Walk in "De Utrecht" near Esbeek

 Next to the village where we live lies "De Utrecht", it is a vast area of woodlands. Here you see the trees in their early autumn colours. This picture was shot near to "Tulder".

 These are real autumn colours....

And here's a very nice small lake....the water is like a beautiful giant mirror.

Walk on the "Landschotse heide" near Westelbeers

 Last Saturday we decided to have a walk on the "Landschotse heide" near Westelbeers. Here's a picture of a nice mushroom.

 There were two white Herons flying from lake to lake.....here's the best one, shot with my "proven" bird lens: the Sigma 600mmF8 telephoto mirror lens (from hand)

And here's the "Keienhurkse ven". The water is very clear and blue, we didn't spot birds (except for the two white Herons...)

Abell 426 Perseus galaxy cluster with NGC1275 Seyfert galaxy

This is a picture of the Perseus galaxy Cluster Abell 426. It is one of the most massive structures in our galaxy and is standing at about 250 million lightyears distance from us. In its center is the very active Seyfert galaxy NGC1275, it is the 2nd most powerful radiosource in our universe. This picture was shot using my 200mmF5 Newtonian reflector with an Artemis 4021 moni in its prime focus. It is a combination of 7 20min exposures.

Here is a cropped and enhanced part of the picture above. The most bright galaxy is NGC1275.

 This is an inverted version of the picture. Now you can see much more galaxies. The whole field of view is completely filled with them.

 Here is an enlarged view on the center. If you look at NGC1275 you can see that it is not looking as a "standard" ellipsoid galaxy, it has flames coming out of it, pointing to the right and above.

CCD sensor cleaning of the Artemis4021

Last weekes more and more dust particles are gathering on the CCD sensor of the Artemis. I cannot calibrate them out using flat-fields, so it is time for a cleaning action.

First I have to figure out how to take the Artemis apart. After 1 hour of careful work I am looking freely at the sensor. This picture shows the backside.

After cleaning the sensor with swabs and alcohol I built the camera together. Here I am shooting flat-fiels on my EL panel to verify if the action was helpful....

It was, here is the new one, most dust particles are gone now.

Walk near the "Hildernisse"

Last Saturday we decided to have a walk near Bergen op Zoom. Under that village there is a small area called the "Brabantse wal", it is a special area where sand-grounds meat sea-clay. There's also a classic farm over there, called the "Hildernisse". I spotted this Robin hiding in the bushes near the farm.

M37 open cluster in Auriga

This is the open cluster M37 in constellation Auriga. It is a testpicture, a combination of 9x5min exposures, shot at almost full moon. I figured out the correct MPCC coma-corrector to CCD distance and shot these frames to verify this. The collimation and focus were not perfect. What bothers me most are the irritating dust particles. I just cannot get rid of them, even with calibration flatfield frames shot with my EL panel. For testing purposes the camera has been turned but these pesky particles remain in the same position. They must be on the sensor, no doubt about it....

Maffei 1 Galaxy: obscured by the Milky Way

Just slightly left of the middle of the picture is Maffei 1. Standing at 10 mln lightyears distance, it should be one of the brightest galaxies in the sky. It is obscured however by the Milky Way, which blocks 99% of its light. This is the reason that it took until 1968 before an Italian astronomer Paolo Maffei discovered it on one of his infrared astrophotographs. On the right is a small part of the "Heart and Soul nebula", but that is well within our Milky way. This picture was shot using my 200mmF5 Newtonian reflector, it is a combination of 10 20min exposures

This picture is zoomed in on Maffei 1. I also inverted the picture to show more detail of its outer regions.

Kollase die-hard observing weekend in Germany

 Last weekend we went with a group of amateur-astronomers to the famous Kollase deepsky observing weekend. When you arrive at the hotel you only see this small sign.

 After the 1st night the field is full with different kinds of telescopes. In the front is a Halpha-solar telescope, with this you can see prominences on the Sun.

 Saturday is the ATM (Amateur-telescope-making) day.....after a die-hard observing night there's always a  lot of stuff that needs repair....

We decided to stay 1 day longer. This was very smart, because that night was the one with the best seeing conditions. On this picture the telescopes (from left to right Meade 12" Lightbridge dobsonian, Skywatcher 200mmF5 Newtonian reflector in HEQ5pro mount, my telescope, and a GSO 200mmF6 Dobson. We observed many objects, the nicest ones were the Veil nebula west, galaxies Maffei 1 & NGC1023, and moon IO passing over Jupiter.

Modified mirror cell installed: results looking good!

Yesterday I picked up the modified mirror cell at Astrosystems Holland. After installation in my Newtonian I quickly found out that collimation is very precise now. Moving the telescope in various directions does not alter the collimation anymore. Before the moon came up I watched the Andromeda galaxy, with M31, M32 and M110 (very easily) in my 33mm William Optics SWAN. After that I watched Jupiter and its great red spot in the 10mm Vixen LV Plossl. With the same oculair I watched many mountains on the moon. It has been a lot of work, but the result is very rewarding.

Mirror cell of primary mirror upgraded

The primary mirror cell has been upgraded by Astrosystems Holland. The weakest point were the collimation screws and the lack of springs behind the mirror. This has been corrected by ASH. Also the backplate has been modified so that it can be fitted with a cooling fan. The cooling air is forced around the mirror.
Tomorrow I will pick it up, I am very curious how it looks in real.

Primary mirror cell upgrade

Astrosystems Holland is designing a new mirror cell for the primary mirror of my 200mmF5 Newtonian reflector. Calculations with the famous program "plop" show an error of 1.44e-5 rms using a simple 3 point support. The only thing that needs upgrading now is the adjustment and cooling opening.

Open day at model airfield Netersel

 Unbelievable nice airplane: a Witch flying her broomstick!

 Cockpit of a Tiger Moth.

Beechcraft flying very low....

NGC281 "Pacman nebula"

Last clear thursdaynight I shot this picture of NGC281 in Casiopeia, also known as the "Pac-man" nebula. This picture was shot with my 200mmF5 Newtonian reflector fitted with an Artemis cooled CCD in its primary focus. This is a combination of 3 1200s exposures.
The nebula is lit up by a bright young multiple star in its center, HD5005. Over the nebula lies a dark lane of dust which gives the nebula its "Pac-man" appearance.

Takahashi EL panel

Today I received the secondhand 300mm EL panel/foil that can be used for shooting flatfields with the Takahashi. Only thing is that we need to think of a good way of installing it on the nose of the Takahashi E-300.

Primary mirror cleaning

After 4 years of intensive use my primary mirror of the 200mmF5 Newtonian is becoming very dirty. There was even a piece of hay stuck to it. I was not able to get all dust particles off, but it is a major improvement.

 Here is the primary mirror before cleaning, you see the piece of hay stuck to it (I have no idea how it ever came there in the first place....)

 Rinsing the mirror thoroughly for 10 minutes already does a lot of good work.

After that I let it rest in the sink for 1 hour under lukewarm water with 1 drop of cleaning agent. After that I used cotton to clean in from the outside in, under absolutely no pressure. After that a few minutes of rinsing. This is the final result. You still see some particle, but it is a major improvement.

Starparty Netersel, last Saturday 27-8-2011

Last Saturdaynight the weather was very dubious, we still decided to go observing at Netersel, despite the clouds. Two other guys from the astroforum joined me on that night. Despite the clouds we were able to do some moderate observing. I was also able to explain many issues regarding telescopes etc. to the newcomers.
This is the list of objects observed, most observations were done with the 33mm William optics SWAN (giving 30x magnification) in my 200mmF5 Newtonian reflector.
- The Andromeda nebula (M31), together with its M32 and M110 neighboring galaxies in 1 view.
- NGC869/884 Double cluster in Perseus
- The Triangulum galaxy M33, very big and very weak
- M71 globular cluster near Sagitta in the 8mm Hyperion (125x)
- M27 Dumbbell nebula (planetary nebula), very clearly visible
- M45 Pleiades, just fitting in the field of view.
- M57 Ring nebula with the 8mm Hyperion (125x), very clearly visible
- Comet C2009/P1 Garrad, visible as a small, slightly ellipsoid nebula.
- M37 Open cluster in Auriga with the 8mm Hyperion (125x)
And then the "object of the night":
- NGC6960 "Witches broom" in the Veil nebula around star 52 Cygni. This nebula is a supernova remnant. I was nevel able to clearly see this nebula. I needed the Baader Ultra high contrast, narrowband (UHC-S) filter to see the brightest filament on one side of 52 Cygni. On the other side I also saw hints of nebulae, this was only visible by looking periphery.

Reading the classic astronomy book "Mijn Sterrenwacht" from Piet Meesters

 Very nice to read in the classic book. It is written by one of the most famous Dutch amateur astronomers: "Piet Meesters".

 It contains many nice sketches. These are from Mars, by Flammarion.

This is inside Mr. Meesters' amateur observatory at Halfweg. He also built many (very sought after) telescopes himself.

Old tractor day in Bergeyk

The good old Farmall, many parts of this tractor went through my hands when I was working at my fathers' company when I was young.

Mud, beer and smoke from old tractors, my kind of party!

My dear old friend Frank Dieker passed away....

My very dear old friend Frank Dieker passed away...... 
Last night I could not sleep about that. I thought of him the whole day...drove in the rain to Rotterdam on my motocycle thinking of Frank all the time.......could not work properly....I still remember the nice trips we had together on our motocycles, the many beers we drank, the music festivals we visited (especially Elastiek), built (Splinter) and played on ourselves (Richelwoede). Very dear friend of mine, rest in peace....I will never forget you, you have a very special place in my heart. I also remember how much you liked Neil Young. Heart of gold was one of your (and my) favorites. Every time I play that song from now one I will think of you, because that is what you really had: a heart of gold!

NGC6960 "Witches broom" supernova remnant.

This is part of the Veil nebula, it is officially known as NGC6960 or more commonly "The Witches Broom". It is part of a large supernova remnant in constellation Cygnus. This is a combination of 5 1200sec. exposures shot with my 200mmF5 Newtonian fitted with a cooled CCD astrocamera.

This is again a large step forward than before. I used star-collimation techniques on the main-mirror and a more accurate corrector/CCD distance (which still needs improvement).