News For, By, and About Amateur Astronomers Around the World! Spring 2010
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Amateur Astronomy 6565 News for, by, and about Amateur Astronomers around the world! Spring 2010 Astronomy Artists - “Distant Celebration” Astronaut Artist Alan Bean Cassiopeia A * Sunny Corner * Star Party Calendar * Shorts From Down Under * Astro Trivia * Deep Sky Treasures * Observing and Imaging Virtually Unknown Super Nova Remnants * Looking South with Mel * Digging Deeper - The Andromeda Galaxy * Ares X-1 * Ripples in Elipticals * Northern Hemisphere Galaxy Clouds * Astronomy Artists * Observing with the Yerkes * Nonsynchronous Planetary Orbits * NGC 1746 * Smaller is Better * AA Visits Cherry Mountain Observatory * Reader's Forum *Short Subjects *Star People AAAA VVisitsisits CherrCherryy MountainMountain ObservatorObservatoryy by Robert Reeves amateur technology is what the profes- Hawaii, Chile, the Canary Islands, or sionals started using a decade ago. even the remote southwestern United here is a saying that if you want One thing that has become mainstream States to use the world’s most power- to see what technology the with professional astronomy is remote ful telescopes. Internet connections TTamateur astronomer will use observing. With the world wired up allowed the remote operation of, and tomorrow, look at what the profession- for instant communications from virtu- collection of data from, these facilities als are using today. Using poetic ally anywhere, it became cost effective from anywhere. license to turn that around, today’s top for astronomers to no longer travel to Above: David shows off one of the two refractors housed in the Astrohaven dome at Cherry Mountain Observatory. The NP127, carrying an STL11000 and mounted on a Paramount ME, shares the dome with a separately mounted NP101 with an ST400XCM. Right:David Plesko displays Cherry Mountain’s big gun, an RCOS 14.5- inch on a Paramount ME with an SBIG STL-11000 camera. Far Right: The Astrohaven dome at Cherry Mountain Observatory was built to accommodate a third independently mounted robotic telescope when it is time to expand the facility. Photos by Robert Reeves 2 Amateur Astronomy Spring 2010 Issue # 65 In the 21st century, the technology of remote observing has trickled down to the amateur astronomer. New Mexico Skies, SLOOH, Lightbuckets, and Cherry Mountain Observatory are but a few of the many facilities that have sprung up to supply the technology of remote observing to the amateur astronomer. Why think about remote observing when anyone can have an affordable good telescope? First, it places remarkably advanced instru- ments in the hands of those who could not otherwise afford truly high-end astrophotography gear. Is it cost effec- tive to purchase $50,000 of advanced gear that sits idle most of the month? For the price of the tank of gas needed to access dark skies you can rent a world- class telescope and collect the same images. Second, remote observing transports the observer from light pollu- tion or weather limited areas to truly dark skies with good seeing conditions. Just for fun, I visited Cherry Mountain Observatory to see one of these remote observing facilities. Located in the picturesque rolling hills about 10 miles outside of Fredericksburg, Texas, Cherry Mountain is at 2,100 feet. This places it above the coastal plains that harbor the less astronomically pleasing weather over San Antonio an hour and half drive to the south. David Plesko, the observatory director, boasts Cherry Mountain has some of the best seeing in central Texas and much of the Southwest. His real-time seeing and sky quality measurements, available at www.cherrymountainobservatory.com /weather.html, bear out his claim. The Hill Country around Fredericksburg also acts as a barrier against the coastal clouds that over run the area to the south and allow Cherry Mountain to enjoy a large number of clear nights with exceptional laminar airflow. Cherry Mountain has grown into a research-capable institution in a remarkably short period of time. Two views of the RCOS 14.5, Photo by Robert Reeves. All astrophotos supplied by David Plesko. All images except M45 taken through the RCOS 14.5. M45 taken through the NP127. STL11000 cameras used for all images. IC 5146 Spring 2010 Issue # 65 Amateur Astronomy 3 Messier 45 NGC 253 4 Amateur Astronomy Spring 2010 Issue # 65 Horsehead and Flame nebulae Plesko had a general interest in space cameras and came to realize their lim- ries…the unexpected happens. After and astronomy since childhood, but itations. several days of automated operation, demands of education, family, and a David noticed the images uploaded career in management and technology Fully hooked on astrophotography, from the facility had strange artifacts consulting left little time for hobby Plesko picked up some tutelage from that he described with the technical pursuits. That changed with two newfound astrofriends as well as term, “Blechttt!!”, punctuated with the events several years ago. First, he left strong guidance from Chris Hendren non-verbal description of interlocked the computer business in Dallas and at OPT. The die was cast and David wiggley fingers. The problem was not moved to the more leisurely paced decided to take the plunge and move hard to find. A bird had built a nest in world of Fredericksburg where he and to the platform tri-fecta: an RCOS the RCOS light baffle and nesting his wife own an art gallery and a bed 14.5-inch on a Paramount ME with an material was being pulled into the and breakfast inn. And the second SBIG STL-11000 camera. But the camera filter wheel as it turned. Bird- event? A Christmas gift from his wife journey was just starting. Realizing repelling owl statues now decorate the in 2006 of a Meade DSX102 tele- that daily setup and tear down of observatory. scope. The astronomical seed planted equipment was taking away from with that modest Christmas telescope valuable picture-taking time, an auto- The rental scope side of Cherry quickly bloomed and flourished under mated roll-off roof observatory came Mountain Observatory was born with the dark clear skies of central Texas. into the picture. Now David was the goal of helping those with less devoting 80+ hours a week to master- time and resources to have access to Astronomy quickly dominated ing advanced CCD astrophotography. top quality astro-gear and a dark sky David’s mid-career break. Although Much help and guidance came from location with exceptional seeing con- retired from computer and corporate Rick Bennion, co-founder of ditions. To pursue that goal, the life, the lure of technology remained CCDWare, and John Smith, creator of RCOS 14.5-inch was augmented with strong. The DSX quickly became a CCD Autopilot. a second observatory consisting of an historical footnote at Cherry Mountain Astrohaven clamshell dome housing and a 10-inch Meade LX200R with Although the RCOS is located in a independently mounted NP127is and DSI and LPI cameras allowed a deep- roll-off roof facility within walking NP101is refractors with STL-11000 er introduction into the world of com- distance of Plesko’s home, it is fully and ST-4000XCM cameras. All tele- puter operated digital imaging. automated allowing it to function scopes feature amenities like Astronomy became a full time passion unattended for days. This once led to advanced Astrodon off-axis guiders, as David quickly mastered the Meade a lesson regarding robotic observato- adaptive optics, and 3-nm Astrodon Spring 2010 Issue # 65 Amateur Astronomy 5 NGC 6960 The Veil Nebula M 16 - The Eagle Nebula 6 Amateur Astronomy Spring 2010 Issue # 65 narrowband filters. Each scope oper- characteristics for that setup and con- Neil Fleming and Warren Keller and ates independently, but the triple tele- ditions. Processing the raw data is up often achieves feature images on scope system allows the unique ability to the client though Plesko highly rec- APOD, LPOD, major astronomy mag- to capture luminance/Ha and RGB ommends the tutelage of master- azines and even on ABC News. You data concurrently, speeding the image teachers such as Adam Block, Neil too can use the top of the line equip- capture process by a factor of three. Fleming and Warren Keller to make ment at Cherry Mountain to capture the most of the exceptional data cap- your astronomy dream images. Another observing option from Cherry tured. The Cherry Mountain user base Pricing for time on the various instru- Mountain is pre-arranged Internet is geared toward intermediate to ments can be found at http://cherry- broadcast of video imagery from advanced imagers seeking the highest mountainobservatory.com/rates.html. either Mallincam or webcam-style quality data capture. Plesko strives to Contact David at cameras through a 10-inch SCT. This coordinate with clients to best match [email protected] service includes ability for text-based sky conditions, equipment, and the m and see what Cherry Mountain chat, voice over, and video conferenc- customer’s desired results. Observatory can do for you. ing along with the astro-video stream. Research astronomy is well within Robert Reeves While Cherry Mountain can provide Cherry Mountain’s robotic grasp. In this [email protected] standard Web-browser based Internet area, data is often proprietary until access for remote control of the robot- research results are published and ic telescopes, the largest users are Plesko treats such data with confiden- those who simply order astronomical tiality. One research client uses Cherry data by contacting David and request- Mountain for specialized polarization ing specific images. David then pro- studies of selected star fields and thus grams the appropriate observation David has to manually align a special- scripts to operate the telescopes and ized polarizing filter to certain clock the customer retrieves their data from angles. the observatory server when the observing run is complete with what Today, Cherry Mountain Observatory should be the best possible exposure works with noted astro-imagers like Spring 2010 Issue # 65 Amateur Astronomy 7.