In July-October I had obtained a new refractor from Adorama camera out of New York for around $870. It has been decades since I possessed a good refractor so I could put the larger (and heavier) Schmidt Newtonian on the shelf for a while. The SN was very sensitive to collimation issues and I was tired of dealing with it. This refractor is an Explore Scientific AR152 6″ doublet. These are hard to find – they are selling out everywhere. I also ordered a new autoguider from Orion: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider Pro & 30mm Ultra Mini Guide and I am testing it out. Added a Rigelsys Explore Scientific Focus Motor and nFOCUS. In addition, I have purchased a field flattener. I am currently shooting with my old Cannon Rebel T3: the ZWO ASI178MC works well, and I do image with that intermittently, but I have always had better success with DSLR.

Images posting soon – as soon as I learn Nebulosity image processing…

I had attended the Black Forest star party over the weekend of Sept 27th 2019. Many speakers were there, including Trevor Jones from AstroBackyard. Skies were fair and seeing got better into early Saturday morning. Here are some pics from the event.

Image source: https://bfsp.org/

I am attending the annual Black Forest star party at Cherry Springs state park in September 27-29 2019. I am very excited to attend this national dark site and do some astrophotography and simple visual observing with the public.

About the event: “The Black Forest Star Party (BFSP) is an annual dark-sky amateur astronomy observing event hosted by the Central Pennsylvania Observers (CPO). Held every year since 1999, the BFSP generally spans a weekend in the late summer or early fall in Cherry Springs State Park in Potter County, Pennsylvania.

Cherry Springs State Park is one of the darkest sites in the state of Pennsylvania and has been designated as Pennsylvania’s first Dark Sky Park by the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR)…” (Black Forest 2019).

Reference: https://bfsp.org/about-the-bfsp/

Here is a list of this years speakers:

2019 Speakers

By Vitaliy Gura. Published on Apr 3, 2016

Sharing an impressive vid of an amateur observatory in Ukraine.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxrFZ_xaHbo&t=549s

Source:

Space Weather News for July 31, 2019
http://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

BE ALERT FOR PERSEID FIREBALLS: Earth is entering a stream of debris from giant Comet Swift-Tuttle, source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Forecasters say the shower won’t peak until Aug. 12-13, but already NASA cameras are catching Perseid fireballs streaking over the USA. The Perseids produce more fireballs than any other annual shower–largely due to the size of the parent comet–so your chances of seeing one are good. Visit today’s edition of Spaceweather.com for observing tips.

Aurora alerts: Sign up for Spaceweather Alerts and get a text message when auroras appear in your area.

M3 10 second exposure, Zhumell urban sky filter. This filter increases the contrast of deep-sky objects like emission nebulae and darkens the background sky by blocking mercury vapor light transmissions and enhancing transmission in the hydrogen beta, doubly ionized oxygen and hydrogen alpha regions of the spectrum. This filter, I have found, is no longer in production. Next filter to purchase is the Optolong L-eNhance filter. Or, the Optolong CLS filter at a lower price does basically the same thing. Image cleaned up with Gimp.

NGC2158 –  open cluster in the constellation of Gemini.

NGC2438 – planetary nebula about 3,000 light years away in the constellation Puppis

NGC2392 – Eskimo Nebula C39

So far, I do like the DSLR images more, but this is first light with this small ZWO ASI 178 CMOS camera: the first CMOS camera I have owned. It will take getting used to. I believe this image is a .1000/sec capture in APT with the Meade LXD75 sn-10″ Schmidt Newtonian. Some atmospheric distortion exists.

The New York Times article from March 2019 states that our favorite magazine, Sky & Telescope is up for auction. This is due to the bankruptcy of its parent company F+W Media.

Read the article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/science/astronomy-magazine-telescope.html

From Agenaastro, here is a quick guide to the various imaging filters used for quality astrophotography:

https://agenaastro.com/guide-to-imaging-filters.html

Image credit: Terry Hancock at www.GrandMesaObservatory.com as posted on the Agenaastro site.

Breathtaking Sphinx Observatory at Swiss Alps

by Kaushik

Source: https://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/08/breathtaking-sphinx-observatory-at.html

The Sphinx observatory is located at Jungfraujoch in Switzerland at an altitude of 3,571 meters. Due to its unique location in an unspoiled high alpine environment and the year-round accessibility via the Jungfrau Railway, combined with the excellent infrastructure, the Sphinx observatory provides unique conditions for successful research in various disciplines such as meteorology, astronomy, glaciology, physiology, radiation, and cosmic rays.

When the Jungfraujoch station opened in 1912 (which is also the highest railway station in all of Europe), Jungfraujoch became the number one place for scientists to conduct research under conditions of high altitude. At first the scientists worked in harsh conditions and lived in temporary shelters. Eventually, the Sphinx observatory was built in 1937 to accommodate eager scientists.

The Sphinx observatory is built on a steep cliff. The mountain top has been tunneled to fit an elevator which ascends to the observatory from the Jungfraujoch train station. The main-part of the Sphinx is used by scientists but for the tourists there is a metal-grate terrace surrounding the building on all sides that provides a stunning 360 degree view of the Great Aletsah Glacier, of the snowcapped Alps, and of the green valley down below. From the metal gratting one can see 11,333 feet of abyss down below.

Photo credit

The building includes four laboratories, a pavilion for cosmic ray research, a mechanical workshop, a library, a kitchen, a living room, ten bedrooms, a bathroom, and the living quarters of the custodians. The scientific part of the Sphinx observatory includes two large laboratories, a weather observation station, a workshop, two terraces for scientific experiments, an astronomical as well as a meteorological cupola. The astronomical cupola is equipped with a 76cm telescope with Cassegrain and Coudé focus.

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Sphinx Observatory observation deck open to public. Photo credit

Photo credit

Walking ten minutes through this tunnel gets you to an elevator, at the top of which is the highest point, where the observatory is located. Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

The Celestron C6-A SCT: 1500mm F10. I had decided on this over the iOptron photron 6 for the longer focal length for planetary and lunar imaging, and close-ups of those remote fuzzies. $399 at Highpoint Scientific.

Universe Today: Meet WFIRST, The Space Telescope with the Power of 100 Hubbles.
https://www.universetoday.com/141528/meeet-wfirst-the-space-telescope-with-the-power-of-100-hubbles/

The new setup is coming along well. This is being set up downstairs in the basement for evaluation and testing. I have transferred the Meade LXD75 SN-10 OTA to the new Skywatcher mount. Software includes C2A for driving the mount, and testing with PHD autoguide continues; and I have yet to get PHD to play nice with all of the COMM ports and ASCOM configuration involved.

I have been observing the skies though a telescope off and on since I was a boy in the 1970’s. During all of this time observing in various fields around Lorain County Ohio, I have battled wild pigs, arrogant horses, annoying mosquitoes and ignorant neighbors that are afraid of the dark and worship barn lights. There have also been numerous skunks that have passed right under my seat while I sat quietly observing, as well as the ornery O’possum that growled and chased me up on to the front lid of my car. It is an uncomfortable feeling when you know you are being watched by wild critters: knowing that while you can not see them, they can see you.

I have seen meteorite fireballs that have lit up half of the night sky. I have seen one of the two gigantic central cloud belts of Jupiter disappear. Mars is an interesting spectacle when it is nearest to us; as one can then see the polar caps clearly as well as planet-wide dust storms. The planet Neptune, while a challenge to see through that barlow lens on a small low power telescope, is a beautiful turquoise jewel to behold.

There are many tales of late-night equipment issues that all amateur astronomers have time to time; in which that telescope GoTo mount just will not behave and keep its tracking accuracy. Things have shorted out due to the late-night fog rolling in and soaking all of my equipment – causing an early retirement of the observing session.

One the the weirdest things that has been experienced is from the late 1970’s when I was sitting on my best friends front porch looking at the night sky, and a silent but bright object of a round shape floated across the sky. It was silent, but was glowing and dimming in a sequence as it transverses my field of vision and slowly disappeared over the woods.

I had recently asked my brother Doug Johns for some advice on fixing up an old telescope dolly that I had obtained from a senior member of my local astronomy club. Doug is an experienced fabricator, musician, and all around cool guy. Instead of repairing it, he had designed a new dolly that is solid and secure. Here are a couple of pictures of it when he built it.

The design is so very simple and it secures the tripod legs with round metal cups at the base. I will be using this to roll the rig out from the garage. I will move the rig simply by pushing on the tripod legs. The wheels are all solid rubber – not inflated, which will also act as a vibration damper for the tripod. This is made from dense metal which will hold 200lbs and is very sturdy. Great work Doug! See the before-after pics.

Doug is also a professional musician – check him out at DougJohns.com

Lunar eclipse info: https://astrobackyard.com/supermoon-lunar-eclipse/

Check back frequently for updates! I have some big changes coming: a new rig, telescope dolly, observatory, variable star observing, and generally more participation and updates for 2019.

I received the new SkyWatcher EQ6r today. I am very impressed so far: it looks like this is the heavy mount I need that will provide the stability for the heavy 10″ OTA. The mount was purchased from High Point Scientific for $1,595.

I was surprised by the power adapter- it is a cigarette lighter type: no AC adapter. I will have to search for a DC-AC converter.

I continue to read the manual and do some initial testing in the basement. Also, my Meade LXD75-sn10 dovetail bar will not fit the mount securely. I have had to order a different dovetail that will fit from ScopeStuff.