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Arkansas Starry Night Viewing Site

10/13/2023

A little over a week ago I was getting ready for a week-long camping trip under the Arkansas skies near Mammoth Springs. In the past this has been primarily a camping/fishing trip for some men (and some of their sons) from our church and any others who wish to attend what has come over the years to be known as the annual Knucklehead Family Reunion. Since I had not had much luck with fly fishing, I had not been in a few years. I found out there was a good open sky area on a hill in a field right across the road from some of the cabins at the location they have used for the last 3 years. And I learned it also has good dark skies there (Bortle class 3!). Hmmm, I said to myself. Maybe it is time for this to become a camping/fishing/video astronomy trip. As I discussed it with some of the guys, they encouraged me to come and bring along my astronomy gear. And that’s what I did.

I was limited on packing space in my Jeep Cherokee, so I took my basic portable video astronomy setup. I carried my small Celestron Alt-Az SkyProdigy mount with built-in StarSense AutoAlign Camera, my Mallincam 80mm refractor telescope and Mallincam DS10c camera. Here is a daytime picture of my setup with my laptop inside a bin turned on its side on the table.

Starry Night Viewing Site in process of being set up in field across from cabins. Battery power used for telescope, laptop and viewing monitor.

This refractor telescope and camera work great together without the need for a focal reducer and are well balanced when mounted on the small SkyProdigy mount.

MC DS10c on Mallincam 80MM Telescope using Celestron SkyProdigy Mount with built in StarSense AutoAlign

Here is a night picture with an external monitor connected to my laptop and set up on the table so everyone could easily see the “near real time” live image from the video astronomy camera “looking” at the sky through the telescope. The telescope was pointed at the Andromeda Galaxy when this picture was taken.

KFR 2023 Starry Night Viewing Site with telescope in background, viewing monitor on table, Laptop control inside bin also on table

I had 4 straight nights (Oct 7-8) of clear dark skies with various interested men and boys watching my monitor, discussing what we saw and asking questions. Some really good questions were asked like “can we see stars outside our galaxy?” (Basic answer - all stars that we see are in our own galaxy, unless you have a Hubble or Web telescope and a gravity lens handy). For the first time some saw the Dumbbell Nebula, the Hercules Cluster, the Ring Nebula, Andromeda galaxy, etc. appear on the screen shortly after slewing to it. Then after making a few adjustments and just a little stacking they were amazed at what they saw. We discussed distances to objects inside our own galaxy, and galaxies far, far away – millions of light years away. I decided afterwards the trip was a success.

I kept my exposures to a max of 5 seconds and used the histogram to keep the background dark and quickly bring out features using LHDR stacking. Due to the Alt-Az mount you can see some field rotation at the edges of an image when the target was high in the sky, but the centered object is the main attraction. As I went from one target to another, they quickly got the idea that this is more like looking at objects in the sky through a telescope rather than taking pictures. In fact, I sometimes forgot to do screen captures before jumping to show them something else. When I said “I think there is a galaxy here on the screen... I’ll zoom in and make some adjustments to see what we can see”, they really got the idea it's near real time viewing.

The following are some of the images that I did capture. Most of these images are zoomed in with the target centered to show the detail like I do on the monitor. For reference, the first image is the Dumbbell Nebula shown in the full field of view for the DS10c camera on the refractor telescope before I zoom in. It is followed by its “zoomed in” image of the Dumbbell Nebula. I have found that captured images sometimes don’t show up as well on the web, so I take a couple of minutes of post-processing per image later on using the Microsoft Photos adjustment sliders before posting them here.

The name of the target object is listed beneath the image along with its distance in light years from Earth (ly = light years, Kly = 1,000 ly, Mly = 1 million ly). For example, light from the Dumbbell nebula at a distance of 1.4 Kly takes 1400 years to travel to Earth. So, what we see now is the Dumbbell nebula as it looked 1,400 years ago!

M27 - Dumbbell/Apple Core Nebula - 1.4 Kly - Full Field of View using MC DS10c on Mallincam 80MM Telescope Stacked 5 sec exposures

M27 - Dumbbell/Apple Core Nebula - 1.4 Kly – “Zoomed” image from MC DS10c on Mallincam 80MM Telescope Stacked 5 sec exposures

M13 - Hercules Cluster - 2.3 Kly

NGC891 - Edge on Spiral Galaxy – 32 Mly ... what we see now is how it looked 32 million years ago!
Note: Targets that are millions of light years away are outside our own Galaxy.

M45 - Pleiades/Seven Sisters - 430 ly

M31 - Andromeda Galaxy - 2.5 Mly
M110 (upper right) - Elliptical Galaxy - 2.7 Mly

M103 - Open Cluster (micro-dipper) in Cassiopeia - 7.2 Kly

NGC7293 - Helix Nebula - 790 ly

As a backup telescope I brought the 5” f/5 Newtonian telescope shown below that came with the SkyProdigy. It provided a slightly larger field of view than the refractor, and I used it the last couple of nights.

MC DS10c on 5" Newtonian Telescope Celestron SkyProdigy Mount with built in StarSense AutoAlign

Here are some images using this camera/telescope combination.

NGC253 - Sculptor/Silver Dollar Galaxy - 12 Mly

M76 - Little Dumbbell/Cork Nebula - 5.8 Kly

NGC6946 - Fireworks Galaxy - 22 Mly

M82 - Cigar Galaxy - 12 Mly

M57 - Ring Nebula - 1.4 Kly

There were a little over 20 campers including the boys. Over those 4 nights many of them came up a hill in small groups to gather around the monitor and telescope. Below is a picture of the KFR Starry Night Viewing Site with a few gathered around in the viewing area in the glow from red led lights I had on the ground.

Campers gathered around monitor and telescope setup in open field

I bought a red led string the day before I left and also grabbed my Christmas tree extension cord containing a foot switch. I put the string of red leds around the telescope which effectively kept everyone outside the “red ring of fire”. I would tap the foot switch to turn the red leds on when I slewed to a new target so they could watch the telescope as it moved and stopped. It was fun for them to watch it slewing to its target, and it also allowed them to see which way the telescope was pointing when it stopped. I would then tap the foot switch to turn the red led string off so they could focus on watching the image beginning to show up on the second monitor I had set up on the table. I was able to show how I could control the mount and slew to targets using the telescope hand controller, the laptop connected to the hand controller, or my phone (with SkyFi).

Laptop inside bin on table to protect from dew. "Ring of Fire" red led string around telescope area to protect against accidental bumps.

Below are a couple of photos of my favorite daytime viewing site next to the Spring River in a recliner with my Kindle and lunch at hand.

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DS26cTEC First Impressions

12/15/2020

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I recently purchased a Mallincam DS26cTEC Video Astronomy camera that has a large 28.3mm Class 1 CMOS sensor with 6224x4178 resolution. I have been very pleased with my existing DS10c, but had been thinking about getting a TEC camera for active cooling and greatly reduced hot pixels. When I heard about the DS26cTEC, I decided that was the TEC camera for me to move up to with an even bigger FOV, higher resolution and increased sensitivity.

Here are some of my first thoughts about the DS26cTEC…
1. The larger chip produces a very nice Field of View (chip diagonal 28.3 vs 21.63mm for DS10c)
2. Its smaller pixel size produces higher resolution detail (3.76 vs 4.63 microns for DS10c).
3. This is a lot of pixels (26.1 vs 10.7 megapixels for DS10c)!
4. The sensitivity is extremely good. When using 2x2 binning, it is awesome. I have also tried 3x3 and 4x4 binning with decent resolution. When using different binning settings, the FOV remains the same.
5. The TEC cooling produces very pleasing images without having to use darks (it uses the same cooling system as DS10cTEC version). Moving to a camera with TEC cooling does require a second cable to the camera for power, but I was able to easily figure out how to route the power cable at the telescope up to the camera.
6. No amp glow (same as DS10c).
7. I find using the Region of Interest (ROI) setting in MallincamSky is really effective with this camera for “zooming” in on your target and only stacking the pixels you are interested in. This also reduces the file size of saved images.

On the left is a picture my new black DS26cTEC next to my blue DS10c (which does not have TEC cooling), and on the right a picture of a black DS10cTEC (with cooling).

As you can see in the image on the right of a DS10cTEC, the addition of the TEC cooling feature increases the size of a camera, and it is worth it!

The MallinCam website describes the TEC feature this way. “MallinCam developed a unique cooling system that provides no direct physical contact between the Peltier cooler and the sensor. Instead, the Peltier cooler creates a convection system “refrigerator-like” environment that cools the sensor without actually contacting it. This cooling system is unique to MallinCam and not found on other astronomical imaging cameras.” … “ MallinCam has successfully designed a working alternative - a cooling chamber called refrigeration cooling - which subjects the CMOS sensor to cooling inside a triple sealed vacuumed sensor chamber controlled with a heating element mounted around the internal optical window to control and avoid dew formation on the optical window and surroundings. A vacuumed sealed chamber is used to eliminate the use of desiccant material and keep dew free environment permanently.” … “The result of this new technology [is it] will not require a dark frame for live application or imaging in most cases.”

My blue DS10c is a great camera. You can see my most recent images using the DS10c in my 10/24/2020 blog “Dark Skies in Oklahoma”. My DS10c produces nice images as long as I use darks to reduce the effects of hot pixels. I have to use darks most of the time with my DS10c - too many distracting hot pixels in the southern summers here if I didn't use darks (since my DS10c does not have TEC cooling). I found darks worked best when the darks were captured at similar settings as the image (Exposure, gain, histogram, etc.) This helped reduce the distracting pixels, but took up some of my time that I could have been viewing. That is one reason I wanted to get a TEC camera so I could quickly experiment with different settings to obtain the best image while viewing. With TEC cooling, there are very few hot pixels and average stacking does a pretty good job of reducing the distraction of any remaining hot pixels for near real-time viewing.

I know others with the DS10cTEC have success viewing without having to use darks due to TEC cooling. So far, I feel like I made the right choice for me to step up to the DS26cTEC to be able to “view” without having to capture and apply darks and getting a larger chip size/FOV and higher resolution.

I am still learning about using the TEC cooling. I use with the recommended default of 0 C (it now shows 32 F on my screen since I changed my preference setting to F). At the end of a session, I turn off the TEC cooling but let the fan run for a few minutes until the temp in the lower right of the screen reaches ambient temp and then I close MallincamSky and turn off power.

So far I have only had a few nights I could try the DS26cTEC out (mainly because of weather). Here are images from the DS26cTEC on three telescopes that will give you a feel for the Field of View with this chip size. I will happily note that I did not capture/apply any darks when capturing images shown in this post.

My first light with the DS10cTEC was of the moon using my MCR-80 F5 refractor.

Here is a nice image of Andromeda (M31) on a Newtonian 130mm (5”) F5 reflector.

This image of the Pleiades (M45) gives a good idea of the FOV using my 8” Schmidt-Cassegrain with Hyperstar at F2.

Using the Region of Interest (ROI) feature of MallincamSky is a great way to just view your target area of interest and only average stack the image portion you need. I noticed using ROI makes the stacking process more efficient and faster for the DS26cTEC compared to stacking the full FOV image resolution of 6224x4186. Also with ROI, saved images only include your target region resulting in smaller image files. Combining ROI with 2x2 binning can be a powerful combination with this camera. Due to the small native 3.76mm pixel size, using 2x2 binning still produces an image with good resolution.

The latter part of November we took our RV to a campground with a Bortle 4 rating. Rain was predicted for the first two nights and the third night was questionable. So I just took my easy setup SkyProdigy Mount (with StarSense) and the 130mm Newtonian F5 reflector that came with it. Back in 2014, the second blog post I made on my RemoteVideoAstronomy.com site on 11/17/2014 was titled “A good beginner telescope for RVA” and I used the Mallincam Micro on it. Fast forward to 2020 and I still use this telescope and mount for trips where I “might” have a viewing night. It paid off for the first part of the last night at this campground with a clear dark sky.

So here are some examples of putting an amazing DS26cTEC on the “little telescope that thought it could” at a Bortle 4 campground. These are all on a 5” Newtonian reflector at F5 using the DS26cTEC with 2x2 binning under clear dark skies.

In the following 3 examples the original field of view image is on the left and the image with ROI enabled is on the right.

M27 (Dumbbell) at 3 secs 100 gain 10-75 histogram 10 stacked 2x2 bin

M17 (Omega/Swan) at 2.2 secs 100 gain 45-200 histogram 22 stacked 2x2 bin.

NGC8912 (Spiral galaxy) at 5 secs 100 gain 12-100 histogram 10 stacked 2x2 bin.

Here are a couple of examples of just an ROI image using Live High Dynamic Range (LHDR) technique where some settings are changed during the stacking process:

M33 (Triangulum/Pinwheel) 5 secs 100 gain 20-135 histogram 10 stacked then 25-75 histogram 20 more stacked (LHDR) 2x2 bin

NGC253 (Sculptor/Silver Dollar) 4 secs 100 gain 64-200 histogram 10 stacked then 64-150 histogram 10 more stacked (LHDR) 2x2 bin

Back at home, I captured an image of the Orion Nebula using my Celestron 8” SCT with the Universe Focal Reducer and a 10mm spacer. There is a little vignetting with the 10mm spacer (another day I tried the Universe Focal Reducer without a 10mm spacer and it greatly reduced the vignetting effect).

In the following image I used the LHDR technique at 100 gain 0-255 histogram and varied the exposure from 1s,2s,3s,4s,5s and then changed the histogram to 0-50 for the remaining time. Interesting combination. There were 35 total images average stacked. I did a quick enhancement (<1min) of the final image using Microsoft Photo editor for it to show up better on the web.

m42 (Orion Nebula) 1s..5s 100g 0-255h..0-50h 35stk

I will have to say I am very pleased with my new DS26cTEC! I hope to soon try it out more on my 8” SCT with Hyperstar at F2.

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2019 Super Blood Wolf Moon Total Lunar Eclipse

1/23/2019

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Yep. You read the title right. Between the evening of Sunday, January 20th, and the early morning hours of Monday, January 21, a total lunar eclipse was observed in the Americas. The Moon was almost at its perigee (the closest that the Moon comes to the earth in its elliptic orbit), which is sometimes called a “supermoon” because the moon has a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size. It was also a “wolf” moon – the first full moon in a calendar year. During a total lunar eclipse, the moon takes on a reddish blood-like color. Thus the name “super blood wolf moon” for this particular total lunar eclipse. The next total lunar eclipse will not occur until May 2021.

I captured images once a minute before, during and after the total eclipse with a MallinCam DS10c camera inserted into my MCR-80ED refractor telescope on my SkyProdigy mount. I was inside where it was warm using Remote Video Astronomy to control the mount & camera and view the image live on my monitor.

I did periodically go outside and to look up and see how it looked to the eye. I also looked at it through my Canon Image Stabilizer 12x36 IS III Binoculars. Within a few moments of pressing down on the button on the top of these binoculars, the jittery handheld view transforms in to a nice stable floating image of the moon. (Its also great for viewing the stars and other bright objects without them jumping all over your field of view).

Speaking of moving around in the field of view, due to the long duration of this event and the tracking limits of my SkyProdigy Alt-Az mount, my image captures of the moon shifted some within the field of view during the eclipse. So I had to slightly adjust the telescope position every once in a while to move the moon’s image back toward the center of the image. You can see the shifting position of the moon in all of the images below. The following two images are of the full moon before the eclipse began and after it began to darken.

As it began to darken more, I began to wonder when I would see the “red blood” effect. I then realized I would only see black for the dark portion if I didn’t adjust my exposure. After lengthening the exposure slightly, the white portion became over exposed, but I then could see the red effect increase as the moon neared totality.

After awhile the moon began to brighten…

… ultimately requiring me to shorten my exposure to once again be able to see the details in the brightly illuminated portion of the moon. And when the eclipse was over, it returned to a normal full moon – but still a super one! 😊

If you compare the first image of the moon before the eclipse began and look through the images to the last one after it was over, the image of the moon appears rotated later in the evening. This is not due to the moon’s spin (once/month), but is due to the “field rotation” effect when using an Alt-Az mount.

I had thought about using an equatorial mount for viewing and recording the lunar eclipse to avoid any field rotation. The good news is the orientation of the moon would have remained the same in the captured image throughout the evening. But as the moon changes from being viewed to the east to being viewed to the west, a “meridian flip” occurs. The bad news is that to keep tracking the object past the meridian position with an equatorial mount, at some point you must stop tracking the object, flip your telescope from pointing east to point toward the west, and then resume tracking.

With an Alt-Az mount the telescope just keeps tracking the moon as it moves from east to west with no meridian flip to deal with. However, its view of the sky will rotate within the field of view. In fact, an Alt-Az mount “sees” the sky just like you do when you look up. If you had looked at the moon toward the east before the eclipse began and noted where a particular bright crater was located (like Tycho), and then looked again where the bright crater was located after the eclipse was over, you would realize the image of the moon that you now see has rotated somewhat. So an Alt-Az mount actually reproduces your point of view of the skies as you would see it looking up.

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DS2.3+ on SkyProdigy 130

10/31/2017

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I began this website and blog back in 2014. In my second post (11/17/2014), I described the SkyProdigy 130 as a good beginner telescope and mount for Remote Video Astronomy with StarSense Auto Align capability. Today the SkyProdigy 130 is currently selling for about $640. The Auto Align feature is great. In under 4 minutes after turning on the mount, it is aligned and ready for viewing!

I used my MallinCam Micro camera when I initially began using my SkyProdigy 130, which is still a good beginner video astronomy camera. Since I have recently been testing with my SkyProdigy mount, I decided to try using my advanced MallinCam DS2.3+ on the 130mm (5.1”) F5 Newtonian telescope that came with my SkyProdigy. The DS2.3+ has a 13.4mm chip with 5.86 pixel size at 1920x1200 resolution.

When I first put the DS2.3+ into the eyepiece holder on the 130 Newtonian, I found there was not enough inward travel to bring it into focus. I removed the DS2.3+, unscrewed the 1.25" eyepiece holder and realized I could screw on a T2 T to C Adapter in its place. I have a Solomark adapter I recently purchased on Amazon for $13, and screwed it on.

This allowed me to directly attach the DS2.3+ a bit little closer to the focuser, which I found later was just enough to enable me to achieve focus on the Newtonian.

I plugged my USB3 cable into the DS2.3+, secured the cable to the telescope, and I was ready to give it a try.

Since I had just changed from using my Celestron 5” telescope on the SkyProdigy Mount to using the 130mm telescope, the first thing I did after focusing that evening was to recalibrate the StarSense camera. Anytime you change telescopes you affect the geometry between the telescope and AutoAlign StarSense camera. By pointing the telescope to a bright star and selecting to calibrate the StarSense camera, it computes a new centering point, making GoTo’s more accurate. Whenever I Collimate my Newtonian, I find it also helps to recalibrate the StarSense because the center point may have shifted slightly, especially if you have adjusted both mirrors.

Like I described in my previous 10/28/2017 post, I used the SkyBT and SkySafari on an Android tablet to slew to targets. I should note that since the SkyProdigy is an entry level Alt-Az mount, you do have to be patient for a few seconds after slewing to an object while its tracking overcomes any backlash, thus eliminating star trails and stabilizing the image.

The DS2.3+ is a good match to the 130mm F5 Newtonian without any focal reducers. Here are some image captures (no post processing) with exposure set at 10 seconds, no filters. And this is near a city where sky glow is an issue. I had the histogram set at 50 for the upper end, with gain set at 25 and used a matching dark frame. I only adjusted the lower end for the histogram as needed to get a black background.

M11 Wild-Duck Cluster

M27 Dumbbell Nebula

M45 Pleiades

M57 Ring Nebula

I liked how well the DS2.3+ worked with the 130mm Newtonian at F5 - just the camera and telescope - no reducers or filters. The chip size of the DS2.3+ worked nicely with it and provided a wide FOV.

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Using SkyBT and SkySafari to control your mount

10/28/2017

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I recently saw where Simulation Curriculum had their SkyBT device on sale that allows SkySafari on Android tablets / phones to control telescopes over Bluetooth. I have been using SkyFi and SkySafari for years with great success to easily slew to objects using my iPhone over Wi-Fi. I have an Android based AT&T tablet, but Android platforms don't play well directly over Wi-Fi to a SkyFi device. The SkyBT device enables Android tablets and phones running SkySafari to communicate with your mount over Bluetooth. This last week I tested controlling my Celestron SkyProdigy mount from my Android tablet running SkySafari, and found it worked well and was very responsive.

I used my Celestron CG-5 Equatorial mount at the Grand Canyon Star party this year, and my SkyProdigy mount when I travelled to Missouri for the solar eclipse. I haven't set my CG-5 mount back up yet, so that is why I decided to test the SkyBT with my SkyProdigy mount. At the GCSP, I used my Celestron SCT 8" with an Optec NextGen MAXfield 0.33X reducer with both my MC XT-828-II and DS2.3+ cameras. The SkyProdigy mount won't hold my C8, so for my test I used my Celestron SCT 5" with the NextGen 0.33x reducer and DS2.3+ USB camera (no filters). Not only is this an easy, portable setup with auto align, it turns out this was also a good combination for viewing.

The SkyBT runs on two AAA batteries (alkaline or rechargeable). You can also power it with a DC power adapter 4-9v @ 1 AMP (only use NiMH rechargeable batteries when externally powering the SkyBT). Push on the end of the SkyBT and swing the cover up to insert the batteries. Then push the cover back on the SkyBT.).

The SkyBT is smaller than the SkyFi device. Like the SkyFi, it connects to the mount hand control using a serial adapter cable.

After turning on your mount and performing an alignment, turn on the SkyBT by pressing the red button on the back until the green light begins flashing.

Turn on your Android tablet / phone and be sure Bluetooth is turned on. The first time you use SkyBT you will need to pair it to your Android device. Select Bluetooth from your Android settings screen and select the FireFlyBP-xxxx device (the last 4 characters vary by device). Enter 1234 for the pin when prompted to complete the pairing.

Start SkySafari on your Android device (be sure to get the version that supports telescope control). The first time you will need to set up your equipment by tapping on Setting from the bottom of the SkySafari screen. Scroll down and select Setup under the Telescope section. Set your Scope Type (e.g. Celestron NexStar GPS/SLT/SE) and Mount Type (e.g Alt-Az GoTo). Under Communication Settings, select Connect via Bluetooth. Now return to the main SkySafari screen and tap Scope at the bottom of the screen. Tap on Connect, and after a few seconds you should see it connect to your scope and display the area of the sky where your telescope is pointed. The yellow LED will flash showing SkySafari is communicating with your telescope mount.

Now you can tap Search at the bottom of the SkySafari screen and select a target object. Tapping GoTo will slew the telescope to the selected target. You can use the left/right and up/down buttons on the side of the screen to make small position adjustments.

One night as it got cooler outside, I moved inside by using a 32ft (10m) USB3 active extension cable (with 5v power at the end near the telescope). The SkyBT performed fine at this distance with me inside as long as I did not get in the way of the BT signal. When I got in between the tablet and the direction of the telescope I lost connection, but was easily able to re-establish the connection when I moved out of the way. (When I use the tablet at the telescope, I do not have any connection problems due to where I am standing/sitting). It sure is nice to be inside when it is cold outside!

hen you are finished, press and hold the red buttion on the back of the SkyBT for 3 seconds to turn it off. The next time you turn on your SkyBT and Android tablet, all you need to do is run SkySafari and tap on Connect at the bottom of the SkySafari screen to automatically connect to your mount via Bluetooth.

After verifying my new SkyBT worked well with the Android tablet, I got side tracked having fun viewing with this setup. It provides a nice wide field of view and pretty good sensitivity. Here are some image captures (no post processing) with exposure set at 10 seconds. This is from my driveway at my house near a city where sky glow is an issue.

M11 Wild-Duck Cluster

M17 Swan Nebula

M45 Pleiades

M57 Ring Nebula

I was pleased with what I saw with my smaller 5" SCT scope and the DS3.2+ while using SkyBT and SkySafari to select and slew my telescope to various targets.

10/30/2017 Update

Simulation Curriculum also has a SkyFi 3 device that works over Wi-Fi with both iOS and Android devices. It cost more than the BT version, but SkyFi 3 can Wi-Fi enable Go-To telescopes with either a standard USB or serial interface, and it has a built in rechargeable battery.

I have received feedback that if you use the SkyBT when it is cold outside, you should consider using disposable Lithium batteries. The Energizer Ultimate Lithium specs claim they work from -40° F to 140°F, and have a 15 year shelf-life. You can buy these most anywhere now, and you can buy them in bulk through Amazon. When it gets cold, neither alkaline nor NiMH batteries last as long. Lithium batteries keep on working for hours, even in sub-freezing temperatures. You could also use external power, either a larger battery or AC powered adapter, provided you have rechargeable batteries inside the SkyBT.

And I have heard that using SkySafari running on a tablet is great for public outreach, especially with kids. They love seeing the ability to control the telescope mount with a tablet, particularly if you let them tap the GoTo button sometimes!

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Day 2 with the PST and AGc

1/17/2016

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Today was a clear sunny day, which meant I just HAD to try out my PST + AGc again! (See the 1/16/2016 post for Day 1 results). I began with the same setup as yesterday, starting with visual viewing through the eyepiece followed by using the MallinCam SkyRaider AGc instead of an eyepiece. I continue to be amazed at what I am seeing both visually and on my laptop screen. Prominences were clearly visible at the edge of the disk.

And I could easily see surface detail ...

The SkyRaider AGc provides a nice high resolution 1280x960 real time image of the Sun. I really like the SkyRaider software which can control any of the SkyRaider cameras. Here is a screen shot of the SkyRaider application screen showing my settings for the AGc. When using the AGc for autoguiding it is normally set at 640x480, but for viewing I have it set to 1280x960. I have been using Gain = 1 for solar viewing with exposures in the 10ms-200ms range depending upon the detail I’m viewing and whether it is double stacked or not.

Speaking of double stacking, when I got the PST, I actually ordered the double stack version. And no, it is not something you put syrup on. Double stack means it has an additional filter you can put on the end of the PST to “double stack” it and increase the PST performance to a bandpass of 0.5 A, which enables you to see details even clearer. It comes with a price tag though of an additional $500. Is it worth it? I obviously am not going to say one way or another after only using the PST for 2 days, but I will provide some initial results. All my viewing yesterday was with the standard PST. Today I also used the second filter some.

First of all, the second filter is heavy, and placing it on the end of the telescope changes the center of gravity of the telescope noticeably. When I put it on, the telescope slowly started rotating downward. It was too much weight on the end of the telescope for the SkyProdigy arm to hold it in place…or so I first thought. Thinking about the change in center of gravity, I was able to slide the PST backward on the SkyProdigy arm to better balance it, and it held OK.

Next I learned how to use the tilt mechanism on the second filter for maximum brightness and how to tune its etalon filter in a similar manner as the one built into the PST to see even more detail. Here are some images I captured with the PST double stacked.

The double stack filter definitely provides more detail, and I am sure I’ll learn how to use it even better. And I have not even tried any post processing yet. My initial thoughts are the standard PST is a great beginning telescope for Solar Viewing and Solar Video Astronomy! The PST is lightweight and very portable and provides amazing views of the Sun at the lowest price point you can find for this type of performance. And you can add the second filter later on to double stack it if you want improved performance. I’ll continue to post more as I gain more experience with the PST with and without the second filter.

I recommend you get a case for storing and carrying the PST. Be sure to not damage your packing foam from the box your PST comes in. If you order the PST case you will find it does not come with foam, but the packing foam from your PST box has cut marks so you can easily remove portions of the foam to use in the case. In the picture on the left, I had already placed two of the foam pieces from the PST box into the bottom of the case to hold the PST, and I am getting ready to put the remaining foam into the top of the PST case. I removed the two side pieces and inserted the last large foam piece into the top of the case.

The PST fits snugly into the case foam, is well protected, and the foam has places for accessories. I have the Coronado eyepiece and 2x Barlow stored in the case with the PST. The MallinCam AGc camera will easily fit into the other eyepiece foam slot for a nice, portable Solar Video Astronomy setup.

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Good beginner Solar Telescope for Video Astronomy

1/16/2016

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I have tried solar filters on my different telescopes to see sunspots ... but that is about all I could see. Then I learned that this is called white light solar observing, and it is about all you will see this way with amateur level telescopes. If you want to see things like prominences along the edge of the Sun's disk or surface features you really need a Hydrogen Alpha telescope that is especially made for viewing the sun.

At ECVAR I saw impressive results where the SkyRaider AGc was being used on a Coronado SolarMax H-a telescope. Recently I bought a book about viewing the Sun with Coronado telescopes and learned there is a nice entry level Solar telescope called the PST (Personal Solar Telescope - $699). I already have a SkyRaider AGc, so I began thinking the PST was a way I could expand my Video Astronomy into real Solar observing. I decided to supplement some Christmas gift money and get one. I also ordered a SkyView Pro adapter that would allow me to easily slide the PST into my SkyProdigy Mount.

When mounted, the eyepiece is horizontal rather than vertical. But I realized this was fine - I could just sit in a chair next to the scope and easily look in the eyepiece.

Today I tried this out for the first time. The PST has a built in Sol Ranger Sun spotting device that makes it easy to get the Sun in the eyepiece field of view.

I started up the SkyProdigy and did a Solar System Align using the Sun, set the telescope tracking to Solar and then learned how to focus the PST by watching the edge of the Sun’s disk. I put a black T-shirt over my head and the eyepiece so I could see better (strange looking I know, but it really made a BIG difference).

I immediately found out I was going to be able to see more solar detail than I ever had been able to see before! I then learned to use the RichView tuning ring for the internal Etalon that allows you to better see different features (some features are moving toward you and others away from you). I could actually see surface features, and then with a little more tuning I saw two major prominences at the edge of the disk! I had also bought the Coronado 2x Barlow and gave it a try and could see the prominences even better.

I really only intended to visually observe today to learn how to focus and tune it to see if I could see the different features. But I was so excited at what I could see I couldn't stop there. I went back inside and got my SkyRaider AGc and Surface Pro laptop and took it back to the telescope. I removed the Barlow and eyepiece and inserted the AGc and connected it to my laptop.

After figuring out I needed very little gain and only a few ms of exposure to get a good image, I found a sunspot and further adjusted the PST focus for the best image. I also set the AGc resolution to 1280 x 960. I realized putting a dark lightweight jacket over my head when viewing the laptop screen also helped see more detail (Yeah, this looks strange too … but it is worth it).

By adjusting the internal Etalon I could see surface features on the sun on my screen. But I was disappointed that I couldn't see any of the prominences that I saw through the eyepiece. After a little more thinking about this, I realized our eyes have a very good automatic gain control as you move your eyes to different features … but I manually set the exposure on the camera. So I cranked up the exposure time some more, which washed out the surface detail somewhat, but then the prominences were visible on the screen! I also gave this a try using the Coronado 2x Barlow with the AGc and had good results as well.

Here are some screen grabs I captured on this first time trying out the PST. And this was with some wispy clouds passing by from time to time.

Clouds continued to move in, so I finally had to stop. But now I am no longer just a night time Video Astronomer. How do you see a star in the daytime? Check out our closest star using a Coronado PST and a MallinCam AGc!

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Lightweight Portable Remote Video Astronomy setup

12/4/2014

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I have found I can use other light weight scopes on my SkyProdigy mount. I can easily use my C5 on my SkyProdigy mount for a nice portable Remote Video Astronomy setup. Since the C5 is a short scope, it can point straight up without worrying about slew limits (I would guess this would be true of the SkyProdigy 6 as well). When changing scopes, I find it is best to recalibrate the SkyProdigy’s camera to improve centering when slewing to an object. This is an intermediate setup beyond what I describe in the Start Simple tab. By using the MallinCam MFR-5 reducer on the Micro and a Celestron F/6.3 reducer on the Scope, the F10 C5 effectively is converted to a faster F3.2 setup for Video Astronomy. Stacking these two focal reducers is pushing the limits a little though (I sometimes remove the F/6.3). Here is a photo of the equipment setup.

This makes a lightweight “Grab & GoTo Scope” setup for RVA using the SkyProdigy mount. The Micro video output cable is connected to a small video capture device located inside the plastic bin. The video capture device USB cable along with the Micro camera control USB cable and hand controller USB cable are plugged into a powered USB hub also in the plastic bin attached to the mount’s tray.

I keep my scope setup like this inside. To use it, I pick it up and take it outside, power on and start the auto align. While it is aligning, I unroll the hub’s 35 foot active USB cable, pass it through a window (and close the window down to the cable) and connect the USB cable to my laptop inside. By the time the SkyProdigy finishes the alignment (about 3 min) I am ready to begin viewing inside.

Using my Micro Extended Control software, I click on the Focus preset first thing, slew to a bright star and make sure it is still in focus. If not, I go back outside with a battery powered LCD to connect to the camera, put the focus mask on and adjust the focus… and try to remember to remove the focus mask when done 😊. I reconnect the camera video output to the video capture device and return inside. From first picking up this setup to beginning to slew to my first target is about 10-20 min depending on the focus check.

Anytime I slew to a new target (from inside), I click the Focus preset and center my target object using the telescope controls in Starry Night on my laptop. Since the Focus preset enables the image to be updated every ½ second, it is a good setting to use when centering target objects like clusters or DSOs. Once centered, I click on the appropriate Preset for the target object for better viewing. Sometimes I also click on Adjustments to fine tune the Exposure and Enhance settings.

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A good beginner telescope and mount for RVA

11/17/2014

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My use of the Celestron StarSense Accessory got me thinking about the SkyProdigy 130 for a light weight portable scope with auto align capability for RVA. The alignment camera is integrated into the SkyProdigy mount instead of attached to the scope (like is done with the SSA), so it also makes it easy to use with different scopes. Initially, I saw posts indicating you cannot connect to the SkyProdigy hand controller serial port to control it from your phone or laptop, which would rule out RVA use, and that it did not use the same camera as the SSA. Then I found out all new SkyProdigy telescopes would start shipping using the same internal camera and hand controller as the SSA. If the SkyProdigy hand controller uses version 1.06 or higher, it is the newer model.

So I ordered one, but received a SkyProdigy from a vender’s stock that was not one of the new ones (The hand controller version and build date were old). They accepted a full return with no problems. I then ordered a SkyProdigy 130 from a vendor who was out of stock, which guaranteed I would get a new one from Celestron. I received it and verified the version and found it is the same hand controller and internal camera as the StarSense accessory. I even tried using my SSA hand controller on the SkyProdigy and it worked just fine.

So I set up the SkyProdigy outside and found it was just what I was looking for as a portable auto align scope for RVA! Its hand controller works fine wirelessly with SkyFi and SkySafari on my phone. It also works with Starry Night using serial to USB to my laptop inside. I did perform a camera calibration which slightly improved the pointing accuracy (even though it came pre-calibrated). I found I could use my Mallincam Micro camera without a focal reducer and get good results since the 130mm is a F5 scope, providing a nice field of view and shorter exposure time (I have to use a focal reducer on my C8 to convert from F10 to F5 for better RVA use).

If you are thinking of buying a new telescope and mount to use for Remote Video Astronomy, I recommend beginning with the SkyProdigy 130 for the following reasons:

1. It is lightweight and easy to set up
2. The 130 is a fast (F5) 5.1” scope suitable for Video Astronomy
3. The F5 scope provides a good field of view with the Mallincam Micro without having to use a focal reducer
4. It has auto align functionality built in, which really simplifies and reduces RVA setup time
5. It can be computer controlled remotely
6. Its Newtonian open design adapts quickly to the outside temperature
7. The alignment camera is built into the mount (not on the scope)

The SkyProdigy is an entry level Alt-Az mount, so you do have to be patient for a few seconds after slewing to an object while its tracking overcomes any backlash, thus eliminating star trails. Due to the length of the 130 scope, your maximum altitude slew limit is 70 degrees. But that is a similar limitation with my SE Alt-Az mount. I have a Celestron C5 that weighs about the same as the 130. I found I can use my C5 on the SkyProdigy mount with no slew limitations. It can point straight up even with a video camera in place! So if you decide to spend more and get the SkyProdigy 6, it should likewise not have any slewing limits (You will want to use a focal reducer with it though).

A couple more suggestions. The SkyProdigy always tries to slew to the same three points for its alignments if there are no obstructions, so learn which direction is best to point your SkyProdigy when starting an auto align. Using a rechargeable PowerTank (or similar) battery with a long power cord eliminates the need to purchase batteries, and the longer power cord really helps.

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Day 2 with the PST and AGc

Good beginner Solar Telescope for Video Astronomy

Lightweight Portable Remote Video Astronomy setup

A good beginner telescope and mount for RVA

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