More pictures of the Takahashi E-300/Jones-Bird combination

Here's a nice picture of the astrograph we are working on. It is a combination of a superb Takahashi Epsilon 300mm astrograph in combination with a 300mm Jones-Bird Newtonian mounted on a Astrotechniek CP-180 mount with FS2 control system. First we will get the communication going, restore goto capability (from laptop via Cartes du Ciel/ASCOM/LX200 protocol) and then we will test the autoguiding interface. After that we will refine polar alignment and do some serious astrophotography with this superb setup!

Recommissioning Takahashi Epsilon 300mm for astrophotography

A project has been started to re-commission the Takahashi Epsilon 300mm Newton for astrophotography (with the 300mm Jones-bird Newton as guidescope) for the Halley Observatory This setup is installed on a superb Astrotechniek CP-180 mount that first has to be correctly polar aligned with drift-alignment. The mount is fitted with an FS2 goto system including a ST4 autoguiding option. Everything I need.

Here's another picture of the setup in the small observatory (the C14 on CGEM-pro is in the bigger observatory, primarily used for presentations to the public)

Here's an example of the CP-180 mount. We have to figure out how to adjust the azimuth with this mount.

Here are some specifications on the superb Takahashi Epsilon-300 astrograph:

Opening: 300mm F3.8

Focal length: 1140mm

Central obstruction: 0.36

The focal length does not scare me, I am using 1000mm now on my EQ6pro. What is very challenging to me is the collimation of a F3.8 system with the barlowed laser method.

First light with the 2nd hand NEQ6 mount: Algol, the Demon Star

This is the first testshot I made with the 2nd hand NEQ6 I bought a few weeks ago. It is a single frame shot of 30sec exposure at ISO800 with the Eos400d in primary focus of the 200mm Newtonian telescope. The guiding is very tight. I need to focus on collimation because that is clearly visible on this picure. The MPCC could not compensate all.

The datalogging of the autoguiding shows a much smoother running on the RA axis (the undershoot is when I touched the cam between exposures). Next step is focus on driftalignment and reducing coma.

New mounts on astro fair at Sonnenborgh observatory

New Skywatcher EQ7 mount prototype.

The Mesu mount: also very nice. Can hold 2x65kg!

Starparty at the Halley observatory

Last saturdaynight we had a nice starparty at the Halley observatory in Heesch. Here I'm standing (left) next to my 200mmF5 Newtonian. It is pointed at comet 103P/Hartley.

Comet 103P/Hartley

Comet 103P/Hartley is still very faint. I could not see it visible, so I decided to try it photographically. This is a combination of 4 20min exposures at ISO800. The green-blueish color that is very common to Comets is clearly visible. Next months it will become more bright.

NGC7331 and Stephans quintet: realm of galaxies

Last night I photographed NGC7331 and the Stephans quintet, a group of galaxies approx 300 mln lightyears distant. This is a combination of 5 20min exposures @ ISO800 with an eos400d in the primary focus of my 200mmF5 Newtonian.

I also added 5 extra exposures of NGC7331 from the previous night, this is a total of 10 20min exposures........

This is an enlarged part of the Stephans quintet itself.

IC10 and NGC7662 with the webcam

This is IC10 captured with the modded SPC900 in primary focus of my 200mmF5 Newtonian. It is a combination of 12 180sec exposures.

And here's the Blue Snowball NGC7662, also captured with the webcam.

NGC7635 Bubble nebula with the modified webcam

This is NGC 7635, better known as the Bubble nebula. I wanted to try my modified webcam again on deepsky objects. This is a combination of 10 90sec exposures with my SC3 modded SPC900 (fitted with ICX-424 B/W CCD) in the primary focus of my 200mmF5 Newtonian. Autoguiding was done with a separate 90mmF10 fitted with a standard TouCam webcam.

A day at Burgers Zoo

Yesterday we went to Burgers' Zoo near Arnhem. It was a little bit raining, but the beautiful zoo compensated this fully, see: http://picasaweb.google.com/patrickduis2/ADayAtBurgersZoo#

Perseus on the 18th of August 2010 (without Perseids)

This is a picture of Perseus I made last thursdayevening. It doesn't show any Perseids but M31 and the double cluster NGC869/884 is visible. It is a combination of 13 30sec exposures at ISO1600 combined in 1 picture with a total exposure time of 6min30sec.

Open cluster M39 in Cygnus

Last week I photographed the beautiful M39 cluster in Cygnus. This is a combination of 2 20min exposures at ISO800 with a Eos400d in the primary focus of my 200mmF5 Newtonian. This loose cluster is standing 800 lightyears distance from us.

Presentation at the Halley observatory

Here me and my astrobuddy Morelinux (I'm standing in the front) are giving our presentations in the beautiful Halley observatory in Heesch (near Den Bosch). After that we viewed M27, M57 and Jupiter with the C14 telescope in the dome. It was a nice evening in a nice observatory.

Presentation about Deepsky from the backyard next friday 30th July 2010

Next friday (30th July 2010) I will give a presentation at the Halley Observatory in Heesch (Netherlands) about deepsky observing and astrophotography from my backyard. At the end of the presentation I will also discuss my new backyard roll-off observatory. For the concept of my presentation, see: Deepsky from my backyard .

NGC6826 Blinking planetary and UGC11465 galaxy

Here's the blinking planetary (the green dot in the middle), it is a planetary nebula you only see when looking with averted vision, otherwise you see the star in front of it. This is a testexposure to see how long I could autoguide with a half moon. This is a combination of 7 20min exposures @ ISO800, corrected with 4 dark and 4 bias frames.

After studying the picture more closely I found a very small galaxy, UGC11465. It is a very small galaxy with a magnitude of 12.7. Nice that it was also on this astrophoto.

After stuying the picture more closely it became clear that I managed to capture the outer layers of the Blinking nebula, you have to look very closely to see it, it is the halo around the bright center.

I also found PGC 2384842, a very small galaxy of magnitude 16.94, this is a new deep-record for me.

NGC6960 Veil nebula

This is the Veil nebula, also known as NGC6960. It is a supernova remnant. The full moon was shining but I thought: let's give it a try. It looks good, next time I will try to improve this result.

Balloon launched in our backyard.

Yesterday evening a balloon was launched on the meadow behind our living block.

1st light observatory

This is the 1st picture I took from my new observatory. It is an exposure of 1hr15min of M27. There were many high clouds, and the wind was blowing quite hard. Apart from the initial autoguiding problems I was able to make 5 subs of 15min @ ISO800 resulting in this picture. See the crop with more details below.

Observing the sun

This afternoon I observed the sun from my backyard observatory, here are some pictures.

 

Backyard observatory first light

This evening my backyard observatory got it's first light, observed M57, NGC6811, M56, M27, M71, M13 and M92. The good thing about the observatory is that you can open it in 5min and close it also in 5min....