Amateur. Astronomy. Astronomy Artists - Distant Celebration Astronaut Artist Alan Bean

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1 Amateur 65 Astronomy 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

2 AA Visits Cherry y Mountain Observatory by Robert Reeves There is a saying that if you want to see what technology the amateur astronomer will use tomorrow, look at what the professionals are using today. Using poetic license to turn that around, today s top 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 inch on a Paramount ME with an SBIG STL 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 amateur technology is what the professionals started using a decade ago. One thing that has become mainstream with professional astronomy is remote observing. With the world wired up for instant communications from virtually anywhere, it became cost effective for astronomers to no longer travel to Hawaii, Chile, the Canary Islands, or even the remote southwestern United States to use the world s most powerful telescopes. Internet connections allowed the remote operation of, and collection of data from, these facilities from anywhere. 2 Amateur Astronomy Spring 2010 Issue # 65

3 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 instruments in the hands of those who could not otherwise afford truly high-end astrophotography gear. Is it cost effective 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 worldclass telescope and collect the same images. Second, remote observing transports the observer from light pollution 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 /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 M45 taken through the NP127. STL11000 cameras used for all images. IC 5146 Spring 2010 Issue # 65 Amateur Astronomy 3

4 Messier 45 NGC Amateur Astronomy Spring 2010 Issue # 65

5 Horsehead and Flame nebulae Plesko had a general interest in space and astronomy since childhood, but demands of education, family, and a career in management and technology consulting left little time for hobby pursuits. That changed with two events several years ago. First, he left the computer business in Dallas and moved to the more leisurely paced world of Fredericksburg where he and his wife own an art gallery and a bed and breakfast inn. And the second event? A Christmas gift from his wife in 2006 of a Meade DSX102 telescope. The astronomical seed planted with that modest Christmas telescope quickly bloomed and flourished under the dark clear skies of central Texas. Astronomy quickly dominated David s mid-career break. Although retired from computer and corporate life, the lure of technology remained strong. The DSX quickly became a historical footnote at Cherry Mountain and a 10-inch Meade LX200R with DSI and LPI cameras allowed a deeper introduction into the world of computer operated digital imaging. Astronomy became a full time passion as David quickly mastered the Meade cameras and came to realize their limitations. Fully hooked on astrophotography, Plesko picked up some tutelage from newfound astrofriends as well as strong guidance from Chris Hendren at OPT. The die was cast and David decided to take the plunge and move to the platform tri-fecta: an RCOS 14.5-inch on a Paramount ME with an SBIG STL camera. But the journey was just starting. Realizing that daily setup and tear down of equipment was taking away from valuable picture-taking time, an automated roll-off roof observatory came into the picture. Now David was devoting 80+ hours a week to mastering advanced CCD astrophotography. Much help and guidance came from Rick Bennion, co-founder of CCDWare, and John Smith, creator of CCD Autopilot. Although the RCOS is located in a roll-off roof facility within walking distance of Plesko s home, it is fully automated allowing it to function unattended for days. This once led to a lesson regarding robotic observatories the unexpected happens. After several days of automated operation, David noticed the images uploaded from the facility had strange artifacts that he described with the technical term, Blechttt!!, punctuated with the non-verbal description of interlocked wiggley fingers. The problem was not hard to find. A bird had built a nest in the RCOS light baffle and nesting material was being pulled into the camera filter wheel as it turned. Birdrepelling owl statues now decorate the observatory. The rental scope side of Cherry Mountain Observatory was born with the goal of helping those with less time and resources to have access to top quality astro-gear and a dark sky location with exceptional seeing conditions. To pursue that goal, the RCOS 14.5-inch was augmented with a second observatory consisting of an Astrohaven clamshell dome housing independently mounted NP127is and NP101is refractors with STL and ST-4000XCM cameras. All telescopes feature amenities like advanced Astrodon off-axis guiders, adaptive optics, and 3-nm Astrodon Spring 2010 Issue # 65 Amateur Astronomy 5

6 NGC 6960 The Veil Nebula M 16 - The Eagle Nebula 6 Amateur Astronomy Spring 2010 Issue # 65

7 narrowband filters. Each scope operates independently, but the triple telescope system allows the unique ability to capture luminance/ha and RGB data concurrently, speeding the image capture process by a factor of three. Another observing option from Cherry Mountain is pre-arranged Internet broadcast of video imagery from either Mallincam or webcam-style cameras through a 10-inch SCT. This service includes ability for text-based chat, voice over, and video conferencing along with the astro-video stream. While Cherry Mountain can provide standard Web-browser based Internet access for remote control of the robotic telescopes, the largest users are those who simply order astronomical data by contacting David and requesting specific images. David then programs the appropriate observation scripts to operate the telescopes and the customer retrieves their data from the observatory server when the observing run is complete with what should be the best possible exposure characteristics for that setup and conditions. Processing the raw data is up to the client though Plesko highly recommends the tutelage of masterteachers such as Adam Block, Neil Fleming and Warren Keller to make the most of the exceptional data captured. The Cherry Mountain user base is geared toward intermediate to advanced imagers seeking the highest quality data capture. Plesko strives to coordinate with clients to best match sky conditions, equipment, and the customer s desired results. Research astronomy is well within Cherry Mountain s robotic grasp. In this area, data is often proprietary until research results are published and Plesko treats such data with confidentiality. One research client uses Cherry Mountain for specialized polarization studies of selected star fields and thus David has to manually align a specialized polarizing filter to certain clock angles. Today, Cherry Mountain Observatory works with noted astro-imagers like Neil Fleming and Warren Keller and often achieves feature images on APOD, LPOD, major astronomy magazines and even on ABC News. You too can use the top of the line equipment at Cherry Mountain to capture your astronomy dream images. Pricing for time on the various instruments can be found at Contact David at info@cherrymountainobservatory.co m and see what Cherry Mountain Observatory can do for you. Robert Reeves reeves10@satx.rr.com Spring 2010 Issue # 65 Amateur Astronomy 7