Venus and Uranus

 

Venus and Uranus on March 30, 2023. Some high clouds and I did some experiments getting spikes.

Setting: Nikon D7500, 200mm f/5.6, ISO3200, exposure time 1s.

Software: Photoshop CS4

Double Rainbow

 

A double rainbow above the Demer River in Langdorp (Aarschot)

Mars with Open star cluster M35

 

This week Mars is near open star cluster M35. On April 25, 2021 I could observe and image this same situation - see this link.

Setting : Nikon D7500, f/5.6, 200mm, ISO10.000 exposure 2s. Editing using CS4, single shot.

Venus and Jupiter

 

Venus and Jupiter (low above the horizon) after sunset on March 27th. 

Jupiter - Mercury

 

Jupiter - Mercury "close encounter", about 3,5° above the horizon.

Setting: Nikon D7500 - lens 18-200 f/5.6 ISO400 1/15s

Editing using CS4

Reworking M81 and Needle Galaxy using Refine Edges and Lab Color

I reworked my images of Galaxy M81 (Bode's Galaxy) and the Needle Galaxy (NGC4565). Starting from my APP stacked image (Tiff) I used color range (NL kleurbereik) and Refine Edges (NL Hoeken verfijnen) to select the galaxy. Next I changed the brightness, contracts and colors. The finalize I changed from RGB to Lab Color and change brightness again using "bringhtness Channel". Before saving I RGB was selected again. Noise was reduced using DeNoise AI.

ATT Essen Program Available

On May 13, the biggest European astronomy fair ATT (Astronomie und Techniktreff) will take place in Essen (Germany). Today the organisation presented the program - see this link

Beside the many exibitors and meeting astronomy friends, I'm looking out to the lecture of Ulrich von Kusserow.

See also lectures by Ulrich von Kusserow in 2018 and 2019 

Formation of the magnetic solar system (Ulrich von Kusserow)

In this lecture, the variety of possible influencing factors of cosmic magnetic fields on the formation and early development of our solar system and other sun-like star systems is explained as clearly as possible using colorful illustrations, animations and video sequences. After a short introduction, the central events in the course of the history of knowledge acquisition on this topic will be presented in more detail. The following section deals with the great current importance of magnetic processes in the interior and atmosphere of the sun, in the surrounding heliosphere shaped by the magnetic solar wind, and the fascinating processes in the magnetospheres of the planets and moons, asteroids and comets in our solar system .

The fourth section explains how so-called accretion disks form around such stars, in which magnetic turbulence and, in particular, magnetized winds emanating from these disks ensure the effective removal of angular momentum and thus the transport of matter to increase the stellar mass and the formation of the planets. In the last section, the possible magnetic influence on the increasing compression and migration of dust particles, rock-like objects and planetesimals and finally on the formation of the magnetic planets in our solar system is considered.

50 days to ATT Essen

 

The next ATT (biggest Astronomy fair in Europe) is scheduled on May 13, 2023 and will be organised in Essen (Germany).

GPT 4

 

Open AI with Chat GPT released GPT-4 . Have fun!

First day of Spring

Today, the first day of spring starts at March 20 at UT21h24 (local time 22h24).

Capturing Cosmic Rays with DSLR Nikon D7500

I read an article (cosmic rays) on facebook on capturing of cosmic rays using a DLSR. I was wondering if I could reproduce this at home using my Nikon D7500 with CMOS sensor. I set up my Nikon  (see settings) and found some "strikes" in my images which I believe could be linked to cosmic rays and even Muons.

Muons are part of the secundary cosmic rays still having huge energy up to 4GeV. We can expect 1 muon count/cm2/min at sea level. Having a APS-C sony sensor and planning for 10min exposure, this would mean about 30 hits. When analyzing my pictures I see a lot of dots of which some are hot spots. I counted about 40 counts on two images without the hotspots.

The double rings on the image are identified as hotspots. 

To compare, the energy of photons are 4x10exp-19 Joule (3.5eV), muons have an energy (when reaching Earth) of 6.4x10exp-10 Joule (4GeV) or 1.600.000.000 higher. 

Setting:

- Nikon D7500, without lens, but with cap and installed in a carton box

- Camera and thus sensor, horizontal positioned

- Lights: 12x600s, ISO3200

- Software : N.I.N.A. , APP, CS4

Some literature :
- Catching Cosmic Rays with DSLR.

- Capturing Cosmic Ray with a DSLR Camera

Lecture Quantum Computers Maastricht

Together with my collegue Walter, we attended a lecture on Quantum computers at the University of Maastricht (Studium Generale). Professor Lieven Vandersypen from the University of Delft (Netherlands) explained how it works and what we can expect from it in the near future.

Selfie with Prof. dr. Lieven Vandersypen

Some background: 

Imagine you have a toy that can spin in two ways, either up or down. This toy is like a classical computer bit, which can be either 0 or 1. Now imagine you have a different toy that can spin in multiple directions at once, like a top that can spin in many directions at the same time. This toy is like a qubit in a quantum computer.

A qubit is a tiny particle that can exist in multiple states at the same time. It's like a spinning top that can spin in many directions at once, which means it can do many things at the same time. This is called superposition. Qubits can also be linked together in a special way called entanglement, which means that they can communicate with each other instantly, no matter how far apart they are.

This might sound strange and impossible, but it's all thanks to the strange rules of quantum mechanics. Quantum computers are still very new and scientists are still figuring out how to use them, but they have the potential to be much more powerful than classical computers, because they can do many things at the same time. So in the future, we might use quantum computers to solve very difficult problems that classical computers can't handle, like finding new medicines or understanding how atoms work.

Quantum computers represent a major breakthrough in the field of computing. Unlike classical computers that use bits that can only exist in a state of 0 or 1, quantum computers use qubits that can exist in multiple states simultaneously, allowing for exponential growth in computing power. This has the potential to revolutionize fields like cryptography, where quantum computers can easily break existing encryption methods, and materials science, where they can simulate the behavior of complex materials with unprecedented accuracy.

M81 Bode's Galaxy - 3h45m exposure time

Galaxy M81, Bode's Galaxy, located in constellation Ursa Major, about 12 million light years away from Earth.

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI2600MC, Guidingcamera ASI224MC with 50x240mm guiding scope
Lights : two nights, 45x300s, flats, darks, bias

Software: ASIair Plus, APP, CS4, DeNoise AI

Final picture cropped.

Some reflection is seen on the pictures; probably due to the Moon which was high in the sky.

Venus-Jupiter Conjuction

The Venus-Jupiter Conjunction on March 1, 2023

Setting: Nikon D7500 24mmf/4.5 ISO400 4s

Software: Acrobat DNG converter, CS4

400 Days to go

Exactly 400 days to go.... On April 8, 2024 the next Total Solar Eclipse in the US will be visible.

M81 and Holmberg IX

Galaxy M81 (Bode's Galaxy) is located in constellation Ursa Major and about 11,8 million lightyears away from Earth. Next to M81 we see it's satellite galaxy, Holmberg IX (UGC5336), a dwarf galaxy. 

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI2600MC, Guiding ASI224MC with 50/240mm on EQ8R

Lights: 25x300s, darks, bias, flats, darkflats

Software: ASIair Plus, APP, CS4, DeNoise AI

M81 and M82 Reworked

I reworked my pictures of M81 and M82.

 

M81 and M82

Galaxy's M81 and M82

Setting: 

TAL200K f/8.5, ASI2600MC, ASI224MC guidingscope 50/240

Lights: 40x300s(M81), 10x300s(M82), darks, bias, flats

Software: ASIair Plus, APP, CS4, DeNoise AI

First light with ASIair plus - M81 Bode's Galaxy

A couple of weeks ago I bought a second hand ASIair Plus. The idea is to have two set ups for my telescopes: one telescope equiped with PC (N.I.N.A.), the other with ASIair Plus.
Having two skywatcher mounts and all camera's from ZWO, the purchase of an ASIair Plus is a good alternative in stead of an extra PC.

I installed the ASIair Plus on my TAL200K f/8.5 telescope. The main camera and guiding camera was connected using USB A 3.0 cables. After powering, connection was made with my mini Ipad. In order to make connection, the wifi should be swithed to ASIair signal. Then open the ASIair app. There are numerous youtube video's how to start using the ASIair Plus. Below some learnings using the ASIair Plus with a skywactcher EQ8-R mount.

- polar allignment and 3-star allignment was done without connection of the mount to the ASIair plus.

- allignment was done using the maincamera which was connected to ASIair Plus (experiment with the exposure time)

- once allignment completed, I connect the synscan of the mount via a USB B cable to USB A 2.0 port of the ASIair Plus.

- polar allignment was redone; take first a picture and plate solve before running the PA - polar allignment.

- to find an object, just select the target and through imaging and plate solving, the object is set in FOV.

- same with guiding, connect the camera and calibration starts automatically; guiding is done using multistar guiding. 

- autorun set up was used to make the pictures.

- afterwards bias, darks and flats were made using the autorun. Pictures are saved under the folders on the e-MMC 

- I used a 32Gb micro SD card to copy the images and to transfer them to my PC. 

- I disconnect the USB A2.0 - USB B cable between ASIair Plus and syncscan when I finishing my imaging session and to park the telescope. Keeping the cable on and choosing the park function in ASIair Plus did not gave the proper coordinates

- so far, no experience with meridian flip, live stacking and planning function. Also no experience with autofocus.

- connection inside the house was lost a couple of times but the session kept running. 

Conclusion:

Connection with camera's went well, guiding was done properly, finding the object through plate solving was fantastic (first time experience). I made 24 pictures (24x300s) on day 1 and 20 more on day two. Transfer via micro SD card was easy. 

Result:

M81, Bode's Galaxy

TAL200K f/8.5, ASI2600MC, ASI224MC on 50x240 guiding scope with EQ8-R

Lights: 40x300s, darks, bias and flats

Software: ASIair plus, APP, CS4, DeNoise AI