Astronomy
Welcome to my astronomy section. This page is dedicated to my new found hobby. As an employee of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, I have a great deal of interest in science and have always held a fascination for space exploration. Since the dream of space travel has not been realized as soon as I'd hope, the next best thing is to do as much exploration from the planets surface as I can. With the help of some great online resources, such as the great group of folks asociated with The Astronomy Connection, as well as some co-workers who have been observing for some time now, I had a good amount of information to begin my journey.
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First off, I needed to get aquatinted with the sky again (I had taken astronomy in college years ago, but had not put into practice anything I learned....... big mistake). I purchased a set of used Bushnell 10X50 binoculars off of eBay and printed some constellation maps from online resources and set out to refamiliarize myself. After a few nights I gained a great amount of resentment for the light pollution which plagues my neighborhood.
Well, after a few weeks I decided it was time to get me a scope. I had already spent close to a year checking out equipment online and in catalogs. The whole time I had my eye on the Orion XT10 and believed it would be a good scope for me to begin with. It didn't have any fancy mechanism to track and wouldn't be suitable for photography, but it was reasonably priced for a 10" dob ($599). I was hoping on taking advantage of the Memorial Day sale which would have given me 10% off my Orion equipment, but unfortunately my tax refund check would not show up until the following week. No problem though. When I went to Orion in Cupertino with cash and a $1000 wish list, they were more than happy to honor the 10% off. Here's what I got for approx $900.00:
The Orion XT10 (obviously)
The scope came with two 1.25" eyepieces, a 10mm Plossl, 25mm Plossl, and a 13% moon filter.
Orion Shorty-Plus 2x Barlow Lens
Orion DeepView 35mm 2" eyepiece
A copy of 'NightWatch' by Terence Dickinson
The Night SKy Observers Guide (Volumes 1 & 2)
My only beef with the setup was that the stock 9x50 straight finder that came with the XT10 was not appropriate for anything other than horizon locations. I'm a pretty tall guy, and as with most tall people, I am prone to back problems. It was a big pain in the neck for starhopping. I sold the finder on astromart two weeks later and purchased the 9x50 right angle correct image scope from Orion. I also purchased a Telrad from Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope a few weeks later. That thing is a great piece of equiptment, kinda like a heads up display on a jet fighter.
Okay, my initial collimation went fairly well with the assistance of the LaserMate collimator. I didn't quite care for the secondary holder setup on the XT10 and wish they had put a spring loaded setup on it instead. It would make for easier secondary adjustment in the field if neccesary. Hopefully this adjustment won't be neccesary very often.
Since I tired quickly of packing all my optics and equipment loosely in and out of the house, I found a plastic case in the garage and lined it with some 4" thick foam I purchased from a local outdoors shop. I froze it and cut out some holes for my optics and some irregular shapes for the Telrad, collimator, Lens Pen, and other items. Another sheet of 1" foam is laid on top, as well as my Atlas. I left plenty of room in the 4" foam for other lenses, filters, as well as anything else I needed.
It was the first few weeks of May and my first object viewed was Jupiter. It was pretty low on the horizon and since it was in the city lightened western horizon, it wasn't the greatest view, but four moons and two distinct bands were visible. Next I turned to M13, which was an astounding site for someone whom had only seen it in pictures previously.
In the following nights I have observed M101, M51, M81/M82, M57, M104, and M53. I will most definitely need to find the time to get out to darker skies to enhance these images. I did head out to Bethel Island recently and found much better viewing, but nearly averted catastrophe as well....
I have not been fond of the location of the eyepiece rack on the side of the XT10's base since it is so close to where my chair sits while viewing.While putting the base in the van, I must have hit the eyepiece rack on the seat and torn the screws partially out of the wood and not noticed while setting up in the darkness. During viewing that night, I went to remove my 2" 35mm and the whole damn rack came crashing to the ground. I am certain that some of the neighbors must have heard the filthy dialogue that followed as I witnessed all my 1.25" eyepieces and my Barlow hit the pavement. Thankfully, nothing was damaged and I have since chose not to use the rack.
One night I was looking at the moon waiting for mars to rise and I decided to grab my digital camera and try my hand at some really amateur photography. My Minolta Dimage 2300 has certainly seen better days, and it was not easy holding the camera steady over the eyepiece, but what the hell. The moon was pretty low on the horizon, which produced the soupy higher power shots. The best images I could get were with my 25mm. Here are the results.....
Click on an image for a larger view
Here sre some shots I took with my 10mm barlowed on 8-17-03, much better than my previous attempts. I do need to get a better camera with a shorter exposure time and more adjustable features.
I just bought me some filters from Hardin Optical http://www.hardinoptical.com for about $80:
#12 Yellow
#21 Orange
#25 Red
#58 Green
#80A Blue
I haven't had much time to use them at any great extent, so I will update as I get a better idea of which I like and why.
To be continued...... (forever at this rate)