Timo Kuhmonen - Astro Blog

Imaging laptop, software installation completed

2011-12-01T21:19:00.004+02:00

Finally it is done !! All the required software is installed, last one was Nikon Camera Control Pro2. My Lenovo EDGE11 currently looks like this:There is still some tweaking left for the used software, like defining imaging setup focal lenght, aperture sizes etc. Laptop has to be fitted in the rigid case, Pelican 1450.

Imaging accessories, USB hub ordered...

2011-11-29T17:13:00.005+02:00

During last months, I have been preparing my imaging setup (mainly for DS photography, partially for solar system imaging also). I will connect all the equipment to one hub, thati s located in the mount. Then I only have to route one USB cable to the mount from imaging laptop. I have selected a MOXA 407-T industrial USB hub for my purposes, delivery is esimated in two weeks. Short specs are:

wide operating tempetature range, -40 to 85°C
DC power input, 12-40 VDC
7 USB ports
metal casing
inputs ESD protected

The prize of this hub is very high, to be honest. I hope this will be "The Hub", that will last for a lifetime - or even longer than that....

Opinion poll, light pollution in Finland

2011-11-27T21:10:00.007+02:00

Light pollution, this is the area of nature conservation, that has been ignored way too long. Day by day, less people are able to see the magnificent wonders of beautiful night sky with thousands of twinkling stars. There is also a risk that light pollution affects to humans natural day / sleep rhythm - especially if bright lights are shining through the night. The affects to nature, like birds, needs more investigating. This problem is getting bigger and bigger. Now it is time to make a difference !

Finland’s environmental administration has introduced opinion poll. There you can share your concern of the light pollution problems. For more details about poll and web feedback form (in Finnish only), use following link here.

Imaging laptop, accessories arrived

2011-11-27T19:24:00.004+02:00

On last week, I got packet delivery from UPS, ordered accessories arrived:

So there is now a rigid Pelican 1450 -case for imaging laptop (Lenovo EDGE11). All the stuff is needed to put in (laptop, powersupply, display heater, heater controller, usb / ethernet cables). Case also needs suitable connector panel, so there is many things to solve...

The company (Cameranu.nl), where I ordered the equipment, did not make any effort to protect the Nikon CCP2 software package. In the big box, there was no softening material inside at all !!! The disk case has suffered, from the rough handling (see broken lower right corner of plastic cover). CD -disk seems to be in good condition.

Astroimaging, EL foils arrived

2011-11-01T19:58:00.003+02:00

Last week I got a a delivery from Glowhut. Feels like christmas now, yippee :-) Both 12V powered A5 and A3 foils will need some enclosure or similar frame, that would support the structure. More on that, later on...

Astroimaging, accessories...

2011-10-17T23:30:00.006+03:00

Preparing my photo system this time. I do not yet have a decent solution to take a flatfield calibration images. Many astrophotographers today, use a convenient EL-foil solution. The foil is thin, and provides even illumination. So It was time get ones for myself also:

A5 EL-foil (white)
12V inverter

I will use these in combination with Nikon D200 & 300/4.5 tele lens.

Imaging laptop, controlling Nikon DSLR...

2011-10-08T21:35:00.005+03:00

Plan is to dive into the world of deepsky photography, mainly galaxies and star clusters. These will be first targets, since my current camera (Nikon D200) is not yet modified for astrophotography, when H-alpha band is considered. I have planned to use 300mm MF Nikkor tele lens.

For controlling Nikon from the imaging laptop, I have purchased following stuff from Shoestring Astronomy:

DSUSB contoller
Nikon 10pin interface cable

My mount (HEQ5) has certain faults in bearing, tightened propably too much. And go-to kit I already have - that is to be installed. I will use USB2EQ5-cable to connect laptop to the mount.

Imaging laptop, accessories...

2011-10-06T21:02:00.006+03:00

Only one "mandatory" software missing, Nikon Camera Control Pro2. Carrying case for the laptop, there was one suitable model from Pelican. Today I placed an order of following gear:

Nikon Camera Control Pro2 upgrade
Pelican 1450 case

Both of them were out of stock currently, delivery shall be estimated in two weeks...

UARS deorbit information

2011-09-24T14:31:00.003+03:00

Yesterday and a day before that, eyes around the world - have been watching the sky more often. NASA's atmospeheric satellite UARS has been lowering in its orbit, and burned (partially?) in the atmospehere. Some of the biggers part may have survived to fall into ground. Not sure where the debris has been landed to. Here is the NASA update:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/uars/index.html

Imaging laptop, setup continues...

2011-08-23T00:27:00.003+03:00

Most of the astronomy related software is already installed, some still to-do. Hopefully job is completed, within one week (no real hurry since I do this after my daily work hours)

Also ordered an AC / DC combo adapter, to use my ThinkBad laptop on the field with 12V battery system. I had a good old Targus DC -adapter, too bad there was no proper "tip" available for my new laptop model.

New imaging laptop

2011-08-09T21:48:00.004+03:00

Since time is passing by, and my oldie faithful laptop (IBM T43) almost dying, it was time to get new one. Smaller and lighter Lenovo Thinkpad EDGE 11" lies now on the table.

Following days will be spent by installing win7 and all the required software. First thoughts of the laptop are pretty ok, but a clear minus is from the special keys in the keyboard. PgUp / PgDn too small, not responding well. Also Delete and Insert keys are tricky to use, maybe since I have used to larger keys in older IBM laptops. Normal keys with alphabets - those are responding well. Markings on the function keys, is too difficult to find in low lightning (since used red text).

Compared to old laptop with win XP, the startup and shutdown times are totally different. I do not have to wait for 5 minutes for the computer to start, and couple of minutes to shut down.

Basic laptop specs are:
Lenovo Thinkpad EDGE 11
Display size 11"
System memory 4GB
Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
Intel core i3 processor

Start of aurora season

2011-08-09T21:38:00.003+03:00

Two messages about auroras and both sides of the summer... It maybe (?) is a sign that nights are getting darker. Last friday/saturday night, there was a good display at Espoo.

Peak of the show happened little bit before 1am, lasting about 10 minutes. Auroras were easily seen on the northern sky. They were expanding all the way between NW and NE sky. Greenish curtain showed approx in 20 degrees height, all the way up to near zenith. Little movements were visible and vertical "bars" rised to zenith over the curtain.

I messed up with my camera, so no photos this time. Nice aurora disply, still...

Auroras at Espoo

2011-03-12T13:58:00.003+02:00

Yesterday evening and last night - there was a faint auroral belt on the northern sky of Espoo city. The belt rise approximately to 25 degrees. It looked like fuzzy / diffuse arc. It was visible all the way from the northeast to nortwest part of sky.

Course on DSRL astrophotography

2011-02-07T00:20:00.003+02:00

Back at home, after a weekend at Hauho. There we spent a nice weekend, with other enthusiastic colleagues.

Some info sessions were held on image processing technology. One session that was most most important for me, was held by Petri Kehusmaa. Also other items were covered, like stacking of the images and softaware details - with AviStack, RegiStax and IRIS.

I enjoyed of being there, and got many new ideas and tricks to use in my own astronomy hobby. Thanks for the organisers, lecturers and colleagues for the good weekend.

PS:
The collimation result is not the most important thing, it's the high quality time spent doing that on a good company :-)

Nacreous clouds

2011-02-07T00:14:00.004+02:00

I had nice suprise, when I was returning to Espoo from "digikuvaajat" meeting held at Hauho. Sun was setting behing the treelines, and sky was colourful. Low in the sky at direction of sunset, there was some wavy clouds visible. Nacreous clouds !!! It is first time for spotting them in 2011. Latest really beutiful nacreous clouds, I have seen man years ago (too long in my opinion). If I correctly remember, it was 1995.

Blog updates

2011-02-06T23:55:00.004+02:00

Since it has been a long time, without posting anything here -> would have to say that I've been busy with recently. On the first days of May 2010, I had a possibility to watch the auroras at Espoo. In period of november 2010 to January 2011 - it has been only few clear night, so no things to mention with planet / moon imaging. On the year 2011, I will continue with planets, and preparing my equipment for DS-photography for 2011 autumn.

Startrails and visual observing

2010-03-27T20:10:00.003+02:00

In beginning of this week, I visited to Nuuksio with my colleague. Result of the trip was this star trail photo. It was made with Startrails -software (developed by Achim Schaller). Used lens was Sigma 4.5mm/2.8. Same is available also in video file, to it see visit -> here <--.

We also did some visual observing of different targets. Moon showed a sign of Werner X -symbol. Occasionally polar cap of Mars was visible (150x magnification at SW 127 MAK). Saturn was a bit too low for good observing, only two faint darker bands were visible. Colors were distorted, due to refraction caused by atmosphere.

Imaging Source cameras (installation)

2009-10-27T00:16:00.003+02:00

Installation procedure was pretty straightforward. First connect camera with USB cable. A note "New HW detected" will appear on screen. Also notification "Problem detected ... might not work properly" is seen, ignore this one. Start software installation from the disk supplied. First select "Install driver" -option, then continue with "Install IC Capture.AS". When software is started, the live image from camera shall be visible.
I used two "targets" for testing, sample grey card and a small stamp. Both were imaged with MF Nikkor 55/2.8 lens attached. I ajusted gray card exposure to get three "spikes" visible on histogram. I still need to play around with camera settings, to get a best estimate for first astro imaging session.

Camera is equipped with 1.25"/C -adapter. In my William Optics SCT grayford focuser 2"-1.25" adapters brass compression ring is bit too wide for 1.25"/C adapter. Hopefully this does not cause any problems "in the field". There is another ring (C/CS adapter?) also in camera, this I do not need in my imaging setup.

Now I only need clear skies, weather forecast looks a bit more promising. Clear skies were estimated at night between friday and saturday...

Imaging Source cameras (order completed)

2009-10-22T00:30:00.003+03:00

Yesterday I have picked up my new planetary camera DMK31AU03 from local post office. It's meant to replace my SPC900NC -webcam.
The ordered package contains camera itself, software disks, USB cable, C->1.25" adapter and Baader 1.25" UV/IR blocking filter. Thanks to Ylva and Miikka for a good deal...

Nikon EH-6 secrets, part 5

2009-10-17T16:49:00.002+03:00

Here is the view to a bottom sticker at Nikon EH-6 power supply:Described are - input voltage range, ouput voltage and current (13.5V, 5A) and also pins of power connector.

Moon imaging

2009-10-16T19:40:00.005+03:00

Image from the archives.... Soon after midnight at 4th September 2009, full moon was near enough for composing it with urban landscape (tower of local church).Clouds passed by occasionally, totally blocking visibility. I had to move my tripod to new position after few minutes. Attached frame was the best composition I got. Image was taken at Espoo, southern Finland.

Nikon EH-6 secrets, part4

2009-10-14T23:01:00.001+03:00

Recently Nikon annouced D3s digital SLR, with fast frame rate for pro users. Interesting camera, you can always dream of it :-) D3s is compatible with EH-6 external power supply.

Imaging Source cameras (order placed)

2009-10-14T21:57:00.003+03:00

Last winter I got frustrated of fiddling with my SPC900NC. I did not get good combination to camera settings. In many occasions, strong banding interference was visible on raw video. After stacking it was awful to watch.

After considering choices between Lumenera, Imaging Source and Point Grey, I decided to go on with Imaging Source. Model I chose was DMK31AU03. For planets I would have had enough field of view with model DMK21AU04, but DMK31AU03 offers slightly wider field of view for sun and moon (used with C8 OTA). I now start without separate RGB filters, to get familiar with camera and it's controls. Hopefully the camera and software proves itself worth of investment. The camera (plus UV/IR block filter) should arrive soon.

Evening rainbows

2009-08-08T23:34:00.005+03:00

This week one evening rainshower offered a possibility to photography. FMI testbed map provided radar data to follow movement of rainshower, useful application indeed. Most importantly, it is free !

First image was taken with Sigma 4.5/2.8 lens, attached to Nikon D200. It was difficult to get the composition as you want it to be...
The image below, is taken with same D200 and diagonal fisheye (10.5mm/2.8 Nikon). This is the image I like most...
Soon the whole rainshower has passed by, and only parts of the bow are visible...

Nikon EH-6 secrets, part3

2009-07-31T15:41:00.002+03:00

Status update: Nikon announced two new DSLR bodies, updated D300s and entry level D3000. Both of them are not compatible with EH-6 supply, instead EH-5 is required (4 pin connection to camera).

Atmospheric photos, exhibition at Tampere

2009-07-30T20:25:00.003+03:00

Today I spend a warm summer day at Tampere -city. My main goal was to visit at Särkänniemi adventure park, to see what local photographers have collected for photo exhibition.

Nice images indeed, very nice... The bigger size in prints (usually above A3) makes a good photo, to really stand out from the mass. Intense noctilucent clouds on sky, calm water surface on lake. Contrast for every occasions.

If you have visit to near Tampere, I recommend to pop up at Särkänniemi, for this atmospheric photo exhibition. It is located there, in the hallway of the planetarium premises.

EdgeHD: New SCT line from Celestron

2009-07-21T13:01:00.002+03:00

Some preliminary information came into discussion forums already one month ago... Specs were not precisely published, by it now seems Celestron has added this EdgeHD line to their web pages.

Shortly, following changes have been done to redesigned tube:
-field flattener
-mirror locking
-tube vents
-white paint surface

Full moon imaging

2009-07-08T13:17:00.007+03:00

Yesterday was not a successful day, clouds blocked visibility at southern Finland. So no photographs then... Next possibility for full moon is on 6th August 2009.

Here's my last image of full moon at 9th May 2009. Moon is distorted by mirage effect (different temperatures at air layers). This I consider my best image of full moon.

In couple of weeks I should get some detailed explanation of this mirage effect, and some comments what I heard - it was not so typical to see distorted moon at relatively high altitudes like in this case. When I have feedback, I'll get back to this...

I made also a composite image, to clear out how moon shape was distorted. It was interesting to follow...

Saturn imaging (12th April 2009)

2009-06-10T23:14:00.005+03:00

One image from the archives... I shot Saturn -at Vesanto in central Finland- with my C8 OTA & 2x Barlow lens. Used camera type was Philips SPC900NC. I had a lot of interference lines visible in stacked image. Periodic noise was needed to be removed with IRIS, postprocessing was done at Photoshop CS2.

Unsuccessfull moon imaging

2009-06-07T23:34:00.004+03:00

This time I did not had a good luck... According to yellow almanac, full moon today was rising at 23:23 (in Helsinki region). I checked skies, but too much clouds on distant horizon to see the moon. I am going to attempt photography of "low moon" again, at 7th July 2009.

PC equipment updates

2009-06-05T16:54:00.003+03:00

Since I will update my HEQ-5 mount to GoTo-option, I need a RS232 -serial connection to laptop. I have a already a USB-to-serial converter, but it only has a one serial port. So I have ordered DeLock PCMCIA -adapter card, providing 4 COM-ports. This would allow to connect a mount itself and two focusers -> one port would be still free.

Installation was pretty straightforward: plug in the card, select manually suitable drivers for win XP and final testing of card. To control panel, four COM -ports were added:

HEQ5 mount Goto-kit

2009-05-27T21:51:00.002+03:00

This I have put into order, from Telescope service. Estimated delivery would be approximately two weeks.

Main reason why a bought this, that in addition to planet photography I want to attempt autoguided exposures with Nikon D200 plus a short telelens -combination. I know there are many challenges in this world to come... Guider camera needs to be purchased also. Most propably I change my planetary camera to a certain monocrome model, from Imaging Source products. These models are also suitable for guiding cameras.

Equipment updates

2009-05-26T22:15:00.005+03:00

Time to update my HEQ5 -mount... I was frustrated - especially in winter- when I hurt my fingers with original fixing screws on mount saddle (Vixen type). The separation is so small that it does not allow free thumbscrew rotation, without touching sharp surface of another screw.

So I have placed an order to ADM accessories, from their "D" -series:
-saddle adapter (EQG-SAD)
-two dovetail plates for C8 (DC8)
-dovetail plate adapter for camera head (DPA)

Planet imaging - focusing methods

2009-04-19T21:41:00.003+03:00

Couple of weeks ago I got my Bahtinov mask. It was laser-cut from approx 3mm thick black plastic sheet (thanks goes to Lauri K).

Purpose of this is to aid focusing, that can be pretty tricky sometimes. Mask is placed in front of C8 corrector cell. Then scope is pointed to bright star. Mask creates a visible diffraction pattern. Image on the webcam is followed, and focusing adjusted at the same time. When "line in the middle" crosses the intersection of "X-figure", focusing is correct. I was really suprised how simple and effective this tool is...

Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin)

2009-03-19T22:11:00.003+02:00

I had a second planned attempt to visually observe and photograph this comet, at 15th March 2009. Skies were not clear, so that was it. Next opportunity, hopefully is at coming weekend (If skies are clear, that maybe would be 21st March).

Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin)

2009-02-25T23:09:00.002+02:00

Today evening Espoo skies were not clear enough for photography, a layer of hazy clouds were on sky. I took a look at Lulin, with 15*70 binoculars. It was visible as a dim and fuzzy spot. Tomorrow I will check sky conditions again.

Comet is currently located at Leo -constellation. Comet brightness will decrease within next few weeks. Best information of this comet is on Seiichi Yoshida's pages.

Nikon D200 problems, part 2

2009-02-13T18:08:00.005+02:00

Today I picked up my D200 camera from the service. It was a positive surprise to me... It has been repaired for free of charge.

Mirror mechanics had been replaced and adjusted. Also cleaning and camera final testing was included. Firmware was updated to version 2.00. When I looked the info leaflet, more was about to come... Also there was following items replaced, and again free of charge (!)

-grip rubber unit
-I/F side rubber unit
-bottom cover rubber unit
-front body unit
-rear rubber unit

During repairing, I told also to find out total shutter count. It was 3926 images, since I bought camera at 03/2006. Not very much... I should start using my camera more often.

Thanks goes to Nikon and JAS Tekniikka for a good service !

Venus imaging

2009-02-08T14:21:00.005+02:00

On second of February 2009 I had my C8 OTA collimated and ready for planet imaging. Venus was already too low on the sky, but I still was able to take an acceptable image. Below is one captured frame from video, showing clearly disturbances in the image.
Below is result of 219 stacked frames. Next time I need to do imaging, when Venus is higher on the sky. Focusing must be done more carefully, Bahtinov mask could help...
Additional information:
Date: 2.2.2009
Time: 20:17 (GMT+2)
Location: Karakallio, Espoo, Finland
Telescope: Celestron C8
Web camera: Philips SPC 900NC
Barlow: TeleVue 3x

Collimating C8 OTA

2009-02-06T22:27:00.006+02:00

Couple of weeks ago I finished collimating my C8. I used previously built artificial fibre star and SPC900NC camera. I did collimation in the "basement premises", along the 25m long hallway. I also judged collimation with short focal length eyepiece. From my earlier planet images, I saw that the collimation was "way out" a lot... This causes loss of image details, and blurry edges to planets (like Mars).

I got a better collimation by ajusting one screw, approximately 1/5 turns. Images are taken without any barlow lens. Focus patterns - before collimation:
Focus patterns - after collimation:
In / out focus pattern is now much more symmetric and focused star appears without "comets tail" effect. When there is any need to tweak collimation, that is better to do "in the field"....

I also decided to make a test, is it possible to capture airy disk & diffraction rings. I got some... TeleVue 3x barlow was used. Image is stacked and resized to 400% of original size. Airy disk became visible, and first diffraction ring (although not uniformly). On some parts, there are traces of second diffraction ring (?) visible. The large faint disk around star, that I do not where it came from. If anyone knows, leave comments...
Two videos I also took of artificial star. Fist one with precise focusing (1) and second about disturbances in the video (2), caused by air movements.

Building artificial star

2009-02-04T00:51:00.003+02:00

My C8 OTA needs a collimation process to be completed. I have seen some artificial stars usually made my pinching a small hole to a very thin metal foil.

I wanted to build a "prototype" of a artificial star, which had very small hole for light rays. I had some pieces of broken single mode fibre, which should be fine.

Both ends had a exposed connector (SC type if I correctly remember). Cable type designation was 10/125 - which means very thin core of optic cable. I put my small Maglite into other end of cable. With the beamwidth, I could adjust brightness of a artificial star.

I did not put all the things in enclosure. If have some extra time, maybe then...

Nikon D200 problems, part1

2009-01-30T20:35:00.004+02:00

Recently my Nikon D200 stopped to work. When exposing it for couple of hours to low temps, about -10C or colder, mirror does not return anymore into its original position. Another press of shutter returns mirror. No image was the saved to CF-card, upper LCD shows "Err" -text.

Today I finally had time to leave D200 to service at JAS-Tekniikka. Estimate of total service costs, that made 39 euros. More on that, at next week...

Nightsky imaging, part1

2008-12-30T20:14:00.005+02:00

During christmas, only one night (!) was clear to take some nightsky photos. These three following images were took at place, which is quite a free from light pollution (ie. Vesanto at central Finland). After my eyes had adapted to darkness, the sight was really beautiful. Milky Way was very clearly visible, and no moonlight at all. Dark areas were easily seen.

Natures sounds was really interesting to listen: owl on the near forest, sounds of ice movement on the nearby lake, dogs barking on the neighborhood, water flowing on the small river and low temperature cracking sounds from trees. Interesting experience indeed...

One sound I was not able to recognize - it sounded like mixture of laughing and barking with a hoarse tone in it. I suspect it could be either Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) or Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes). If someone knows this sound, leave a comment...

Orion, Hyades cluster and Pleiades (M45).
Big Dipper at northern sky.
Cygnus and Milky Way.

New type of halo found

2008-12-06T16:22:00.003+02:00

At 5th December 2008, couple of web sites informed about new halo type, that was discovered by Marko Riikonen, at northern Finland. It is located below Moilanen arc. See discussion and images about this topic at:

Tähdet ja avaruus -news
Ice crystal halos - blog
Tähdet ja avaruus 8/2008 -magazine
Atmospheric Optics - Les Cowley

Nikon EH-6 secrets, part2

2008-12-01T19:07:00.001+02:00

On my previous post #1 about Nikon EH-6, I described alternative supplies for powering DSLR. Since many Nikon models have been released after that, I summarize current situation:

Compatible with EH-6 supply:
D3
D3x

Not compatible with EH-6:
D700 - uses EH-5a/EH-5 supply
D300 - uses EH-5a supply

Sunset colours

2008-11-18T23:06:00.006+02:00

On clear and chilly Monday evening I was walking out on company parking place, half an hour after sunset. In the opposite side of sun, earth shadow and belt of Venus were rising above horizon. The sky was strangely colored around sun, in a large area.

Light pink hue was easily visible. Normally during sunset sky turns first to orange and then red, even deep red. I remembered that earlier this year there was a volcanic eruption at Mount Kasatochi, located at Aleutian islands.

I assume this event could cause the colors, but I sill am not 100% sure... During the autumn reports of such colorful sunsets are received from Sweden. Many reports also have been coming from central Europe.

Before this eruption (if I correctly remember) was the famous mount Pinatubo eruption. Huge amount of aerosols and small dust particles were blown into upper atmosphere.

Trip to Kilpisjärvi

2008-11-08T16:02:00.009+02:00

During mid-september 2008 I had a nature photography trip to northern Finland, i.e. Kilpisjärvi. In addition to landscape and nature details photographs, I captured some images of atmospheric phenomenon. I am again waiting the next opportunity to get there with my camera, so beautiful the landscape is there when the lightning conditions are good...

Auroras above lake Kilpisjärvi.

Sunpillar above lake Kilpisjärvi.

Misty morning and fogbow.

Swans and nightsky

2008-11-06T13:36:00.003+02:00

Yesterday it was a clear sky on the evening already, later on at 11pm I went out to take a photo of Pleiades - M45. My Purpose was to get it composed with part of the public building. I need to try photographing again, since I was now too late. Position of Pleiades was not suitable.

When returning home, I got a really nice "surprise", so to speak... Aircrafts are flying quite a frequently in this area (i.e. Espoo) - so I understood there was another jet flying on the sky. First impression was wrong, oh boy! The "plane" was moving too fast - to be normal one. It was a migrating swan, against the thousands of stars on the nightsky. Below the swan there was a lit public building, a local church (mormonikirkko). Those very powerful and narrow light beams hit the swan from below and made it almost glow magically in the night... The situation was passed away so quickly, but damn it was so beautiful sight! I was happy to return home (although I was a bit suffering from cold weather).

Halo observing

2008-10-10T14:47:00.003+03:00

Last few months has been time when only few halos I have been able to notice (per one month). Due to daily work, I cannot observe the skies all-time. Yesterday (9th Oct 2008) I saw few nice common halos at Espoo. 22 ring, 22 upper tangent arc and circumzenithal arc were visible.

I store all my halo observations to Havainto.net -database. If images are available, I'll upload those there also. Halo observing is great fun, just remember to watch at the sky...

Autumn lightning

2008-10-03T23:52:00.004+03:00

Late today evening it was nice again to see some natures beautiful lights. At coastal area of southern Finland, there is a rainshower passing by. Some lightning is currently visible behind the clouds. Unfortunately no direct lightning strikes are seen, since the thunderstorm is not very "active". No sounds were heard at my hometown Espoo.

One nice occasion was that, at the same time it started to rain harder, and the "Big Dipper" was visible through the clear cloud area. I will continue to follow situation for a while, at local FLC -lightning radars...

Accessory order ongoing

2008-08-25T00:30:00.003+03:00

Another set of dew prevention stuff, plus double crosshair-EP for drift aligning. Waiting for Kendrick 1.25" strip and Antares 10mm to arrive beginnig at next week...

Partial solar eclipse

2008-08-01T17:22:00.004+03:00

This time the observation I had to visually only. No possibilities to photograph it due to busy daily work, unfortunately. It still was a beatiful sight. Sky was partially cloudy. I observed it in southerh Finland (Espoo to be precise), around 12:40 local time (GMT +3h). Approximately 40% of the sun disk area was blocked by the moon.

These following pages contains solar images around the world:
Spaceweather.com
NASA solar eclipse page

Televue Everbrite diagonal, part2

2008-06-28T10:44:00.013+03:00

I got new replacement mirror for Televue diagonal, I changed it myself. This is how the story goes... First thing is to get proper allen wrench. You need to use 1/16" wrench (a bit larger than 1.5mm wrench). Open all the four screws. Keep the mirror holder block facing down (mirror will not drop). Gently lift up the diagonal body and remove the gasket. Take a note of the gasket position.
Mirror lies now in the holder, scratches are easily seen. And there are lot of those... Remove mirror from the holder. Put it on soft cloth or a piece of lens paper (to avoid any other damage).

On backside of faulty mirror there is a "signature". This most propably refers to quality checking. Either the person performing quality control, did not actually check the mirror, or scratches have been made in the mirror installation phase. TV quality control -> alert, alert...

Based on "signatures", replacement mirror has been checked by two persons...

Mirror holder has two thin strips of soft foam inside, to press the mirror against diagonal body. I am bit worried about this material. How does it work after long time, ten years or more ? Is it still flexible enough to support the mirror ?

Install the replacement mirror on the holder. No scratches seen anymore (few dust particles are present, no affect to actual use).

Take a diagonal body, gasket and mirror holder. Install the gasket in same position as it was when disassembling. Thighten all the four screws.

Final checking of diagonal against bright light, mirror surface looks good.

Televue Everbrite diagonal, part1

2008-06-27T14:44:00.004+03:00

After my recent accessory order arrived, Televue 1.25" Everbrite mirror diagonal was a faulty one :-( The mirror inside of was totally full of scratches. After contacting to dealer, it was decided that I receive a new replacement mirror for free, and change it myself.

I still want to believe that TV makes excellent quality products. Within this sample, the quality control checks were not working.

Accessory order ongoing

2008-04-28T22:31:00.003+03:00

For preparing my C8 OTA to visual planet observing and other coming challenges, I am about to place order of:

Baader Ortho 9mm eyepiece
TeleVue 1.25" Everbrite diagonal
Kendrick 2006 -heater strip
2" barrel -> T adapter

Blog Admin: Posting comments

2008-02-25T20:12:00.003+02:00

Just an announcement... Today I have activated comment filtering, because I'm starting to get comments here that have _nothing_ to do with astronomy hobby (i.e. spam). If you leave a comment, pls be patient to wait a while -> so I can check these comments before accepting them (I get email info when comment is posted). I do not have any intention to modify comment before allowing to publish it, only to check if it is someting related to spam.

Thanks, Timo

Antares 8*50 illuminated RACI finder

2008-02-25T01:19:00.005+02:00

My Celestron C8 scope had only a plastic and flimsy red dot finder in original configuration. I needed a better magnifying finder, that will also help to spot dimmer objects on the night sky. There are no detailed measurement reports here, only a personal thoughs and ideas. Hope they will give you some idea about this Antares finder. The configuration looks like following:
Antares finder is attached the SCT frame with Baader finder bracket Rel4 -model. Maximum tube diameter that it can hold, is 72mm. I chose the larger model insteadt of Rel3, because of the larger "dewshield" tube in Antares finder. I was really amazed with the mechanical build and quality of this Baader product (with small cons, see comments). It is very sturdy and can hold bigger finderscopes also, maybe even small guiderscope (I have not tested this yet...). Supplied aluminum block between finder dovetail and finder bracket is removed to get finder more close to SCT.

Antares finder gives correct image in up/down and left/right directions because of 90 degree prism used. The image quality is good for the price, not perfect though. For higher optical quality the price would go very high, so I stay on this level now. Image quality is lower on the edge of field. Currently I did not had possibility to compare this Antares to other finders, so my comments are based on the actual (and short time) use. I've noticed that It takes some time to get familiar with the use of prism finder. I've noticed myself watching between the sky and finder EP, even when the finder is pointed to the right part of the sky :-) When scope position changes, there comes also an issue with finderscope viewing angle. In some directions it is facing sideways. It is possible to rotate finder in Baader bracket (by loosening setscrews a bit). Another method is to loose setscrew on Antares prism and rotate it (requires modification to allen screw). Finder eyepiece has double crosshairs with adjustable illumination (standard 1.25" size)

Antares finder - pros / cons
+ image quality decent/good for the price
+ correct / right angle image
- rear and front caps always dropping
- eyepiece focusing is jamming in low temparatures
- no separate focuser (eyepiece has to be moved)
- loose fit in lens hood tube (need to be attached again)

Baader finder bracket - pros / cons:
+ very good mechanical build and quality
+ feels sturdy
+ disconnected quickly from scope
- finder bracket screws are bit small and slippery
- plastic tips of adjustment screws need to be glued with superglue

Saturn imaging at Nuuksio

2008-02-17T21:03:00.005+02:00

After a long time waiting, finally skies cleared. Thanks to my work colleague for the car ride... Expectations were high, but I was disappointed with the results. Seeing was very bad, it caused lot of disturbance in the atmosphere. After stacking I also noticed some "stripes" in the image. Got to find out where they are coming from...

C8 image details:
Location: Nuuksio (Espoo, Finland)
Date: 15th February 2008
Time: 23:43 UTC
Telescope: C8 XLT (2032mm f/10)
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ-5
Barlow: TeleVue 3x
Webcam: Philips SPC900NC
Stacking: Registax v4, 952 frames

It was approximately one year (!) after my last Saturn imaging session (too long time to speak). I made a comparison image pair about Saturn rings. They look more and more narrow each time. Within one or two year, the rings should "disappear", since the plane is pointing towards earth.

Thoughts about weather

2008-02-09T20:34:00.001+02:00

What could I say... A lot. But it maybe would not be any "nice language". Raining wet and sleet. Sometimes snow falls on the ground, usually melts in couple of days. But always cloudy, cloudy etc... If correctly remember, during last 3 weeks my C8 hasn't had any night time usage.

While waiting for skies to clear, I am constructing leveling aid for HEQ-5 mount. It consists of aluminum plate and double spirit levels attached to it. You just drop the plate into tripod slot and start fine adjusting the tripod. When I've finished the project, I'll post an article.

Eyepiece carrying case

2008-01-04T22:14:00.001+02:00

I am constructing a suitable cases for my planet imaging equipment. I selected a strong molded plastic case from Storm Cases, model iM2100. It had enough space for eyepieces, barlow, webcam and accessories. There is space available for additional eyepieces.

This particular case is also suitable for airline transportion, and can withstand pretty rough handling also. On the long term, I believe it will be good investment instead of many lousy ones. I also need to make similar cases for HEQ-5 mount, C8 OTA and laptop. I am bit worried about the prices of bigger Storm cases now :-) Quality cases indeed...

Mars 2007 opposition, second image

2007-12-24T17:20:00.001+02:00

My second attempt for Mars imaging was near to 2007 opposition at 22nd December. Last time I did not succeed on imaging with my Barlow lens. Now I was able to get decent sized planet on the webcam sensor. There were not so many details on the side of Mars I have photographed, so more attempts are needed. I tried to focus as cafully as I could, with WO SCT focuser. There was no sharp focus point present. This may have been due to seeing effects. I had to battle a lot during imaging, to avaoid frost formation on the corrector lens. Good point to continue for next imaging round. Equiment used: Celestron C8 XLT, Televue 3x Barlow, SPC900NC. Image capturing and processing: VirtualDub, Registax v4 and Photoshop CS2.

Mars 2007 opposition, first light

2007-12-24T17:14:00.001+02:00

Long time (over two weeks :-) after I got my C8 package, skies were finally clearing at Espoo. On the early morning hours of 13th December 2007, I carried my (damn heavy) equipment to near hill. First I did some visual tests of my scope, then finally pointed C8 to Mars. I got couple of raw video sequences. The planet size on the webcam sensor was way too small. Still some small details were revealed. I tried also to attach 3x Barlow lens, but I did not got video captured because of focusing problems (WO SCT focuser worked OK).

SC OTA for planets, thoughts

2007-12-06T16:24:00.001+02:00

Since the weather doesn't allow planet photography, I have plenty of time to consider what I need to invest in the near future to my C8 package:

Dew shield

Needed especially in cold winter nights. Normally the corrector lens will suffer from frost formation, just when the imaging session is ongoing... Flexible model would be more convenient, since my setup needs to be portable.

Magnifying finder

There was only a red dot finder (RDF) include in C8 (without base..., that was promised to be separately sent to me). Brightest planets will be visible through an RDF, but it may be a bit struggling to get planet directly in the field of small webcam sensor. This remains to be seen with the actual use of scope.

Heater strips

Combined with dewshield, heater strips will be another (and propably the best) solution to battle against corrector lens frost. If/when I get more seriously interested about visual use of my scope, I may need to buy heater strip for eyepieces also.

SC OTA for planets, scope arrived

2007-12-04T01:55:00.001+02:00

The C8 XLT scope arrived, at 30th November 2007. I wasn't home, when first delivery was attempted by UPS, so scope had to picked up at local UPS storage premises. This is how my planet imaging setup looks like:

System consists of Celestron C8 XLT Schmidt-Cassegrain scope (2032mm, f/10), mounted on Skywatcher HEQ-5. There is enough of focal length in C8 to be used for planet imaging. In case I later on get interested in DS photography, this tube will come in handy with some focal reducer - like 0.5x -model from Optec.

I have bought a separate Grayford focuser from William Optics. This way you can get a smoother focusing, and also both 1.25" and 2" accessory connections. Focuser also rotates around it's axis, to allow suitable composition in the image.

3X barlox is from Televue, quality and build looks and feels very convincing. Barlow lens felt solid, and a bit heavy when I first took it in my hand. I believe it will be worth of invesment. Reflections in the lens surfaces were very deep green, so I assume lens coatings are typical (and good) Televue value.

AVI sequence of the planets will be captured with Philips web camera. SPC900NC was available at the time. Oririginal lens was removed from camera and 1.25" adapter was screwed into lens thread. I also use a Baader UV/IR cut filter in front of the sensor, to ensure better image quality.

All I need now is some freetime and clear skies with good seeing. Currently it does not look too promising... Sleet is pouring down from the sky.

Samsung SHC-721A, IR testing

2007-11-25T00:25:00.001+02:00

This video surveillance camera has a black & white mode. Usually it is meant for low-light conditions. According to manual, there's not clearly defined what happens in this mode. When lens is removed - in front of the CCD sensor - there is visible some filter foil. That has light green/cyan color. When BW mode is activated, a short "bzzztt" sound is heard. I assume that camera moves the filter away from top of sensor.

I decided to make some experimental testing, to see whether this camera was sensitive to IR. The target was hot soldering iron (Weller WTCP-s). The temparature in the solder tip is approximately +300°C. The equipment setup was:

Samsung SCH-721A camera
Nikon F / C-mount adapter
MF Nikkor 55/2.8 macro lens

results were recorded video clips:
1st, normal room lightning
2nd, very low light level
3rd, no room lightning

Conclusion:
There is no IR sensitivity visible on 1st video clip. On the second video, IR radiation is clearly visible (brighter spot during heat-up cycle). This also shows the position of heating element inside of the solder tip. Third image shows the IR only, because there is not room lightning used. I was just wondering, where could I actually use this for. Has the sun some activity on the IR...? It remains to be seen, where this particular sensitivity is suitable for.

SC OTA for planets, order status

2007-11-21T11:08:00.001+02:00

Order process is ongoing, but not so fluently as I expected. All the needed parts arrived to dealer. That had been informed to me already, my e-mail safety rules had blocked this mail. Payment is now done. Currently I am waiting for the dealer in Germany to inform me, when payment is received at their side. I was told that I will receive UPS tracking number, when shipment is done. I would estimate that scope arrives somewhere on the end of next week, hopefully...

Comet 17P/Holmes

2007-11-21T10:51:00.001+02:00

This is my first decent comet image I've produced with Nikon D200. I'm quite satisfied with the result, this a good point to develop skills further. 17P/Comet was imaged at Nuuksio nature park, on 4th Novenber 2007. Size was approximately 1/3 of full moon diameter. Image is made up of 21 separate frames, each 30sec @ISO800 with 300/4.5 MF Nikkor lens.

Comet 17P/Holmes

2007-11-03T14:54:00.001+02:00

On the 1st November 2007, I tried again to photograph this comet. Locally it was too windy, and D200/MF Nikkor 300f4.5 would have been affected by shaking. Visually the target was like few days before. The next attempt will be most propably on Sunday 4th November. For that night my work colleague planned an observation session to near nature park at Nuuksio.

Comet 17P/Holmes

2007-11-01T14:58:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I had a possibility to view a this magnificent comet on Espoo sky, with my 15*70 Helios -binoculars. What a beatiful sight! I have seen many pictures at web, but now I finally realized the actual size of it. It looked like a large fuzzy plate in the sky. The inner part of the comet was bright. Around the core thre was a bit darker rim. Towards the edge of comet, brightness inscreased slightly.

With my naked eye observation, the comet looked as small fuzzy dot. It was cleary diffrent than the bright stars. Sometimes it looked, that I was able see the bright core, not still 100% sure of it. Later on the evening / night the sky was cloudy, so I didn't had opportunity to photograph it. Later on today I'll make new attempts, the weather forecast looks promising.

Sun without spots

2007-10-22T23:35:00.002+03:00

My first decent attempt to photograph the sun... This time it did not have any visible spots, image was taken at 20th October 2007. Used equipment were: Baader solar filter foil, Nikon 300/4,5 tele lens and Samsung SHC-721A surveillance camera. This final image was stacked from separate frames with Registax, approximately 250 frames were used.
After taking the original AVI clips, some problems were really visible. Below is one frame captured from the clip. Below and above the sun, the brighter area is visible. This may be due to blooming affect on the camera. Also narrow darker vertical "stripes" are visible. This particular camera has menu, but I have not found any blooming related adjustments there. Looks like this type of camera is not very suitable for high contrast targets...

SC OTA for planets, order placed

2007-10-17T23:17:00.001+03:00

Today I have placed an order of SC OTA, to be used for planet photography mainly. I would expect, that there is good package for many years to come:

Celestron C8 OTA with XLT coatings
William Optics SC Grayford focuser
TeleVue 3x barlow (1.25" size)

Now I have couple of weeks and endless hours of waiting the package to arrive. Just like a small child waiting for the Santa Claus to visit :-)

Nikon EH-6 secrets, part1

2007-10-03T22:51:00.002+03:00

NOTE / DISCLAIMER:
Opening the covers of the EH-6 power supply, exposes parts with high voltage. So there is actual risk of electric shock, dangerous to your health. I have checked information in this article. I do not take any responsibility of the actual information, the correctness of information, or misusage of it. If you have any feedback, please inform me.

This "cracking project" started when I bought a external power supply for my Nikon D200 camera. The only available model was the EH-6 supply (by Nikon, that propably explains the price tag). For astro photography there also was a need to use D200 directly from the "non-Nikon" DC supply. The current / voltage specs needed for that were same as in EH-6, i.e. 13.5V 5A. Also there was a need to know pin purpose for low voltage connector (that mates the D200 body).

So I decided to "sacrifice" my EH-6 product quarantee, and open the covers... There was most propably SMPS -type power supply inside (based on the small size of heat sink and the high voltage electrolytic capacitor). On the left side, low voltage output cable connects to Nikon D200 (red / black wires).

I measured the DC voltage on the output. It was 13.66V, when supply was not connected to D200. After connecting supply to camera and swithing on it, the voltage dropped to 13.65V. Red wire carries the positive voltage (I call it as "VCC") and black wire is for the ground connection ("GND"). After measuring the voltages on the secondary side of EH-6 supply, it looks that pins have following purpose:

The "NC" stands for "not connected". This is because I did not found any voltage on this pin. I measured the resistance also towards the other pins, no connection found. If this "NC" pin has some other purpose, that I do not know (if you have info, please let me know). The respective pins on the Nikon D200 body are:

Again the "NC" pin was named on the D200 body. This is a pin that I am not sure, where is used to (if you have info, please let me know). The following is a situation where I feed D200 power from the external adjustable DC supply. Voltage reading (13.58V) is on the upper left, and current (0.29A) on the right. Typically the camera drains 0.3A, when swithed on and back TFT display is on. During long "bulb" exposures, the drawn current was about 0.6A. This is two times the "average" value. Current drain is especially important factor (if the camera is used only by batteries)

Conclusion:
What I will do with my EH-6 supply ? For the moment, I'll leave it like it was. If I am not able to find the Nikon specific power supply connector electronics stores, I propably need to cut the secondary wire in half. And to install some suitable good quality two-pole locking connector there inbetween. That would allow to use EH-6 and leave also possibility to power D200 with suitable "non-Nikon" DC-supply.