The Great Hercules Cluster

Since the weather is a bit grot, I tried to find an AVI that I took on the 3rd June of The Great Hercules Cluster with my Skywatcher 130m. I didn't think it came out well on my first attempt at processing, but tonights attempt looks quite cool!

I wonder what it looks like with the Bradford Robotic thingy...think i'll submit a job!

Let's see what happens...

Technical Innovation Centre (T.I.C.)

Had a great time yesterday at the Bolton Technical Innovation Centre (T.I.C.) Took sixty children from school on a day out learning about 'Flight'. The children designed, built and tested rockets, gliders and paper helicopters. It was a great opportunity for children to learn 'hands-on' how things work!
One of the highlights was designing an aircraft in 3D on a computer using a program called Cinema 4D - a super piece of software!
We did'nt have time unfortunately to see the 3D Space Planetarium which you view with 3D glasses, when I saw this before it was superb! (Apparantly the only copy of the software for this in this country is installed in the centre!)

Some like it hot!

Brilliant weather!

It has been a great June so far. I went in the garden on the 7th June very late to capture some images. I got some great images of Jupiter...still very low down, but found that my tracking motor on the 130m was not tracking. Could this be the batteries? Polar alignment was fine, but no tracking!
Well, bought some more batteries but I need some clear nights now to test it. I must admit, the sky has been clear but also hazy, not much you can do really!

Here is an image of Jupiter and two moons taken on the 7th June.

The Whirlpool Galaxy

Latest image returned to me from the Bradford Robotic Telescope...not bad eh!!
A bit under exposed, but fairly clear, this one is in grey scale. I want to image the Whirlpool with my own equipment, I know where it is, but just can't see it. Had a nice night in the garden on Friday night, took some images of the Ring Nebula and Hercules Cluster, stayed out till about 3.00am. Amazing...it never goes dark...by 2.45am the sky was light and the stars fading fast.
Here are the request details for the Bradford Scope:

Request ID 29456
Job ID 21033
Object Type MESSIER
Object ID 51
Object Name The Whirlpool Galaxy
Exposure Time 100000 ms
Filter Type Colour
Dark frame Instant
Site Name Tenerife
Telescope Type Name Galaxy
Telescope Name Galaxy Camera
Request Time 22:08 on Friday 2 June 2006 (21:08:33 UTC)
Completion Time 23:41 on Saturday 3 June 2006 (22:41:58 UTC)
Comments M51 Whirlpool
Status Complete

Bradford Telescope

A lovely day today! Sunshine all the way, it's clear outside at the moment, but still light and a bit hazy. Oh...and Melissa has Chicken Pox!!
I've seen some of the results of the robotic telescopes and they are really impressive. The Faulkes Telescope seems to be best, but I need to register our school so that we can use it. I have used the Bradford Telescopes for a while now, but can't seem to get the settings right. The jobs that come back are under or over exposed and usually fuzzy. I was really pleased when I captured this one of the Ring Nebula (M57), these are the settings and info:

Request ID 28903
Job ID 20564
Object Type MESSIER
Object ID 57
Object Name The Ring Nebula
Exposure Time 120000 ms
Filter Type Colour
Dark frame Instant
Site Name Tenerife
Telescope Type Name Galaxy
Telescope Name Galaxy Camera
Request Time 21:16 on Sunday 28 May 2006 (20:16:18 UTC)
Completion Time 05:14 on Thursday 1 June 2006 (04:14:37 UTC)
Comments
Status Complete

I have just submitted another job for The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), I still cannot see it with my own scopes.