Articles

The Deck

I have a major problem with the gravel surface that covers my back yard. In my younger years I had no problem navigating a surface such as this one. However, in the past year I have taken four significant falls in the middle of the night thanks to that gravel. One particular night I plopped down in my lawn chair after finishing Polar Alignment and fell over backward in the chair. My cell phone was out of reach on my mount and I couldn’t roll out of the chair because of the arms holding me in. Yelling would serve no purpose since my family was inside watching TV. I lay on my back for more than a few moments before I wiggled my way out of the chair and got to my feet. That was the night that I decided that I must find some way to provide a secure and flat surface to work from.

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Detection of the Methane Absorption Line at 6190 Å in Saturn’s Spectrum

While the presence of methane in Saturn’s atmosphere is well-known, this analysis refines the detection of specific absorption lines using inexpensive instruments. The methodology applied here, using RSpec software, provides a reliable technique for extracting absorption features and comparing them with stellar spectra. This study confirms the detection of methane in Saturn’s atmosphere through the identification of the 6190 Å absorption line. The spectral analysis and normalization methods demonstrate their effectiveness in planetary atmospheric studies, particularly for gas giants.

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Configuring an 8" RC Telescope for Astrophotography

I got introduced to astrophotography by a good friend of mine. Astrophotography piqued my natural interest, and I plunged into it two years ago. I started with a Vespera Smart Alt-Azimuth telescope to learn and start exploring deep space. Over time, I wanted a setup to give me greater control and reach to photograph high-resolution deep-space objects. After months of research, I decided on an 8" Ritchey-Chrétien telescope for its focal length, speed, size, and weight. Many members shared valuable insights from their experiences that helped me decide on specific components. I am sharing my experience of building my 8" Ritchey-Chrétien telescope (RCT)

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Revealing The Nebulae With Pixinsight

In my previous article, In search of the Stars, I described the imaging system hardware and software I use for astroimaging. The system includes an Optolong L-eNhance Dual Bandpass Light Pollution Reduction Imaging Filter that enables me to capture many nebulae with amazing detail. I will use this article to explain how the images were revealed with PixInsight. The Resources section at the end of the article contains a list of relevant references.

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Romantic Retrospective

I feel like an astronomical Rip VanWinkle. There is no doubt that the pace of change in technology is fast and grows ever faster. Those of us “of a certain age,” find our contemporary lives routinely employ tools unimaginable to our younger selves. I took a wee break from observational astronomy for about forty years. My, how things have changed!

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How I learned to stop worrying and love the ETX 90

Seven of the same scope is not too many… is it? After all, they have been spread out over almost 30 years. I keep coming back to them. I pour myself a cup of coffee and sit down at the table across from the ETX. Why do I keep coming back? Over the past few months I donated four of them to the student astronomy club at my old alma mater. These are scopes I would pick up from time to time off of the internet market sites. If they needed a little work I’d cobble something together - I’ve gathered a pretty good ETX parts supply through the years.

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BlurXTerminator: It's Time to Deconvolve

Deconvolution needs to become standard practice in deep-sky imaging. We will never have aberration-free optics or 0.1-arc-second guiding. (In fact, since an autoguider has to chase movement that has already happened, it's incapable of being perfect — think about it.) Instead, let's do the last set of guiding corrections and optical adjustments in software, when processing the image. Star images are the ideal input to an automatic deconvolution process, since they are perfect records of how a point is blurred, and BlurXTerminator utilizes them effectively. I use it in a restrained way and find that it has ended my futile quest for perfect guiding and impossibly good lenses. It doesn't make gold out of garbage, but it turns good images into better ones.

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Rigel QuikFinder – 90-Degree View DIY Conversion

What all of my scopes have in common is the use of 90-degree finder scope along with a Rigel QuikFinder. My first zero-power finder was a Telrad. I have since switched over to the RQF for its small form factor, lightweight, and relatively high viewing window above its mounting surface. But, could the RQF be modified to provide the same viewing convenience as that of right-angle optical finders? This would eliminate much neck bending, and head movement between the two finders and the main scope’s eyepiece location. Can it be done???

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A Menagerie of Mini Mods for Mega Convenience

When I am not ogling the heavens with Big Bertha, my modified 12” Dob, (S&T January 2022), I rendezvous under the bedazzled night canopy with Starling, my 6” SCT, which I use as an incidental/travel scope on a manual EQ mount. The following suggestions are intended for improvements upon those minimalist setups with an SCT on a manual EQ mount.

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Star Adventurer 2i Polar Scope LED and Serial Data Solutions

The Skywatcher Star Adventurer 2i polar scope illuminator device supplied is typically deemed inadequate. In addition, there is very little documentation available regarding use of a computer serial data connection using the Skywatcher Mini Console software. This document provides a proposed solution for these two options.

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