Jay's Astronomical Observing Blog

Bye Bye Old Card Folding Table Hello It's Replacment

2013-04-20T15:41:00.001-06:00

Today is my birthday so as we were out and about, my wife and I were looking at some beach chairs to take on our trip to California in June to the beach to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Well at Sam's club after the chairs were loaded I noticed a folding Sport's Even Table/Lawn Furniture. I have wanted to replace the old green card table I've been using in the field for something more compact to save on space while loading. Doh! I had never considered a folding Sport Event Table. Here is the label. What I really like about it is that it folds up and goes into a bag like a folding chair you sit on while camping or at a sports event.

Below you can see it on the green folding table (forgive my garage. It was clean until we have to move my mother-in-law to long term care recently. Now we have her hospital bed and other items in garage until we have a garage sale come May or June). Here I have pulled the table and the bag out about half way.

In this image you can see the folding table is out of the bag, the bad is in the background and I am ready to unfold the table. The yellow stickers tell you which leg to pull out first, and then second. It will go back in the opposite of who it folds out.

Here you can see the table folded out, one set of legs first which are the ones on the right, the left ones folded out second. The legs snap into place with a metal push button that you can see below.

Below you can see the close up of a couple of features I feel I can use. The cup holders will of course, hold a cup or a water bottle, but I have cup holders that are solid and fit perfectly into these. I can then use them to put the three or four eyepieces I am using until I need them. I like that notion. I also LOVE that the table has pockets on the side. Notice the large zipper pocket. Can I say sketching materials storage! I can place my zip lock bags that hold my pastel chalks, the bag that holds my white pencils and pens and eraser and other items, and my brushes. I can't wait! The other I can use to store an extra red flashlight or other materials I use frequently. This means keeping the table top clear of all these items.

In this next picture you can get a feel for how high this table is. It is about a 1/2 inch shorter than my old folding green card table. The actual measurements for this table when opened is 42.4"L x 27.4"W x 27.4"H.

Here you can see the top of the table here, folded out and the main area you can use for putting stuff on it. I think it is longer than my card table but maybe just a tad not as wide.

In this shot you can see that I have put out my Sky Atlas 2000.00 and fully opened it. It fits easily on the table though I have it sitting off of it.

Here I have folded the Sky Atlas 2000 in half and laid it on the table. Now it REALLY fits perfectly! Since I use printed charts from my Megastar or Starry Night Pro and I place them in clear sheet protectors and then in a binder, my binder will open up just great on this table! I am very excited with this. Now some may ask what about sketching. I never sketch on my table. I have an artist clipboard I use at the eyepiece. I will store items though on the table though.

Here is the Sky Atlas on the table so you can see how it fits.

One more shot of the atlas on the table from a little higher up.

Here you can see where the table folds down and locks on a push button. It locks the table in place and when ready to take the table down, you push the buttons in and push down, starting on the first side, then the second side until the table is folded. Works like a charm!

Here is a better view of the side pockets. The center on will zip up while the other two just hold whatever you want to put in them.

Here I have released this pin/button by pushing it in and moving the leg down. Notice that the pin/button now sticks out pretty good.

Here you can see me folding up the chair. It folds together easily.

It took me about 5 minutes today to get the table in the bag. I am sure as I get more comfortable it will go faster.

Now that its back in the bag, with its shoulder strap, I put it where I can get it when I get to go observing next if the weather improves for new moon. Total cost at Sam's Club was $29.95 at Sam's Club. I am VERY excited about the space savings of this table over the other tables I have used. A bonus is since its made of durable fabric top dew shouldn't be an issue as it has been on the card table. So if your looking for a rather inexpensive table that folds up to save storage in the car, check out this folding table that I found at Sam's Club. The table comes in blue or red. I choose red, I just liked it better.

Excel Observing Log Book

2013-04-18T23:41:00.002-06:00

Well, I got out with my friend Mat one night and the forecast didn't call for clouds until around 12:00a.m. Sure enough, at 10:30a.m. the clouds arrived. Oh well, perhaps a new moon in the future will be good. I do have a theory that with the new moon phase moving to the first part of the month it seems to hit a pattern where in Utah we get more storms during that cycle so that means less observing. That and its been a rough year. I'll be glad to see the summer high pressure move in and block all the storms soon.

I have also spent time developing an Observing Log using Excel for the observing programs I've done and am doing. I haven't finished putting it together but thought I would post it for those who would like to use it. So here is the link so my Google Docs so you can get it. Hope it helps someone. I use a digital recorder with a laminated 3x5 card with the key information I want recorded from the observation. I have most of it memorized but still look at the card from time to time to ensure I capture everything. Here is some of the key parts I try to record: I tried to send a photo of the card but it didn't come through. So here is the info so I know I covered the information on my digital recorder and I add it later. I also tend to write some of this on the back of the objects I sketch so I have it there also.

Date: Time: Activity/Program: Location: Conditions (Time, Temp. Humidity, Cloud Cover): Antoniadi Scale: Limiting Visual Magnitude or SQM Reading: Constellation: R.A. Dec. DSO Type: Visual Magnitude: Size: Filter: Instrument/Scope: Eyepiece(s): Observing Notes:

I record this information into my digital recorder. Some items if your new that you may want to focus on are depending on DSO type of object are:

Open Cluster: What is its shape? Is there more star concentration in a specific part of the cluster? Is it fully resolved into its component stars, or are there any unresolved stars causing the cluster to appear nebulous? How many stars can you see (only if reasonable to count them)? Are there any bright stars within the cluster? What is your estimated size of the cluster (based on the field of view of your particular eyepieces)? Is there a variety of colors seen in the stars of the cluster?

Globular Cluster: What is the degree of the cluster star concentration ie the number of stars visible in the glob (high, medium, low)? How many of the stars can be resolved in its component stars (none, outer edges, middle, down to the core)? What is your estimated size of the cluster (based on the field of view of your particular eyepieces)?

Galaxy: What is the shape of the galaxy? Does it have a bright nucleus (the area around the core)? Does the galaxy have the same brightness (uniform) across it? Is the core diffused (looks like a nebula) or is it stellar (like a star)? Can any details like spiral structure, arms, dust lanes or mottling be observed? Can these items be seen with direct vision or is averted vision required? Are parts seen with direct vision and other parts only seen with averted vision (looking just off the object to see more)?

Emission or Reflection Nebula: What is the shape of the nebula? Is the brightness of the nebula even or are there brighter/darker areas? Are the edges of the nebula well defined (sharp edges) or are they faded? Are there any stars within the nebula?

Planetary Nebula: What is the shape of the nebula? Is color visible? Is it stellar (star like) in appearance or can a disk be seen? Are the edges well defined or diffuse? Are there any brighter/darker areas? Can a central star be seen?

One you are done with the Messier Catalogue and well into the Herschel 400, the New General Catalog items or NGC or several other lists, you will reach a point where the vast majority of the objects you view will be near to or at the limit of your telescopes light grasp ability. At this point most deep sky objects begin to look like they have poor detail and are just a faint fuzzy. At this point don't quite recording, press forward, use all the skill you have developed and you'll pull detail out of even the most faintest objects, or you should be able to. That is the challenge of this hobby and for me, makes it so enjoyable.

If after looking at the Google Docs you would like me to email you the actual Excel file just email me at Jay dot Eads at Yahoo dot com and I'll email you a copy. I only check that email a couple of times a week so please be patient. That and I have had health issues the last two weeks (better now) and am in the middle of finals until next Tuesday.

Observing April 3rd, 2013, Forest Road 006 Site 1 Owl's Roost

2013-04-07T13:14:00.002-06:00

Well, after a fun weekend where I stayed overnight in the hospital, to find out I have an issue with a symptom called Floppy Eye Syndrome and luckily not a stroke or MS (that scared me when they thought I might have the beginnings of MS) I thought I would focus on my observing session from April 3rd, 2013 out at Forest Road 006 site 1. Now for those who know of my family the floppy eye syndrome is not a big thing, some drops in the eye at night are fixing that and losing more weight will help also.

So on the afternoon of April 3rd, 2013, I loaded up with what was suppose to be clear skies but in reality were partly cloudy skies learning towards cloudy. All weather reports showed that it would be clear that night. My friends Jeff, Mat, Alan and Jorge were going to be coming out as was a friend of Jeff's named Nate. As I drove out toward the desert locations, the one location we thought we'd go for was overcast and raining. Yes, Five Mile Pass at that point just didn't cut it. So I proceeded to go to see what the area of Pit n Pole was like and if necessary, go to a site south of that site. However there was a large thunderstorm over that area as I got out so I looked south toward the Forest Road area and saw it was sunny, clear with just a hint of cirrius clouds over the Sheeprock Mountains. I talked with Jeff on the phone and decided that for me, I would go to the Forest Road.

As I arrived out at the Forest Land I found a nice green grass area and good skies so I confirmed that for me, I had made the right choice. It was why I had left a little earlier that day so I would have this option. I took pictures that I'll share that wll show the beauty and the sky conditions at the time.

Looking south to south-west:

Looking east to north-east

Looking west at the Sheeprock Mountains.

Looking west again toward the Sheeprock Mountains.

Looking east to south-east.

Zoom of the Sheeprock Mountains to the West.

Looking west again with a zoom of the Sheeprock Mountains.

Observing area looking south. Nice green grass for spring, it will turn brown by June.

I took SQM data at this site twice during the night and I'll share the last reading I took. Time is approximate.

Location FR006 Site 1 Owl Roost
Date: April 4th, 2013.
Time: 1:40a.m. MDT
Conditions: Clear, cold.
Temperature: 41 degrees F
Humidity: 21%
SQM Readings:
Zenith: 1. 21.69 2. 21.74 3. 21.77
Polaris: 1. 21.51 2.21.55 3. 21.54 (Polaris is impacted by the Tooele Army Weapon Depot LP)
Southern Sky: 1. 21.68 2. 21.70 3. 21.69

The highest reading for that night was 21.77 and using Don Pensak's formula of NELM = [(SQM-8.89)/2] + 0.5 so the NELM reading off the formula would be around 6.94 and I was seeing stars at mag. 7.0to 7.2 so via charts so this was pretty close. One thing it does show is the impact of light pollution on various parts of the sky. The light domes from Salt Lake City and Tooele do have an impact on the amount of light. Conditions this night also made the sky brighter I believe as there was moisture in the air and that moisture enhanced the brightness of the sky. I know I've had darker readings at this site and it will be fun to document it online now.

That night I figured out one thing that I had struggled with with my DobStuff, well a couple of things. First, the glassboard and the teflon pads on the azmuith bearing needed some tweaking. So I made the teflon circles that Dennis had put on smaller, and then applied a coat of Sailkoat spray to the glassboard and that made an ENORMOUS difference! Now instead of sticking when it had been stationary, the asmuith motions are now so buttery smooth that it works wonders. I have also applied the Sailkoat to the altitude bearings and they work even better now.

The other item was the RACI finder. Dennis had taken the dovetail, attached it to a wooden ring to go around strut via a bolt. The issue is the bolt doesn't stop the dovetail from moving. So instead of trying to adjust the finder using the two knobs, I found that if I move the finder, I am close to the object and then can use the tw knobs to align the finder with the eyepiece and Telrad. Then I just have to make sure not to bump the finder during the night but I never lost alignment and it helped me. Now to figure out how to secure the dovetail so it doesn't move and I have an idea for that. More on that later after I try it.

So this night everything was working perfectly and for me, the use of what I still consider a new scope since I have only had it out to a dark site four or five times. This night I spent time on some of the Heschel 400 II, then I went into Virgo using the 30mm ES 82 degree EP and had a light bulb experience. I found as I will soon see that many of the Herschel 400 II are faint galaxies and many, not all, but many lack structure that is observable in a 14 inch Zambuto mirror. Using the 30mm ES 82 in Virgo I had the idea of perhaps not sketching all the H400 II (I have now sketched each object in the H400 and this summer will try to put that together on line). but only those that I see structure in or that I feel make me want to sketch the object. Then to liven it up as I have stated I'll use Sue French's Deep-Sky Wonders book or objects that I just want to sketch. Either next week or in May I will return to sketch multiple galaxies in Virgo in the same field of view. So yes, this was for me an excellent night. I got 10 H400 II items, and then revisited 18 other old friends, sketching some of them and enjoyed my night. Here are my sketches, my notes are under the sketch and the DSS image for each object.

DSS Image:

1. Here is NGC 4045 a Spiral Galaxy in Virgo; Mag. 11.9; Size: 2.7'x1.9'; Antoniadi II; FR006 Site 1; 14" Dobstuff with Zambuto. 10mm Pentax XW; Description: This is a small galaxy, with a lot of diffused adn is elongated W to E. No real structure is evident. The galaxy has a nice stellar core and it sits under an asterism that reminded me a the boot like in Italy so I called this Nathan's Galaxy since my son Nathan is in Italy for the next two years.

Here is the DSS image:

2. NGC 3162 Spiral Galaxy in Leo. FR006 Site 1: Antoniadi II; Mag. 13.0; 14" Dobstuff with Zambuto and 10mm Pentax XW. Notes: Sits above 2 bright stars and at first is very diffused and like other Herschel 400 II just a faint fuzz ball. Then I kept looking and my observing eye noticed contrast on the object (Thank You Carl!) and in that contrast I detected what I thought was an arm, and yes, it was an arm! I looks to me that it started in the western portion and wrapped around to the south then south east. I also felt I could detect where on the east side an arm wrapped around to the north. By far this observation and sketch and then follow up confirmed to me that despite the weather not being friendly for the last six months, I hadn't lost my observing skill.

3. NGC 4073 Galaxy in Virgo. Ma. 11.2; FR006 Site 1: Antonaidi II; 14" Dobstuff with Zambuto; 10mm Pentax XW; Notes: Yet another real gaint galaxy that has a hint of a stellar core. No structure. I did not detect but I did not look for the other galaxies in the DSS image.

4. NGC 3177 Spiral Galaxy in Leo; FR 006 Site 1; Antoniadi II; Size: 1.4' x 1.2'; Mag. 12.3; 14" Dobstuuf with Zambuto; Notes: Smal galaxy, bright stellar core, diffused around small bright core. No structure evident.

5. NGC 3301 Spiral Galaxy in Leo; FR 006 Site 1; Antoniadi II; Size: 3.5' x 1.0'; Mag. 11.5; 14" Dobstuff with Zambuto; 10mm Pentax XW; Notes: Very elongated galaxy SW to NE. Very bright stellar core with a small and bright stellar nucleus. On the north side there is a nice isosceles triangle. If conditions how allowed I would have brought more magnification on this object.

6. Messier 101 Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major; Mag. 7.5; Size: 28.8' x 26.9'; 14" Dobstuff Dob; 10mm & 14mm Pentax XW (Paracorr); 20mm ES 68 degree; Notes: Very bright core easily seen, faint, spread out with low surface brightness but with patience and time was able to detect the spiral arms and several of the brighter NGC regions. Overall a nice view.

7. Messier 51 Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major; Mag 8.5; Size 11' x 7.8'; 4/4/2013; FR 006 Site 1; 14" Dobstuff w/Zambuto; 10mm Pentax XW & 14mm Pentax XW (Paracorr); Notes: Very bright inner core, arm structure easily seen with two distinct arms with darkness between them. On arm bends around and reaches out to NGC 5195.

8. Messier 82 Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major; Mag. 8.9; Size: 11' x 4.6'; April 4th, 2013; FR 006 Site 1; Antoniadi II; 14" Dobstuff w/Zambuto mirror; 7mm & 10mm Pentax XW; Notes: Very bright core, irregular in shape, dark dust lane cut through the axis at different angles. Mottling evident. Wonderful view.

9. Messier 64 The Black Eye Galaxy a spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices; Mag. 8.4; Size: 10' x 5.4''; 14" Dobstuff w/Zambuto; 10mm Pentax XW; FR006 Site 1; Very bright very large oval galaxy. Small bright care and a nucleus that is stellar. Dark eye patch is easily seen and NE of the core.

10. MEssier 104 Sombrero Galaxy; Mag. 7.9; Size: 8.7' x 3.5'; FR006 Site 1; Antoniadi II; 14" Dobstuff w/Zambuto; 10mm Pentax XW; 4/3/2012; Notes; Very bright, very long and the galaxy is divided by a dark dust lane. Core is bright. Decent sketch of this object. I'll have to compare it to the one I did a year ago. Still not perfect.

So one other thing I wanted to review is how to get ready and then to hold an observing session. Here are some hints that might help.

1. Plan what you are going to observed. Make a list of 20 to 30 items, less if you sketch that you want to really observe. An alternative is to pick a constellation in the sky that is up and work the Deep Sky Ojbects in that constellation. Review where they are on a computer program or atlas so you know kinda of where you hopping to. My friend Jeff had a wonderful idea to use tabs in the Sky Atlas (or you can do the same in the Sky Atlas 2000) so you know which constellation your working or which ones for that night. You could mark each constellation as well.

2. Always try to use a red light that is dim. A variable light helps as well. There is a wonderful post that I took from CloudyNights over on the Astronomy in Utah forums under equipment or ATMing that shows how to modify a head lamp to make the light really dim.

3. Wear sunglasses the day you are going to observe and minimize exposure to bright sunlight. The bright sunlight can make it harder to dark adapt and make your eyes tired at night leading to fatigue.

4. When observing deep sky objects use high magnification after finding it. Study the object at various powers reveals details that are often overlooked by someone using the same power all the time. You discover new details at different magnification and bringing power to an object helps you to discern this. It's one of the ways that really experience observers maximize what details they detect over more casual observers. Don't rush your list, take your time to see the object and I advise sketching the object. Use a digital recorder to record your observations and then put them into a log. I'll be posting an Excel Log this week that can be used to enter your observations from your recorder into the Excel sheet.

5. Be comfortable. Use a chair to observe with if at all possible or take a break after 45 minutes. Drink water, lots of water to keep yourself hydrated even in the cool or cold of the night. The body needs the hydration to keep your body and your eyes functioning properly. A snack later in the night can help also, something that is light but will provide a boost to you without falling off from eating something high in sugar. Fruit I have found is good.

6. Keep an equipment log. If something doesn't work right, keep a log so on a cloudy day or at an ATM session you have something to work on. Perhaps you notice an eyepiece or filter needs to be cleaned or the primary does. I keep noticing I need to put on my new secondary and watch the motions on my new dob to get them where I want them.

So I hope this helps.

Excel Spreadsheet to Record Observations/SQM L and the Waxing Moon

2013-03-17T20:18:00.001-06:00

I like to keep notes and records of my observations. I use to use paper to record and write down my observations. However, as time has gone by I moved from the paper system to a digital record. I record using a digital recorder and then upload the observations to my iTunes on my computer. I then listen and would fill out the observing sheets during full moon or cloudy nights. However, I've changed. I know that Starry Night Pro and other programs allow the recording of information in their program, but I didn't want to be going back and forth. So instead I simply made up an observing record in Excel to record the various programs I am doing or have done in the past. I haven't put all of the programs on there, but there are enough to get started. Here is what it looks like: Link The link is to the document and I uploaded it to my SkyDrive so you can go and download it if you want. I've started entering some of my Messier objects from when I got serious in 2008 about observing them. So let me know what you think and if you like it feel free to use it. I find using technology a great way to aid in observing. It allows me to record my observation, to study my object and then to sketch it. The result is I believe I see more than someone who doesn't take the time to do something like this.

Not sure if the first link will work. Here is the actual link and the form is public.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=5C5457D5545A3695!108

Link 2

I recently had to get a new SQM so I ordered the SQM L which narrows the field. It came last week so last Monday I took some readings from my backyard and had the follow information:

March 11th 2013 19.77
March 12th 2013 19.81
March 17th 2013
at zenith 18.81 (waxing crescent moon was out)
near moon 17.73

I have conditions and the Antoniadi down but I'll just share that. My backyard isn't bad for a suburban area. What was interesting to me was the full point degrade at zenith with the 6 day old waxing crescent moon at 36% illuminated. When pointed not at the moon but in its general direction the degrade was about 2 full points on the meter. I am going to keep this going through the waning gibbous and perhaps crescent phase just to see the impact. I think it will be a fun little experiment to do.

Next up on the blog will be the counterweights and a few other mods on my on going dobstuff scope.

Red Dog Down

2013-03-09T07:08:00.001-07:00

Last Monday here in northern Utah was beautiful! The transparency was just incredible. My friend Mat had sent out an email that he was heading out and I had every intention to join him. I had to finish a paper for a class and I did that and prep for the next day of teaching when BAM, it hit. I have Celiac disease and I had one of my students break my classroom rule of no food (I have another student that suffers from life threatening food allergies) and as a result, I got very, very sick. To make a long and unpleasant evening short, I'll say that after the first hour and a half, my body was worn out and as the intestinal issues reside, the joint cramps and foggy thinking (see, I have a reason I can blame for foggy thinking besides age!) settled in, so did the severe fatigue. So at around 10:20 as I was settling into bed, the phone rang. On the other end was another good friend who had tried to meet Mat but felt it was too muddy and went out to the Pit. The main dirt road to the Pit was good, but the side dirt road as full of deep ruts causes by trucks or ATV's that had been out in the area. One set of ruts was deep, ice covered and on the way in, our friend was okay but on the way out, the ice broke and his two rear tires were mired and stuck in the mud. I let him know I would be coming out and got my son who is almost 19 to go with me.

We loaded up some essentials in the back of the Pathfinder, a regular shovel, my small shovel, kitty litter, some wood and carpet. One always should have some spare carpet around when going to areas that are wet as it makes a good gripping source for tires. The one thing missing was a tow cable as I couldn't find mine.

On the drive out, it was great to spend time with Nathan. For those who don't know Nathan is leaving on March 20th for 2 years to be in Italy. During this time we won't see him and we'll have email weekly and talk to him several times a year but his focus will be on what he is doing over there. So I am trying to soak up as much time with him as possible. One of the things Nathan and I did when he was younger on long driving trips was to pretend the car was a plane and I was the pilot (driver) and he was the co-pilot. To keep him occupied I came up with pretend tasks for him to do. Yeah, admit it, if your a Dad, I sure hope you did something similar with your boy(s) because its something my Dad did with me and that I passed on to my son. So this night was we were driving Nathan and I talked about how the black Pathfinder could be a B2 and we were heading into enemy territory. Why? Because Red Dog 3 as we called our stuck friend was down.

I asked Nathan if I should stop and check if Mat was there, and Nathan felt we should go directly to Red Dog 3. I didn't so I pulled over at Five Mile Pass where the dirt road ran south to where Mat and I now observe in the winter. I started honking the horn because I was tired and poor Mat. He heard the horn, saw the lights and thought I'm sure what Wazoo is coming down the road drunk on a Monday night at just after 11:30pm or so. Well, it was me and luckily Mat had just finished packing up, and he had a tow cable with him. We then went together, Red Dog 1 and 2 to the Pit n Pole.

At the Pit, I stopped where we turn off the main dirt road and walked down to where Red Dog 3 was. Mat followed me and we saw that the road wasn't that muddy, but just had water filled ruts. I pulled the Pathfinder up to Red Dog 3's car and we hooked up the Pathfinder and I tried pulling him out. Nothing but a smell of a burning clutch. We stopped, and Red Dog 3 and Mat dug the mud out in front of the tires, we put the 2x4 under one tire and the carpet under the tires and then I went back and started to pull him out. Slowly, ever so slowly Red Dog 3's car pulled forward and cleared the rut filled mud and water and became free.

The ride home was uneventful except for the conversation between a son and his Dad. It was enjoyable. While out I noticed how beautiful the open sky was out there and loved viewing the stars and constellations open eye. I also realized how much the weather this year has robbed me of viewing so many winter objects. The moral here I guess is to be very careful when using a car in the desert in winter with melting snow and ruts. But if you are stuck, to call those who will help you out without hesitation and to me, the fact that Red Dog 3 knew they could call and I would come out made me feel very comfortable inside. The fact that Mat was equally willing without hesitation to do the same speaks to his quality (and I already have a very high opinion of Mat as he is one of the highest quality people I know). Its that bonding and friendship that makes those who share this hobby a unique and wonderful class of people. Luckily, the Celiac issue had run its course. Bed time now became about 1:30a.m. As I came to bed after getting back my wife Lynda stated, "Too bad you were sick because this is just like you had gone observing"

Friday March 1st, 2013; A Humid Experience

2013-03-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

How often I read of people back east wishing for the dryness of the west! Well let me tell you, that dryness isn't always here. On Friday, my friend Mat and I took our 16" (Mat's) and 14" (mine) dobs out to the West Desert by Five Mile Pass for what we hoped would be three to four hours of good observing. The skies were clear, some clouds but there was still plenty of snow on the ground. That snow on the ground would prove to be our undoing this time.

We were not going to the Pit n Pole this time. Instead we went south of the Five Mile Pass. If you look on My Google Astronomy Map you can find Five Mile Pass Site 1 South and see where we were. The site was somewhat muddy from the snow melt but we set up where it was dry. During set up Mat saw a Sun pillar and I was able to capture several shots of it. Here they are. The white line up against the mountains in the west is a ground fog that is already starting to form.

Well, set up went real well and after I collimated I realized that I hadn't put the strings on so I attached the strings, re-collimated and was ready to align and go for a good night of observing. I had deployed all of my dew strips because the dew was starting to form. However, this night my 9x50 RACI finder was not aligning. I took it on and off several times trying to adjust it and then Mat looked and noticed that the dovetail wasn't aligned. That helped but I still was a degree or two off and it was very frustrating. I finally decided to accept this and if needed to use the Telrad and the eyepiece as my finder. My first object was an item that I put down about a year ago as NGC 1587 which I can say now isn't. My sketch below reflects NGC 1587 and NGC 1588 which was a pretty easy star hop this night. It showed up in my ES 20mm 68 degree eyepiece and magnified in my 10mm Pentax XW. Here are my sketches of these two galaxies in Taurus. NGC 1587 is a bright compact galaxy that at first looked round by was elongated SW to NE. The galaxy has a very bright core. Above it in this sketch is NGC 1588. Antoniadi III, Mag. 12.1; Size: 1.7' x 1.5'; 14" Dob, 20mm ES 68 as finder; 10mm Pentax XW as sketching eyepiece.

My next object was also a rather easy star hop. NGC 1514 a PN in Taurus. Mag. 10.9; Size: 2.3' x 2.0'; 8:40pm MDT/02:40 UT; 14" Dob; 20mm ES 68 degree finder EP; 10mm Pentax XW sketching EP; OIII Filter, Orion Ultrablock; Antoniadi III.

After this we took a break to eat and I found out I had brought my hot chocolate but had left my meal at home. Then as conditions continued to degrade we both decided to go after eye candy. Looking up Leo was up so I went after the Leo Triplet. I switched out eyepieces at this time as I had left the Panoptic 27mm in without the dew strap to it and it was frosted over. So I took it out and put in the 24mm Explore Scientific 82 degree, putting the dew strip around it. The 24mm showed the M65, M64 and NGC 3628 in a wonderful field of view. Structure was evident somewhat and it was nice to see this old friends again. From here I went over and observed NGC 3593 which was quite bright and showed a nice elongated core and a sharp nucleus. I then went over to M105, NGC 3384 and NGC 3412.

M105 showed its bright core and was slightly elongated. NGC 3384 is bright with a stellar nucleus and elongated NW to SE. NGC 3412 was bright, elongated with a very bright core that holds a bright stellar core.

Next I went to M95 and M96 which showed their roundish shapes with bright cores. A nice view but I have seen them better. After this I visited M42 again (had seen it earlier that night) and then went over to Jupiter. After this I began packing up as everything was dewy and frosted over.

So from this trip I learned that I really need the snow to melt and the ground to dry a little in order to reduce the humidity in the desert under the dark skies that the desert offers. Any night is better than no night but I just want a really decent night to observe. A storm is coming in on Thursday and not leaving til Saturday night so I doubt there will be a good night to observe under new moon again this month. That is the other thing I wish. I did some checking and confirmed that when new moon is more in the mid to mid/late part of the month the weather is better. Oh well, it is what it is. Good luck in observing. I'll be posting on Wednesday a copy of my observing tracker for my observations.

Mike Clements 70 inch Reflector

2013-02-23T18:08:00.002-07:00

Today was just a wonderful day of discover. This morning my friend Mat had his monthly ATM meeting and I missed out on that due to a commitment I had made to my son. However, I called when I got home and they were heading out to Steve Dodd's home/property to see Mike Clement's 70 inch F6.2 (I believe, not sure on the F ratio) reflector that he is building. If you haven't heard of Mike's project, a local news station did a story on it and you can find it at this link. The story is archived so give it a few minutes to load.

Mike was very gracious and allowed us to take pictures and to share. So I here I go on the progress of Mike's 70 inch tremendous project. I have to state up front, Mike prides himself on keeping his projects very simple, very pragmatic and very relevant. He uses simple materials that are proven and work. I will share my personal opinion that I think Mike is a mechanical genius. He has not plans but works it out in his mind and goes for it. The pictures show his ingenuity and genius.

Here you can see the 70 inch reflector put together. It doesn't have the secondary mirror cell installed, instead up Mike has 3 weights up on the upper ring to stimulate the weight of the secondary. Here you have in order from left to right, Mat, Josh, Mike, Steve (garage door) and Charlie.

Here is the entire telescope with bags of snow melt and a wood box that is equal to the weight and size of the primary mirror. The red and white on the end of the scope is something Mike put on just because he could and because it looks cool and doesn't impact the weight or balance point of the scope.

Here is the lower cage with the rocker arms that have four roller points and where the primary mirror will be located. Motions on this scope are terrific for such a large scope. Azmuith had some ice on it and when that melted and was removed it was easy to move the scope. Altitude was also easy though the bar that Mike is going to install will help to move the large scope in both motions.

Here is the entire scope again in front of Steve Dodd's garage (Nova Optical is next door and in his main house).

Same shot but man, it is a work of love and beauty.

Here you can see the mirror cell, the bearings, and the two arms that go up and connect to the upper ring and the focuser in the mid right part of the picture.

This is a close up of the base and the front of the bearings. You can see underneath the bearings the first of four rollers which move the bearings. Mike has designed this so well that there is no movement or shaking of the scope after you are done moving it.

Here is the upper ring and the fun red and white nose cone on the end. Just so you know Mike designed the scope so that it breaks into six foot sections so it can be loaded into his trailer and transported. The goal for Mike is to have it at a conference in May in Riverside CA to give it first public light (it will have first light hopefully in the next month and Mike invited all of us to be there so I really hope to be there).

At first I thought this was a finderscope, but Mike will be using a C8 for a finderscope for this truly Monster Dob! This is the focuser and Mike has some work to strengthen the focuser as it flexes somewhat but that will be resolved when he focuses on it over the next couple of weeks.

Here you can see the 29 inch secondary that Mike is going to use. It is fully completed and when the weather improves here in Utah (who knows when that is) Mike is hoping to install it on the upper ring and remove the three weights that stimulate the weight of the secondary mirror and support. I can state that the work is first class and inspired. The only thing I didn't ask was how Mike was going to work out such a large obstruction to the primary.

Here is the lower cage with the rollers again. Next to the rollers are two bolts that can function to keep the scope from tilting forward (if needed, the scope doesn't have this issue) or to lock or scope in place if needed by screwing down the bolts.

I include this image so you can see the lower rocker, mirror cell and the arms that connect up to the upper ring.

Mike and Steve were working indoors on this (I have forgotten but I believe this is the finderscope mount).

One questions we had was were was the primary mirror being stored. Mike and Steve showed us and it is in that box covered by tarps just down from the shop.

This is a group shot of us in front of Mikes 70" scope. It is Josh who is making a 30" F3.5 of his own. Me, then Mat and then Mike. Mike was a wonderful host and I wish I had simply recorded all the information he shared on the scope.

Here is make showing us the bolts and knobs he is using to collimate. You can see the pads that the mirror will sit on. Mike isn't going to be using a sling or glue to secure the mirror to the mirror supports. The design makes it to where the mirror won't have a shift.

This may not look like much but if you look close, you can see a ring (three actually) where the crane that Mike has designed to operate off of his pickup will hoist the upper arms in place. Great design again.

A close up of the mirror cell for those interested.

This is the crane that Mike has designed to lift the telescope parts in place. The long black tube on top fits into an attachment that fits into the hitch of his pickup. Mike then makes his pickup into a crane.

Well, that is all the pictures. It was a pleasure to talk and see what Mike has done to build this tremendous scope. Everything is coming together quite well and in March or early April the scope should see first light. Oh, the 31 Nagler will give just over 330x and that is the lowest power eyepiece for the scope right now. So those more knowledgeable can add their info (Mike, Steve, Mat or Josh) or others if they wish.

2013-02-17T22:42:00.001-07:00

On Friday, February 15th, 2013 I set up in the backyard since the waxing crescent moon was up and going to a dark site would be mute. Also that evening my friend Mat had two friends and fellow ATMers Jeff Baldwin and if I remember right Doug Christensen from the Stockton Astronomical Society. I invited them to the back yard at 7:30 p.m. and I had set up and the scope this evening wouldn't travel completely in altitude. I made a silly mistake when loading the alt bearings on so I had to uninstall and then re-install the scope. I was just finishing as they came. I wanted to put the strings on but one of the turn buckles had fallen off and after searching the grass, we decided to leave them off. I collimated using the Howie Glatter 2 inch laser and Tu-Blug. The scope was collimated and I invited Mat, Jeff and Doug to use the scope. I had to find the missing turn buckle and had a feeling it had fallen off in the office where I store the scope. Sure enough it was there but we left the strings off since it would require a new collimation (personally I would have put them on and re-collimated as the scope needs them or the collimation shifts slightly).

After this we each took turns finding objects and then looking. Jeff used the scope the most I think at my invitation. We spent our time on mostly eye candy materials, and not in any particular order here are some of the objects we observed. There was M103, M35 & NGC 2158, M42, NGC 884 and 869 the Double Cluster, M41, M50, NGC 2392 PN the Eskimo Nebula, NGC 2169, M78 that was not very good when we viewed it and M81 and M82. To end the night we looked at Regulus and Eta Leonis doubles in Leo.

Jeff and Doug had traveled all night from the Stockton CA area (Lathrop CA) and were tired so around 10:20p.m. they with Mat drove back to Mat's to sleep since they had a weekend working on mirrors and testing mirrors etc. Mat asked if I wanted help breaking down but I didn't because I had my own agenda for after they left. After they left I want to my favorite open cluster NGC 2362. It has been a couple of years since I have sketched this and so I decided to sketch it. I am going to post my sketch here but I will re-post it as I took out the glare I had tried to put in and just put Tau back in. I like it better like that. Here is Tau Canis Majoris or NGC 2362. You can see my other sketches of this cluster at this link.

After I got done with sketching NGC 2362 I went back to NGC 2392 or the Eskimo Nebula and sketched. Man, I can tell I am out of practice with sketching! I like the color (I used color pastels here) and I got parts of the outer shell captured well but the inner ring is too wide. Now I have something else to work on again. Man, I hate the weather which makes it impossible to observe. Go figure, the last 3 nights including tonight have been clear and wonderful. The issue is the waxing crescent moon that continues to throw light up. I guess I should set up around 12:00 a.m. and observe from 1:00a.m. to dawn to do spring objects. I am so out of shape in observing and sketching . . . All I can say is I have really hated the last 3 plus months in terms of the sky.

NGC 2392 The Eskimo Nebula or PN in Gemni.

The last object that I was able to get was NGC 2217 a Spiral Galaxy in Canis Major. The central region and core of this galaxy is oval shape and very evident in the eyepiece. Man, I blew the oval shape on this one so back to practicing I guess. I also with the wonderful contrast of my 14 inch Zambuto mirror was able to grasp what I felt were a couple of wisps on the brighter part of the outer ring of this galaxy. I tied to capture that in sketch.

So there you have it. A fun night, a good night, and one where I got to practice sketching from the right side since I moved my focuser and finders to that side since I am left eye dominant. That and not sketching for 3 months made me rusty in terms of sketching and I rushed which I feel is reflected in my sketches. So there you have it. Glad I got some time in even if the moon was up. Oh yeah, we looked at the moon also. Perhaps its time for me to really start sketching the moon since it is so clear when it is up; well at least until Wednesday when the next major snow store arrives.

Eyepieces and Which Wide Field: 24mm Explore Scientific 82 degree vs 27mm Pantoptic 68 degrees

2013-02-14T22:46:00.002-07:00

27mm TeleVue Panoptic or 24mm Explore Scientific 82 degree as a 2" finder eyepiece

For some time now I have been using the 27mm Panoptic as my finder eyepiece in my 14 inch dob. The 27mm Panoptic offers a good dark background, solid magnification of 61x in my 14" dob with a field of view of 1.11 degrees and a 19mm eye relief. It weighs 18 ox or 1 lb 2 oz.

Over the holidays Explore Scientific had their promotion going on where they sent a piece of the asteroid Campo del Cielo from Argentina with a ten percent discount. So I ordered the 24mm Explore Scientific 82 degree eyepiece. I had heard many wonderful things about this eyepiece and I wanted to try out my wide field experience. This 2 inch eyepiece weighs in at 1 lb 6 oz. (4 oz. more than the 27mm Panoptic). The listed eye relief is 17mm and it seems to be close, about 16.5mm as I reckon. This eyepiece gives a magnification of 69x and a field of view of 1.19 degrees.

So now I'll compare the stats of these two eyepieces.

TeleVue 27mm Panoptic 68 degrees 24mm Explore Scientific 82 degrees

Field of View 1.11 degrees 1.19 degrees

Eye Relief 19mm 16.5mm

Weight 1 lb 2 oz 1 lb 6 oz.

Magnification 61x 69x

To see how the eyepieces show a field of view I used Starry Night Pro to show the differences. Here are some of those images.

Here is Messier 95 & 96 and Messier 105 in the same field of view. In all of these images, the green will be the TeleVue 27mm Panoptic and the 24mm Explore Scientific 82 degree is the yellow. It is easy to see that the ES 24mm gives the better overall field of view here.

Here you can see the field of view for the Leo Triplet, Messier 65, 66 and NGC 3628 in Leo. Again, all three objects are in the field of view of both eyepieces, with the 24mm Explore Scientific giving a wider field of view.

Well, I wanted to show Messier 42 and the Double Cluster but my program isn't saving correctly. So I'll have to use the two images above. In trying to decide which eyepiece will be my finder eyepiece, I have several things to consider. First, my 14 inch dob can get top heavy and though balanced to work with a Paracorr, a 30mm ES 82 degree eyepiece, a 9x50 finder and a Telrad, I prefer not to run that much weight too often. So with weight being a concern, the Panoptic has the edge so far. Next if I look at the actual field of view and can see that for the most part, the slightly larger field of view of the 24mm ES 82 degree isn't enough to really over come the field of view of the 27mm Panoptic. So with weight going to the 27mm Panoptic, I looked at other factors. The 24mm ES 82 degree has a lot of coma without the Paracorr in. The coma is a good 30 percent out from the edge. The Paracorr cleans it up but with the 27mm Panoptic coma is not really an issue with the Paracorr and the pincushion issue is resolved for me. Edge here goes to the 27mm Panoptic. Magnification is relatively close so that isn't an issue, and I like the lower power of the Panoptic 27mm. Last is eye relief. I do wear glasses and though my astigmatism isn't bad, and I can observe easily without my glasses, I usually leave them on as I need them to look at constellations and align the Telrad. So here the Explore Scientific has a 16.5mm eye relief vs the 19mm of the 27mm Panoptic. Edge for me has to go to the Panoptic.

So in weighing these factors my final decision is that the 27mm Panoptic will remain my wide field eyepiece of choice. I like the 24mm Explore Scientific 82 degree and to be quite honest for the $179.99 I paid made it an excellent choice for someone who cannot afford the $370.00 for the 27mm Panoptic. Now I need to come to a decision on what to do with the 24mm Explore Scientific 82 degree eyepiece. Do I sell it for my cost of $179.99, which is cheaper than the cost of a current new one? Do I hold on to it and use it from time to time in my 10 inch dob? I'll probably keep it for awhile and use it for outreach and for in case an observing friend needs a wide field eyepiece to use. I may end up selling the eyepiece in the next couple of months on Astromart or on CloudyNights.

I hope someone benefits from how I went about evaluating the two eyepieces from the field to here. I wouldn't lose using either eyepiece and so in the end, if I didn't own the 27mm Panoptic and hadn't purchased it for $270.00 new a couple of years ago, I would be just as happy with the 24mm Explore Scientific 82 degree eyepieces.

I did some more comparisons to ensure I have what I want. Here is the chart I put together using my 1650mm 14 inch dob.

Cost EP ER Mag FOV Weight
$299.99 ES 20mm 100 14.5mm 83x 1.21 degree 2lbs 2oz

$199.99 ES 24mm 82 17mm 69x 1.19 degree 1lb 6oz

$29.99 ES 30mm 82 21mm 55x 1.49 degree 2lbs 2oz

$119.00 ES 24mm 68 18mm 69x 0.99 degree 11.2 oz

$99.00 ES 20mm 68 15mm 83x 0.82 degree 8.8 oz

$370.00 27mm TV Panoptic 16mm 61x 1.11 degree 1lb 2oz

I did this an experiment to see if I have really found my wide field eyepieces. This may sound crazy as I spend money for land to observe on, spend money on a premium mirror etc. but I would prefer not to spend $600.00 to $1000.00 per eyepiece for TeleVue's. So what does the table show me? Yes, I have the eyepieces I need. I was thinking of the 20mm ES 100 degree EP again but decided not to. The 24mm ES 82 degree and the 27mm TV Panoptic will work for me. I put the 24mm 68 degree to compare it to the 24mm ES 82 degree I have and no, that is not the eyepiece I want. I'm happy with what I have.

Sketches and Sketching Mask NGC 1365, Rosette Nebula, IC 443

2013-02-10T18:04:00.001-07:00

Over at CloudyNights a couple of weeks ago, the question was asked about using what I call the "Circle of Death" which is the ring that many sketchers put around their sketch to stimulate the field stop seen in the eyepiece. I use to use the field circle but when I moved to the Mellish method a couple of years ago I gave up the field circle. For me the field circle limits my sketch. It does serve a purpose of keeping perspective and accuracy in a sketch, though I believe you can maintain that without keeping the field circle in the sketch. There are two ways to accomplish this. One is to simply keep the field of view as you sketch, and include it in the sketch. The other thing is to create a mask that has the circle and you use masking tape to put it in place over the sketching paper and sketch within the circle. Here is what I posted on CloudyNights on why I don't use the circle.

First the Circle of Death I have found limits me as a sketcher. Scale is important, and yes, I try to keep scale, but with that circle in place I find I am more worried about the circle than about actually sketching and thus the sketching suffers. For a new sketcher learning techniques, I think they need to focus more on technique and mastering them rather than on perfect accuracy. The reality is of the couple of thousands of sketches I've made, most are for my enjoyment and to show me that I have actually improved in my sketching efforts.

I also find that even a thin line impacts the view of the sketch. I simply think the sketch looks better without the border. I did make my mask and will be posting it on my blog in the next several days. In addition I am going to make a couple of practice sketches with it to see if I like it.

Finally, this is my opinion. I think there are two views of sketching. One is where the sketcher really, really wants to be accurate for a study or some other project. Then a circle or a mask can be very helpful. You can see this in this link to Stephen Waldee's article on sketching the horsehead that I did (near the bottom). Here the circle helped me to create an accurate sketch. The other view is where a sketcher wants to capture an object, an observation and wants to objects to close in accuracy but it doesn't have to be perfect or even close. Here a sketcher doesn't have to use a circle and can focus on sketching and on the sketch itself. Often that leads to a greater enjoyment of the process. Sketches for contests, sketches for articles and such need to be as accurate as possible. Sketches to record an observation, an experience, a point at time at the telescope can be accurate, but often it is the experience that matters most. I do both and enjoy doing both and I personally believe if one really tries, without a border circle, one can still be really close in accuracy and it leads to a better view. As I mention, if I sketch without the border, I don't really notice the field stop and I focus on the object I am sketching and keeping it centered and for me, and only for me, I enjoy that experience a LOT more. I hope I answered your question while providing options for others to decide which way they like to sketch. I don't think there is a right way or a wrong way, there is a way that works for the sketcher.

My personal goal if this two and a half month weather pattern of clouds will ever clear up is to go after a few well known objects and then on my blog I'll post a comparison of true field of view and alignment of stars and of the object without a mask or border. I think that will be a very interesting study to do and I have to thank you for the idea.

I haven't had time to go out and do a comparison of true field of view and stop and alignment of stars and of the object with a mask and without a mask. So, the following 3 sketches are sketches I made of the following objects, NGC 1365, a barred spiral in Eridanus, the Rosette Nebula or NGC 2237, NGC 2238, NGC 2239, NGC 224 and NGC 2246, and IC 443. I've sketched two of the three before but this time I felt that the contrast of the Zambuto mirror was so much better that the UHC and OIII filter really stuck these items out.

I used my 10mm and 7mm Pentax XW on NGC 1365, the 30mm ES 82 degree, the 27mm Panoptic and the 20mm ES 60 degree on IC 443 (with UHC and OIII 2 inch or 1 1/4 filters), and the 24mm ES 82 degree, the 27mm Panoptic and the 30mm ES 82 degree with the two filters for NGC 2237 the Rosette Nebula. In sketching them I used a mask so you can determine if you like the mask or not to reflect the field stop. Oh, that is another point. I often on larger objects will use at least 2 eyepieces to capture the sketch and I find the field stop circle of death prohibits the view I am trying to capture. Anyway, here are the sketches.

NGC 1365 Barred Spiral Galaxy in Eridanus:

IC 443 Supernova Remnant in Gemini:

NGC 2237 Rosette Nebula

Updates to my 14" Dobstuff with 14 inch Zambuto

2013-02-09T22:38:00.003-07:00

Well, tomorrow I am going to upload my sketches and post them. Last Saturday I and a few friends, Mat, Jeff, Josh and a new friend and a friend of Jeff went to the Pit n Pole location (for the last time during the fall, winter or early spring). Our equipment frosted up and you can see that on my friend's Mat mirror after he got home (he left the mirror uncovered on the drive home and it still frosted right up!).

So, until summer when that site doesn't have any dew issues, we won't be returning there. There are some other sites that are closer and don't have this problem so if we want a close site, we will be going there. That observing night for me was 2 hours of getting the scope set up, and remembering what worked and what didn't. I found that night I really had a balance issue for the scope. So today, I took the scope over to Mat's house for an ATM session and we worked on the balance issues and a few more things.

One of the things I've noticed when using my new Dobstuff 14" Dob, is that at Zenith it was just a little taller than I am (I'm 6 foot) so I had to get on my tippy toes in order to view. Since the scope has a balance issue with too much weight on the upper OTA, and I wanted to lower it a little, today we drew two new identical holes where the bearings are connected to the mirror cell. Here is a picture.

This hold had a slight split that I have since filed in and will cover with stain so it matches the wood. This had an amazing affect on the balance of the scope, giving a really good new center of balance. After this Mat put on some counter weight with magnets and large washers strewn together and for the vast majority of travel in azimuth the scope was great. Down low and up near zenith the scope was still out of balance. This was with a Telrad, a 9x50 RACI, a Paracorr Type 1 with the white lettering, and a 30mm Explore Scientific 82 degree eyepiece in the Moonlight focuser. This is the heaviest set up I would ever use. At this point we had put a 1 1/4 lb round weight on that right foot and held in place for now by the rubber foot that fits snug there. The result was using that and then using the adjustable sliding counter weight on the far left strut, we achieve a perfect balance for the above set up and for any combination of my eyepieces. We tried the TeleVue 27mm Panoptic, the Pentax XW eyepieces and all worked wonderfully. This means that any eyepiece I have in my collection will work with the Paracorr Type I on this scope with the scope being balanced from down low to zenith. YES!!!!! Thanks Mat, Josh and Jeff for your help on this. We also put the Telrad and the 9x50 Finder together on the same Strut and this combination worked extremely well. I'll post a picture next time I put the scope together.

One item I found well checking the balance is that the Formica on the bearings were connected with a tack, but they weren't glued down with contact cement. My friend Mat made his 16 inch dob 15 years ago and he glued and tacked his Formica down and after 8 plus years he removed the tacks as the glued Formica hasn't come loose at all. When the weather warms here in April we will glue the Formica down on my dob as well. This will stop the small popping sound I get as I move the scope up and down in azimuth.

Once this was done, we also moved the front Teflon on the bearings up so that the azimuth and altitude motions matched. This was the final adaptation we did to the scope. At this time the scope is in balance and the motions which are buttery smooth, matching in their silky smoothness (azimuth was probably just a touch too smooth vs altitude). Here you can see the Teflon that we moved forward, and the former hole.

If you get a DobStuff Dob and like me, you get the String Telescope version to hold your collimation, you'll find that the end of the strings are sharp and very pokey. I LOVE the strings and how they help to keep the scope in collimation. I don't like how the ends begin to fray and the wires stab me as I attach them to the scope. So we found today a very simple fix. Mat in his shop/garage where we do our ATMing also bikes (he is an avid biker) and had a slew of brake kimps that are used on bikes to krimp down the braking wires so they don't flay and stab. So after Josh and Mat had put the ends back together they were able to put the ends into the brake kimps and after krimping them, the ends are fixed and no longer will stab me or anyone helping me put the strings on. Here's a picture of the ends put inside the brake kimp before being krimped.

Here are both ends after being put in and krimped down. YES! No more stabbing (it really does hurt!).

So since its new moon, snowing the state of Utah and cloudy in the entire state, instead of observing, my scope is now up and running and I won't need to spend time in the field setting up and adjusting. I love my scope and like any new scope, it needed a few tweeks which are now done.

Catch Up Snow at Pit n Pole

2013-01-21T21:36:00.001-07:00

Well its been a while since I've written as most will know. My goal is to post at least one thing once a week. The weather here since early November when I last got out has been extremely cloudy, so cloudy that the only viewing I've gotten in is on my back porch with the moon up. For example, during new moon it is cloudy, snow falling and impossible to observe, and dangerous at times to drive. So the new 14 inch sits in my office, the new collimation tools and eyepieces I have sit in their respective cases in my office.

Next, after the storms clear, we in the Salt Lake Valley and the surrounding valley's get an "inversion." I posted on this last winter but here in the Salt Lake Valley yes, we get cold air trapped down below and the warm air is up at the ski resorts and mountain communities. Here in the Salt Lake Valley we also get our great amount of smog trapped in with our cold air creating unhealthy conditions for breathing and respiratory illnesses or heart disease. The elderly and children suffer as well. As an adult with adult onset asthma I too suffer. I hope at some point the government of Utah passes some common sense laws to help clean up our air problem. I fear it will have to be the Federal government via the EPA that will cut off Federal funding for roads here in Utah before serious work is done to correct this. To clarify, we have seen an increase in the amount of public transportation via our tracks and trains.

So this afternoon I decided to head out to a local observing site, the one called Pit n Pole to see how bad the pollution was and to see what conditions were like there. I had done this about 2 weeks ago with my friend Mat, but the pictures I took were in the dark and I wanted ones taken during the day. So here are my pictures.

Above you can see the haze and smog that are in the valley's around Salt Lake City. Here I am between Cedar Fort and Fairfield (where Campt Floyd is located and you can't see the mountains in the distance. Yuck, but at least the sun was out here unlike in the Salt Lake Valley.

Again, just showing the level of haze and smog that make up the valley inversions here that make it hard to observe.

Same as the other ones and here you can barely see the mountains above.

More of the same as you look all around.

As I traveled out from Fairfield (Camp Floyd) the air began to clear for a moment as I drove up to Five Mile Pass. This is the parking lot where ATVers park their trucks and trailers, unload and load up to ATV or to end their day.

Here I am pulled over just after turning on the Pony Express Road or the Faust Road and you can see the smog blocking the views of the mountains to the west.

More of the same again but with Prong Horn tracks.

This is after the turn at Pony Express Marker 3 that leads to the Pit n Pole. This is where you turn right to go down to Pit n Pole. There were people shooting out there today just north of the Pit and into the wall of the Pit. They were gracious as I took a few photographs and got out of there.

Looking south to the mountains that you can see to the south of Pit n Pole. Usually they are sharp and clear. Not today, but clearer than the valley's in the urban and suburban areas.

This is looking towards the SheepRock Mountains and the majestic and beautiful SheepRocks are not to be seen.

This is the road leading to the Pit and looking west. Can you see the mountains through the smog?

Looking north with plenty of smog.

Looking north with the Tooele Valley to the left and the mountains behind Five Mile Pass to right.

This is looking more east toward Five Mile Pass.

Here is a shot to keep and look at. The first time in my time in the hobby that I have seen snow that has lasted at Pit n Pole. Usually it melts off rather quick. Not this year, the snow has been out there since December.

Here is the road that leads to the Pit n Pole. Yes, at places the snow was still a good foot deep and I had to keep constant speed as the bottom of my Altima nudge the snow.

Here is the PR 3 sign where you turn down the main dirt road to go to the Pit n Pole. I felt it made a fun time to see it surrounded by snow!

Tonight is the conjunction of the moon and Jupiter so I thought I would try out my new DSLR camera and take some quick shots. So here are the images I took. I haven't processed or tried to do anything to them. Just the raw image. If you click on the images to make them larger and go to the last couple of shots, I think I captured a couple of the Gallian moons as well. Thoughts?

I'll follow up in the next day or two with two sketches I've done using a mask I made for the Mellish method. This is based on a discussion and a question that was asked on CloudyNights. I wanted to see what its like to sketch with a circle without putting the circle on the paper. The mask allows for that. More on that though in the next couple of days.

Antares Dual LED Adjustable Light

2012-12-28T23:45:00.001-07:00

Well, I think I've posted most of my new products here. One I did order and that I REALLY like is from Agena Astro Products and it is called the Antares Dual LED Adjustable Light and you can find it here. It has both red and white LED lights. The light color is determined by moving a small switch on top. There is no reason to accidently turn on the white light here as once you have it on red, the flashlight turns off by the know you use to adjust the brightness. I am going to once again post some pictures to try reflect how the light works and how dim or bright it is. They won't convey what I actually see, and I am very excited as I believe this is going to make a major impact on my observing by keeping my night vision more acute.
Here in this image you can see a printed chart from Starry Night Pro that I put in a clear sheet protector and use in the field.

Next you can see the box that it comes in from Agena. Nice box, arrived in a good small box with bubble wrap.

Here is the flashlight out of the box. No markings on this one and the cord is 14 inches long that you can put around your neck if you want.

Here you can see the front switch which you turn to the back for red, and then move forward when you want white light. The rolling switch behind the front switch controls the intensity of the light from the LED. In white mode you have two white LED's and in Red mode two red LED. The flashlight is powered by a D cell battery and yes, you have three screws on the right side that you have to unscrew in order to get the old battery out and the new one in.

In this shot you can see the two red and two white LED lights in the front of the flashlight. They are protected by a clear plastic.

Here are the two red LED's at their lowest setting on the wheel. Just perfect but you can't see it here.

This shows more of the stars from the map I am using and this is at about mid point on the wheel for looking at the chart.

This shows the LED's at max on the wheel and it is much too bright for field work.

Here is the white LED's at the lowest setting.

Here are the two white LED's at their mid point setting on the wheel.

Here is the brightest setting for the white LED's. Perfect for when your cleaning up after the session and no one else is observing.

Seems to be build strong and barring a major drop I think this little light will last me for some time.

2012-12-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is new moon and I apologize but I have nothing to post about! Well, that's not true but I haven't been observing since November 10th at a dark site. I fear the curse of a new telescope, new eyepieces, new collimation equipment, new land for observing, setting up that land and so much more has meant that I am not having an inch of clear skies. What is interesting is in reality here in northern Utah we are technically in a drought. We've had two major snow storms but not enough snow to fill the reservoirs for next summer. However, what has failed to fall as H20 has stayed up as condensation in the forms of clouds. Plenty of clouds during the new moon period. I did make a recent purchase, just to test it out and see how it works. It is a 2 inch OIII filter. I need it for the 2 inch 30mm ES 82 degree and my 27mm Panoptic which is 2 inches. As soon as I can use it, I would guess next spring, I'll report back on the new OIII filter. In the news I have been walking a lot lately and starting to do some hiking and I have taken up an new interest, birding. Birds are always around and its fun to identify them via sight, sound and other means. So no, this blog will remain about my observations and equipment, but I am enjoying birding. At least the weather doesn't stop that hobby! Here's hoping you find clear skies where you are and I'll start posting here now that my semester is over.

Howie Glatter Laser Collimation System

2012-11-20T21:22:00.001-07:00

Well, this system arrived today so I thought I would post my first impressions. My back is killing me so I had to recruit help to set the scope up and try collimation with it. That wasn't one of my smarter ideas (L5/S1 and my muscles and discs/nerves in my neck are killing me today, to the point I am staying in tonight). Let me state up front that I have the Catseye Passive Collimation System and I love using it. However, I also have to admit I haven't mastered the use of the Catseye System at night, though I purchased Jim's red light that attaches to the spider vanes. Jim Fly posted directions over at CloudyNights in this thread at this link.
The following is what I posted on that thread: "

That is the clip light that I got from Jim at Catseye when I ordered my system last year. The light on my scope is just too bright and is drowning out the primary so I can't see any reflections. I need to read and practice more."

Jim replied with some suggestions for using the system at night:

"As mentioned, when using the autocollimator, place the clip light on the far side of the spider vane opposite the focuser pointed at the center spot. Then, while looking at the spot through the central pupil, adjust the angle of the light at the clip swivel slightly to diminish the background peripheral glare while maintaining bright spot illimination. I might add that when illuminating the BLACKCAT XL Cheshire, the clip light works best when placed on the same outboard vane but moved in adjacent to the Secondary mounting hub."

I will have to try that (thought I had as I placed the red light on the vane opposite the focuser on the outer edge. I did not adjust the angle of the light at the clip swivel slightly to diminish the background peripheral glare though.

Well, anyway, I have always wanted a Howie Glatter barlow laser collimation system so to use with the Catseye System I purchased the following items from Howie.

2” 650nm standard brightness red collimator.
2” tuBlug
Holographic attachment (for collimating the secondary).

Here are some pictures I took of the items:

In the picture below is the tuBlug on the right (black with the white face), the hologrpahic attachment for the laser collimater (in the bag) and the 650n 2 inch Red Laser Collimator on the left.

Same items, same position, just angled down.

A close up of the 2 inch tuBlug

Close up of the 2 inch 650n Laser Collimator.

Centering the secondary is a breeze with the holographic adapter. It worked just as advertised on Howie's site Next collimating the primary, then the secondary and then back to the primary was a breeze using both the laser and the tuBlug. In about 10 minutes I had it down. I'll have to make a movie of the collimation process using these tools and post it along with the Catseye passive tools and compare results. I'll see if my friend Jeff can arrange a time to do that with me.

The build of the items are first class. The 2 inch laser is extremely sturdy and well built. The tuBlug is also of the hightest quality and both should last for a lifetime of observing if taken care of. I have an extra case to hold these so they will be an item I take with me all the time. I look forward to using both tools to maximize my observing with the outstanding Zambuto mirror that I have!

Supernova SN2012fr in NGC 1365

2012-11-14T22:38:00.002-07:00

One past time that I have gotten into over the last two years is to observe Supernova that are visible in my telescope. Specifically, I like to hunt down supernova that occur in well known galaxies. I'll even admit I am giving it a try at visually hunting a supernova by identifying galaxies with active cores, that haven't had a SN in some time, are rather large and easy to see from my backyard and then viewing them a couple of times a week to see if any of the star field has changed. Its fun to do, gives a focus and I enjoy it even if I never discover a SN.

Well, another SN in a well known galaxy has surfaced about 3 weeks ago. I just wanted to bring to your attention if you haven't already heard about this (I posted on CloudyNights about it on October 30th, 2012, there is a wonderful Type I Supernova in the constellation of Fornax in NGC 1365. Now NGC 1365 is a wonderful Barred Spiral Galaxy, and when you see the images, you'll be able to see what I mean. The Supernova is easily seen in the images and easily to locate. NGC 1365 in northern Utah is best seen around 12:30 a.m. MST when it reaches its highest peak. This Supernova is at its peak and it expected to quickly begin its fade as Type I Supernova do. So here are some images to view from the Supernova Page located here. If you want to read about the actual discovery of this Supernova and see how professional astronomers make their discovery (and yes, initially it is faint, very faint!) go to this link.

This one is from Martin Pugh and is just lovely. To see his comments on his images go to this link.

Here is a fainter image of NGC 1365 and SN2012fr is the bright star to the left of the core. This image almost looks like my sketch of this object. It comes from this Blog of an amateur in Spain.

Finally an image by J. Brimacombe of SN2012fr in NGC 1365. It gives a good representation to orient oneself to where this bright Supernova in a well known galaxy is located.

So if your out in the night sky this weekend, please take a moment and look at this object! Now remember as Martin Pugh points out in the link to his image, if you do the math, "the absolute magnitude for SN2012fr is -19.27 for SN2012fr. This means that if the supernova had occurred at a distance to us similar to Betelgeuse (643 light years), then its apparent magnitude would be -12.80, same as the full Moon!" WOW! Remember this is the process which puts heavy elements back into the stellar nursery to create new stars, new planets and in some cases I would hope, life.

Observing November 6th and 7th, 2012 with 14" Dobstuff w/Zambuto

2012-11-13T22:07:00.002-07:00

Well, I had met to get this report up this last weekend but due to the car accident, I had to put it off. So here we go. I had decided on this night to go out to Forest Land in Vernon because of the length of the trip. Since it was a work night I opted as did my observing friends to go to the Pit n Pole location. This met a quick drive out for my friend Mat and I and Jorge, while allowing for four or five hours of observing prior to packing up and driving home so we can all go to work the next day.

I arrived a lot latter than I wanted. Originally the plan was to get out there by 5:00pm to set up but that failed as I had to do some commitments at school. So I came home, packed up the Pathfinder with the new Dobstuff 14" and my other materials I needed for the night. This time the packing was easy, and what a difference the new Baltic Birch base and mirror box made on lifting the items into the Pathfinder. I do need to remove the alt bearings on each side though to make it safe to load. Since this night I have received my transport struts (they were a little harder to mount a the screw in part is uneven on a couple but they work now. It's just a matter of finding which travel strut works on which strut alignment) and it is now more than easier to transport the scope.

I arrived at the Pit n Pole after dark. Mat was already there as was our friend Daniel. I came in and Mat was using white light to finish his set up. So I came in, and using white light in about 10 minutes I was completely set up. I used the Catseye Collimation tools to collimate and found it hard to collimate in the dark even with the red light that clips on to the spider vane. The red light caused too much light and I just had a hard time seeing the reflections of the Catseye triangle. I got it aligned and with Mat's help as he did the collimation screws on the back of the mirror box, I was able to get a decent collimation. From this experience I learned that I really need to practice with my Catseye Collimation during the day so I am prepared to do it at night. In addition, I just paid today for a Howie Glatter 650n 2 inch barlow laser with a 2 inch tuBlug and a hologrpahic tool to help center the secondary at night. I believe with these two I can get the collimation I want to nail so I can maximize the Zambuto.

Because of the darkness I was not able to make my movie of the setup, the azmuith and altitude motions and the breakdown and loading of the scope. I'll be doing this next observing trip as my friend Jorge has strong lights that will allow us to film all of these.

After collimating I went after some eye candy just to see how things were working. Motions were fantastic this night, though as the cold set in they did offer an initial stiction. However Mat pointed out that his 16 inch dob that he made with outstanding motions does the same thing in the cold. Anyway, first target was M31 and using the Telrad I nailed it. All three Messier galaxies here stood out nice and bright in the 30mm ES 82 degree and in the 20mm ES 68 degree eyepiece. The dark lanes exploded out and the contrast and detail on M31 was marvelous with the Zambuto mirror.

Next, I went to Cassiopeia and took in NGC 457 the Owl Cluster and Messier 103. In Messier 103 we saw color again (actually it was later as it rose higher) with the blue, yellow/orange and even some teal or green stuck out. After viewing this I did M57 the Ring, and then Alberio. After that it was time to get to work and this night, it meant work for me. Oh the fun of getting to know a new scope and breaking oneself in to it (notice, I didn't say breaking the scope in, I need to be broken in to the scope and I think that is true for most of us as we get new equipment). Anyway, I had put on the 9x50 RACI finder and tried to use t and found that it was way off in alignment. This took me 40 minutes to figure out how to align the finderscope to the Telrad and eyepiece but I finally did it. Once done, it stayed on target all night. Basically it meant realigning the finderscope a lot in order for the screws to work on moving the crosshairs to the target.

I had decided this night to go after the Herschel 400 II fall objects as I haven't been too faithful in recording my observations of them and keeping track of what I have done and what I haven't done. So this night I got started. My first target was NGC 1169 and let me tell you, I had the most difficult time finding this object. I believe with the old XX14i I would have had it in a few minutes but not this night. Distraction of a possible medical condition (came back negative) and some fatigue played its part in me not being the usual star hopper I am. Using the Sky Pocket Atlas as an initial guide and then a much more detailed computerized chart, I tried over and over again to find the object. Finally, victory! I had Mat confirm it as I wasn't feelign confident this night. But sure enough I got it and here is the sketch I did the next night when I returned to do things totally on my own.

Here is my favorite sketch of the two nights. It is of NGC 1169, a galaxy in Perseus. 11/7/2012, 09:14pm MST; Antoniadi II; Pit n Pole, Rush Valley, UT; V Mag. 11.6; Surface Brightness: 14.1; Size: 4.2' x 2.9'; 14" DobStuff with 10mm Pentax XW w Type I Paracorr.

Galaxy is pretty, rather bright and small though. Using averted vision helped to shows a faint halo with it. Core is rather bright also. There is a 13 to 13.5 mag star imposed on the SW side of the core.

After this I then tried to star hop over to NGC 1161. Again, fatigue and worry I believe clouded my abilities and after a good 35 minutes I got this galaxy. Also, I have to state observing on the right side after 11 years on the left is an adjutment also.

NGC 1161 Galaxy in Perseus. 11/7/2012; Pit n Pole, Rush Valley, UT; Antoniadi II; V. Mag. 11.1; Surface Brightness 12.9; Size: 2.8'x2.0'; 14" DobStuff; 10mm Pentax XW Type 1 Paracorr;

This is a pretty bright and small galaxy in an oval shape. Bright inner core with a stellar nucleus. Two bright stars are just off to the west and NGC 1160 is nearby.

Next came a hop over to NGC 1175, another small galaxy in Perseus. This time things went a little better and I was able to get on this one a little faster. It also dawned on me as I am typing this that it had been 2 months since I had seriously observed. My skills were a little rusty this night, combined with the fatigue, the worry and a new scope.

NGC 1175 Galaxy in Perseus; Pit n Pole, Rush Valley UT; v. Mag 12.3; Surface Brightness 12.4; Size: 1.9'x0.6'; Antoniadi II; 09:55pm MDT; 14" DobStuff with Zambuto; 10mm Pentax XW and 20mm ES 68 degree with Type I Paracorr.

Fairly faint galaxy with some fainter extensions. Elongated NNW to SSW. Rather faint and viewed as a elongated shiver of light with an uneven surface brightness.

M next hop was a just a tad hard until I got my bearings and then it was like old times. I went over to NGC 1050 a galaxy in Perseus.

NGC 1050 Galaxy in Perseus; November 7th, 2012; 10:35pm mST: Antoniadi II; 14" Dobstuff w/Zambuto; 10mm Pentax XW with Type I Paracorr;

Roundish galaxy, irregular in on the northern edge, hint of structure there, possible arm? Brighter near the core.

My last object was NGC 1003 a galaxy in Perseus.

NGC 1003 galaxy in Perseus; 11/7/2012; 10:55pm MST; Antoniadi II; 14" Dobstuff w/Zambuto; 10mm Pentax XW with Type I Paracorr;

Galaxy is faint at mag 12.3 with a 13th mag star on its SE side. There is some brightening on the northern side with some possible knotting there. Brighter in the core region.

So, that was the work of two nights, along with a section of Sue French's book that I'll post latter with a few sketches. How did the scope work? Great, but I need to make sure I put the finderscope not on the strut opposite of where the finder is, but nearer the finder. I want to be able to use the finderscope and the Telrad together. Balance was taken care of with the ankle weights and I had no problem on either night with balance. The scope works brilliantly as designed but now it comes down to me as I adjust to using the scope. That means I need more time observing but the snow and cloud curse has hit! I really was hoping for some time out either Friday or Saturday but now the forecast has changed, and clouds and more clouds coming in. We'll see. I'll still try to get out. Then again, with a new scope, new eyepieces, new collimation tools etc., I guess I should be lucky if I have clear skies at a new moon come March! I hope not. I hope the pattern breaks and come December I can view back at a dark site if not sooner.

Being Grateful for Curve Balls in the Face

2012-11-10T16:57:00.001-07:00

This post isn't Astronomy related. This post isn't about my wonderful new telescope (I'll post on that in a moment). This post is about how fragile life is and how we have to treasure each and every moment. It is about capturing a moment spent in the desert with the wonders of the universe. It is about sharing time with friends and family. It is about cherishing both the good, the wonderful, the bad and the ugly times in our lives. It is about how we look at situations and hopefully are better.

I played baseball in my youth and I saw times when a batter would take a pitch that would hit them. One such pitch hit a batter in the face, causing some broken bones and taking him out of the starting lineup for some time. I think life is like that at times. We are cruising and things are going well, or things are just going or perhaps they are not going, when BAM! Life hits us face on with something unexpected, something unplanned for and we then have to decide how we are going to react to it. Will we get angry, cross, disgusted, hateful or will we face it and make the best out of it? Will we try to use it to measure our own character, to measure how we have grown as a human being?

In my youth I was very impatient, very resentful, and the material things I had mattered a lot to me. I was brought up by a wonderful father, but like all father's, an imperfect father. My father was a perfectionist and as he taught me to do something, if I did it wrong that was unacceptable. It made some aspects of my youth very hard to deal with. Anyway, as a young adult in my 20's and early 30's I found that I was still trying to prove that I didn't make mistakes (and yet I made many of them) and I was intolerant of the mistakes of others. As my daughter and son were born, I realized that I did not want them to have this trait in their lives, so I realized I had to change. I wish it had been an easy change, but the change came slowly, over time, like the growth of a tree. At times I was very patient with my children, at times I wasn't. I did let them know though when I did make mistakes, and I apologized for my mistakes and let them know that I was working to improve myself. Yes, my children grew up knowing I was imperfect, and yes, I apologized to them (still do) when I make a mistake involving them. It's made for a fun and eventful relationship as they respectfully let me know now when I mess up, and using humor, we usually enjoy the interaction and the apology that goes with the ribbing. More importantly, my children know today that I am not the father I was 20 years ago and that I have improved, become better and they recognize that growth. For me, I hope that is a legacy that stays with them. Today, I had the opportunity to test my own character in terms of being patient, understanding and caring in the midst of a difficult situation or a "fastball in the face" as I put it.

Today, my wife and I were driving to a medical appointment that she has every Saturday in Salt Lake City. Today, we took her new Nissan Altima Hybrid that I purchased for her this summer because of the gas savings. Now yesterday and today it has been snowing here in northern Utah. In my backyard I have about a foot of snow for the two days (I haven't measured it yet). So it was snowing when I got on I-15 going northbound and at one point, near what we call 106th or 10600 South on ramp, three snow plows entered the freeway and went all the way over to the left to the HOV lanes. I was in the middle lane and as traffic slowed, so did I, down to about 45 to 50 mph. I was considering a lane change, which I was unable to do as traffic was in the lane next to me on my right as was the third snow plow. Suddenly BOOM! Instantly knew we had been rear ended and I looked in my rear view mirror to see a woman in her mid twenties in a late 1990's Altima on the phone and trying to follow us. In Utah we have new directions from the Highway Patrol that if our car is driveable, to drive to the next exit and get off so we don't cause congestion or further accidents. As our new Altima was driving and holding up, I did just that. The young woman did not follow us, as her engine stalled. Lucky for us she was honest and saw the UHP trooper and followed him right to us, taking responsibility for what she had done. Here is what the car looks like from the rear.

Here is a closer look at the damage. You can see exactly where she nailed us, making an unsafe lane change into us.

Now a look at the left rear fender.

Now, at this point, the UHP hadn't arrived though we had called them, and they had dispatched. The young woman hadn't showed up either and we thought we were a victim of a hit and run. My wife was talking to the insurance as a migraine started to come on her and by bad low back is radiating pain after being pain free forever. Anyway, I called my son as I thought the car may have to be towed and Nathan was amazed at how calm I was. The officer showed up from the UHP and began to gather our information and to have me write a witness statement. Shortly there after, like in 5 minutes the young woman showed up and the officer worked with her. I want to compliment the officer who handled the case. He had a wonderful sense of humor that was used correctly to bring humor to the situation. My wife and I were not angry, we simply now want her car fixed/repaired to what it was before and we want any medical issues we may have taken care of.

Now let me state upfront the young lady took responsibility and drove around the 90th South exit to find us (though following the UHP helped, she had to finish finding us on her own I believe) and then drove in and everything went smoothly! More importantly it was nice to see a honest person who took responsibility for the mistake she made, though it will impact her financially. I would truly hope that all of us in life would accept responsibility for the mistakes we make if they cause injury to someone be it financial or other ways. We are grateful for her.

Next, we are grateful for the new Altima we were in. When we were hit on our left rear end, we did not enter a spin which would not have been good as we had a heavy duty snow plow next to us. We also did not break down on the road, but he car performed as designed and took the damage. My seat released and went back in the accident, hurting my back pretty good but that was it. Air bags did not deploy and both my wife and I survived. That, not having caused a major traffic accident is also something to be grateful for. Now don't take me wrong, both my wife and I wish the accident hadn't happen at all and we could have made the medical appointment. However, insurance is already processing the claim, our car will be going in next week to make. So given everything that happen, we are grateful for the minimal impact as of now on our lives.

The last thing I'll share is of a personal nature. At 47 I have grown far more patient in dealing with others than I was in my youth. I fear, shamefully that 20 years had this happen I would have been livid and very upset. I fear that I would not have remained in control and would have said things I regretted later. Today as my son and wife could tell you I remained calm, concerned and positive. For me that is perhaps proof that I at 47, am finally starting to grow up. It is a shame wisdom comes for me at middle age. I would have preferred to have been this wise at 27 and 37. See I view it this way. A car is a car, it is a thing. It is not alive, it is just a thing. Yes, we like the car, that is why we purchased it. Yes, we would prefer our car not to have been hit. Yes, it can impact the resale or the trade in value (but we keep our cars and drive them til they die anyway) but in the end, it is still just a thing, just a car. The thing that is important is that the young woman is okay, that we are both okay (back is hurting) and the "thing/cars" can be repaired. I fear in the past I would have been too caught up in the "thing." Things aren't important in the end. In the end it is how we react in a stressful or negative situation that I believe shows our character and our own belief system. Not too toot my horn, but I guess I am, but in the interest of sharing, I realized that in my own journey in life, I've reached a milestone, where anger, negativity are not what I want to be. I still have a ways to go on this, but it was nice to see I didn't react that way here.

So as you enter this season of thankfulness, please remember what you have to be thankful for. I am grateful today, for a wife that is okay (so far we hope), that we were not critically injured or killed, and that the young woman who caused the incident was honest, taking responsibility and more important, is okay as well. I am grateful for a son who was willing to go in late for the first time to work and come and pick us up (he didn't have to). I am grateful for a UHP officer who had a great sense of humor and at the end wished my wife and I to have a "Good Day" and then quickly revised it and using great tact and his wits said "Have a MUCH better day." Finally I am grateful that I can see my own personal growth and development to improve myself. So when life throws one of those inside curve balls that hit you in the face, square on, please try to remember what you do have to be grateful for. I think it makes a world of difference. I also think I and probably most of us need to exercise a better sense of calm, understanding and caring towards each other all year round. It makes for a better world. Here's to that, being grateful and making the world we live in, the place we reside, a better place for ourselves, our loved ones and friends, and those around us. Now, I sure hope my back clears up. I'll try to post up on my Tuesday and Wednesday observing sessions and then I have a video to post on the scope from when we put it together. Cheers and be safe out there!

Jay

Video of DobStuff 14" Assembly

2012-11-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I put together a video and posted it on my YouTube account of how easy it is to assembly the 14" DobStuff telescope. My friend Mat narrates and yes, you have to put up with seeing my fat middle age self (I am losing weight slowly for health reasons; I want to be around to see my grand-kids and enjoy life). Mat makes an excellent observation during the setup, that it is entirely a tool free setup until you get to collimation.

Saturday evening was spent in the backyard with my friend Jeff and his 95/650 refractor and the 14" DobStuff with Zambuto mirror. It made for fun night after I called my neighbor behind us whose kids had been going into their backyard and never made it and they turned off their porch light. I saw pink in the M57 tonight and Jeff saw red in the structure of the ring. I'll be heading out one night this week for an evening of observing at the Pit n Pole since we are back on Standard Time.

Transporting my 14" Dobstuff and the Upper OTA

2012-11-01T22:55:00.002-06:00

Well, Dennis Steele at DobStuff read the review last night and found a solution for me on transporting my upper OTA and in storing it. See, this is wonderful level of service and business that Dennis puts into his after delivery support. So here is an image of the solution.

These are travel struts. These are three 17" struts you would use when storing or transporting the telescope. They screw in like the regular struts, aren't powder coated since we just use them for storage and transportation and they keep a scope like my version, a non-easy transport version with the full strut pole length. I love this easy solution since it ensures that the upper OTA is secured, the secondary is safe and it keeps the scope all together. So if you own a Dobstuff dob that is a full length strut here is an easy solution for storage and transport while keeping the upper OTA safe. The only thing that comes off are the Alt bearings which easily go on. So with this I would need to make only a carry case for the strut poles and then a nice case to hold the alt bearings.Thanks Dennis for following up with such a wonderful idea. Contact Dennis if your interested in this setup.

Formal Review of Dobstuff 14 inch with Zambuto Optics

2012-11-01T00:11:00.001-06:00

I have been swamped! After pneumonia, I still have a lingering cough that I am going in for on Friday afternoon to find out why I still have a chronic cough! Next, both work and my own courses are keeping busy as are family commitments. Last, the weather over the last 3 months here has been less than favorable and that has extended here into October. Okay, let me qualify that by saying the weather over the last couple of days has been wonderful. Of course that is during the full moon period. I am hopeful to get a full session of four to six hours in with Daylight Savings time allowing me to observe from 6:30pm until around 12:30 or 1:00a.m.

So, as I have recorded here, I got my new 14 inch Dobstuff telescope and I did manage to get it out a couple of nights under dark skies. So without any further ado, here is my review of this telescope, along with pictures I took in the garage. Sorry, my SD card was full when I got out to the dark site so I couldn't take pictures. The ones here are from my garage. First is the assembled scope with the Telrad on its riser and the 9x50 finderscope off. You can see the large bearings that Dennis provided that ensures wonderful motions with the ebony star on them. The struts are around 53 inches long I believe and make for an easy insert into the lower OTA. They are both attached to the bearing by a a wooden clamp that has a bolt that loosens and tightens the strut so you can fit it through. The struts screw into the bottom OTA. If you look closely you can see the counterweight that Dennis provided but which wasn't enough for some of my eyepieces. More on that latter.

Here is the scope looking from the upper OTA where you can see the twist bolts that attach the upper OTA to the top and where I have a dew heater attached to the secondary. Here you can see the clamps that connect the struts to the alt bearings and the mirror cover. The build of the scope is wonderful. I like how the counterweight easily moves up and down the strut and the same would be true for the 9x50 finder scope if I had it attached. The most important one to move is the counter weight. As I attach a shroud to this scope, it will be critical to allow for enough movement to move the counterweight when I need it and then ensure the shroud covers that up. I have two embroidery hoops coming that should allow me to attach one just down from the focuser, and another about half way down that when combined with some bungee type cords will keep the shroud from falling into the light path. The shroud won't go to the wooden part of the upper OTA here, but it should work well allow me access to the parts of the scope I need. With the secondary heater, I am not afraid of dew and as I don't run into dew except at one observing area. I want the shroud to mainly protect the mirror. My wife plans to use Velcro (we got the type that irons on which she feels will work better as we make the shroud in 3 sections. As soon as the hoops arrive we will begin construction. Now having said that, in using the scope, even with a 14 inch Zambuto mirror, I am not afraid of dropping stuff on the mirror. I have never dropped anything on my old XX14i shroud and the open design here should help me to cool the primary rather quickly. I'll make the shroud, but we will see how often I use it. Yes, that is Pepsi Max and Diet Squirt on the bench in the background. And yes, I have an older style grinding table I need to modify to grind some mirrors I have and that is another project for this winter.

Here you can see the upper OTA with the spider and the secondary. My secondary mirror, after centering it , is still loose and I need to use the Bob's Knobs and the central bolt with a spring on it to tighten down the secondary mirror a little more. The design of the upper OTA is a wonderful design in my opinion. It allows for open access to the secondary, with the spider in place and easy installation of the struts. Unlike the XX14i which as an awkward attachment, though I never had a problem, Dennis design is wonderful. I install the struts to the bottom OTA, and then to the upper OTA and then tighten them down. The wood work on the upper OTA is terrific with no flaws showing. The focuser, a 2 speed Moonlight is as smooth as a baby's backside It's mounting allows for quick work for focusing and using. The Telrad is a little bulky, and I may replace the 4 inch riser with a 2 inch riser, but for now, it works absolutely perfectly. I just have to adjust to using it with my left eye over my right eye but that is coming. I do highly recommend a secondary mirror dew heater because of the openness of the design that Dennis uses. I need to use some black electrical tape to secure the white dew wire to the spider and then so it can easily access either my 2 six volt batteries or my one 12 volt battery that I will use to run it via my Thousand Oak controller. If you live or observe with dew, then you need one in this design. For me, that means fall and winter when I face not the dew others face in the MidWest or the Eastern United States, but the frozen dew I face during these two seasons. Funny, since I have purchased or made my dew heating system (its a combination) I haven't needed it that much. Hmmm. . .

This picture shows the mirror cover, the sliding counterweight , the connections between the alt bearings and the struts and the dew cover that fits into a wonderful groove that Dennis makes if you get this feature. Now the Zambuto 14 inch I have in here is no way as thick as the 2 inch primary that I had in the XX14i. The brand new mirror is 1.4 inches thick and weighs significantly less. However, I am not afraid for where I live and observe of the primary dewing up on me. I did want the dew cover though to protect the Zambuto primary as I observe.

The rocker box is wonderful, the only flaw I found was a small dent in the very bottom of the box that wasn't filled in and sanded prior to the coating. This is the same on the hole in the middle of the Alt Bearing on the right in the picture. There was a small flake where the wood broke away slightly when the screw went in. This wasn't filled and sanded and only distracts from the visual view of the scope but in no way impacts the operation of the scope which is tremendous. I am picky here. When I made my chair and was finishing I filled the holes and flakes of wood that had occurred during the build, sanded them down and then applied my coatings. Again though, not a big deal, but I would mention it as the only slight critical evaluation of the scope. Overall the build quality is fantastic, and Dennis does an outstanding job. Also, in this picture in the bottom OTA you can see the two metal holders where the wired strings attach to ensure that there is no flex in the struts from horizontal to zenith. Personally, if you are getting a scope under F5, I would recommend going with the strings over the travel version, though the argument could be made that a travel version is better since the struts probably won't flex with such a low F ratio. For my scope, ensuring no flex was more important than a travel version because I want to maximize the the views the Zambuto gives so I can sketch. From what I've seen, having the wired strings ensures absolutely no movement and if collimation is spot on using my Catseye System, the view of the DSO's were beyond description. The travel version would help one to travel in a smaller car (I use a Pathfinder SUV) and allows for the strut poles to not be as long if I understand it correctly. This is something each purchaser from Dennis will have to decide which way to go after consulting with Dennis.

Here is a view of the left Alt Bearing. Again, there is Ebony Star on the actual Alt Bearing and on the bottom of the rocker box are the Teflon pads that ride on a orange peel like substance that I am guessing is like FRP Wall Board as you can see at this link. I have the counterweight all the way down and you'll see why soon.

Here is the right Alt Bearing and a close up of how strut is connecting to the Alt Bearing, and the clamp for the 9x50 Finder which I hadn't removed at this point. The beauty of this design ensures that I can use this scope with a quick cool down with premium optics.

Bottom of the mirror box with the modified mirror cell from the XX14i, the three new collimation screws and the rubber feet so that if you remove the mirror box from the rocker, you can put it on the rubber feet keeping the structure off the ground. Wonderful adaptation. An even better adaptation is Dennis has removed the locking screws from the Orion mirror cell. I and my friend Mat who has been ATMing for 17 years or more see no reason for the locking screws. If the mirror is secure, there is no need for the locking screws. You can see the back of the mirror and the mirror completely covers the opening in the back so there is no need of a baffle here. I put a mirror on the back and with the way it is mounted, there is no vibration. To be honest though, I haven't had to use it so far except in the backyard one time. I am hoping that changes this next Friday. You can see the Ebony Star here on the Alt bearings and you can see the outstanding quality that Dennis puts into the scope.

Now here is where I ran into problems. This is the Explore Scientific 30mm 82 degree eyepiece. It's a monster at just over 3 lbs if I remember correctly. When I put this on the scope the counter balance went out the door! Even trying several positions with the 1 1/4 counterweight I just found I couldn't use the scope. Well, its not quite a TeleVue 31mm Nagler, but it is close and I REALLY like the views from this eyepiece. So much that I knew I had to figure out how to make this happen. So I left the Telrad on, removed the 9x50 RACI finder and would use the ES 30mm 82 degree or my TeleVue 27mm Panoptic as my finder eyepiece.

I struggled to figure out how to get this to work when I remembered something I had purchased to help for balancing the old XX14i or the XT10 I own. So I went to my office, pulled out the two 2 1/4 pound ankle weights I had, attached them using their velcro around the end of the truss poss and yes, when the eyepiece was in, I had no balance issue. However, when I took the eyepiece out to insert a new one, say my 10mm Pentax XW, the scope was largely out of balance and I would lose the object I had found in the 30m ES 82 degree. So I removed one of the ankle weights and it seemed to help.

Dennis reading about this sent me an email and made and sent me at no cost two more 1 1/4 lb counter weights to add to the one I have. That is 3 3/4 lbs and that should more than balance the scope. I haven't had the weather or time to try it but I am looking forward to a trial run perhaps this Friday or Saturday in the backyard again. I expect that this will resolve the issue and is just one of those things of getting use to a new scope. Again, not an issue, Dennis helped me out but one if I am solely using the ES 30mm 82 degree I could have solved with the ankle weight as shown in the picture below. The counter weights are the major difference! Thanks Dennis for again, showing outstanding customer service. You can see the dust from using it the night before (its been wiped out now).

So, how please am I with my new scope? Extremely pleased. I have thought for 2 years now whether to go with Dennis or another Telescope maker. I choose Dennis because of the open design of his telescope, and for the quality and quick turn around he offers. The other maker would have meant a year long wait, and I had waited long enough. Do I feel I lost something by going to Dennis? NO WAY! The build is excellent, and the quality superb and the motions are outstanding. This scope surpasses what I had in the XX14i by light years. Don't take me wrong, the XX14i was a good scope and I used it extensively 3 to 12 times a month for over 2 years. Yet it was starting to show the wear and tear of that use and I feel now I have a scope that will last a much longer time and one that as I want, I can modify and play with as I want. Here is my final review:

Transportation: The mirror stays in the rocker box, is stable in the car. The three strut poles fit nicely either laying across the back seat or if I want to lay the seats down, I can fit them on the side. I do need to make a carrying case for the strut poles so they don't scratch up as much. The only thing I need to figure out is how to comfortably transport the upper OTA as the secondary is sticking out. I have tried to see if it will fit on top of the mirror box but that hasn't worked. For now I lay it on a seat (I fold 3/4 of my back seats down, leaving one seat up) with nothing near it. Weight is another huge saver as this scope is so easy to move. The rocker I can carry by one hand if I have to and the mirror box, though still a two handed job doesn't break my back like the XX14i's lower OTA did. So for ease of transport, 9/10 (just need to figure out the upper OTA and then I'll change it to 10/10, but this is more my issue I believe).

Setup/ tear down - Setup takes 10 to 15 minutes, realizing I'm still adapting to the scope. I pull the rocker out of the car, put in the mirror box, drop in the struts and secure them, attach the Telrad base to the strut I want to have it on, the 9x50 IF I want it (need to make a lighter one), put on the sliding counter-weights. I then attach the upper OTA to the struts, attach the light baffle that Dennis included and works wonderfully (I am adjusting just a little), collimate with the Catseye System and I'm ready to go! Tear down is even quicker! I am also making a removing pad though that will go around the struts when I remove them in cold weather so my hands aren't frozen (yes, I wear gloves, but for break down it can be more like the lining I wear under the gloves so I have traction). Score: 10/10

Telrad: Works well, no problems outside of weight. I may move to a Rigel Quickfinder (someone not knowing what they were at one of Mat's ATM sessions called it a Telrad 2 so now we call it that with affection and a term of endearment). 8.5/10 (not scope issue here, I am thinking the Rigel might be a better piece of equipment on a scope like this just due to the weight difference).

2", 2 speed Moonlight Focuser. This focuser is a joy to use. I'm sure it adds weight to the OTA, I love this focuser and it is a keeper. It focuses precisely, and holds focus every time. It has a very precise hold on the eyepieces, thus keeping the eyepieces well aligned with the scope. The only thing I didn't like is that my 27mm Panoptic lips drew the brass compression ring out of the structure. I was able to insert it but I would think for the cost, this wouldn't happen. Again though, I think this is part of my learning curve. We'll see over time. Focuser: 9/10 Brass Ring popping out I didn't expect and my heart sank until I realized I had grasped it and it wasn't heading toward my Zambuto primary!

Upper OTA Design. Works outstanding. The Spider is a 4 vane system from my old XX14i and works just fine here with a minor adaptation from Dennis. There is a spring and central bolt that helps collimation and I have Bob's Knobs on the scop. I just need to figure out how to make the secondary more secure so that after observing, it doesn't move around. That is how my old XX14i was, how the 20" Obsession is. I may email Dennis for advice on this one. Again, not a problem with the design, just my learning curve on the scope. The Baltic Birch here is beautiful as is the entire design. 10/10.

Struts: - These are as solid as iron and the ends work quite well. I am close to figuring out which strut is the best fit in each section so when that is done, I'll number them so they can't be seen and set up will go even more quickly. The virtual spring truss made of wire are absolutely what I wanted. There is not flex in the scope. 10/10

Collimation: Due to the virtual springs collimation is easy and with the Catseye System, dead on. This ensures that the Zambuto primary is giving its absolutely best views when observing. 10/10 No variance once I am done, I don't have to redo that night. 10/10 (9/10 until I can figure out how to secure the secondary).

Mirror box - I am extremely pleased with the mirror box, the dew shield, the mirror lid and all that goes with it. The box allows for a quick cool down, even without the fan, the dew shield protects from both dew and those pepples and sand in the desert and mountains where I observe, and the mirror cover is wonderful to protect the primary. 10/10

Mirror cell - The mirror cell works wonderfully. It is the old, 18 point mirror cell from my XX14i minus the locking bolts and I haven't had a problem. Mat has suggested a slig around it, and I will probably add that just to make me feel secure with that investment. Collimation bolts work great and are much easier to use than the Orion or Chinese systems I've done. Rating: 10/10.

Mirror cooling -Not a problem here. The openness of the mirror box and cell ensure a rapid cooling and if I engage the fan, that only helps. Dennis design for what I wanted (quick cool down to maximize viewing time) nailed it. 10/10

Rocker box and baseboard. Wonderful design, light weight enough to easily move, strong enough to support the scope. Only critical were two pieces of wood work I personally would have filled and sanded but that is me. See, I have to nick pick to really find issues with the scope. 9/10 because nothing is totally perfect! ;)

Vibration - Not an issue. None. 10/10

Baffling - The baffle across from the secondary works great. I will be adding a shroud more to protect the primary though I am getting very comfortable using te scope without one and this build truly doesn't need one. In truth, this scope has made me more aware at the scope than any other scope I've used and that is a wonderful thing. I make sure everything is done right.

Motions: Altitude is a charm, never a problem. I did have a problem in azmuith that it took an initial bump to get it to move, but then it was like butter. I added some Pledge Lemon Oil to the bottom and that worked wonders to the point it is not an issue. 9.75/10

Mirror: Okay, if you've never owned a Zambuto Mirror then your missing a lot! The contrast in the mirror for me is one of its key features. That contrast brings out more detail that I have seen in any mirror save one or two perhaps,made by my friend Mat. I know that M103 was just downright STUNNING as the Blue Giants, the Red Giants and the oranges and yellow stars just popped out of that cluster. M31 from a dark site! My eyes were bulging out as I saw dark lanes, globulars and bright HII regions far easier than I ever had before. Faint objects? Yep, more contrast means more detail in my experience so far. The mirror was more than worth the weight and the cost. Now I just need one good night to get out under the stars and really work the mirror and the scope. I need to spend 4 to 6 hours working a list quite hard, sketching quite hard and going there. The mirror scares me because I think I may have to start over and redo over 1200 sketches I have! Thank you Carl and Chuck for the outstanding and unbelievable product you provide and deliver. You make a huge difference to those who view through your products I believe. Rating: 15/10! if not more.

Build cost - I believe the cost for this scope (the structure) from Dennis would be just over $1800.

Overall Rating: I have to give the scope a 10/10. There are a few things but those are more my issues than Dennis's build. I am having to adjust to a new scope and that takes time. The scope is wonderful and for the cost, offers one of the best values out there. Dennis' customer service is second to none. I have another good friend who has ordered a premium scope well over a year ago and has only heard from the builder two or three times. I had no such communication problem. Dennis and I talked via email daily and Dennis kept me entirely in the loop.When I wanted one thing different than his recommendation, he went with what I wanted. The turn around time was also tremendous, just over 5 weeks I believe to get the scope. I have a new quality mirror and a quality first rate structure to house it and now just need the weather and my schedule to cooperate.

So, if you want a quality build scope, with the highest quality build and motions, and yet don't want a huge lag time, Dennis at Dobstuff is the way to go. I am glad I went that direction and I know there are many out there who are also glad. Your build will last far longer than a Chinese scope, the quality is worth the build and to be honest, after I refigure my XT10's mirror, I think that scope is going to be off to Dennis for anoher remake! Dennis, thank you for your patience, your communication, the outstanding craftsmanship and quality that you provided. I'm proud to be a Dobstuff owner!

So those who have gmail are aware, I created a hangout for Dobstuff owners or those who may want to be where we can hangout and chat via video or chat, answer questions etc. Email me at JayLEads at gMaiL doT cOm with your gmail account and I can add you to the circle. I think you can add yourself since the Circle is public. The name of the Circle is Dobstuff Owners.

What a Finished DobStuff Looks Like Ready to Ship from Dennis

2012-10-13T16:02:00.003-06:00

Well, Dennis has completed his wonderful structure and it is boxed and ready to come back to me. When I get it I will be making a video of how I assemble it so others perhaps may benefit from it in the future. Anyway, here are what the 3 packages look like: the struts, the rocker box and the OTA's etc.

I can't wait to receive them later this week!

Another Adaptation on the Scope

2012-10-13T00:18:00.002-06:00

Well for those who don't know it, Dennis can use new parts if you want or he can do what he so often does which is to use the spider, secondary, mirror cell and primary of your current scope to make the new scope (I hope I didn't leave anything off!). Here you can see how Dennis adapted the spider and secondary so that they work together to improve collimation. Here is the image and the note from Dennis. I find it interesting how Dennis has really mastered the design of his build but is always seeking to tweak and improve it depending on the project. Not how he included the Bob's Knobs I had installed.

". . . the attached picture is the way your spider and secondary go together. Notice the spring on the top. It'll let you collimate quite easily. Make the spring TIGHT as the bolt is slightly smaller than the hole. It'll be more stable. Play with it, Not too tight!!"

Finished 14" DobStuff

2012-10-11T18:35:00.001-06:00

Well Dennis has sure delivered on this scope. Here is what he said in his email to me:

"Hi Jay. Here's some pictures of your 14" telescope completed. I'll use it again tonight then begin packaging it tomorrow and over the weekend.

I used my laser collimator to test the strut flex with the strings installed. There is NONE!! The red-dot of the laser stays right in the center of the mirror. The motions are beautiful. Buttery smooth. I use Lemon Oil Pledge to lubricate the bearings and it works great. You can get it at Costco or any supermarket.

I'm very pleased with the telescope. Love the look and feel. The Zambuto mirror is excellent."

I am extremely pleased with the look and with the fact that there is no collimation shift from the strut flex. I'm also very excited of Dennis' description of the motions. Bottom line, I definitely feel like a kid waiting for that Christmas Day to open his packages! Remember that Heinz Ketchup commercial called "Anticipation?" That is how I am feeling. Below are the images of the completed scope that Dennis shared with me. Oh, the wire coming down from the secondary is an anti-dew heater.