Pollux at 63 degrees.

The constelltion of Gemini is shown in a closer view below.

Courrtesy of Software Bisque

 NGC 2331 is an open cluster in Gemini with a diameter of 19 minutes or arc. Uncle Rod from Possum Swamp observed this in 2009 at Chiefland Astronomy Village in Florida but didn't seem to think much of it! Several descriptions of it are given in the Deep Sky Observer's Companion.

Astronomy Magazines and Clouds

I have just set up a home based "Cloud" service that allows me to back up everything from my various computer devices to a special type of 2 TB hard drive that plugs into my router. My main laptop now automatically gets backed up onto this on a continuous basis through my wireless network. Obviously the one drawback is that if my house burns down the drive goes with it. The advantage is that I buy the drive once and don't have to pay a company recurring fees for external service. However my Dropbox account (only a free one) links to the cloud system as a device so if I want to use that as well I can. 

That is only part of it - it also backs up my photographs and music to the home cloud from my PC, iPhone and iPad. Now if I want music I go onto my iPhone (or any device), run the iPhone cloud App and select the music from the cloud drive! Centralised music. I also have a bluetooth speaker so I usually just use my iPhone with the cloud, set it to bluetooth on and play the music.

This is not just from the house! Anywhere I have internet access I can access anything from my cloud drive - so if I am in Spain and want to show photos from my cloud I can do so!

The same applies to WORD Documents and PDFs etc - for example If I am working on a WORD document I can drag it from my PC to the cloud drive and immediately access it from my iPhone or iPad.

I found that it is an excellent way of managing PDF files. I have subscribed to the PDF only option for "The Astronomer" magazine for some time now. I usually forget to save them or save them somewhere I cant find! I have just stored (all 12) 2014 issues on the cloud and can now go onto my iPad(wherever I am) , open the cloud app and "The Astronomer" folder and there they all are. PDF magazines are ideal for reading on the iPad. I will work back through the issues storing them when I can.

I also now subscribe to the online only editions of "Sky and Telescope" and "Astronomy" US based magazines. It is very straightforward to save these as PDFs and I now read those on my iPad as well.

If you are a BAA member and have registered on their website you have access to any issue of the BAA Journal online as a downloadable PDF. A word of warning  - they are all there from issue 1 which was October 1890!! At 6 a year that adds up to quite a lot. However I now have a BAA Journal folder on my cloud!

I have copies of astronomy magazines going back to the seventies so a large chunk of my house is packed with them - I may soon be thinking about selling them off!!

NGC 4459 galaxy in Coma Berenices image ruined by satellite!

Satellite scores a bullseye! How to ruin an image of NGC 4459 

Open Cluster NGC 4349 in the Southern Cross imaged from Siding Spring

This is NGC 4349. Although it was the 17th January 2015 here it was 04:51:38 in the morning of 18th January in Siding Spring. It was a 300 second exposure. It lies at a distance of 2176 parsecs. 

NGC 4349 North is up and east is to the left

This is the data from the plate solution

NGC 4349 is arrowed.

This is where you find NGC 4349. If you look closely you can see the actual image to scale at the chart position marked.

NGC 4349 is arrowedStar charts and plate solutions generated by TheSkyX © Software Bisque, Inc. All rights reserved. www.bisque.com

So NGC 4349 is situated in the southern consteallation of Crux which is The Southern Cross.

Messier 37

I took this image of M37 yesterday using the telescope T11 in New Mexico.

Messier 37 in Auriga 300s exposure T11 New Mexico

APASS Update

I received an email this morning from the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) telling me that the AAVSO Photometric All Sky Survey (APASS) catalog had been updated yesterday so that it now contained 50 million stars with measured photometric magnitudes. In the past it has been difiicult for amateurs wishing to measure the photometric magnitude of a new or variable object because of the unavailability of comparison and check stars in the same field as the target object. APASS greatly increases the chance of being able to do that so is potentially a major step forward in advancing science. I was working on the open cluster  NGC 2477 and imported APASS stars within a 3 degree diameter around the cluster. I set up database using these APASS stars and added this to the SkyX software. The result was over 8000 APASS stars and the resulting image with a 3 degree diameter of these looked like this!

The individual APASS stars are labelled and a path is shown in blue to move the telescope from APASS 1 to 8177 - if I wanted to do that. This illustrates the vast number of comparison stars that are now available to the amateur photometrist.

John Herschel letter concerning Planetary Nebulae

John Herschel wrote this letter and mentioned a planetary nebula that he observed on 1st April 1834 from the Cape of Good Hope. He gave coordinates as shown. NPD refers to the North Polar Distance so to calculate the Declination you need to subtract 90 degrees from the NPD. So we are looking at an RA of

 NGC 9h 17m and Dec -57 degr ees 35 minutes.

This is now known as NGC 2867. In reality John Herschel really thought he had discovered a new planet as described in Steinicke's book