First flight of the Wright Flyer on Netersel model airfield

These are the pictures of the first real flight of the Wrightflyer at the model-airfield near Netersel where we also do our observing with the telescopes. It is a beautiful airplane, everything is constructed by hand, except for the engine. This has been a project that took years, the (already very experienced) pilot had to train himself in flying this airplane doing small jumps. It took him about 1 year to master it, including many finetuning/modifications on this airplane. But he succeeded!

M27 with the Artemis 4021 CCD and Hutech LPS-P2 filter

 Last fridaynight I photographed M27 (The Dumbell Nebula). It is a planetary nebula, when a star the size of our Sun reaches the end of its life it blows away its outer shell, this is visible as a so called planetary nebula (because people first thought it was a planet instead of a star).
This picture was shot using my Artemis 4021 CCD, cooled to -15 degrees centigrade on my 200mmF5 Newtonian, riding a NEQ6 pro mount.
It is a combination of 7x 1200s

Here is a enlarged version of this beautiful nebula.

NGC6914 with LPS-P2 filter

This is NGC6914 again, but now 2x1200s with the Hutech LPS-P2 filter.

NGC6914 with UHC-S filter

After using adapters to move the coma corrector to 55mm from the CCD I tried NGC6914 again, this time with Baader UHC-S filter. The coma is substantially reducted, with finetuning I can even achieve a little bit more I think. I also experimented with a Neumann flatfield EL panel for shooting flatfield calibration frames. This also improved the picture a lot. After that I experimented stacking the pictures in Nebulosity. There it showed that there was a lot of moisture on the pictures, so I could only use the first two of 1200s I shot. I made a new badpixelmap in Nebulosity and stacked the first two of the session, this is the result. The UHC-S filter blocks a lot of light compared to the Lumicon Halpha pass. I think I will use the Halpha pass again next time.

NGC6914 in the Milky Way

NGC6914, my first try at Halpha imaging. This region contains the most dense group of young stars in the milky way. It contains about 2600 OB type starts in a space of just 200 lightyears. The group is standing at about 5000 lightyears distance, but most light is obscured by dustclouds in the Milky way.
This image was made with my 200mmF5 Newtonian reflector in combination with the Artemis 4021 cooled CCD (at -10 degr. C). It is a combination of 3 1200sec exposures through a Halpha filter.

1st night with the cooled CCD camera: M57

This is the first real test with the cooled Artemis 4021 CCD camera. There is still a lot of coma visible but that is because of a too short distance between the coma corrector and the CCD pane. 

Next weeks I will do more testing, the first results look very promising because this camera has an enourmous light gathering capability when compared to my eos400d. The signal/noise ratio is also stunning, there is almost no noise!

To Schauinsland with the cableway

We went with the cableway to the top of Schauinsland. There (near the amateur observatory) I spotted this beautiful longhorn beetle.

 When I was standing on top of the tower that is built on top of Schauinsland I saw the amateur observatory of the "Sternfreunde Breisgau" (The small white domes).

Before going down again I saw this sign in the mountain station with nice astrophoto's from the amateur observatory.

Walk to Priorsfelsen

When we walked to "Priorsfelsen" we saw this falcon. I was not quick enough to grab my camera and was just able to take this shot when it was flying away. After I walked on top of the "felsen" another falcon flew away but that one was so quick I was not able to photograph it. I suspect there is a falcon nest around there.

Black Forest animals

 When we were walking around the "Kohlerkopf" we saw this nice "boserebia" butterfly.

After coming home this Thrush was singing in our backyard.

Eagles of the Black Forest

These eagles are almost always swarming around the Eduardshoehe near the Gerstenhalm. Beautiful birds.

Nice walk around Sankt Ulrich

Here is a view on Geiersnest from the south of Sankt Ulricht. Our guesthouse is located just below the top of the mountain.

After the first part of our walk we had a drink at the guesthouse Zum Roessle in Sankt Ulrich.

And here is the beautiful abbey Church of Sankt Ulrich.

Visit to Schauinsland Observatory of "Sternfreunde Breisgau"

Nearby to my observing site "Gerstenhalm" is an amateur observatory run by the "Sternfreunde Breisgau". I was able to contact them via the internet and a visit to the observatory was arranged. The location is after the mountain peak, on the place indicated by the arrow (approx.)

On the site is also an old sun observatory that is mostly not used anymore because the astronomers use the equipment on the Canary Islands. Here are some domes, most of them are empty.

In one of the domes is this classic Zeiss Jena sun refractor for solar research. Beautiful instrument.

The amateur observatory is built inside a concrete circle that was orginally planned for a very big refractor. Because of the second world war this never came into existance. The "Sternfreunde" built their domes and warm room inside this concrete circle. There are 3 main instruments. In the middle is a C14.

This is the 15" F5 Astrooptik Keller Newton in its fork mount with FS2 control.

And here is the Bath 250mmF4.2 Astrograph (hyperbolical main mirror and corrector) in its fork mount with FS2 control. This instrument is with regard to its optical system comparable to the Takahashi Epsilon 300mm of Halley Observatory.

On the wall inside the warm room was a beautiful picture of the Horsehead nebula made with the Bath Astrograph. It was made using Gas treated Kodak TP2415 film. Beautiful picture.

Some pictures of some of our Black Forest walks

 This snail we captured in the woods west of the Gerstenhalm.

 Here's a view of the Belchen through the Muenstertal.

This is a view from the Belchen in the direction of the Alps.

 Here's our guesthouse "Gerstenhalmstueble" as seen from the Belchen.

 This is a very nice Swallowtail I saw on the top of the Belchen.

And here's a "Bergpieper" with an insect in its beak.

Nice walk in the black forest part 2: First observing session

 On the "Gerstenhalm" mountain are many flowers, the butterflies love this. This one I photographed while it was sitting and eating nectar from this nice flower.

 Buzzard vs. Crow: 0-1

 German "Wachhund"

Observing many galaxies on the "Gerstenhalm" mountain.

1st day in the Black Forest: walking about

 On our walk from our guesthouse to Kaltwasser we saw this friendly photogenic goat.....

 This is a view from the Hohbueh mountain in the direction France.

From our windows we have this nice view in the night.

Testing the VFR800 battery and voltage regulator

Here I'm testing the battery and voltage regulator of my VFR800. Engine fully heated, headlight on, cooling fan kicks in at about 106 degr. C. Voltage drops below 12V indicating worn down battery......Unfortunately garage already sold all of the type I need....So tomorrow to Rotterdam again on the XJ600s...

Dutch astrophotography day: Me showing my UGC10822 photo

Here I am showing my UGC10822 astrophoto on the Dutch astrophotography day in Mijdrecht, Netherlands.

German ATT fair: brand new MESU german equatorial mount!

Today I visited the ATT astronomy fair in Germany. I went together with some guys from Halley observatory. We had a wonderful day and also saw the brand new MESU optics German equatorial mount. This is a serious option for my observatory, 100kg loading capacity, servocat goto system and built to last with industrial electromotors.

NGC3972 with bright supernova SN2011by

This is galaxy NGC3972 with in it the bright supernova SN2011by.....it is still not at its peak. I photographed it with my 200mmF5 Newtonian, it is a combination of 5 30min exposures @ ISO800.

There is a very strange line over the picture. I think it is an interal reflection inside the telescope. NGC3972 is the galaxy in the center. Around it are many other galaxies that could easily be viewed visually from my backyard through this telescope. There are some guiding errors, because photgraphing in zenith is very difficult with my setup because of its adjustment.

Picture of the starparty last Saturday at Halley Observatory

Here's a picture of me looking at the Megrez/NEQ6 setup that was used by another astronomer to photograph the famous Leo Triplet. In the back some guys are watching deepsky objects through a classic Vixen R150SS....I really likes the views through that nice small telescope.