Plans for Summer '24

Because last year's plans went so well (which I write with heavy sarcasm) I'm going to make new, possibly better plans for this year.

Star Parties! From none last year to three this year?

The Iowa Star Party finally moved their party date from the usual late August to October. Now although I just love camping in sweltering heat and dew point temperatures of 70+ degrees F, this is a welcome change. It's bound to be cooler in October, I hope, and by then the expected layers of smoke will be gone or at least diminished. As soon as registration opens I'm signing up, and that's meant with sincerity. 

Iowa Star Party

The IaSP has always been one of my favorites. It doesn't have the darkest sky, but the facilities are nice and the observing field is big and open. Civilization (small-town Iowa style) is only minutes away in Coon Rapids (population 1279). My imaging target will be a revisit of IC 348. Here's my image of it from Stacy, MN in 2014:

The bright star is Atik (Omicron Persei) and the dark clouds beneath are Bernard 3 and 4. This was imaged with my TV-102 and ST8300 Camera.  I thought at the time it was an interesting subject, and now I'll go after it with better gear, better sky, and (I hope) more time on target. There is a large emission nebula in the right half of the image that is barely hinted at here. Definitely needs better data!

Northern Nights Star Fest

With the Iowa Star Party vacating the labor day weekend there's no longer the usual schedule conflict with the NNSF, a north-woods party sponsored by the Minnesota Astronomical Society. The dark sky is spectacular for this party; aside from clouds the only thing that might cause problems is a nice Aurora. I've already made my reservations for this and have selected a target: the Soap Bubble. This is a pretty little planetary nebula sitting near the Crescent nebula in Cygnus. Here is my 2013 image of the crescent:

This Ha+OIII narrowband image from my light-polluted back yard is far too brief to capture the Soap Bubble; if you know just where to look in this image you can see it's not there. Sometimes the data simply aren't adequate. Repeated attempts at overprocessing failed to pull it out of the noise. The hope is that with the dark sky of the NNSF and a few nights on this one one target using LRGB--it will be there!

Nebraska Star Party

NSP is always a challenge. Heat. Thunderstorms. Mosquitoes, little prickly pear cacti, and in recent years, unusually high humidity.  Add to that layers of forest fire smoke and even unhealthy air quality as Canada burns. (It's possible the smoke may be part of a long term trend.)  I hope to go, but it will probably be a wait and see game to see if it's worth the travel time.

If I do make it, I think I'll update yet another old image of mine, M8 (the Lagoon). Two solid nights on the Lagoon should produce something spectacular! And if there are three or four good nights I'll tack on an overlapping frame to make a mosaic of M8 and M20 (the Trifid Nebula)

From the 2013 Iowa Star Party:

Nothing special, but I was pleased with it at that stage of my deep sky imaging. The scope was a 72mm f/6 refractor. Eleven years later I'll use a 106mm f/5 scope; I should be able to do much better.

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Next post --- I'm still looking for a reasonably close-in camping location that is convenient to use on a same-day basis and has at least green-zone darkness as defined by this scale. I visit two new campgrounds two hours from a southern suburb of Minneapolis, and revisit three others that I previously found unsatisfactory to see if anything has changed. See what I learned this time around.

Panels and Pieces

September update with shouting headlines:

GUIDING WOES SOLVED!

After an August imaging session that featured repeated guide camera disconnects I decided that it was time to move on from my QHY5L-II. I'd read somewhere (CloudyNights?) this was one of its traits. Disconnects have been a repeating problem during its service to me. There have been nights I've retreated to my good old StarShoot Autoguider.

I had tried to work with the camera. It seemed as though the issue was insufficient power, so I used shorter and shorter USB cables, then a powered USB 3 port and a very short cable. The disconnects became less frequent but imaging time was still being lost. 

Something had to be done; I can tell you that it is not fun fussing around at 2 or 3 AM trying to get things going again after a disconnect. So I went all-ASI and purchased an ASI 120MM Mini (mono). My only qualms about the Mini were possible software collisions with my imaging camera, an ASI 2600M, and if it would be compatible with the QHY mini guide scope.

The only camera confusion was mine when I gave PHD2 the wrong camera to use. The ASI120 seems to work well with the QHY mini guide scope, although it may need a little more backfocus. And during an evening of imaging not a single disconnect, so for the moment I'm declaring problem solved. I may swap out the QHY guide scope for my old Orion 50mm guide scope, just for the added aperture.

MOSAIC DATA COMPLETED!

My ~57 megapixel mosaic of the Veil nebula has taken long enough, hasn't it? Panel 1 (of 6) was imaged June 19. Panels 2, 3, and 4 were imaged August 25 and September 11. The final panels, 5 and 6, were imaged September 17. The long summer delay was thanks to smoke, air quality, heat, clouds, and my availability. It's been a summer. 

I don't yet know how good the light frames are of these but they will have to do. Each panel is made of approximately 48 minutes of luminance, and 24 minutes of each color channel. This means it's not particularly deep, but this is the Veil Nebula and hardly the dimmest object in the sky. I could collect more data, but I'd like to move on to other targets.

DISASTER AVERTED, TWICE!

This is how my night imaging the last two panels started....

Disaster #1: The dew strap for my FSQ's objective had a short that I first noticed as a wild variation in the Pegasus Ultimate PowerBox current. It was hopping between a low, reasonable value and 4+ amps as it tried to control the situation. Its control probably prevented the Powerbox's demise, a meltdown of the strap's cable (it did become too hot to touch) and perhaps even damage to my AC to DC power supply. 

Disaster #2: Without the dew strap imaging could last only until I saw dew beginning on the imaging scope's objective. I hoped I'd be able to get at least one of the two remaining Veil panels done but it seemed doubtful. There was no breeze to keep the ambient temperature from cooling rapidly and because I was imaging almost straight up the objective would probably dew quickly.

Maybe it was convection from the power supply and the cooled imaging camera or just plain good luck but it somehow stayed dew-free for the time required to get both panels imaged.

NEBRASKA STAR PARTY 2023: SMOKE AND CLOUDS!

Okay, I didn't attend. I'll sit in judgement of it anyway, partly to justify my staying home but mainly to question the wisdom of traveling to distant places for imaging. Which is not to say I won't go next year, if someone could do something about all that smoke. As for the heat--it's not NSP without a day or two of 100-degree temperatures or hotter, is it?

Here are the day-by-day NSP 2023 imaging conditions as gleaned from the weather service and air pollution monitors.

Saturday Night: red category air quality and terrible transparency. I'm of an age that puts me in the group the air quality people always caution about being active when the air is this bad. We had a couple of days this summer where I live that were as bad as this and the surface smoke was so thick that it looked like a thin fog. Setting up camp was not something I'd have wanted to do in red air. And of course, with the smoke the greatly reduced transparency for imaging negates the point of going someplace dark like NSP.

Sunday Night: Saturday night all over again.

Monday Night (First "official" night of NSP): Clouds and a thunderstorm.

Tuesday Night: Probably clear from Midnight to 2 AM, then rain around 3 AM. Very humid (dew point temperature near 70 degrees) so super uncomfortable sleeping in a tent on the observing field.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy all night. 

Thursday Night (my last night at NSP had I attended): Partial clearing around 12:30 AM, then partly cloudy until 3.

So maybe a couple of hours of imaging Tuesday night and again Thursday night; for maybe a total of four hours of smoky sky imaging across six nights. Add to that unhealthy air quality on two nights.

Some years NSP can be a fun vacation in the wilds of Nebraska with very dark sky. Some years not so much. If the wildfire smoke becomes an annual problem NSP will difficult to justify as a travel destination.

On the other hand, with summer smoke affecting most of the region, where else would you go?

That's all for this dramatic update!

Goodbye for now, NSP; Spring of 2022 is a no-show; Destroying pocket watches

 Six Nebraska Star Parties and done (for now)

After attending six consecutive NSPs, I think I'm ready call it a done party. The distance, expense, and vagaries of the weather have led me to explore the alternatives of in-state parks and campgrounds. This is not a knock on the NSP itself or its organizers! The 2014 through 2019 NSPs were splendid experiences (aside from the rainy/cloudy years).

Now that the pandemic is winding down thanks to vaccines (I'm double-boostered) it's reasonably safe to travel, so this year I'll be trying a little gem of a park called Niemackl Lake Park. Drive distance is 3 hours compared to 8.5 for NSP. This means in a worst-case situation, it's possible to do a one-day round trip to home in order to retrieve some crucial forgotten item.

Niemackl has about 25 times as much light pollution as NSP, which sounds bad at first. It's more a case of 25 times almost zero. One place I've imaged with good results is in a yellow zone where the added light is about 12 times greater than at Niemackl, so I think it will be fine. 

One minor concern is horizon glow to the southeast from the town of Morris (population 5,300, distance 15 miles). This is much like the case at another former imaging location near Windom (population 4,400, distance 15 miles). Windom generated discernible glow to the SSE, but it was very tolerable; low targets in Sagittarius were essentially unaffected. Having Morris nearby also means retail services are at half the distance of  NSP to Valentine.

Now When will this start to happen? When Spring finally arrives!

Spring of 2022: Not here yet...

We seem to be trapped in a see-saw pattern of a few days of cloudy, well below normal temperatures, followed by a single average-temperature sunny day followed by a couple of days of rain. The tiresome theme is clouds and cold. This morning it was snowing. It was only a few flakes, but it's indicative of how April has been. Pushing up toward the upper 50s by the end of the week, though. And then, if the European long range model suggests, it will probably leap right into summer, complete with 80s. Typical.

...So the winter hobby continues.

I've been destroying pocket watches and hopefully learning a little as I do so. I started with a non-working Elgin and three non-working cylinder movements. The Elgin actually came to life a little, and ran for 15 minutes. I'll be working on that one more now that I have the proper oils. 

The cylinder movements were a complete loss. People say those are difficult to service, and I was simply unable to get the escapements seated properly. I wasn't duped into buying them, I simply was too ignorant to recognize them for what they were.

After that I moved on to more modern movements, a refurbished wristwatch with an Indian movement and a new 6498 clone from China. The Indian movement ran poorly and on inspection it was dirty inside and had a damaged bridge. Cleaning it and fixing the bridge didn't help much. It still runs poorly. I'll work on that again.

The clone is fine, but I made the mistake of taking apart the shockproof jewels for the balance wheel. I cannot get those back together, so while the balance is still able to oscillate there's a lot of looseness. I've ordered a second identical clone and will use that one for an eventual astronomy large-faced wristwatch. 

I've also got a used wristwatch-sized Chinese skeleton movement that comes in a worn hunter style case and runs very well. I'll eventually strip that down and re-oil it. 

I've been prowling antiques stores for pocket watches but have purchased nothing. The pocket watches they sell are all working and priced like it. This is great for collectors, but I'm still in the non-working realm of watch servicing. Perfectly satisfactory are movements that don't run but have intact balances. My hope is that flea markets and estate sales may prove the best source for these.

Smoke and the Nebraska Star Party

I registered and had purchased a park sticker. A few days before my planned departure to the Nebraska Star Party I assessed the smoke situation and decided not to attend. My personal judgement was that it wasn't worth the travel expense and hours of driving to seek out what would probably be mediocre sky.

Last night I was at a friend's house north of Minneapolis and the effect of the smoke was obvious. The limiting magnitude was around 4 instead of the usual 5.5. Extinction due to smoke was costing us somewhere around 1.5 magnitudes.  That translates as requiring exposure times to be 4 times their normal values.  

Looking at satellite loops suggests the smoke blanketed NSP the first three nights (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights). Wednesday night was probably the best of the event, but even then there were occasional clouds combined with smoke. Thursday night's forecast is for fewer clouds but more smoke. 

Considering the five nights from Sunday through Thursday, recent years have not been kind to NSP. In 2019 it rained four of those nights. If NSP 2020 had taken place it would have provided maybe five hours of good quality imaging, unfortunately coming as three hours one night and two another. This year's NSP 2021 may have been a complete loss for imaging unless you're willing to image through smoke.

I'm beginning to think I was spoiled by my first three NSP trips (2014, 15, and 16).

The question is if this is just a bad run of weather or an indication of some sort of "new normal" as the climate warms and wildfires become a regular feature of summer.

Time will tell. And while we wait, get fully vaccinated if you aren't already!

2020 Nebraska Star Party: What Might Have Been

Fans of NSP know it was cancelled for 2020 due to the pandemic. The cancellation may have seemed a bit premature when it was announced on June 12, but to me it was clearly the right thing to do. During the last month the virus has been spreading almost unchecked in some parts of the country. Nebraska itself has seen a mild rebound in the number of positive tests, but not nearly as bad as what is happening elsewhere. Possibly the good people of Nebraska have more sense than those in a few other states and they're not afraid of masks?

The 2019 NSP was a real dud with only one decent night of the five I was there. Mostly it was clouds and rain. There was hope that 2020 would be better. Then came the virus.

What follows is a night by night summary of what the 2020 NSP sky would have been, based on satellite cloud images, North Platte radar, and observations at Valentine. I don't use cloud observations from Valentine because I don't trust their accuracy. (Valentine will sometimes report clear skies when there is high overcast; go to the bottom of this entry to see an example.) I don't doubt some people are staging a private NSP and can provide better estimates, but until they report I'll depend on my estimates.

Please note that all times are approximate. The time of total darkness each night is now five hours six minutes, extending from about 11:17 P.M. to 4:23 A.M. I'll take this as five hours and rate each evening on a five-star basis; one star awarded per hour of possible imaging. A perfect night would look like (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐). Because I usually arrive on Sunday and depart Friday morning I'm only going to report on five evenings. How many stars will NSP 2020 earn of the possible 25?

Sunday, July 19 (No Stars)

Daytime: High 87° with dew point around 61° most of the day.

Overnight was cloudy from dusk to about 4:15 A.M. with thunderstorms and rain around 11 P.M. and again at about 12:15.

Monday, July 20 (⭐⭐⭐)

Daytime: High 88° with dew point again around 61° most of the day. Thunderstorms with rain from about 8 until 9 P.M.

Overnight: Overcast until about 12:30 A.M., then clearing with occasional clouds until about 4 AM. About three hours of imaging were possible.

Tuesday, July 21 (No Stars)

Daytime: High 84° with dew point around 59° or 60° most of the day.

Overnight: Blowoff from thunderstorms in southeastern Wyoming spread overhead between 9 and 10 PM. Clearing began around 4:30 A.M. No precipitation was indicated by radar.

Wednesday, July 22 (⭐⭐)

Daytime: High 92° with a 69° dew point (heat index a very sticky 97°). At 9 P.M. (20m before sunset), it's 83° with dew point temperature 69°, winds are 14mph, and cloud cover is about 50%.

Overnight: A poor quality night, with broken high clouds most of the hours of darkness. Occasional wind gusts around 21mph, and heavy dew from dew point temperatures between 71° and 69°. "Clearer" periods from 11:30 P.M. to 1 A.M. and 2:00 to 3:00. Probably some light frames could be gathered during these short holes? If not, then it's a zero stars night.

Thursday, July 23 (No Stars)

Daytime: An even more unpleasant day (96° with a 67° dew point at 4 P.M., heat index 100°), but without the relief of the Wednesday air-conditioned high school.

Overnight: Persistent scattered clouds until a little past midnight, then cirrus from a thunderstorm passing to the south. Winds gusting up to 32mph until 3 A.M. Dew point temperatures around 69 all night. I think the clouds and wind would have essentially caused this evening to be useless for imaging. Visual observers would do better, but the scopes would have been bouncy and the transparency poor for much of the evening.

Friday, July 24 (No Stars)

If you would have hung around for Friday, ugh. The day was miserably hot and humid with a high of 99° and dew point of 70° most of the day. And then there were the thunderstorms and clouds to ruin the evening. A complete loss.

Saturday, July 25 (No Stars)

Well, wow. Hot, miserable day, then storms and clouds again. This completes one week of what might have been NSP 2020.

Summary

There were only 5 hours of imaging out of 25 possible:

Sun 😡😡😡😡😡
Mon 😡😡⭐⭐⭐
Tue 😡😡😡😡😡
Wed ⭐😡😡⭐😡
Thu 😡😡😡😡😡
Fri 😡😡😡😡😡
Sat 😡😡😡😡😡

It's even worse if you include the two additional washouts of Friday and Saturday: 5 good hours out of 35 possible, the equivalent of one good night in a week. It was a very good year to stay home; the virus didn't deprive you of much.

I hope to make it to NSP 2021! It has to be better than NSP 2019 and NSP 2020!

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Here's an example of problems with cloud reporting. This is not unique to Valentine, but is a consequence of how cloud observations are made in this era of automation by devices called ceilometers. A quote from an abstract for a 2016 study of ceilometer errors indicates the problem:

The limited areal coverage of ceilometers results in error when skies are heterogeneous, but these errors are small compared to those caused by the limited vertical range: observations of clear sky or few clouds are often in error as the instrument cannot detect the presence of upper-level clouds. [My emphasis.]

The hourly report for Valentine, NE on July 24 at 5:52 P.M. CDT. indicates CLR (i.e., clear) sky at 5:52 P.M. CDT.

A satellite image of Cherry county and Valentine taken four minutes later at 5:56 P.M. shows the sky is at least half covered with high clouds.

The position of the Valentine weather station is just south of the letters KVTN, at Valentine Municipal Airport.

Unfortunately it is often the case that clouds causing considerable extinction are completely missed by weather reports. This is partly by intent, as high clouds are not of importance to aviators.

The lesson here is: Don't assume the sky is clear because a station report says it is. It may in fact be unsuitable for imaging.

Getting Real in the Year of the Coronavirus

Old business first. Last time I looked at the idea that a 100W solar panel would be more than adequate for replacing the energy spent in a previous night of imaging. What needs to be realized about this idea is the uncertainties that come into play with it. Here are a few:

• I rarely image for an entire night as assumed. In fact, I can recall doing so on only two occasions. Usually either fatigue sets in or the sky goes cloudy and you lose a couple of hours.  
• Getting four or five consecutive nights clear all night is not something that happens often. In my experience the rule is maybe half the nights of a star party are clear.
• Some imaging sites are quite dry (like Nebraska) and active dew control isn't needed for the first several hours. This eliminates one of the larger power requirements.
• Starting with a fully charged laptop (which is almost always the case) greatly reduces its power consumption. 

In other words the estimates I made for required energy were probably overestimates. So I feel safe in saying that the panel in consideration will be adequate. It's not going to be able to run an air conditioner or refrigerator, but it will be fine for imaging.

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Now let's get to the topic of the moment, if not the decade, COVID-19. As I write we know that this virus is relatively contagious, spreading across the country, and tough on older people. Active cases are showing up in Minnesota and Nebraska, and doubtless will appear in South Dakota in the coming days. [Update: The day after posting this South Dakota reported 5 cases with one fatality.] Right now the cases are being contained through quarantine; what the situation will be by mid July and the Nebraska star party it's impossible to know. A safe guess is that the virus will be widespread by then and that most group activities will be suspended; NSP may not even happen. Another consideration is that my wife and I are both in our 60s and stand a significant chance of requiring medical assistance should we become ill with the virus. Because of that my current thinking is trying to avoid the illness at least until the end of the year and the release of a possible vaccine. Even without the creation of an effective vaccine it's hoped that doctors will learn how to better treat the illness.

Avoiding getting sick relies on some simple fundamentals:

1. Avoid people who may be infected. Given the asymptomatic spread of the virus this means avoiding pretty much everyone. Especially to be avoided are being in close quarters with many people, such as might happen on a cruise ship or commercial airplane.
2. Wash one's hands thoroughly and often
3. Avoid touching one's face

This is what we will be doing for the next year and hoping to catch some luck. Barring a minor miracle I won't be at NSP this year or any other star parties. My back yard will be safe enough I hope, so I'll try to do some astronomy from there!

Good luck to you in the coming year, it's going to be a difficult one for all of us!

Almost 100%

Last night was just before full moon, which made it perfect for taking the "new" imaging system out and giving it a trial run. What makes it new? Here's a quick recap:

• New batteries connected in parallel
• A new DIY power hub and powered USB3 hub riding piggyback on the telescope along with the finder and autoguider
• A new laptop
• StellariumScope and Stellarium running the mount
• The latest version of PHD2
• Astrotortilla (AT) integrated with BYEOS
• ASCOM control of the mount and autoguider
• TeamViewer on the laptop to allow remote access to the desktop
• A Wireless router to allow connectivity for the remote access

Amazingly almost everything worked! Although AT was able to control the imaging camera correctly, no images were being passed to it by BYEOS (which did have its server mode on). I suspect some sort of interference between AT and Stellarium, so next time I will change my workflow.

I was able to take a first check of the router's range by carrying my tablet about 120m distant. I could still control the imaging laptop using it, and even snapped off a few pictures. I couldn't really walk any farther without adding obstructions to the signal, but given the imaging site was in a depression and not line-of-sight, I think 120m was a good start. It's almost got to be better at the Nebraska star party, where it will be broadcasting from atop a rise.

Remote Control of Imaging Laptop

It's still snowing here-15 inches last Saturday and Sunday, 2 to 4 more inches tomorrow. Naturally my thoughts have turned to Summer warmth. And where is the best summer warmth found? The Nebraska star party, of course!

Along with that warmth comes mosquitoes. They start coming out at dusk and can be pests the entire night. Your only options are hope for a good breeze, DEET up, or seek shelter. Breezes are not reliable, and DEET doesn't deter Nebraska mosquitoes from buzzing around your head. So option 3 is the most reliable, but how do you monitor your laptop while you're sitting in a vehicle or tent?

With TeamViewer you say! And you're correct, it's the remote access software of choice for many people in astrophotography. It's easy to use, powerful, and free for personal use. But it does come with one catch. As typically used it requires internet access. What do you do if you don't have that?

Conveniently, TeamViewer does permit a no-internet mode of operation. After you install it on your imaging laptop start the application and go to the menu's Extras / Options  dialog. Under "Network settings" change the Incoming LAN Connections to "accept exclusively," click OK and you're done!

(TeamViewer will now assume you're connecting to a LAN and will use the laptop's assigned IP address as "Your ID" on its main screen. Any other devices on the same router will now be able to connect with your laptop, even if the router isn't on the internet.)

Without the internet you need to set up some form of communication. I tried several methods to control my imaging laptop with my phone or tablet.

• Use the laptop as an access point, then have the controlling device connect to it. I couldn't get TeamViewer to work with this configuration.
• Use my tablet as an access point. Unfortunately my particular tablet couldn't do this.
• Use my phone as an access point. This worked, but turning on the capability required phone service to verify that it was allowed.  Since I don't have service at the Nebraska Star Party, this won't do for now. At other sites with service (like the Iowa Star Party) it may be the best option.
• Use a wireless router. This works perfectly. You don't need an expensive router for this, but there are a couple of considerations: the wi-fi bands used must be compatible with your devices; It should be reasonably waterproof on top to deal with dew, and you might want to look at the voltage requirement. I settled on the ASUS  RT-N12 ($20 from Amazon) that accepts 12V DC and can be powered directly from my batteries. The ASUS is found to consume a scant 2.3W which means it draws a tiny 0.2A.

The theoretical range of the ASUS is 500m, which would provide this coverage around my usual campsite (atop a very low rise) at NSP [CORRECTION: the red circle denotes a distance of 250m around the campsite, not 500m]:

ASUS Theoretical Range at NSP

Will it really be this good? I hope to do a little survey once I have it set up. if it allows me to see my laptop from Dob Row I'll be really pleased. If not, I'm quite confident it will easily reach my tent (maybe 3 to 5m away) and allow me to sit in mosquito-free comfort while imaging!

Back from the 2017 Nebraska Star Party

Ah, to be back in the land of 10,000 lakes and high dew points!

NSP 2017 is over, and it was a memorable one. Sunday (7/23) was clear and about as good a night as I've ever enjoyed at NSP--or anywhere, for that matter. The day had been in the low 90s, but the temperature dropped quickly as the sun set. There was a strong and gusty breeze that kept the mosquitoes away. (I realize big scope owners didn't like the wind, but I was imaging with a 200mm lens wildly overmounted on a CGEM.) The transparency was exceptional overhead; the Milky Way was nothing short of spectacular.  I don't think you could read by its light as one person predicted, but it was definitely casting a subtle, diffuse shadow.

I was able to collect some light frames of my current target, the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex, then switch over to the Sadr area for the Butterfly:

The Rho frames have yet to be processed. The next night I decided to spend the entire night imaging the Veil:

What I like about this 200mm lens is how flat it is at f5.6, and free of vignetting.  There are two new things about these images:

1. Instead of stopping down the lens with its internal iris I used a step down ring. This gets rid of the diffraction spikes caused by  the blades of the iris.
2. I used PHD and BackyardEOS to dither the images.  It seemed to work very well!

The last night was cut short by clouds, so I only got five frames of the Rho area at 135mm:

As you can see, this lens has substantial vignetting.

By the way, 2017 NSP was on the hot side.  The Monday and Tuesday highs were 106 and 107 degrees, respectively. But it was the usual "dry heat" and both days had those great strong breezes.  I spent the afternoons sitting and reading semi-comfortably in the shade of the supper area canopy. Thank goodness NSP didn't happen the previous week when it had been both hot and humid.

Now it's on to eclipse planning and back to meteor counting!

Back To Imaging for a Bit; The Nebraska Star Party Nears

My wife got a new desktop computer after the 4th of July, and that translated into more than a week of transition from old computer to new. Because she didn't get a new monitor our ancient flat panel monitor was pressed into service so that she could run both computers at the same time. And because it was the monitor on my meteor-detecting computer, that activity was put on hold for the duration.

Luckily we just had a very nice run of third quarter moon clear nights. I was able to get out for two out of the three nights and tested the setup intended for the Nebraska Star Party. This year I'm not chasing any astronomical league program certificates so I'm keeping it simple: Big mount, DSLR, and short lenses.

From my second night out, here's an example:

It's the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae. This is a 200mm f/5.6 image based on only 10 4-minute light frames (ISO 800) and it gets reasonably deep.  This was taken at a light pollution yellow-green transition zone site; I'd like to try this again at NSP to see how much the difference in sky brightness affects the outcome.

Another target will be the Rho Ophiuci area and the dark lanes to its east. And, if there are enough clear hours, some of the dark nebulae that dot the area.  I may even try some super wide fields!

The weather at Valentine has been on the warm side, with some daily highs in the 100 to 105 degree range. The forecast for the first Sunday is much nicer at this point--A high of only 87, and a partly cloudy night with a pleasant low of 60. Monday's high is forecast to be only 88! It doesn't get much better than this.

The rest of this week is NSP preparation. No more imaging until then!

This Year's Star Parties

It's once again time to start planning which star parties are worth the travel expense and time to attend. A big attraction of nearby star parties is their skies which can be much darker than those nearby, which are marginal at best or abysmal (like my back yard). But that's only one attaction. Let's look at the most important factors:

• Sky darkness
• Open horizons
• Light domes
• Programs
• Amenities
• Downsides

I would list ambience as a factor, but the truth is I've never been to a star party where the people have been anything less than great.

Here are some information about the ones I plan to attend this Summer and Fall:

Nebraska Star Party

 

I put off attending this because of the comments about heat and storms. What a mistake!

• Sky darkness: Dark gray (the darkest zone possible). 
• Open horizons: Excellent in all directions; the observing fields are surrounded by low hills. 
• Light Domes: Only one dome worth mentioning, and it's a feeble one from Valentine (population 2700, 26 miles to the northeast.) The dry air seems to suppress domes.
• Programs: Exellent. The Wednesday talks at the local high school are top notch with nationally known speakers.
• Amenities: Campgrounds are available, as is primitive camping on the observing fields.  The observing fields are essentially "bring whatever you need," providing only mowed land with three pit toilets. There's no power or water (drinkable or otherwise). There are catered suppers on three nights; the food is basic but very good. Door prizes that range from very good to grab-bag stuff you'll donate to your local club.
• Downsides: Prickly pear cacti will puncture unguarded feet and tent floors that aren't protected by ground covers. By day there are occasional biting flies and just enough mosquitoes to provide distraction. DEET up and it's fine. And don't forget the possibility of withering heat and violent thunderstorms packing lightning, wind, and hail. 
• Hints: If you're concerned about the heat, make the half-hour drive to Valentine where the public library has WiFi and A/C! A great place to cool off. Also be sure to visit the showers at the nearby campground (bring quarters).

Summary: I'm going for the third time, despite never having won a door prize! If you don't mind the primitive conditions, heat, and threat of storms you should make the pilgrimage to NSP at least once.

Iowa Star Party

 

This is a personal favorite of mine, in part because I was a charter member of the host club and did my graduate study in nearby Ames.

• Sky darkness: Light blue
• Open Horizons: Excellent if you set up in the middle of the field.
• Light Domes: There's a significant dome from Des Moines (population 611000, 50 miles to ESE). During humid conditions a few others can be seen. To the south, nothing.
• Programs: Usually there's a talk by a scientist from one of the nearby universities and another by a host club member. These are given in an old barn which can sometimes be stiflingly hot and humid. 
• Amenities: There's no power or water at the observing field, but power for recharging batteries can be had at one of the nearby buildings. There are a limited number of cottages and houses for those who want to sleep in comfort, and one is kept open during the day for those who seek respite from the heat. Saturday night there's a home-cooked supper that's always terrific. Door prizes that vary in quality from year to year.
  If you like hiking, horseback riding, and wildlife there's a lot to do during the day.
• Downsides: Summertime heat and humidity have been insane the last couple of times I've attended. This year it's on the Labor Day weekend, so maybe it will be cooler. Pests are usually not a problem.

Summary: A nice sub-regional party with dark sky and pleasant surroundings

Heart of America Star Party

 

I've only been to this once, but it's a really well organized event with a lot of things going for it. Unfortunately the one time I attended it rained all three nights so some of my information is incomplete.

• Sky darkness: Light blue
• Open horizons: Excellent
• Light domes: I think there may be one to the north from Kansas City (population 2 million, 50 miles N) and probably from Butler, MO (population 4100, 12 miles E)
• Programs: Substantial--usually at least one speaker of national significance, another visiting from a university, and members' talks. These take place in a building with good A/V adjacent to the observing field.
• Amenities: Limited field power; showers set up nearby, and good food aplenty. Food and drink are available throughout the night, as are activities (movies and bingo) for cloudy nights. Very nice door prizes.
• Downsides: People like to pack together on the observing field, but there's ample room.

Summary: A superb gathering, well organized and attended. Usually in October, so it doesn't conflict with other major parties and is unlikely to be subjected to hot weather.

Three More for the ALBN and What was Lost is Now Found

LBN 140 was something I unsuccessfully tried to image from my red zone back yard using Ha. At NSP I gave it a try because the last night it was sitting in an area that still had good transparency. The first luminance frame showed some hints of nebulosity, so I continued on and collected more.

LBN 140

Getting this was a real bonus as it has a brightness of 6 on Lynds scale. A big thank you to the dark sky of NSP!

Two objects that I tried to image at the 2015 Nebraska Star Party didn't come out thanks to a really annoying line of clouds that slowly slid over them. Luckily, the one clear night at Jeffers allowed me to go after them again. These were IC 4812 and NGC 6729, luminous parts of a larger patch of nebulosity:

IC 4812 and NGC 6729

This would have been better in the AT65, but I decided to stay with the 200mm lens.

With these two I end up at 103, three more than needed.

Still to be processed is a 200mm field LRGB image of the Lagoon/Trifid area.

---

Now for something strange. At NSP 2014 I lost my mount's counterweight shaft end bolt, the thing that keeps counterweights from accidentally sliding off and crushing your foot. You know, this thing:

The lost bolt, now found

The bolt can easily be replaced by a bolt and washer (google and you'll see a lot of images of replacements), but it has the same specs as the bolt on my old CG5 mount, so I used that one as a replacement. However, knowing that I'd be going back to NSP again this year I began to entertain a notion that I might find my lost bolt. I know, NSP is a big place in which to find such a small thing, they don't mow the observing fields all that short, and there's been a year for it to get trampled, corroded, covered with dirt, or otherwise abused and knocked around. A bird might have decided to carry off the shiny thing. Realistically, chances of finding it were slim.

Maybe it was the small chance of finding the bolt that compelled me to look for it. Or maybe I just really hate losing things. So I set up camp as close to where I was last year as I could remember, put up my tent and set out my mount and observing table in the same relative positions. Of course I immediately searched the area under the mount and table with great expectation. Okay, that was unrealistic.

I began a not very methodical search extending outward from the mount and within a minute saw the bolt gleaming up at me, oriented as in the above picture, shining like a tiny mirror reflecting sunlight. It was only about ten feet away from this year's placement of the mount.

Had it been cloudy or I had been farther off in my positioning I might not have seen it.

As you can see in the image above, it picked up a little rust on the threads during its year of idle time in the wilds of Nebraska. Otherwise it's fine.

This year--so far as I know--I left nothing behind at NSP. But I think I'll go back again next year anyway.

Nebraska Star Party, 2015

Just back from NSP by way of Jeffers Petroglyphs (in Minnesota).

The Bad: This NSP did not have cooperative skies. I arrived Monday, and that night had about two hours of decent sky for imaging my southern targets--visual observers who can dodge clouds had a better evening. Tuesday night was cloudy with a threat of severe weather; many people fled their tents on hilltops and spent the night in low areas. As it turned out the bad weather never materialized. Wednesday night was cloudy, with a distant thunderstorm lighting up the sky around 2:30 A.M. Thursday night had promise, but a high cirrus layer with some opaque streaks cut the transparency to poor or worse.

NSP 2015 typical Sunset sky, a preview of the evening's coming lack of transparency

A big storm passing to the south at sunset on Tuesday.

Word was that the nights leading up to the "official" NSP week were clouded out as well.

The Good: This NSP had an attendance of about 275, reported to be the largest in ten years. (David Knisely reports attendance was 286--see Cloudy Nights.) The Wednesday speakers were excellent, and the program included a live stream of a New Horizons press conference.

I discovered the Valentine Public Library and spent a couple of mornings there in air conditioned comfort catching up on email and the news.

Imaging went only so-so. I think I finished my 100 AL Bright Nebula objects. It's not official yet as I haven't had time to process the images. I did have time to get a few extra objects, so I may end up with a total of 103. It's all luminance because of the conditions, though. I'll be posting the processed images tomorrow.

And how was the weather? Let's compare with the averages...
             
              Averages  Records   --- 2015 Observations ---
Date          High Low  High Low  High Low Departure Precip
July 12 (Sun) 89   60   109  42    94  68     +6     trace
July 13 (Mon) 89   60   107  41    93  57      0     none
July 14 (Tue) 89   61   105  44    90  60      0     none
July 15 (Wed) 89   61   110  40    79  66     -2     trace
July 16 (Thu) 89   61   113  45    88  60     -1     none


Very normal, really. A little warm at first, then cooler. It rained on Sunday night and unfortunately also on Friday, the public night. Overall the period was  more humid than normal with dew point temperatures in the upper 60s sliding down to the upper 50s.

---

The poor weather continued into my Friday at Jeffers Petroglyphs, where it was hot and humid (90F with a 73F dew point) and rain and severe weather was possible. I decided to return home, then drove back to Jeffers for Saturday. Once again it turned out that there was no rain, much less severe storms. Saturday night varied between episodes of sparkling clarity and hazy lack of transparancy that resembled NSP's weather. I collected 200mm LRGB frames of the Lagoon/Trifid area and reimaged one of the "bonus" objects that had been partially obscured at NSP.

Sad to say  that 2015 may be the last of the annual Jeffers gatherings once known as the Prairie Grass Stargaze.

Nebraska Star Party Weather

If last year was your first trip to NSP you probably came back wanting to return in 2015 to enjoy even more mild weather. I know I did.

 2014: Uncommonly Cool

This was not a year that people returned with stories of blistering heat or gear-toppling thunderstorms. The first four days were a cool eight or nine degrees below normal, nighttime lows were in the 40s twice, winds were light most of the time and no precipitation fell.  Daytime skies were generally clear to partly cloudy, and no weather (thunderstorms, fog, haze or smoke) was reported. There was an amazingly tiny total of 11 cooling degree days for the period compared to a normal of 50.

Daily summary for Valentine during NSP 2014: 
Date          High Low Departure
July 27 (Sun) 84   50  -8 
July 28 (Mon) 83   49  -9 
July 29 (Tue) 78   54  -9 
July 30 (Wed) 86   49  -8 
July 31 (Thu) 88   52  -5

2015: What to Expect

The average maximum temperature is around 90 and the overnight low (which you'll feel only if you're still up observing or imaging at sunrise) is around 60. Every day has about a one-third chance of a thunderstorm, so of the five days it could be expected that there be one or two with thunder.

Daily Averages for Valentine during NSP 2015:
              Average   Record 
Date          High Low  High Low
July 12 (Sun) 89   60   109  42 
July 13 (Mon) 89   60   107  41 
July 14 (Tue) 89   61   105  44 
July 15 (Wed) 89   61   110  40 
July 16 (Thu) 89   61   113  45 

In other words, last year was an outlier in a good way. You shouldn't expect it to be repeated this year, but no one will complain if it is!

A Mobile Imaging Setup

This is the first summer of my retirement and I'm using it to go to a number of star parties. For the first time I've traveled to the Nebraska Star Party (just south of Valentine, NE), and coming up are the Iowa Star Party (near Coon Rapids, Iowa) and the Northern Nights Star Fest (northwest of Aitkin, MN). All three of these are intended to be imaging trips, and toward that end I've designed my imaging setup to be self-contained, compact, and reliable. I travel in a mid-sized sedan, so there's a natural limit to what I can carry.

The first thing to do is to leave the bells and whistles at home. Keep your gear simple and you'll be rewarded with less hassle when you set up or break down. Remember, if you forget something and no one can lend you a replacement you may be out of luck for the entire party.

What's the least you need? The essentials for imaging: an imaging telescope (including finder), an autoguiding scope (if you autoguide), a mount and tripod, a camera, an autoguider, cables for all these as needed, and batteries to power everything. If you anticipate a chance of dew, a dew prevention system is good to have on hand. Probably you'll need a laptop if you're using a CCD camera.

Oh, and let's not forget a table to put that laptop on. Like a good observing chair, a table is an important part of imaging. I use one much like this. Mine was purchased about 12 years ago from Target for a scant $20, and is one of the best astronomy accessories I've ever found. The roll-up aluminum table top is particularly nice as it's impervious to dew and frost and when you cook food, it doesn't care if you set a hot pan on it. Sadly, my table is reaching the end of its life and some plastic parts are starting to crack. I'm repairing it with J-B Weld as needed, but sooner or later it will need to be replaced.

Batteries will be the heaviest things you'll have to lug around. While it's certainly possible to use your vehicle battery as the sole power source, that's probably not practical for multi-night imaging. Remember that most car batteries are designed for starting your car, not supplying a several amps for many hours. Deep cycle batteries are better for this. You can pay a lot for these or get them at farm and ranch retail stores for far less, as I did.

I use three batteries, which is almost certainly overkill. Two are lead-acid deep cycle marine batteries with a combined capacity of about 140 Amp hours. These power the mount, laptop and camera. The third is a sealed lead battery with about 20 Amp hours that powers my dew strips and can power things like fans. (This battery has the advantage of being easy to recharge.) These batteries can power everything for at least 15 hours, which is a solid three night's worth of imaging on most trips. It's possible they can go longer, but I've never had that much good luck with consecutive clear nights!

[My CGEM mount draws about 1.5 A when tracking, the ST-8300m CCD about 2 A (that's a guess based on its 3 Amp requirement at peak cooling load), and the laptop about 1.8 A (also a guess based on the AC adapter and having a battery that's pretty much gone dead after all these years. That's a total of 4.3A. My two deep cycle batteries should be able to supply that for about 32 hours, or 16 hours if we only take the batteries down to 50%. So my 15 hour estimate above seems reasonable.]

Imaging Setup at the 2014 Nebraska Star Party

The above picture shows how this all looks, minus the "Y" stalked dual finder mount, CCD, and laptop which are all sitting in the shade at this point. The three batteries are sitting on the ground below the mount.

For this trip I took my little refractor, the AT65EDQ. That's the scope I'll take to ISP, but for NNSF the bulkier C9.25 is making the trip.

Regardless of the scope, all of this gear fits quite nicely in my car with room left over for everything I need to set up camp. Best of all, it seems to work quite well!

Two dark-sky images

Just back from the Nebraska Star Party and the smaller party in SW Minnesota.

First, from Minnesota, the Rho Ophiuchi nebula (IC 4604, the blue reflection nebula at top):

At bottom is the emission nebula IC 4603. This is about 1.5 hours of LRGB data. This will need to be reprocessed to get rid of a distracting satellite track. The image above has been reprocessed to get rid of the satellite tracks and improve the color balance.

The first image from NSP is the Iris (NGC 7023, vdB 139) at right in the image,

The small bright nebula at image left is Sh 2-136. About 3.7 hours of data went into this image. I'll probably reprocess this and adjust the color balance a little. It looks a tad too yellow-green to me.

Still awaiting processing are the Cat's Paw nebula, Sh 2-183, and NGC 1333 (vdB 17). For those I binned the color channels 2x2, and I need to shoot some dark frames to match.

More about NSP 2014 in a subsequent post.

No Luck With the State Fair; Weather Update

Just a quick update--my entry into the Fine Arts competition was not accepted. That means I get to keep my nicely framed picture, although I'll probably make it a gift to someone.

Unfortunately the judges don't give explanations for their decisions. I'm going to speculate that it was seen as lacking a sufficient element of artistic merit. If that's their reasoning, I can certainly understand it.

---

The long-term forecast for conditions during the Jeffers star party suggests that the very cool weather we've been experiencing will come to an end just before the party begins. Temperatures will climb into the low 90s with dew points in the low 70s. Typical steamy Jeffers weather, and if it persists into the following week and the Nebraska Star Party, there may be some big bad thunderstorms to deal with.

Imaging Targets for This Summer's Star Parties

I'm probably going to four star parties this summer: The Jeffers Starry Nights (JSN), the Nebraska Star Party (NSP), the South Dakota Star Party (SDSP) and Iowa Star Party (ISP). I'm hoping to do quite a bit of imaging at these, taking advantage of the dark skies and slightly more southern locations. It's not much, but every degree of elevation helps!

I'd like to bump along my Bright Nebula list work, and take a couple of pretty pictures, too.  The dark locations let me image reflection nebulae that I can't get from my light-polluted back yard. Another constraint is that whatever scope I bring to Jeffers will also be the one I use at NSP. So what should I image?

(1) I'd like to go really deep on the Iris (NGC 7023). It's a reflection nebula on the list, and it's pretty. Near by are some barely luminous clouds. A wide field shot with my AT65 will take them all in. The Iris a better target during the JSN/NSP time period than in late August. This would be a multi-hour object, to say the least.

(2) I've always wanted a good image of the Helix nebula (NGC7293). This is better imaged around labor day, so it should be during either the SDSP or ISP. ISP has darker southern sky, so that's where it will be imaged. The C925 produces a nice image scale for it.

The Helix from 2009 JSN.

The above is my only Helix image, taken using my TV102, an unmodded Canon DSLR, 16 x 180s @ ISO 1600. Not at all adequate. A few hours (or longer) of LRGB could be much better.

(2a) Other objects I would like to go really deep on are the Ring--see a previous post about the outer shell-- and the Dumbbell. Those would be best in the C925.

(3) I have only one so-so image of the eagle nebula (M16) from a couple of years ago. Unfortunately it doesn't include the portion of the nebula that's considered LBN 68, a list item. So that should be reimaged from a dark site. This would probably look better in the C925 but the wide field of the AT65 would be adequate. Best during JSN/NSP.

(4) There are a good number of large list items in Scorpius and Sagittarius that would image well in the AT 72. These should be imaged at JSN/NSP. These include Sh 2-13, 2-16, NGC 6334, IC 4628, IC 4701 and LBN 52. An hour each should produce images that could satisfy list requirements.

So there you are:

• JSN and NSP get the Iris and the large list items. This means that I can travel to them with the smaller, lighter AT65. One pretty picture (Iris) and a flock of list items.

• SDSP and ISP get the Helix, Ring, Dumbbell, and whatever else comes along. For those it's the C925. Pretty pictures all, and perhaps list items left over from July.

Now it's all up to the weather!

A DIY Binocular Mount

Thanks to a change in plans--a wedding I want to attend is on the same Saturday as the Wisconsin Observers Weekend--I am going to go to this year's Nebraska Star Party. No offense intended to WOW, but NSP is a bit of a bigger show with more people and darker skies. NSP begins as the annual Jeffers Petroglyphs party ends, so I'll be able to save a couple of hours of drive time by going straight from Jeffers to NSP.

But what to do at NSP? I'll have my imaging gear from Jeffers with me, but maybe I should just make my first NSP a strictly visual affair. All that really dark sky, you know!

I've come into possession of an old pair of Celestron binoculars, their 11x80 Giant model from the 1990s:

This is not the model that was labeled "Comet Hunter" or "Comet King" apparently to cash in on Halley's Comet in 1986. What reviews I can find for this later model are mixed.

Good features from my standpoint:

• It was free
• It has a wide FOV (4.5 degrees)
• It comes with a mounting bracket. 

Cons:

• Probably not the greatest optical quality
• Heavy (6.7 pounds) 
• Exit pupil (~7mm) that is too large for my old eyes. I'm 60, and although I haven't measured, I would guess my pupils don't open past 5mm. This means that some of the objective size is being wasted, but some people suggest this has a small silver lining in that one's eyes can move a little laterally and stay in the light.

My past experience with large binoculars suggests that a mount is a very good thing to use for steadiness and comfort. A little googling turned up this plan, which I am adapting to the top of my CGEM tripod. The CGEM tripod has two threaded holes for mounting the azimuth post. These are perfect for attaching a base plate. In my case I'm changing the plan to substitute a 3/4" piece of hardwood for the 3/8" aluminum plate. The rest will be pretty much as the design suggests.

I was unable to find the nice round counterweights seen in the explanatory pictures, so I'm using lead scuba weights from the appropriately named Lead-co USA. Construction begins next week.

An update on May 20: Lead-co uses fixed-cost USPS mailing boxes, and I had paid for a medium sized-one. It turns out that the weights I bought fit in the small box, so Lead-co refunded the difference. Nice!

Nebraska Star Party Weather

(Continued cold and clouds have curtailed all my imaging activity, so thoughts continue to turn to the summer)

I'm still toying with the idea of attending the Nebraska Star Party, which in 2014 is from July 27 through August 1. I have some concerns.

A minor concern is electrical power. I run off two deep-cycle batteries, and it's unlikely that I can get more than a few nights off my gear. I'll be coming from the Prairie Grass Star Gaze. It's likely my batteries will need to be topped off before getting to NSP or I might have less than two night's capacity.

The bigger concern is the weather, both the heat and the potential for damaging storms. This has led me to investigate the weather that's typical for late July. Here's what I've found for nearby Valentine:

TEMPERATURES (all in degrees F) (source 1)
---------------------------------------------
July 27- Average, 89/61, records 106/43
July 28- Average, 89/61, records 108/44
July 29- Average, 89/61, records 110/42
July 30- Average, 89/61, records 105/38
July 31- Average, 89/61, records 110/44
August 1- Average, 89/61, records 106/44

WEATHER PROBABILITIES (source 2)
---------------------------------------------
Entire period, daily chance of thunderstorm is about 39%; daily chance of rain is about 50%.
An average five day interval will see two days with thunderstorms and two or three days with rain.

CLOUD COVER PROBABILITIES (source 2)
---------------------------------------------
In late July and early August the skies are clear or mostly clear about 66% of the time. This probably understates the likelihood of favorable conditions at night, when clouds are less common.

Sources:
(1) http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/daily/USNE0494?climoMonth=7
(2) http://weatherspark.com/averages/31908/Valentine-Nebraska-United-States

Numerous attendees have reported that the thunderstorms can be strong. I usually take down my scopes at night but leave the mount up so that my polar alignment is retained. I might consider looking into how to stake down the mount so that really strong gusts don't topple it.

As for the heat, it could easily top what I experienced at the Iowa star party last year. The Solution is a lot of water, and either bring or borrow shade.