Widefield M27

Another image captured the other night, M27 - Dumbell Nebula. (bottom right) better if you click the image to make it bigger.

This one is really hard to find, but with the SLT mount controlled by my laptop I was able to simply point and click on screen and the scope with the Canon 350D fitted slewed straight to the object. I discovered that it takes about 5 minutes or so for the mount to properly settle before capturing the images. A couple of weeks ago I bought a 'bulb' for the 350D (remote exposure switch) came from China and cost about £2! This has been great for long exposures of over 30s. I also used the Canon capture software to take single exposures and then check the focus, problem is that the images are saved to the desktop in .TIFF format, so a lot of messing about converting the files was needed as my version of PSP will not accept .TIFF files.

Anyhow..here is the final cropped image of M27, stacked 5 subs at 30s each, iso 1600, processed in Photoshop.

Summer at last!

The last few days have actually brought SUNSHINE and even some clear nights. After what is officially the wettest June and July on record we now move into August. I'm now looking forward to a great Indian Summer!

The last couple of nights I went out in the garden and managed to image NGC 7000, the North American Nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. I've always wanted to capture some good images of this, particularly in wide field. My first attempt was taken with the Canon EOS 350 and the Skywatcher ST80. 6 frames of 30 seconds stacked with Deep Space Stacker.

The images are amazing individually, Cygnus is in the Milky Way belt and the number of stars are breathtaking (even from my back garden!)

More to come soon!

Noyes Fludde

Did I mention Global Warming back in April?

It has rained now every day for the last six weeks, torrential rain, summer storms, drizzle, constant showers and cats and dogs!!

Forecast for the next week is the same! Will it ever stop?

The wettest June in 150 years and July looks the same....what has happened to Summer this year? Could it be Global Warming or did Noah get it right?

I'm still not convinced!

It can only get better...surely!!

My poor telescopes have lay dormant and apart from one night this week for about half an hour, there has not been a clear night in six weeks.

Update:

Worst Floods in History (since Noah!)

"Flood ravaged areas of England are being warned that more heavy rain is set to sweep across the country.
Hundreds of families are still unable to return to their homes as floods continue to affect parts of Yorkshire and the Midlands."

Following this floods in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire left towns and villages near to the River Avon and Severn underwater. Tewksbury, Gloucester, Evesham and even the M5!

Unbelievable!

Apollo 11

Well, eight days to go and our school is shutting down and moving to a new building.
A lot of memories here...
Last week we celebrated the opening of our school in 1960 with a 60's week so that children today could experience life in the 1960's. The picture above is a large display made by the kids and myself to celebrate Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the Moon during July 1969.
It was great listening to 60's music and re-living that day on the 20th July 1969.
I've been here at St. Andrew's now for 15 years, strange that my school closes on 20th July 2007 ... the same day that man walked on the moon and a date I will never forget!

Space Shuttle Landing

This is an amazing still picture of the touchdown of Atlantis at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Space Shuttle Missions get very little coverage on the BBC or any other media for that matter unless of course it blows up!

NASA Television is a superb site for watching live and recorded pictures of the missions. I watched Atlantis STS-117 take off live and tonight watched the landing live. The mission is a bit special because I was able to 'see' in the sky the ISS and watch the launch live on it's journey to the ISS. It became very 'real' so I was able to follow the mission. I began to feel a little bit like the Apollo 11 days where you realise that technology is wonderful and children need to be aware of what is happening out there in space.

I watched Mission Control bring down this Space Craft from a speed of 17,000mph in half an hour to glide gracefully to a standstill in a desert in California and it's not on a PSP2!

Here are some statistics: 22/6/07

Official Landing Times Main gear touchdown:20:49:38 p.m. BST

Nose gear touchdown:20:49:49 p.m.

EDT Wheels stop: 20:50:48 p.m.

EDT Total miles: 5.8 million

New look ISS

ISS trail from my back garden at the time of the Space Shuttle launch.

Yesterday the Space Shuttle Atlantis undocked from the international space station in preparation for return to Earth. The photos of the ISS taken from the Space Shuttle are stunning! The ISS is now bigger than ever and will no doubt reflect more light to the Earth as it passes over my back garden. Weather is not good at the moment...and getting worse!

I'm looking forward to seeing the ISS pass overhead again with it's new look. Let's hope I can take a good image of it.

The other night I downloaded a satellite tracking programme that will find and track the ISS with a telescope. I'm hoping that my Celestron SLT is supported by this programme, so I want to test it next time we have clear skies and the ISS in view.

Later today the Space Shuttle Atlantis returns to Earth.

Close up ISS

Close up image of the ISS taken during the second pass on Friday Night. I have tried to bring out some detail, and if you look carefully you can tell that it has a vague 'space station' shape. I have just seen some incredible images if the ISS docked with the Space Shuttle taken last night by others with telescopes.

(How can you track the ISS with a telescope and image it at the same time? It moves pretty fast!!)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1109/539702533_f326cfee72.jpg

http://www.shannonsideastronomy.com/graphics/near/ISSAtlantis.gif

http://www.12dstring.me.uk/images/issatlantis.gif

The ISS Trail

The Space Shuttle Atlantis 45 minutes after taking the picture below.
Click the image above it's brill!


The first attempt at imaging the International Space Station about 90 minutes earlier hand-held was not successful, so I tried again on the second pass. This time I mounted my Canon 350D onto a tripod and waited for the ISS to appear. The image above was taken with a 20 second exposure set to wide field. This was about 45 minutes before the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis with a mission to dock with the ISS and build - on to the station.

I watched the launch live from NASA TV and this was amazing! The image above is from the launch.

To think that I have just taken images of the ISS over my own back garden then watched the Space Shuttle live heading for the ISS gives me a wonderful feeling!

International Space Station Pass

For the first time I have just watched the ISS from my garden! An amazing sight...it is 10.25 and still light, but the ISS is very bright and is easily seen. I took some photos with my 350D, but I couldn't hold the camera still enough, all I can see are random trails from the ISS.
What is even more amazing is that in 2 hours time the Space Shuttle Atlantis is about to launch from Cape Canaveral to dock with the ISS and add on new parts. I really wish I could take a decent image of the station...even better with the Space Shuttle attached!
The next pass is at 23.56pm travelling West to East. I will try again to capture some images...fingers crossed!

The Elusive Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

The Whirlpool Galaxy in the constellation of Ursa Major (The Plough) is more or less at zenith (straight up!) My computerised mount won't cope with this as it is outside it's limits for tracking so I have tried to find this elusive galaxy with my Skywatcher 130M.

I know where to look, but I just can't find it! If I could at least see a fuzzy object, I could point the camera and take some long exposure images and maybe see something.

So...I called on the BRT to try to take an image for me...and here it is!

This would be a super object to capture with my own equipment...maybe one day?

Here are the settings of the BRT in Tenerife:

Request ID
49535
Job ID
35899
Object Type
MESSIER
Object ID
51
Object Name
The Whirlpool Galaxy
Exposure Time
120000 ms
Filter Type
Colour
Dark frame
Instant
Site Name
Tenerife
Telescope Type Name
Galaxy
Telescope Name
Galaxy Camera
Request Time
22:59 on Friday 25 May 2007 (21:59:51 UTC)
Completion Time
04:22 on Monday 28 May 2007 (03:22:33 UTC)
Comments
Whirlpool Galaxy
Status
Complete

Dawn Mission to the Asteroid Belt!

All Aboard the Dawn Spacecraft!

During the “Send Your Name to the Asteroid Belt” campaign, at NASA's JPL site:

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/index.asp

more than 360,000 people signed up to participate in a virtual voyage to the asteroid belt. The computer chip holding all the participants’ names has now been installed on the Dawn spacecraft in preparation for flight in June.

I managed to add most of my family names to the 'chip' for it's journey to Vesta and Ceres and who knows beyond...

I think that it is amazing that we are being digitally transported to Deep Space and to Mars! Even if the spacecraft doesn't make it that 'chip' will float around space until eternity...makes you think a bit doesn't it!!

The Vesta Asteroid can be be seen at the moment near to Jupiter with binoculars but gets brighter in about a weeks time. The surface of Vesta has a high reflective surface and will in fact make it visible with a naked eye as long as you know where to look!

I'm going to try to find it next time the sky is clear...watch this space!

Phoenix Spacecraft to Mars

This e-mail came out of the blue!

Dear Stephen Macdonald,

Thank you for participating in The Planetary Society's Messages from Earth project!
Your name is now one step closer to Mars. The silica glass mini-DVD with a quarter million names on it -- including yours -- has been installed on the Phoenix spacecraft, and is ready to go to Mars!
The spacecraft has just successfully been flown to Cape Canaveral, and now will begin final testing and preparation for launch. Phoenix will arrive and land in the northern near-polar regions in late May or early June 2008 (exact date dependent upon launch date). We’ll keep you updated on the mission as it progresses towards launch, and of course, update you on its launch and landing.

Sincerely,

Bruce BettsDirector of Project
The Planetary Society

WoW!! I'm going to Mars!

Last year during the window where you could add your name to the spaceship database so I added some names to travel to Mars!

Out of this world!!

Jodrell Bank

On the North West side of Bolton, there lies a hill called Winter Hill. The views from the side of the hill to the South on a clear day are superb! You can see the town of Bolton, the city of Manchester and as far as the Cheshire Plains and even the mountains of North Wales.

When the sun sets, and the telescope is pointing roughly North, the Jodrell Bank Telescope catches the sun and can be seen easily from Winter Hill.Here was the view tonight which shows some of the old mills in Bolton, Trafford Park (an industrial area in Manchester) and the Cheshire Plain where Jodrell Bank is located. Jodrell Bank is about 40 miles away (as the crow flies!)

On the right of the image, just further down and right from Jodrell Bank is a huge mill called Swan Mill. This was once the largest Cotton Mill in the area and it's now a listed building because of it's stunning architecture. Some of the mills that now survive in Bolton are being converted into expensive 5 star apartments. It must be great if you are an astronomer...you could set up an observatory on the roof of a 10 story mill away from the Light Pollution!!

Hope you enjoy the image, taken with my Canon 350D and 200mm zoom lens from Scout Rd.

Earthshine Moon and Venus

The view to the Western Sky at the moment from my back window is superb!

I can see the Moon, Venus, Castor and Pollux along with a setting Saturn. Earlier, I took some images of the Moon and Venus with my Canon 350D and 200mm lens.

The weather today has been awful!

Gale force winds, torrential rain, hail....I even had to watch that (dreadful) cup final!

Chelsea 1 Manchester United 0....I fell asleep at half-time!!

Weird how the weather changes so quickly...tonight brought a beautiful sunset...no wind...clear sky...wonderful Moon and Venus!

National Grid for Learning (NGfL)

Well, Tony Blair is moving on to pastures new, but politics apart, his vision of the National Grid for Learning (NGfL) has made quite an impact in schools. Children can now access on-line resources that were unheard of ten years ago via broadband links!

Multimedia is now a way of life for most kids.

Remote telescopes like the Bradford Telescope, JMU (John Moores University) and Faulkes can now be accessed and controlled from the classroom. Hubble images, S@N and NASA Television can be viewed on large screens and Interactive Whiteboards in Primary School classrooms. Children can research for information on the internet and write reports and produce Powerpoint Presentations about their findings.

I wish I had all this when I was at school!

Hand on heart...you got it right!

Technology Rules...OK!

Bank Holiday Blues!

Beehive Cluster with added spikes!

The weather for the last four weeks has been wonderful! Wall to wall sunshine every day, temperatures into the mid 20's. At night the skies have been clear with Venus dominating in the West.
I took out my scopes last week to try out the SLR computerised mount linked to the laptop and 'Starry Night 5' software to control the mount. I was really pleased with the results, got the computer to slew to M5 and there it was for the first time. Tried to image, but made a real mess of focussing the scope. It's quite difficult when switching from the camera to an eyepiece, i'm hoping that the flip mirror will help (when Astro-Engineering and Green Witch decide to send me the adaptor I ordered four weeks ago!)
Captured a nice wide field image of the Beehive Cluster using the ST80 and Canon 350. It's great to have the remote control now for operating the shutter. I don't need to touch the camera at all once set up.

Well, guess what...it's now Bank Holiday and the weather duly changed to wind, rain and cloud just in time! So what's new...never fails does it!!

Venus and Moon Conjunction

Last night I took out my ST80 and SLT computerised mount into the garden where the sky was wonderfully clear. I thought I might try to find and image the Whirlpool Galaxy in Ursa Major (The Plough) and a couple of other Deep Sky Objects. Alas...that was not to be! The SLT mount would not align, probably because I did not input the time correctly to take account of Daylight Saving. I tried alignment four times, the last attempt seemed to lock, but then gave me very inaccurate results when looking for objects. In the end I gave up and went in!

Tonight was cloudy, but I managed to capture the lovely conjunction of Venus and the Moon low in the Western Sky.

Venus is magnificent at the moment, bright enough to cast shadows in a dark room. (Maybe I should try it?)

I have just bought a flip mirror to use with both the webcam and the EOS350, although the EOS 350 fits alright, I still need an adaptor to reduce the T thread to a 1.25" so that I can use the webcam. I've ordered it from 'Green Witch' a company that I have never used before, still waiting for it to arrive...fingers crossed!

Is this Global Warming?

Is it Global Warming?

Is it Climate Change?

Or is it just fantastic weather that coincides with my two week Easter Holiday? (I think so)

Today the temperature reached 75 degrees and wall to wall sunshine for virtually the last two weeks. Apart from a couple of days when it drizzled a bit, the weather has been glorious. The last few days hit temperatures in the the 70's! The grass on the Moors are tinder dry and nights have been clear but hazy, lovely to sit under, but not good to take images.
The Plough is now sitting at azimuth (straight up!) and Orion is disappearing into the Western Sky. Venus is superb! Sitting high in the West and probably the brightest (and highest) i've seen...a lovely sight.

Big Brother in Space

Here I am with Vernon Kay!

Following the 50th Aniversary of Sky at Night it seems that the BBC need to jazz up their production of S@N , bring in a few celebrities and compete with Daytime TV

It seems that the only way these days to get early slots are reality programmes, soaps, auctions, gardening and houses!How about some suggestions:

Sky Force - Nominate someone for Alan and Charlie to come round while you are out to build and set up your dream observatory!

Big Brother in Space - Send Chris Linnott, Brian May John Culshaw, Mylene Klass and Jade to the International Space Station and we all watch it on reality TV with a focus on the cosmos! Sir Patrick could stay on Earth and stand in for Davina McColl!

Cash in the Observatory - Sell your old stuff through a specialist astro auction house to gain cash for a dream astro project!

Constellation Street - Weekly events of life in the cosmos, presented by Kate Ford.

M Farm - Dingles approach to Deep Sky Imaging!

50 years of Sky at Night!

An incredible aniversary when you consider the changes in technology! Started before the launch of Sputnik then through the Space Race years, Moon Landings, Hubble Telescope, International Space Station and Mars Landers it's pretty incredible.

Here is a quote from the BBC:

Sir Patrick Moore has presented the 650th episode of BBC One's astronomy programme The Sky at Night, nearly 50 years after the show first aired.
Sir Patrick presented the first show, when he was asked to do three programmes on astronomy in 1957.
At 83, he is British television's longest serving presenter, and still continues his own astronomy work.

The 50th aniversary programme was a real change from the norm. Featuring Brian May (Queen Guitarist) and Jon Culshaw who played a brilliant part as Sir Patrick 50 years ago! I really enjoyed the light hearted approach to Space and Science shown on the programme so I sent my own views to the S@N forum:

As a Primary School Teacher I would like to congratulate yourself, Sir Patrick, Brian, Jon Culshaw and everyone else involved in last night's programme. To traditional S@N watchers the aniversary programme was 'different' and maybe not as expected, but for young children with an interest in space and astronomy i'm sure that they will love it! It brought to life, in an entertaining way, how technology has progressed over the last 50 years and looked ahead to the next 50 years. This gives younger children something really positive to think about and gives a real stimulus for Science or Writing Projects. OK...the original programme was a bit late for younger children, but I will certainly be showing it to my class who are keen on learning about space. I think that you have produced a super resource that could encourage children to take more interest apart from 'Play Station' virtual space

Well Done Sir Patrick!