Total Lunar Eclipse December 2010

I was up nice and early today in the freezing conditions, even with a really bad cold to try and capture the total lunar eclipse . I put on several layers and headed out with my new Canon 550d camera on a tripod with a remote cable attached and my 300mm lens and a very large lens hood to try and keep the dew off of the lens.

A few minutes later and I was at a clearing off of the main road, so I could get the full horizon. I started taking a few photos, and then went for the new feature of Full HD videos on the 550d, which when I came home I used Windows Live Movie Maker to make the movie up and put it on YouTube.

I could see the moon clearly to begin with but once it was at totality I never saw it again as the low clouds covered the moon up. I began shooting at about 7.20am and finished around 7.45am GMT but even that short time was enough.

I was not that happy with the images, as even with a 300mm lens the moon still really looks small, I think you need a 600mm lens or a 2.0x converter if just using an SLR, but ideally you really need an 80mm refractor joined to the SLR to get a good image. Unfortunately I don’t get a good view of the western horizon with my permanent set up, but then again with the moon being at about 5 degrees above the horizon the local houses would have also stopped me using my telescope.

View the Lunar Eclipse YouTube video here.

Wonders of the Solar System Book

Alongside the Wonders of the Solar System DVD is the Wonders of the Solar System book.

The book accompanies the excellent DVD and TV series from the BBC. The book is split into chapters which relate to the episodes of the series.

The great thing about The Wonders of the Solar System book is the amount of amazing colour images in the book, truly fascinating.

The book (which is quite large – 28cm x 22cm) begins with a lovely and inspiring introducton. Very much of the style of the series, exhalting the ideals of exploration and celebrating the thirst for knowledge of the ocean to explore beyond the shore of our ‘thin blue line’.

The rest of the format is much like the series, 5 more chapters on the same heading as the television show;

Chapter 2 – Empire of the Sun
Chapter 3 – Order out of Chaos
Chapter 4 – The Thin Blue Line
Chapter 5 – Dead or Alive
Chapter 6 – Aliens

This book is great and very informative and also very easy to understand for all ages.

The Wonders of the Solar System book is available from Amazon

Wonders of the Solar System DVD

Here is a great gift for someone this Christmas, The Wonders of the Solar System DVD by Brian Cox.

This astronomy/space series was originally shown on the BBC.

It is presented by Professor Brian Cox, the series takes time to investigate the solar system around us, and the many natural beauties contained within it. Across the episodes, Cox covers the likes of planets themselves, the rings of Saturn, the question of whether we’re alone in the universe, and the sun itself.

What lifts Wonders Of The Solar System above the many shows that have tackled the subject before, however, are two factors. Firstly, it’s Cox himself, an enthused and interesting host, who explains things well and really helps make accessible the material. Secondly, it’s the utterly stunning visuals. The BBC has mixed in CGI along with images sent directly from space to quite breathtaking effect.

The series contains five episodes, each of which focuses on an aspect of the Solar System and features a ‘wonder’.

There are 5 episodes on the DVD:

1-Empire of the sun
A great introduction to the series that illustrates how the formation and behavior of the Sun affects each planet in the Solar System .The graphics of the formation of the sun are truly spectacular.

2-Order Out of Chaos
The second episode explores the Rings of Saturn and explains their differences and the effect of gravity on their formation. The pictures from Cassini add a wonderful touch to the stunning graphics.

3-The Thin Blue Line
The third episode looks at the atmosphere of Earth and that of Titan moon in Saturn. A very relevant program that touches on how fragile is our existence and how much we own to our atmosphere.

4-Dead or Alive
The fourth episode looks at the size of planets, volcanoes, and the moon Io ,and how size and position in the solar system determines if live can develop in a planet. The images form the Erta Ale volcano in Ethiopia are a great example of the conditions in other places of the solar system.

5-Aliens
The program covers life surviving in extreme environments in our planet, and how the search for life on other planets follows the search for water. This last episode is the most interesting of them all as it asks a couple of very interesting questions ,Are we alone in the Universe ? What if we are ? What if we aren’t ?

This series is available on both standard DVD and on high definition Blu Ray disks.

The DVD is available now from Amazon UK

Lego Space Shuttle

Just found this on my travels of the web, amazing – a brilliant Lego Space Shuttle on it’s launch pad.

This is what all astronomers really want for Christmas, forget all that boring astronomy equipment, more gloves, scarves and hats, we want to sit in the warm of an evening and build something like this Lego Space Shuttle model.

We don’t want a proper model to make either, we don’t want the mess of glue getting everywhere, then you have to paint the grey plastic panels of traditional models. Plus you might vcut yourself with the stanley knife whilst cutting out plastic pieces, and when you are finished the model never looks anything like it does on the box.

With the Lego Space Shuttle model it’s easy and there is no mess! What a great way to commemorate the end of life of the space shuttle by having this Lego model.

Here is some information on the Lego Space Shuttle:

Standing 17.5″ (44cm) tall and 10″ (25.5cm) from wing tip to wing tip, this detailed and realistic space shuttle is ready to count down and blast off on its next exciting mission into space! You can take off from the launch pad, separate the detachable fuel tank and booster rockets, and deploy the satellite with unfolding antenna and solar cell panels. Shuttle model features realistic engines, retractable landing gear, an opening cockpit with seats for 2 astronauts, opening cargo compartment with a crane that can hold the satellite and a ground maintenance vehicle. Includes 3 minifigures: 1 male and 1 female astronaut, as well as 1 service crew member.

• Includes 3 minifigures: 1 male and 1 female astronaut as well as 1 service crew member
  Shuttle stands 17.5″ (44cm) tall and measures 10″ (25.5cm) from wing tip to wing tip
• Take off from the launch pad
• Separate the detachable fuel tank and booster rockets
• Deploy the satellite with unfolding antenna and solar cell panels
• Features realistic engines, retractable landing gear, opening cockpit with seats for 2 astronauts and even a ground maintenance vehicle
• Open the cargo compartment to reveal the crane that can hold the satellite

The Lego Space Shuttle is available direct from the UK Lego Store online for about £79

Bahtinov Masks Review

I have heard so much about Bahtinov masks lately on the web and in magazines, so I thought I should check them out for myself.

Bahtinov masks designed by Pavel Bahtinov, basically aid you when focusing your telescope for either visual or imaging use. They appear to be an improvement on the Hartmann mask (which I also own but I only use it to hold a smaller screw-in solar filter). The Hartmann mask (if you have three holes in it) will produce three blurry images of your target, and then once you bring the object into focus, the images merge into one. But the Bahtinov mask is a far superior focussing aid than the Hartmann mask as it uses diffraction spikes to help you with your focussing.

Luckily Bahtinov masks come in a variety of sizes from 80mm to 12”+ sizes, as I have two scopes, one is an 80mm and the other my 10” LX200, prices vary on size.

I got my hands on an 80mm size Bahtinov for my Skywatcher ED80 Pro telescope from Green Witch.

The Bahtinov mask itself was made by the Canadian company Kendrick, their version is quite flexible and comes with three rubber type bungs which hold the mask in place, as I have seen a lot of Bahtinov masks sold with just the mask and no fixings.

My Meade 10” LX200 Bahtinov Mask came from the astronomy retailer SCS Astro.

This mask was made by a company called FarPointAstro.

The design of this mask is very different from the smaller 80mm Bahtinov Mask as this larger mask does not have rubber bungs, but slips onto the secondary mirror hub on the front of the telescope.

So it is really easy to slip it on and off of the telescope, a great design.

I actually decided to amend the design of it slightly by adding some white adhesive pads to each corner of the SCSAstro Bahtinov Mask. I did this to raise the height of the mask away from the main glass on the front of the telescope so I had less chance of putting fingerprints on the front of my telescope glass.

You begin by directing your telescope towards a star and then place the Bahtinov mask over the end of your telescope. The Bahtinov mask then produces three sets of spikes. The great thing is that the position of the spikes will tell you all you need to know about how well your telescope is focused.

If you change the focus knob you on your telescope you will see that two of the spikes stay in the same place, acting like a cross-hairs, whilst the third spike moves up and down across the image. Once the moving spike is centered you are in focus, simple.

Then lock your focus in, and remove your mask and then start observing or imaging. If you need to re-focus just follow the same procedure again.

One of the benefits of these masks is that they are so light and are easy to place on the end of your telescope, so there is little chance of you moving your scope when attaching a Bahtinov mask.

Most good astronomy retailers now sell Bahtinov masks in various sizes for all of the most popular telescope sizes. My Bahtinov masks came from Green Witch and SCS Astro and both were very reasonably priced, you can find the range of Bahnitov Masks at Green Witch here and Bahtinov Masks at SCS Astro here.

This is a photo of the SCSAstro Bahtinov mask on my Meade 10″ LX200. It’s easy to fit and easy to remove once your telescope is focused.

If you really want to make your own Bahtinov mask (which can be very fiddly to cut out and a lot of effort is required) then you can get an image file off of the internet which can be sized in a photo editor program to fit your scope and then the template can be printed out. The choice of raw material for the mask would be up to you.

Celestron 114LCM Computerised Telescope Review

The Celestron 114LCM Computerised Telescope is a 114mm or 4.5 inch telescope with a focal length of  1m or 100cm. It is a Newtonian reflector type telescope.

The Celestron 114LCM telescope automatically locates the wonders of the universe with its motorized system & on board computer! The Celestron 114 has fully coated glass optics which reveal the depths of our solar system and the wonders of the Universe.

Buy the Celestron 114LCM here from The Science Museum Shop

Adjust the angle of the telescope with the fully adjustable tripod and convenient accessory tray. It’s easy to use computerized hand control allows user to locate objects at the touch of a button.

The High quality 114mm Newtonian reflector gives you a clear view and with the built on StarPointer finderscope to help with alignment and accurately locating objects so you won’t miss a thing.

This is a great telescope for the beginner but with advanced features such as computerised alignment and go-to functionality. The telescope once aligned on a few stars can show you thousands of objects once you select them via the handset.

The Celestron 114LCM telescope will show you a lot of the major items in the sky, including excellent moon and planet views as well as deep sky objects, star clusters, galaxies and a lot more.

Buy the Celestron 114LCM here from The Science Museum Shop

114LCM Product Features:

• High quality 114 mm (4.5″) reflector
• Quick-release computerized base, optical tube and accessory tray for quick no tool set up
• Database allows telescope to locate over 4,000 celestial objects
• Lightweight Computerized Mount
• Includes CD-ROM “The Sky” Astronomy Software which provides education about the sky and printable sky maps
• SkyAlign allows you to align on any three bright celestial objects, making for a fast and easy alignment process
• Flash upgradeable hand control software and motor control units for downloading product updates over the Internet
• Internal battery compartment to prevent cord wrap during use
• Compatible with optional NexRemote telescope control software, for advanced control of your telescope via computer

Buy the Celestron 114LCM here from The Science Museum Shop

Sunspots on 10th October 2010

I managed to get out on the day of Sunday 10th October to try out a 2″ red type filter I received which looks homemade. It was supposed to be an H-Alpha Solar filter, but it did nothing visually.  So I thought I would try it whilst imaging with my Imaging Source DMK21 camera and see if, with a low enough exposure I could see some prominences, but alas no.

Getting out in the daytime also enabled me to try out my 2.5x Televue Powermate which I have just purchased. I added it onto my Skywatcher ED80 Pro, together with the Televue Powermate, Baader Solar Continuum filter and a simple homemade Baader Solar Film filter and my DMK21 camera I managed to get this image.

This has been recorded using the ICapture software provided by The Imaging Source and then processed in Registax 5 and then tweaked in Photoshop.

Daytime Moon and Venus

Whilst away on holiday in Menorca for the week, was the chance to see and image the daytime showing of the Moon and Venus close together.

I would not have known about this had it been for me reading Sky at Night magazine in the plane a few days earlier.

I did not take my DSLR with me, so took this photography with my Lumix TZ7 camera instead. It was taken on the 11th September 2010 at 16:30 GMT (Menorca time 17:30).

I don’t know how many people in the UK saw this, as it may have been cloudy here at the time.

Observing The Moon Book Review

Observing the Moon is a hardback book from Cambridge University Press by Gerald North. This is the second edition of the book. When I started reading the book I was thinking that it was going to be a boring book just about the moon, but how wrong I actually was. It does contain a lot more information, including information on how to image the moon, via a webcam and video camera.

The book begins by describing the moon, its phases, eclipses, gravity and tides as well as occultations. The book then discusses what sort of telescope you need to best view the moon, as well as buying advice and eyepiece types and what you may need if you want to do some moon drawings.

Observing the Moon then goes through what you need to image the moon, this is a great section, if a little dated in areas. The book mentions CCD cameras, DSLR cameras, video cameras and image processing – including stacking your moon images using Registax.

Observing the Moon also covers each area of the moon with descriptions, photographs and some drawings. I must admit when reading the book it was the first time I had ever seen a really good image of the far side of the moon, it had me mesmerised.

The appendices cover telescope collimation, field testing a telescope’s optics and how to polar align. The books images and drawings are all in black and white, but when discussing the moon this does not really matter.

Overall a great read, and please don’t think this book is just about the moon, as there is so much more in it, such as telescope buying advice and how to image the moon.

Observing the Moon is available at Waterstones

Latest Sunspots 1092 and 1093

After several days of cloud and rain, the clouds parted and I managed to get a shot of the current sun with its sunspots.

These are recorded as sunspots 1092 and 1093 from left to right.

This is not a great image, as it’s a bit blurred. Taken with my homemade DSLR solar filter on my camera using my 300mm lens.