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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

After storm spur-of-the-moment observation session
06 June 2010

Sunday was all rainy and gloomy, but at around 8:00 pm, the skies were looking clear and by 9:00 pm, the temptation was great to set up a scope and take advantage of clean skies.

I called fellow Astronomer Bill and off we went to set up off the Adler parking lot at our usual site...

It was a bit windy, but DSO spotting would be good.

I focused on Saturn first, but it was bubbly, wavy and not too good of a target...leaving it be for this session.. CA Bill says that in such conditions as tonight, the DSO rules and closer objects suffer. I tend to agree.

We target M57 first, and the ring nebula was very bright...brightest perhaps that I have ever observed. I took a quick shot of it...not great and could be better, but anyway...

Better imaging techniques to master before the summer is over.

Then, M13 was high enough for some good viewing...and it was the best view I have ever observed in Chicago light polluted skies...

Wide field of M13 thru the 60mm finderscope.

I pushed to ISO to 800, ergo the grain, but I was impressed that I could capture it. M13 was not visible in the LCD viewfinder of the Canon Powershot S3, so it was best guess with position and focus.

Better shots to come.

Also,

Mars and Regulus were making a close conjunction this session...

It's amazing that we are able to pick up these fuzzies from light polluted Chicago skies...

There were other globular clusters and nebulae that Bill, (Master DSO locator), was picking out. The Dumbbell Nebula was quite cool - very faint, but I have never seen it before. A clear apple core shape could be easily discerned. And we even snagged M4 by Antares.

Police stopped by from time to time and wanted to take a peek and talk astronomy ....and let us be for as long as we desired.... ;D

And that's were we parted - Bill went home and I was now solo at the Adler..

Cool...!

It was now 12:30 am, long after the park closed. I stayed for another hour and left the area at 1:30 am, after slewing from one target to another...

Tracking was off this session, as the RA drive was not responding....and need to see what's going on here. Quite frustrating... I had to manually nudge all night...not cool.

I had tunes playing on the MP3 and had a minor mishap. A 35mm film canister that I use to keep dust out of the C11 OTA...slipped off the set screws on the visual back adapter...and is now stuck inside the tube - rattling around. I have been meaning to remove the corrector plate for the longest and give it a good cleaning and install some grasp handles on the OTA.

This is the nudge that I needed to start the project. Full pictorial procedure coming soon...


But, after a couple of Maxwell street Hotdogs...I was ready again to set-up a couple of hours later outside my garage and see if I could image Uranus....

astronomer.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Astrophotraphy&thread=2740&page=1

Details at the above link....

[Paulie pchris00]

Nice job on the imaging. You've got some color showing on M57. Did you use filters, or did it just come out that way? Also, even under the city lights you've resolved more stars in M13 than I manage in the relative boonies. Never underestimate the power of aperture!

[Paulie pchris00]

Mars and Regulus were looking cool that night, weren't they? I remember two years ago on the Fourth of July an early crescent Moon, Saturn, Mars, and Regulus were lined up on the ecliptic before the fireworks show started. It was an awesome sight. I had just bought my Dob then, but hadn't had first light yet. Nowadays I wouldn't think about letting a sight like that go by without a telescope ready.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Paulie,

It was just a quick shot of the M57 area without knowing if I even had it in the field of view.

It was just a 8 second exposure pushed to 800 ISO...ergo the horrible grain. No filters, just the regular camera-to-scope set up. Quite cool.

And I have never observed M13 as vibrant and rich as I did on that session. Imagine what the C11 beast can do with that in a truly darkened sky.

Better pics soon.

And I dig that the authorities leave us be on-site as long as we want.