I do believe this is the worst image of the Great Nebula in Orion that has ever existed:
I must say I am at least somewhat proud of it though, since I have never seen anything like this in any of my astrophotographs at all until now. I’m kind of proud of my little pink blur.
This is by no means the crispest, best shot that has ever been taken, but it is my attempt at doing shorter exposure night sky objects. This object seemed to be close to the brightness of the waxing gibbous moon (image below). Based on the best information I have available, this object is likely Jupiter (one giant object, and 4 smaller visible objects, and Saturn isn’t up). The apparent size of the object matches something that would be planetary and the objects near it and within its space in the sky (doesn’t usually happen often with objects that size) reinforce that assessment. I have requested a few images from a telescope array operated by Harvard to double check what I observed.
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I know what this object is. Our only natural satellite, and the object that seems to be the easiest for me to photo.
I have been fighting with my Orion SpaceProbe 130 on the topic of astrophotography for quite a while now, originally with the midget Nikon N7900, which went ok, then with the Fujifilm S5200, which was worse and then with the Nikon D60, which was almost a nightmare, in all configurations. After visiting my local planetarium (James H. Lynn Planetarium, part of the Scheile Museum of Natural History), I began thinking about the topic again.
Tonight I have looked through Orion’s selection of inexpensive astrophotography rated telescopes. I am looking for something more light weight than my primary telescope, as well as something that is better enabled for the type of activity I want to do. I am having a hard time understanding the specifics of how these things are supposed to work. On the most simple approach, there is to be a naked SLR camera mounted directly as a T-mount to the telescope make it work. In my case, that seems to lead to things being out of focus. In other instances, I have tried mounting with the lens attached, which is a little better, but still not great. Because my telescope is a reflector, I see the mirror and its associated hardware through my viewfinder, which isn’t a very nice effect. I really want to make this thing work, which is why I am considering a scope that is designed specifically for the task.
Another annoyance of my present scope is that its weight causes it to move on the tripod without any intervention, but it isn’t particularly conducive to long exposure imagery, the primary objective of astrophotography (the only way to see nebulae and less dramatic features).
I have decisions to make on the topic and to determine if getting a different scope and/or the associated accessories would be worth my time and the cost.
When I originally learned the solar system… things seemed so much simpler.
I have been waiting for a package to arrive from Orion for the past 8 days, today it arrived. From another place, Adorama, I ordered a part as well, it arrived on Tuesday. I ordered both parts on the same day, believing that the parts were compatible parts that needed each other to function. The desired function in this case is to mount my 55mm camera to my telescope’s T-mount (the lens insertion function). The part from Adorama is a 55mm to “standard” adapter. The Orion part is a “standard” to telescope adapter… considered to be a universal part. When the Orion part arrived today I tried to put it together with the Adorama part, as I thought they should fit… they didn’t fit. I became immediately irritated and almost gave up on the whole project.. until I noticed that both adapters seemed to have a common end… a female thread component. I went to my telescope with the Adorama part, lined up the threads and screwed it on… it fit. So… apparently “standard” isn’t really standard… it ended up being that the Adorama “standard” was the standard for telescope lens connections, and the Orion standard is the SLR camera standard…. oops. Either way, I now have a reliable way to connect my camera to my telescope… and apparently I have had that ability for several days.
Tonight while doing some astronomy homework I managed to get lost in the last 2 chapters of the textbook, “The Beginning and the End” as well as “Life on Other Planets”. I don’t know how I got lost in these chapters, but they are more philosophical than the rest of the textbook. Its is very interesting to read about the big bang on one page, detailing how the universe began, and then a few pages later reading the few possible ways it could end. The most spectacular of ends involves all of the matter in the universe recollapsing once the expansion of the universe is complete, and then the tightly packed matter beginning to have gravity again, as well as internal heating and the whole damned thing starting all over again in a seemingly endless pattern of recycling. The most bleek is that the universe never reverses and everything keeps going away from everything else until radioactive decay has its effect on all matter in the universe and all protons fall apart, effectively ending the universe once and forever. Between these two theories, I am most likely to believe the recollapsing universe theory, since it seems as though the universe is constantly recycling and gravity tends to bring everything back eventually. The process is very plausible, since it would allow everything to be heated back to its original temperature, effectively breaking everything back to single electron elements (hydrogen). Funny thing is, go to the string theory people, they will tell you that our universe is much like a lightbulb, there is more than one in the box and one burning out isn’t a big deal.
We are star stuff and we are the way that the universe knows itself. It is possible that we are the first sentient life to exist in the universe (at least in this iteration of the universe cycle), which means we are somewhat of an accomplishment. We can’t know for sure if we are alone, but even if we aren’t, we can’t be sure that other civilizations would be as curious as us and want to explore space, or if they would be as persistent.
There will be a full lunar eclipse for all parts of the world that experiences night at 0143 GMT (2043 EST and 1943 CST). It will occur Wednesday Evening/Thursday morning February 20/21, 2008. The full event lasts just over 3 hours, but we will experience totality for about 50 minutes. Totality will begin at 0300 GMT and 2200 EST. When entering the umbral shadow the moon will appear to be in retrograde of its cycle (it will be less full as the eclipse progresses) and then at totality we should see a bright red moon resembling an enlarged Mars (this is due to the refracting of light from the upper atmosphere, same phenomenon that causes red sunrises). During the late winter/early spring is the best time to see an eclipse, since the atmosphere tends to be clearer.
If this is the type of thing that interests you, I encourage you to try to enjoy it, as there will not be another total lunar eclipse until 2010.
For more information, see this Wiki article.
“The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be” – Carl Sagan
My Astronomy course started yesterday and so far I’m excited. The course structure and the text book are based on Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos“. Before yesterday, I had heard of Sagan’s work, but I’ve never seen “Cosmos”. For the first class we watched the first episode of “Cosmos”. We were supposed to review the syllabus, but due to a printing failure at the campus print shop, we won’t have that until Thursday. Also, on Thursday I have to go for an “Online Lab Orientation”, to learn how to use a web-based learning environment for the lab portion of the course.
I have always had an interest in astronomy, but have never had the time to learn the basics of it myself, outside of my constant obsession with NOVA. The instructor seems to be very enthusiastic about the course, but several members of the class seems like they are just in the course to fulfill a general education requirement. I am looking forward to the lab that starts on Thursday.
