Imaginary - Wiskunde tentoonstelling

In het najaar 2022 en het voorjaar 2023 zal de tentoonstelling over zichtbare en onzichtbare wiskunde "Imaginary" doorheen Vlaanderen trekken. Voor meer informatie zie deze link 

Artemis I launch scrubbed - earliest launch window september 2

 

Artemis I launch has been scrubbed. The earliest next launch window is expected to be september 2nd.

Boarding for Artemis I

In total 3,391,117 BOARDING PASSES for ARTEMIS I are claimed and I'm proud to be one of them.

Countdown for Artemis I launch 20h42m  (follow here)

Countdown for Artemis I : 23h48 minutes to go

 

See this link for the live countdown
See this link for a great overview of the entire flight schedule; this is really well explained. 

Following Galilei Galileo footsteps @ Tuscany

This summer I spent my vacation in Tuscany and I took the opportunity to follow Galileo Galilei's footsteps. My first stop was in Pisa, the Birthplace of Galileo. Galileo was born on February 15, 1564. A statue of Galileo can be seen @ Largo Ciro Menotti, just 100m  from scientist's childhood home.

Statue of Galileo in Pisa (credit Pascal Hilkens)

It was in the Duomo di Pisa (the Cathedral of Pisa) that according to Vincenzo Viviani, a young pupil of his and later his biographer, Galileo in 1583, while observing in the Cathedral of Pisa the oscillation of a lamp, had asked ‘whether the times of oscillation between two points, for large, medium and small arcs, were the same. 

Duomo Di Pisa in the Piazza Dei Miracoli (credit Pascal Hilkens)

Next stop was Florence @ the Museo Galileo near the famous Ponte Vecchio.

Outside the Museum and in front of the entrance a gnomon of a giant sundial is installed. 

The museum exposes some very unique pieces of which two original telescopes (1609 & 1610) from Galileo.

Galileo's Telescopes (1609&1610) credit Pascal Hilkens

At the Uffize Gallery (Galleria degli Uffizi), Galileo as a Mathematician can be found on a fresco with tempera retouches by Agnolo Gori made in 1663 at the ceiling of the west corridor, span 74.

Ceiling with Fresco of Galileo (credit Pascal Hilkens) 

In one of the many Uffizi rooms I found a portrait of Galileo Galilei made by the Flemsih painter Justus Sustermans, in 1636.

Galileo by Justus Sustermans - Oil on Canvas at Uffize Gallery (credit Pascal Hilkens)

I finished my tour at the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence. The remains of Galileo Galilei are located in a marble tomb created by Giulio Foggini. The polychrome marble tomb of Galileo was sculpted between 1734 and 1737. The brown and black marble tomb is flanked by two allegorical sculptures of robed female figures representing Astronomy by Vincenzo Foggini, and Geometry by Girolamo Ticciati. Galileo died on the night of January 8th, 1642.

His body was first placed in a little room below the bell tower of the Basilica and only in 1737 got Galileo his monumental tomb.

Original tomb of Galileo - credit Pascal Hilkens

Galileo monumental tomb - credit Pascal Hilkens

Sculpture of Galileo with below Jupiter and it's four Galilean moons - Credit Pascal Hilkens

Latin text below Galileo's tomb - Credit Pascal Hilkens

English translation of the text below the tomb: 

Galileo Galilei, Florentine patrician, the greatest restorer of Geometry, Astronomy and Philosophy to be compared to none of his era, may rest well in this place. Lived 78 years - Died in 1642.

Basilica Sante Croce, Florence - Credit Pascal Hilkens

Some interesting facts of Sante Croce: not only Galileo is buried in the Basilica but also:

- Niccole Machiavelli

- Michelangelo Buonarotti died on February 18, 1564 - 3 days after Galileo was born

- Florence Nightingale

- Memorial of Enrico Fermi

- Memorial of Guglielmo Marconi

- a cenotaph for Dante

---------------------------

Jovilabe - Calculating the positions of the Moons of Jupiter

Jovilabe in Museo Galileo Florence - Credit Pascal Hilkens

When visiting the Museo Galileo, located in Florence @ Piazza dei Giudici, my eye fell on a brass instrument, called a Jovilabe. This really amazing (wow) scientific instrument is an "analoge calculator" to 1) determine the positions of the 4 moons of Jupiter and 2) determine the position of Jupiter and Earth around the Sun (annual paralax). 

The instrument can be compared with current graphical diagrams of the moons of Jupiter. 

The brass instrument was used by Galileo Galilei and probably based on his observations and calculations. More information can be found via this link. 

You must see this  interesting video which explains how a Jovilabe functions - see this link.

5 years ago .... Solar Eclipse @ Rexburg (USA)

Exactly 5 years ago,  on August 21st 2017, the Great American Eclipse @ Rexburg (ID).

N.I.N.A. Version 2.0 Released

Version 2.0 of N.I.N.A. was recently released on June 5th, I was using the 32bit version instead of the 64bit version of N.I.N.A. (Nighttime Imaging "N" Astronomy) due to some minor issues. With this new upgrade I'm running the x64 version of the open source astrophotography Imaging Suite.

For more information see this NINA link 

Updated Astrophotography Process

I updated my astrophotography process based on the learnings from previous astro-sessions (see also my blog "Learnings and Issues)

Saturn Rings 2020- 2022

 

PHD2 Guiding issues(#7) and learnings (#8)

I'm referring to my earlier blog (First light with Guiding Scope TS 50x180) in which I described my issues during guiding with PHD2.

Issues, learnings and solutions.

1) Focussing of Guiding Scope (#3 issues)

#1 I found out that my Guiding Scope was not focussed at all. After adjusting the scope, more and sharper stars became visible. 

#2 As a next step, I arranged that the center of the guide scope is the same as the center of my telescope.

#3 During testing I found out that the cable connected to the guide scope was changing focus resulting in an out of focus view.  

2) Polarallignment (#1 issue)

#4 My collegue, Walter from Helios Astronomy Club, informed me to use polarallignment using SharpCap. I assumed that my visual polarallignment was quit good (I did last year a comparison test with QHY PoleMaster with good results). I watched a couple of video's and to my opinion the best one was from The Lazy Geek. The polarallignment process was reapplied realizing an "excellent" score. The polarallignment was first done with my guiding scope (with ASI290MM) and then using the main telescope (with ASI2600MC). Results matched perfectly: see screenshots below

3) PHD (#3 issues)

#5 My profile in PHD2 was still set on my other guide scope "miniscope". According to some forums the best way to (re)start is to create a new profile and to start from scratch. So I made a new profile for my TS 50x180 guide scope.

#6 I read about multistar allignement but did never used it. This time I enabled this option. In order to use it, you need to select "autostar".

#7 After completion of the calibration process it's an option to use the "guiding assistance". I completed the guiding assistance option and "applied" all settings. I foud out that the backlash wasn't that good. I decoupled my telescope and marked the tipping point of my set up. After reinstalling my telescope I restarted the entire process inlcuding the guiding assistance tool. This time the backlash was better but still not "ideal". See printscreens below

Results and conclusion.

1) Good guiding results with a guiding error below 0,25px. However the second session had a guiding error below 0,75 px. The first session had a very stable and flat guiding pattern. See below printscreen

2) Polarallignment using SharpCap is easy and seems very accurate. My setup will be adjusted including this new step and way of working.

3) Focussing of guiding scope and cable management is a watch out. 

4) Backlash was found to be an issue. Out of 3 sessions, I had twice an issue. This remains an open item.

5) I could make pictures with exposure times of 10 minutes. The image is good and the stars are round. See picture below of M57 with 2x10minutes exposure time - stacking done using APP.

6) 3-star allignment is done after polarallignment. Via EQMOD my mount is connected to Stellarium
 

7) It's not clear if I need to recalibrate before each astro-imaging session. This is something I need to find out. For now, I will do the calibration each time I set up my scope. 

8) One more topic is about the calibration session itself. It's recommended to do the calibration near the equator and around the meridian as stars move fastest in this region. This is something I need to foresee aswell.

Saturn - Reworked Image

Saturn during the evening of August 13th to August 14 and thus one day before opposition.

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI224MC, ADC and Barlow x2
Software: SharpCap 4, AS3!(25% best frames), CS4 and DeNoise AI.

Saturn - One day before Opposition

Saturn this evening, one day before opposition.

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI224MC, ADC and Barlow x2

Software: SharpCap 4, AS3!, CS4 and DeNoise AI.

Hercules Globular Cluster M13

 

My picture of Hercules Globular Star Cluster Messier M13. It's located in constellation Hercules and about 22.000 light years away from Earth. The cluster counts a couple of hundred thousand stars.

The picture was taken on August 10th, 2022 and it was my first time using Sharpcap for polarallignement. As a result my guiding error reduced significally and up to 0,23 pixels. 

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI2600MC, guiding scope 50x180 with ASI290MM

Exposure: 12x180s with darks, bias, flats, darkflats and binning 2x2

Software: SharpCap, ASIStudio, N.I.N.A., PHD2, Stellarium, Astro Pixel Processor, CS4, DeNoise AI

Planetary Nebula NGC6781 - Ghost of the Moon Nebula

 

Planetary Nebula NGC6781 is located in constellation Aquila and about 1500ly away from Earth.

My first attempt to image this Planetary Nebula was on location @ Helios member Guido. But due to lot's of issues this attempt failed completely. The good news is that some of the issues were rootcaused resulting in new way of polar allignment using sharpcap. Yesterday (aug 12, 2022) I was able to use my adjusted set up with an "excellent polarallignment" and a guiding error of 0,75px. This second attempt was succesfull while having a full moon sky.

Stephen James O'Meara's (Herschel 400 Observing Guide p 249) calls this planetary nebula "Ghost of the Moon Nebula".

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI2600MC and my new guide scope 50x180 with ASI290MM

Exposure: lights 14x300s, darks, bias, flats and darkflats; binning 2x2

Software: SharpCap 4, ASIStudio, N.I.N.A., Astro Pixel Processor, CS4 and DeNoise AI

Jupiter - reworked image

 

My earlier images of Jupiter are reworked. In stead of keeping the best 10% frames during stacking I kept 60%. The GRS is beautifull visible surrounded with lots of details. 

Setting: TAL 200K f/8.5 with ASI224MC
Imaging: ADC and Barlowx2
Software: SharpCap 4, AS3! (best 60% frames), CS4 and DeNoise AI

Saturn - reworked imaged

My earlier images of Saturn are reworked. In stead of keeping the best 10% frames during stacking I kept 60%. As a result more details are visible.

Setting: TAL 200K f/8.5 with ASI224MC
Imaging: ADC and Barlowx2
Software: SharpCap 4, AS3! (best 60% frames), CS4 and DeNoise AI

Jupiter and Saturn with ASI224MC

Jupiter and Saturn in the night from Aug 7 to 8th.

Setting: TAL 200K f/8.5 with ASI224MC
Imaging: ADC and Barlowx2

Software: SharpCap 4, AS3! (best 10% frames), CS4 and DeNoise AI

Moon Golden Handle

The best moment of the Golden Handle on the Moon just passed ... Picture taken with TAL200K f/8.5 abd ASI2600MC.

Saturn almost at Opposition

Saturn will be at opposition on Aug 14th. This evening the planet was captured using my TAL200K f/8.5 and ASI224MC.

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI224MC

Specs:  ADC, Barlow x2  

Software: SharpCap 4, AS3!(20% best frames), CS4 and DeNoise AI

First light with TS Guiding Scope 50x180

In May this year I bought a second hand TS Guiding scope 50x180 @ ATT Essen for my TAL200K f/8.5 replacing the ZWO mini guide scope 30x120. Yesterday I did some testing with following set up:

TAL200K f/8.5 with ASI2600MC

Guide Scope 50x180 with ASI290MM

Setting: binning 2x2 for ASI2600MC; 180s exposure time

Imaging Software : N.I.N.A and PHD2

Picture edited using CS4.

Results : 

Guide scope gives good field of view and sharp stars which makes it easy to select stars. No issue with calibration and guiding assistance used for guiding settings; adjustment time 1,5-3s and set to 1,5s.

ASI2600MC set to 2x2 binning; start are bright and circular. 

I did have some issues with guiding itself and not sure what the rootcause was. I made 11 pictures of which 4 without "startrails".

Learnings:

N.I.N.A. image settings to be changed to FITS in stead if TIFF. It would be good to have more PHD2 profiles as I have multiple guide scopes. Next I will be testing "multiple stars" guiding.