Day 127 Sunday 27th July 2014 Supernova found - 19 days too late!

I spent the day upgrading the SkyX to include the daily builds - quite an effort but managed it. This allowed me to link the camera via the camera add on to Orchetrate so I was ready to go!

I started a run of galaxy imaging and acquired 233 galaxy images for my library. 

When I checked the image of PGC 67733 against the DSS image I spotted a suspect SN which turned out to be the real thing - but had been discovered on the 8th July 2014 by an automated survey!!

 To see the details go to Dave Bishop's site and search for UGC 11860 on that page.

 I had another suspect which turned out to be the minor planet Anhui!

Day 126 Saturday 26th July 2014 Perfect Pointing maintained

When the Paramount ME Mount was homed and slewed it went directly to the first target selected. The object was perfectly centred.

This is the advantage of having a mount that has an absolute mechanical reference position.

Pointing is with reference to that position so as long as the mount is not moved and that homed position is synchronised with the sky and linked to the T-Point model to account for the mechanical variations between "identical" mounts   it will give good pointing.

I note that telescope hosting companies will only accept mounts with absolute encoders as that is the only way they can be used as remote "robotic" mounts.

I believe the SkyWatcher EQ8 can be homed in a similar way bit would need to check that. This is an early preview.

Here is a review from a user positive and negative.

Meanwhile back with my Paramount - the pointing is maintained by the SkyX but my camera software is CCDSoft. I generated an Observing List of galaxies using the SkyX and converted this into an Orchestrate script to automate the pointing and imaging. When I tried to link the camera into Orchestrate it told me that I need a later build of the SkyX software to be able to connect the camera. I thought that I could use the SkyX pointing accuracy with CCDSoft intstead to control the camera -  unfortunately for some reason when I use the SkyX (as opposed to the Sky6) in collaboration with Orchestrate the naming system broke down so that images were being numbered but the object name was not included. Not much point in having a couple of hundred image files without names. I had to abandon the imaging. I could have used the Sky6 but would then have lost the accurate pointing.

Day 125 Friday 25th July 2014 A long day and night and a long blog - Cabo de Gata and its Birds then out with the stars.

I spent the day at Cabo de Gata with my camera - the hides are a long way from the birds but managed to snap a few with my 500 mm lens. It would be good if there was a managed walkway to the water's edge on Hide 1. I need to go back and investigate the footpaths to get a closer view.

This is Hide #1 on the main road into Cabo de Gata village.

This is a Barn Swallow (Hirundo Rustico) over the salt marshes.

There are hundreds of Phoenicopterus roseus - the Greater Flamingo on the lake. Some of these will have returned from the dried out Camargue in France (a breeding ground) to take advantage of the water and the food it contains.

There were also many Recurvirostra avosetta - i.e. Avocets - probably into the hundreds - here are some with some flamingos

and an Avocet in flight

 

The images below show a Black Winged Stilt. Because of the long dry spell in Southern Spain some of these birds have gone north to the UK and chicks were born there last month for the first time in 27 years. See this article from the RSPB.

There were quite  few Black Tailed Godwits on the lake.

The night was clear and I used the SkyX exclusively for all operations with the new add ons. I went through the T-Point Process from scratch - initially synching on Mars. I mapped 20 points on the west side of the Meridian and then slewed to Altair on the east side and mapped 20 more points, I noticed at 25 total points a tick appeared on T Point to tell me that I had sufficient points to set up a model. I carried on to 40 points however and clicked finish in T Point to tell it to use that set of points. I clicked the supermodel button and was ready to try out the ponting accuracy!

This is the final scatter plot

 To test the pointing I asked the SkyX to go to M27 - this was the resulting 30s exposure

Not bad pointing - and then to M57

 

Not exactly central but not too bad - and then NGC 6946

and then NGC 6764

and NGC 6997 - an irregular galaxy and quite large.

and this is NGC 7013

NGC 6916

NGC 6798

NGC 6801

NGC 7116

NGC 6846

 

 NGC 6783

NGC 7052

NGC 7080

 NGC 6921

NGC 6928

NGC 6956

NGC 7025

NGC 6944

NGC 6917

NGC 6930

NGC 6969

NGC 6971

NGC 7282

 NGC 7265

NGC 7242

NGC 7264

NGC 7228

NGC 7231

 NGC 7426

NGC 7250

NGC 7197

NGC 7274

NGC 7227

NGC 7330

 

NGC 7395

NGC 7379

CLUSTERS

NGC 7295

NGC 7245

NGC 7296

NGC 7209

So the pointing was maintained very well. Will it remain so when the mount is restarted?

Day 124 Thursday July 24th 2014. Birds of Cabo de Gata

I am planning to go to Cabo de Gata tomorrow so I thought I would look back at some images from 2011.

Egret takes to the air on the salt marshes

Flamingo fly-past

 Kestrel over the lake.

Curlew at Cabo de Gata

 One of many Greenfiches near the main hide at Cabo de Gata

 

Wednesday 23rd July 2014 How close will this comet get to Mars in October?

This afternoon I managed to capture a 10 minute exposure of Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) from a telescope only a few metres away from the AAT at Siding Spring. I tracked the comet's path over the next few months using SkyX - and it comes extremely close to Mars in October. Not a brilliant image but it shows the comet clearly. The comet is currently in the constellation of Fornax.

Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) 600 seconds exposure Telescope T9 Siding Spring New South Wales

 Here is more information from NASA.

 Watch this video to find out more!

A clear night here in Spain but very humid. I used the SkyX with the camera add on and T Point for the first time to map stars close to the home position and provide polar alignment information. I found the large collection of menus littering the screen very confusing - obviously something I will have to get used to. During focusing the image of a star kept disappearing and reappearing - not quite sure why and there seems to be a period when the camera is " taking an image" then "exposing light" so is considerably slower than when using CCDSoft. At the moment I am assuming that I have an incorrect setting because it is difficult to use whilst shuffling menus round in circles to see what is going on. I must admit I would have preferred Sky6 and CCDSoft to have been upgraded as they were to add the extra features but I suspect it was a decision more related to income generation with "new" products. I used the polar alignment information - T Point said the elevation was perfect but had to adust the azimuth by a couple of tics on the knob.

I had to abandon any further work because the humidity was so high that every metal surface was soaked and it did not feel safe. The sky was quite clear and the Milky Way clearly visible.

Day 122 Tuesday 22nd July 2014 The Moon and Venus in the morning sky

The Moon and Venus were prominent in the East in the early morning sky. This is a handheld shot with my Sony 350 DSLR with the Mediterranean Sea to the left. 

The Moon is at 20% phase and waning in the constellation of Taurus just above Aldebaran.

Venus is brilliant at magnitude -3.9 in Gemini with a phase of 90%.

Mercury is below and the the left of Venus at 7 degrees altitude or so but at magnitude 0.66 I did not capture it in the brightening sky.

The SkyX Chart shows the situation.

Day 121 Monday 21st July 2014 T-Point and SkyX Camera Add On.

I acquired the Camera and T-Point Add ons to the Sky X today - a costly business. It took me a while to set up the necessary data to check that the camera, guider, focuser and filter wheel all worked as they do in CCDSoft. At first glance the camera add on seems like CCDSoft with links to the same functions accessed from a different looking menu. What you are paying for is having Sky X and CCDSoft working in the same package - not much different really but the camera add on seems to lack functions existing in CCDSoft. I particularly missed the ability to plate solve an image just acquired and saved - very useful. Of course you can plate solve in the existing SkyX software but it you have to reload it - unless I am missing something. HOWEVER - I suspect that there are some great features in there that I will come across so I reserve judgement. I really must read that 550 page manual some day.. The reason I changed was to get the upgraded T-Point package with a more straightforward way of mapping a large number of points and applying this to the T Point model. I need to improve the pointing and particularly the tracking on the Paramount. 

It was a clear night but the seeing was not as good as last night and I found that the software would not solve 30 second images because I was not capturing enough stars.  It was quite humid which is never good for astronomy. The corrector plate was unfogged and the camera dessicant had been recharged so it must have just been the seeing. 

Something that CCDSoft did not have was a good focusing routine - this has been enhanced in the camera add on - the graphs indicating focus is much better.

I notice @focus2 is still there - a very awkward name - but I didn't try it. In CCDSoft @focus2 used to only worked when it felt like it - I will try it when I can. 

Day 120 Sunday 20th July 2014 Sony Milky Way DSLR Images

A dark clear night. I took a number of images using my Sony A300 DSLR and also used the C14 for a galaxy run of 18h RA to 19hRA.

This is the Milky Way rising in the south.

 

Day 119 Saturday 19th July 2014 Setting up the ASI Autoguider in PHD

Another day with no imaging or observing. A very windy day - I checked the security of the tie down straps on the Paramount and the CGEM. Cloudy later but no rain.

I spent some time getting the CGEM setup ready.

I initially set up the CGEM and checked the operation of the connection to The SKyX and the Canon camera connection to APT as I had used it earlier in the year from my previous Spanish location. 

I then downloaded the manual for the ZWO ASI CM camera from the ZWO website and installed the driver for the camera from the website. I also downloaded PHD to control the guiding. I found it necessary to install ASCOm and an ASCOM driver for the camera as in the manual.

This is the process setting up with PHD

I can't do any more until it is dark but here is a good explanation of using PHD from Forrest Tanaka.

Day 118 Friday 18th July 2014 Dessicant baked for 4 hours.

No imaging today. I have "cooked" the dessicant cartridge for the ST9XE camera - 4 hours i the oven and replaced it in the camera - I hope it does its job and keeps the ccd chamber dry so no frosting occurs when I cool the camera. 

The SBIG manual explains: